Dear Ava Agapé

I am so excited to meet you.  You’ve made yourself known as you start jumping and jiving every night around 10 pm, throwing crazy dance parties.  I think you’ve had more cases of the hiccups than Caleb and Sophia combined!  I’m looking forward to seeing your face, touching your little fingers and toes, and showing you off to Caleb and Sophia.  They are so excited and are asking about you and your birthday constantly.  I think what I’m most excited about is seeing you snuggle up in your daddy’s arms.  You’ll find that he’s a champion snuggler!

While we await your arrival, I thought I’d take advantage of a little extra time and share how we decided on your name.  Ava Agapé, we love you already even though we barely know you.  We want your name to remind you of the God who loves you already, when he already knows your birthday and every day after that.  He knows your good days and your bad days, your strengths and weaknesses, and he loves you.  He loves you so much he gave Jesus, his Son, so you could have true life.  It’s that kind of life-giving, hope-inspiring, sacrificial, unconditional, and powerful love that your name reminds us of.  We pray it’ll lead you to do the same. 

Ava, meaning life-giver, stems form the name Eve, which reminds us not only of the mother of all mankind, but even more so of the God who gave Eve life.  God, the Creator of the universe with all its delicacies, complexities, and beauty, made life out of nothing, simply by speaking.  If God can do that, is anything too hard for him?  Whatever you need, he can provide.  He’s ordained and planned each of your days and will sustain you and give you life through Jesus.  We pray you’ll view each breath you take as a gift from our Creator God, who gives and sustains true life. 

Not only did God give life in creation, but also through his Son, Jesus.  Agapé is a word that describes the kind of sacrificial, life-giving love that Jesus has shown through his death and resurrection.  How amazing is it that God gave his Son, his perfect and only Son, over to death so that you and I could live!  When Jesus died, he took our sin on himself, paying the penalty that we should pay, and offering us forgiveness, redemption, and life in return.  This is not a fair trade.  This is not a love that we can earn or ever deserve, yet we can know without a doubt that it’s true.  God, the creator of the universe, loves you, Ava Agapé. We pray you will always know that fact and be amazed by it. 

God’s love is so much more than a simple little letter can describe, so make sure you remember these passages from the Bible.  (1 John 3:16, Psalm 136, Romans 8:28-39, Romans 5:8, Philippians 2:1-11, 1 John 4:9-12, 1 Corinthians 13) I’m also praying Ephesians 3 for you.  In verses 17-19, it says, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” This is my prayer for you. 

With love,

Mom