Annelies Raquel

On November 18th, Lisa gave birth to our third child.  

We decided early on that we would wait until the delivery to learn the gender of the baby, but felt throughout that we were about to have our third boy.  To our great surprise, we are now the very proud parents of our first little girl, Annelies Raquel.  We have arrived back home.  Mother and child are doing remarkably well.  Annelies' brothers are completely smitten with their new little sister and have often been seen whispering to her while she sleeps.  

As with each of our boys, we sought to name this precious one with a future and blessing in mind - a name we pray and parent our child lives in to.  

Annelies (pronounced ahn Nah lees) ~ Annelies is an old-world name that is a marrying of two names, Anna and Elizabeth.  Anna and Elizabeth were two women-prophets featured early in the life of Jesus.  

Anna was an aged prophet who stood alongside Simeon in the temple when Joseph and Mary brought their young son, Jesus to the temple.  It was said of Anna that she gave thanks to God and preached to those who longed for the restoration of their great city.  

Elizabeth, was the daughter of preachers and encourager of women, the mother of a prophet and the aunt of a Savior.  A noble heritage to be sure.  

Raquel (Spanish for Rachel) ~ Raquel is Lisa's middle name, a name she was given in honor of her dear aunt who defected from Cuba just a few years ago.  In my (Matthew's) mind, Lisa has been, like Anna and Elizabeth before her, a woman who has spoken prophetically, preached, prayed, and encouraged those who long for the restoration of whatever cities one may call home.  And, she's raising not one, but two prophets (Nathan & Elias).  With that in mind, we've given our daughter the name of her mother.

We hope that you will celebrate with us, the birth of Annelies Raquel.