Quick update

Hello everyone, yesterday we found out that we will not find out any news for another two weeks due to the in country contact being on vacation. We are bummed about it but at least it gives us a time frame and we are not checking our email all day.

The next piece of the puzzle (From Linda)

First we want to thank everyone who has joined us on this journey.  This was amazing.  We are very thankful for the opportunity that God has allowed us to partake in.  Honestly from the bottoms of our hearts THANK YOU!

We would like to share with everyone where we go from here. His plane has just landed and he is in the process of making the lengthy trip back to his foster home.  Most likely he will have to return to school on Tuesday.  Please pray for him.  Pray for an easy time adjustment.  Pray for him not to be bullied.  Pray for his little heart.  I pray that he turns to God during this time.  We know that God knew him long before we ever did.  We pray that he wraps him in his arms and gives him comfort and protection. Once he gets settled we plan to call him in an attempt to continue communications with him.  There are no rules in place about contact after hosting, so we will just have to see what his foster family will allow.

Yes, we are pursuing ADOPTION!  We are so excited to share this news with all of you.  Oh we love him so much.  At week 3 of hosting, there is a question on the routine weekly reports about intentions of ADOPTION.  Not all families want to adopt and not all families can adopt.  Each country has rules about the age gap between the parents and the child.  Some children are host only because they are to old to be adopted.  Thankfully I exceeded the age gap by less than 1 year.  New Horizons for Children puts together a list of the children who are being advocated for, so that other families who are looking to adopt can view a portfolio of the children and possibly speak to the host family.  In most cases arrangements can be made for a potential family to meet the child while they are in the United States

When week three came for us, we were praying for God to lead us.  This was HUGE for us.  We went in with the mindset that we were host only.  We were told that he is most likely available when we signed up to host him, but we were just going to advocate for him to find his forever family.  That is one of the reasons that we decided to start this blog .

Our lives were forever changed when that little boy stepped off of the plane.  It was very easy for us to say yes because we did love him and our emotions were running full speed.  We wanted to make sure that this was what God was leading us to do and not our emotions.  We were wanting this little boy to find his forever family.  We really needed God to tell us a clear strong yes and we strongly feel that he did.  This is the first baby step in this process.

Right now we are waiting for official paperwork saying that he is available to be adopted.  Please pray for an answer as we have been waiting to hear back for 2 weeks now.  Once we have that, we can move on to our home study.  Once that is completed someone in L@tvia will ask him if he wants to be ADOPTED.  Not all children say yes.  This is huge for them to leave everything they know.  Leave their hopes of family returning for them, friends, their language and everything.  Even if he says no just to know that he was wanted will be worth every hour of paperwork, and money well spent.  We love this little boy so much.  I wish I could explain it better   Our hearts just broke putting him on the plane. Not knowing if he was available just killed us.

Two years ago we started praying and trying to have another baby.  With all of our children it has taken the use of fertility drugs.  While pregnant with our third child I had to under go a surgery.  After my third C-Section Ryan said we were done having children.  He said he was so scared and he could not go through it again.  At times I struggled with his decision but I always respected it.  I knew if it was Gods plan his mind would be changed.  I was shocked when Ryan said he wanted to have another child.  So we started the heart wrenching process yet again.  After 6 failed fertility attempts, I was devastated   I could not understand what God was doing.  While at a family event I was talking to an extended family member.  She casually asked if we were done having kids.  My answer was this " I don't know if I will ever be done.  I just pray that if God wants me to be done that he takes this longing desire out of my heart."  You should have seen her face LOL.  I think she thought I was crazy.  Months upon month of pumping my body with fake hormones had taken its toll.  I told Ryan that I had to stop.

So now hopefully you can see why we were so hesitant to just jump right in.  My heart was broken.  The thought of adoption wasn't really on my mind when we went into hosting.  We wanted to serve God by serving this little boy.  I was so scared to say yes to the Adoption.  Scared to death.  This was putting my already broken heart out there yet again.  Yes once again I admit my selfishness.  I was so scared.  I am so thankful for my husband and his strength to lead me.

We do not know what God has in store for us.  I do know that God has given me a 4th child.  I love him.  I worry about him and pray for him always.  I want to be his mother but most of all I want God's will to be done in his life.  I take comfort that this is in God's hands.  All the paper work, notarization,  court dates and finances are all far to much for us to handle on our own.  So while I would love to do it all by myself.  I know I can't.  I have completely humbled myself at my creator to carry this for me.

So here is our rough timeline:

• Get official notification that he is available
• Start and finish our home study (approx 1-3 months)
• Someone asking him if he wants to join our family FOREVER
• Scheduling of our fist travel date.  We will have to make 3 trips to L@tvia.  The first being 2-3 weeks hopefully with permission , we will be allowed to bring him back home with us on a special visa (commonly done)
• Possible Summer hosting for 5 weeks if our travel will be later
• Our 2nd trip for 3 days
• 3rd trip for a week.
• 4 post placement visits (after 1 month, after 3  months, after 1 year and after 2 years)

How can you help?

