Day 15 - New Years Eve

Day 15 started quite slow with everyone sleeping late, which was very nice.  The rest of the morning was spent with the kids playing the Wii while we got things ready for the afternoon where we were scheduled to get some pictures taken.  We got them taken and all of the kids did awesome.  We had good smiles and great cooperation from all.  We got some good pictures and it is nice to see his smiling face and know that we will be able to see it often after he leaves.

After we got home this evening Linda decided to make some cupcakes and he wanted to assist in the making of them.  He got a big smile on his face when he cracked the egg and separated the white from the yolk for the white cupcakes.  Filling the cupcakes was a thrill as well.

We asked him last night what they do in L@tvia for New Years Eve, and he said that they have fireworks.  I thought that we could probably make that happen  and with the help of my sister (Thank you Tina) we got it done.  While the cupcakes were cooling we went outside and celebrated the coming new year with some sparklers and a small fireworks display.  

After the fireworks and dinner we snuggled up with another movie night.  We have found that he enjoys watching movies in English.  Linda asked him if he wanted a drink while watching the movie and we got a full English sentence which is only the second full sentence since he has been here.  It is very cool to see him using our language and using it correctly.

As 2012 comes to an end shortly, I look back and our year and think to myself, WOW.  If you would have told me last year at this time that I would be sitting in my living room watching a movie with a  boy from L@tvia that I had never met before 2 weeks ago I would have laughed at you.  It is amazing to see the things that God can do in your life if you are open and obedient.  I am excited to see what 2013 has in store for us and pray that whatever it is we see Gods hand in it.

Day 14 - Another first today

Today started off with us getting ready for church.  I was making breakfast for everyone and was not sure if he would like what I had thrown in the oven for the rest of the kids.  I prepared theirs and then was getting ready to make him something else when I asked if he wanted one ( a Pillsbury Cinnamon roll).  In the past he had not wanted one but this morning he said yes to it.  So I went back into the kitchen and grabbed another and made it.  Before I knew it he had it gone and was wanting another.  I think he finished before the other kids had finished and they had theirs first.  We now have something new to give him for breakfast.

It is funny how adding another child into the mix changes things.  One more person to make sure they got their teeth brushed.  One more pair of shoes to find.  One more kid that has to go to the bathroom, or as we now call it the toilet.  That being said we were only a few minutes late to church.  Luckily no one was sitting in the back row.  I would say that Church went better this week, not that it was bad last week.  After Church we went to the car wash.  Caden was in the back seat with him trying to explain it to him.  We drove around and started to go in and I heard him say "Oh Cool" in his cute L@tvian accent.  

We got home, and I started to take down the leaning, dog leash holding up Christmas tree, and I noticed that  he was not around.  I asked the kids and they said he was upstairs in his room with the door shut and he would not let them in.  I thought to my self oh now whats going on.  We have been told that week two can by a trying week for host families.  We have just finished week 2 and for us there were no issues.  I thought maybe he was saving his issues for the end of the week.  I didn't really worry about it and went on with what I was doing.  I was taking the tree out when Linda yelled for me to come in because there was a surprise.  Apparently he had been setting up a surprise for the entire family and would not let anyone see it until we were all there.  We were then allowed into the room where he had set up for a dance party.  He had the music going and a couple of flash lights acting as party lights.

After dinner we all snuggled up and watch a movie to end the night.

Day 13 - Chomp Chomp Chomp!

Today I am going to give you the events in reverse order.  The only reason that I am going to do this is so that I don't forget what just happened.  We sat down for our nightly chat with him (more like typing and receiving yes and no answers) and we started to ask him about food.  It seems as though we are stuck in a rut with him eating the same foods over and over again.  That may be ok but we want to give him some variety.  Linda brought  up some pictures of fruit and he was quite excited to see a few of the different fruits that we do not have around the house, so can you guess where we are going tomorrow?  You guessed it the supermarket.  We then went onto the pictures of vegetables.  He was not so excited about this page.  We pointed to tomatoes, and he said he liked them.  I asked how he ate his tomatoes, and without hesitations his response was "Chomp, Chomp, Chomp", which got a good laugh from everyone!  His sense of humor is shining through more and more as he becomes more comfortable with us.

This afternoon rounded out our final Christmas event of the year.  My Dad had us over for  the afternoon.  We had a good time and he got to meet even more people.  I wonder if he is beginning to wonder how many people we have in our family ;).  Linda and I were talking after we left about how incredibly well he did at all of our family events.  I am sure it was very hard for him not really knowing anyone and not knowing much of the language.  We are so thankful that not one fit was thrown at any of the Family Christmas events.  He has blessed us by being a well mannered little boy.

\We wanted to send something back with him that he could have to keep and hear our voices.  We decided to take him to Build a Bear so that we could add a recorded feature to his bear.  He now has a bear that when you push his paw says "We love you (insert name here)".  I am not sure how many times he has pushed  the button to hear our entire family say that.

The first thing we did this morning was a quick  trip to the place where a kid can be a kid.  Yes we took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese.  It was fun to see him walk around and look at all the games, seeing all the flashing lights and the expression on his face when he won.

Day 12

I go back to work next Wednesday, so we are trying to get a few things in that we really can't do while I am working.  Some boys from our church had a basketball game in Arthur this morning so we headed over to support them.  He enjoys basketball.  We have a hoop for him over his door and he spends any free time playing with it.

He absolutely loves the water, so we decided that we would take him to Taylorville to the Aquatic Center inside the YMCA so we could splash around and slide down the slides.  All of the kids had a great time and none wanted to leave however you could tell everyone was getting tired.

