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.