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.