20 days...



 And the countdown is on! We just received Nastya's connecting flight info today so pending any unforeseen circumstances, it looks like she is officially coming...YAHOO!

 

 

 

Can you tell we've been eagerly anticipating her arrival? Samantha and Trevor decorated our countdown calendar and have been vying for the rights each evening to check off that day's box. Twenty more days and she will be here!

 

In preparation for her arrival we will be attending our "host family training" session this Saturday, December 1st, here in Sierra Madre California from 10am to around 3pm. If any of my local friends are considering hosting this coming Summer or are just interested in knowing more about New Horizon's programs, you are welcome to join us. Please let me know if you are interested and I can get you all the details.

 

For the rest of you, you can be assured that there will be some new blog posts spilling over from all the information that we are going to be receiving. Stay tuned and please send up a prayer for our meeting this weekend...that all of the families in attendance will take home what they need to know for their particular host children and that we will all be able to connect and build one another up as we prepare to go on this crazy, fun, emotional and blessed journey together as host parents. Thanks everyone!

I'm not worried!

OK, I'll admit it, I'm a worrier. I come by it honestly. I was born into a long line of worriers. My Mom will admit she's in the mix, and her mother before her was the queen supreme of worrying. Case in point, my grandmother used to have her bags packed days in advance for a trip (Afraid she'd forget something? Miss her flight? I'm not sure). We've always laughed about it, but it really was just an outward manifestation of the worry that gripped her.

As a Christian, I'm aware of all the biblical instruction on worry (and why not to do it). For instance, Matthew 6:27-30 assures me that worrying accomplishes nothing and that God, who cares for the smallest wildflower, cares for me. Jesus has a similar message in Luke 12:22-26, and goes on to ask how worrying about something will add a single hour to my life? And yet I struggle.

No matter how hard I try, there are some stressful situations in life where I go directly to my default setting and worry. This has been known to happen when one of my kids is sick (what is a simple cold quickly becomes pneumonia in my mind), or when Greg is working late one night and forgets to call to give me a head's up (surely he's been in a terrible car accident). More often I'm tripped up by legitimate things like worrying that we won't have money to cover our bills, that I'm not parenting my kids well, or that I've said something to offend someone. Other times it's relatively small things like wondering how I'm going to get everything on my to-do list done before picking the kids up from school that causes me more worry than necessary.

You would think that having a young child coming to stay with us for four weeks...a child who is not my own, an orphan from another country, who doesn't speak my language, who has possibly experienced some traumatic events in her short life, and who has very likely never known a proper loving family relationship...would be one of those things that I am completely enveloped in worry about. I, for one, would have expected the insomnia to have set in by now, the obsessive list-making to have begun, the fretting and hand wringing over all the things I don't know about her, and the concern over the lack of details I have at my disposal in preparation for her visit to be all consuming.

But I'm not worried. Not one bit. We started this journey with a prayer and God has very clearly answered it. Since then, He has continued to answer our prayers and to meet our every need to make Nastya's visit possible. I can even look back to points beyond this past Summer and my first awareness of New Horizons and see that God had already set our feet on this path.

Philippians 4:6-7 says "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Thank you Lord for granting me/us peace in this decision and for helping the planning for Nastya's visit to come together so seamlessly. It is unburdened, and with joyful anticipation that we look forward to her arrival in 22 days!

Early Spring Cleaning?

So as I mentioned in my last post, we have a few material things that we are required to get for Nastya while she is here. At this point we are prepared to buy these things for her if necessary, but I thought I'd reach out first and ask if maybe some of you have some things that you were looking to get rid of anyway and would like to donate? Take a look, maybe we can help you with some early Spring cleaning:

1. She comes with the clothes on her back. We plan to buy her a few things (underwear and shoes for sure), but if any of you have girls clothes sized 7, 8, 9 or 10 that you are done with, we'd love to take them off your hands. Jackets and snow gear would be much appreciated too. The reason for the wide sizing window is that these kids are typically a bit smaller than the average American child of the same age. I won't know until she gets here what size best fits her, but it would be nice to have some things for her to try when she arrives.

