“My sister Kia and I would have discussions about, ‘Oh, one day, when we have kids,” he said. “I brainstormed my own name for my future son, and I knew it was gonna be Isaac.”
The couple landed on Isaac’s first middle name, Menelik, during their trip to Ethiopia last holiday season. It means “son of the wise” and is also the name of the country’s first emperor.
Little Isaac’s second middle name, Giovanni (which translates roughly to John in English) is actually an homage to his great-grandfathers, both named John, as well as the founder of Justin’s childhood church.
Essentially, Justin explained, “Everything in his name is pointing to legacy.”
Graham and Justin also discussed their experience welcoming Isaac at home with no medication.
“I have to say, now that I gave birth and I did it naturally and I felt everything, I feel like there’s nothing I can’t do,” she said. “There’s nothing that could come my way where I say, ‘Oh, that’s too hard, I can’t handle that.’ I went through laboring for six hours naturally.”
Ultimately, Graham opted for to deliver Isaac at home in a birthing pool because she knew her “anxiety would’ve been through the roof” at a hospital.
“To go straight from the pool to the bed with our son and just hold him, what a bond,” Justin added.
All we can say is welcome to the world, Isaac Menelik Giovanni Ervin!