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY

Pray for official and accurate paperwork that he is available.

That our home study goes smoothly

For our children.  So many emotions going on .  There little hearts are broken.

For the funds to be available.  It is roughly $30,000 $35,000 - $40,000 to adopt

We will be in great need of fundraising ideas!

Day 34 - The Final day of hosting

Today Saturday January 19th brought departure day to us. After we woke up and had breakfast this morning, the kids decided to play hide and seek one last time.  I must say that he is an amazingly good hider if hider is a word ;)  After they ran out of hiding places in  the hotel room i decided to start throwing pillows at people and started a pillow fight.  I think I ultimately lost because everyone turned on me.

As we were getting ready to leave the hotel, I took a load out to the car and had to put a few last minute things into his suitcase.  As I was putting the items in I found myself being over come with emotion.  I was putting dirty clothes in his suitcase.  How does someone get emotional putting dirty clothes in a suitcase I thought to myself.  I wasn't crying i just felt my eyes well up and my face did something funky.  I walked back into the room and Linda informed me that I looked terrible.

We loaded up the van and headed to the airport.  We made our way into the parking garage and found a spot.  We knew that when we left the house his suitcase weighed 46 lbs.  The suitcase could not weigh over 50 lbs or there would be an astronomical fee.  We learned from a family that sent their host child home last week that had several bags inside the  suitcase that they could pull out and put in the carry on.  Since we added the items to the suitcase, we decided to pull out a bag that had some pretty good weight to it.  We got inside and met the AAI rep that was going to be escorting him to New York City.  She was a very nice lady that helped us through the process.  We got the bag on the scale and it weighed in at 49.5 lbs.  Whew we made it (barely).

We got to security and the Rep went to check to make sure she was not going to have any problems getting him through security.  There was not much said by anyone as we waited for her to come back.  She came back with the all clear and the time that we did not want to come was here.  All of the kids got hugs from him, followed by Linda and then myself.  I picked him up and gave  him a big hug with him giving me a big hug back, and not wanting to let me go as he buried his face in my neck.

It was time for him to go and they headed through the security line.  As they walked away the emotions were overwhelming.  There are really no words that I can use to describe the feeling.  I think the thing that I would compare it to would be the death of a family member.  I do not say that lightly.  The pain that I felt watching him work his way through that line was real and RAW.  It HURT.  I moved myself around while holding Caden so that we could see him every little bit that we could.  We were able to asked the TSA Agent how far we could go and he said as long as we didn't cross the blue line we were fine.  That allowed us to get one last exchange with him and blow him a kiss.  He made it through the metal detector and they walked around the corner out of sight.

We stayed at the airport until his plane departed just to make sure that there were no issues.  We ended up going back upstairs. Where we were able to see when his plane left the gate and then watch as it took off.  He was gone.

The friends of ours that had hosted in the past that you have heard us talk about suggested that after he left that we should plan some one on one time with our kids.  So we thought that was a great idea and I had purchased tickets to the monster truck show in Champaign, and Linda was going to take the girls out for a girls night.  this was all planed out well before we picked him up at the airport for hosting.  Little did we know that he would be staying another week and be departing the same day that we had planned these things.  We had mixed emotions as the day wore on.  Caden was excited and knew that he was going to love it, but shortly after I told him what we had planed, he reminded me that his L@tvian friend would have loved it as well.

As the day wore on there were more and more reminders of him.  One of us would say something, or someone would do something.  When we got home we saw things around the house.  Even little things.  It is going to be a process for us to work through our feelings and we would greatly appreciate your prayers as we work through them and find the best way to handle them.  This will probably be my last post for a little while however it will not be my last post.  We (I) will continue to blog on occasion sharing my thought with you and trying to help others as well.

Thank you all very much for following this journey that we went on.  PLEASE, I encourage you, If you were moved by reading our blog and feel like it is something God is calling you to do.  DO IT!  Even though today was very hard for us, and will be for a while, as Caden told me this evening, it was life changing.  Yes, my 7 year old told me that what we just went through was life changing.  He was absolutely correct.  If you have any questions feel free to email or leave a comment.  If you want to fill out the pre-application for New Horizons, you can do so by clicking the link on the left.

Thanks again!

Day 33 - One last fun day!

Today started off a bit later than we had anticipated   I am sure it had everything to do with the fact that we were up WAY to late last night.   

Everyone had a good time at the zoo.  He was less than impressed when the black rhino had to relieve himself, and then proceeded to kick it at us!  His favorite animal to see was the Bangle   tiger.  He thought that it was pretty cool.