After two hours of swimming everyone was very hungry so we headed to Pizza Hut.  You may have seen that food has been an issue trying to find things that he likes.  Pizza hut was not a problem at all.  I don't know if it was because he was so hungry or if he actually liked it but, he probably ate the most at any meal that he has had since he has been here!

Bed times have been a joy with him.  That is when we get some time to talk to him and get to know him more and let him ask us questions if he wants.  The past few nights he has wanted one or both of us to lay with him until he falls asleep (tonight I think Linda fell asleep to).

Every night I sit down to write about our day and my thoughts something different always comes up that catches me.  Tonight, it is bed time.  It had me thinking, there are 144 L@tvian orphans and a little over 80 from the Ukraine.  They are getting tucked into bed, sang to, back scratched, and loved every night.  I do not know the exact number of orphans in L@tvia and the Ukr@ine, but I know that this is a small fraction of the orphans that there are in these countries.  How many of these kids will never get to go to bed and be tucked in and sang to?  How many go to bed lonely, and scared?  I know many of you have been reading my nightly posts.  If you think you could open your heart and welcome  someone over the Summer, or for Christmas I urge you to take part by contacting New Horizons or you can contact us with any questions you have.

Linda and I have been so BLESSED by this opportunity that we have been given.  I would just like to thank everyone who has done anything at all to help us with this process, big or little everything is needed to show him that he is loved.  I do not think he will ever totally understand how many people helped us to bring him here.  I may not even know.  I have no idea how many people have been praying for us but if you have been let me tell you that we appreciate it and covet your prayers.  When hosting you have to go to a training.  At the training they cover as much as possible.  Most of the things covered are to prepare you for things that could go wrong and have gone wrong in the past.  One thing that we were not prepared for was how much we would love him!

Day 11

Day 11 brought everyone sleeping late.  I am beginning to like this not having to go to work stuff.  Unfortunately it is only going to last a few more days.  I feel like these days off that I have had, have been huge for him.  I would say that in the beginning he was much closer to Linda that he was to me.  However, lately he has been snuggling up with me on the couch and getting much more comfortable with me.  I am not sure what kind of men he has in his life, or has had.  He does not talk about any men in his life really right now.  He talks about his foster mom once in a while but we do not hear anything about his foster father.  I pray that I am being the example that he needs.

One of the things that we knew he liked to do was to ice skate.  We knew that our kids would not be able to do that successfully, so we decided on roller skating.  It was fun to see him do something that he excelled at. He was able to take off skating forwards, backwards and in circles.  Our kids needed a bit of assistance, as this was only the second time they had ever been skating.  Our two girls needed the most help, Libby, was able to use a stabilizer with some assistance by me however with Lexie I needed to hold her hands and walk her around the rink.  I did not skate as I was needed to help get them around the rink.  By the end of the day Caden was able to skate under his own power which is quite the improvement from the first time that he skated this summer when they met our friends at the skating rink when they hosted.  There were smiles and laughs all around.  Everyone fell at least one time (even Linda, some how the video disappeared ;) ).

After we got home and got everyone ready for bed, we set some time aside to sit with him and talk.  To protect him, I am not going to go into details of the conversation but we were able to learn more about him.  It was a good night.  He was snuggling with me as we talked.  When it was time for him to go to bed he asked us to lay with him until he fell asleep.

Day 10

Today was a lazy day around the house for us.  It was fun to just hang out at home and not have anything that we had to do.  We spent the day playing the Wii and some board games this morning and afternoon.  He is undefeated in "Trouble" even though I was doing everything I could to break his undefeated streak :)

This evening we got out the Hot Wheels cars and track and playing with all of the different configurations that we could come up with.  It is amazing to see the joy on his face.  As I have said before we are seeing more and more of him, of his true personality.  We sat on the couch with him this evening and talked to him.  It is sometimes a bit difficult for him not to act silly and just answer Yes to every question we ask but I love getting to know him.  He is a very special boy and I have seen how smart he is as he builds things with legos, or created hot wheels tracks.  You can see him thinking about the entire process and how it is all going to work together and be perfect.  As we sit and talk it makes me wonder as we sit and talk to him every night, how many more kids like him are there in L@tvia.    It brings about 1000 questions to mind that I would love to ask him but can't.  My heart breaks for the unknown that he holds inside.  We have truly been blessed by having him in our house for Christmas.

It looks like roller skating is on the agenda for tomorrow.  I am sure that will produce many falls and laughs.  I am going to guess that he is going to be the best roller skater in our family!

Until tomorrow

Day 9 - Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Some times I feel like I am a broken record, but wow, it is hard to put into words the emotions that go on when I see him light up over even the littlest thing.  We had an amazing day today and we could not have asked for anything better.  Every year we spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Linda's family's house.  This year was no exception.  They were all very excited to meet him and to get to know him and see him like we see him.  They all greeted him with open arms and loved on him like he was their own.  I would just like to say thank you for helping make him feel loved and part of a family.

I have loved being able to spend time with him these last two days.  Taking the time off that I had available has been and will continue to be a huge blessing.  I would say that until now he has felt much more comfortable with Linda than myself.  I do think however that having these last two days off have allowed us to become more closer than we were.  I think that he is beginning to trust me more and more each day.  Not only is he beginning to trust me more, I think he is beginning to trust adults more, especially those that are close to us.

Highlight of the day:  All four kids sleeping in the back.  I get to carry the three oldest ones to bed.  I laid him in bed as he was half asleep then gave me a little smile as he rolled over and went to sleep.  That made me wonder, how many times he has ever been carried to bed before, or was that the first time he has ever got to experience a Father loving him in that way!

