Our Sweet Brinley

This is the post I made to Children's House International's Yahoo Group today:

Hello everyone from the Millender family! We are just tickled pink tolet all of you know that we are Brynli's forever family and we can notwait to make our way to China to bring her home!!! I have been amember of this board for several months and many of you know that I had a very reluctant husband. Well, time does change things and now weare going to be bringing this little sweet pea home! When list 11 came out we had Hilari's file on hold but my husband was just not ready to adopt. With a sad heart and many tears I let Stefani know that we would not be Hilari's forever family. She and Ginger both reassured me that when the time is right, it all works out and they were so right! (AND I am so thrilled that Kim and her family will beHilari's forever family!!!) We were in church Sunday and out of the blue Brinley's face and name popped into my thoughts. The first thing I thought was, "I couldreally love this little girl!" Hmmmmm.....where did that come from??? We're waiting until October to start our adoption. But Brynli was on my mind often over the next few days. Then when I saw that she was the "spotlight child" my heart jumped. I posted a couple of times and asked if Stefani could tell us her Chinese name in the last post. I don't know why I did that. I just did. Then I went to my bedroom and locked the door and got on my knees and prayed that if this child was our child that there would be a sign so huge that it would absolutely slap me in the face and I wouldn't be able to deny it. A short while later I came back to look at the posts. Stefani had responded that she was called "YaYa". I nearly fainted!!!! My kids have called me "YaYa" ever since Marty and I married and his son wasn't sure what to call me. My daughter told him that I'd mentioned that when I have grandchildren I'd like to be called YaYa. Well, that was it and now all of the kids call me "YaYa". A sign???? It was enough for me!!! I ran and got my 18 year old daughter and told her what had just happened. She just smiled and said, "Okay, what else do you need?" Then my husband came in and I knew that just a couple of months earlier he hadn't been ready to adopt but we had been working hard towards that goal so I wasn't really sure what he would say. He just smiled and looked at me and said, "Well, what do you want to do?" I'd already emailed Stefani by this time and told her that I'd just been slapped with a sign! LOL So, we contacted Stefani again and now sweetBrynli is going to be ours to love forever and we are all so excited!!! She will be living in a small town in the midlands of South Carolina. She'll have 3 older brothers. Josh is 20 and leaving for college inFlorida this fall. Keith is 11 and Brice is 7. Her big sister Kristenis 18 and she will be attending a local college and living at home. (Sissy wants to go shopping tomorrow for new clothes for Brynli! LOL) We have a big, happy family (most of the time! LOL). Our house is on the edge of a big field so she will have plenty of room to run and play. The boys have a huge tree house but I'm sure daddy will be building her her own special play house soon! We have a tire swing and a see-saw out under the trees behind the house. It is 10pm here and the boys are out in the pool right now with their dad. Our pets include a rabbit, 4 dogs, a cat who thinks he owns us, a turtle and a cockateil. For a long time I have wanted to name the child we adopt "Julianna". However, I think I have been outvoted here in our home! Everyone loves the name Brynli. So, we are thinking that her name will be Brinley Elizabeth WeiYa. We changed the spelling because it looks better with our last name. So, now the mystery has been solved and no one guessed! :)Let's go to China!!!!!!!!

Sharon