What's In a Name?

Matt and I mulled over the kids' names for sometime, trying to decide what each of our sweet babies would be known by. We have never been so validated by a naming decision as we have been with Keegan Joy. While her fierceness shows in the passion and completeness she does everything with, what radiates even more is her joy. After spending much of her first year and a half angry at the world around her, she shines with joy most of the time. And she still gets angry and upset, but I truly believe her happiness more than makes up for her almost unmatched fits. 

This joy billows forth from within her in so many ways. In the way she will give a gracious laugh when she knows someone is trying to be funny. In the way she points and laughs and then continues to laugh because she finds joy in her own laughter. In the way she loves to be tickled and in the way she begs for more tickles even after you think she is done. And in the way that she can't suppress a smile. My favorite evidence of this is when we play a "game" with the girls, asking them to show us various faces depending on whether they are sad, mad, scared, etc. Keegan gives some fierce angry and sad faces, but you have to be quick to catch them. The sweet girl will only show those emotions for moments before her eyes start crinkling, her smile spreads across her face, and her face disappears behind her hands in peals of laughter. 

I love her insatiable joy!