Melissa Grace- whats in a name?

Naming a baby is a big responsibility. I mean, I guess its not really detrimental to the life of a child, but if you get too crazy, the name you choose could definitely have some impact on a person. Ive honestly never really been a huge fan of naming my children after people. Mostly, this is because Im a people pleaser and how in the world do you choose who gets a namesake and who doesn't and how is someone's character so great that you would want your child to have them as daily example in their very name? All of that being said, when Joey and I found out we were expecting, we tossed around several boy names and several girl names. Joey was convinced initially that we would have a boy because of the genetics on his side of the family so we threw around a lot of boy names and we had only a handful of girl names we liked. Summer was a front runner in the girl category, but we both knew that Melissa was a HUGE contender too because of the sentiment it held in spite of my "namesake" reservations. My sister had recently died from brain cancer. She was my best friend, the person I talked to every single day about every single part of my life. She was the single biggest encourager to me and she encouraged my confidence many times that I lacked it by reminding me regularly of every quality that she saw in me. There was a large age gap between myself and my sister, just like there would be between this baby and our other three children. Specifically, the gap between Charleston and this baby would be so similar to the gap between my sister and myself, right down to the blended family aspect of our families and the fact that my sister used to tell me that she always prayed for a baby sister before she got me. I was her answered prayer baby sister, exactly as was the case with this baby. Charleston had been praying that Joey and I would have a baby sister for her before we were even aware of it! My sister and I were technically half siblings but she never introduced me that way and never made me feel that way. She spent time with me often when I was young, wrote me letters when she was out of town, took me to play and taught me so much as I watched her parent her young boys, until I got old enough to be best friends with her. As if those aren't enough sentimental reasons for a namesake baby, my sister was a HUGE part of the reason that Joey and I were together, which made her name specifically sentimental to both Joey and myself as a couple. I talked to her when he sent me those first messages and I regularly sought her advice. It was her encouragement that led me to accepting that first date with Joey, even though I was so scared and almost backed out. It was that same date that she ended up being at (unintentionally and seated in another section), but it sure did lighten the pressure to know that she was there, and it gave me a good laugh. After a couple of dates I was still pretty cynical about relationships and love. Things began to turn around shortly afterwards when my sister and I were out for a bike ride at the canal and Joey was out for a run and literally ran right by us. He stopped for few minutes to chat and my sister invited him to her house for dinner with all of us. Shortly after that our relationship became more serious and by my birthday in August (when Joey and I had known each other for about three months) my sister gave me a big monogrammed umbrella, with Joeys last name in the middle! Ha! She always said that she knew he was perfect for me, even before I did. As for her character, Melissa could light up a room. She was funny and kind, down to earth and Im confident that I haven't laughed half as much as I used to since she went to heaven. Don't get me wrong, she had her crazy moments too and there were times I wanted to pull my hair out because of her but that joy that just exuded from her, outweighed all of the faults that came with the package. Not long after Joey and I got married, my sister was diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma. Its a big bad cancer with a grim prognosis and we were all devastated. During her battle with cancer our family spent a lot of time together and because of Joeys support emotionally, with the kids and with my job I am able to look back on that time with no regrets because I was with her so much. I still remember her last day on earth standing by her with Joey while she laughed and called him Clark Kent because of his new glasses. So, naming your baby after someone who is a huge part of your marriage and relationship is super sentimental for Joey and myself both, BUT the fact that my sister lived the last of her life to the glory of Christ was HUGE for me. Melissa became more dedicated to following Christ, becoming like Him and preparing herself for eternity. She was so full of joy in the midst of such a huge trial. She used her diagnosis and treatments as an opportunity to talk to and encourage others. She planned ahead to create a funeral video that would speak to the hearts of her loved ones and bring them comfort in what she knew would be a hard time for us but she was confident was going to be a treasure for her as she stepped into eternity. She had that peace that passes all understanding and it was beautiful to get to be a part of. She loved others so very well, and what a beautiful example for our baby girl. All of that being said, we still weren't completely sold on the name and we didn't have a clue what we would actually call a baby girl if we gave her that name and all of this was still before we knew our baby was even a girl! When we were about 13 weeks along in our pregnancy we decided to take a much needed trip away to Savannah since I had been so very sick. Usually half of our trips end up with Joey and I chatting about some sort of history about an area or a war because Ive apparently forgotten everything I learned in high school and this trip was no different. As we chatted about the civil war, that led to talking about the movie, "Gone with the Wind" and Joey brought up a nickname for Melissa that he had mentioned before, "Mellie". Ive only seen the movie once but I remember Mellie being my favorite character in the movie, she was selfless and kind and loving even to the unloving. I decided that I liked the nickname right then. It seemed to be the perfect fit for our namesake baby that would allow her to still have her own name and Joey decided at the same time that he just knew we were having a girl and her name would have to be Mellie. That night we went to one of our usual spots for dinner and wouldn't you know that even though Ive not met another Mellie in person in my life that I can recall, our waitress's name was Mellie! Now, I don't know about you, but for us, that just confirmed it all. It was that same week that we settled on Grace as a middle name. Grace, receiving what you don't deserve and he and I both have felt like the gift of this sweet baby is far more than we deserve and we are so thankful for her. A week or so after that we went to the Dr. and found out that this baby was indeed a sweet little girl, our very own little Melissa Grace with a name packed full of so very much meaning and sentiment.