What's in a name?

When we found out we were expecting a baby girl and took great care in choosing her name, I sent out an email to our family. I wanted to post it on our blog page too for those of you who may not have seen the email explaining her name. Most of you know by now, that we are going to have a baby girl in August. Most of you also know how much we value the names we choose for our little ones. Carter Stokes and Summer Journey both have so much meaning in our lives and we did not want this little one to feel slighted in any way. We took longer than we have in the past to choose her name because we wanted it to be so very special as we are confident she is going to be to us! That being said we know many of you are so curious to know her name and we want to share in this special moment with each of you, though many of you are far away from us. The name God laid on on our hearts and the name we have chosen for our little girl is Tilly Brooke. We hope that all of you will begin to pray for her by name as we await her arrival. We chose the name Tilly because of our time in New Orleans. We lived in the "Gentilly" area of New Orleans. The seminary was located on Gentilly and the name of our apartments were Gentilly. Our time at seminary completely changed our marriage and our lives forever, we believe. We are confident that we would not be where we are today were it not for those two years spent in that special city. We wanted to take a part of that with us and pass it along to our children. We want to be constantly reminded of God's provision for us while we were living in New Orleans. We have always wanted to use the name Brooke because of a special friend in our lives. Brooke and I were prayer partners our first summer to work camp together in Nashville in 2003. Brooke prayed over me and with me all summer about moving to New Orleans. She also taught me about being a godly wife and what it means to submit to my husband. I was struggling with moving to New Orleans because that meant leaving my family again and not returning to school. Ironically enough, Brooke was not even married at the time! She is married now and she and her husband, Jason, live in California. They continue to be a godly example and encouragement to us through their ministry. We believe God used Brooke at a critical point in our lives to help lead us down the path He chose for us. (You can view Brooke's blog from my page to see what she and her husband are up to now!) We hope that you will find Tilly's name as precious and special as we do. We hope that you will continue to pray for our rapidly growing family. Carter and Summer have both been amazing blessings in our lives and we are excited to see how God is going to use them and baby Tilly to further His kingdom. Join us in praying that for our children.