Day 8

Day 8 started with us celebrating Christmas at our house this morning. The boys got up at about 7:30 which I was grateful for.  Normally our kids would want to all go first, but this year they told us that they had decided that they would like him to go first.  After he finished opening the gifts he gave us both one. He gave us the biggest most sincere hug we have gotten so far. I will say that if felt so good to have him hug me like that.  This afternoon I asked him what his favorite gift was and he replied "yes". I did not think he understood so I asked him again. Again he responded with "yes". I then asked again with the same response, so this time I used different words. Guess what, same result. I then got the computer out and translated it. He got a silly grin on his face and said yes. We are seeing more and more of his personality come out everyday. I feel that he has gained a lot of trust in us in just the 8 days that we have had him. I often find myself thinking, what would I do if I were sent to another country for 4 weeks with people I have never met before who speak a language that I do not know. Would I be able to be as courageous and bold as he is?
We spent the rest of the day playing with all the new gifts. We then made our yearly trip to "The Farm" (Linda's family). There he got to meet all of her family and play with the cousins. There are 9 kids  ages 2 to 12 there so there is a lot to do. Once again today he had no problems fitting right in with the kids. Not only does he fit in with the kids but he also does well with other adults as well.  I love seeing him come up with things to do. You can see the expression on his face go from a puzzled look to all of the sudden a light going off and his face beaming.
Tomorrow brings the last of our 4 day Christmas blitz leaving just one remaining. One of our readers posted a comment mentioning that we do not slow down much. This time of year is difficult for us to slow down with all the different directions that we have to go. I think that this is showing him our true holiday time travels ( and I am totally thankful he doesn't get car sick).   If we would have hosted during the summer I would like to think that things would be slower but I am not so sure about that. I am sure it would probably just be a different kind if busy.
If have you enjoyed following our blog and think that this would be something that you would like to pursue feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I believe the photo listing for summer hosting comes out in February 1st. 
Merry Christmas all,  my eyes will forever see Christmas in a new light and my life will forever be changed!

Day 7

Good evening,  I thought I might start out this evening clarifying a bit of last nights post.  When we were asking what he wanted for Christmas, we were not prying or even trying to get anything deep out of him.  We were actually looking for something like a toy car or a ball, something that could be wrapped up and put under the tree.

Now onto today- Today has been another full day.  It started with Church where we sang some Christmas Carols.  I really enjoyed looking over at him standing next to Linda seeing him able to sing along with the two songs that he knew.  

 As you could imagine since today was the first day for us to be at church with him, there were a few people that wanted to talk to us and see how things were going.

After church was over it was awesome to see how he just fit in.  If you were new to Church this week and you had gone down stairs after the service you would not have known that there was a boy there from L@tvia, and that he did not speak English.  Thank you for all of the Kids at church that made him feel welcome.   We have a new four square player among us!

After Church we went to my moms house for Christmas with my family.  Once again it was very cool to see him slip right in with all of the other kids.  We opened presents and he got very excited about getting a baseball glove and ball.  So what would any boy want to do but go outside and play catch.  Luckily for him we were thinking and brought Caden's glove as well so they could play together.

I loved seeing him around other people today, especially when they get to see his personality shining through

Today was a pretty long day. On the way home I saw the two boys laying against each other sleeping in the back seat when i looked back!

Another good day in the books.  I can not believe how time is flying.  It seems like just yesterday that we were picking him up at the airport.

From the hospital

I bet that title got your attention didn't it?  Yes I am at the hospital but it is for what I believe to be something minor that I need taken care of as soon as possible. Tonights post is going to be a bit different. We went to my Grandmas house for Christmas today which is about a 3 hour drive. That gave me a lot of time to think. I was thinking about the entire hosting process as I have seen it so far.

We signed up in the end of October.  Linda and I often said that we could not have imagined if we would have signed up from the beginning.  The process is much like an abbreviated pregnancy cravings included, by me however.   We prayed often for him and often thought about him, wondering what he was going to be like.

The day came for his arrival and I found myself anxious. As the time of

the arrival came closer my thoughts were racing, I'm sure my heart was to. We then saw him and got to hold him, hug him and see him smile. It is so hard to put into words how it feels. I am sure many other families that have hosted would say the same thing. It was amazing how I loved him from the moment I  saw him. 

He did very well for his first outing with quite a few people there. I was very happy with how he did considering he did not know anyone other than us and was trying to understand what was going on.

A funny note from dinner. We had stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel and ordered a hard boiled egg. The egg was cold and he tried a piece. I asked how it was and he said " No fooy fooy"

We got home this evening and put everyone to bed. We then went in and laid with him and translated a few questions. One of them was "What do you want for christmas?" His reply through typing in google translate "to have a family"

Please excuse any errors as I am typing on my phone.

Day 5 - They Eye Dr. and more!

Today started out with an Eye Dr. appointment.  All went fairly well, no glasses were needed,  It is possible that in the future other measures may need to be taken but right now things are O.K.  When we got out of the Eye Dr. everyone was hungry so we decided to let them burn off some energy at Dairy Queen and play in the play place.

After lunch we had to pick a few things up at Walmart and took the opportunity to let him see more food to choose from.  As he was going through the fruits he picked one out that threw me for a loop.  I would have never have guessed that he would pick this fruit.  Any guesses?  Do you give up?  It was a Pineapple.  He also picked out a red pepper and a few other things.

On the way home we stopped by the church and visited with Pastor Cliff for a bit.  While we were there we were able to show him around the church .  We hope that will help on Sunday, not to be nervous when it is full of people.

We got home and I had to run some errands in town.  I was gone for about an hour.  While I was gone Linda said he had eaten half of the pineapple and nearly all of the red pepper.  Yaaawhooo more foods that he likes.  I think at this point we have found quite a few things that he likes and is willing to eat.

Remember the one question that he has asked?  He asked when we could decorate the Christmas tree?  Tonight was the night.  We turned on Christmas music and started to decorate the tree.  I got the lights on the tree and we started decorating.  

