And her name is...

This is our third baby. It's our first girl. We've always said that picking a girl name would be easy. We've had a 10 year old running list of names for girls. Boys names were hard for us to come up with. The irony in all this is that I am 9 months pregnant/38 weeks and WE JUST NAMED our baby girl. I guess too many choices isn't a good thing either. But for all those out there wondering...her name is....

Evelina Joy Goulart Pierce 

 

Her first name, Evelina (that's fun to type!!!) is after Eveline whom Aaron and I met on our first mission trip. It was the Campus Crusade trip that Aaron and I also met, got to know one another, and fell in love. We met Eveline very randomly on a bus and we've since called her an angel of a ministry partner. She was so eager to participate in what God was doing on her college campus at the time. She was a sweet friend and a gift to us during those beginning days of our relationship.

 

We gave our baby girl Joy as a middle name because of God's recent lessons in our life (OK - maybe more just mine). Over the last 1-1.5 years, God has shown me the importance of being grounded in Him for my joy. I've known this lesson in my head for a long time. It's all over scripture,

Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice...

May the Spirit of God fill you with joy and peace as you trust him... For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit...You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence

Joy in scripture is never connected to a circumstantial reality. It doesn't refer to people experiencing joy because things were good, or because they had plenty, or because they were living well. Joy as it's referred to in the bible is a reality because of Jesus, the one who lives inside His people, is the JOY maker.  That has been my lesson. Though I new this in my head - over the last year or so the lesson has traveled the 10 inches from my brain into my heart. I now know in a very practical way what it is to choose joy when your circumstances don't produce joy! So there you are sweet Evelina- Your middle name will always remind me of this sweet lesson God chose a good bit of your pregnancy to teach me.

Goulart is my maiden name. All of our children have it in their names right before their last name. It's Brazilian tradition that the child carries the mothers name as well. But for us there was more than tradition that went into the decision of putting Goulart in their name. That portion of their name tells a story. It tells the story of my parents and the endless obstacles they over came to give me the life they did. It speaks of perseverance, of courage, of valuing the family, and so much more. Thus their names all have Goulart. If it had not been for my parents willingness to go against all odds and risk everything for our family, I wouldn't be birthing yet another precious Brazilian American baby with endless opportunities before her.

And of course there's Pierce. A name that has become so precious to me. I carry it proudly. It's my husband's name. He too has been a fighter since a very early age. He stands for the cause of Christ with the most strength and conviction that anyone I know. He leads our family to do the same. He is incredibly wise. He's an exceptional leader while still a tender daddy who loves to wrestle and get dirty with me in parenting. I couldn't be more honored to carry the name and to pass it on to our precious children. I pray they will carry the name as well as their daddy has! There's big shoes to fill!

So there's the reason for Evelina Joy Goulart Pierce. We are eager to welcome you baby girl!

Way too long

This is by far the longest amount of time I've gone between posts. I feel like I was caught in a whirlwind and am still attempting to get out. The boys and I left Brazil on May 6th and traveled to NYC. We were there until the 26th. Our first two weeks consisted of seeing friends and catching up with NYC. It was a sweet time. Aaron met up with us on week 3 of our time there and we celebrated graduation. It was INCREDIBLE. God did tremendous things in the last two years and we were able to celebrate that among family and friends.

 

 

 

 

We also got to celebrate Austin's fourth birthday in NY. All the family gathered to go to the Bronx zoo. In the afternoon we had a party at Dolphin Playground at Riverside Park (one of our favorite parks in NYC). It was a sweet time. Unfortunately, I guess I didn't take any pictures at the zoo, but here are some of the birthday party. The boys best buds were there to join in celebrating him. The same 6 that were together for his 3rd birthday :) What deep gratitude we have for these friends!

 

 

After leaving NY, the boys and I made our way to Texas and Aaron made is way to Brazil. I think as a family, we were all surprised by how difficult it was to be apart. We anticipated hardship, but it stretched us more than expected. Though being apart was rough, we were so thankful to be amongst family and friends who love us so well. We got to swim a ton (both of the boys are now swimming like fishes), catch up with sweet friends, and enjoy the family that is in Texas. Meanwhile, Aaron worked his tail off to finish school, hand back our apartment, and close the chapter in Brazil. He after leaving Brazil, he flew to NYC to pick up our things that had been left in storage. His best bud Micah flew there from Texas to meet him and they drove our belongings across the country.  On July 8th we were finally reunited as a family. It was a breath of fresh air to be able to hug one another. The boys were thrilled to see Daddy, and I exhaled in his embrace! Though our time apart was so challenging, it made me appreciate how each member of our family values the unity we share!

We hit the ground running after Aaron's arrival. We had to buy two cars, research preschool options for the boys, consider what we were going to do for housing (we were still staying with his mom),  explore health insurance options and OH - prepare for having another baby! It has been wild! In the midst of the craziness we tried to catch up and enjoy some much needed time as a family. A highlight of that was a little vacation at Possum Kingdom Lake made possible through the generosity of our friends Dan and Gayle Grant who allowed us to spend the week at their lake house. I love our little family!

Now we have transitioned to our churches missions house. We have been gifted with residing here until December. We will likely only stay for another month to 6 weeks as we have a contract on a house for purchase! If all goes well, we will officially be home owners by the end of September. This will be the first time we've owned a house in our 10 years of marriage! How exciting! We won't move into the house right away,  as our baby girl is due about the same time we close on the house. So we will slowly move things into the home and hopefully reside there sometime in October.

Whew! This was quite a post. For you to be able to grasp the craziness of our life, this blog post has been composed with 5 times of me sitting at the computer to write. Little by little right?!?! It's by no means exhaustive. I wish I had written while in NYC to be able to fully capture the elation of graduation, the delight of being among dear kindred spirit friends, and the joy of being in NYC again. I wish I had more pictures of being reunited with friends and family in Texas to share. I wish I had blogged while at Possum Kingdom to fully articulate the gratitude for my little family. But I've decided if I want to back track and write out all that I missed, I won't ever blog again. Truth is, I love to blog. It's refreshing. It is a means for me to process and remember my long list of things to be grateful for. So here's to returning to the blog world! I sure hope I am able to stay more on top of blogging now that I'm back. But the reality is a baby's about to rock my world again. So all I can promise is that I'll do my best!

Thanks for caring to read this blog and follow our crazy journey!