He Said YES!!!

Woke up to a fantastic little frype (Latvian facebook) message from Dzintars.

It said "thank you for the gift that you found my family I love you".

This message from him made a lot more sense once I headed over to Stacy's blog and read this.

He's one step closer to coming home folks! Saying "yes" is a big deal!! But there are many more "yes's" that will be needed in the coming months! Please continue to cover Dzintars and his family with your prayers!! 

God Is In the Details

Many people have called or emailed to tell me how proud they are of Peter and I, or to express what a good thing we've done in finding a family for Dzintars. It's nice to hear those words, but we're not the ones who deserve the praise for this. Ultimately the Lord orchestrated all of this--we only said yes to participating and playing a small role. To God be the glory!

And if anyone besides the Lord deserves some credit for this story it's Dzintars. Who after 14 years of heartbreak, disappointment and loss was still brave enough to say yes to a trip to a foreign country to live with a family he knew nothing about and who didn't even speak his language. You may be thinking "What kid wouldn't WANT to come to America?" Sadly, many of them have had their heads filled with garbage as to the reasons why Americans would desire to bring them here. So it was an act of bravery to board that plane, believe me! And despite his painful past, his heart was still soft enough to give and receive love and his story has impacted hundreds of lives.

But let's just look back on the details and events that brought him here and you will see...only God could have written this story!

• Long, long, LONGGG ago as I prepared to graduate from high school I was adamant that I attend Azusa Pacific University-no other school would do-even the ones ON the beach. Trust me, my dad tried...
• Between my sophomore and junior year I joined other students from APU on a missions trip to Russia and my eyes were opened to the needs of the orphan. My heart was stirred but I had no idea what I was going to do.
• Senior year I apply to be a resident advisor in the freshmen dorm where I met my friend Ann. After graduation we lost touch.
• Sometime in 2006 some dude named Mark Zuckerberg creates facebook and changes all our lives forever. This is KEY to this entire story.
• Ann and I reconnect on facebook, thanks Mark Z!
• Ann hosts a child through NHFC and starts posting about the organization and so my desire to "one day" host begins...
• In 2010 a church group from Georgia went on a missions trip to visit orphans in Latvia. One of them wanted to go to an orphanage in a far off region of the county, but it would be a long journey and they almost decided against it! Thankfully they went, and that's where Dz enters the story. He found advocates in these ladies and one in particular is of special importance to this story. More on her later...
• About that time I became a "blog junkie" and start stalking bloggers like Angela at Babe Of My Heart . Whose heart I LOVED!! Seriously, she rocks and she writes from her heart and it's beautiful and inspiring and challenging. She makes you want to be a better person. And she lives on the other side of the country so I just quietly stalked her blog for several years and she was none the wiser.
• This February I felt more and more drawn to the list of kids available for hosting, but after mentioning it to my husband we decided to wait until we had an extra bedroom to house a kid in. Even then, I couldn't pull myself from that list, I was drawn to many of them and fell in love a few times;)
• Despite our decision against hosting this summer, I still inquired about a few kids, not a teenager mind you. Cause that would be NUTS seeing as how my kids were only 4 and 2. Despite my best efforts to find a suitable child of a younger age, I kept being referred back to Dzintars.
• I finally relented and decided to gather more information on this child everyone seemed to love so much. I was told to contact Angie (on facebook of course), one of the ladies from the church in Georgia who had met Dz while on a church mission trip. She'd been advocating for him for YEARS.
• Still we decided against hosting, despite the fact that Dz had a scholarship for half the hosting amount the other half was still enough to keep us from committing. The time to choose a child for summer hosting passes and is officially closed with Dz STILL on the list.
• The orphan court in Latvia decides to give NHFC one more week to find host families for the remaining kids! Yay! I begin using facebook to advocate for Dz and the other kids who had touched my heart.
• Once again the FINAL day to choose a child comes and still he sits waiting with half his fees funded.
• I get a call from my NHFC coordinator, someone we have never met has donated the remainder of Dzintar's fees in the hopes that WE would host him this summer.
• Yikes! In that 11th hour God decided to remove our lame excuse regarding our lack of money and shove us off the cliff and into summer hosting.
• We pray about it all morning and then decide to accept and we sign on to host Dzintars.
• I spend the day in awe of the Lord and thanking him for this person (you know who you are) who loved this kid enough from afar to cover all his fees. Altering the course of his life forever.
• I decide to start a blog to share our hosting adventures with my family and friends.
• I find out that Andrea over at Babe of My Heart is also hosting through NHFC this summer. Hmmm! Small world. Who knew?? I friend request her on facebook and we become online friends.
• Dzintars arrives and is amazing--I chronicle his time with us on my blog. I have a TERRIBLE memory, so I used my blog as a way of documenting everything mostly for myself but also for my family who lives elsewhere and couldn't meet him.  
• Three weeks into our hosting period I begin advocating for a forever family for Dzintars. His story is shared by family and friends on facebook and hearts are moved and the blog begins to  reach people I do not even know.
• In an effort to reach more people with my advocating efforts I decide to ask my new friend and fellow host mama Andrea to blog about Dzintars, she's been doing this far longer than I and she has so many connections in the adoption community. Somehow I just knew her reach would be wider and possibly the link we needed to find Dz a family. You can see that post here.
• I get a call from a family in Northern California wanting more information about Dzintars. I forget to ask where they heard about him...
• Dzintars is then featured on another popular blog, No Greater Joy Mom and my inbox explodes with emails with "Dzintars" written in the subject line. Apparently he's touched many lives. His adoption agency receives more calls about him than any child ever.
• One and a half weeks later I get the call I've waiting seven weeks for. Dzintars has a committed family! Better yet, they're right here in CA!!
• After connecting with the family via email I come to find out their friend had seen the post on Andrea's blog about Dzintars and emailed them saying "I think this is your son!" If you'd like to read more about that special email you can do so here!The rest is history...

