Honor’s Name

Faith + Grace

 

“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

Romans 12:10

I have received some questions about why we named our newest addition “Honor Grace,” and I feel a release to share that for two reasons.

First, I know there are many expecting mommies right now, and I hope that in sharing our “why” you can call on the Lord to give you peace and direction, to see His heart towards your baby, and to provide you fresh perspective towards the holy call of motherhood.

Second, I felt it was pertinent to share the meaning of her name in the hopes that it would encourage you to “live Kingdom” in the midst of a very volatile social climate concerning the pandemic, social distancing, racial justice, and more.

So read on, and also enjoy our newborn photos taken when Honor was a week old (taken by the amazing Camarie McBride)! (more…)

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Honor’s Birth Story

May 26, 2020
Pregnancy

I cannot believe I gave birth to Honor 9 weeks ago. Time has flown by so quickly. As I shared before, Honor came exactly two weeks early. Her birth coincided with just the beginning of this pandemic. Although it was earlier than we thought, she came right on time. Read more to find out how!

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Double-Barred: Pregnant During the Bar Exam

May 15, 2020
Faith + Grace

Honor’s story cannot be told without mentioning that I sat for the California bar exam while pregnant with her. Though it was incredibly difficult to spend my entire pregnancy studying (literally from the very beginning until four weeks before I had Honor), I am happy to share that I passed the California Bar Exam! I’m…

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meloniebygrace

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Jul 28

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#challengeaccepted. I love womanhood. I love to se #challengeaccepted. I love womanhood. I love to see a woman walking with her head a little higher and her back a little straighter because of the encouragement someone poured into her life. Let’s continue to pour courage into one another, to break up with emulation and competition and comparison, and walk alongside one another. To me, that’s powerful womanhood 💥  Thank you for nominating me @j.d_ladyjustice! You’re a voice of encouragement and resilience to me and so many others!

#challengeaccepted. I love womanhood. I love to see a woman walking with her head a little higher and her back a little straighter because of the encouragement someone poured into her life. Let’s continue to pour courage into one another, to break up with emulation and competition and comparison, and walk alongside one another. To me, that’s powerful womanhood 💥

Thank you for nominating me @j.d_ladyjustice! You’re a voice of encouragement and resilience to me and so many others! ...

meloniebygrace

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Jul 25

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The word “name” appears “more than 1000 time The word “name” appears “more than 1000 times in Scripture and routinely carries with it the idea of power, responsibility, purpose, and authority. A name not only expresses the essence and significance of what is being named but also, when duly authorized, accesses the quality it conveys.” - Tony Evans   Raegan Grace + Honor Grace. May they carry kingdom, grace and honor always. 

The word “name” appears “more than 1000 times in Scripture and routinely carries with it the idea of power, responsibility, purpose, and authority. A name not only expresses the essence and significance of what is being named but also, when duly authorized, accesses the quality it conveys.” - Tony Evans


Raegan Grace + Honor Grace. May they carry kingdom, grace and honor always.
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meloniebygrace

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Jul 24

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Left: My hair in a braid out. Right: When I big ch Left: My hair in a braid out. Right: When I big chopped my hair in 2011.  It’s been a journey, and lots of ups and downs just like with anything else in life - I’ve had lots of haircuts (i.e. I would go for a trim that turned into a cut somehow🤔), fell in love with some great products, let go of some not so great ones, learned to make my own wigs, and even colored my hair for the first and only time in my life. I went natural to train myself to love all of me the way God made me and to break off Euro-centric standards. It’s taken nearly all this time to finally love my hair.  I finally began to treasure my hair about 2 years ago. It was the first time I had time to do so (after years of school, I would just put my hair up and forget about it). I invested in really good products, visited a dermatologist to help my scalp out, and was pretty militant about protective styling. I’ve entrusted my hair to @janasiadaniellehair in NOLA and @kelleytresses in LA, and these women have loved on my hair!  After about 9 years, from big chop to about bra strap length, I am finally treasuring the beauty that was always there. And, it doesn’t matter whether someone wears a sew in, wigs, a blow out, wash and go, twists, buns, fros , braids, whatever. They’re all beautiful, I’m just not using a hairstyle to hide anymore. 

