Women Of Faith

I just got back from an amazing weekend away, so amazing in fact, I'm having a hard time finding the right words to describe it!

So by now, most of you know the story of how we came to host Dzintars...but for those who are just joining us I'll include the "condensed version" here. I felt called to host a child this summer and was keeping tabs on the photolisting of available kids, I fell in love several times with kids on the list and each time I asked about another kid I was always told "no, we recommend you choose Dzintars." I didn't WANT to host Dzintars, I had NO DESIRE to bring a 14 year old into our house. I thought it would be much easier to host a younger child, one that would have more in common with our then 4 and 2.5 year old kids. But my “oh so wise” Regional Coordinator advised against it. Finally I relented and when she told me once more about Dzintars I decided to take her up on her offer of talking to a woman who had actually met him.

Enter Angie in Georgia.

Angie and a team from her church went on a mission trip to Latvia in 2010 and she had actually spent time with Dzintars in his orphanage and had firsthand knowledge of his sweetness and desire for love and a family. I didn't WANT to call this perfect stranger, I'm an introvert and talking to people I don't know is not on my list of fun things to do. But I did. She told me what she could recall and for most people our “relationship” would have ended there...but God had other plans.

While I continued to feel called to host a child, as a family we were unable to decide if the “timing” was right. It costs $2950 to host a child and we just didn’t have the money, nor were we sure we could raise that much money in the time left before he’d arrive. The “matching” period for the kids ended and I was crushed to see Dzintars and so many others that I’d been drawn to had not been chosen. This story should end there…but by the Grace of God the orphan court in Latvia agreed to give New Horizons one more week to try and find families for the remaining kids…on the VERY last day of that week I got a call from my afore mentioned “oh so wise Regional Coordinator” who said “I just got a call from someone who wants to put a full scholarship on Dzintars with the hopes that YOUR family will host him.” I’ll leave it up to you to figure out who that was, she doesn’t like to be in the spotlight…I immediately called Peter and told him what I’d just learned and asked him to pray for a few hours and then get back to me.

Obviously we agreed and said YES to hosting Dzintars.  

Angie and I became Facebook friends and kept in contact online. By the time Dz arrived she was a source of regular encouragement for me J

After much stress and laying at the feet of the cross begging God to find an adoptive family for the special boy in our home, we were elated when a week after Dz returned to Latvia I received a call from a family in Sacramento, CA that wanted to make him a permanent member of their family!

Enter Stacy (and Adam and their five sons). Stacy and I also became Facebook friends as I shared everything I knew about Dzintars with her.

Never in my WILDEST dreams would I have thought I’d ever be more than Facebook friends with these ladies. NEVER. I’m an introvert by nature, remember?? I don’t just go around building relationships with people I don’t know. About two months ago, while the three of us were talking back and forth on Facebook this crazy idea popped into my head….what if we did meet. It just so happened that there was a Women of Faith conference in Stacy’s area and I’d been really feeling called to attend WOF this year, but the one in my area was while we were on vacation. So I throw out this wild idea, totally expecting Stacy and Angie (especially Angie, seeing as how she’s in Georgia and flights to CA aren’t cheap) to tell me how crazy that was, or list a million reasons why it wouldn’t work. Turns out they are as crazy as I am, and Angie immediately checked her calendar and found she was in fact wide open for the weekend of the conference, then she hopped on the internet to see how much a flight would cost, and was shocked to find her normally very difficult to use Delta miles would cover the costs of a DIRECT flight to Sacramento. She bought the ticket and our plan for a girls only weekend was underway!

As my friend was driving me to the airport last Friday she asked “So? Are you nervous to meet Stacy and Angie?” I suddenly realized that I hadn’t stopped to give much thought to the fact that I was about to spend three nights and four days with two women I really didn’t know. Eeek, I was suddenly a little panic stricken…turns out I didn’t need to be nervous at all.

