Full steam ahead! That seems to have been the theme for this past week. We have started our fundraising campaign full-force. I have been typing emails, printing flyers, and generally spreading the word about raising the needed funds for our host child this summer. We have to raise $2500 for Santa's travel expenses in a very short period of time. (It's amazing how bold you can be, asking people for money, when it's not for you and for a good cause.) It has been awesome to see people's loving and giving hearts in this process. We raised $1000 in just the first three days in our campaign! WOW! How amazing is that! Tuesday alone we raised $655! One day people!!! The link to our fundraising website is listed below if you still want to donate!
We still have a ways to go in our goal, and we are trusting God to provide the rest. He knows we've given all we can so far. And we know He'll provide in some way. In the meantime, we've started coming up with some new ideas to raise the needed money. We are going to have a garage sale and ask people to donate their unwanted stuff to this cause. All proceeds will go towards Santa's travel expenses. Some people have said they don't really have the money to donate right now, but do have some extra things that we could sell. We'll have it two weeks from now and hopefully we'll have a productive garage sale. So, time for spring cleaning people! Clean out your closets! LOL And see what you can donate! I'll even try to come and pick it up if I can! Let me know if you have anything!
We also received our training manual this week. I'm a bit overwhelmed! There is so much to do and prepare before she comes. It's a little bit of information overload right now. There is so much to think about and consider with these special children. Coming from an orphanage institution, every aspect of a Christian family life will be new to them. There will be many cultural barriers and pre-conceived notions involved as well. Unfortunately many people, from the countries these children come from, have a distrust in Americans that stems from way back to before the fall of Communism and the Cold War. It will be challenging to earn her trust and overcome any untruths people have told her about Americans. Many children warm up quickly and blossom in a family environment. Others might have difficulty. All of the children have been interviewed, but it is impossible to know everything about them and how they will react once thrown into a new situation. So this guide has been given to us to help us in many areas of incorporating a child into family life in America. Encouraging nutritious eating and healthy hygiene habits are needed. They all are only served a small plate of food at each meal. The idea of serving oneself what you'd like and then having seconds are new concepts! Some of these children only have 3 pairs of clothes, and are responsible for washing them in the sinks at their orphanage. So, many of them wear the same clothes for days at a time. Other challenges are parenting someone who is usually left to themselves. There are many do's and don'ts. And all of this to be done with a language barrier! Pretty much they are preparing us for many possibilities, outcomes, and challenges. But they remain optimistic about the children and many do adjust easily. We will also have a full day of training on June 12th. All I can say is I will do my best, and I will be praying for guidance often!
On a happy note! We finally got our wall oven unit this week! YAY! We've had the money set aside and have been waiting on a sale so we could pounce. Wall ovens were 50% of this week at Sears. Living without an oven for two months has been challenging. The girls are thrilled we get to have muffins, banana bread, and such again! AND, Philip and his dad have started work rebuilding our master bath! DOUBLE YAY! It was completely gutted to the studs when we moved in. All of us have been crammed into the little hall bathroom for these two months. We know we really need a master bath especially since we will be adding a fifth person this summer. So, the weeks are marching on bringing us closer to our goals.
The next couple of weeks we will be preparing for the garage sale and trying to raise money any way we can. We will also tackle the list of our "to do's" that need to be done before Santa arrives. I also found out that she won't know she was chosen to come to America until a week before she arrives. And she won't be given the letter we wrote introducing ourselves until she's on the plane. I wish she new now that she was finally chosen. And that people are praying for her and want to meet her. Especially after she has waited for two years. But, I'm sure they have their reasons. It will be so awesome to show her a list of names of all the people who have donated and taken an active part in bringing her here. I'm sure it will be amazing for her to go from having no one; to knowing many many people are now caring about her and praying for her! This will be such an awesome experience for her! How can that not affect someone? We're already praying that she will be open to the Gospel, and the love and encouragement we want to share with her. Even though I'm not sure what to expect, I can't wait!!! =)
This has been in our hearts lately. (John 21:16) Again Jesus said, "Peter, do you truly love me?" Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” Yes Lord, you know that we love you. We want to live our lives for you. We'll feed and take care of one of your lambs.
www.active.com/donate/2010summer/hostingsanta
