Total emotional and spiritual uprising was going on in both Josh and me. We were so excited to meet Anna, but still a little nervous about her arrival. One thing we were sure on was the fact that we knew this was something God wanted us to be doing.
In June, we had the amazing opportunity to buy a house. We had been renting a house from a dear friend, but we knew we needed to get a place of our own. Long story short, there was a house for sale in an area that we dreamed to be in... we had the Realtor show us the house (only for wishful thinking)... and we loved it. We figured out a way to afford it... and God provided it at an incredibly too good to be true price...
When buying the house, we wanted to have a "spare room," and this house had it. From the moment we bought the house, we wanted to use it to minister, to give others a room when they needed it. Whether it was for friends, relatives, or even a child in need. We had no stipulations.
This room was going to be Anna's room in a matter of a couple weeks and it was currently... ummm, in need of some decor! :) I tried to look at the list of things Anna liked... but one thing I knew she LOVED was the color PINK! With a house FULL of boys (even the dog is a boy!) I was more than happy to add a little 'sugar and spice' to this house... mainly in the rosy color of pink! I painted a dresser pink, I bought a pink bed spread, I found pictures that had lots of pink in them at Hobby Lobby and got amazing deals on them and hung them on her walls. I also added a (non-pink) world map and pinned Ukraine... and Wisconsin. I bought her some knitting supplies and put them in pink baskets, and I had pink fleece sheets that were SO comfy! I had some pink lotions and body washes, and had a pink little container to hold them in! I hung up pink jewelry, tied her curtains with a pink ribbon, and even found a big sparkly letter "A" in pink to hang on the wall!
Basically, I wanted that room as my own. I have to admit... it was pretty awesome... and SOOOOOOOO girly!
What surprised me was when we had our home study done for New Horizons. When Dani came into the room, she nearly cried. She said in her 12 years of doing this, she had never seen a family devote and decorate a room like this to their host child unless they were adopting. That surprised me. I was seeing a lot of Facebook friends who were hosting were preparing such lovely rooms... I just wanted to prepare something for Anna that said to her, "WELCOME! WE LOVE YOU!"
We finished the majority of her room by the end of November and I was so excited about it! I showed pictures of it on Facebook and was just delighted with how it turned out.
Then we went to training.
I became incredibly nervous when the coordinator said to us,
"If the children have a favorite color listed on their biography... don't expect it to be true! Sometimes, they are so nervous that they just say any random color, when, they actually don't like it! They just heard their friend say that color... so they said it too!"
A family friend (who I had shared my pictures with) looked back at me with a bit of a "uh oh" smirk and a shrug.
Oh dear.
What if she HATES her room!? What if, instead of LOVING the color pink, she actually HATES it!? What if she thinks we're saying, "Welcome to our house! You're stuck with something you hate for the next month! Muahahahahaha!"
My only comfort was that she sang a solo for the interview team.
If she was brave enough to do that... she was probably the one the kids who were nervous were listening to for THEIR favorite color!
That's all I had going for me.
Only time would tell.
... and not much time!
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Falling in Love with a Picture...
From the day we put Anna on "hold," our lives began to change. We had a picture of her and a very short biography... Something like, "She was an interesting girl. She actually sang a solo for the interview team! She loves the color pink, likes to read and knit, loves to sing, she loves cats, is scared of big dogs, and wants to learn basketball while she is here." That was enough for us to fall head-over-heels with her. Well, with her picture and bio at least.
We didn't know quite what to expect and were always cautioned to not have super expectations of this amazing, sweet little obedient child... Because sometimes, they're not. Sure, they're all smiles in their pictures... but how many pictures do you send to other people where you aren't smiling? Still, there was something about her. Something tender... and we fell in love.
Perhaps at first I was more in love than Josh. I was trying to figure out in my mind what I thought she would be like.
She sang a solo for the interview team... so she must have some confidence.
She has a tenderness to her smile... I really think she is going to be sweet.
She is a teenager... uh oh. That's okay! I've worked with teenagers on numerous occasions! I love that age!
She likes reading and knitting... maybe she's a homebody? Maybe she likes just spending time chilling out.
Who knows!
