The meaning behind the name...

Several of you have asked where we came up with such a unique name for Nehemiah. His full name is Nehemiah Grant Lisbon-Slack.

Nehemiah comes from the bible. He was a man chosen by God to rebuild the fallen city of Jerusalem. He not only rebuilt the walls, but turned the city into a thriving town once again. Nehemiah was a name God gave to Wendy long before we had ever met as the name she should name her future son. When we got together she shared this with me and at the time all I could think of was it was a hard name to pull off as kid in school (always a teacher). After our long journey to become parents, I revisited the name and told Wendy that he was definitely a gift from God, and I thought we should use the name God had given her. Upon further study I found that not only did Nehemiah rebuild Jerusalem, but his name also means comforter. We have already seen how our Nehemiah has helped to rebuild relationships with family and friends and he has been our comforter since the moment we found out he had been conceived. God knew the perfect name for our son before Wendy and I had ever met and long before he was a twinkle in our eyes.

Nehemiah has two fathers, but the one that was our donor has the middle name Grant. Having Grant as a middle name is a tradition that has been carried down for 3 generations. Since we would not have a son without him we wanted to honor him by giving his son the same middle name as him.

When California legalized same-sex marriage Wen and I took advantage of the opportunity to marry, and in doing so joined our last names together. We did this so that when we had children we would all have the same last name, and therefore be connected in a very visible way.

That is the story of Nehem's (the nickname he goes by) name. I think it helps to know there is a very important story behind it and that his name bears witness to the Christian family he has been born into.