After the Zoo, we went for a late lunch and headed over to Fitz's Rootbeer.  I must say Linda ordered the pulled pork sandwich and it was very good. (she let me have a taste).  If you have never been before they make and bottle their own soda.  They make and bottle 12 different sodas.  While we were there we were able to watch them make and bottle grape soda.  The process was very cool to watch.  The machines that they were using looked to be VERY Old and I would almost imagine they were the machines that they have used from the start.  At one point one of the places on the conveyor kept  opening up and crushing bottles of grape soda making them explode.  It was pretty cool to see, however it looked like it might have been a bit stressful to the guys that were working.

After our late lunch we headed to the hotel to finish our Hosting journey the way we started it,  swimming.  That is one of his absolute favorite things to do is to swim.  We swam for almost 2 hours.  The video below is there reaction to me jumping in!

We did one last American thing and ordered Pizza in.  After some pizza, and popcorn it was our last bedtime.  At bedtime we had our last evening of translating.  He had lost track of his days and was a bit deflated when we told him that we had to take him to the airport tomorrow, so that he could start his journey back.  We  had one last precious bedtime.  Below is a sample of the artwork that he drew for us.  It just happens to be on Linda's hand!

We ended the night with the three of us praying.

Until tomorrow.

Day 32 - Packing day

As I was leaving for work this morning the above caught my eye.  Every day that I went to work while he was here his name tag was hanging right there as it is in this picture.  Today was the last day that I will head to work and see this hanging here.  Tomorrow morning we are off to spend the day in St. Louis.  One of the things that he wanted to do while he was here was to go to a zoo.  Thankfully it looks like the weather is going to be decent tomorrow.

Since we are going to spend the day in St. Louis tomorrow, we had to pack up everything that he is going to take back with him.  We are limited to 50 lbs in one suitcase and whatever he can carry in his backpack.  I must say that I did not think we would be able to get everything into the allotted space, but we did it.  We did have most of his stuff still in the suitcase from last week so it was not terrible.  Linda had most of it packed up by the time that I had gotten home from work.

This evening we decided to go and create a keepsake to remember him by.  We went to the Next of Kiln and painted some ceramics

Everyone had a great time creating their own masterpiece.

Day 31

One of the things that we wanted to do with him before he headed home was to take him to see a movie at a theater.  That was something that he had never done before.  Since he got sick we did not think we were going to be able to take him, however since we were blessed with another week, he was able to go.  The only place that is currently showing a kids movie is a little over an hour from our house, and only showing it during the day.  I could not believe that there were 0 kid movies in the theater now.  So Linda and the kids went to the movie yesterday afternoon and he was able to see not just a regular movie, but a 3-D movie.  He thought that it was pretty cool.  He came home and had to show me the glasses that he got to wear.

Today, they got to have one last play date with the cousins.  They are not home yet but I am sure they had a ton of fun and I will hear all about it.

Throughout our journey you have been able to see just 1 of the over 220 orphans being hosted from L@tvia and the Ukr@ine.  Take a moment to watch the video below.  You will get to see a some of the other children that were loved across the country.

If the children in this video touch your heart, there are many many more that will be making the trip to the United States this summer.  If you want to be a part of their lives and open your family to a child like this click the link to the right and fill out the pre-application,  If you are in the Midwest you will have the same awesome coordinator that we did!(She created the video as well)

Linda's Thoughts on Hosting

So I would like to share with you some more of our journey from my view.  Last summer when our friends hosted, I thought wow how wonderful, I would love to do this.  We followed their blog and enjoyed reading every post.  We followed them through all the ups and downs that they faced.  They dealt with some teenage problems.  I kept this in the back of my mind just assuming that behavior problems were just going to go with the program.  PLEASE understand what I did NOT.  Some children really struggle, some have problems, and some THRIVE.  

This fall God opened our eyes again to New Horizons For Children.  I have to admit, I really debated.  I wanted to do some work on the kitchen.  I know... Change a child's life, show them God, give them love, show them a family, or get new flooring.  Ryan and I prayed about this separately.  Quickly I was told that this is what I was supposed to do.  Shortly after that Ryan and I talked about it.  He opened the conversation telling me that this is what God has told him to do.  He was prepared to make me see things his way. LOL What he did not know is that God had already changed my heart  We were just going to host.  We were going to be there for this child.  I had no idea what I was getting myself involved in.  Looking back now I just laugh.  Thankfully God gave me an inner peace.  Yes I was scared. I was letting a pre-teen boy in my home that I knew nothing about.  I am so thankful that God had given me that peace.  I got many concerned reactions.  Some were out of love and others were well we just wont go there.  I had come up with many of my own concerns, but God truly told me to do this.  