All I knew was that I was loving this child as desperately as I love my son. I started developing a fierce protective feeling. I wanted her here sooner because I didn't want her to be so far away from us. I wanted to hug her, comfort her, and be a mommy to this sweet-looking child.
A few weeks into our fundraising, and a few weeks of building up love for this child (which came, surprisingly naturally) I asked Josh what he would think of us adopting Anna if she fit really well into our family.
"No."
Okay. Got it. Thank you for bringing me back to reality. We're just hosting. Just helping an orphan over Christmas. It's temporary. We can't do anything more than temporary.
With that in mind, I kept the adoption idea pushed aside, but for some reason, it kept creeping up on me. We have some dear friends who are adopting from Eastern Europe and I've always admired their love for the fatherless. Adoption has always been something in the far back corner of my mind... so I wasn't surprised it was a thought that kept coming back to me... and it did... it just kept coming back.
Just out of curiosity (because we've never looked into adoption, knew nothing about how it worked, have ever had interest in it, etc...) I called the adoption agency to find out more about Anna. Was she even available for international adoption? What are the costs involved? Were we even eligible?
I don't even remember our entire conversation. I just remember her saying, "Ukraine has a 15-year age-gap requirement."
Huh?
I had no idea what she was talking about.
She elaborated. Ukraine requires both parents to be 15 years older than the child they are pursuing for adoption. Sometimes they can make it happen if only one parent is only 15 years older...
For the first time in my life, I wished I was older. I fell one year short of this age gap and my husband is younger than me.
I guess that settles that.
I told Josh about how I called the agency because I was curious, informed him of the age-gap law... and we left it at that. God just wanted us to host this child.
Nevertheless, I was building a strong bond with this picture. This girl I'd never met before. This child who needed security, love... family.
I was starting to wish that family could be us.
We didn't know quite what to expect and were always cautioned to not have super expectations of this amazing, sweet little obedient child... Because sometimes, they're not. Sure, they're all smiles in their pictures... but how many pictures do you send to other people where you aren't smiling? Still, there was something about her. Something tender... and we fell in love.
Perhaps at first I was more in love than Josh. I was trying to figure out in my mind what I thought she would be like.
She sang a solo for the interview team... so she must have some confidence.
She has a tenderness to her smile... I really think she is going to be sweet.
She is a teenager... uh oh. That's okay! I've worked with teenagers on numerous occasions! I love that age!
She likes reading and knitting... maybe she's a homebody? Maybe she likes just spending time chilling out.
Who knows!
All I knew was that I was loving this child as desperately as I love my son. I started developing a fierce protective feeling. I wanted her here sooner because I didn't want her to be so far away from us. I wanted to hug her, comfort her, and be a mommy to this sweet-looking child.
A few weeks into our fundraising, and a few weeks of building up love for this child (which came, surprisingly naturally) I asked Josh what he would think of us adopting Anna if she fit really well into our family.
"No."
Okay. Got it. Thank you for bringing me back to reality. We're just hosting. Just helping an orphan over Christmas. It's temporary. We can't do anything more than temporary.
With that in mind, I kept the adoption idea pushed aside, but for some reason, it kept creeping up on me. We have some dear friends who are adopting from Eastern Europe and I've always admired their love for the fatherless. Adoption has always been something in the far back corner of my mind... so I wasn't surprised it was a thought that kept coming back to me... and it did... it just kept coming back.
Just out of curiosity (because we've never looked into adoption, knew nothing about how it worked, have ever had interest in it, etc...) I called the adoption agency to find out more about Anna. Was she even available for international adoption? What are the costs involved? Were we even eligible?
I don't even remember our entire conversation. I just remember her saying, "Ukraine has a 15-year age-gap requirement."
Huh?
I had no idea what she was talking about.
She elaborated. Ukraine requires both parents to be 15 years older than the child they are pursuing for adoption. Sometimes they can make it happen if only one parent is only 15 years older...
For the first time in my life, I wished I was older. I fell one year short of this age gap and my husband is younger than me.
I guess that settles that.
I told Josh about how I called the agency because I was curious, informed him of the age-gap law... and we left it at that. God just wanted us to host this child.
Nevertheless, I was building a strong bond with this picture. This girl I'd never met before. This child who needed security, love... family.
I was starting to wish that family could be us.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Express Fundraising... God's Way
We're going to host an orphan for Christmas.
We're going to host an orphan for Christmas and we need to raise money.
We're going to host an orphan for Christmas and we need to raise... a lot of money.
Though I understand that "a lot" of money is a relative term for this hosting (because for many people who adopt... $3500 is just another installment of their sometimes $30,000 and up to raise) it was nothing less than daunting. Don't get me wrong, I believed that God would provide... but I also knew I'd have to work my little tootsie off for the next month.
First order of business: Make People Aware!
My last blog talked about how on October 31st when we signed up, I was already trying to figure out how we would fund-raise... well, my Facebook confirms that.
First thing I did was post her picture and said, "We'd like to introduce you to our Anna (well, for Christmas at least)! More information soon... but we just wanted you to meet her first!"
That was the start of a Facebook fundraising effort that has pretty much continued to this day. (I'm sorry, Facebook friends! I don't mean to continually bombard you with this begging!) Anyway, I let people know what we were planning on doing. I asked people what some good fundraising ideas were and I got rolling.
One of the ideas I got (and tweaked a little) was a $10 in 10 Facebook event. I didn't think this would be extremely successful, but God had other plans. We just invited ALL our friends to this event where we explained what we were doing and asked people to donate $10. We wanted to see how much we could raise in 10 days. I was constantly on Facebook and the Internet. I was keeping track of who was "joining," replying to messages from people, setting up a Paypal account (bringorphanshome@gmail.com --- just sayin'), and just constantly, well... bugging people. I'm not usually one to ask for money... except from my mom... for coffee... every so often... but that doesn't count. I had to really step out of my comfort zone and realize that people actually wanted to help! People wanted to be part of this extraordinary ministry we were going to be part of over Christmas! People wanted to encourage us and be involved. This was huge. I have never... ever... EVER... seen God's hand so evidently at work through His people - quite like I did during the early fundraising days! Within 10 days... we had raised well over $800. Knocked nearly $1000 down in the first 10 days.
.... how do I not praise God for such amazing handy-work!? We had friends and family all over the place donating $10 here, $20 there, $10 here, and sometimes, oftentimes, even more! That's God. We were in awe.
Meanwhile, I wasn't sleeping much the way it was... so I decided I would start another project. This way, when the 10 days were up, I'd have another project to announce!
I work at a magnificent hotel and we have another property near by (same brand) that had conference rooms. I asked the GM of that hotel if I could use a conference room for a silent auction....... for free.
As I sat in her office, biting my lip, praying that she'd say yes...
God's hand moved again.
Not only could I use the room for free because I was an employee of the hotel I work at (and she happened to be a former boss of mine)... She also offered to donate a free night from that hotel to be auctioned off!
After I picked my jaw up from the floor and stopped staring blankly wondering if I had just imagined that or if that was reality... I realized God had just given me another amazing opportunity! We just had to plan the day.
I'll admit... I was lacking sleep... and I didn't look at my calender very closely... I just knew that November 30th was open for us... one of the very few evenings that was open... as I told her the date we were thinking (and hoping)... I peeked at her calender of events and noticed it was super full... SUPER full... except for November 30th... which 'happened' to be completely and utterly empty.
Okay God... what are you up to?
By this point... I had no doubt that Anna would be with us for Christmas... and it was TOTALLY something God wanted to have happen. But why!?
Next up - asking local businesses to donate for the silent auction.
This part was actually much MUCH easier than I thought it would be. My boss gave us a free night at the hotel I work at, and he suggested I make a pamphlet up to give to businesses when I tell them about what we are doing. That being said, I went home, made a pamphlet, had it printed at digicopy, and off I went! With my 2-year-old in hand, and a strange determination - I traveled around my local city and the connecting city's businesses to ask for donations for days and days. Some people required me to write down what I was doing, some just took the pamphlet, and some just gave me things on the spot! I ventured over to the local Christian radio station where I know the manager and asked him if perhaps he could help us out with some advertising... He was happy to help! Not only that but he gave us some Veggie Tales movies, a CD, and the Monumental DVD to add to our growing collection of auction items!