Right after the last ornament was put on the tree.  It started to fall over (yes for those who remember it happened last year to).  We had to scramble and try to figure out what to do?  Do we leave it leaning back into the corner, or do we try to tie something around it to hold it up.  The only thing we could find was an old dog leash that we had laying around.  We wrapped it around the tree and screwed it into the wall  We were resourceful and turned a bad situation into a good one.  In a sense that is what this Christmas is about for our family.  We have been obedient to what God has asked us to do and we have helped this Christmas to be unlike any other Christmas he has had.

We are finishing the evening with the the movie "The Story of Jesus" in L@tvian with English subtitles.  I find it fascinating as I sit here and listen to a completely different language.  It puts into perspective what he is going through every day.  We are speaking a language that he knows VERY LITTLE of all day every day and he can only understand portions of it.  I know very few L@tvian words and often times they are talking so fast in this movie that I do not even catch that they have said a word that I know.  I do not know how I would hold up not being able to understand what is being said all day every day but he has been an absolute trooper and is trying to learn as much as he can from us.

Tomorrow starts our Christmas get events.  We will be traveling a bit.  I am thankful that many of the things that they told us about in training have not been true with him.  One of the biggest that I am thankful about is that he does not get car sick.  That makes traveling much easier when you have to drive 20 - 30 minutes for most things.

So Today We:

• Had a good Eye Appointment
• Got to see the Church as well as visit with our pastor
• Decorate the Christmas tree
• Catch the tree
• Tie it to the wall with a Dog leash
• Redecorate the tree
• Watch "The story of Jesus" in L@tvian.

All in all it was a good day.  The movie is finishing up and we will call it a day.

Good night Everyone ( labu nakti Ikvienam)

Day 4 (My last day of work this Year 12 days in a row off!)

So today was another day that I had to go into the office.  Thankfully it was the last day that I will have to work this year.  I left for work this morning to a very quite house.  

The afternoon was spent making brownies and chocolate covered pretzels.

I came home from work to a dark house. As I was leaving the office tonight the power went out.  I live close enough to the office to know that if the power goes out at work, the power goes out at home.  I got home this evening and everyone had a flashlight and a glow stick.  With the power out we were trying to decide what to do.  Should we head to a hotel and swim,  should we go to a friends house or stay home and stick it out.  We decided to pack up and head out since we did not know how long they power was going to be out.  The power going out turned out to be quite the blessing.  He let loose a bit and showed us some of his dance moves as he was wearing a flashing red white and blue ring that we had around the house.  We found out that he knows Justine Bieber and the song We will rock you by Queen.  Right after we got everything packed up and were ready to head out the power came back on.  We had dinner which was a success again.  This evening was Chicken Nuggets and Tatar Tots.  A little wii time and then to bed.  When we put him to bed we laid with him and used the computer to translate questions back and forth with him so that we could learn more about him.  We asked him if he had anything to ask us or wanted to talk about.  He thought for a minute and then asked "When will we decorate the tree!".  (we were going to do it tonight but the power went out)  After a few more questions he wanted Linda to read him a book and he fell asleep half way through it.  It was a very sweet bedtime tonight. Even though he was tired I could see that he really enjoyed our time with him and wanting to know more.  It breaks my heart to know that this could have been the first book that was ever read to him to put him to sleep at night.

Day 3

Day 3 started with a breakthrough with in the food department.  We found some foods that he likes and he even came back for seconds.  I had the day off today to take him to the dentist.  I think he may have done better than I do in the dentist chair.  He had ZERO Cavities.  Hooray!  (no fallow up appointment for fillings)  I meant to get a picture but I forgot. 

After the Dentist we all went to Target to return some clothes that we had purchased before he got here that ended up being a size to big.  We returned them and then got to let him pick the clothes that he liked.  We got to see some of his personality come out while we were at the store.  We also got to walk through the food section and he was able to show us some things that he liked to eat and drink.

After Target we came home and played around the house a bit.  There were giggles and laughs coming from the kitchen as the kids were playing together.   We then went to pick out our Christmas tree.  We went to the same tree farm that we go to every year.  Usually we go get our tree before Thanksgiving.  We pulled in and it looked like all of the trees were gone.  Luckily someone had called and canceled their tree that they had tagged which made our decision pretty easy.  We were able to march out to the tree, look at it and say we will take it!

This was much shorter than I thought it was going to be, but I am emotionally drained this evening.

Day two down.

Well, today I had to go to work.  It was difficult for me.  I wanted to stay home and get to know him more.    We all slept through the night which was much needed by all.  He had to call home today (and once every week) and it seemed that conversation went well.  While I was at work Linda took him to get a haircut this morning.   The kids built aluminum can towers and shot them down with the nerf guns and played a few indoor games while waiting for it to warm up a bit.  They then played outside because it was decent outside today rode bikes,  and jumped on the trampoline.

I came home for lunch today to a nerf gun ambush.  He and Caden were waiting for me with loaded guns and shot me multiple times as I came in the door.  Not fair since I was unarmed. (note to self, take a loaded nerf gun to work with me)  We ate lunch.  Food is a small issue.  We are trying to figure out what he likes and how he likes it prepared and we are hitting a bit of a bump there.  We are finding things for him to eat but all the foods that people say most like are not working.  I am sure that we will make some more head way there as the time goes on.  When I was leaving to go back to work this afternoon my three kids all came over and gave me a hug.  I was prepared to tell him bye when he came over and gave me a big hug.  I am not sure if it was just a hug because the other kids were giving them out or if there was more to it.  Either way I will take it.  They played basketball, played soccer and Caden said he was really good at soccer.  While I was at work this afternoon he showed off his paper airplane making skills.  All the kids had fun with that.  

