The Girls' Names

I am fully aware that some question our decision to not change the girls' first names. They are names that were thoughtfully given to the girls by their first family and names that they cherish at 6 and 3. Nebyat means "Prophet" or "Messenger from God"; Jetu's is a bit more difficult to directly translate, but it means something akin to "wet" associated with soil and crops - I've thought of it as "fertile soil, from which much can grow." Our pronunciation has changed and grown since they've been home, mostly to try to emulate their pronunciation. Nebyat pronounces her name "NEB-E-YOT" with equal emphasis on each syllable, maybe a little lighter on the middle syllable with the YOT sounding much like the nice boat (yacht). Jetu pronounces her name "G-2" like the letter and the number, with perhaps a little less E on the G, something close to the word jitney, but not quite. Clear as mud? We gave both girls Americanized middle names. Nebyat Grace (what better message from God?) and Jetu Mylia - (okay maybe not totally Americanized, but common at least in pronunciation). They'll always have an option to use a more common name; I don't really expect they'll choose to do so. Nebyat is not in love with Grace and I believe I shared before she prefers Nebyat Minnie Mouse. Jetu is not totally opposed to Mylia, however if Nebyat's going to be Minnie, she's going to be Jetu Mickey Mouse.

For fun, I thought I'd share with you the list that was sent home this week for Nebyat to prepare valentines. These are the names of the 14 children in her kindergarten class - I don't think she's really going to feel too out of place because of her name:
Ariana D
Ariana J
Blake
Sean
Donvan
Dominic
Genesis
Kaitlynn
Nebyat
Zaniah
Eric
Debron
Hezekiah
Annie

Poor Annie....what were her parents thinking?