What's in a Name?

Well it's official...we have a name for our sweet baby boy!

Jude Allen Davis

How we came to this decision?
Glad you asked:
Davis - well we thought it would best to keep the Davis tradition going and would definitely be less confusing if he had the same last name as us :) haha
Allen - he will be the 3rd generation to bear this name from James' family. This name means noble.
Jude - 1st, we love that it's Biblical! 2nd, we also love that he was one of Jesus' brothers. In the beginning of the book of Jude, he states that he is a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother to James (Jesus' brother). I immediately love his humbleness in this statement. That above all else he expresses his faithfulness to serving Jesus and not stating his claim to fame as His kinship. We all know that God blessed us with the right to say we are brothers and sisters of Christ but Jude was sure to say he is a servant first. Oh what an example to us all. 3rd, Jude means "praise". We wanted to give him a namesake that will be a reminder of who he is in Christ. To explain this further we found specific scripture to show Jude who he is created to be and who he is created to serve.

Psalm 103:1-5

Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!

What a sweet reminder for Jude to focus on as he learns what it means to praise the Lord with his whole heart. These 5 verses also give him a complete picture of the Gospel, that he is forgiven, healed, redeemed, and ultimately crowned with love and mercy. I can't wait to make this his life mission statement. Something to write on the tablet of his heart (Proverbs 3:3), that he was named Jude because he was created to praise God and to receive His grace. James and I also realized that these verses have a piece of each of us wrapped up in them. James specifically loves the part about our redemption from death and the crown that follows and I relate to the tender mercies God grants. And finally we love the reference to the eagle at the end. What a strong visual image of what it looks like to be a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). As an eagle ages his eyesight dims and his feathers and wings become heavy. To rejuvenate himself, the eagle flies up to the sun's region where the mist over his eyes and old heavy feathers are burned away. The eagle will then plunge three times into water, and its youth is restored! So just as the eagle renews himself in the sun, we can renew ourselves in the Son- Jesus (also found in Isaiah 40:31)!

What a privilege it will be to raise a man of God, we are praying early on that Psalm 103:1-5 will help Jude understand what it looks like to be just that, a man after God's own heart - because heaven knows we can't do this for him!