We have dates!

Many of you have asked about this and I'm excited to share that we finally have the actual dates of Anastasya's stay with us. She will be arriving either late on December 18th or early on the 19th (she is traveling through JFK so we will know for sure once that flight has been booked). She will be here until either January 14th or 15th...depends again on the times of the flights. I'm particularly excited because now I can safely make some plans...let the countdown begin!

Speaking of countdowns...there are just over two weeks left until November 15th, the deadline for us to have our travel expenses fully funded for Nastya's trip. We have received two more very generous donations in the past couple of days (thank you, thank you, thank you!) so we are now only $400 away from our fundraising goal. If any of you might still be considering a donation, every little bit helps...even $5, the cost of a trip to Starbucks, would be a blessing.

I need to share with you one more date: Thursday, November 8th. Local friends, I'd like to invite you to join us at the Arcadia Souplantation from 5 to 8pm for dinner. We have set up a "Funraiser" together with our friends Joy and Nathan Becker (whom I introduced you to in my previous post) to help raise money for our host kids' expenses. All you have to do is show up there with the flyer (see below), order your meal and a drink, and we will receive 15% of your tab. Pretty cool, huh?

I know I will be enjoying a night off from my kitchen duties...I hope to see some of you there as well. Please feel free to invite your friends and share this flyer with everyone you think might be interested. Thanks in advance for your support!

Fun Raiser Flyer

Introducing the Becker Family...

God is soooo good. I am so happy to share that one of my friends is also going to be hosting this winter!

The Beckers: Nathan and Joy, were my next door neighbors when we first moved to Monrovia five years ago. Joy and I were both moms of babies at the time and through the fog of sleepless nights managed to briefly connect before they moved to a larger home (still here in Monrovia) to accomodate their growing family. The funny thing is that we've seen each other more since they moved, even bumping into one another in Big Bear (a mountain resort nearly two hours drive away) once this past winter.

They have decided to host an adorable sibling pair, Natalia and Vitaly, also from Ukraine. I hope you will follow their blog: www.fujbeck.blogspot.com and that you will join me in praying for Nathan, Joy, and their three kids as they prepare for the arrival of Natalia and Vitaly. It is clear that God has had our families on a similar trajectory for some time now and I am excited to see what he has in store for us all this winter!

An amazing gift that has resulted from their generous decision to host is that now Nastya will have some travel buddies (prior to their decision, there were only Latvian children coming to the west coast). This was one of my main areas of anxiety for Nastya...wondering how a 10 year old girl who had never flown before and who was coming alone to be with my crazy English--speaking family would not be lonely. I hope that having Natalia and Vitaly here will make her visit extra fun! I know we will appreciate the Becker family's company as we travel this road together.

Joy and Nathan, just like Greg and I, saw these childrens' pictures and realized that five weeks of our lives and a little bit of fundraising effort on our parts would be a small sacrifice to make to provide an incredible, once in a lifetime, opportunity for these kids. There are 9 days left for the remaining kids to be hosted and it is NOT too late! Take a leap of faith and take a look at the photolisting. Maybe God has a special child in mind for you too:  http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/orphan-hosting/view-available-kids-here/

A call for extra prayers!

Hey everyone...I wanted to share an update on the medical care for Nastya and ask for prayers.

I've spent a good deal of time this past week making calls, filling out forms and trying to make contact with someone at one of the local children's orthopedic hospitals. I'm hoping and praying that I will eventually connect with the right person who will advocate for Nastya and hopefully provide us with a pro bono consultation and subsequent treatment. Right now, here's what I've got:

One hospital will only be able to see her sometime in early January...around the 7th to 14th, right before she leaves. This is not ideal because she might need a follow up and I want to allow time for that. However, this facility does provide treatment free of charge.

Another hospital can provide her care, but doesn't have anyone willing to do it without charge. I was given a range of $250 to $900 just for a consultation (ugh...blow to the gut). My contact at this hospital has been attentive, helpful and she is their international rep for the Ukraine so we would have dedicated attention. She also says they have two doctors who are experts in dealing with Nastya's condition that will be available to see her.

I just submitted an application to the third hospital and am awaiting reply. They were recommended as one that will take on pro bono work more regularly so I am hoping that this will pan out. I don't know any more about their availability, expertise, etc. but hope that I hear back soon.

