A precious gem

Over the past 2 weeks since Jemma's birth, people have been asking how we came up with her name. My short answer is that I found it in the baby name book we have. But really, it goes deeper than that...

Up until my 20-week sonogram, Brad and I were convinced we were having a boy. My pregnancy symptoms had been virtually non-existent. No morning sickness, no motion sickness, no all-day nausea...completely different than Gracelyn. Because of that, we had only been tossing around boy names.

I was excited about the prospect of having one girl and one boy...and maybe ending up with a balanced family of four. But God had other plans for us. Something that was abundantly clear after our sonogram. I'll admit, I was pretty disappointed. At first. But then God started changing my heart. I began to become excited about having two little girls.

And then I came across the name Jemma amid the 60,000+ names in our name book. I fell in love with the meaning, "precious gem/jewel." It felt as if God spoke to my heart in that moment. That our baby girl was truly His gift--His precious gem that we were being entrusted with to raise with loving commitment. It is my prayer that we will do just that, all in His name.