Tuesday, April 26, 2011

His Name.

With much anticipation, we are announcing the name of our little man who we eagerly await meeting today or tomorrow...

Eli Joseph Kasowski

We named him this for two reasons:

1) The meaning — "My God increases." (Eli [אלי] means "my God" and Joseph [יספ]means "increases.") We named him this because after his sister passed away last year, we weren't sure if we would be able to have kids again. But our God increased. He blessed us with this little man, Eli Joseph.

2) To honor his sister — The way it's pronounced in Hebrew sounds like "Maelee" without the "M." We'll pronounce it the English way though.

Fun fact #1: Jesus said his name.

Remember that phrase Jesus says when he's on the cross in Matthew 27:46, "Eli, eli lema sabachthani"? "Eli" means "my God," so he was saying, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Fun fact #2: Eli isn't short for Elijah.

When Jesus said that phrase on the cross, people thought he was calling Elijah. But he wasn't. He was prophetically quoting Psalm 22. Back in those days they didn't say things like, "Open your Bibles to Psalm 22," because they didn't have chapters and verses marked out in the Bible. So to direct people to a specific psalm, they would just quote the first line. So Jesus was talking about how he was fulfilling many of the prophesies in Psalm 22 ... he was a person who was suffering for doing nothing wrong. "All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads ... I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint ... I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me ... they divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing."

Fun fact #3: Eli doesn't mean Eli.

The Eli from 1 Samuel 1-2 (the head priest with the wayward sons) and Eli (Joseph Kasowski) are different names. The former is spelled with the Hebrew letter ayin (ע). The latter is spelled with an aleph (א). Not a big pronunciation distinction, but enough to change the meaning of the name.

Did you guess it?

Not NY Giants fans (Eli Manning), his cousin Ali can spell it, Greg is studying Hebrew, the "Book of Eli" is actually a movie (and the Bible too!), not a "lie" has his letters, the last "e" in Maelee and the "li" in Linn spells it out!


AND... I'm off to the hospital! I didn't take my shot early enough this morning and my platlets are dropping, so the doctor is having me head to the hospital so they can give me the drugs while they monitor things... and get ready for induction later today or tomorrow.

Please pray for Eli!

-His Parents

6 comments:

TheSpeights said...

His name is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! I love it! I'm praying, praying, praying, praying and praying even more of you, Greg and Eli! God has indeed increased and I am so excited. I love you four so much. I can't wait to wrap my arms around that little red-headed boy. I will text Greg to find out when a good time to come see him would be. LOVE YOU!
-Court

Nikole said...

I love the meaning and how it was taken out of his sisters name, so thoughtful and beautiful. Just perfect and so reflective of his parents.

You will be posting an update from the hospital?

Tengesdal 4 said...

Fun fact #1: I absolutely love his name- because it's a great name
Fun Fact #2: I love the meaning behind his name- because telling him the story will be part of the legacy. Simon loves to hear how we chose his name!
Fun Fact #3: I had lots of guesses but none were right (this leads me to fun fact #4)
Fun Fact #4: based on the comments on your blog I might be your dumbest friend (or at least the worst guesser).
Fun Fact #5: I will be stalking your facebook & blog to hear that your son has arrived safely (and praying for you every time God brings you to mind...)
We love you & love Eli already!!
Jon & Bets

Diane Kemp said...

What a great name & love how you chose it and that he will have part of Maelee Linn's name.

Praying for ya'll.

Jill K said...

AHHH!!
(We ADORE our new nephew's name! great write up, explaining it. )
And we can't wait to meet him...see you all together...
We will be hovering at our computers for any word from you- email, blog, skype- please, please let someone post updates if you're not able. We Can't Wait!

LOVE YOU SO!

Kim said...

Oh, we are so thrilled for the two of you and LOVE the name you have picked! We can't wait to hear the good news of his arrival. Shortly after you lost Maelee last year we had good friends here who also lost their baby just a few weeks before the due date. I was just at the hospital today holding their brand new blessing from our good God. :)