Celebrating our children’s birthdays brings a lot of thoughts to my mind, but one of the dominant thoughts is “Where has all the time gone?” It seems just like yesterday when we were bringing our newborn daughter home. After a year or two, we ended up nicknaming her the Dolly because she would just sit there quietly (like a doll), as we were trying to keep up with our maniac two-year old son (played by Nehemiah).

But where did the name Evangeline come from?

Evangeline’s name is a derivative of the word evangelist, which means (from the Greek) “bearer of good news”. We came across the name in a book I read shortly after college, called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. Sonja and I fell in love with the daughter of Augustine St. Clare; Evangeline. Her dad was a noble and wealthy man and an owner of many slaves. While the worlds of whites and slaves were deeply separated by oft unchallenged cultural laws, young Eva (as she was affectionately known) spent the majority of her time with those who were supposed to be her lesser. She played with the slaves, sang with them, read the Bible to them, and listened to their stories. It pained her to know how much she had and yet how little they did. She determined to spend her life on their behalf in whatever way she might. Unfortunately, her life was short as she died at a young age.

Nehemiah, Evangeline, and I have been reading the book for about 4-5 months now and are near the end (it’s a long one). Evangeline smiles when she listens. Here is one short excerpt from the other day, as Evangeline responds to her father St. Clare when he states that he doesn’t want her to be troubled or worried about the downtrodden condition of the slaves:

“O, that’s what troubles me, papa. You want me to live so happy, and never have any pain,—never suffer anything,—not even hear a sad story, when other poor creatures have nothing but pain and sorrow, all their lives;—it seems selfish. I ought to know such things, I ought to feel about them!”

We already see a similar concern for others who are suffering in our Evangeline’s character and continue to pray for her heart. Thanks God for Evangeline and for seven great years!

Here’s my favorite picture of Evangeline when she was one and a few from this past year: