Ukraine Arrival

The very last of the winter host kids arrived today. And by very last, I mean VERY LAST as in out of all 230 something kids our group from Ukraine were the last ones to meet their host families! Due to a late departure from Kiev and some a crazy flight pattern that was anything but straight about 3/4 of our Ukrainian kiddos were unable to make their connections in JFK yesterday. At one point we had the LAX kids rebooked on a later flight but they didn't even make that one so tonight they rolled in just shy of 24 hours behind schedule! The only benefit of spending the night in New York was the extra rest they got last night, these five were much more smiley than our Latvians on Sunday:)

 

All those changes meant they were due to arrive right in the middle of rush hour! Getting there in time today was no small feat. It might have involved me illegally using the carpool lane for more than half of the drive! Thankfully God answered my prayers and I squeaked through without getting caught, I wish I could say for the same for the guy I saw get pulled over on the way home, he was not so lucky:( I prayed for leniency from the police officer as I cruised on by. Sorry buddy!

As the coordinator I get the privilege of getting a gate pass so I can escort the kids to their anxiously awaiting host families!

 

Here they are trying to catch the first glimpses of their kids! 

Nastya and her host family! 

Is she not the cutest thing EVER??? If you want to follow her hosting adventures her family is blogging at: http://stonicks.blogspot.com/ . If she looks familiar it's because I blogged about her here.  Her adorable smile captured my heart the moment I saw her face! When my friend stepped up to host her I was overjoyed!!

 

Natalia and Vitaly are also being hosted in my hometown. Their host mom is also blogging. Check them out at: http://fujbeck.blogspot.com/

 

Rustam and his family. 

Igor was hosted this summer in another state and now he'll be spending Christmas in California.

Our Ukrainian chaperone Andrey and his host family. 

The whole gang! 

 

So now that everyone is present and accounted for let the hosting adventures begin!!!

By the way, it's not too early to start thinking about hosting this summer! Check out http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/ for more information!!