Behind Ellesyn's Name

One of the things that Ty and I did after getting married when we would take any lengthy drive (meaning anything longer than 10 minutes for me!) we would play car games and talk about all kinds of random things! One game we played was the "name game" where we would talk about names we liked for future kids and such.

We both knew we wanted our kids names to be special to us. We wanted our children to have names that were family names, biblical names or names that meant something special to us. So, fast forward a few years. When we found out last summer that we were pregnant, we already knew names for a  little boy or a little girl! After the miscarriage, we prayed constantly to be blessed with another child and once that prayer was answered, we immediately began praying for our child.

We knew we wanted to find out the gender so that we could specifically pray for our child and pray life into our baby. We both thought we were having a boy, which worked out perfect since we have several boy names we love and only had one girl name we knew we wanted one day.

Well, the Lord knew what he was doing by giving us a little girl! Ellesyn Ann Gist. The perfect addition to our little family. Ellesyn is a name that means so much to both of us and looking back, is the perfect answered prayer for us.

Ellesyn derives from the name Elias and means "that who comes from the Lord." When thinking about the prayers for our daughter that we knew we would pray, we wanted her to always know that she comes from the Lord. When she is stressed about her appearance, boys, school, sports, etc, we want her to know that no matter what frustrations or fears come, she is always in the Lord's hands.

Ann is a very special name to us as well. On my side of the family, several girls have the middle name Ann (or Anne). From both of my grandma's to my sister, niece and mom, it is a name that is all over our family. It is also Renee's mom's middle name, and although I never met her, love that it is a name that is special to Ty and his family too. For me, personally, Ann will always be my mom's middle name and I love that my daughter will always carry the same name of the woman who helped guide and shape me. My mom is my best friend and I hope that Ellesyn and I can have that same relationship one day.

After the miscarriage, my heart was so broken, but when I found out that I was going to be a mom again (and to a little girl!) I knew the Lord was also speaking truth to me through her and the legacy of her name that I, too, belong to the Lord and can have faith in knowing that I am in the palm of the Lord's hands!

So, there you have it! That is where Ellesyn Ann comes from! This might have been more information than you had bargained for, but it is important to me that Ellesyn know where her name comes from and how much we have been praying for her!

Until Next Time,