Ummm, God... this is too good to be true... THANK YOU... but I'm a bit confused why you're making this so easy?
Meanwhile, I started making jewelry. I started with cute bottlecap necklaces. They didn't take up too much of my time to make - and they really were cute!! I thought, maybe - MAYBE someone would want to buy these to help with fundraising... I sold over 50 of them! I also started doing necklace and earring sets... and since have branched out. All that being said... It was just another way to bring in just a little more for our hosting fees!
The days up to the auction are a mess of blurry movement... I have no idea how I did anything. I think I was on about 3 hours of sleep a night, a high dosage of coffee, and adrenaline that sustained me till the auction was over. There were so many people that were willing to help with this event and I was blessed by their willingness to serve. Ladies from my mother-in-law's workplace baked cookies and bars and donated them so we'd have goodies to eat! The hotel donated their coffee. Our mini-church friends helped us set up, tear down, play live piano music, and oversee my jewelry table. We were overwhelmed by the response we had from the help!
The night arrived and we had fewer turn out than we were expecting. God knew who needed to be there and sent them... it was a success! With over 40 items up for auction, we sold everything and raised around $1500 from that one event!
God... this is amazing... but I'm so tired, I think I'm going to fall over.
With that, God replied - "Rest"
December 1st was the next day.
NEW HORIZONS TRAINING DAY!!
Yeah, planned that one great. Remember how I said I didn't check my calendar real close? Yup. We were out of the hotel around 10pm and up the next morning around 4:30am to head off to Chicago. Thank the Lord we were not driving. I think our bodies ached just from the lack of sleep... but we met up with all the other hosting families and took one vehicle down to Chicago together.
Rest.
The meeting was actually rejuvenating. It caused us to refocus on our reason for fundraising. We were informed of many issues we could face, and were getting prepared mentally and spiritually for this endeavor.
Rest.
We were meeting together with many like-minded people who had a desire to help children with no families. We met a few new people and made some great new friends.
After the auction and the $10 in 10... we had raised around $2300. We wanted to raise $3500 to cover some of the costs of Anna's stay... but we were really most concerned with raising at LEAST $3000.
But I really felt like I needed to rest from the fundraising.
We paid the rest of our host fees with our credit card and trusted that the Lord would provide the rest.
God, you told me to rest... I'm nervous to slow down... but I'll trust you.And then HE proved Himself faithful - again.
We were interviewed by the local news station which was amazing to get the word out about New Horizons.
People would walk up to us at church, show up at our door step, and mail would come that were various amounts... all adding up to the $3000 we absolutely needed to pay off our hosting debt.
Speechless.
God replied:
We're going to host an orphan for Christmas and we need to raise money.
We're going to host an orphan for Christmas and we need to raise... a lot of money.
Though I understand that "a lot" of money is a relative term for this hosting (because for many people who adopt... $3500 is just another installment of their sometimes $30,000 and up to raise) it was nothing less than daunting. Don't get me wrong, I believed that God would provide... but I also knew I'd have to work my little tootsie off for the next month.
First order of business: Make People Aware!
My last blog talked about how on October 31st when we signed up, I was already trying to figure out how we would fund-raise... well, my Facebook confirms that.
First thing I did was post her picture and said, "We'd like to introduce you to our Anna (well, for Christmas at least)! More information soon... but we just wanted you to meet her first!"
That was the start of a Facebook fundraising effort that has pretty much continued to this day. (I'm sorry, Facebook friends! I don't mean to continually bombard you with this begging!) Anyway, I let people know what we were planning on doing. I asked people what some good fundraising ideas were and I got rolling.
