Our Anna Lynn is here! She was born February 13, 8:36 a.m., 7 lbs., 6oz., 19 inches.
God told me I'd have a daughter named Anna years ago when Brian and I were dating. I already liked the idea of naming a daughter of mine Anna, and God spoke quietly in my heart when Brian and I were in a Christian bookstore one day. I looked up and saw "Anna" on one of those Scripture name cards that used to be so popular, and it was the only name I even focused in on, out of all the others. God whispered to me that day that I'd have a daughter named Anna.
I had thought about the name Anna as a name for a daughter, because it is the last four letters of my maiden name. It has always been a part of me. I was always very aware of the "anna" at the end of my name, from when I was a child, to when I became a teacher and I wrote my name on the white board to introduce myself to my students.
My middle name is also Ann, and my parents, for the first few years of my life, called me "Ann" or "Annie" more than they called me "Courtney".
At the time, I wasn't even thinking about the Anna from the Bible. We purposely chose Bible names for our boys: Caleb from the Old Testament, and Silas from the New. It seemed like God took care of that for me. Long before I realized I'd want to name my children after godly people from the Bible, God already took care of this little detail. You'll find Anna in the book of Luke, Chapter 2. She was a prophetess who spoke about Jesus.
When we were pregnant with Caleb, we chose to be surprised about the gender. Brian agreed wholeheartedly to the name Anna, so we needed to settle on a middle name. So many names go well with Anna. "Anna Grace", "Anna Mae" for example. I actually had a student for one year whose name was "Annalynn". I always loved how it rolled off the tongue, and while I cannot say I'm naming my daughter after my former student, this student of mine was sweet and kind, and that certainly didn't hurt my view of the name. So, after some discussion, Brian and I were settled on our daughter's name. We chose this name before we even chose Caleb's name!
We've waited for her for years. We love her so much! She is absolutely beautiful.
Every birth has its own story. The next post will be Anna's birth story!