I came home from work and can you guess what happened?  That's right, another nerf gun ambush.  This time Linda had a gun ready for me so I was able to fight back.  I still lost because they had two guns and a stock pile of nerf bullets.  We bought some jeans on the way home from St. Louis.  Everything was good accept the fact that they were to long.  We bought them and are getting them hemmed so that they are the right length.  We got home after visiting with the Applebees and had dinner.  Then it was showers and bedtime for our kids to give us time alone with him to talk to him.  We were able to ask a few questions through translation.  Some were quite funny when translating back to English what we thought we were asking.  We are taking him to the dentist tomorrow.  Thank you Dr. Kelly Clark, D.D.S and Decatur Dental Care.  We were asking if he had been to the dentist and he said yes.  I then tried to ask any cavities? Which translated to Any holes? which we all thought was a bit funny.  He was pretty tired tonight which is understandable with the amount of time and the pace of the play today.  All of the kids fell asleep very quickly today.  I am off work again tomorrow to go to the dentist with him.  It is interesting that I had almost enough vacation days left at the end of the year to cover the first half of the hosting to be able to be home and enjoy the time with him and help show him a true family so that the last two weeks we see him blossom an open up to us.  Only time will tell but until then I am going to enjoy every minute of it.  Until tomorrow!

Day 1!

Well,  right about now he has been with us almost exactly 24 hours.  My life will for ever be different than it was 24 hours ago.  We put the kids to bed last night around midnight.  Everything was going well until we were woken up by our youngest daughter throwing up beside the bed at 4 a.m.  She had a very hard night with the same happening about every hour or so until 6:30 when she finally fell asleep.  The rest of the kids woke up at 8:30.  Breakfast went well, after breakfast we went swimming.

Swimming was a huge icebreaker and we got to see a lot of smiles and laughs this morning.  We then got in the car and started the trip home.  I am very happy to say that the gallon freezer bags were not need.  He did not get carsick at all.  Hopefully that will continue.  We stopped at a buffet and he got to try a lot of different foods.  After lunch we went and picked up a few clothes and shoes for him..  We finally made it home late this afternoon and explored the house.  We had a nerf gun war in the first 30 minutes of being home.  Our kids were going 100 mph bouncing off the walls wanting to show him everything.  We did have a fun time making wrapping paper by stamping brown paper.  Some of the stamps that we have are of a nativity scene that I stamped out and Linda asked him if he new the story,   we found Christmas story in his bible and he was able to read it to us in L@tvian.  We saw more smiles when Libby and I beat him and Caden in a very competitive game of Foosball.  We had dinner, shared with him about our extended families and he shared with us some stuff about where he lives which was fun to see.  We could see it because he drew us a picture!  We will be referring to that picture often I am sure.

From my perspective, today has been very enjoyable.  It is fun to see the way that our kids interact with him.  Lexie talks to him like he understands her and I think that is pretty cute.  We feel like he is trying very hard to learn English.  He is repeating us and you can see that he is really thinking about it.  He obviously does not understand everything we are saying but he is growing.

Day one is in the books and it was a good one.  I would like to thank two couples.  The first would be the Robey's,who because the hosted over the summer opened or eyes to the opportunity.  I would also like to thank the Drake's who told the Robey's about New Horizons for Children.  Without these two couples we would not be where we are tonight with a little boy that we have welcomed into our home for this Christmas season!

WOW...

He is here!  Wow the rush of emotion is something that I can not communicate. He was sleeping hard on the plane when they got to st Louis. He was a bit out of it in the beginning. We took him to Steak n Shake for a milkshake and to sample. The chicken fingers fries and ketchup were a hit.  His smile is infectious and angry birds brings it out!. Headed to bed. Looking forward to what the next 4 weeks has in-store for us.

Almost here! (Please read all the way to the end)

Wow the time has come.  He has been at the airport for about 3 hours or so at least.  I just checked the flight from the airport and it says that it is checking in.  As I sit here in my living room, my mind is flooded with thoughts, most of which center around wondering what he is thinking right now.  A ton of questions come to mind.  A flood of emotions running through my body right now.  Anxiously awaiting word that the flight has departed.

A couple of days ago I wrote about how wonderful technology is.  Well this evening it caused quite a stir.  As many of us hosting parents were communicating back and forth we noticed that one of the flight tracking websites said that the flight had departed 2 hours ahead of schedule.  This caused quite a stir especially with parents that are picking up at JFK.  After doing a bit more digging and finding the same information on two other sites we found out that they had not actually taken off yet and were probably going to be leaving about 10 minutes late.  Even with the late departure however it looked as if they were anticipating making good time and getting in an hour and a half early.  Either way it does not affect us much because there is a large enough window between flights that there will be no issue catching the flight to St. Louis.

I feel like I did when I was about 6 or 7 years old on Christmas Eve.  I knew that there were probably going to be some pretty cool stuff under the tree for me, and I knew there was going to be some stuff that was ok but necessary (socks and underwear).  Those same feelings are coming back now this evening.  I know that there are going to be some very awesome times with him.  I also know that there are going to be some times that are going to be difficult.  Even though they are difficult they are necessary in order for things to happen.  Grace and Love are to big things that I am sure we will be showing him during the difficult times. 

