We were ecstatic to find out in July 2022 that we were pregnant with our fourth child. Fourth baby, with two chatty older sisters.. we decided to let them share the news that Mommy had a baby in her tummy. After pretty rough pregnancies with our older kids, the nausea wasn't so bad this time. We were just starting to imagine life as a family of 6 when the phone call came. Our genetic testing had come back with a "positive predictive result" for Trisomy 13, a chromosomal condition that causes abnormalities due to an extra copy of chromosome 13. In October 2022, our fears were confirmed when our sweet baby was seen to have severe abnormalities within the heart, brain, and intestines.

In November 2022, we found out our baby was a girl. We had a strong desire to find a meaningful name for her that would represent God's faithfulness to us during this difficult journey. Daddy found the name Eliana, which comes from several Hebrew words and means "God has answered". Of course we had prayed for a miraculous healing and would love to have shared that story and a long life of memories with our baby girl. But no matter the plans that God had for her life, He had answered our prayers every step of the way. His Peace, His Presence, the support of family and friends; there are so many stories of the ways God made Himself known to us during this season.

In January 2023 we had our final appointment in the Cities. Eliana was now growth restricted, with higher concern for stillbirth. We prayed to get to meet her alive, and to have time with her. The reality of what we were facing became more real day by day, and we treasured every single kick and hiccup. We talked about Eliana non-stop at home, it seemed. We prayed for her. We sang to her. We read to her. We loved her while already grieving the loss of her. On February 7th Mommy didn't feel Eliana moving like her normal, active self. We went into the hospital for monitoring to find that our sweet girl was already in the arms of Jesus. We were induced that afternoon, and our sweet Eliana Gracelyn was born at 12:08pm on February 8, 2023, our oldest daughter Olivia's 6th birthday. We cherished getting to meet and hold our daughter, and the kids loved on their sister with unexpected joy and delight. We are crushed that our lives won't be filled with memories of Eliana beyond this short period of time we had with her. But we look forward with hope to an eternity with her beyond this lifetime.

Please join us as we celebrate and share more details of the story of Eliana's life on Saturday, February 18, 2023, at 10am, at Grace Bible Chapel in Grand Rapids, MN.

-Matt & Heather Boyd