We were told that our daughter's Chinese name is Yue Mengjie. Since babies in orphanages in China are oftentimes there because of abandonment, there is usually no way for the orphanage to find out what the true last name is. And since abandonment is illegal, if they did find out, chances are the baby would not still be in the orphanage.
So the surname, Yue, is an orphanage designation. Jessica is currently at the Yugan Social Welfare Institute.
I'm told by some of my coworkers that Meng means "dream", either the kind you have when you are sleeping or the kind you have when you are awake (like the kind Martin Luther King, Jr. told us about).
Jie means "clean" or "pure".
That's a wonderful name. And, if you allow me to add my emphasis:
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think [dream] about such things." Philippians 4:8
Actually, at one point we had been toying around with the name Kathryn (or Catherine) Audrey. (Remember Katie/Catie?)
Well, one of the things I particularly liked about that name was that Kathryn or Catherine means "pure". And Audrey means "noble". Both of those qualities are part of Philippians 4:8.
A part of me was a bit disappointed when we decided against that name because we lost the connection with that verse.
But, I liked the meaning of Jessica Brooke too, so I figured that was OK. But, as it turns out, thanks to orphanage workers we don't even know, we've regained the connection to that verse. Now how do you suppose they knew to name her that?
Which bring us back to ...
"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases." Proverbs 21:1
Dan
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