I can’t even put into words how impactful this weekend has been. Women of Faith was incredibly powerful, standing beside these two women, who not only share my passion for orphans but who are also part of Dzintars’ story left me in awe of God. God is so big, so infinite. Only God could take three women who were complete strangers, who could have gone their entire lives and never met, from “Facebook” friends to deeply connected, Spirit-filled friendships in a matter of months! Our only link being a boy in an orphanage on the other side of the world. My mind cannot comprehend the vastness of His plans and how much He longs to meet us where we are at and pour out His blessings.

While we started our weekend as “strangers” we certainly didn’t end it that way. We stayed up WAY TOO LATE every night and found out why women our age don’t normally have sleepovers, let alone 3 days in a row. There was little sleeping going on in room 5206 and Starbucks certainly benefited by our late nights and early mornings. But every second of our time spent sharing and investing in each other was absolutely worth it.

I know God well enough to know that he didn’t NEED me to accomplish His purposes and plan in Dzintars’ life. I believe He always intended for Dzintars to be adopted by Adam and Stacy and had we not hosted him God would still have brought him into their family. But He invited me to go on this journey with him, to enter into something so beautiful and redemptive, something I could never have foreseen or imagined. Had I let my own fears win, I would have missed it all! The outcome for Dzintars would have been the same because God can accomplish His purposes with or without my “help”¸ but had I not agreed I would have missed out on so many blessings that have occurred along the way. Surely, I would have missed out on two amazing friends that I now cherish!
 

Stacy, Me and Angie.



 

During the conference the worship band played a song called “Beautiful Things” by a band named Gundor. As I let the words wash over me I realized how applicable they were to Dzintars story and all that has happened in his life and in ours because we said "yes" to hosting him. If you've never heard the song take a moment and watch this video, it's so beautiful and the words are so powerful.

The chorus says:

“You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us.”

To most people, Dzintars  life was little more than dust, his life seemed hopeless, but not to our God. Out of the “dust” of this one kids’ life He has made so many beautiful things, a child once an orphan will have a family, ten other orphans are now being hosted because their host families stumbled upon Dzintars’ story on my blog or Facebook, and two women whose paths would NEVER had crossed with mine are now my friends. To see this story unfold and blessing upon blessing poured out, has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. Just when I think it can't get any better, IT DOES!! If you don’t think God cares for the fatherless, you might want to think again! He cares to the point of death of a cross and will weave the most complicated and beautiful story out of the “dust” to redeem what has been lost for these kids!

And if spending time with the girls and time with my Jesus learning from some amazing speakers like Angie Smith of http://angiesmithonline.com/ (who is awesome and amazingly talented by the way) at Women of Faith, wasn’t enough for one weekend, I also got the privilege of meeting Stacy’s husband,  Adam and their five boys! Wow! Seriously Dzintars, you don’t know it yet, but you are one blessed kid!! Not only are your mom and dad AWESOME, but your brothers are pretty rockin’ themselves! I have no doubt that God intended for you to join their family all along. They already love you and can’t wait for you to get here! As far as your family is concerned, you’re already “theirs” you just have a different address for the time being.

I totally failed in the photographer department and barely used my camera all weekend. And since three of his brothers are teenagers and I didn't break out the camera till the morning we left they were still sound asleep...Dz will fit right in;)

Me and sweet Teddy:)

 

Indy and Teddy, aren't they adorable???

 

If you don’t believe God is real I’m here to tell you that He is. And He loves you more than you could possibly imagine. Enough to use a boy who society and circumstance had cast aside and weave a story so beautiful sometimes I can’t even believe it and I’m living it!!!

The Sin of Indifference

When it comes to caring for the people on God's heart, indifference is a sin.

--Tom Davis, Fields of the Fatherless

 

People often find the orphan crisis so overwhelming they choose to do nothing because helping only one seems like it won't make much of a difference...want to know how many other orphans will be hosted this Christmas because this ONE was hosted this summer????

 

Scroll down to see...

In case you can't count that's a grand total of TEN!!!!

