Eli's Name

So I wanted to tell you my name story for the little guy. It is a pretty cool story and I think he will love hearing it one day. Three years ago when I was pregnant with Livi  I was driving in my car and I heard this loud God voice say "You will have a son and his name will be Eli" then it repeated again. I was like whoa I never heard a loud God voice before. :) I was determined that we were having a boy named Eli, except that at the time I really didn't want a boy I would have much rather had a girl.  But I was certain because God had told me that it would be a boy. I didn't even think I needed to have an ultrasound to find out. I remember standing at Ella's 1st birthday talking to my friend Melissa and she said "what if it means that you will have a boy SOMEDAY and his name will be Eli?" I hadn't thought about that possibility yet but I thought maybe Melissa was right. Sure enough two days later I found out that I was having a girl.  

The following Sunday I went to church and I was a bit confused about my faith and listening to God. The bible reading at church was a story I had never heard before about Samuel the prophet and Eli. Eli was a high priest, I had no idea Eli was in the bible. I just thought there was Elijah.  So anyways Eli is sleeping and Samuel wakes up and says "Lord did you call me?" Eli says "no go back to sleep I didn't call you" and it happens again and again finally "Eli says next time you hear your name say yes God I am listening because He is calling you". I took this to mean "thank you for being willing to follow me and for listening but I am not calling you yet". So I figured we may have a boy some day.

Fast forward to now being pregnant I had kind of pushed the Eli story out of my head and was picking different boy names. First we picked Luke and Chad's good friend Todd is having a baby named Luke. Then we picked Gabriel, which I LOVED, but found out shortly after that Chad's boss and Confirmation Sponsor is having a baby named Gabriel.  That Sunday I came home and suddenly out of the blue Livi, my two year old,  starts acting out the story of Samuel, Eli and God. It was random! She told me "I'll be Samuel, you be Eli and you be God". I didn't even know she knew that story. I had this overwhelming feeling that God was telling me that he didn't want me to pick Luke or Gabriel but that my child would be Eli. The same night I also got a message from a friend saying that she thought of me today at mass because of the scripture reading. So I went online and looked up what she read and sure enough it was the Eli and Samuel story. I was like whooaa again! I just loved how God used the same child that I thought would be Eli to share with me His plan.

I know it might sound crazy to think that God picked my son's name, but I have a very discerning heart and it feels so good to know that I am following Him and letting Him make choices for me. Anyways I just thought it was pretty cool and thought you guys might want to hear the whole story. 

So his name will be Eli James Copeland. James is after my grandfather who died when I was a baby and Chad's dad's brother who died as a child of heart failure.