Having a great time!

For those of you who are just starting to read our blog, I'll share real quickly what we've been up to lately. We are hosting an orphan for 5 weeks this summer. Santa a 14 year old girl and very sweet. New Horizons for Children is the Christian organization that has coordinated everything for us. It's kind of like an exchange student program. NHFC goes to Russia, Latvia, and Ukraine twice a year to interview children in different orphanages and chooses some to participate. The idea is to bring these children over here to America and see how they do in a family setting. Then hopefully while they are here, they will find a forever family. Other goals are for them to improve their English and to generally raise their self esteem. (They were chosen to come to America!) They do have to go back after the 5 weeks. But hopefully during their time in America they will meet that special family that God has for them. There is a website you can visit to learn more info. www.newhorizonsforchildren.org

The past few days with Santa have been great! She is an amazing girl! Very outgoing, giggly and happy! We have been pleasantly surprised with her cheerful attitude. One might think that all the children and teenagers would react that way if they were given the opportunity to visit America, but not all of them easily adjust right away. (It's quite a lot for a child to leave everything they know to live with strangers in a different country who speak a different language.) So far she has been very easy going. She speaks Russian and very little English, so it's been hard to communicate with her, but she doesn't get frustrated. She laughs with us at how funny it can be when we try to act out what we are trying to say. I've never been very good at charades! LOL But we get by! The photo dictionary of American English we bought at Borders has been a lifesaver!

One of the first things she told us (in English) was, "I like to cook." She has baked us muffins, made us a Russian version of salad with cucumbers and tomatoes, and cooked dinner for us last night. She made a huge egg and ham omelette for everyone. It was delicious! I took her grocery shopping with me on Monday. She made a list of produce and ingredients she wanted that we translated. She was very happy to go through the store and pick the produce she wanted. She also has a very healthy appetite! LOL! This girl can eat! In the orphanages the children are given a small plate of food at each meal. They don't get to choose what they want to eat or have any second helpings. She loves being able to choose what she wants to eat and even cook it! (I don't even know how many apples and bananas this girl has eaten in just the few days she has been here, but I can tell you I think she ate 6 apples in one day!) And most of the time she tells us thank you after she eats a meal.

New Horizons for Children had a welcome party for all the host children in the area. She and the girls had a blast playing in the water at the "spray ground" that was rented. It was great to see all these children having a blast in the water! Most of them had never seen anything like it! We took her to the GA Aquarium and she loved it! She really liked the Beluga whales. We had a great time and she was able to see things that I'm sure she would never have had the opportunity to see before. She loved touching the stingrays, sharks, and horse shoe crabs.

We also took her to church on Sunday. We told her the night before and we could tell she didn't really want to go. She didn't have an attitude about it, she just asked us if it was necessary. We told her yes and she said okay. She was very compliant. I know that the average Russian Orthodox church is very different from our Baptist church. So, I imagine that was what she had in mind when we said church. We told her it was a BIG church with many people. She took it all in very well. She liked the music and laughed happily at some of the joyful singing. And then there were a few Baptisms! She looked at me and smiled while she pointed to her clothes. She thought it strange was that they were getting in the water with all those clothes on. She said a cute little "Hmm!" when the first person was baptized. I could see her mind thinking, "Well, okay!" (We will have to find the passage in her Russian Bible about Jesus being baptized and explain why we do that.) I was able to find the beginning of the New Testament in her Bible and pointed for her to read a little while our pastor was preaching. At least I know that she was reading about Jesus. I think our first visit to church went very well. We have had a few family Bible times before we go to bed. We translated a few verses on the computer and highlighted a few passages in her Bible. We pray that the seeds we are planting with her will one day grow into a faith and relationship with Jesus.

We are enjoying our time with her very much. She is definitely a teenager! (And I mean that in the best possible way.) She usually wants to stay up late, but does go to bed when we say it's time without too many "Awws." She likes to look pretty and do her eyeshadow. She also pointed to a magazine in the checkout lane of the grocery store indicating that she liked one of these current teen "heart throbs" that I have no idea about. LOL! She seems like a normal 14 year old girl! Which is great! She loves "mothering" our girls and you can tell she enjoys being a part of a family. She would thrive in a forever family. I know nothing of her past or her situation, but it's obvious she has had a stable background. Obviously there has to be some reason why she is in an orphanage, but she seems to be very resilient to whatever her circumstances have been. New Horizons for Children knows more about each of the children and can get more information from the orphanages. But, they don't freely give out all the background info on a child upfront to host families. We are only hosting her temporarily and they are technically just a hosting program. They are not an adoption agency and can't legally give out all the background info on a child. They will give more info and help guide and direct a family if there is a desire to take further steps. She has been doing great. What a blessing it has been already! We pray that God will use us in His plan for this girl. We know He wanted us to have her this summer. We look forward to doing many more fun things with her for the next few weeks, and sharing more about this great girl with you!