And those are just the CA families that I know about! Now imagine families all over California and beyond joining these host families on their journey this Christmas and these ten each effecting ten more lives...What a radical ripple Dzintars has begun in the hearts and lives of many!!

I'm so glad the families hosting these kids chose to step up and face the crisis rather than pretend it didn't exist!!

It's not too late to sign up to host a child this Christmas! We have till the end of this week to match kids with host families. Check out www.newhorizonsforchildren.org for more information!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Tomorrow morning I'll board a plane bound for Sacramento, California. The purpose of this trip??? To meet and fellowship with two very important ladies in the life of this handsome kid.

Who are these other "leading" ladies in his life you might ask? One would be his mama, Stacy of Daily Surrender to Jesus and the other is Angie, who met Dzintars in his orphanage and played a KEY role in our family hosting him this summer!  I am beyond excited to get to meet these two ladies in person. We'll be rooming together while we attend the Women of Faith conference, which excites me all in itself! It's going to be a gloriously awesome weekend on so many levels!!!

The fact that God used one boy from an orphanage in Latvia to connect me with these amazing ladies is almost beyond my comprehension! And despite the fact that Angie lives way out in Georgia, her and Stacy were both totally game when I called them with my crazy plan to meet up in Sacramento for Women of Faith. It's been planned for months...and now it's finally here!

And if that wasn't enough awesome news for one post, a certain adorably handsome Latvian will be spending Christmas with his family this year...the adoption is still in process, but fortunately they'll be able to host him in the meantime! Can't wait for airport arrival day in December to see this family united for the first time ever!

And Artoyms Makes Ten

When I set out to host Dzintars last summer I had a few "goals".

First and foremost to love that kid like crazy and do my best to find him a family!

Mission accomplished...his family is in the process of bringing him home and will be hosting him this Christmas in the meantime. If you'd like to follow their journey you can do so on their blog Daily Surrender to Jesus.

Second, I vowed to do my best to spread the word about hosting and more specifically to get more California families to host. We had five kids in California this summer so I set my mind to double that number for winter!

Mission accomplished...today we reached that goal!!

This is Artoyms:

He doesn't know it yet, but he's one lucky kiddo! You see a single mama in California saw his sweet face and fell in love! Despite knowing that she did not have the funds to pay his hosting fees she felt so strongly for this child that she set out on a mission to start a scholarship fund for him! In less than a week she's managed to raise over $800 of approximately $3,000 needed to bring him to California for Christmas. Today she took a leap of faith and placed Artoyms on hold and will continue her quest to raise the remainder of his fees!

Can you help this sweet boy, who at age 14 cannot read and write? Him and his siblings were raised by their grandma for a good portion of their childhood and she never sent them to school. He is now catching up quickly but still struggles with reading and writing and when asked what he would wish for he said he wishes to learn to read and write! It doesn't take much, every single donation counts and will put him one step closer to spending Christmas with a family by his side! To read more about what led his family to choose him check out their blog No Love Greater!

His host mama has set up a donation site at http://www.active.com/donate/winter2012/loveforartoyms . Can you spare $5 or $10 to help them bring Artoyms to America??? I have been deeply moved by her utter determination and love for this boy she has not yet met! All donations are tax deductible.

You can also donate via the PayPal link on the New Horizons for Children website! Just be sure and make a note that your donation is for Artoyms L118!

Together we can change this boy's life! Not everyone can adopt, not everyone can host, but I believe everyone can do something, no matter how small it may seem!

Winter Hosting Blogs

I've been blessed to have some super amazing blogging mamas sign up to host in my area!! Seriously, they've just gotten started and yet they seem like seasoned pros!

You'll definitely want to check them out...you won't be sorry, I promise!

Sweet Nastya's family is blogging at: http://stonicks.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

And thanks to that blog, siblings Natalia and Vitaly found a host family as well. Their host mom is blogging at: http://fujbeck.blogspot.com/

 

If you enjoyed reading about our adventures with Dzintars this summer you'll definitely want to check these blogs out. The kids aren't due to arrive until mid-December, but already their host mamas are on a blogging role!!

