Evangeline Joy Sanchez

* Posted by Jeremy

What a journey it has been as we have waited for the arrival of our baby girl.  Her room is ready, car seat installed, hospital bags packed…now we just wait until she decides to come meet the world.  While we wait, I thought it would be a good idea to explain where we came up with her name, Evangeline Joy.

Anyone who knows Natalie and I knows that we can be two of the most indecisive people on the planet.  After all, I gained the nickname Mr. Perhaps from my siblings in college because I would hesitate to commit to anything.  Needless to say, picking the name of our firstborn child seemed like a daunting task.

Rewind back to October 2009.  We took a trip to Mexico to celebrate our 5 year anniversary.  We had been trying to get pregnant for well over a year and had begun the process of facing the reality of infertility.  Our tropical vacation was a great break in the middle of a busy schedule and trying to process the trial we were stepping into. 

Searching for a good book to read on our vacation, I settled on the classic novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  Let me first point out that I can hardly call myself a reader of “classic novels.”  In fact, the number of these timeless books I have under my belt is probably less than I can count on one hand and most of those were read in school.  Needless to say, someone had recommended it and I decided to give it a try. 

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is about slavery and was written in the mid 1800s.  As I was reading the book I was drawn to the character of a daughter of a slave owner.  She was a little 5-year-old girl who developed a special friendship with Uncle Tom.  Her name was Evangeline.  There are two traits that stood out about Evangeline, 1 – She loved Jesus, 2 – She had a tender and compassionate heart for people.  I would tell Natalie different parts about the book and what an adorable character Evangeline was.  After finishing the book, which I definitely recommend, Evangeline’s character always stuck with me. 

Now, here I sit on the day before her due date thinking of what an amazing thing God has done since that trip.  After being told by my Dr. that we would not be able to get pregnant, we prayed for a miracle and God answered.  Five days after the devastating news we got the most exciting news of all…we were pregnant!  This “good news” sparked the biggest roller coaster we’ve ever been on. 

After finding out we were having a baby girl, the name talk began, and went on…and on…and on!  Evangeline, which means messenger of good news, was always on the back of my mind and Natalie started to like it more and more.  The more we said it…the more it just felt right.  After cycling through name after name, we finally settled on this beautiful name.  The middle name wasn’t so difficult, especially since we knew it had to be short since we picked a 10-letter first name.  Joy, the emotion of great happiness, fit perfectly. 

I never knew that I could love this little girl so much before I have even seen her and heard her cry!  My prayer is that she will grow up to have the two traits that drew me to her name over a year ago, that she will love Jesus, and that she will have a tender heart for people.  Thankfully, we serve a God who answers our prayers…I can’t wait to meet you Evangeline Joy!


After we picked her name we heard about a song called "Ma Belle Evangeline" from the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog.  It made us love the name even more!  Check out the clip here.