Gunars

This is Gunars!

He needs your help!!

He's five years old and was abandoned at birth when his parents learned he was HIV+. A year and a half ago he arrived at his current orphanage. When he arrived he talked very little and wasn't able to feed himself or use the toilet because none of his previous caregivers had bothered to teach him. Since then, he's made great strides and is now potty trained and can feed and dress himself! He is described as funny, talkative, happy and polite.

His HIV is being managed with meds and he is considered "healthy" at this time.

Let's face it, HIV comes with a certain stigma and people fear what they do not understand and HIV and AIDS is grossly misunderstood! Gunar's was born with HIV, he did nothing to contract it, can do nothing to get rid of it and now his hopes and his dreams lie with people like you and me.

Would you take a moment to educate yourself on the facts. I love Project Hopeful which exists to educate, encourage and enable families and individuals to advocate for and adopt children with HIV/AIDS. Here are some facts about HIV taken from their website:

• HIV has never been transmitted through normal family living condition. It cannot be transmitted through casual contact.
• HIV is not found in sweat, urine, feces, tears, saliva or snot. It is found in blood, semen, vaginal fluids and breastmilk.
• Today, HIV is considered a chronic but managable disease much like Type II Diabetes (though diabetes cannot be transmitted).
• Children who are HIV+ and receieve medical treatment are expected to live a normal lifespan.
• Social stigma is perhaps the greatest challenge an HIV+ individual will face.

This Christmas Gunars has the opportunity to be hosted through New Horizons for Children! It costs $2,950 to host him and he's already got a $430 scholarship donated by a generous family that really wants to see him hosted. Would you consider donating to New Horizons in the form of a scholarship for this special little boy??You donate to Gunars' scholarship fund via PayPal by clicking the donate button on our website. Please be sure and make a note that it's for Gunars L177 and the funds will go directly towards his scholarship!! If you'd prefer, you can mail a check directly to our office, please include his name and number along with your check. You can mail your check to:

New Horizons for Children

3950 Cobb Pkwy

Suite 708

Acworth, GA 30101

 

Won't you please help this special little boy??? If you can't donate, consider sharing this post with your friends and family.

 

If you're family is interested in hosting Gunars this Christmas please feel free to email me at: smaljian@newhorizonsforchildren.org!

Update: Gunars has a host family!!

 

 

 

 

Sharing Our Journey

Part of my new role as a regional coordinator for New Horizons for Children is to share about hosting whenever and wherever possible. I'll be sharing at my MOPS group and my church soon and I decided to create a video to share not only about our experiences but also about why hosting is so important to these kids. Please watch, enjoy and share! Make sure your sound is on, it's better with the music:)

Shop at Amazon???

Do you shop at amazon.com???

They have a fantastic charitable donation program that New Horizons for Children is now a part of!! If you shop using the link below New Horizons will get a portion of your purchase to use towards scholarships for our host children!! At the moment we're up to 7% back on all purchases through this link, the more people who use the link, the more we get back. It's that simple!!

The best part????

IT DOESN'T COST YOU A THING!!

What could be better than that??

All you have to do is click the link and shop away. You can even still use your Amazon Prime and get free shipping!!

Please bookmark this blog post, or copy and paste the link into your browser and bookmark it! One click and you can help raise scholarship money for our hosting program!

 

http://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393193&linkCode=shr&tag=n0680-20

 

Who will this money go to help??? Take a look!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cost to host one child is $2950, so as you can imagine our sibling groups costs quite a bit. When scholarship money is offered it offsets the costs associated with hosting and we're able to find families for them!! 



Life in a "Special Needs" Orphanage

Hosting Dzintars has opened my eyes to MANY injustices in this world! Tonight I read a blog post that I just had to share. In Eastern Europe orphans with special needs are even worse off than "regular" orphans. Sadly, often times they don't even have a true special need, but are misdiagnosed. At a certain age they are transferrred from their "baby houses" to institutions and it is there that their lives take a drastic, turn for the worse. If you don't believe me, just read this post.

Host a Child This Christmas

I know, I know, summer just ended and yet I'm already asking you to start thinking about Christmas! That may be a bit much for some of you, but trust me, you're about to start seeing Christmas decorations in your local Target any day now so you might as well just get over it now!

The time for matching host kids with host families for this Christmas is NOW!!!! There are some AMAZING kiddos coming here this winter and you won't want to miss out!

If you'd like to view the photolisting and bios of the kids who have been selected to participate you can fill out this form. Within minutes you'll have a link and a password and access to photos of some of the most precious little ones EVER. The interview team is currently in Ukraine so more kiddos will be added in the next week or two.

If you'd like more information about hosting or to ask questions about specific kids, you can contact your regional coordinator. To find out which coordinator works with your state click here.  If you happen to be out west, you'll have the privilege of working with me, that's right...I'm now a regional coordinator for NHFC and I'm loving every second of it. Just one of the many blessings that have come out of this summer! You can also go ahead and fill out our Preliminary Application, it's very basic, and will only take 5 minutes, that way your regional coordinator will have all of your contact information as well!

Who can host???? ANYONE!! Married couples, single moms, retirees and grandparents too!!! If you don't feel led to host, or can't at this time, please consider donating to NHFC in the form of a scholarship, you can even access the photolisting and choose which child you'd like to provide scholarship money towards. Scholarships need not be for the full amount (which if you were wondering is $2950 a child), any amount will help, and for some children these scholarships are KEY to finding them a host family. Had it not been for a very generous scholarship donation for Dzintars we would not have hosted him this summer, bottom line...and when I look back at all many lives the Lord has used Dzintars' story to touch I just cannot imagine NOT having hosted him this summer!! You can find out more about donating scholarship money here.

