A Name For Our Son!!...and T-Shirts Unveiled!

For many many months you have all known our son as Ivan.  We have grown to love him as Ivan.  Our hope and prayer was that there was some special reason that he was named Ivan.  Oh how I had hoped that we would find out his birthmother had chosen his name before giving him up.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  Ivan was born on Sep. 28, 2009 and his parents signed away their parental rights on Sep. 30, 2009 when he was just 2 days old.  Our sweet son was given a very common name for an orphaned boy by the hospital.  He actually is not even referred to at his baby house as Ivan.  They call him Vanya, which would be like calling someone named John by Johnny instead.

After returning home, Derek and I quickly agreed that it never felt right calling him Ivan or Vanya while we were there with him.  After lots of thought and prayer we decided that his name would change, that we would CHOOSE a name for our son who has been CHOSEN!  We had always strongly considered Samuel as a middle name hoping we would keep Ivan.  Instead, Samuel will be his new name...the name that his mommy and daddy have chosen for him, the name that we believe God put on our hearts just for him! 

His middle name will be James.  That name was chosen because of 2 things.  We have been walking through and studying the book of Proverbs and James at our church and it has so changed my heart in so many ways.  I still can't believe how perfect the timing was to walk through James!  A dear family friend that is a faithful follower and lover of God is the other reason.  His name is James, Jim to Derek's family.  He even has a son adopted from Ivan's country.  I have never even met him, but from all the letters we receive from him and the way he has prayed and cared for my husband, I know him to be a man that loves the Lord and follows after Him and we respect him very much!

So there you have it.....our son's new name will be Samuel James Kramer!!!  So excited to see that in print!  It will be a transition for everyone to start calling him Samuel....that is the hard part.  And we know it will take awhile!  We plan on calling him Ivan Samuel for a while and then eventually dropping Ivan. 

So to celebrate the announcement of our son's new name, we have a little something to share.  I have been sooooo excited to share this.  We had been thinking and thinking about a t-shirt design and then one night Derek shared this image that he had in his mind.  It was an image of a little person drawn as Ivan in his country and then lots and lots of people in the U.S. pulling him home to us.  The main idea being that there have been so so many hands, so many people from all over that have helped to rescue our son.  There is NO way that we could have done this alone!  No way!  If you have prayed, helped, given in any way, you are a part of this beautiful redemption story and we are grateful!  So here it is:

FRONT

BACK

The shirts will be light blue with dark blue writing.  On one of the sleeves, it will have Samuel James and Ivan in parenthesis. 

Each shirt, regardless of size, will be $15.  We will have youth sizes small through large and Adult sizes small through X-large!  They are a "Modern Fit" meaning they fit a little more snug than a regular more boxy fitting t-shirt (keep that in mind when ordering). 

We tried to keep the cost low so that the shirts would be more accessible to more people hoping and praying that Ivan Samuel's story would be heard all over and people will be moved to ACT on behalf of all orphans, especially those that are born with special needs. 

You can send a check or order through the chip-in on our blog.  If you would like to got through RR (tax deductible) route, you can do that too.  This is the important part.  Please leave a comment or let me know that you have paid, how you paid and what sizes you need.  Obviously if you are not in my area, I will need a shipping address.  My email is karenpkramer@gmail.com.  With the start of homeschooling for the first time and a final court date and travel on the horizon, I could easily miss a payment if there isn't an email or comment that follows, so please don't forget that step.

I hope you all love the shirts.  The people that did the art have been awesome to work with.  Let me know if you want their name!  I have just loved seeing Derek's ideas in print....so much fun.  And I sure hope to see lots of people all over sharing how big God is and how He has used His people in the life of ONE CHILD!!  He continally blows me away!

I sure hope our next post is about me freaking out completely because we have travel dates and have to watch God provide, yet again, at JUST the perfect time!  Happy Friday....and weekend!!!