 So going back to our friends hosting experience this summer.  I was preparing myself for the worst.  Our friends are our "experts" they have done foster care, hosted before and had gone through training.    So with us having no experience, I thought we will for sure have problems.  I went into this trying to have no expectations, but like Ryan said I set myself up with negative expectations.  When we were all at the airport waiting for him to arrive our children were so excited.  We were all lined up holding our welcome signs.  One mother next to me said it best.  Her daughter was going to grab something from across the room,  Her mother said, with tears rolling down her cheeks  "Nothing is more important than this moment".   The kids started coming down the hall.  There was a little boy standing in the middle.  I kept saying his name and finally we caught his attention.  I have to admit he was so out of it I thought OH MY.  I remember looking at Ryan scared to death.  Remember, I prepared for the worst.  By the time we got to the car he had woken up, and I realized O.K. I can do this.  By the time we got to the hotel, I thought we are all getting along, this might work.  The first night I slept maybe 2 hours, remember Lexie was sick.  I prayed that entire night for our journey.  The next morning we went swimming.  That was the BEST thing we have done.  When Ryan did a canon ball into the pool, I hope I never forget the look on his face.  His personality started coming out.  He couldn't stop it even if he tried!  By the end of our two hour swim he could say in English:  On your mark, get set, go,  wait, jump and all of our names.  He was smiling and laughing the entire time.  My fears were getting smaller and smaller.  

When we got home all was going well, then I realized that Ryan was going back to work.  If you are a mother  you know the fear of being home alone for the first time with your baby. Or when you have more than one child and you go grocery shopping by yourself.  There was real fear, however all went well.  The first week was crazy.  I have to say he was wonderful.  My kids on the other hand were awful.  I had many times during the day where I thought to myself, what is this, who are these kids, where have I gone wrong.  Remember we were supposed to show him a happy family.

Then Christmas came.  My kids were starting to get it together, and he was starting to get more comfortable with me.  Thankfully, Ryan was able take off several days to be home with us.  I was so excited for him to meet our families.  They all loved him and willingly opened their hearts and homes to him.  Our church family as always was amazing.  I have always thought that the children in our church were wonderful but seeing them play four square with him in the basement made my heart smile.  He felt welcomed and included.  There was no language needed.

After Christmas was over, we started in with our first time experiences and family outings.  Chuck E Cheese, Build a Bear and roller skating to name a few.  Tears ran down my face with every new experience.  I could not prepare myself for the transformation that was taking place in my heart.  I wish I could describe it better but I do not think the words exist.  I was prepared to deal with behavior problems, not prepared to fall in LOVE!  The relationship that has formed between our family and him caught me by surprise.  More like took my feet out from underneath me.  No, I am not talking about my fall at the roller skating rink!  God was giving me an amazing gift, far greater than anything that I had expected.  Remember we were supposed to help him, show him God and show him a family.  To my surprise, he has shown me love, taught me how to love freely, and has shown me God in more than one way.  FAITH?  Faith has taken on a whole new meaning. 

As we headed into our last week, our 

family was running smoothly.  I was starting to think about saying goodbye.  The tears kept on flowing.  Little did we know that the chicken pox were in the future.  With travel dates unclear, I was thinking did we do enough?  Did we do to much?  Did we have enough family time?  Did we show him God in our lives?  Thankfully God gave us an extra week.  He was really sick with the virus and I was able to stop everything and take care of him.  I am so thankful for that time with him. It was not easy but wonderful all at the same time.  

He is now feeling better, but he still can not make it through an entire day without resting.  My kids are going crazy with him being sick.  We are usually an on the go type of family.  I think we have rented every movie and Wii game that the video store has.  We have painted, colored, played with Legos, hot wheels and puzzles to name a few.  I hate puzzles by the way. Yesterday he translated to me on the computer "Can we please go out tonight?".  I first said no because I thought we should stay in a couple more days.  I am so glad Ryan said Yes we should go.  We all needed it.  The walls of my house were closing in on me. It is driving me nuts that my Christmas stuff is still up.  I only have 4 days left and I am not about to take away our precious time to put them away.  They can just collect dust.  I have no idea how I am going to get through the rest of the week.  I am trusting in God. I know that God will get me through this.  

I want to end with this quote "Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all" Lord Alfred Tennyson

Day 29 - Cabin Fever!

Today was day 8 of the chicken pox.  8 days in the house = kids and a mommy going stir crazy. We decided we had to get out of the house tonight.  As we were all loaded up in the car and headed out, Linda told me that it felt good to actually have real clothes on and out of the house.  So are you wondering where we went?  We went somewhere that he has never been before.  We took him to the Japanese steak house.

