Our baby girl is finally here! We’re enjoying every second of having a new addition in the family and thrilled we’ve been able to share pictures of Ariah already. It’s been even more amazing to say her name while looking at her face and feel my heart almost explode with emotions. Uttering her name will likely mean many things to me over the years, but it’s the story of how we chose Ariah and what it stands for that will always remain consistent. 

Naming Ariah was a bit different than when we named Aden. I had always known that I wanted Aden to be my son’s name, and since Adam began with an A as well I wanted to keep our family tradition alive of starting my childrens’ names with the same letter. So it worked out that before Adam and I were even married we stumbled across a shop named Araya. I stopped and immediately told him I loved the name and wanted that to be my future daughter’s name. It was and is such a beautiful name. The only catch was that I wanted to spell her name phonetically, so people wouldn’t mess it up and call her a-RAY-ya. 

We entertained other names like Arriana and Aliana after I became pregnant, but I always came back to loving Ariah and ultimately committed to the perfect name for our baby girl. Her middle name, Talea, is a name I’ve adored for some time that ironically was going to be used in a friend’s future book as a character inspired by me. It wasn’t until after we had decided on Ariah Talea Housley that Adam and I learned the origin and meaning of both names–they couldn’t be more appropriate for a family like ours whose faith is so very strong. Both Hebrew names, Ariah means Lion of God and Talea means one who resembles the morning dew of Heaven. We couldn’t have found names with a better meaning if we had tried. 

Holding her in my arms every day I know we chose right. We are so elated (though exhausted) to have a beauty and healthy baby girl. We are truly appreciative of all of our family, friends and fans for their blessings. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Can’t wait to share more about her as she continues to grow and warm our hearts.  

Xx, Tamera