One of the ideas I got (and tweaked a little) was a $10 in 10 Facebook event. I didn't think this would be extremely successful, but God had other plans. We just invited ALL our friends to this event where we explained what we were doing and asked people to donate $10. We wanted to see how much we could raise in 10 days. I was constantly on Facebook and the Internet. I was keeping track of who was "joining," replying to messages from people, setting up a Paypal account (bringorphanshome@gmail.com --- just sayin'), and just constantly, well... bugging people. I'm not usually one to ask for money... except from my mom... for coffee... every so often... but that doesn't count. I had to really step out of my comfort zone and realize that people actually wanted to help! People wanted to be part of this extraordinary ministry we were going to be part of over Christmas! People wanted to encourage us and be involved. This was huge. I have never... ever... EVER... seen God's hand so evidently at work through His people - quite like I did during the early fundraising days! Within 10 days... we had raised well over $800. Knocked nearly $1000 down in the first 10 days.
.... how do I not praise God for such amazing handy-work!? We had friends and family all over the place donating $10 here, $20 there, $10 here, and sometimes, oftentimes, even more! That's God. We were in awe.
Meanwhile, I wasn't sleeping much the way it was... so I decided I would start another project. This way, when the 10 days were up, I'd have another project to announce!
I work at a magnificent hotel and we have another property near by (same brand) that had conference rooms. I asked the GM of that hotel if I could use a conference room for a silent auction....... for free.
As I sat in her office, biting my lip, praying that she'd say yes...
God's hand moved again.
Not only could I use the room for free because I was an employee of the hotel I work at (and she happened to be a former boss of mine)... She also offered to donate a free night from that hotel to be auctioned off!
After I picked my jaw up from the floor and stopped staring blankly wondering if I had just imagined that or if that was reality... I realized God had just given me another amazing opportunity! We just had to plan the day.
I'll admit... I was lacking sleep... and I didn't look at my calender very closely... I just knew that November 30th was open for us... one of the very few evenings that was open... as I told her the date we were thinking (and hoping)... I peeked at her calender of events and noticed it was super full... SUPER full... except for November 30th... which 'happened' to be completely and utterly empty.
Okay God... what are you up to?
By this point... I had no doubt that Anna would be with us for Christmas... and it was TOTALLY something God wanted to have happen. But why!?
Next up - asking local businesses to donate for the silent auction.
This part was actually much MUCH easier than I thought it would be. My boss gave us a free night at the hotel I work at, and he suggested I make a pamphlet up to give to businesses when I tell them about what we are doing. That being said, I went home, made a pamphlet, had it printed at digicopy, and off I went! With my 2-year-old in hand, and a strange determination - I traveled around my local city and the connecting city's businesses to ask for donations for days and days. Some people required me to write down what I was doing, some just took the pamphlet, and some just gave me things on the spot! I ventured over to the local Christian radio station where I know the manager and asked him if perhaps he could help us out with some advertising... He was happy to help! Not only that but he gave us some Veggie Tales movies, a CD, and the Monumental DVD to add to our growing collection of auction items!
Ummm, God... this is too good to be true... THANK YOU... but I'm a bit confused why you're making this so easy?
Meanwhile, I started making jewelry. I started with cute bottlecap necklaces. They didn't take up too much of my time to make - and they really were cute!! I thought, maybe - MAYBE someone would want to buy these to help with fundraising... I sold over 50 of them! I also started doing necklace and earring sets... and since have branched out. All that being said... It was just another way to bring in just a little more for our hosting fees!
The days up to the auction are a mess of blurry movement... I have no idea how I did anything. I think I was on about 3 hours of sleep a night, a high dosage of coffee, and adrenaline that sustained me till the auction was over. There were so many people that were willing to help with this event and I was blessed by their willingness to serve. Ladies from my mother-in-law's workplace baked cookies and bars and donated them so we'd have goodies to eat! The hotel donated their coffee. Our mini-church friends helped us set up, tear down, play live piano music, and oversee my jewelry table. We were overwhelmed by the response we had from the help!
The night arrived and we had fewer turn out than we were expecting. God knew who needed to be there and sent them... it was a success! With over 40 items up for auction, we sold everything and raised around $1500 from that one event!
God... this is amazing... but I'm so tired, I think I'm going to fall over.
With that, God replied - "Rest"
December 1st was the next day.
NEW HORIZONS TRAINING DAY!!
