I have received a few questions about my boys' names, but FaithfulGrace asked me to post about how I chose them, so I thought I would share.

Let's see, it started off innocent or ignorant enough, for when I was expecting my first baby I knew I wanted a unique, strong, masculine name for a son. Somehow, I just knew I was having a boy. I have never known the gender of my children before they were born, so how I knew, well I didn't really, but my heart spoke to me. When coming up with a name I wanted it to be representative of something natural or something pure, and could be related to God easily. River Pheonix was a young actor at the time and I LOVED his name. It was original, strong and somehow seemed pure to me. So River it was. I have never had any regrets, and to this day receive tons of compliments on it.

With our second pregnancy, I knew it was a boy, and I really wanted it to be a boy so that River would have a brother. Den and I were now in our 20's and we were more sure of the direction we were going in our lives, and we really wanted another boy that had a pure strong meaning. We prayed about his name, and we came up with Isaiah for the wonderful prophet Isaiah in the bible. He was an amazing voice for God, and a true inspiration of strength and faith. We also named Isaiah's middle name Storm to hold tight to River's unique name. So now we had:

River Thomas

Isaiah Storm

Then I was expecting again, and once more believed it would be a son. I wasn't sure if it was just my own thinking since I had never had a girl yet, or if the Lord was showing me. So I sought the Lord about a name, and the only name that ever came to me was a boy name. We dabbled with some, but we felt that Levi was a strong biblical name again. I remember telling my Dad about our name choice,that we had sought the Lord about it, and when I told him what it was, he got very emotional and said that he felt that this name was what the Lord showed him as well. I was surprised, and I remember my Dad telling me how he thought it was special that we were seeking the Lord about names. A week before he was born I felt that the Lord showed me beyond a shadow of a doubt it was a boy. I was sitting in church, and all consumed with this little one inside of me that was overdue. I asked the Lord to please show me what this little one was. At that time Den opened up the bible, and I glanced down quickly and my eyes fell on the verse, "and Noah had three sons." ( This too, would be our third son.) Then Den shut the book as quickly as he opened it. I was so confident, that after church I told Den about my confirmation. He said that he had been seeking the Lord in church too, and that he had opened the bible after praying and that the Lord had guided his eyes to a verse. I asked him what verse, and the verse was the same one that God showed me. In that quick moment of Den opening the bible, the Lord showed us both the same verse at the same time. We went shopping that very day for blue clothes. So when our third son was born we named him Levi Den. Den being the nickname I gave my husband when we first fell in love years ago.

River Thomas

Isaiah Storm

Levi Den

Our fourth pregnancy, I was hoping for a girl. Although, I can honestly say I have never shed a tear over having one of my boys. God has given me a wonderful heart on raising all sons. However, I thought how special it would have been to have a girl. As I was expecting, we had chosen Abigail for a daughter, but the name Abram just kept rolling around in my head. I loved the name since it was Abraham's birth name before he made the covenant with the Lord. There was something sweet and innocent about it that I loved. I wanted a girl, but again I felt a little sad about not using the name Abram. I felt that the Lord gave me this name to ease the idea of having another son. So Abram Lee was born, Lee being a family name on both sides.

River Thomas

Isaiah Storm

Levi Den

Abram Lee

When we decided that we wanted another child I had no name picked out for him. In fact we still had our girl name tucked away, Abigail, and I hoped I would be able to use it. I truly had no idea or feeling about the pregnancy for some time. Because of this I was more relaxed about picking out a name. As the pregnancy was drawing towards an end, we began to have more discussions. The boys' knew that a biblical name was a must for us. However, we were struggling with names that we loved! Titus was in the running for awhile, but somehow it wasn't calling for me. We thought of Seth, but it belonged to boy that had passed away and we didn't feel that would be good on the parent's heart. So it was Titus or Roman. Roman being a strong name and biblical. The book of Romans, if you are all wondering. lol I prayed about it, but was torn. The boys' LOVED it and thought it sounded strong and masculine. Den and I thought it sounded unique, biblical, and it blended well with our names that we had already chosen. I felt like the Lord was pleased since it was a name that everyone, all 6 of us, adored. The middle name is Ward. It is my husband's aunt's last name. She couldn't have children. So Den carries her last name as his middle name, and now so does Roman. We thought it was special to pass that name down for another generation. So even though she didn't have any children, she had two more generations carrying her last name.

So that leaves us at:

River Thomas

Isaiah Storm

Levi Den

Abram Lee

Roman Ward 

Will we have more? I doubt it, but you know the Lord works in mysterious ways. I do think that Den and I, of ourselves, would say no more, but God's will be done in our lives. I think that children are the truest blessing from the Lord, and they are like jewels in your crown. I feel blessed to have 5 gifts from God.

"The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. (Titus 2:3-5)