Thanks!

I was talking with my friend, Dan Boyce, the other day at work and he was asking about our upcoming adoption. I told him we were just waiting and didn’t have anymore details. A few hours later, Gi-Gi called me with the news that we would be traveling the first week of January. Later that day I saw Dan again and shared the news with him. He made the statement that he felt like he was a part of the adoption.


Dan was right, he is a part of bringing this child home as are the hundreds of others that have prayed, cared, and loved my family over the past several years. I always talk about the members of Eau Claire Baptist Church feeling like Kendall is theirs because of the time and effort they put into helping me and Georgia bring her home. We are in the same situation again with Presley. I want to thank each and every one of you for the love that we feel everyday. My fellow employees ask constantly about the details of the adoption. I finally have good news to share but I can’t say enough about the friends that we have. We love you and thank you for the support we have received throughout the adoption of Kendall and the upcoming adoption of our sweet Presley.

Continue checking our blog over the next month and I promise to every one of you, my extended family, to keep you up to date with everything we are doing. You are a part of this adoption and the growth of this child. Thank you!

Travel Arrangements

It is official!  We leave for Beijing on January 5^th, 2011.  We are so excited for our family to grow.  Kendall is going to be such a great big sister.  She always wants to tell everyone what to do anyway.  Georgia is ecstatic, as I knew she would be, which makes my life easier.  The stress of the past 2 years is finally seeping away and we will start a new chapter in our lives very shortly.  Thank you for all the prayers you have said and all the ones we will need in the future.  God has surely blessed this family with two beautiful girls.

Dear Presley,

Hi Presley!!!!My name is Kendall.I love you very much!!!!Presley,i can not wait for you to come home with us!!!!Love,
                                    Kendall!!!

TAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That means that we received our Travel Invitation from CCAA (China Center for Adoption Affairs).  Woohoo! We are going to China, baby.  We are waiting for our Consulate Appointment to be confirmed, but the plan is to travel the first week in January.  I was totally not expecting this news today, so to say that I'm excited is an understatement.

Thanks Margie for hanging in there and keep coming back to read updates.  I feel like I've been holding my breath since the last post.  I can breathe now for a couple of days to let this sink in that I'm so close to holding this beautiful child and never letting go.  My dream of two little girls to call my own is soon to be reality.  Thank God for all my blessings.  I wish I could eloquently express how I feel, but my head is too far in the clouds right now.  Stay tuned and I'll give it a try later.  I must start the packing preparation-only a list for now.

Enquiring Minds Want to Know-


While shopping for shoes today, the sales attendant and I happened upon a conversation about my upcoming travels to China. She immediately asked if I were going to adopt a child from China. She informed me that she had met 3 other families in recent weeks either with Chinese adopted children or would be adopting China soon. She had told herself that the next person she met adopting from China, she was gonna ask, “Why are you adopting children from China when there are so many children here in the United States that need to be adopted.” She did politely ask if she could ask me a very personal question. I did not mind, because you see, I am very much an advocate for adoption of children needing homes, no matter where they are. I believe that God sees orphans all the same, no matter where they are born.

So, for those of you who might want to know, but don’t ask. My answer to her question was simple. When I dreamt of having a child, I prayed. I prayed to God that if His plan was for me to have children, to please show me the way. I was ready and did not care what color the child was or where the child came from. I prayed for the answers and guidance. I believe that God knew my heart and mind was open and capable of parenting a child of another race. Not everyone is. Everyone does not have the same “calling”.  It became very clear, through many ways, that our child was waiting for us in China.

I am not opposed to adopting children domestically-from right here in the good ol’ USA. I have an absolutely beautiful and perfect nephew that I love dearly-adopted right here in SC.

I am so blessed to be chosen by God to parent two children born in China. I have grown spiritually from this experience and have never been closer to God. I have changed in my heart. I pray that I will not disappoint Him. I now pray for guidance, strength and wisdom to be the best mother for these two children. I pray that my actions speak louder than words. I’m also thankful to God for sending me the BEST husband to travel this road with me.

So, the journey continues…We are waiting patiently to travel again to China to bring home another little girl. This road will have many bumps and curves, but we are willing. We are willing to do everything that it takes to make a home for her and to love her. We are praying that God will prepare her heart and ours and that we may bond quickly. Please continue to share in our excitement as we welcome this beautiful and special child to our family.