What do orphans look like??? Here's a little preview for you:

"S" and "O". A very sweet sibling set, "O" says that "S" is a good big brother because he protects her:)

"A" and "Z" have been offered for hosting several times and NEVER chosen!! They are in the same orphanage as Dzintars and come highly recommended by the same lady who told me to host Dzintars. 

 Twins "A" and "E" (too young to travel) and "J", "R" and "M"



"A" who is HOST ONLY (not available for adoption) due to her age. 

 "G" is described as funny and talkative by his caregivers.

"I" who was hosted and LOVED this summer!! 

"M" LAST CHANCE, he ages out in February!!! Sounds amazing!

"M" who likes to draw and sing and would like to learn to cook. 

"N" hosted this summer! 

"N" this sweet boy has a tragic story and really needs a host family this Christmas!!

See any that stir your hearts???

Share Your Christmas Traditions With Vlad

When the photolisting came out last spring for the kids that were available for hosting this past summer a few of them stood out to me. Their photos and their stories touched my heart and I prayed fervently for them to find host families. One of them was Vlad, he won me over with his sweet little smile. I mean look at him, he just looked so happy!!

I considered hosting him, advocated for him on facebook and continued to pray for a family to find him but ultimately it wasn't God's plan for Vlad to join our family this summer. I was devastated for him when hosting closed and he wasn't chosen. My heart was literally broken. I couldn't explain it, but I just felt like the NEEDED to come to America this summer. Then on June 14th, just 10 days before the host kids were due to arrive the NHFC coordinator in Latvia contacted them and told them they MUST find one more family for a boy who was being heavily bullied at his orphanage, that boy was Vlad! Vlad is a quiet, kind and caring boy and those are just the types of kids the bullies at his orphanage were targeting. When I read that he was being bullied it only made me love him more, any child who can maintain a genuine smile like that while being picked on deserved a chance to come to America in my book. Thankfully a family stepped up for Vlad that very same day and he was able to spend the summer in Pennsylvania and escape the bullies.

His summer host family describes him as a wonderful boy who plays well, uses him imagination and was patient with their three younger children. He accepted Jesus as his Savior and asked great questions regarding spiritual matters. Vlad was very sweet and enjoyed helping around the house and truly shined when it came to assembling the new family swing set. Vlad speaks and reads English well and he enjoyed American food. His family said he was precious and very lovable! He has a good attitude and gets along well with other kids his age. He became good friends with an American boy of the same age and they played well together and were able to compromise well when choosing an activity or game to play. His host family says he is a real treasure and would do well in a family with children of any ages!

Vlad enjoying the pool this summer!

Do you have room in your hearts and homes for Vlad this Christmas?? If you're interested in hosting Vlad or another child this winter please email me at smaljian@newhorizonsforchildren.org .

UPDATE: VLAD HAS A HOST FAMILY!! PRAISE GOD!!! 

LAST CHANCE...WE NEED A MIRACLE

Hey everyone, I need your help in getting this young man out there and known ASAP! Our team met him in Latvia while interviewing kids for the Winter 2012 hosting program and had great things to say about him. His younger sibling was adopted a few years ago by a family here in the states and he wants to be adopted too!

Meet "A". He spoke very good English and needed little translation. He told the team that he never drinks or smokes as this behavior is not part of his life. "A" would like to complete high school and then go to college to be an engineer. His best subject is math but he is also very athletic and loves sports too! He likes cats and dogs and says that any family with any age children would be good for him. He prefers to live in a city or suburb verses in the country as he is used to the city atmosphere. He is also very good at computers and would like to learn more about them, specifically programming.

"A" is available for hosting this winter but his dream is to be adopted. Time is running out for him as his birthday is September 16th and a family would need to file their i800a by then. He needs a family that is homestudy approved to step forward NOW!  This may seem impossible to some, but I know it's possible with the Lord! He cares about these kids and can move mountains to rescue them! Remember this story? Tetiana is no longer an orphan, her chances seemed slim and time was most definitely running out but we all witnessed a miracle as God set her in a family on the DAY she turned 16 and should have been aging out!!

We know there is a family out there that is willing and able to bring "A" home. We just need to connect the two!!!

Please help us advocate for this precious child and find his family before time runs out! Please blog, link up, forward the link and facebook about this precious boy before it's too late!!

Anyone with questions regarding adopting "A" can email me at smaljian@newhorizonsforchildren.org or contact any of the other volunteer staff at New Horizons for Children.

$10 for Janis

My sweet friend Tracey over at Love In Latvia is desperately trying to raise funds to bring her son Janis home from Latvia! They need to raise $3245 in the next 7 days in order to bring Janis HOME!! This is the final amount they need to give to their adoption agency before the agency will send their dossier over to Latvia.  The dossier will then be translated and presented to the Latvian Ministry. Who will then grant the Romingers permission to adopt Janis and give them a court/travel timeframe to go to Latvia and get their boy!!

Can you spare just $10 to help make this happen??? That's two less trips to Starbucks this week to help set an orphan in a family FOREVER!! If 324 people give just $10 each they will meet their goal!

Every $10 you donate will get you one entry into a drawing for one of their "Love in Latvia" t-shirts:)

You can send money as a gift to Tracey's Paypal account at madsmom2007@yahoo.com

Or mail a check to: 7863 Howard Lane Denver, NC 28037 ((the day your check is received , your name will be entered for that day)