Naomi's Baptism

This is another after-the-fact entry. Naomi was baptised on 9/16 at our church. Roger's family was there, but mine couldn't make it due to distance. We dressed Naomi in a traditional Chinese outfit and shoes we got when we were in Guangzhou. I wore a beautiful silk vest from Inner Mongolia. When we stood up front, Naomi was cheerful and nodded to all the people while Pastor John was talking, which caused some chuckles. She cried briefly when John took her and placed water on her head. As we returned to our seats, we sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" which made me completely lose it and cry on my mother-in-law's shoulder, and then hug everybody around. I sang that song to Danny when he was born, and to Naomi when we got her in China. This is what we told Pastor John about the name we chose for our daughter:

Our daughter's full name is Naomi Chunxiang H. We kept our daughter's Chinese first name, Chunxiang (Shoon-she-ahng), as her middle name, to preserve a piece of her heritage. The name her birthparents gave is lost to us, but this name was chosen by the orphanage that received her in the spring of 2006 at about one month old. They gave her birthdate as March 1. Appropriately, Chunxiang means "welcome spring" or "fragrant spring."

We decided to call our daughter Naomi because we both liked the name (it is unique) and the more we thought about the meaning of the name, it seemed fitting. Also, Ruth liked the idea of having a Naomi in the family, since the two names are linked in scripture. In the Bible story, both Ruth and Naomi had become like orphans, with only each other to cling to. They needed a kinsman-redeemer to free them from their predicament, provide for them, and give them a family. We pray that Naomi will come to know Jesus as her kinsman-redeemer and experience all the blessings of being part of God's family. We also pray for God to show his grace and mercy to Naomi's birthparents and fosterparents, as well as those who cared for her in the government orphanage and the China Care Children's Home.