So while some would say Peter and I did this, I would say we all did! ALL these people are key to this story. If you remove any one of them the whole story falls apart, the puzzle would not be complete. We do not deserve any accolades for the way this story played out, maybe we should praise Mark Zuckerberg for creating facebook because certainly the social network played a key role in this story:) We only did was we felt God was calling us to do, the rest was up to HIM.

A Letter From Mom

If you haven't seen it already you should head over to Stacy's blog and read her letter to Dzintars. It will not only give you a glimpse into her heart but also a piece of the puzzle as to how she came to find him.

Another Hosting Miracle

My friend Andrea hosted a precious Ukrainian princess this summer through NHFC. Tetiana was on the verge of aging out, she actually turned 16 this July while here being hosted. Since kids cannot be adopted after they officially turn 16 there was little chance that she would find a family because this family would have had to have been paperwork ready for everything to be completed on time. It seemed hopeless...but then the God of miracles showed up and the rest is history.

Meet Tetiana...

To read her AMAZING story head over to Andrea's blog Babe of My Heart. It's a remarkable story, you won't want to miss it!!

Help Bring Dzintars Home

Dz's family is busy raising funds to bring him home!

If you'd like to help bring this special boy home for the first time EVER please head on over to Stacy's blog and find out how you can help!!!

Let's rock their socks off and help make all Dzintars' dreams come true!!!

Please feel free to share this post, let's get him home!

Got Cellphones???

"We may not be able to do everything, to save all the fatherless in the world-this I grant you. But each of us can do something to alter the life of at least one person whom God loves and cherishes."

Tom Davis in his book Fields of the Fatherless.

Truer words have never been spoken. Sometimes people see a problem as large as the orphan crisis and are so intimadated by the size of the problem and feel so helpless and insignificant to make a difference that they decide doing nothing would be a better option. You can't save them all, right?? Sadly that "attitude" is one of the reasons the crisis is a CRISIS. No, you can't save them all, but what if you saved ONE!

