This summer our director Leann gave Dzintars a project. Shortly after he returned to Latvia she was there interviewing kids for our winter hosting period (the kids that are here now) and she asked him a few questions in regards to his hosting experience. These are his responses as translated by his social worker Aija. I was delighted to receive his answers via email today! In regards to your hosting experience in the Maljian family, summer 2012, what advice would you give to future host children?
To behave well – to listen to host parents’ wishes, for example – to wake up early when it is needed (We spent the first two weeks waking him likethis)
To participate in activities what a host family offers. I tried some new things – my host mom invited me to go on roller coasters – and I did.
I helped my host family – gathered leaves, cleaned a car, fed the dog, helped to fasten small kids in a car, played with the dog, helped to cook, helped to wash dishes a bit, helped to go to stores
I always talked to my host mom, so I think it helped us to become friends
I prepared and brought my host family a present
Sometimes I was lazy to do something what my host family said and I had little caprices/ whims. I decided to keep these caprices/ whims in me. (If you're like me you'll need a definition for caprices. It means a sudden and unaccountable change in mood or behavior. When you win Jeopardy you can thank me!)
If my host mom or host dad had some difficulties, it was good to help him
To treat your host family well
Do not touch unknown dogs, do not tease animals
Do not call anyone in bad words
I didn’t do anything special – being polite
Every Sunday I prayed the God for Stacey (host mom), my host family and other families
How did you know how to behave in a host family?
When I grew older, I knew I need to behave well in a family – otherwise the family would think that a wild child/ savage came from Latvia.
What did you learn while being hosted in America?
To play soccer
To play baseball
Do not be afraid of American roller coasters, to overcome my fears
If you are offered to try new things, try!
To listen to the host mom, do not run away from her (He never did this, but still good advice)
To treat everyone kindly
To learn how to swim
The advice columnist "Dear Abby" has nothing on Dzintars! I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED reading his answers! It was so fun to see hosting through his eyes! And several of his answers gave Peter and I a good chuckle, especially the one where he said he needed to behave well so we wouldn't think savage children came from Latvia!!
Is STILL terrified of roller coasters that go upside down...
STILL feels the need to throw up "bunny ears" in photos...
and still lives up to this verse!!
How do I know all that?? Because we were able to visit him this week! Can I get a "hip, hip, hooray"?
Why all the old photos you ask?? Well, I'm unable to share any of the dozens and dozens of photos I took this week due to his adoption not being finalized and a post just isn't complete without photos in my opinion. Plus, who can get enough of his joy-filled smile? Certainly not me!!! So old pics it is, but I guarantee he's just as adorable, and just as happy as when we last saw him and still quite a little jokester!
He's being hosted in California by his soon to be adoptive family and since they live just a few hours north of where we'd be spending Christmas, they invited us to come spend the day with them! Dzintars had been asking me via frype (the Latvian version of Facebook) for weeks if we'd be coming to visit him while he was in America. He was so excited when his mom told him we were in fact coming! We were super excited too! When we finally pulled up to their house Brennan started excitedly calling out "Dzintars! Dzintars!" He was just thrilled to be seeing him again.
It was so great to see him again and even better to see him interacting with his family:) I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE (are you getting the point yet) the "P" family! They are just the best of the best! The kind of people I would hope we would have somehow come to know even if we hadn't hosted Dzintars this summer!
It's hard to put into words what this visit meant to me and even harder to explain what it meant to him. I just know it was great to see him and only furthered the deep sense of peace I have when it comes to Dzintars' future. I VIVIDLY recall the day we put him on a plane back to Latvia and the deep sense of sorrow and confusion I felt when I contemplated his future as an orphan in that country. Especially knowing the way he LONGED for a family! It was beyond difficult to send him back with so much uncertainty and I felt so completely helpless. I wanted to trust that God was in control, but honestly, at that point, I had my doubts. To see him now, in his home, with his parents and his brothers was just plain amazing! God is so good and I'm so thankful to have a front row seat to the many miracles He has worked since we started on this journey with Dzintars. The fact that his family lives in California is just icing on the cake!! Remember, he had like 20+ families call the adoption agency and inquire about him (a record I might add) and they were literally from all over the United States. He could have ended up ANYWHERE! And just because we hosted him, his adoptive family was by no means required to keep in contact with us. Luckily for us, his parents have chosen to not only include us and update us along the way, but encourage us to keep in touch with him and have gone out of their way to build relationships with us. Talk about BLESSED!
He greeted us with hugs and a handmade card he'd made. He also gave me this sweet little angel charm that I can put on a chain and wear. He was very proud of his gifts and from what his mom told me, very anxious to see us and give them to us. While we were there he "Face timed" his buddies Hosea, Isaiah and Joel with whom he spent a great deal of time with this summer! We laughed, we joked, we tickled and wrestled and jumped on the trampoline and had a knock down, drag out Nerf gun war! In fact, we spent most of our day dodging Nerf bullets and pellets, it was wild! Did I mention Dzintars has five brothers? Add Brennan to that bunch and there were bullets EVERYWHERE!