She is Here!

Santa is here! Her flight came in late Friday night. The girls really wanted to come, but it was too late for them. They helped me make a welcome sign for her though. We were so nervous waiting at the airport. We waited for 45 mins and then we moved into position and lined up with our welcome signs. And then waited some more. LOL It was funny because everyone who was waiting on a child said it was long drawn out torture! (It wasn't that bad, but it seemed like every minute was an hour.) And then there they were coming toward us. I was trying to find Santa in the crowd, but I didn't recognize her at first. She looked different that in her picture. I only recognized her when she was rushing at me with her arms wide open. She gave me a HUGE hug! She almost didn't want to let go. I almost cried at that point, but I held it together. (I was shocked that she was so affectionate. They prepared us before hand saying that most of these children are shy and aren't used to affection. And that we would most likely have to teach them how to hug.) And there she was latched on to me with a massive hug! And then she went to Philip as well!!! Another shocker. Most of these girls are timid around men, who knows what they've been through in the past. Most of the "dads" have to earn their trust. But there she was hugging Philip too! You know when you first meet someone face to face, can look into their eyes and get a sense of who they are? Well, right away we could tell she was special.

The past 2 days have been great. She met the girls the next morning and loved them. She wanted to play with them and braid their hair. Hannah and Kayla loved it! She is very affectionate to them, and you can tell that she loves little kids just like her profile bio said. We have gone to the store, visited Philip's parents, played Wii, and gone to church. She is up for anything! Not one bit shy meeting new people or trying new things. She even eats almost everything we offer her to eat! Our food is so different from their food, especially the low quality food they get in the orphanage. We were expecting to have to coax her to try new things. But she is pleasantly shocking us all the time. She is cheerful, outgoing, and very sweet. She is definitely a teenager, and wants to paint her nails, pick out eyeshadow, and doesn't seem interested in cartoons or toys of any kind. (She'd rather play Philip in ping pong and bowling on the Wii. Shhh, don't tell Philip I told you. And even for a beginner, she sometimes beats him! She is a fast learner! LOL) She is great! =)

No issues at all! As far as I can tell, in just the couple of days we have known her, she would thrive in a forever family. It kind of make me feel even stronger for this girl. And I desire for her to have a family she be can be with forever. I have renewed my prayers with fervor for God to provide her a family. PLEASE join with me in prayer for her. If you have never considered adoption before, maybe now is the time to start praying and see if God is calling you in that way. And if you know of anyone interested in adoption please tell them about her. We would if we could! She is just precious!

Our calendar is filling up with all kids of activities! We are planning to go to the GA Aquarium tomorrow. Ww are looking forward to that! Philip has taken two days off of work and that has been great! I will be updating often with all that is going on with us and how Santa is doing. Check back often and see what's going on!

5 days and counting!

Sorry it's been a while since I blogged last. Much has happened since then and everything has been crazy! We spent most of May preparing our house for a Memorial Day party. It is mostly finished, the master bath didn't quite get finished in time, but the rest of the house finally got put together. Hopefully the bathroom will be finished within the next few weeks. A big thank you to my sister who helped me hang pictures and put the finishing touches on our house. (I seem to have been born without that creative feminine gene of decorating.) It feels good to finally be completely moved in and have everything set up the way it should. And what a blessing to be able to host all of our family for Memorial Day! I think at one point, with a couple of friends added in the mix, we had over 60 people at our house! (We have tons of family in the Atlanta area.) Whew, it was great!

We are still in the process of preparing for our summer mission. We raised ALL the needed money for hosting Santa! She will arrive June 25th. Praise God! (I just want to add something at this point. If God has pressed on your heart to do something, but it seems unlikely or even impossible, just take that first step of faith and He will provide all the details. We have no doubt this is God's plan and have seen Him confirm that over and over again.) It's not like we have $2500 at our fingertips, but God provided all of it and more to provide for her while she is here. People that we don't even know donated, and that is all God! I know that many people think we are crazy for choosing to host an orphaned teenage girl who we know nothing about. But in our minds, how could we not? This is God's plan. We know He wants us to have her this summer. Do we expect it to be easy? No. But we are willing to invest our time in this girl. One of my favorite phrases is, "God doesn't just call those who are equipped. He equips those who are willing."

