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!