So I'm asking for prayers please if you can take a moment to send one up for us. I can already see that we are going to have a decision to make that will require us to carefully weigh several options. Nastya WILL have treatment while she is here, we are committed to that, even if we have to pay for it. I just want to make sure we do the right thing for her. Please lift us up that we will have the wisdom and good counsel make the best decision for her (even if it's a little tough on the wallet!)

Oh, and one more thing, I have been told by all three facilities that it would  be helpful and would expedite her treatment if I can get a copy of her medical records from the Ukraine. This is a bit of a long-shot, but I know that with God all things are possible! I appreciate prayers over that as well...that we either get them or the hospital we go with is able to get by without them.

Matthew 19:26 "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

How Could You Do That?!

This past summer, when the Maljians were hosting Dzintars, I was sharing their story with a friend of mine who is one of the most compassionate and big-hearted people I know. When I told her that Dzintars would be sent back to the orphanage at the end of the visit, she was horrified. "How could you do that?!" she said to me. She was very upset. She had a point and I wasn't sure how to answer her.

Perhaps many of you are following my blog and this same question has entered your minds? One of the Coordinators at New Horizons has done a lovely job of explaining how we could possibly consider doing "that" to Nastya. I hope that reading it helps you understand just how positive this program is:

http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/misconceptions/

Thanks for taking the time to read this and to learn more about the program. And thanks for your continued prayers for all of these kids, not just our Nastya. There are only 12 days left for the remaining kids to find their host families. Please be praying that they will be selected and given this great opportunity!

It has been a great week!

This past week has been so great...lots going on!

I want to start with a big thank you to all of you who have donated so far to help bring Nastya here. Thanks to you, she is offically listed as "hosted" now and we just have to raise the rest of the funds for her travel over the next couple of weeks. I am very happy to report that we are just $5 away from the half way mark...YES! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Speaking of travel, we just filled out and submitted our airline request form to New Horizons so plans are continuing to move right along. Can't wait for more information and the actual dates of her visit! Hard to believe she'll be here in only two months.

I was able to call my dentist this week and am excited to share that he has agreed to donate his time to take a look at Nastya's teeth and supply a cleaning for her while she is here. I had already made an appointment for my kids and was able to get her in at the same time (yes!). He's usually booked months in advance so it was provident that I had already scheduled the appointment over the holiday break. There's a possibility that she'll need some cavities filled...we'll be praying that she will not have too many and we can help take care of those as well.

Another thing I wanted to get done this week was to send out donation requests to the Aquarium of the Pacific and the Pasadena Ice Skating Center requesting some tickets. I am hoping they pull through for us so we can save that money for some of the other things we'd like to do for her while she is here. I know they have donated to my MOPS group in the past so hopefully they will generous in this case as well.

This next week I'm going to be working on an orthopedic appointment for her (to help us discern what, if anything, we can do for her leg length discrepancy) and I need to call the San Diego Zoo and see if they can help us out with some tickets for a visit there as well.

I will post again as I have more to share. Thanks for your continued prayers for everything to come together for her visit!

Can you help?

One of my greatest personal weaknesses is my failure to ask for help when I need it. Sometimes I'm so ridiculous that I won't even accept help when it is offered. I don't know where this comes from...probably part of a deep-seated perfectionism that I can't seem to completely shake. I guess, too, that I feel like I'm capable and have lots of resources at my disposal so I should be able to do everything on my own.

But taking that stance is not fair to me or to those of you who are living life in my circle of friends. We are meant to do this life thing together and so much of our personal growth and the blessings in our life come from helping one another out. I'm trying to branch out and grow, and truth be told I can't do this all by myself, so...here goes...I'm asking for help. Can you help?

There are over 163 million orphans in the world. To put this number into perspective the Rose Bowl here in Pasadena holds about 94,000 people.

You could fill this stadium 1,700 times with kids and still not seat all the orphans in the world. Take a moment and really think about that number. It's mind boggling.

There are approximately 325 of these orphans available for hosting through New Horizons this Winter. Of those 325, less than a third of them have been spoken for. This is a sad statistic. Can you help?