2. We need to send her back with a suitcase for all her new things. There is a standard size: 26 to 28"  soft sided suitcase. It must fit into these measurements and be on wheels (rolling). Any chance anyone out there has one that they want to get rid of? If not, can you let me know if you see a good deal on one somewhere (it can even be used from Goodwill or whatever...just needs to get Nastya and her stuff home)?

3. She has expressed an interest in rollerblading while she is here. I'm wondering if any of my local friends have an extra helmet/pads, rollerblades or a scooter that they might be willing to let us borrow while she is visiting? We would obviously return them upon her departure.

4. Some of you have expressed an interest in getting her gifts. If you wanted to send her a small denomination gift card (Target, Kohl's, Marshalls) that she could use to buy some clothing items, school supplies, toiletry items and other necessities, that would be the best type of gift for her to receive. Everything she takes back with her has to fit in that 28" suitcase so we have to be very strategic about what she gets while here. Just getting to go shopping for clothing herself will be a fantastic gift for her!

Of course the main thing she needs from us is love and the knowledge that she is wanted. I have some ideas of ways that we can all welcome her that I will be sharing as we get closer to her arrival day so for those of you still looking for a way to help...keep your eyes open for an upcoming post!

We are FULLY FUNDED!

Wow, just WOW! I can't tell you how humbled I am to be writing this, but we just received a final generous donation that has brought us to our goal...I'm calling it...we are FULLY FUNDED!

I have to admit that it was a little daunting when we started the application process and saw that initial dollar figure. However, we put it out there knowing that God would provide for Nastya to be here, and boy did He ever...in a big way!

I have been consistently amazed and encouraged by the generosity of our friends and family. Thank you for seeing the opportunity to make a difference in this little girl's life. I hope that you will enjoy watching your contributions manifest themselves here on our blog as we post pictures and share our time with her. Our family may be hosting her in our home, but all of us working together as a team (whether through monetary donation, words of encouragement, or prayer) have made her visit possible.

Speaking of pictures, I was thrilled to receive a message from a fellow host parent yesterday who is hosting another girl from the same orphanage as Nastya. He shared some pictures with me from a summer camp that "our" girls attended this past summer. There were several pics of Nastya and it looks like she was able to participate in some fun activities.

 

 

It's so nice to have some new pics to share that give us a little bit better glimpse into her personality. It's made me even more excited for our time with her...isn't she just precious!?

In addition to the great pics, I was encouraged to learn from him that this was a Christian summer camp! Sharing our faith with Nastya is one of several things we as host parents are asked to do while she is here. Our social worker told us that it is possible that she may have never attended church before and so I was a little worried that going to church with us and participating in the Christ-centric activities that are part of our holiday traditions will be very new to her. I'm glad to know that she will have at least had this recent experience to make things more relatable if that is the case. We appreciate your prayers for this aspect of her visit and that God will use us to continue her knowledge of Him while she is here.

So here we are, just thirty six (36!) days until her arrival, fully-funded, and it's all becoming very real! I've got some medical news pending and will also be sharing a list of some material needs we will have while she is here (some items that we are looking to borrow or have donated) so stay tuned!

Our Night at Souplantation...

This is way overdue, but I wanted to post a big thank you to everyone who came out to our Souplantation fundraiser last Thursday night!

I didn't have the presence of mind to go around and take pics of all of our friends who came out (I need to get better about using my camera if I'm going to do this blogging thing!) but big thanks to my parents and in-laws, the Cash's, the Barnetts, the Stevens, the Glaros's, the Burkharts, Connie Weber, and of course the Maljians! Please forgive me if I am forgetting anyone, and thanks to anyone who came before or after we were there whom we may not have seen. Special thanks also to the Connellys who were not able to come, but sent us a donation anyway...much appreciated!