If you have never been before I would suggest it.  It is a fun little show especially when you are with someone that has never been before.  He was in awe of the big fire ball in the beginning.  The chef also did a couple of pretty cool things with some eggs.  One of which if flipped it around a couple of times and then up into the top of his hat.  He then pulled another egg out and flipped it around a few times and then flipped it up between he and Caden.  They both looked at each other with a look on their faces like oh no you were supposed to catch that.  It was to cute.  Caden then picked up the plastic egg off the floor and everyone had a good laugh.  Aunt Colleen joined us this evening and as we were leaving he said in his cute little l@tvian accent in clear english "Goodbye Colleen, I love you". When we signed up for hosting, I was prepared for him to show us zero emotion, I was prepared for him to be even more guarded than he is.  I never thought that he would tell us he loves us let alone someone that he has only see a hand full of times in the time that he has been with us.

As we drove home this evening we were talking about the fact that the end of our time is coming.  We talked about how this week it feels like it is harder than it was at this time last week.  I thought that it had to do with the fact that we had a glimmer of hope that he may have another week with us due to his chicken pox and the fact that we know that this week is our last week.  We also experienced everyone going through the pain of putting their children on the airplane that we have been on this journey with.  There were 7 families that picked up their children in St. Louis and only 6 that put them back on the plane this past Saturday.  We are the only ones that will be dropping our child off at the airport on Saturday.  I know that it is going to be very difficult to watch him walk through security, but that is something I can not dwell on at this point, so that I do not rob myself of the precious moments that we still have ahead of us.

Day 28 - Honesty

Day 28 is here.  It has been a tough day.  Today was day 7 of the chicken pox.  They are beginning to heal over which means that we can venture out of the house as an entire family again.  Being confined to the house  is beginning to wear on everyone.  I also think that we are running on E emotionally.  When we signed up we had prepared our hearts emotionally to give everything we had for the time that he was here.  Today we hit a wall.  We ran into a communication issue for a little while today.  Usually on Sundays we go to church , however, since he had the chicken pox we stayed home today.  We also made today a cleaning day which I do not believe he understood what we were doing and caused a bit of a frustration on our part.  It was a trying and testing day but we have made it through it.  After the cleaning was over he helped Linda make some sugar cookies and had fun doing it.  It seems as though he enjoys helping her in the kitchen and is very eager when she asks him We have been blessed through the entire hosting process of not really being tested at all and we knew that it would happen at some point.  It will be nice for us to be able to get out and do a few things later this week and enjoy our last few days with him.  We look forward to the rest of our time with him, and learning more about him.  Hopefully he will open up to us a bit more in this final week.

Day 26 and 27

Day 26 was a bit of a relief with the decision made that he would be staying with us another week. With that being said we had to get more documents drawn up for us to get notarized stating why he could not go back and that we would return him next week. 

Last night we decided that we would have a date night. Since we were going to have a home date night we had to figure out something to do with the kids. We decided to move his bed in the room with the other kids and letting them all have a sleepover and movie night together.   They all had a great time sharing a room watching movies.

This morning I woke up with mixed emotion. Today was the day that he was supposed to go back.  That means there are many children that had to leave there host parents and fly to New York City for there flight out tomorrow.  We are blessed to be able to spend one more week with him. We are praying that his chicken pox clear up so that we are able to do a few of the things that we wanted to do last week while he was down.

He has done very well with the chicken pox but I think he is about ready to get out of our house to do something. He is the kind of kid that is always on the more and wanting to do something or other.

Day 25 - Buy 4 Get 1 Free

Wow day 25.  This week has been much more emotional that I have let you all know about.  Normally the 4th week of Christmas hosting is difficult because it is the last week and emotions are high as the departure day approaches.  This week has been even more emotional for us since the onset of the Chicken Pox.  Sunday the chicken pox showed up and we notified the people in charge and we were monitoring the situation.  We woke up Monday with more "red pokey dots".   After trying to figure out what we were going to do we got him in to see our Dr.  The Dr. gave him a prescription that was supposed to suppress the lesions.  The medicine did not appear to have slowed it much because on Tuesday and Wednesday he woke up with even more.

While all of this was going on we were in constant communication with the organization with pictures and updates.  It was not until today that the call was made that he would not be going back with the rest of the children that will be returning on Saturday/Sunday.  It would be very dangerous for some people on board if they were to get infected.  So we are taking the buy 4 weeks of hosting and get 1 free journey.

After 20 hosting periods this is the first time that an infectious disease has prevented a child to not return as expected.  That being said no one really knew what to do.  There are so many different things that come into play.  It is not like we are dealing with keeping someones kid for another week.  We are hosting a child from a foreign country and thus the organization has to deal with the U.S. Embassy and his Orphan Court in L@tvia.