Misconceptions

When presented with orphan hosting, one of the first questions people ask is:

“Isn’t it cruel to bring an orphan here for a few weeks, give them a taste of paradise and then send them back?”

I bet some of you have asked that question as well. A fellow regional coordinator and veteran host mom has written a blog post that speaks to this question so beautifully.

Her post titled "Misconceptions" is currently being featured on the New Horizons for Children Blog. It's worth a read regardless of whether you've asked yourself that question or not!

If you've ever wondered if you could truly love "one of these kids", one who is not your own, one who will only be with you for a few short weeks...then you should check out another blog post by the same coordinator titled What's Love Got to Do With It?

My favorite quote from that post is this:

The truth is, loving STRANGERS will stretch you and shove you way out of your comfort zone-and we don't usually like that. But the thing is, once you start showing love intentional to someone... they're not really a stranger anymore, are they?

It's human nature to shy away from things that make us uncomfortable.

One of the ways we deal with that discomfort it to overlook or ignore the object of our affliction.

We overlook the orphan crisis in Eastern Europe (and other parts of the world) because it makes us uncomfortable.

We overlook it because it's easier to NOT know.

We don't WANT to see it or know about it.

Because what does that say about us if we KNOW--- and yet do nothing?

Don't overlook these children because it makes you uncomfortable.

The Radical Ripple

If I had to come up with a "word picture" to describe how hosting Dzintars this summer has affected those around us I'd liken it to throwing a pebble into a pond. Once you throw that pebble, the water around it is affected and ripples begin and continue outward!

This beautiful girl is Nastya, her host mom followed our journey with Dzintars this summer and was moved to action and now Nastya will have a family for Christmas.

But it doesn't stop there. Her host mom has already started blogging and advocating for other children on facebook and even though Nastya has yet to set foot on U.S. soil she has already started her own ripple.

Meet Vitaly and Natalia.

They too will be spending Christmas in America this year thanks to Nastya's host family! I wonder what kind of a ripple affect these two will have?

What are you doing to start a positive ripple of your own? If you'd like to learn more about orphan hosting check out http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/!

Artoyms

This is Artoyms! He's one of the kids that has touched me and pulled on my heart strings from the very first day the photolisting came out!

 

 

 

Here's the deal, I have a host family that would take this kid in a heartbeat...the only thing holding them back from committing to him is the cost! It costs $2950 to host a child, this family has begun trying to fundraise for Artoyms because they feel so strongly for him! Can you help??? Any amount will help Artoyms get hosted.

 

ANY AMOUNT.

 

With our current matching grant program the first $250 donated towards his hosting fees will be doubled by a generous donor!! So he'd go from $250 to $500 in an instant!!

 

Artoyms is friendly, open and paid very close attention to our interview team! He is funny and understood their silly jokes even through translation and made great eye contact. He has had a very difficult past, as his parents left him and his grandmother raised him and 2 other siblings who are in process of being adopted by another family. Unfortunately, grandma didn’t send any of the kids to school, so when they were located and brought into the orphanage, they were all basically without any education. Now, though he is 14 he is only in the 3rd grade. His social worker said he is catching up very fast in math but in reading and writing he needs a lot of one on one attention, so he can grasp ideas and concepts that most kids get when they are 7-9 years old. He is diligent in his studies and his dream was to read and write! When the interview team asked what he would like to improve, he answered, reading and writing:) If he could change one thing, it would be for he and his siblings to be together and that he had gone to school and learned to read and write… he WANTS TO READ AND WRITE! He likes to play on computer games, so perhaps some reading games would be helpful for him. We know his brother and sister and when we talked to him about them, he got quiet tears in his eyes. His favorite subject in school is math now. He has had a lack of opportunity in school and not a lack of ability. He wants attention from parents and would do well as youngest child or an only child with doting parents and a devoted mom! He is friendly, helpful, smaller than his age and just wants to be loved, more than most kids we meet anywhere!