We won't know for a couple of weeks how much profit we made from the fundraiser, but I'm guessing it will be around $40. With only $135 left to reach our goal for Nastya's travel expenses, I'll take it! I've said it before, but even more precious to us than the money raised, is the knowledge that we have so many friends standing beside us as we get ready for Nastya's arrival. Thank you for coming along side us in yet another meaningful way.

We have three more days, until the 15th of this month, to get our remaining $100 funded so if any of you weren't able to make it to the fundraiser but would still like to help, please consider running a donation through our Active site (the link is at the top of this page). Just $10 or 15 from a few more friends is all it will take to get us to our goal. We are so close...it's very exciting!

Sadly I ended up with a stomach bug the Friday right after the fundraiser which has now morphed into a cold and laryngitis since then.  I hear these things are going around, but I got whammied! I'm going to be optimistic and figure that I'm getting all of this out of my system now so that I will NOT be sick while Nastya is here (ha, wish it worked that way). At any rate, I appreciate your prayers that I will be back up to speed soon. I still have lots to do to prepare for our girl's arrival in just a little over a month!

Thankfulness

With the arrival of November, many of us reflect on things we are thankful for. I'd like to give you an update on what's been going on here, while also expressing how thankful I am!

I am THANKFUL our home safety visit is done! I was nervous about this and pictured the social worker coming into my home with white gloves on and walking through the house analyzing everything from the crumbs on my kitchen floor to the titles of the books on our bookshelves. My house got an overdue deep cleaning last week in preparation for her visit.

She turned out to be a lovely lady who just sat and chatted with us for an hour, asked a few questions and took a few notes (getting to know you kind of stuff) and then shared a bounty of information with us about her experiences hosting Eastern European orphans. It was fantastic! And the added plus is that my house is sparkling clean...ha.

I am THANKFUL for your prayers about Nastya's medical care! At this point, it looks like I've got two hospitals on the hook that are going to be able to see Nastya for us without charge! The application is in for one of them, the other will be submitted soon. Please pray that they accept her into their programs and that we are able to find appointment slots as early as possible during her visit (to allow time for follow up).

I am super THANKFUL that we are only $400 away from our fundraising goal!!! I'd say I can't believe it, but that's not true. Even before we plunged into hosting, we knew that our friends and family are some of the most generous people out there and we are so glad that you all are on this journey with us! We very much appreciate those of you who have been able to step up and support our efforts.

For those who would still like to help, we have until November 15th to raise the rest of the funds so if you are considering a donation, you can click through to our Active fundraising site at the top of this page where it says "Help us bring Nastya to America". The donation is tax deductible which might be of benefit to some of you as the end of the year approaches.

Also, don't forget that we still have our Souplantation fundraiser next Thursday, November 8th if you'd like to help out that way. I'll be posting the flyer again soon for those interested (but it's on my last post if you click back one...) Please share the flyer with your friends and family as well!

I am THANKFUL that there are almost 200 children from New Horizons that have been chosen by host families this winter. It has been amazing to read the stories of some of these families and what they are doing to reach out to these children. However there are still more than 100 children that have not been chosen. There are only two days left for most of the kids on the photolisting to be hosted. If any of you are possibly considering it, take a look. Many of these kids have significant scholarships now so if money was holding you back, that may no longer be an issue: www.newhorizonsforchildren.org

Finally, I am THANKFUL that we have 10 families hosting in California this winter and as a result we get to have one of the chaperones staying in Southern California rather than in an adjoining state! If you aren't able to host a child (and you live in So Cal), consider hosting our California chaperone...it's FREE! You can even host for a week if that's all you've got. Contact me if you want to know more. I'd love to have our chaperone staying with someone I know!

Thank you all for keeping up with us and for your words of encouragement. We have a lot to be THANKFUL for!