If I had a nickle for every person who has ever called me Audrey...

I've been thinking in the past few days about my name. My full name, and yes, I am going to use it on the internet, is Aubree Ellyn Redmond. My parents are creative individuals, and I have been told that it is derived from very many sources. Specifically, my first name is after a song by Bread, called Aubrey. It isn't spelled Aubrey, obviously. The reason for that is that my dad is a super big Lord of the Rings freak, and read my mom the trilogy while she was on bedrest when she was pregnant with my brother and I who are twins. The "bree" part of my name is after the town of Bree in Lord of the Rings. My middle name, is Ellyn, with a Y, and is specifically after my great aunt Helen, who was a writer. My parents, however, felt that Aubree Helen sounded funny, so they had the brilliant idea of changing it to Ellen. Again, that is not how it's spelled. I live close to a town called Glen Ellyn, and my parents thought it would be fun to name me after the town. I still have yet to find out exactly what did or didn't happen in that town that caused my parents to name me after it, nevertheless, that is my name. Aubree Ellyn Redmond.

When I was little, a hated my name. It was different, and people always accidently called me Audrey instead of Aubree. If they managed to actually call me by the right name, they would spell it wrong, as Aubrey rather than Aubree. It drove me insane. I also felt that it wasn't pretty. I wanted a name like my friends had. I wanted to be named Cathy, like the girl from Barney, then after I went through that phase, I wanted to change my name to Abigail. Soon, it became Rose, then Lily, then Melissa, and then I started to express myself creatively in the names Fern (like the girl in Charlotte's Web) and even, yes, believe it or not, Emerald (this one I came up with on my own...I don't know why). To make a long story short, which I guess I don't really know how to do, I just really didn't like my name. It wasn't until I was older that I began to appreciate it. I started to realize how nice it is to not have a common name, like Sarah, or Lauren, or Katie. I also started realizing how much I like it that my parents put thought into my name, because I started to see how much my name has shaped who I am. In the past years, having an uncommon name has challenged me to be an uncommon person, I think. If I were a Sarah or a Katie, I think it would've been easy for me to conform (as silly as that sounds) to what the entire world was doing. Being an Aubree automatically makes me different, and I've learned that this isn't a bad thing. Being an Aubree has also taught me about confrontation, and how to correct people with grace and how to be forgiving. As mentioned earlier, I'm often refered to as "Audrey" and my name has been mis-spelled more times than it has been spelled correctly. I have found that I've had to correct those around me more times than not when it comes to my name, and I've had to learn to do it in a way that efficiently gets my point across, yet offers grace and forgiveness on the front end. It's also helped me to learn how to stand up for myself, because there was a time when I would've just let the mistake slide.

There are also a few places in my life where I've completely been thrilled to see my name. When I was in the 5th grade, I had a pretty big part in the dinner theater play that my previous church had put on. I was Officer Hanson, a dispatch officer that worked for the NYPD (I believe), and had I think about 17 lines. One of the times I was proudest of the name I held, was when I saw the program read... Officer Hanson ............................ Aubree Redmond. Another time, when I was probably about 10, I entered a raffle to win the new Millenium Beanie Baby. They pulled the name out of the bin, and yelled "AUBREE REDMOND!" I was in pure shock. The next thing I knew, my brother was saying "Hey! That's my sister! Right here!" as he tugged me by the arm. I believe I cried as I accepted my prize. That beanie baby is worth all of $4.99 (I check periodically on Ebay) now. Still, it sits in my room, enclosed in the plastic case it came in, just to remind me how happy that day was. I also once called into a Christian radio station, trying to be the 6th caller or something, and won a gift certificate to a pancake house. They replayed my phone call about ten minutes later, and hearing them introduce me..."Aubree Redmond" as the winner, was possibly one of the more exciting days in my life. Having my name on the acceptance letter to the college I'm going to in the fall, or on the schedule for the church worship team, seeing someone I love call me "Aub" in a message on Facebook or an email, they're all completely wonderful ways to see my name. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I've learned to love my name.

Mainly though, the point I'm trying to make of all of this confusion, is that the very best thing about my name, the thing that will never ever be beaten by the lists of ways I can see my name in positive lights, is that God, the maker of the universe, the creator of the earth, the author of every story of every person and every place, knows my name. He never calls me Audrey, or spells it with a y. In fact, God, the lover of my soul, knows every single hair on my head, every particle in my body and adam that I'm made up of. God, all powerful, ultimate, all-mighty ruler over the entire earth, knows me. He knows my name. In fact, He has my name written in the Book of Life, and yours can be there, too. See, that's what's amazing about God, He doesn't just know my name, He knows yours, whether you seek Him or you don't, and He loves you, and calls you His own. And that, my friends, is the greatest peice of knowledge I will ever have to share.