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.

Ready, Set, Go!

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

Meet our host child for the summer, Santa!

We finally finished all the needed paperwork this past Saturday and mailed our hosting application packet on Monday. It is so exciting to know that the welcome letter we wrote will soon reach an orphan girl in Latvia telling her that she has been chosen to come visit us in America! The organization has known her for 2 years, and from what I know, she has never been chosen before. I can only imagine how excited she will be to learn, that after waiting for two years, she will finally get her chance to come to America! Santa just turned 14 an is a 7th grader. We need your help in this journey, your prayers and support are very important to us. It is amazing and overwhelming to think I will temporarily be a mother of three girls this summer! 14, 5, and 2! Whew! Pray for me! LOL We are looking forward to getting to know this girl and having fun with her this summer. Will you please consider helping us raise the money needed to bring her here? Please copy and paste the link below into your browser window, and you can read her profile bio and learn more about her! She is an amazing girl!


www.active.com/donate/2010summer/hostingsanta

The Big News!

Well, we all have been fighting sickness it seems since Easter. Easter morning I got the girls up because Philip always has to be at church early. I got myself ready and got them all dressed up in their Easter dresses and such, drove all the way to church, and as soon as I pulled into a parking space Kayla threw up all over herself! Didn't see that coming. So, I spent my Easter morning in the parking lot of the church cleaning up Kayla. Philip did come out to help me a little, but had to go back inside and run sound. I took her inside to clean her up in the bathroom sink. I'm sure the people in the building thought I was murdering my own child by the way she was screaming! She didn't understand why I was trying to wash her in the sink and was panicking! (By the way, after she was clean she was fine) Oh the joys of parenting.... Anyways, We also went to a family wedding this past weekend. The girls were still sick; Hannah came down with whatever Kayla had too by this time. But we went anyway because the girls were supposed to be flower girls in my cousin's wedding. The whole trip we dealt with two sick girls: high fevers, coughing fits, and other gory details I won't mention. The whole time we considered going home every couple hours. But miraculously, during the most important times, they acted like they felt fine and were able to participate as flower girls. Hannah loved it!!! So, now it seems Philip and I have whatever they had. But we're continuing to plow through and get things done, along with sniffles and coughs. Things do need to get done and they don't wait even if you're sick. Which leads me to what has been going on with our family lately.

Drum roll please....... wait for it......... We are in the process of applying and moving forward to host an orphan from Eastern Europe for 5 weeks this summer! I'll let that sink in....... Yes, this will be like a mission trip for us this summer. Except the mission is coming to us! We are so excited to be working with a Christian organization, New Horizons for Children, that brings orphans from Latvia, Ukraine, and Russia to the USA twice a year to be temporarily hosted with loving families. We are in the process of gathering deposit money, application paperwork, gathering references, background checks, and getting clearances from the Dept. of Family and Child Services. (DFCS) This is an opportunity that we just couldn't pass up. We are so happy and willing to be used by God this summer to help and nurture a child that doesn't even know how a real family operates.

You know as a mom, sometimes I've felt like what can I do that will impact the world? I'm always at home changing diapers, doing the laundry, and feeding everybody. It's not like I can just pack up and leave my babies and go on a mission trip right now in my life. So, this is just right up my alley. They need moms and families to mother, encourage, and minister to these children. The goals of this program are many, but first of all it is to expose these children to the Gospel and the love of Christ. These children also need to see a functioning family. They won't know what that is, coming from an orphanage, unless we model that to them. They also need their English improved. Most jobs in these countries require a person to be fluent in English. Most of the children are taught English from an early age in school. But, they are usually behind. What better way for them to learn than being immersed in a language for 5 weeks? They return back 2-4 semesters ahead of their peers in English. What a confidence boost for an orphan!

I am so blessed with a husband that is willing to go on this journey as a family. You know, I came to him a couple of weeks ago with tears in my eyes saying, "I think this is what we need to do this summer." He was looking at the brochure while I very briefly explained everything. He looked at me after I was done for a moment and without hesitation said, "Okay." And just like that we started on a mission for this summer. Philips feels the same way that I do about the many blessings God has given us. We want to use what He has given us for Him. We have extra space now that we moved to a new house. What better way to show how grateful we are than to share it with someone that has none? And then to be able to share with her about God's love, we are thrilled. We know that through this process everything won't be "sunshine and roses," but we are committed and know that some bumps in the road may be included. (I mean there will be a little bit of language and cultural barriers)

We are moving forward and have chosen a girl from Latvia who is 14. She speaks Russian and some English. Most of these children are malnourished and underprivileged. And they are usually 2 years behind mentally and physically than peers their age. But they are so grateful to have been chosen for this program. This organization meets and interviews many children and their teachers from many different orphanages. They choose certain ones to participate it is a big incentive for them. And the children are filled with hope that they will hopefully one day be chosen to come and visit America.

Please pray for our family as we are trying to get all the needed application money and paper work together by the end of this week. We will be starting our financial campaign soon for the needed funds to get her over here. Much like a normal mission trip. As soon as we know more information and more things are finalized, we will tell you more about her and post a picture! Thank you for your prayers!

Starting a Blog?

Well, I finally decided to start a blog so that people can know what's goin' on with us. (Please excuse all typos and grammar mistakes. I know there will be many. My downfalls are run on sentences and misuse of commas. I need to brush up on my comma rules! Lol) It is the day before Easter and we are excited and happy to be celebrating the Resurrection of our Savior tomorrow! He is RISEN! Philip and I are so thankful and blessed to know Him as the Lord of our lives. We have been blessed with two beautiful girls, Hannah and Kayla, and recently we moved to a new house.

This past year has been very stressful for us. We had to make hard decisions. We put our house up for sale knowing full well that the market was horrible, and we knew that we might not even get what we paid for it 9 years ago. We set about remodeling said house so that it would be competitive on the harsh market. We went through frustrating showings. And after intense negotiations and 4 months on the market, we sold our house! (For a little less than what we paid for it 9 yrs ago. Which means losing some money. That was hard to swallow.) We sold a large sound system that had been Philip's side business. We found a new fixer-upper house, lowballed an offer that was accepted, and set about renovating it immediately after closing. Now that we've been living here for a month and the whirlwind seems to have slowed down; we look back and see God's hand in everything. He led us every step of the way. It's sometimes hard to let go and trust God with everything. It was like, "God, I trust you.... but I can't see where I'm going.... but I trust you....... um, help me trust you." God forgive us for ever doubting your faithfulness for a second.

So, here we are at the beginning of Spring and looking forward to what God has in store for us through the summer. We are so thankful for what God has done in our lives, and truly want to love Him by letting Him use us. "Use us Lord. How can we use what you've blessed us with for you?" Already it seems He is setting in motion a plan for us this summer. And we are excited to be taking some first steps in that direction. We'll let you know more later when we know things for sure!