A good name is more desirable than great riches Proverbs 22:!

In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet says, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

I disagree with Shakespeare's words... I think a good name fits something/someone and is special to that person.  After going through infertility and struggling for quite a while to get pregnant, once we were (praise God!), we wanted good names with meaning.  Here's the story behind the names...

First names first:

Reese- we've always loved this name and it might come from my fav actress Reese Witherspoon... :)

Riley- my grandfather passed away last year.  My precious, giving parents gave us some of the money he left them to help us with the difficult financial side of infertility treatments.  (Our insurance covered ZERO.)  What a blessing that was!  

Middle names:

When Richey and I were wanting children for so long, my mom (and dad too!) would pray for us everyday.  She and a good friend from work-- who is a prayer warrior!-- would pray every morning together for our little girl (mom always has said that I'd have a girl and my sister would have a boy... she was right!).  One day her friend came into Mom's office and said "This may sound silly but I think we need name Amy's little girl when we pray-- a name with meaning so we are claiming this little girl and our prayers are more powerful.  I think we should pray for Abigail because it means "father's joy."  Mom loved this and added Grace-- Abigail Grace "Father's joy freely given."  They prayed and prayed for Abigail Grace for over a year.  Mom finally called me and told me this and we laughed and cried... and she assured me that we did not have to name our little girl Abigail Grace, but we liked it.  When we found out we were pregnant... with twins... she and her friend started praying for Abigail AND Grace.  :)  We decided to use Abigail and Grace as our girls' middle names.  We love the story and can't wait to tell them about it.  Tell them of God's goodness, his power, and how faithful He was in answering our prayers.  

So... we have:

Reese Abigail

and 

Riley Grace

on the way, and we can't WAIT!