Our training session for hosting was this past Saturday. It was so encouraging to receive practical instruction on how to best love this special girl while she is here. It was very enlightening to hear from a few children who have gone through the program and have since been adopted. They shared about how scared they were at first and how everything was different. But when the families were so nice, and they had so much fun doing things as a family, they opened up and felt very happy. Hearing about how they view things from their perspective was a great eye-opener. Understanding where Santa comes from, and more about her culture and environment, has truly changed us. The helpless situation of these orphans in Russia, Latvia, and Ukraine is heartbreaking. The children told us they are viewed by people in their countries as "trouble" kids and deserving of their situation. Adoption of a child over the age of 9 is almost unheard of, and the orphanages are overflowing. (Our program director shared that when one of the children was chosen to be adopted after participating in this program, it was the first adoption that orphanage had EVER handled.) Once they turn 16 these children are too old for the government system and have to care for themselves. They're just babies themselves, and no one has prepared or taught them how to take care of their own basic needs. That's why 60% of the girls end up in prostitution just to provide for themselves, and 70% of the boys end up in jail for gang related crimes or theft. (They are just trying to survive.) It's a vicious cycle when these teenagers end up pregnant, can't care for their own babies, and then they end up in an orphanage as well. We also learned that the average woman in these countries averages 7 abortions in her lifetime. And with the downward spiraling economies of the countries of these children, their future is truly bleak at best. (Most people don't know how blessed we are in comparison to the situations in other countries.) Once your eyes are opened to the situation of these precious children, you can never go back. My friend, Kimberly, who is hosting an 11 year old boy feels the same way. She said, "When God opens your eyes to something, you can't go back and un-know it."

We also had a great opportunity this past week. We were asked along with our friends to be guests on a local talk show to share about hosting an orphan this summer. What an exciting surprise! The host of the talk show gave us a list of questions ahead of time, but we were still nervous! We really wanted to take this opportunity to raise awareness of this wonderful program. We arrived all fixed up pouring over our list of questions and going over the answers we wanted to say. We watched our friends interview and saw that everything seemed to be really easy. When it was our turn to tape, we sat down and got ready to do the interview. She asked us the first couple of questions and we answered easily. Then she started asking us questions that weren't on the previous list. If any of you know Philip, he is not gifted in the area of public speaking. God has truly gifted him with a behind the scenes talent in audio engineering. He is not an upfront onstage person. I could feel him starting to get the look of a deer in headlights. LOL! Karen-"And Philip, where is the country of Latvia located?" Philip-"Ummm......(long pause, you can start to hear crickets chirping)....um, Europe?" hahaha Thank goodness for editing! I only hope I made sense in some of my answers too and that we didn't sound like dummies, she threw me a couple of times and I found I was starting to talk fast and grapple for answers! We didn't do awful, but it's needless to say will not have future careers in TV. Philip still asks me about one of her questions to him. "What did she ask me, what was the question?" LOL We were definitely out of our comfort zones and were stretched. I hope that through it all God was able to use us to inform and encourage people to be a part of hosting an orphan. Karen asked us to come back on the show at the end of the summer and share about our experience. Philip turned with a shocked look and whispered, "We have to do this again!?" LOL Yes, we'll do it again and what ever else needed if it will help even just one orphan.

We are starting to pray earnestly for Santa. We desire a forever family for her. And are asking God to provide her with a family. Even if we desired, we are not eligible or able to adopt her at this time. One of the reasons is that both parents have to be 18 years older than the child. We knew that from the start. Which I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Then why did you choose her if that is not even possible?" I don't know God's plan. What we do know is that He made it very clear that we are supposed to have her this summer. I know it will be very hard to let her go back. And that is where true faith comes in, knowing that God has a plan for her and to trust Him with her future. We are asking specifically for God to provide her with a forever family. We are asking Him to start working in the hearts of some of His people. Will you please partner with us asking God for a family for Santa? If you are interested, or know of anyone interested in adoption, please let me know so I can arrange a meeting with her. I also ask at this time, PLEASE DO NOT talk about adoption in front of her. She can understand English and we do not want to falsely raise any hopes. Please speak to me privately and I will be happy to share all I know about her and adoption with you. We are clinging to these verses.

John 14:18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."
Psalm 68:5 "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling."
Psalm 68:6 "God sets the lonely in families."

When you step out in faith to follow God's will it might be scary at first and you will be stretched in different areas. But you will start to gain confidence with each step watching Him provide, equip, guide and support you. We don't know God's plan or the future, we only know the next step He has laid out for us. There's enormous peace knowing that He is omniscient and in control. This is what we know and are learning every day. She hasn't even arrived yet and we already feel God changing us through this process.