The Face of Innocence

Look at this face! This is the face of innocence! The face of hope!! The face of a boy, who is waiting for someone to come bring him home!



Today I received these pictures from a woman I've never met. She's a former host mama, now officially an adoptive mama who was in Latvia finalizing her son's adoption. They decided to spend a day volunteering at an orphan camp and low and behold who do you think she saw when she got there but my Dzintars!! Coincidence? I think not!! She immediately recognized him from our New Horizons facebook group and my blog and decided to bless me with new photos of my boy! I'm happy to see his beautiful smile is still in tact! After our VERY tearful goodbye, I worried that he might return to his former "orphan" mode, steeling himself up for life in the orphanage.

She sent this message as well:

Guess what???? I was at orphan camp here in Latvia yesterday when guess who I notice in the group??? YES - Dzintars!!!! I was sooooooo excited because I've been praying through your story so felt like I know him! I went to say hi and that I know you and asked if I could take a pic to send you for a surprise. He said yes. Then he came over to me many more times to get pix and video for you. Have to send from USA because of a computer problem but wanted you to know they are on their way!

Also, he asked me if you were bringing him back. Ouch! I said I knew that you'd love to but can't always do that. I told him I'd pray. Then he said to tell you please to bring him back. Tell you he really wants to come back.

Oh my really sweet boy Stacey. He and Arturs (another boy hosted through NHFC this summer) really stood out. Just boys - without the anger so many of the others showed.

Anyway in the next day or two be watching for your boy's pics!

Thanking God for this gift for all of us. Dz was so willing for hugs and all. I'm not you but I hope he felt your love and Jesus' through me!

Did you read that? He's begging for us to come back for him. He's seen what life in a family can be like and he desperately wants one of his own!! He is completely unaware of all the many, many people here in the United States that have been helping me advocate and spread the word about him. All he knows is he wants to return to America, where he can have the hope and future that aging out of the orphanage system in his country will not allow him. 

I know reading that he's at "camp" makes it sound like a fun place to be and in fact I was happy to learn that he's at this camp, as it's run by Christians and from what I hear one of the better ones out there. But in Latvia, orphan camp is really just a place to send the kids when their orphanages close for the summer and winter. It's not the same as American camps. For starters they sleep in tents and it rains so they get soaked, which makes me sad for my super thin Latvian who had trouble staying warm on a summer night in California. There may be some fun planned activities as evidenced in these pictures, but the kids are certainly not the same. They are hardened by a life of lose and disappointment and many of them are angry at the world. This is NOT where Dzintars belongs! It's not where any of them belong...but that's a whole other post!!


You can read a little more about the camp Dzintars was at on Sue's blog by clicking here.  Thank you Sue for blessing me with these pictures.

Playing what I'm assuming is the "dizzy" bat relay race game. 

Eating in the dining hall. I'm told they had to eat in shifts as the space is quite small. Dz is in the far left corner. 

With "V" who is an orphan no more!! Welcome home "V"!!

Yep, that's my boy! Arms crossed in an attempt to keep himself warm!

Working on a camp treehouse. 

 

Dzintars and a rainbow following a rain storm!! A reminder of God's promises!!

Won't someone bring this boy home????