Yeah, planned that one great. Remember how I said I didn't check my calendar real close? Yup. We were out of the hotel around 10pm and up the next morning around 4:30am to head off to Chicago. Thank the Lord we were not driving. I think our bodies ached just from the lack of sleep... but we met up with all the other hosting families and took one vehicle down to Chicago together.
Rest.
The meeting was actually rejuvenating. It caused us to refocus on our reason for fundraising. We were informed of many issues we could face, and were getting prepared mentally and spiritually for this endeavor.
Rest.
We were meeting together with many like-minded people who had a desire to help children with no families. We met a few new people and made some great new friends.
After the auction and the $10 in 10... we had raised around $2300. We wanted to raise $3500 to cover some of the costs of Anna's stay... but we were really most concerned with raising at LEAST $3000.
But I really felt like I needed to rest from the fundraising.
We paid the rest of our host fees with our credit card and trusted that the Lord would provide the rest.
God, you told me to rest... I'm nervous to slow down... but I'll trust you.And then HE proved Himself faithful - again.
We were interviewed by the local news station which was amazing to get the word out about New Horizons.
People would walk up to us at church, show up at our door step, and mail would come that were various amounts... all adding up to the $3000 we absolutely needed to pay off our hosting debt.
Speechless.
God replied:
...For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine...
Psalm 50
Psalm 50
GOD, Facebook, a Phone Call, and a Face
This is a lengthy summary of how we came to host sweet Anna.
At the end of October I was Facebook snooping... like I usually do (beware "friends" I'm watching)! I 'happened' upon a friend's page who posted a link to New Horizons for Children. The message on her Facebook was something along the lines of... "Two families are hosting 5 children from Latvia..." and then the New Horizons for Children picture that says "The deadline for most children is November 1st!"
I don't know what it was about that post that sparked my interest... but it did. I tend to be a last-minute-quick-decision-maker... so knowing God would expect us to get involved in a ministry to help an orphan... I knew it was something we needed to do.
Great. I'm all in.
........ now, I just have to convince Josh (my husband).
I'm glad God is actually the one that does the convincing. My husband, bless his beautiful soul, likes to dwell on decisions. So, to get him to agree to opening our home to a teenage girl, who doesn't speak English, over Christmas, was nothing next to miraculous in general... but to decide in a matter of a few hours so we'd hit the deadline... well, God would have to move mountains. He did... with a few texts and a phone call.
Though I understand that texting is not the best way to ask your husband a question of this caliber... I had in my mind that it was a simple enough question... Host orphan... don't host orphan... To me, it was a no-brainer.
Here was my text:
9:17am
"...Kind of a random question... Would you be interested in hosting a Ukrainian or Latvian orphan child for the month of December? I think it would be an amazing opportunity for us to do some ministering to a child. I just read about it today... and today is pretty much the deadline... Can you respond ASAP so I can at least start the pre-application if you'd be interested?"
..... "It's only for a month"
............"The program allows orphans to experience Christmas with a family"
......."How old were you when you got saved?" (Confession... I had already started the pre-application!! :) But since it didn't bind us to anything, I didn't think there was any harm in that)
His response:
9:58am
"I will call you on my lunch break"
My response:
9:58am
"Can you call now?"
His response:
9:58am
"Sorry can't"
Can you believe I had to wait all the way until 11ish to hear back from him!!! Didn't he realize the importance and urgency of this!? :) Well, lunch time came and we talked. There was a little convincing that had to be done - mostly because it costs money... to us, a lot of money. Basically, $3,000 to start with and then those extra things we were unaware of... which, ended up being a little more than we expected... but nothing too extreme. From moment #1 when I saw the post on Facebook, I had complete peace about the financial aspect of this adventure. I know it was God-given... because I have a tendency to really worry about money issues. Josh asked how we were going to afford it... and I said, "God will provide." With everything in me... I believed it. I told him we'd fund-raise (something I've never really done before). I felt incredibly uncomfortable asking people for money. Though, this was something I knew a lot of people did... and I knew it was vital to our hosting. It was just going to have to happen.
Other than money, he was concerned about our 3-year-old son and how he would adapt, and the language barrier (and rightly so).
Surprisingly though, he didn't take long to make a decision.
"Well, if we can raise the money (we had 1 month to raise about $3500)... I think it would be a good experience."
