TWENTY-EIGHT are part of our story!!!

Most of you know our sweet little boy as "Timothy". This is the name assigned to his file, not only to protect his privacy but so that it is a name others can easily pronounce when discussing him or advocating for him.

Although we love the name Timothy, it has no special meaning to him and we already have a nephew with the same name. So a name change has been in the works!


The kids have thrown out MANY names...some of them silly and crazy...some of them quite good! We have discussed and discussed and discussed again.  Bryan and I finally had some time the other day to sit down over dinner and discuss by ourselves. 

At first, I had not considered keeping part of his Chinese name. But it was important to Bryan and so we settled on dropping his Chinese surname and keeping his two other names but putting them together as one name. 

Preston has always been a name that I loved. It was my grandfather's name and my uncle's name as well.  It was part of the name we had picked out for Neely if she had been a boy.  I never knew my grandfather but I love my uncle  who is also named for him. What a good way to honor them both.

John is another favorite of mine. I have an uncle and a cousin named John...both whom I love dearly and our little ones have an uncle named John as well.  All three are great men of the Lord and it is special for us that we can honor all of them by naming our son John. John also means: "the grace or mercy of the Lord" and in Hebrew means "Jehovah has been gracious". I love both of those translations.

Now, we would not be a true southern family, I don't think, if at least some of our kiddos did not have double names.  We already have Ruby Kate (Ruby Kathryn) and the Lord knows, she's got enough persoanlity for two names!  One just isn't enough for her!! HA!

So our sweet boy will go by his double name as well...

John Preston Songlang Parris

And we'll call him "John Preston"!

Thanks to those of you who have been covering us in prayer and who have partnered with us to be one of 1000.

God is going before us...we can see it daily.

Exodus 14: 14 says, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."

We are still in the peace that the Lord has given us in pursuing our son.  We see Him fighting for us...making a way...from the waiver we needed...to financial obstacles being laid aside in front of us...from you who have partnered with us...you are all part of our story...part of John Preston's story...part of something bigger than you and I....thank you for letting the Lord use you to bring a little boy all the way in China home to his forever family.  Your $25 donation is making a difference.

#oneless

Love,
Jenifer