"Now, how do you pronounce her name again?"

This is one of the most frequent questions that we have gotten about our sweet babe. I thought I'd write a post on Elah's name and the meaning behind it. 

First off, naming a child is hard! It is so important and well, they are stuck with it! Taylor and I both knew that we wanted our daughter's name to mean something. We both believe in the power of speaking the Truth of God and the identity that we now have because of His sacrifice into the life of a person. As we were on the hunt we knew we wanted something unique but not something really out there. We began researching Hebrew words and their meanings. We came across two that we liked. One was Rinnah, pronounced like "Ren-Ah" which means a proclamation of joy and praise. The other name was Elah, pronounced like "Ee-lah". (Not Ella)

Elah means "mighty oak" in Hebrew. We loved the symbolism of this for many reasons. In the Bible, in both the New and Old Testament trees are used to convey strength, spiritual health, faithfulness, steadfastness, dependence on the Lord and many more things. Here are a few examples:

Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits at the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 

John 15:1-5 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does not bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that i have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him will bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 

This last verse is the verse that we pray will be Elah's life verse, a verse that we will pray for her as she grows and Lord willing, comes to know the goodess, grace, sacrafice, and faithfulness of the Lord. This is also the verse that I meditated on and clung to throughout labor and delivery. 

Jeremiah 17:7-8 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and it does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and it is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

Not only do trees have deep biblical significance, but a mighty oak is a tree that must be deeply rooted to support itself. We pray that Elah will deeply rooted in her faith and the Word of God. A mighty oak is unwavering, despite the conditions that it remains in. Our prayer is that despite the circumstances, hardships and tragedy that she encounters throughout her life that she will remain steadfast and unwavering in her faith, knowing that The Lord is good and He is faithful.

The final significance of Elah's name can be found in the pages of 1 Samuel where you read the unbelievable story of a small shepherd named David defeating a giant named Goliath by simply having total confidence and faith in God to do what he knew he could not do on his own. David defeated Goliath in the Valley of Elah. We pray that, like David, Elah would have the confidence and faith in the Lord to fight and win the battles that she cannot win alone. 

We love her name but we fear that we have cursed her for the rest of her life....

"Ella Jervis..... Is there an Ella Jervis in here?" 

Poor girl. Something tells me she will not have a hard time correcting them.  :)

Meeting Elah

I have been meaning to write a blog post on meeting our sweet girl for a while, but..... well things have been a bit crazy :) Elah Bailee arrived on February 9th 2014 after 31 long hours of labor. Yes, that's right, 31 hours of labor. To be honest, I wasn't all that scared of labor and delivery because I am pretty good at managing pain but after 31 hours of intense pain, I was certain of one thing... I couldn't manage anything on my own anymore. I wanted my birthing experience to be two things: to be dependent on the Lord for strength and for Taylor and I to experience a kind of unity that we had never experienced before. The Lord was gracious as always and allowed me to experience both.

Taylor was my champion all 31 hours. He truly amazed and impressed me more during those 31 hours than in the past 10 years and that is saying a lot. The Lord continued to strengthen both of us as labor became more intense.

When the time finally came to meet our sweet daughter there were what seemed like 15 people in our delivery room. Because my labor had gone so long there was an increased risk to Elah and I suppose the nurses had to be prepared for anything. Elah was healthy and we couldn't have been more grateful.

The moment they laid a tiny human on my chest was a moment that Taylor and I will never forget. I will never forget the look my husband's face when he saw his daughter for the first time. The most amazing experience of my life. Hands down. There she was, this sweet baby that the Lord had created inside of my belly. She was amazing. Half of me and half of the man I love, knit together in one beautiful baby girl. There are no words to explain the feeling of meeting your child for the first time. Simply amazing.

The weeks that followed were surprising to me. I am not sure how much of it was exhaustion and how much of it was my plummeting hormones but I have never been so weepy in my life. It seemed like every time someone would look at me I would cry. Again, my husband was a champ during these first weeks. He was steadfast and encouraging and gently reminded me over and over again that I just had a baby and that everything was ok. My mom and Laren stayed with us for a while and were such a help to us. They cooked and cleaned and stayed up with Elah while I caught up on some sleep.

Now, fast forwarding to 17 weeks later which is today. Motherhood is amazing. It is really difficult at times but it is amazing. I would say the hardest thing about motherhood is during all of the craziness and exhaustion is still being a good wife. Loving the Lord well is loving my husband well and loving my husband well is loving my daughter well. So, I am very much still in the baby stages of finding the balance of it all. I am grateful for motherhood already because the Lord is revealing so much of my selfishness to me. It's ugly but better out than in, right? God is good to us and gracious beyond measure. I am confident that we will look back on this season and see His faithfulness in using our daughter to make us more like His son and that is what it is all about.

This is what our bald beauty looked like when she was brand new :)