He's still unaware that his host family is the family that is adopting him. Well, let me rephrase that...he may suspect but we're not allowed to confirm his suspicions or entertain his questions so we're not 100% sure what he does or does not suspect. He did try and weasel an answer out of me while I was there, and by weasel I mean BEG! I'm told he's also tried this tactic with his social worker from Latvia. Poor kid, I feel his pain, but none of us are willing to jeopardize his adoption so we'll have to keep him wondering for now. I'm anxiously awaiting the day when he will be told! It's going to be epic!
Saying goodbye this time around was SO MUCH EASIER than last time! There were no tears, there was no clinging or begging. There were hugs and "I love you's" and lots of waves.
He knows he's been chosen, he knows he is loved and THAT has made all the difference.
We're all anxiously awaiting the day he's officially part of the "P" family! But for now, we're all so glad he was able to have these few weeks here with them!
As I write this post about a child whose future is about to be redeemed through the miracle of adoption, I can't help but think of all that is going on in Russia right now. There are roughly 50 families that were in the process of adopting kids from Russia that now may not be able to bring home their children and another 205 families who had identified a child they intended to adopt. The 50 families in the process of adopting have already traveled to Russia, they have met their kids and promised to return for them and now due to politics that have NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM OR EVEN ADOPTION they won't be bringing their kids home after all. The most heartbreaking part of all of this, these little ones won't have a clue why their mom and dad didn't return for them as promised, they'll simply believe they've been abandoned once again! If you haven't been following this story, please take a moment and read about it here. Russia would like us to believe they are protecting their children, that this ban is due to post adoption deaths of their children but Putin actually signed this adoption ban as part of a retaliation against a measure Obama signed here in America that has nothing to do with these kids. It's just so heartbreaking.
I'm especially saddened for one family in particular. The Johnston family. They recently traveled to Russia to meet their little girl Anastasia. Anastasia is a beautiful 4 year old little girl who happens to be HIV+. Her chances of being adopted in Russia were slim to none, her chances of being adopted in the U.S. weren't that great either due to the huge stigma here in the U.S. when it comes to HIV/AIDS, people are afraid of what they don't know and they haven't bothered to educate themselves when it comes to the facts of living with HIV. Luckily for Anastasia, her mom Jenni is educated and she works for a fantastic organization called Project Hopeful. Their mission is to educate, encourage, and enable families and individuals to advocate for and adopt children with HIV/AIDS as well as other kids who fall into the category of the most "overlooked children for adoption." Jenni was a HUGE help to me when I asked her to help me find host families for a few of our host kids who were HIV+ and I've followed her journey to Anastasia. They were interviewed on CNN today and their story just breaks my heart. Here's their story...
Please keep Anastasia, the Johnston family and all the other families affected by this senseless ban in your prayers.
New jammies on Christmas Eve from Gramma and Grampa.
Two things Lukey LOVES, jammies and Lightning McQueen
Four little cuties.
Lukey loves his brother, sometimes a little too much.
Making a birthday cake for Jesus.
The finished product.
Christmas Eve night...
Alyssa bought this for Kaelyn with her own money...
Kaelyn LOVED it and sat out in the hallway admiring it.
Christmas jammie cuteness.
Ready to sprinkle Reindeer food on the grass! There's a few different variations on this, here's one, we used glitter instead of candy sprinkles.
Cookies for Santa.
Christmas morning...
That silly Santa left the fire place door open, snow boot prints on the carpet, and one of his packages lost a ribbon his way back up the chimney.
When Santa asked Kaelyn what she wanted for Christmas she always said "The Jake ship I saw at Cost-co."Santa came through!
Brennan asked for a "candy claw machine" like those large money sucking claw machines with stuffed animals in them. It was his favorite toy for about five seconds...
Then we had him hide his eyes...
and open this...
Ta da!Another garbage truck. Mom and dad scored big on this, wish we had his reaction on video. He hasn't stopped playing with it since!
Bren bought all this loot for Kaelyn at the Dollar Tree.
Character sleeping bags for the three big munchkins.
Pretending to sleep.
Oma and Opa and all of their great grandkids.
Great Grandma and Great Grandpa with some of their great grandkids.
Today I did my act of kindness on the fly, I had nothing planned so I had to "think on my feet".
I had to make a last minute trip to the grocery store so I picked up a Starbucks gift card and gave it to my checker as I was leaving. I hated that I had to leave the house to go shop today so I can only imagine what a bummer it would be to be working today!
If you read yesterday's post you know that Oma and Opa are my grandparents and therefore my kiddos great grandparents. They adore their great grandchildren and especially love showing them off to their friends. They live in a retirement community so today we set out to visit some of their friends and spread a little candy cane and cute kiddo kindness.
We spread kindness on people's porches...
And in the halls...
And in the lobby living room!
This cutie is a Lady Killer! Old ladies can't stand his cuteness...
Big brother Lukey is also a hit with the ladies and even agreed to huge this sweet lady when she asked!
They are VERY proud great grandparents!
Tomorrow we will...consider spreading kindness if we can think up something that works with our busy Christmas Eve schedules...since we're out of town I didn't plan that far ahead so we'll be flexible and see what we can come up with!