Here's your chance folks! Janis has a family that loves him and wants him home desperately!!! Their goal was to have him home in time for Christmas, but they've been told it would take a miracle to make that happen! One of the biggest obstacles in their way are the staggering adoption costs! No, I'm not asking you to open up your wallets and donate, though that would rock and if you feel led PLEASE do! I'm going to ask you to open up your drawers and cabinets and search your house for all those old cell phones you've been hiding away. You know you have them! Right? The "lastest and greatest" and most awesome version of your former phone was released and you upgraded. Congrats! That's great for you and even better for Janis! His family has partnered with phoneraiser.com to help fund their adoption! And the best part...it won't cost you a THING!!

For your phone to qualify, it must power up, make a test call, and it cannot have water damage or a cracked LCD screen. Would you believe your OLD (dust collecting, outdated, and unwanted) phone could be worth $300 towards bringing Janis home?? Please send your old phones to the Rominger Family at the following address:

7863 Howard Lane

Denver, NC 28037

Or better yet implore your Sunday School class, MOPS group, co-workers and small groups to help out and start a collection! Once you have 10 phones you can contact Tracey here and she'll send you a pre-paid shipping label so you can send them directly to phoneraiser.com thus keeping your total costs at a whopping $0!!

Tracey's most recent post about Janis broke my heart! It's entitled We Need A Miracle. Could you be a part of Janis' miracle???

Help bring this boy home for good and alter the course of his life forever!



He Once Was Lost...But Now He's FOUND!!!!

This post was previously titled: Hallelujah, Mission Accomplished, Praise the Lord, Score, Best News Ever, Sweet Success, and HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT...the news is so good it deserves that many title changes!!! 

I got the best news on Tuesday morning and I've been dying to share it...Dzintars has been chosen by a family and they have begun the journey to BRING HIM HOME!!!

I want to thank all of you who fell in love with him right along side us and partnered with us to get the word out about his need for a forever family. IT WORKED!!

Please pray for a speedy adoption process and for everything to be completed as quickly as possible!

His mom, Stacy, has agreed to share the story of how they found Dzintars (it's a good one, I promise). But at the moment they are focusing all of their free time on the paperwork needed to get Dzintars home ASAP! If you know anything about adoption the paperwork is nearly endless, and the sooner it's completed the sooner they can proceed to the next phase of the process. She's also a homeschooling mama of multiple boys already so she's got quite a lot on her plate...that's right, Dzintars will have FIVE brothers to love on and grow up with!!

In the meantime you can head on over to her blog Daily Surrender To Jesus to read more about the "P" family... leave them some love while you're there!! She's invited you all along on their journey to bring him home FOREVER!!

New Horizons for Children is Expanding

Today New Horizons for Children made two big announcements!!

The BIG NEWS FOR US TODAY!

1. NHFC IS GOING TO HOST CHILDREN FROM CHINA!
At the end of September, Director, Le Ann Dakake and Founding Volunteer, Stephanie Shanks head to Beijing and then to Henan China! We are accompanying a group from an agency we met at the Orphan Alliance in CA in May... They have traveled to China twice and gained permission for us to host over the Chinese New Year in 2013 (Feb-Mar timeframe)!!! This is a huge answer to prayers and details will be coming more over the next 2 months, but we ask for your continued prayers and support!

2. NHFC HAS A NEW NON PROFIT: New Horizons Orphan Outreach (NHOO). WE ARE STARTING OUR OWN SPECIAL NEEDS ORPHANAGE in UKRAINE! 

Our interview team went to Ukraine a year ago and we were by chance... miraculously... introduced to a pastor and his wife in a region just outside of Kiev, who own a beautiful and secluded piece of property on a lake about an hour outside of Kiev. They have a small church and 2 buildings on the property already which will need conversion into the orphanage buildings. AND they have city approval to also build "A TREE", which is a 2 story log cabin style home made from one single huge tree! Due to his wife's health and need to move to Poland for treatment of a brain tumor, they had an urgent need to sell the property for what was owed on it. They offered it to us. When we returned home, we could not get this off our minds! We talked to a few people who are longtime supporters and advisers of NHFC (we knocked and prayed and the DOOR WAS OPENED!) A husband and wife heard of the idea and agreed to financially support the purchase and buildings!  

