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,

Maternity Pictures

As we have prepared to meet our little girl, we wanted to make sure that we celebrated every step of the journey. One of the things that I was really nervous about was taking maternity pictures. I have never been fully comfortable taking pictures, but especially in a state where I haven't always felt the most beautiful, it was hard for me to want to take pictures.

But, boy am I glad that we did! These pictures are so special to me and represent a beautiful time in our lives. Each of these pictures perfectly captures our little family right now and I am so grateful for these images. We had them taken by Aurora Henry with Soulful Snapshots Photography in  Lorena and we love these images.

One of the most special things for us from this shoot was that I wore the necklace we bought after the miscarriage to remember our sweet baby in heaven. It was a surreal and special thing to have that reminder as we celebrated sweet Ellesyn.

Hopefully soon, I will post pictures of the nursery!

Until Next Time,

The Latest in our LIves

We are insanely busy! It seems as though every time I sit down to blog, something happens that causes me to change those plans. However, today, I will FINALLY update on our lives!

I am almost through my first semester teaching at Midway High School! It has gone by so fast, but has been absolutely fabulous! The end of the first six weeks was tricky, as I was put in the hospital for kidney stones...yuck! Thankfully, I have not had more pain since the end of the six weeks, so luckily things are good. My students are fabulous, and although there are days when I am tired and stressed by it all, I absolutely love what I am doing!

Ty is super busy with graduate school and youth ministry. This weekend, we will be having a lock in at our church, so life is constantly busy and crazy! He is enjoying his class, although he is also somewhat tired of graduate school too. I think that once this semester ends, things will be so much better!

In just a few days, we will celebrate our SECOND wedding anniversary!! It is so crazy how fast time flies! We cannot wait to spend some time just celebrating this special day! We have decided that each year in November, we will have family pictures made. This is when our family started, and we want to remember this special time in our lives. Our sweet friend Katie at Katie Beth Photography took these pictures (she also did our Mother's Day pictures that you can see here!)  I promise that I will do much better (or at least try to!) at blogging, but hopefully this brief update will be good enough for now!

Until Next Time,

S.N.A.C at the Vaughn's!

It's summer, y'all! Well, for most people it is. I started back to work on Monday and have FOUR classes standing between me and my master's degree. It hasn't hit me yet that this summer is going to be crazy, but I am really excited for it all!

One of the things that we are implementing this summer is an event that we call "SNAC". SNAC stands for Sunday Night After Church and it is an opportunity for our youth to interact with members of the church at their homes. We love our sweet little church and we value the community that is developed by being around other members of our congregation. This past Sunday, we had our first SNAC at Greg and Mary Ann's house. Greg is our music minister and we are so blessed to have him and his sweet wife as part of our church family!  The evening was filled with Mexican food, sombreros, charades, basketball, volleyball, and so much more! We had a great time!

Sunday morning, Lavenia and Kacie led the children's sermon and it was wonderful! It was so sweet to see them share their hearts with the younger kids in our church. I could not have been more proud of them! 

Of course, they had to take a couple of selfies on my phone =) 

They have a horse whose name is Shiloh; we have adopted him as our church mascot. 

Towards the end of the night, Lindsey and I laid on the trampoline and just visited about life while the rest of the kiddos played badmitton. I am so blessed with her and her friendship. She has been a constant joy to my life and I am thankful for her loving spirit! 

On Monday, Ty and two of our youth will head to Super Summer for the week! Please be praying for them all: for Ty specifically, pray for his health. He has been working so hard lately and his body is feeling it. For the two kiddos, that they have open hearts to hear the Lord this week and that they are radically changed by God's grace. 

Until Next Time, 

Memorial Day Fun

This year for Memorial Day, Ty and I went to Jacksonville, TX to see our sweet sister and her family. This was the first time that we have gotten to go and meet Savannah Claire, and it was wonderful. We spent lots of time outside, enjoying the beautiful weather and visiting with family.

After we left there, we went through Kilgore to see Daniel, a friend from Seminary, and his family. We are so grateful for his friendship and we had a blast visiting with his family, eating DELICIOUS food, swimming and watching basketball and movies. We only were there for one night, but it was wonderful and very needed.

Savannah Claire

All three of my little loves. 

Riley and I after playing softball. This girl is pretty fantastic! 

this isn't just for Savannah!

love her. 

My sweet husband with Savannah

Ty, Samuel and Savannah

Riding Bikes...such a big boy!

My two nieces. love them so much!

Ty and the littles. 

sweet Savannah Claire. 

They LOVED pumping up Ty's boot with air. hilarious!

We were able to play outside before the storms hit. Beautiful weather! 

We took a trip to Barnes and Noble. Loved carrying around this beauty. 

Last picture of the Trip! 

I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend, and pray that in the midst of all the fun and excitement, you took a moment to remember our fallen soldiers and those who choose to still defend us today.

Until Next Time,