Left: My hair in a braid out. Right: When I big chopped my hair in 2011.

It’s been a journey, and lots of ups and downs just like with anything else in life - I’ve had lots of haircuts (i.e. I would go for a trim that turned into a cut somehow🤔), fell in love with some great products, let go of some not so great ones, learned to make my own wigs, and even colored my hair for the first and only time in my life. I went natural to train myself to love all of me the way God made me and to break off Euro-centric standards. It’s taken nearly all this time to finally love my hair.

I finally began to treasure my hair about 2 years ago. It was the first time I had time to do so (after years of school, I would just put my hair up and forget about it). I invested in really good products, visited a dermatologist to help my scalp out, and was pretty militant about protective styling. I’ve entrusted my hair to @janasiadaniellehair in NOLA and @kelleytresses in LA, and these women have loved on my hair!

After about 9 years, from big chop to about bra strap length, I am finally treasuring the beauty that was always there. And, it doesn’t matter whether someone wears a sew in, wigs, a blow out, wash and go, twists, buns, fros , braids, whatever. They’re all beautiful, I’m just not using a hairstyle to hide anymore.
 ...

meloniebygrace

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Jul 23

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🌷Honor is 4 months old!🌷This girl is f i e r 🌷Honor is 4 months old!🌷This girl is f i e r c e. She’s hit every milestone weeks (and sometimes months) early. She begins to overtake milestones with a fierce determination that she can already do it. She literally tries to push me and Joshua away so that she can do it herself. In her eyes, she can get up and walk already, even though she’s just in the super early stages of crawling. And don’t let her smiles and laughter fool you — she loves to “wrestle” and rough house lol  She’s a fighter, a warrior baby, just as the Lord said she’d be. She was a fighter in the womb when my body was threatening to deliver early, and she’s a fighter now in believing in herself, defending her own honor. ⚔️  Our strong girl needed a strong name. Here are two verses that Joshua and I relied on for Honor’s name. ________________ “Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10 ________________ ‘For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.’ Titus 2:11-14 NIV. 

🌷Honor is 4 months old!🌷This girl is f i e r c e. She’s hit every milestone weeks (and sometimes months) early. She begins to overtake milestones with a fierce determination that she can already do it. She literally tries to push me and Joshua away so that she can do it herself. In her eyes, she can get up and walk already, even though she’s just in the super early stages of crawling. And don’t let her smiles and laughter fool you — she loves to “wrestle” and rough house lol

She’s a fighter, a warrior baby, just as the Lord said she’d be. She was a fighter in the womb when my body was threatening to deliver early, and she’s a fighter now in believing in herself, defending her own honor. ⚔️

Our strong girl needed a strong name. Here are two verses that Joshua and I relied on for Honor’s name.
________________
“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10
________________
‘For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.’ Titus 2:11-14 NIV.
 ...

meloniebygrace

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Jul 21

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On the blog today: I felt a release from the Lord On the blog today: I felt a release from the Lord to share the why and meaning of Honor’s name (and Honor’s newborn photos). I’m sharing for two reasons:  (1) in the hopes that all you expecting mamas out there will call on the Lord to give you peace and direction, to see His heart towards your baby, and to provide fresh perspective towards the holy call of motherhood; and  (2) to encourage you to “live Kingdom” in the midst of a very volatile social climate.  Link in bio!  Shoutout to @camariemcbride for capturing my family of 4!

On the blog today: I felt a release from the Lord to share the why and meaning of Honor’s name (and Honor’s newborn photos). I’m sharing for two reasons:

(1) in the hopes that all you expecting mamas out there will call on the Lord to give you peace and direction, to see His heart towards your baby, and to provide fresh perspective towards the holy call of motherhood; and

(2) to encourage you to “live Kingdom” in the midst of a very volatile social climate.

Link in bio!

Shoutout to @camariemcbride for capturing my family of 4! ...

meloniebygrace

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Jul 14

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❤️ Sweet baby giggles to brighten your day ❤ ❤️ Sweet baby giggles to brighten your day ❤️

❤️ Sweet baby giggles to brighten your day ❤️ ...

meloniebygrace

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Jul 13

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She’s 16 weeks old. She’s learned to wave, cri She’s 16 weeks old. She’s learned to wave, cries “mamamama,” and is getting up on all fours like she wants to crawl. I delight in my children. Honor Grace, what a precious gift!

