All in a name

Have you ever looked up the meaning or origin or your name or your children's name?

Before we knew we were having a boy, I wrote out a list of boy's names. (I didn't need to write a list for girl's names because Cody had already named her Ellie Marie.) I got online and searched for Irish names since Cody has an Irish heritage and ancestry. My list probably had about 25 names. That night, we went to a Baylor baseball game and I decided to read my list to Cody. He shook his head at so many and then I said the name, "Hayes". He sat up a little straighter in his chair and said, "I like that name." So my response was, "Did we just name our little boy?", and indeed we had. We played around with the name the rest of the night and I even remember calling my parents to tell them. We both had it in our minds that he was going to play baseball so I would tell Cody, "And up to bat....number 4...Hayes Hall". It just sounded so very absolutely perfect and to name him at a baseball game made it even sweeter to Cody.

Several days after we had gotten admitted to the hospital, Cody's cousin sent him a text that referred to Hayes name. I never thought about looking up the meaning of the name; we just really liked it. Hayes means "hedged area". We knew at that moment that Hayes was being protected because Jesus had placed a hedged area of protection around him. Hayes was being protected. When the doctors didn't give us a chance, Hayes fought for 6 more weeks. He was being protected. Even in Heaven, I know in my heart that our baby boy is being protected, and now, he is helping Jesus place a hedge of protection around his family. It's all perfectly in his name.