"Founded by God"

I just ran across a piece of scratch paper that a nurse gave to me when I was in the hospital after delivering Joaquin.

I had taken a walk down the hallway of the hospital on the evening of the day Joaquin was born, just to check out the maternity floor. Since his birth was so fast, I never got a chance to get my bearings. I didn't even know where my room was in relation to the rest of the ward. Anyway, during my walk, I stopped at the nurses station to get some water with that crunchy crushed ice in it and chatted with the night nurses. We got to talking about names and what they mean and where they come from. I told them that Diego means "James" in Spanish and Mateo means "Matthew" but that I had no idea what the English translation for Joaquin was or if one existed. The nurses and I continued to chat for awhile and then I left to get back to my baby and my husband.

Later that night, Hector had gone home to sleep with the boys and I was alone in my room with the baby. It was the middle of the night and I had drifted to sleep. The only light in the room was a nightlight behind my bed. I was in that dreamlike sleep when I realized that one of the nurses I had spoken with earlier had come into my room. I was a bit startled and as I tried to wake myself up, she quickly handed me the piece of scratch paper and said that she did a little research on Joaquin's name and she wanted me to have it. She quickly left the room, not wanting to disturb me any further. She wasn't the nurse assigned to me so I never got the chance to see her again. I turned on one of the reading lights on the hospital bed and on the piece of paper, she had written "Joaquin means 'founded by God' in Hebrew. The original name is Joachim, the father of the Virgin Mary."

I remember feeling an overwhelming sense of peace when I read this. I remember feeling very touched by the nurse's kindness and thoughtfulness. I also remember thinking how special this name was for my sweet, precious baby boy. Now I know why.