For seventeen years, my wife and I worked as church planters at a mission in Arlington, Texas. Though our Spanish is limited, we had the privilege of working with several communities where Spanish was the primary language. Our church and Bible studies were going great, and we loved the people we worked with.
It was August of 2009. We made ourselves available to our people in many ways, and one of the mothers asked if I could give her a ride to take her son to the dentist. I was happy to help, and I came to pick them up on a hot Texas day. There were four of them riding that day – the mother, her five-year-old son who desperately needed a dentist, her four-year-old son, and her little two-year-old girl. The boys quickly got themselves into their car seats, and I picked up the girl to put her in her seat. She was so light – too light. I buckled her in and gave her a smile. Wanting to know her name, I asked, “¿Cómo se llama?” With the biggest smile on her face, she said, “Hiya!”
A special meeting
This was a special meeting for me. Though I had seen the little girl before, I had never talked to her. It was a very sad situation. To make a long story short, the mother had approached my wife, Beth, the week before, about us adopting this sweet little girl. We had gone through this before. We had two wonderful boys that we had adopted, but I was very hesitant. There were many reasons for the mother wanting to go through this, but that is another story.
I had many questions. Can I go through this process again? Does the mother truly want to give up her daughter? What does her family think? Are there other options? Does God want us to do this? Beth was ready, my boys were ready, but I needed to know for sure. Just as Gideon in the Bible, I laid out my fleece before God. I had a list of things that needed to happen before I said yes. It did not take long for all the boxes to be checked off.
We set a date for the mother to sign over her rights to us, and with a lot of tears, she did. We met with the family at the local Golden Arches, where I saw this little girl order what would become her most loved meal, chicken nuggets (she still loves them). After playing on the playground, her family hugged her goodbye and left. She went home with us.
A new home and name
On October 30, 2009, the adoption was finalized, and I had a little girl. Uh, that statement is not exactly true. I did not have her as much as she had me wrapped around her finger. Her feet did not hit the floor for the first three years she was in my house. This little girl, who was too light, gained weight. She was loved by her mother, brothers, extended family, and me the most. Her name did change a little. She became a Huebner, and her middle name was changed to Elizabeth (after her grandparents on both sides), but her first name stayed the same. I called her ‘Hiya,’ which was short for her beautiful name, Yajaira.
When we moved to Georgia in 2012, Yajaira began school. When she was in first grade, she came home from school frustrated because people had such a hard time pronouncing her name. She wanted to know if she could go by her middle name, Elizabeth. I said it was okay, but I was going to call her Lizzie if she did that. She was fine with that.
So, I got to watch my little Lizzie grow up.
There was church, school, sports, dogs, trips, driving, boys (AUGHH!), and graduation. At the end of July, we took our Lizzie to a college 400 miles away so that she could start training on the soccer team where she had earned a scholarship.
What’s in a name?
Before she left for college, she announced that she was changing her name back to Yajaira. I was pleased, because I love that name. When she first came into our house, I always wondered what Yajaira meant. It wasn’t till I realized that the name did not have a Spanish origin that I was able to put it together. I thought back to my Hebrew classes in seminary and realized that it is a Hebrew name. Let me explain.
Many times, Hebrew names are often the combination of Hebrew words that give the name its meaning. For example, the name Elijah is the combination of the Hebrew word for God, El, and the Hebrew possessive, and a shortened form of God’s name, Yahweh. So, the meaning of Elijah becomes, “My God is the Lord.” My name, Jonathan, is a similar combination with the meaning, “The Lord gives.” What about Yajaira?
The Lord provides
As I think about my daughter through the years, there were always times when I worried about what was happening next. Will she make it through school? Will she trust in Christ as her Savior? Will she make the right decisions? How is she going to make it 400 miles away from me? How am I going to make it?
I think back to her name. The “Ya” is a shortened form of the name of God, Yahweh. The “jaira” is just a different way to spell the Hebrew word, Jireh. It is found in the Bible. When Abraham is given a ram as a sacrifice, he would rename the mountain Yahweh-Jireh in Genesis 22:14. My daughter’s name – “The Lord Provides.”
He has, and He always will.
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Rev. Jon Huebner has served as pastor of Mt. Airy Baptist Church in Mt. Airy, Georgia, since 2019. He and his wife, Beth, have three children and two grandchildren. He can be reached at jon.huebner@mtairybaptist.com.