If you are even thinking about this just a little bit, I encourage you to go to the New Horizons for Children website www.newhorizonsforchildren.org and sign up to view the photolisting. There is no obligation beyond this...all  they ask for is your e-mail address so that they can send you the password. Who knows, maybe you will see a child that will capture your heart!

If you decide that hosting is not in the cards for you at this time, perhaps you could donate a scholarship amount to one of these kids? There are several who already have partial scholarships, but it costs $2,950 in passport fees, airline tickets, and other documentation to get them here. Sometimes having a scholarship makes all the difference in a child being selected for hosting.

Or if it would be easier to donate in a more personal way, maybe you could help us out? We have decided to sacrifice our vacation this year and to use the money we had budgeted to pay for half of Nastya's fees, but we are trying to raise funds to cover the other half. We have had some generous donations already (thank you VERY much to those of you who have donated...a proper thank you is coming!), but we are still trying to raise about $1,500 to cover the rest of Nastya's travel fees. Can you spare $15 or $25 to help us bring her to America?

Your donation (made through the link at the top of this page on the tab labeled "Help bring Nastya to America") or at  http://www.active.com/donate/winter2012/meetNastya
is made directly to New Horizons so it will be tax deductible as a charitable donation. I hope this is a win-win for those who feel led to help in this way.

Here's another way to help. Are you planning to shop on Amazon anytime soon? We have a special link here: http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/shop-on-amazon/ 
New Horizons earns 7% of all purchases and can then apply that money to scholarships for the kids that are most in need. All you have to do is shop for stuff you were going to buy anyway!

So you can see, the answer to my question is "yes" there are many ways that you can help! Pray about it and see if God moves you to help one of these children who aren't able to ask for help themselves. Hosting for winter closes on October 29th so if you are thinking about getting involved in any way, I hope you will keep that date in mind.

If nothing else, can you please pray? Pray for these children. Pray for this program. And, please, of course, pray for us. Thank you all very much for all the words of support an encouragement so far and thanks for continuing to read this blog. I hope your lives will all be impacted in a positive way as you travel this journey with us!

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...

Happy Birthday to me!

So if you're reading this, you know I just had a birthday this weekend. Yep, I'm not sure how it happened, but suddenly I'm 39. That used to seem so old. Now I'm trying to peddle the term "experienced"...anyone buying it?

Greg's gift to me was some alone time (my request) and I used it to work on a mural that I've had stenciled on our living room wall for at least six months now, but had never taken the time to paint. It still needs some touching up and there are two birds that need to be painted on the branches so hopefully I'll finish it later this week (and not another six months from now!)

Besides this mural, we also have a picture of a tree hanging above our fireplace. I have always been drawn to trees and their symbolism (growth, life, seasons of change, etc.) which is partly where the inspiration for the name of this blog originated.

The kids' gift to me was a trip to the Zoo. While the LA Zoo doesn't have any pandas on exhibit, they were very well represented in the gift shops. Seeing them made me think of our girl Nastya. Her bio said she likes them, but has she ever had the opportunity to see one in person before? Until I hear from her otherwise, I have to assume that the answer is "no".

One of the things we are hoping to be able to do for her while she is here is to take her on a trip to the San Diego Zoo so she can see the pandas (if any of you see any good discount offers in the next couple of months can you please let me know?). Can you imagine how exciting that will be for her? I can't wait!

Thanks to everyone again for your birthday wishes, hugs to my family, and special thanks to Heather, Nicole and Rachael for sharing time with me on Saturday night...it was the perfect low-key birthday evening!

She could have been our daughter

Many of you have commented about how much Nastya looks like Samantha. I know, right?! When I saw her picture posted on my friend's blog, I had a visceral reaction and unexplainable tears came. There was suddenly a face associated with these orphans that was too real to ignore. In another time and place she could have been our daughter.

And then I read her bio and the words jumped at me from the page: she didn't think she was beautiful enough. How could she believe something so obviously not true? This was something Greg and I had talked about even before we had children...that if we were to have a daughter one of our top priorities would be to instill in her a sense of self worth. How could we ignore such an obvious need so close to our hearts. She could have been our daughter.