Today was a very emotional day for Linda.  As of 8:00 pm this evening we were not sure when he was going to be going home, so we had to start the packing process. He and Linda went through all of the things that he was given and decide what he wanted to take and what he wanted to leave.  We are limited to a 50 lb suitcase and what he can fit in a backpack.  In that 50lbs we have to put many winter clothing items and then any toys and things that he would like to take back with him.  While I was home for lunch it was hard to watch him go through his things and decide which ones he wanted to take.  It made me think about what was going through his mind as he made the decision as to what he wanted to take and what he wanted to leave.

Fast forward a couple of hours to this evening and we realize now that we have another week with him.  We told him by showing him the calendar that he was supposed to go back on Saturday and then we showed him that he would not be going back until the 20th and his face lit up and he said yay (however you spell that).  This journey has been quite the roller coaster ride and we are just holding on.

God is doing some amazing things and I can not wait to see the results.

Day 24

Hmmmmmm What to write about tonight.... I will say that this has been an amazing journey and the lives of my family will be forever changed.  I have tried my best to put into words the hosting experience.  We have been truly blessed to have him in our home for this Christmas season.  When you sign up for hosting you become part of a group that supports one another.  It has been amazing to see God work through the lives of many of these children who would other wise never see the love of God.

I will say that there is really nothing you can do to completely prepare yourself for the journey.  They tell you to go into it with out any expectations.  That is very difficult to do.  We thought we were going into it without any expectations but what we found is that we came into it with negative expectations.  I am not sure if that is better or worse but either way it was an expectation.  When you have expectations it leaves you vulnerable to the opposite extreme.  The opposite is what we got.  I am not sure it was exactly an extreme but we have been completely blessed with this experience.

Today was a day in which he did not really feel that well.  He seemed pretty tired.  He did not get up until very late this morning and spent part of the afternoon in bed as well.  Before he arrived a church donated a large number of Wildlife Story Tellers.  If you have never seen them before they are stuffed animals that contain a solar powered mp3 player loaded with the story of Jesus.  While he laid in bed this afternoon he listened to it for the first time.  After I dinner this evening myself and the older three kids played some games on the Wii  At bedtime, he wanted to listen to the story again.  I love seeing that it has caught his interest, even if it is the last couple of days that he is here.

If you have followed our journey and think that you would like to so Gods love and the love of a family to an Eastern European orphan,  your chance could be coming mid to late February or early March.  The interview team will be leaving on Friday to find the next group of orphans who's lives will be changed forever.  Is God calling you to open your hear and home.  If so,  you can like New Horizons for Children on Facebook or their website.  I am sure I will revisit it again as it becomes available so You can check back here as well.

Day 23 - Tired

Day 23 leaves this host dad TIRED.  As part of the hosting experience we have the opportunity to send a care package back with the interview teams so that the kids get them  after they return home.  Normally this takes place a couple of weeks after the kids return home, however this time they have had to leave sooner than in previous hostings.  We were up last night putting the bag together so that we could get it to them before they left.  Since we could not do it until he went to bed, we were up late.  At 5 this morning we woke up to a very itchy boy.  We knew it had to be bad because this was the first time he had woken us up for anything.  I got up and gave him a round of medicine and laid on the couch with him while he watched a movie.

As I was thinking about a few things today I thought about him being sick, and though how different of an experience he would have if he were to get the chicken pox back home.  Would he be comforted in the same way that he is here?  I came home from work this evening with him snuggled up with Linda on the couch asleep.  Hopefully he will stop getting any new ones and then they start to heal and give him energy again.  Shortly after I got home Lexie got sick.  We are praying that this is just another short episode for her like the last one.  Hopefully he will stop getting any new ones and then they start to heal and give him energy again.

Day 22 - Day 2 of the Chicken Pox

Well, today was a bit of  an emotional day as we struggled trying to figure out if he would be able to get on the plane Saturday.   New Horizons has had 20 hosting periods and this has never happened before, so everyone was scrambling trying to figure out what was going to happen.   I had taken the day off today to take the kids to Tumbling and Trampoline.  All three kids participate in it, and he was going to be able to join in as well, and I think he would have had a ton of fun.  Unfortunately, with the outbreak of the chicken pox caused us all to stay home to protect everyone else there just to be safe. We had to take him to the Dr. this afternoon and he was able to get some medicine to suppress the illness and allow him to go back with the others on time.

After getting back from the Dr., we spent the afternoon playing the Wii and watching movies.  I have a feeling that those two things are going to be a staple the next few days as the recovery continues.  He has been a trooper and has not complained much, only that he itches occasionally.  We would have rather him not get sick while he was here but I believe this is a blessing as well because it is allowing us to show him love and take care of him nursing him back to health, in the comfort of our home.

