Magdalene:
Technically Magdalene simply means "Of Magdala", with Magdala being a city. The word "Magdala" means "tower" or "fortress" or "elevated, great, magnificent".
But, as you might guess, we named our daughter after Mary Magdalene from the Bible. Mary Magdalene appears in the Luke 8:2, when Jesus healed her of seven demons. After this, she became one of his most loyal followers. When all of his male disciples (except for John) disappeared at his crucifixion, Mary Magdalene remained. She was also the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection, according to John 20 and Mark 16:9.
Andy and I particularly like the account where Mary Magdalene witnesses the resurrection, found in John 20:11-18:
"But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"—and that he had said these things to her."
Our prayer is that our daughter will have the same fierce love and devotion to Jesus that Mary Magdalene had.
Rose:The name Rose is after Darlene Deibler Rose (1917-2004), a missionary to the Kapauku the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II. After the onset of the war, she was taken captive to a Japanese concentration camp, where she lived for four years. Her husband was taken to a different concentration camp, where he died, leaving her as a widow at the age of 26. During this time, Darlene spent one year in confinement, was beaten, contracted dysentery and malaria, and suffered many hardships. After the end of WWII, she returned to the United States, remarried, and returned back to her beloved Indonesia to live among the people whom she lovingly referred to as "my people". She served there for a total of about 35 years, where she and her husband served by teaching, preaching, providing medical aid, and much more.
When sharing her story, Darlene would adamantly say, "I would do it all again for my Savior."
Our prayer is that our daughter would passionately serve, follow, and trust Jesus, just as Darlene Deibler Rose did.
