ARIZONA ALICE MAE | NEWBORN

I've had my baby girl names picked out since I was a teenager. I always wanted to honor all four of mine and Josh's grandmothers if we were to have two girls. Evelyn Claire after Evalee and Clara and Merritt Grace after Mary and Grace. One small tweak to Maizy and we have four wonderful women represented in our sweet girls!

Miss Arizona comes at quite a coincidental time for the O'Neal family. Just weeks before she was due, the family lost a very influential woman. Arizona's great grandmother, Alice Mae, left this world. I was expecting when my Pappy passed away, and that was a crazy kind of grief. I always found comfort in the verse:

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." -Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

The seasons of life each have their own joys and challenges, but when I heard that Miss Arizona was born on Alice's birthday, I thought, "Wow. What a comfort." What a time of joy and grief and how beautiful it is that we can feel both at the same time. Of course, it only felt right that this sweet baby was named after such a woman.

Arizona is just as beautiful as her siblings. It's always a pleasure to work with this family and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching it grow.