I thought I would fill you all in on one of the biggest rules for the hosting program.  It has to do with the "A" word.  Adoption, or any form of the word used an any way is prohibited.  Many of these kids don't know any or much English but I believe they do know what adoption is.  There are many reason why this rule is in place.  One is to protect the hosting organization and the future of hosting.  When this program is presented to the orphanages and foster families, it is presented as a "HOST ONLY" program and for that reason the children can not go back talking about the fact that their host families are going to adopt them. Another reason is to protect the child, or children that you are hosting.  These children come from foreign countries where the laws can change quite quickly and some children may not even be available for adoption yet.  We are going into hosting with an open heart.  If we feel as though we are supposed to pursue it, we will.  If we do not feel as though we are supposed to pursue it we will be come his biggest advocate.  One of the goals of the program is find the children a forever home.  This rule has been broken in the past by the pastor of a church even.  The pastor in a prayer on Sunday morning prayed that all of the children that were being hosted would be adopted.  Another person was talking about a pet that they had recently adopted.  To someone who doesn't fully understand the language it would be easy to see how they might think that you were talking about them.  So here is my disclaimer:  If you are talking to one of us and he is around, WE WILL IGNORE YOU!  If you do not get the picture, as our friend that hosted this summer put it, I will have to kick you in the teeth and neither of us would want that.  If you could just please to not bring it up.  Thank you all for your prayers.  

FYI most of my posts will be done late at night from here on out most likely.

Am I prepared?

It's 2 a.m. and I have just finished translating things to put on a calender for him to see what we are doing when. I just looked at my phone and it is 10 a.m. in L@tvia. According to my phone it is 22 degrees and snowing this morning as well. As I lay here trying to go to sleep I can not help but think of the amount of travel that he is about to embark on. I am not exactly sure when he will start his traveling. My guess would be that it will be some time tomorrow.
I just envision him probably doing the same thing I am.  He is probably wondering what we are like. At this point he may or may not have read our letter and seen our pictures.   Today I read a blog from a former host family. The dad posted a short update every night. I found myself becoming a bit emotional as it hit me that I  will be where he was in just a couple of days. I think I am prepared but I will not know until he gets here. I have a feeling that Sunday night will be here before I know it.
While you are here I have added a few things to the right side if the page. Feel free to check them out. 

The power of technology!

When we started this journey I thought about first just starting a page on Facebook, but I thought that there are probably many people that may not have Facebook and I did not want to limit who could follow us if they did not want to get a Facebook Username.  So I decided to create a blog.  I think the hardest thing about starting the blog was finding a name for it.  We settled on one and started posting.

You will notice the green states in the map above.  These are the states in which at least 1 person has viewed and read our blog.  I find it simply amazing that by putting our thoughts on a page and hitting publish they can be read by people all over the country just like that.  We hope that this blog raises awareness  for New Horizons for Children as well as raising awareness to the many orphans around the word that are in need of a forever family.  One of the things that touched me from our training session was a video that was played.  It was the testimony of adopted son of the Hosting Director for New Horizons.  He said that when you get to about age 10, orphans loose hope of ever being adopted, and New Horizons is trying to give those kids hope again.

We are down to exactly 5 days from the time that I am posting this!

6 Days

Six days from now... actually 5 days and 23 hours from now we will be meeting a boy that we have been praying for, for the last 6 weeks.  As the time has gotten closer it is becoming more and more real.  Tonight we received our information from our airport coordinator that is in charge of getting us all together in the same spot so that everyone is on the same page and in the same location when the kids get there.

As pickup day draws closer we get more insight as to what it takes to run a hosting program.  I am guessing that I do not even know close to everything and everyone that works behind the scenes and getting everything in line.  I do know that there are quite a few people that do ALOT of work, most of which goes unnoticed.  It is amazing how much goes into allowing these children the opportunity that they are about to receive.  The countless hours that go into getting them here.  When you sign up to host you work with the coordinator in your area.  When we were initially looking through the photo listing and narrowing our choices I had no idea that our coordinator had a full time job on top of answering all of my emails.  

The other people that I am amazed with are a group of people that I have not met, and of which I will only meet one.  This group of people are AAI Reps (they are Airline Ambassadors, off duty flight attendants), they volunteer their time to help the program by flying with the children to the cities that do not have chaperons on the plane.  I would think that this would be a very difficult job trying to lead children and keep them together in a group when you do not speak their language.  We will have an AAI Rep flying to St. Louis with the 7 kids that will be flying into St. Louis.  I am very thankful for the representative that is volunteering her time to do this for us.

I can not wait to see the other families that are doing the same thing we are.  We will be able to share stories and knew exactly what the other families are going through and thinking.

Excitedly, anxiously, nervously awaiting their arrival in now 5 days and 22 hours!

A Message from Linda!

Ryan has suggested a couple of times that I should post.  I really struggle with freely opening my heart on the internet.  I wanted to share some real stuff from my perspective about hosting.  My husband is much better at this kind of stuff.  Maybe it is a guy thing or just one of his great qualities.  I worry to much about how it will be read or could be taken out of context.  So hear it goes, my first post on our blog. LOL!

Next Sunday (Dec 16th) we will be driving to St. Louis to pick him up.  This week when you think of it, will you please pray for him.  His journey will most likely be starting on late Friday or early Saturday.  As I continually pray for this little man, I am just so amazed at the courage he has.  There is no way that I would even make this trip as an adult.  I can't stop my mind from wondering. Will he like us? Will he be disappointed?  Will my nervous extremely loud laugh scare him?  When I get nervous not only do I laugh really loud but I also just ramble, since he doesn't know English that won't go well.  Will our children transition ok?  I worry about our son.  He wants a brother so badly.  I don't want him to get expectations that are not realistic.  Then my thoughts go to the other end.  What if he is a perfect fit with our family?  How will our children handle saying goodbye?  Oh I want to protect my children but this is beyond my capabilities.  I am so excited, happy, scared and nervous.

