What's In a Name?

Elliana is such a blessing to us in so many ways. We went through a really hard time before she came along. I had two miscarriages prior to getting pregnant with her. I started acupuncture to help balance out my hormones and prepare my body to get pregnant again. When I did finally get pregnant I went on progesterone treatment right away for the first 12 weeks. Once I got past 12 weeks, my doctor was confident that this pregnancy would make it through to a healthy delivery. Although the pregnancy was filled with times of doubt and worry, we trusted that God's plan and timing was always perfect!

After we found out we were having a girl it was time to pick a name. We had a list, but nothing that felt perfect. We thought that Ellie would be a good name, but "ele" in Portuguese means "boy," so we knew that couldn't be her name. We thought maybe it would be a good nickname, but then we needed a good name. I went to the library and checked out some baby name books. I looked in the "E" names and there it was - the perfect name. It was perfect, because Elliana means "The Lord answers prayers." And we knew that our little baby girl was such an answer to prayer. Because she was due in December, we decided to give her the middle name, Grace, after my grandmother, Grace, who was born on Christmas day. Grace also means "Gift from God, " another perfect meaning!! So we had our perfect name for our perfect little blessing: Elliana Grace