Rachel is my mom and Alice was a dear friend of my family since long before I was born.
Rachel was 18 and Alice 58 when they met 37 years ago. An unlikely friendship that blossomed and grew deeper with each year. Alice's only child died when she was 7 months pregnant and her family was not around so she quickly became an expected guest at all our family gatherings.
Fast forward 30 years...
Rachel took care of Alice and her every need through the last years of her life when she couldn't do it herself. Alice took her last breath at 92 years old, with only Rachel by her side. God caused their paths to meet long ago for reasons they couldn't see then. His plan is much bigger than ours. He sees the big picture, that is impossible for us to know.
We decided when we found out I was pregnant that if it was a girl, this would be her name. The two names together signified to us of how God always provides.
When we found out we were in fact going to have the girl we had been praying for, but she was not going to live apart from a miracle, we realized that this name was even more appropriate now. When I looked up the actual meanings, I found that together the names mean "innocent, noble kind" - God was even preparing us with the perfect name for our baby, long before we knew the reasons.
