Nikolai's Kanji

Tonight, Dan and I finally chose kanji (the Chinese characters used in Japanese written language) for Nikolai's name. We had chosen Malakai's kanji when he was born (希魁  meaning "Aspiring Leader"), but hadn't yet chosen Niko's. We felt that this trip reflected what we hope for Niko in the future and selected kanji accordingly: 仁鼓雷. The characters mean "humanity," " beating (like a drum or heart)," and "thunder." Our hope for him is that he will have a heart that beats for humanity with the boldness of thunder. He won't remember this trip to Japan, but he will carry a reminder of it for the rest of his days in his name.