She’s 16 weeks old. She’s learned to wave, cries “mamamama,” and is getting up on all fours like she wants to crawl. I delight in my children. Honor Grace, what a precious gift! ...

meloniebygrace

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Jun 30

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I truly believe God is using this season to shake I truly believe God is using this season to shake us out of a slumber. To give us the clearer 20/20 vision we all cried out for at the beginning of this year. We can no longer do business as usual concerning our neighbors, or ourselves.  As believers, we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. This season, many people are learning that they have not loved their Black neighbors well, or even at all. We are even being challenged to love each other well in practicing social distancing and wearing masks, to make decisions for the better good and health of our neighbor.  But I hope this season is showing us the truth about our own selves. Many of us are indeed treating others as themselves — they can’t love their neighbors well because they don’t love themselves well.  You may notice that I don’t post as much. That’s because I want to focus on loving myself well. For me, this looks like giving myself space to breathe and heal in my postpartum season. To place boundaries on social media for a little while. To enjoy and serve my husband and family and friends and church. Having hard conversations and laughing deep belly laughs and harmonizing with my siblings and making stir fry for my mom and dad. To make my husband chuckle and delight in our beautiful children.  I am taking this season to learn and to un/re-learn some things. To make space in my heart for what God is doing. I pray all of our vision is clearer, less clouded and more focused on God and loving well.

I truly believe God is using this season to shake us out of a slumber. To give us the clearer 20/20 vision we all cried out for at the beginning of this year. We can no longer do business as usual concerning our neighbors, or ourselves.

As believers, we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. This season, many people are learning that they have not loved their Black neighbors well, or even at all. We are even being challenged to love each other well in practicing social distancing and wearing masks, to make decisions for the better good and health of our neighbor.

But I hope this season is showing us the truth about our own selves. Many of us are indeed treating others as themselves — they can’t love their neighbors well because they don’t love themselves well.

You may notice that I don’t post as much. That’s because I want to focus on loving myself well. For me, this looks like giving myself space to breathe and heal in my postpartum season. To place boundaries on social media for a little while. To enjoy and serve my husband and family and friends and church. Having hard conversations and laughing deep belly laughs and harmonizing with my siblings and making stir fry for my mom and dad. To make my husband chuckle and delight in our beautiful children.

I am taking this season to learn and to un/re-learn some things. To make space in my heart for what God is doing. I pray all of our vision is clearer, less clouded and more focused on God and loving well. ...

meloniebygrace

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Jun 26

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🌷 Honor turned 3 months old this week! 🌷  🌷 Honor turned 3 months old this week! 🌷  Our giggly, laidback, on-the-move warrior baby. Honor, you’re everything.

🌷 Honor turned 3 months old this week! 🌷

Our giggly, laidback, on-the-move warrior baby. Honor, you’re everything. ...

meloniebygrace

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Jun 22

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Honor G. ❤️ You bring our family so much joy. Honor G. ❤️ You bring our family so much joy.

Honor G. ❤️ You bring our family so much joy. ...

meloniebygrace

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Jun 15

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Flashback to our first engagement party 3 years ag Flashback to our first engagement party 3 years ago. 26 and 30 years old. Now we’re married, we got two kids, and I’ll be joining Joshua in the 30 year old club in a few months!  Life came at us fast, but I love us. I am grateful for the journey that brought us to today. More in love. More at peace. More fired up in the things of God. More assured of my anointing as his wife and mother to our Grace girls.  This man is fine as all get out. He’s amazing in every way, and he is my best yes.  #ILoveUs

Flashback to our first engagement party 3 years ago. 26 and 30 years old. Now we’re married, we got two kids, and I’ll be joining Joshua in the 30 year old club in a few months!

Life came at us fast, but I love us. I am grateful for the journey that brought us to today. More in love. More at peace. More fired up in the things of God. More assured of my anointing as his wife and mother to our Grace girls.

This man is fine as all get out. He’s amazing in every way, and he is my best yes.

#ILoveUs ...

meloniebygrace

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