 

If you'd like to help bring Artoyms to America this Christmas by donating towards his hosting fees you can do so in two ways. You can make a tax deductible donation on our website using our PayPal Link or you can mail a check made out to New Horizons for Children to our office (3950 Cobb Pkwy, Suite 708, Acworth, GA 30101). Either way you donate, please make sure and make a notation somewhere that it's for Artoyms L118!!

 

Let's get this boy into the loving arms of a family this Christmas!!

 

His hopeful host mama has started a blog to help spread the word! Go check out her blog at: No Love Greater.





Birthday Bash

This weekend Kaelyn turned 3!! She's a spunky, silly, funny, independent, giggly, princess and fairy loving little tomboy! She brings so much joy into our lives and we're so blessed to be her parents! Happy birthday sweet girl!

With cousin Luke. 

Grandma and Papa. 

Papa's girl:)

Grampa and Gramma. 

Auntie Nay Nay

Reading books with Auntie at her party. 

Watching Tinker Bell with friends. 

She's one happy girl! Two of her favorite gifts, a sucker and a Tinker Bell movie:) 

Some cousin love during movie time. 

Doc McStuffins is in the house! Anyone need a checkup? 

Her new fairy tea set. 

She's been asking for these for months! They were a hit. 

One happy birthday girl:)

 

The fairy tea set is even more fun with actual fairies:) 

We had a fantastic weekend celebrating our little princess. Seeing her joy and experiencing her excitement about everything just made it even better! We loved watching her interact with her friends at her party and play with her new toys. Shouts of "This is SO cool!" and "How awesome!" could be heard as she unwrapped her gifts!

Somehow celebrating her birthday makes me think of all the orphans out there with no one to celebrate them on their special day! Kids like Dzintars who just celebrated his birthday less than two weeks ago, alone:( I'm so, so thankful that for him, birthdays will soon have a new meaning and will be a reason to celebrate! But for so many others, this just isn't the case!! There's less than two weeks left to choose a child to host this Christmas! Did you know, if they remain in their home countries they have less than a 1% chance of EVER being adopted?

E-V-E-R!!

Hosting them in America increases their chances to 65%!! That's a HUGE advantage! It brings me great joy to imagine what Dzintars' next birthday will look like with a family by his side:) I bet all his previous birthdays pale in comparison!! Could you be the link between an orphan and their forever family??? Between a lifetime of birthdays alone and a special day meant just for them? Take a look at the kids who are available for hosting this Christmas on our photolisting or checkout http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/ for more information!

Just to be clear...you don't need to be interested in adoption in order to host! Taking care of the orphans and widows is something God calls us all to do, but I don't believe he calls us all to adopt! Don't let that stop you from investing in the lives of these kids! People often wonder how a few weeks in America can change an orphan's life. They often question if it's cruel to bring them here to America (aka The Land of Plenty) and then send them back to their orphanages. If that's you, then take a few moments to read this blog post written by a fellow New Horizons for Children coordinator! It's called Misconceptions and I think it's written beautifully!

Double Your Dollar

Once again, God is pouring financial blessings onto families who are stepping out in faith to care for orphans and be His hands and feet to these precious children.

NHFC has been given an amazing financial opportunity! An anonymous donor has issued us a “Double Your Dollar” challenge!

To read more about it click here.

If you've been wanting to donate towards hosting scholarships, but haven't yet done so now is the time!! For every $250 donated towards an unmatched Latvian child, our donor will add an additional $250 making your donation a grand total of $500!! This challenge would also apply if you're ready to choose a child for hosting, but haven't yet done so! You put $250 towards your fees and our donor will add an additional $250!

Only 3 Weeks Left

Yep, that's correct. Only 3 weeks left to choose a child to host this Christmas!! Won't you please consider welcoming one of these precious children into your home this holiday season???