US Immigration Trip (Charleston SC)

On Tuesday, October 19^th Georgia and I left at 06:30 headed back to Charleston to have our fingerprints taken, AGAIN.  They are only good for a year and that time was running out.  We had a great early morning ride and some good conversation and quiet time spent together.  The most awesome thing was I made the trip from Columbia to Charleston, breakfast at McDonald’s, fingerprints, re-fuel and back to Columbia in 4 hours and 5 minutes.  That’s almost unheard of.  Presley will be proud of that one day.  So will Georgia, maybe. MG

 These beautiful pictures were sent to me by a very nice lady who knew that I would be thrilled to have additional photos of our daughter. (Presley is the one in PINK) This family adopted Presley's friend and visited the orphanage in June. The first two pictures were taken approximately in March, the other in June.  All 3 girls now have forever families.  It looks like Presley may be the last to come home, but hopefully, since she has the photos of us, will know that we're coming for her soon.

Patience

“Be assured that if God waits longer than you wish, it is to make the blessing all the more precious.” ~Author unknown

We have our fingerprinting appointments-October 19th! Once we are fingerprinted and approved once again, the process will move along. It is looking like travel will be in January, but I'm still holding out hope for December. 

We finally got the care package off and in the mail Labor Day weekend.  We decided to send it via USPS to save money.  However, the only downside is that we did not receive confirmation that she received it. 

Behind The Names

I was wandering around the web one night and came across another blog.  Within this family, was two little girls, one named Kendall and one named Presley.  I immediately fell in love with the name Presley and we already have a daughter named Kendall.  I was having a really hard time this go around, because names are very important to me. We had also thrown around the name Star, but I just wasn't sure that I wanted to call my daughter Star, but it had a nice ring to it when I put it together with Presley.  Mark immediately liked the name also.

I looked up the meaning of Presley and this is what I got:
Its source is preost leah, a Middle English name meaning "Priest's field." Leah is my beautiful sister's name, so that was my sign.  I emailed this to my sister on Sept. 16, 2009.  Wow, it's been almost one year since we named our daughter.

Starlynn is a REAL family name.  Broken down, Star comes from a long, lost relative of Mark's-Belle Starr, a notorious American Outlaw. We have no real evidence that she is a blood relative, but she did attend a family reunion, so that's all we need.  I considered Starling for a son's name, if we ever had one.  Starling is my great grandfater's name, Starling Kent.  And then, there is Lynn.  I just did not feel right leaving off Lynn.  It is a family name also.  My mother, me, Kendall and Presley will all share this name. Not to mention that two of my dogs also share the name-Dixie Lynn and Foxie Lynn.  :)

Xin is the part of Presley's chinese name that is specific to her.  We believe the nannies call her "XinXin".
昕 xīn [1] dawn; when the sun rises [2] bright.  How beautiful is that?

We hope that she will love this name and be as proud of it as we are.

Kendall's name means the valley of the river Kent and Kent is my maiden name.

Hi Everyone! Mark insisted, once he finally observed some other blogs, that we start one.  I had totally planned to create a yahoo group, so you must have patience because I know absolutely nothing about creating a blog design.  I want it to be beautiful, of course.  Presley deserves it. So, I must do some research now.  If anyone has suggestions, please let me know.

There will not be much information on our travel until a few more weeks.  Right now, we are very busy updating forms. FORMS, FORMS AND MORE FORMS.

Because Presley's specific special need or age was not included in our homestudy or on our original immigration approval, we must do some additional work.  Our immigration approval will expire in November.  We can not be sure that we will travel before expiration, so we are renewing.  We can not renew until 90 days prior (August 17th) so we are preparing to send this paperwork on Tuesday, August 17th.  We hope and pray that our assigned officer will agree that we MUST  travel ASAP to bring our daughter home and will process the needed paperwork quickly.
Once we are approved again by OUR government to adopt Presley, we will make more progress.  Until then, please pray for us and Presley, that we may travel soon to bring her home.
We hope to be sending a package to her in the next week.  We hope to include in this package some photos of us, a very, very soft blanket, "lovie", a build a bear to include a voice recorder of us 3, some candies for the children and nannies and a disposable camera.  We have all been sleeping with these items to get our smell all over them so that maybe, just maybe, she might recognize and attach to us more easily. 
I think I like blogging after all.  There is a lot to say. It might be helpful to just me, to get it all "out there".
Thanks friends, for your thoughts, prayers and well wishes.  You are all a part of Presley's new family.  Thanks for sharing this absolute awesome gift from God.
Stay tuned!
Georgia, Mark and Kendall

This is our new blog to keep everyone informed on our "Journey to Presley". Please check in often and we will try to keep it updated. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!