A Name to Honor 92 Years

Today is a very special day - my Grandmother Genelle Lowery's 92nd birthday. This wonderful Christian lady not only has impacted my life in a great way, but many in her church, family and community. I've never known a better Christian who lived their life exactly the way the bible instructs. She has spent her life in service to the Lord and other people, and is very unselfish in everything she does (especially in putting up with my crazy grandfather for almost 60 years). She truly loves her friends, neighbors and family and has made life for my family very special. Today she is in pain, her body broken down after all these years - but her just being here, being involved in our lives is a tremendous gift. So, thank you, "Mam-ma Teedy" for being such a wonderful grandmother, great-grandmother and providing such an excellent example of God's love.

So how do we honor her? Well, we've already got one little girl named for our family, so we decided to make it two. Baby Girl DeVore now has an official name: Lily Elle DeVore, and we will call her Elle. Lily is for my great-grandmother - and Elle for Genelle, my grandmother. Plus, Elle means "God's Promise" - and she definitely is that! And I have to give credit to Kandi, my cousin, for the idea for the name. Thanks girl! Happy Birthday Mam-ma, we are so happy that every time we look at both of our precious girls and call their names it will remind us of you. Here is a pic of Lowery and Mam-ma Teedy. And here is your first real glimpse of Lily Elle - a 4-D ultrasound pic from yesterday!!

Pray for my friend helping in Haiti

One of my dearest friends, Brianne (who is the one helping us keep an eye on our home in Springdale by living there while we are gone) has a brother, Shea, who is in Haiti helping. He is an orthopedic surgeon who is in the Navy and was deployed there just after the quake. Watch this video and say a prayer for him, for the challenges he's facing, for strength and for a safe return home - his wife, Holly, has a scheduled c section on March 11 and at the very end of her pregnancy so say a prayer for her, too, as she makes it through this time without him. They are a very special family!

http://www.mtv.com/videos/misc/474793/suchin-pak-describes-how-every-donation-could-help-save-a-life.jhtml#id=1630264

2nd child harder to name??

Well I am going to try and get this blog thing back up and going. I know we have lots to keep our long-distance friends and family up to date on, so I will try to get back into the swing of things. With this baby on the way I want to keep everyone in the loop (and thanks to all the NWArk friends who "gently" reminded me I am NOT doing that). Can you believe I'm already halfway through the pregnancy (20 weeks)? Crazy. Which brings me to my opening topic on baby girl DeVore, which is we don't have a clue on what to name her.

Why is your second child so much harder to name than the 1st? I'm sure those of you have more than 2 would say it gets even harder as you go on. Why is that - thoughts? Comments? Now that we have Lowery, and that name is so tied to family, so uniquely her, it seems impossible to find another fit. Of course we had one for a boy ready to go, but God doesn't seem to trust us with raising boys - I'm not sure I trust us for that matter either - so no "Noble" on the way. For years I have wanted to name another girl Lily - my great-grandmother's name, the beloved "Mama Foster". I still love Lily, but it's like number 5 on the top 100 names of 2009. I want unique, I'm not sure I want her to share a name with 3 other girls in her class.

So we've started the search. We really like using family names, and we've poured through genealogy books - found lovely options such Mattie Florence, Inez and Della Belle. And can't forget the group of sisters named Ruby, Opal and Pearl. All beautiful people, just not necessarily ideal names. Speaking of the 3 "gem" sisters, Steve's grandmother has a beautiful name that we love - June (and it would mean a lot to him to name a baby after her). But he should have thought about that before marrying a girl with another month as a name. We can't be that family - Steve, Lowery, April and June. I can hear the, "where's May?" comments now. Anyway, nothing seems right and nothing seems to stick in our mind. Steve suggested doing a facebook poll of our final candidates - uh, no. So I guess we will have to keep deliberating. The original idea of Lily Claire is still up for consideration, but we're hoping for something a little more unique. I will post a list of final candidates soon (and don't worry, Mattie Florence or Inez probably won't make the cut). Anyone have a name they're dying to share with us?