Twins Anastasia and Aleksandra, last chance, they turn 16 soon! They have a very special understanding and relationship with each other. When the team interviewed them, one starts the sentence and the other one can finish it. Both love and are very good with small children and help in the orphanage with caregivers in the small kids’ group.  Anastasia said she would like to learn photography, but she has no camera to do it outside of class. If your family is a fun loving, outgoing and funny family, perhaps with little ones at home, then these girls would really bless your Christmas with their joy and excitement for life and each other! $200 scholarship.

Maksims and Dmitrijs were quiet brothers during their interview. They enjoy swimming. Bears and dogs are their favorite animals. If they could have a new toy, they would both like a real dog. They would love to visit a zoo too! $200 scholarship.

Volodymr and Sasha are two brothers who were happy, smiling, open during the interview.  Both boys came to the USA on our program once before and liked it very much. The orphanage director said they wish for a family forever as well. One of their favorite memories were walks in the park with their host family. Both are honest boys who get along well and speak Ukrainian, Russian and a little English. $200 scholarship.

Sergis, Natasha, and Katya are brother and sister. Sergis, the youngest, is very small for his age. He was shy during the interview but talked a lot during group activities. He likes bears, big dogs, running, and jumping. Natasha, the oldest, wishes to be famous someday. She enjoys listening to pop music. She likes dancing, making friendship bracelets, and cooking. Natasha wishes for a computer, phone, and mp3 player. Katya, the middle sibling, likes to run, and draw. She would like to sing and wishes to improve at swimming. $1100 scholarship. 

 Aloizs is in 6th grade in school and speaks Latvian, Russian, and a little bit of English. His favorite subject is math. He has Celiacs (gluten/wheat allergy), but he is able to manage his diet very well as he cannot have anything with wheat gluten. He made good eye contact to everyone on our team and appeared calm, cool, and collected as he laughed and smiled during the interview. He would do well with kids around the same age but would be ok with small children as well.

Kitija, just turned 5, is a special needs child with diagnosed Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). She interacted well with us and shows affection and is kind. She needs a family who understands FAS, the potential learning problems associated with it and who has time and energy to devote to a little girl who really needs it.

Anastasija is a quiet and shy girl who has had a difficult history and suffers burn scars on her legs. She won’t wear skirts or bathing suits because of it. She loves to draw whatever is on her mind. She is not interested in sports, but enjoys singing and would like to learn to play the guitar. She has received award in piano and choir. She currently understands some English. 

Yakiv is an easy-going young man with personality. During his interview he was very easy to talk to and showed confidence. He plays forward in soccer and also enjoys basketball, volleyball, and break dancing! Yakiv wishes to learn Chinese and wishes for a pair of soccer shoes. One day he dreams of playing a soccer player for the professional team in Kiev. He gets along well with other children but would prefer to be the oldest in a host family if possible.

Daryana and Yevgen are brother and sister. Yevgen is too young to travel. Darya likes chocolate, ice cream, and macaroni. Her favorite color is green and she likes to play with dolls. Yevgen likes candy and cabbage. His favorite color is red and he likes to play with cars. Yevgen also has a lazy eye.

Diana is to be considered as HOST ONLY and is already 16 and is in trade school for cooking. During the interview she was smiley, pleasant and a very cute girl! She enjoys singing in a choir, beadwork, and playing volleyball. She wishes to learn tennis. Her favorite animal is a parrot.She would like to swim in a pool. She plans to be a cook and likes to cook soups and potatoes. Praise God, Diana has a host family!!

Irina "Ira" seems like a very intelligent girl. LAST CHANCE/HOST ONLY as she will turn 16 in November. She enjoys drawing, singing in a choir, and dancing. Pop is her favorite style of music. She wishes to learn how to surf and ride a bike.  Ira would like to be a lawyer someday. She wants a good family with a mom and dad. She would do good with kids of all ages but prefers an active family with older kids.

Interested in learning more about any of these kids or other kids who are available for hosting this winter? Please check out our website at: http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/