Anna Grace

The name Anna shows up all over my family tree. It's timeless and beautiful, and a palindrome to boot (for Adam). I've loved the name for years and known that if I had a little girl that she would be named Anna.

When Anna was born we passed along to her the name of my mother and grandmother. In so doing we gave her more than a beautiful name - we gave her a legacy.

Our bold hope and prayer is that our Anna will inherit more from her grandmothers than her name.

Simply put, my grandmother is a saint. She is wise, filled with enduring patience, and a woman after God's own heart. I consider her presence in my life one of its greatest blessings. Her character is marked by integrity, selflessness and faith. In her nineties she is a shadow of her former self both physically and mentally, but her steely determination, steadfastness and servanthood can never be compromised and shall never, ever be forgotten.

My mother inherited her mother's name and her beautiful spirit. I can say with confidence that I know no one who matches her in both depth and readiness of compassion and tenderness of heart. She loves freely and openly and gives of herself fully to all in need. She has a generous, joyful, loving and infectious spirit. Like her mother, she is a prayer warrior and a pillar of faith. Her hospitality and generosity is the stuff of legends. She is a wonderful, beautiful woman.

Her middle name, Grace, eluded us for some time. But once it came to us we knew it was right. There is nothing more that we could wish for our daughter than for her to embody grace. To receive it, to give it and to live in it. Grace.

And so she was named Anna Grace.