With less than a week to go, I reflect this evening, as I sit here alone since Linda is at the store and the kids are in bed.  I find it hard to believe that we are in our last week of hosting.  It seems like it has come and gone so fast.  I think back to when we signed up,  I thought I kind of knew what to expect.  We were at the airport, butterflies in my stomach as we tracked the flight.  5 minutes away.... they just landed..... the buzz of everyone as we waited for them in anticipation.  Seeing him for the first time not believing that he is actually standing in front of us as we had been praying for him for about 6 weeks at that point.  Some families had been praying for much much longer for their children, but our 6 weeks seemed like an eternity.  We got our pictures taken and then everyone went their separate ways.  We found ourselves the last family to leave the airport.  I thought to myself, we are really doing this.  He does not understand anything we are saying to him, how are we going to do this.  As the time passed and the days went on, we were able to act things out and begin to master the use of the translators for help.    We found out on more than one occasion that even though you have a translator on your phone, you can not always rely on it, like in the dressing room at Kohls, when trying to figure out that he is saying his pants are to long, or while he is in the dentist chair while you are trying to explain to him what they are going to do.  We made it through it though and have learned to communicate with him in different ways.

I have be amazed at how well he has done here.  I know that if I were his age I would not have been able to do what he has done.  He is such a strong, smart, and talented boy.  We have see parts of all of them.  It is fun to see him open up to us and let us see glimpses of who he is on the inside.  As I was putting him to bed this evening he asked if he could draw, so I let him draw for a bit.  Watching him draw you can see his mind work with each sketch of the pencil.

This week is a big week for many people across the country.  Many families are in similar situations that we are.  There are over 200 children being hosted across the country.  Many of the children react in many different ways to the end of the hosting period.  Some get angry, some are happy, and some build up walls to protect themselves.  If you could pray for the families hosting this week as all the emotions of the entire hosting period come to a head and we all have to put the kids that we have come to love back on the plane. Sorry if I rambled a bit this evening, I found it difficult to organize my though and may have repeated myself.

Day 21 - He wouldn't eat the Chicken so he got Chicken Pox

This morning was a slow morning for us, which meant that we were late for church.  He was very slow getting around this morning and getting out of bed.  We went to church and about 5 min after being there he motioned to me that he wasn't feeling well.  I took him to the bathroom and he ended up being ok, and laid in the Library with Linda during the service.  He was pretty lethargic after church was over and did not really want to do much, but snuggle with Linda or I on the couch as people came over and talked.

I thought it was because we talked to him last night about today being his last Sunday at Church and that people were going to want to say goodbye to him.  After church we had a birthday party for Linda's niece.  We went and again he was not acting like his normal self.  I was starting to get a little down with how he was acting because I thought that the walls were starting to be built up and that our time with the real him was coming to an end.

I was feeling mentally,  emotionally, and physically drained as I drove home.  It felt like I was loosing him with 6 days left, and that was getting to me.  It felt like every little thing that happened in the car was getting to me.  I was spent.  We get home and send the kids up to get their pajamas on, when he comes down with a puzzling look on his face.  He lifts his shirt and reveals CHICKEN POX.  It was kind of comical this evening because he told us no chicken just french fries.  We laughed at the fact that he did not want to eat chicken and then got the Chicken Pox.  It was a good laugh and help lighten my mood.  We called the New Horizons Doctor to confirm our thoughts and she did confirm them.  Thankfully our kids have had the vaccination for them.  He is in a good mood still just tired.  This would be a good reason to not have plans set in stone while hosting.  Luckily we had nothing major planned for the week and got most of our fun stuff done.  Looks like we have a good week of WII, Movies, and games!

Day 20 again.

The day started with him not feeling well. We debated if we should go to th Illini basketball game that we had tickets donated for. He decided that he wanted to go so we got ready and the boys along with Linda and myself headed to Champaign. 
It was fun to see the joy on his face as he looked around at every one and everything.  My guess is that he has never been to a sporting event of that size. We were all cheering and  booing  along with the crowd. It was good to see a win the Illini win as well.
Last night we came home and had to bring up the subject of goodbyes since people were going ti be saying goodbye today at church. It is hard to believe that this is the last week he will be here with us.  Saturday is the day that he heads back.  We learned more of his story last night which raised more questions for us. We have a few more fun things planned for the week that will hopefully keep our minds off of it.

Day 20

Day 20 was a fun day!  Sorry for not elaborating.  I will give more detail tomorrow!

Day 19 Hockey, Putt Putt, and Laser Tag

Day 19 - Wow 19 days into this journey already.  It seems like just yesterday we were picking him up at the airport and we had all the nervous butterflies in our stomach about how we were going to even communicate with him.  Its amazing what a few days will do.  We can now have some simple conversations with him with him understanding what we are saying.  This morning I was informed that our kitchen was transformed into a hockey arena.