Giddy inside, I hung up and finished filling out the pre-application... and IMMEDIATELY started thinking of ways I was going to get fundraising!
I could do a dinner party, I could make something and sell it on eBay, I could... LOADS of ideas... not many that were practical or possible within a 30-day period. Okay... maybe I just have to tell people what we're doing... and just ASK them for money. ... That's a very humbling experience... but a huge blessing as well!
Meanwhile... a lovely lady from New Horizons gave me a call and we talked. She asked me a few questions to verify who I was, our interest in hosting, and went over some of the general information. I could have talked to her for hours! The coordinators at New Horizons are amazing people. They are so dedicated to their work and their mission - and it is all voluntary! They are committed to the well-being of these children in such magnanimous ways! All I can say is - Praise the Lord for such servants! So, I talked to her for a little while and one thing she said to me was, "It may be a bit costly, but you will see God provide in ways you never thought would be possible." What a confirmation... because really, it is about God and His provision. He owns ALL things, so why wouldn't He provide for the children He tells us to care for!? Why wouldn't He provide for servants willing and able to obey Him!? ... and He did!
There was one more aspect to this conversation and it was about "who" we would be hosting.
Prior to our conversation, I had been scrolling through all the children on the list. I had been reading their bios and falling in love with each child, each sibling group, and each person represented there that had no family to call their own. But one stuck out.
We had no intentions of adoption. We had no intentions of anything, really. We just wanted to minster to an orphan and show a child what it was like to live in a loving family - even if it was for just a month. With that, we didn't really have a preference at first on age or gender. We didn't know ANY rules concerning adoption (especially internationally)... and quite frankly, we didn't care to know. It wasn't our intention.
So - when I saw her face - I knew she was the one for our family... for Christmas. Strangely enough, I thought she looked like my family. I saw more of my husband's side in her, but many people said she looked a lot like me. On her picture, she had a sweet smile and a tenderness about her that drew me to her instantaneously. She was the one for us.
After I saw her, I asked my husband what he would think of a teenage girl staying with us (I didn't know her age at that point)... and he was fine with it. Since I would be the one home with her the most, we thought it would be best if it was a girl. It was set... she would be our guest... our new family member... for one month. We told our coordinator and made a 'down payment' per-say to hold her specifically. No trouble. It just showed our commitment to that child.
We adjusted to the thought that our Christmas would be a bit different than usual. We were fine with the thought that we'd send her back and life would go back to "normal" after that month... and our ministry to an orphan would be over... and we'd move on. Shallow, right? Looking back, I think so too.
At that point - we had absolutely no idea how our lives would be forever altered.
We are a changed family - thanks to GOD, Facebook, a phone call, and a face.
At the end of October I was Facebook snooping... like I usually do (beware "friends" I'm watching)! I 'happened' upon a friend's page who posted a link to New Horizons for Children. The message on her Facebook was something along the lines of... "Two families are hosting 5 children from Latvia..." and then the New Horizons for Children picture that says "The deadline for most children is November 1st!"
I don't know what it was about that post that sparked my interest... but it did. I tend to be a last-minute-quick-decision-maker... so knowing God would expect us to get involved in a ministry to help an orphan... I knew it was something we needed to do.
Great. I'm all in.
........ now, I just have to convince Josh (my husband).
I'm glad God is actually the one that does the convincing. My husband, bless his beautiful soul, likes to dwell on decisions. So, to get him to agree to opening our home to a teenage girl, who doesn't speak English, over Christmas, was nothing next to miraculous in general... but to decide in a matter of a few hours so we'd hit the deadline... well, God would have to move mountains. He did... with a few texts and a phone call.
Though I understand that texting is not the best way to ask your husband a question of this caliber... I had in my mind that it was a simple enough question... Host orphan... don't host orphan... To me, it was a no-brainer.
Here was my text:
9:17am
"...Kind of a random question... Would you be interested in hosting a Ukrainian or Latvian orphan child for the month of December? I think it would be an amazing opportunity for us to do some ministering to a child. I just read about it today... and today is pretty much the deadline... Can you respond ASAP so I can at least start the pre-application if you'd be interested?"
