Thursday, April 16, 2009

And Her Name Shall Be...

Ava Francis Hanks

After much deliberation and negotiation, Baby Girl now has a name!
She is named after two godly women who took the time to teach Shawn and me about Jesus. We could not be more happy that Ava Francis will remind us every day of my aunt,
Avis Fay
and Shawn's grandmother,
Francis Juanita.
(and yes, we know she spelled Francis with the male spelling, but we're keeping it authentic!)

My aunt, Avis or Cissy as we called her, went to be with Jesus in her early 30's and left behind a niece that loved being her "pal" as I would often call her. She took me to church with her, let me spend the night with her, and she taught me all about wearing high heels and polishing my nails beautifully. Most of all she was an example of loving Jesus and I'm most thankful for that.

Francis Juanita, was a great lady who loved the Lord with a zeal and passion I have never seen. She taught Shawn and his siblings so much about the importance of serving others and loving God's Word. Shawn and his brothers have vivid and fun memories of spending summers at Granny's house stirring up mischief and attending every vacation Bible school that existed in deep East Texas. When it was time to leave Granny's house the boy's would have a contest to see who could say the last "I love you" to Granny.

So, Ava Francis, we are excited to meet you and someday tell you the fun stories about the two great ladies you are named after.

“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1)

13 comments:

Ashley said...

I love it! Ava is a favorite of mine... and what a legacy!

Enjoying Life Together said...

Well, I just started my day off with tears. :) A beautiful name indeed. Grandmother would be proud. And I'm sure your dad is proud to hear the name as well. ~S

Shawn said...

:)
-daddy

Sumer said...

Beautiful! As I have said before, Ava just goes so well with all your other kid names...and that the name has special meaning to you both makes it even better!

Gay Hanks said...

My mother's mother, Nancy Jane Peters Spears, her mother was named Sarah Frances Peters. I don't know where the change of spelling came in. I have found some of mother's papers with Francis and others with Frances. I would have thought my grandmother would have spelled it like her mother's name since she named my mother after her mother.

My mother would be trilled to death to know Shawn named one of his daughters after her.

Thank you Heather for being so thoughtful of yours and Shawn's past family members.

I think we all should always remember where and who we came from.

Love,
Gay

Erin said...

Love it! Great choice!

Big Nanny said...

Love it but slightly disappointed that I'm not calling one of the local monogram ladies to tell them I need a burp cloth that says: Daisy;)

Anonymous said...

Finally!!!! I was beginning to think we would be calling her BG.(Baby Girl) I like it. It's a beautiful name.

Love, Gran

Jessica said...

That is such a beautiful name with beautiful meaning behind it. Can't wait to meet her!

CEU said...

That is beautiful. And your stories...those sweet memories are making me tear up. Sweet, sweet, sweet!

Anonymous said...

Can we call her Frankie? (jk!) I can't wait to meet her :) And just so you know, my sister-in-law has been calling her Ava this whole time. She has a sense about these things.

Sonja said...

Good, strong name. I love it! Really I'm just singing praise that you didn't choose Daisy.......not that there's really anything wrong with that name.....I just picture puppies or poles. I'm just sayin'.

Roger aka POP said...

Heather,

Breautiful Name.

I love it.

Dad/Pop