Choosing Molly ...

When we had initially taken that first step to adopt our first child together, we had completed a  preliminary application and on it we put that we were looking to adopt a child between the ages of 2 and 5 and that we would be open to a child with minor correctable special needs.  We originally were thinking that maybe we would be able to adopt a child who had a cleft lip/palate that could be easily corrected by surgery. 

At our very first meeting with the adoption agency, we were shown the pictures of three little girls who were on a "waiting list" to be adopted.  Two of the girls were born with cleft lip/palate so we were immediately interested in looking at their information.  we immediately pushed the information sheet with the third girl's photo/information aside because the medical condition listed was very "foreign" to us and the black and white photo showed a child whose eyes were further apart than normal and there was "something" in between them that was undecipherable. The Social Worker suggested emailing us all three of the girls information and we could look at it once we got home.  However, when we arrived home, our Social Worker had already emailed us and she stated that the two girls with the cleft lip/palate were already "on hold" for other families.  The third girl was the last girl available on that "waiting list'.  (a little light bulb went on)

We looked at the copy of her picture for a bit and then we read her information on the email.  We looked at the copy of her picture again and then we looked up her condition in the medical dictionary.  We looked at the copy of her picture again; she was almost smiling.  How 'bout that?

It was only when we scrolled down to the bottom of the email that this little girl came to life.  The picture attached to the email was in color whereas the copy we were given was in black and white.  She was the last child on the December COP (Child of Promise) Waiting Children List.  No one else had requested this child. 

"Please God, please, save just one of those girls for me!"  

She was the last child on the list.  Nearly a month had gone by since it came out.  GOD SAVED THIS CHILD JUST FOR US.  We accept your gift LORD and we will love her and take care of her!

Her name is Xi Zhengchuan (pronounced like "She Jung Chwan") but we will rename her Molly Frances Chuan Prendergast.  We originally were going to name her Frances, ... 

(after Brian; Francis is his middle name.  It is Italian and it means "free".  It is quite an important name in the Prendergast family as Brian's dad, older brother and younger sister all have the middle name Francis/Frances.) 

... however, there was quite a bit of protesting from the masses, especially our three other children and because we wanted to make the transition for "them" as pleasantly as possible we decided to come up with another name.  There were MANY suggestions, however, the night before we had to officially name her [on paper], I prayed to God that He would provide us with a name and instantly "Molly" popped into my head!  Yes, of course, why hadn't we thought of that before?!?!  Earlier on, we had stated that we like the sound of Molly Prendergast ... we liked the name Molly, but hadn't once thought of it until we asked God. 

Next Up: Deciding to Adopt Again