I spent many sleepless nights with this little girl on my mind and in my prayers. Could we really consider this? Up until I saw Nastya's photo, we had come up with some pretty good reasons NOT to host:

*The kids are still young. They squabble a lot. They often don't share well with each other. (And hopefully Nastya never figures out the translation for "poop" because Trevor says that, on average, 30 times a day).

*We are not perfect parents. We lose our temper sometimes. We are sometimes inconsistent in our discipline. We are already tired at the end of the day with just two kids in the house.

*We are still growing as Christian parents. We've been known to miss church from time to time. We don't always pray as much as we'd like to. We are still figuring out the best ways to share Christ with our kids and they speak our language!

To be completely honest, I am both excited and terrified about bringing Nastya into our home. The statements above are all true (and I'm pretty sure they ring true with most of our friends who are parents as well). We are not perfect and there are a lot of unknowns involved in this process. However, I don't share our list of doubts to discredit our decision. I share it to illustrate that, despite our doubts, we don't have to be perfect to be a good host family.

When it comes down to it, we are continually praying and asking that God will take the little that we have to give and turn it into something far greater. We are trusting that He will help us to do our best and that, even in our worst moments, Nastya will see a loving family and realize that she doesn't have to be perfect to be a part of one. We know that, just as he does with Samantha and Trevor, He will cover our imperfection with His grace and help Nastya to receive whatever it is that she needs from us.

II Corinthians 12:9 "But he said to me 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness'. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

The Facts About Hosting

OK, so those of you who know me well, know me to be the definition of practicality. I usually analyze the life out of a decision and I need to know all the facts before I'm comfortable settling on something. So, how on earth did we so quickly (for me) come to the decision to be a host family this winter?

Here are the facts about the orphans in this program (and in many cases the facts for orphans in general):

* Many of these kids have never been a part of a loving and functional family. They typically have low self-esteem and lack critical thinking and good decision making skills.

* At their ages (6 - 16 years old) they have little hope of being adopted and most believe they are unwanted.

* They live in a society that places a huge stigma on being an orphan which makes it difficult to find jobs and they are forced to fend for themselves upon leaving the orphanage (which usually happens at age 16 or 17).

* Without intervention  60% of girls will be lured into prostitution , 70% of boys will be on the streets or in jail, and 15% will commit suicide within the first two years on their own.

I've looked at statistics like this in the past and thought "what can I do, I'm only one person". But then I got to witness the transformation of a 14 year old boy, Dzintars, who blossomed and emerged as a totally renewed child after only 5 weeks of being loved by the Maljian family. While not all chidren in this program are available for adoption, he was able to be found by his forever family and will no longer be in danger of being another statistic.

One person, one family, five weeks, can make a huge difference! It is my dearest hope that God will help us initiate a similar transformation in Nastya as she stays with us this winter. "Anastasya, You are Beautiful, You are Loved, We believe in You!"

"Branching Out" in a big way!

This past summer a friend from my Mom's group hosted an orphan from Latvia and it was a life changing experience not only for the boy who stayed with them, but also for her entire family. I closely followed her blog (maljianfamily.blogspot.com) and was inspired by her story and the huge impact that her family was able to have in Dzintars’ life in the few weeks that he was here.

The organization that they partnered with is called New Horizons for Children (www.newhorizonsforchildren.org) and they offer the opportunity to host children from orphanages in Latvia and Ukraine at two points during the year: summer and winter break for four to five weeks at a time. The purpose of the program is to expose these kids to what life is like in a family, to help them learn some life skills, to have some fun, but most imporantly to provide them with unconditional love, a sense of self-worth, and hope for a better future.

No matter what our situation is here in the United States, we are ridiculously blessed in many ways. One question that has come up repeatedly for Greg and I in the past few years is "how can we take what we have been given and use it to be a blessing to others?" I never would have dreamed that action would come in the form of hosting, and yet after much consideration and some obviously answered prayer, we feel that God has opened the door for us to apply for the hosting program this winter.

If you click on the “meet Nastya” tab at the top of this page, you can read more about the little girl who we hope will be coming to spend the holidays with us.

There is a lot more that I want to share with you about this wonderful organization, about our decision to host, and especially about our time with Nastya while she is here. I hope you will continue reading this blog and join us on our journey as we prepare for her arrival and welcome this beautiful little girl into our family and our hearts this winter!