Ogie Cayabyab

HOW DID WE NAME OUR TWINS?

I’m happy when friends (St. Luke’s doctors and nurses included) tell me we’ve chosen beautiful names for our twins. It’s very fulfilling and it feels like being rewarded for a job well done. I took the job seriously because I felt that was the only participation, the only contribution I had with my wife’s pregnancy. Truth be told I had months of sleepless nights, headache and frustration.

You see, their names have to begin with the letter A. My wife’s maiden name is Batimana, my surname is Cayabyab. That would give them the initials ABC. I’m very particular with initials. I had a UP professor whose initials were LBM (yes way). I didn’t want the twins having initials like LBC or CBC. Also, most Cayabyabs have their names starting with the letters R and J. I didn’t want to add to the confusion, plus the best names have been taken.

We named our eldest that way. We went through all girls’ names and decided she’ll be our Andrea. After learning that the twins were girls we knew we had to go through the A names all over again. To add difficulty we decided to create a pattern, since Andrea’s name starts with an An, our twins would have names starting with Am and Al. Nights after the twins were born, the doctors would still call our twins Baby Girl 1 and Baby Girl 2, and would check on us if we’ve already decided on the names.

That’s when the Lord saved the day. He reminded me of a passage in Scripture, one of the most important. He wanted me to add second names to the twins’ names. And when I did, for the first time after many months of unrest, I had peace. So I showed my wife the piece of paper where I’ve written the twin’s names. Her big eyes became bigger! She showed me her piece of paper. On it were written the same second names the Lord told me. Wow! Amazing God is. I knew then that the Lord wanted their lives, and not just their names, to have purpose and give glory to Him.

Oh. Their names? Amanda Faith and Alison Grace.

Ephesians 2:8, 9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.