Linda and the kids met me for lunch.  Linda brought him in to see my office.  He did not understand where they were until he saw my car in the parking lot.  He got the grand tour of our Corporate Headquarters, and 3 minutes later we were on our way to McDonalds.  This was our first trip to McDonalds since he has been here.  While we were eating he called me Dad for the first time since he has been here.  At this point I can not even tell you what the context was that he used it in.  When I heard him utter that word it went straight to my heart.

After lunch, I was informed that the boys took to the ice, I mean linoleum for another hockey game.  This time they had a couple of cheerleaders.  The girls acted as the cheerleaders for them.  Caden was at a bit of a disadvantage since he has not played as much hockey.

This evening we went to Isaak's Family Fun.  Wow,that was a ton of fun for all.  If you have never been and you are in the Mattoon, IL area i would suggest it.  Laser Tag and Glow in the dark putt putt, with a climber area for the little kids.  We had 5 adults and 4 kids playing laser tag.  It is amazing how your adrenaline starts to kick in and your senses are heightened when you are in a dark room trying to shoot other people with your laser gun!  I will say that he is quite the sneaky boy.  There were at least 3 games that I can remember that he was the last man standing for his team and we had to search the room for him.  Once again this evening we saw his competitive nature come through.  There was one game that came down to just the two of us, and he got me down to 1 life left, however i was able to redeem myself of my loss last night at the bowling alley with a big win this evening!

Another great day!  Tomorrow we are off to the Illini - Ohio State game with the boys.  He knows we are going to see a basketball game but I'm not sure he knows that there are going to be over 10,000 people there.

Day 18 - Mr. Competitive!

I bet some of you were thinking that I was going to miss a day of posting.  Well, technically it is after midnight, however, I am going to get it in before I get to sleep.  The delay in this evenings post is due to us getting home late, coupled with the fact that I laid with him this evening and we both fell asleep.  It has much more to do with the second reason than the first.

When I got home from work this evening, we headed to Decatur to do one of the last few activities that we wanted to do and that could be done in the evening after I got off work.  This evening we went bowling as a family.  Tonight we were able to see a new side to him that we had not seen in the past.  We saw the competitive side in him come out.  For those of you that know me know that I am quite the competitor.  I can turn just about anything into a competition, so seeing this side of him made me smile.  I was catching him this evening and I missed my spare.  As I walked back to the table Linda was laughing because he clinched his fist and let out a little cheer.  It made for a very fun evening.  In the end he came out on top with a high score of 99 followed closely by Caden.  Yes they both beat me, in fact Lexie beat me as well.  I will say that the three of them did have the use of bumpers however and Lexie had the use of that green dinosaur to assist her as well.  All in all it was a great evening of Pizza, French Fries and Bowling.

Day 17 - Back to work and boys will be boys

Today was my first day back to work  in quite a while, it had been so long since either of us had driven our other car the battery had died.  That is a fun way to start the day especially when it is 9 degrees outside.

I came home to the airplanes being assembled that were painted yesterday and got to talk to everyone while we ate lunch.  After lunch Linda and the kids went to the Children's Museum in Decatur.

(Linda took pictures but I can't find her phone)

This evening we had a lazy evening and had some time to "talk" with him.  It is amazing how much time it takes to have a conversation when you have to type into a translator, and then reverse translate it so that you know what it says, have him read it and then respond.  It does take a long time but it is very much worth it.  We had a good time tonight and he opened up more to us telling us more about what he likes to do.

The night ended with the video below.  A great bonding experience before bed, boys will be boys (he started it by the way).

Day 16 - The first day of 2013!

As you can imagine, New Years day was a lazy one around here.  We did manage to go outside and play in the snow.  The cold temperatures made for fine, dry snow, unlike the nice wet snow ball making snow that we had last night.  The kids were a bit bummed that you could not make snow balls today.  They did manage to make a snow wall.  I was impressed with his design of using sticks as reinforcement so that it would be stronger.  We did let the dogs out as well to play with them in the snow.  I think I was the only casualty as Tink came running full speed from about 150 feet away and ran square into me as I tried moving one way and she went the same direction.  All in all we had a good time in the snow.

After coming inside we decided to paint some wooden airplanes that the kids got for Christmas.  He is quite the artist and we have found that he enjoys drawing and painting.

We worked on some English flash cards with him and then after dinner we snuggled in for another movie night.  

Tomorrow will be a much different day for all of us.  I have to go back to work which may be interesting since I have been off work for a couple weeks.  I may have to introduce myself to everyone at our daily morning meeting!  So just a heads up my posts may be a bit different from here on out except for the fact that I will be taking a couple more days off before he heads back.  

We are over the halfway point and it is amazing to see how much he has grown in the few short weeks we have had the pleasure of having him in our house.  We still have a few things we would like to do with him, bowling, see a movie, and a couple of other things that we should be able to do in the evenings.

Take joy in the little things!