..... "It's only for a month"
............"The program allows orphans to experience Christmas with a family"
......."How old were you when you got saved?" (Confession... I had already started the pre-application!! :) But since it didn't bind us to anything, I didn't think there was any harm in that)
His response:
9:58am
"I will call you on my lunch break"
My response:
9:58am
"Can you call now?"
His response:
9:58am
"Sorry can't"
Can you believe I had to wait all the way until 11ish to hear back from him!!! Didn't he realize the importance and urgency of this!? :) Well, lunch time came and we talked. There was a little convincing that had to be done - mostly because it costs money... to us, a lot of money. Basically, $3,000 to start with and then those extra things we were unaware of... which, ended up being a little more than we expected... but nothing too extreme. From moment #1 when I saw the post on Facebook, I had complete peace about the financial aspect of this adventure. I know it was God-given... because I have a tendency to really worry about money issues. Josh asked how we were going to afford it... and I said, "God will provide." With everything in me... I believed it. I told him we'd fund-raise (something I've never really done before). I felt incredibly uncomfortable asking people for money. Though, this was something I knew a lot of people did... and I knew it was vital to our hosting. It was just going to have to happen.
Other than money, he was concerned about our 3-year-old son and how he would adapt, and the language barrier (and rightly so).
Surprisingly though, he didn't take long to make a decision.
"Well, if we can raise the money (we had 1 month to raise about $3500)... I think it would be a good experience."
Giddy inside, I hung up and finished filling out the pre-application... and IMMEDIATELY started thinking of ways I was going to get fundraising!
I could do a dinner party, I could make something and sell it on eBay, I could... LOADS of ideas... not many that were practical or possible within a 30-day period. Okay... maybe I just have to tell people what we're doing... and just ASK them for money. ... That's a very humbling experience... but a huge blessing as well!
Meanwhile... a lovely lady from New Horizons gave me a call and we talked. She asked me a few questions to verify who I was, our interest in hosting, and went over some of the general information. I could have talked to her for hours! The coordinators at New Horizons are amazing people. They are so dedicated to their work and their mission - and it is all voluntary! They are committed to the well-being of these children in such magnanimous ways! All I can say is - Praise the Lord for such servants! So, I talked to her for a little while and one thing she said to me was, "It may be a bit costly, but you will see God provide in ways you never thought would be possible." What a confirmation... because really, it is about God and His provision. He owns ALL things, so why wouldn't He provide for the children He tells us to care for!? Why wouldn't He provide for servants willing and able to obey Him!? ... and He did!
There was one more aspect to this conversation and it was about "who" we would be hosting.
Prior to our conversation, I had been scrolling through all the children on the list. I had been reading their bios and falling in love with each child, each sibling group, and each person represented there that had no family to call their own. But one stuck out.
We had no intentions of adoption. We had no intentions of anything, really. We just wanted to minster to an orphan and show a child what it was like to live in a loving family - even if it was for just a month. With that, we didn't really have a preference at first on age or gender. We didn't know ANY rules concerning adoption (especially internationally)... and quite frankly, we didn't care to know. It wasn't our intention.
So - when I saw her face - I knew she was the one for our family... for Christmas. Strangely enough, I thought she looked like my family. I saw more of my husband's side in her, but many people said she looked a lot like me. On her picture, she had a sweet smile and a tenderness about her that drew me to her instantaneously. She was the one for us.
After I saw her, I asked my husband what he would think of a teenage girl staying with us (I didn't know her age at that point)... and he was fine with it. Since I would be the one home with her the most, we thought it would be best if it was a girl. It was set... she would be our guest... our new family member... for one month. We told our coordinator and made a 'down payment' per-say to hold her specifically. No trouble. It just showed our commitment to that child.
We adjusted to the thought that our Christmas would be a bit different than usual. We were fine with the thought that we'd send her back and life would go back to "normal" after that month... and our ministry to an orphan would be over... and we'd move on. Shallow, right? Looking back, I think so too.
At that point - we had absolutely no idea how our lives would be forever altered.
We are a changed family - thanks to GOD, Facebook, a phone call, and a face.
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