We had our training last Saturday in Chicago.  What a LOOONG weekend.  It was wonderful to be among others who were adventuring into the same situation as us.  While each family is different and each host child is different as well, we still have things in common.  We did learn some new things about the program, but we were taught for the most part about the orphanages and their systems.  Our host child is in a foster home, but it is not known to us if was previously in an orphanage or not.  They shared a couple of videos, one was a testimony of a child who has been adopted.  Wow what that young man has gone through in his lifetime.  One thing that he shared was that once you get older than 10-12 years old you give up on being adopted.  Also in some situations the children are put in homes so they work or "do chores".  What a horrible way to live.  It breaks my heart for these children. The other video was actually made by the children in an orphanage.  Ugh, my words would not do it justice.  They need LOVE.  They need to know they have a Heavenly Father.  They might not know him but he knows each one of them.  After leaving the training, I felt even more committed to this program.  I am so thankful that the Lord has called us to do this.

This week my goal is to get as much time in Gods Word as i can, spend quality time with my children and strengthen my relationship with them the best I can.  Also I want to have as much family time as possible and last but not least strengthen our marriage.  My husband and I have to keep Christ as the center of our marriage.  We have no way to prepare ourselves for what challenges that we will be facing but God does.

As I end this post I want to truly thank everyone who has helped us in any and every way. I can not express enough how truly grateful we are.

Thank you

Linda

Some thoughts from above!

As I sit in my seat 31F I can not help bit think of the the flight that John will be on soon. He has never traveled before let alone get on an airplane and fly halfway around the world. I have been thinking a lot about what will be going through his mind as he boards the plane and then sees the wold from a whole new angle. When he gets here will he see the World from a different angle?  Will that be a good thing?  So many questions going through my head, most of which I might possibly never know the answer to.   Will you please join me in praying for him that any fears are calmed.  We have found out that we will be picking him up at a small airport in the St. Louis area and that Linda and another host Mom will be flying out to accompany them back on the private jet. If you could pray for the flight back from JFK to St. Louis that would be greatly appreciated as well.  These are my thoughts as I stare out the window somewhere over snowy Montana in awe of God's majesty!

40% Off

I continue to be amazed by the things that are and have unfolded.  It is amazing to see Gods work through this opportunity that he as given us.  I love seeing our children seeing Gods hand at work in even the little things.  Linda and the kids had gone to pick a few things up at the store today.  They were looking at a small electrical experiment kit for John when a lady walked around the corner and asked if Linda could use a coupon that she wasn't going to be able to use.  It was for 40% off a regular priced item.  The item that Linda had in her hand just happened to be a regular priced item.  She took the coupon and the lady walked away.  After the lady left our son threw his hands up in the air and said "I can't believe God is doing this, this is awesome".

The Henry's Wish Tree in progress

The work in progress.  Faith, Hope and Love in English as well as L@tvian.  We hope that it makes him feel more at home seeing something written in his language.

Connecting Flight!

So today we found out that our hosting fees were completely covered.  That just left us needing to pay for the connecting flight from JFK to Chicago.  Linda and I were just talking about the connecting flight when I received an email.  The email was from the flight coordinator for New Horizons.  It stated that one of the other host families from Illinois had access to a private jet.  Yes you read correctly a private jet and they have offered to bring all of the children that were flying to Chicago with them when they pick their child up at JFK.  They have also offered to fly them back to JFK when the hosting is over  all at no cost to us.  This is not only a huge blessing to us as a host family but also to the children being hosted because they will not have   to fly to New York the day before their flight home and will be able to take the private jet and get their in time for a same day flight back to L@tvia.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU

We just wanted to let you know that we are truly grateful for the support that has been shown to us.  I had someone send me an email this morning to make sure that they had sent the donation in properly.  I checked with the bookkeeper, and I was informed that the donation was done properly and that our hosting fees have been met!

Without Further Ado...

I just wanted to give you all a quick update this evening.  Before I give you the update I just wanted to fill you in on something that happened this evening.  Our littlest girl came downstairs and said that she could not go to sleep because she was so excited.  We asked why she was so excited and she said that she was excited for John to come.  We are so amazed at the support that is coming in to help us bring John into our home for Christmas.  We thought you might like to see the boy that we will be hosting.  So without further ado....Who am I kidding.  You looked at his picture before reading this didn't you?

. If you think that you could help us with the hosting fees you can do so by click here. All donations are tax deductible be sure to put Henry in the memo line of your check if mailing a check or if using the paypal link add Henry to the " Add special instructions to the seller" box. (If you are able to help us please send us a picture by clicking here so we can include your ornament on the wish tree.)

Now its time for me to go add some more ornaments to the tree.  Until later.

Very Grateful

Today I became overwhelmed with emotion.  The day started with Linda setting out to see what we could do to find a Dentist and Eye Dr. We would like to send a big thank you to Decatur Dental Care and Dr. Kelly Clark for helping us with the dental visit.  Then this afternoon, I received an email from the book keeper letting me know that some generous friends have accounted for a little over 1/3rd of our fees.  Allowing us the opportunity to add more ornaments to the Wish Tree.  Speaking of fees,many of you have asked what the $2950 hosting fee goes to.  Below is a break down of where the money goes:

Child's Travel Expenses (airfare to JFK, transport)                     $1700

Documentation                                                                           $300

Medical Insurance                                                                      $100

Portion of Chaperone Expenses (Insurance, airfare, stipend)       $400

Interview Trip                                                                             $50

Safety Visit                                                                                 $100

Total                                                                                         $2950

Not included in the hosting fee's are the connecting flight to Chicago where we will pick him up. If you think that you could help in this area you can do so by click here. All donations are tax deductible be sure to put Henry in the memo line of your check if mailing a check or if using the paypal link add Henry to the " Add special instructions to the seller" box. (If you are able to help us please send us a picture by clicking here so we can include your ornament on the wish tree.)

Christmas Tree in October?

If you were to drive by our house at night and see in our windows you would probably take a double take, and ask yourself, Did I just see a Christmas Tree?  The answer is YES ( Well Kind of).  We are actually calling it the Wish Tree.

We wish for him to find Faith in Jesus

We wish for him to find Hope for his Future

We wish for him to know that he is truly Loved

We wanted to find a way for John to know that it is more than just our family that made it possible for him to be here.  We wanted a way for him to visibly see the people that have helped us in whatever way they could.  If you are able to support him we will place an ornament on the wish tree with your picture inside. (If you are able to help us please send us a picture by clicking here.)

Will you help us touch John by filling this tree with ornaments and help us reach our goals of  Faith, Hope and Love.

If you think that you could help in this area you can do so by click here. All donations are tax deductible be sure to put Henry in the memo line of your check if mailing a check or if using the paypal link add Henry to the " Add special instructions to the seller" box, or you can mail a check to New Horizons with "Henry" in the Memo line.

A God thing

Today.... well i guess it was yesterday now since it is early in the morning and we just finished our final application and authorizations, Linda and the kids went to get a copy of our marriage license.  While they were there Libby told Linda to tell them why we needed it.  Linda said no you tell her and then Libby told Caden to tell her.  Caden then passed it to Lexie and she said "We need that paper to get John".

Linda then went on to tell the lady working in the courthouse about the hosting process and where we were hosting a child from.  I turns out that she has a son that just returned from there and speaks Russian fluently and is able to speak John's native language as well.  It feels as though God is continuing to put pieces in place to help us along the way.

I am off to bed now.  Stay tuned tomorrow  ( I guess it will actually be tonight) for a way that we will be  visibly showing John the people that come along side us and help make his time here a reality.

I just spoke with our coordinator and she suggested that if we do have people that are going to donate, that we keep track of them.  So,  if you feel led to donate click here  and specify Henry in the special instructions to the seller, and then if you could you please let us know so that we can make sure everything is accounted for..  We are also going to be putting a Christmas tree up and putting an ornament on the tree for each family that has helped in any way so that he can see that it is not only our family that loves him but many others that love him and helped us bring him here.  Click here to send me an email.

Our Exciting Journey

Hello everyone and welcome to our blog. This is my first attempt at blogging and thought that this would be a great opportunity to get started.

My family and I wanted to share with you the opportunity that God has blessed us with this past Thursday. We will be hosting an orphan boy who we will call John for now (due to privacy issues and not knowing all of the exact rules) through New Horizons for Children. He is a 12 year old boy from L*tvia. L*tvia is bordered by Estonia, Russia, Lithuania and Belarus.

This past summer we had some friends host through this program. We were able to help fund and support them through their process. Linda and the kids were able to meet their host child while roller skating. We knew we wanted to pursue this amazing program. We did not know at what level we would be able to join in, whether through prayer, financially supporting, hosting, or advocating for the cause.

John will be joining our family from mid-December through mid-January. The dates are not yet official due to travel arrangements being made. He will be here for 4 weeks. Our mission while he is here is to show him the Lord Our savior, live by example, share the gospel and show him a loving Christian home, giving him an earthly mother and father to care for him while constantly reminding him that he has a heavenly father. Another part of our mission is to introduce and teach John as much English as we possibly can. L@tvia is part of the European Union which allows people to move freely within the union to find a job. The only problem is that he only speaks L@tvian. There are no other countries in the region that speak L@tvian, so learning English is a strong advantage for him. At age 16 the orphans are sent on their way to make a life for themselves many times with just the clothes on their backs and maybe a few possessions. Without intervention, upon leaving the orphanage, 60% of the girls will end up in prostitution, 70% of boys will be on the streets or in jail and 15% will commit suicide within the first two years on their own.

All that we know of John, and all that we will know until he shares more with us that he is 12, and he goes to a special school because he was struggling with his school work. He loves working on computers and electrical things. His bio stated that he had made a paper airplane and outfitted it with a small engine made of things he found around the house and powered it with a battery. He is currently in a foster home and has been there for 3 or 4 years. In L@tvia a foster home is not quite the same as what it is here. They typically consist of 2 to 6 children and possibly more living in a 1 or 2 bedroom house or apartment in very rural area some without running water or indoor plumbing.

We are so thankful for this opportunity that God has given us and are inviting you to join with us. We have had people ask us how they can help and we are working on a list of ways. There will by physical needs, spiritual needs, and monetary needs. We would like to be able to get him things such as a bible in his language and clothes for him since he will most likely be coming with just the clothes that he is wearing. There is a substantial cost to hosting him. We will be taking him to the dentist and eye doctor because has never been to either before. We ask that you pray for this boy as well as our family. I could not imagine what he is and will be going through. Pray that God moves in his life and that we are sensitive to what he needs. We also ask that you pray for our children.  We are very excited to see what the Lord has in store. We are very excited about this opportunity and look forward to sharing the true meaning of Christmas with him.

This is the part that I am dreading. We need help with the $$. I know it Christmas time and extra money is hard to come by. I hate asking for help. I have a great job and am able to provide for us. I know every one's finances are different. That is why we really dread asking for the help.

We will be responsible for his hosting fees $3000, plus clothing, a dental visit , an eye doctor visit with the possibility of glasses, and other misc. expenses ( travel, meals, and first time experiences). We have from now till Nov. 15th to come up with the $3000. If you think that you could help in this area you can do so by click here. All donations are tax deductible be sure to put Henry in the memo line of your check if mailing a check or if using the paypal link add Henry to the " Add special instructions to the seller" box. More information will be coming soon with more opportunities and ways to help.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. We know that not everyone is able to financially support us but could you please support us in prayer.