On September 3, Le Ann and Stephanie (also Secretary of our Board), will complete the purchase of this property while in Kiev. A HUGE Praise to the Lord, the initial purchase and rebuilding project is fully funded!  

We will hire and train Ukrainian Christian caregivers in Western therapies to live with, educate and treat children with Cerebral Palsy (very correctable with surgery and Physical Therapy like Le Ann's son also had as an orphan in Latvia). We will also bring in children with Down Syndrome and children who are HIV positive. At first, we thought to make a transitional home for aging out teens, however after speaking with many other groups already doing this in Ukraine, we felt led to pray more about the direction of the home, now named GLOVE (God's Love--Handled with Care). 

It was after our Coordinator and Board Member, Nicole Dewberry received a referral for a daughter who is HIV positive and visited the orphanage where she lives, that she became connected with others who showed her the dire need for these children. Unless one happens to be taken into a "normal" orphanage, and does well enough to stay, they are soon sent to invalid style institutions and not even educated. Children with HIV are not given the appropriate medication cocktail and in some cases, the children are misdiagnosed! Our end hope is that when children turn 6 and are allowed to travel on hosting programs, we will be able to bring them to the USA with NHFC and find forever families for each one!

PLEASE SHARE THE NEWS and join US IN PRAYER!

 I can't begin to tell you what a wonderful organization NHFC is!! These two new avenues of ministry are HUGE and will touch many, many lives!! 

These boys...

need families too!! Unfortunately, Dzintars is one of MANY older children just wasting away in an orphanage while he waits for his forever family to find him! As I wrestle with what to do with my blog now that our time hosting Dzintars is over, I feel God calling me to continue to advocate for these children!


Meet Nikita!!

Tell me that smile doesn't melt your heart??? Nikita is a old Latvian boy. He is 100% little boy, usually acting a couple of years behind for his age. Nikita has been in the orphanage for a long time and needs a family that understands that these children needs lots of extra love and attention. He did a few horse therapy sessions while being hosted in America and he loved it. Nikita loves to be outside fishing, swimming and playing. His host family had an 8 yr old son at home and a daughter that is in college and he bonded very well with both of them. He made it clear that he wants a forever family. He can be extremely shy around new people and can shut down. His host  family was able to help him work on this and they started to see some progress! If you'd like more information on Nikita please email his host mom Melissa at: melissa.m.bohannon@gmail.com .


This is Aleksejs.

Aleksejs had hyperactivity was noted by his host family but they dealt with it by keeping him busy in sports and recreational activities.  His host family had a son one year younger than Aleksejs, and they got along fairly well. He also played well with their large extended family of nieces and nephews.  He made quite a few friends during his stay and had a blast, it was hard to say goodbye. He was willing and helpful when asked to help out around the house and respected others properties (never took or stole anything).  He went to camp, where he was seen interacting well with younger children and they loved him and played well together.  He has great sense of humor and takes life as it comes.  His resilience struck his host family the most.  He adapted well to change in his surroundings and embraced life to the fullest.  While in the United States, he ran a 15 K with only one practice run.  He has great soccer skills and outplayed great area players.  He completed 5 courses with ease on Adirondack Adventure (largest AERIAL tree top adventure park in the United States). He's very athletic and strong.  He has good hygiene and was well mannered in social surroundings.  His host family says he truly amazed them as he grew from this shy, withdrawn, bullied kid to a confident grateful teenager.  He prayed with them and thanked God daily for the great memories he had made that day. Communication with Aleksejs won't be too challenging as he speaks great English.  He wishes for a forever family, are you it?? If you'd like more information about Aleksejs please contact Melissa Macy at: mmacy@newhorizonsforchildren.org .

Host a Child This Winter

Have you enjoyed reading about Dzintars this summer? Has his story and the plight of other orphans like him touched your heart? You can help!! The winter hosting period is right around the corner and it's not too early to sign up!

If these kids stay in their home countries they have less than a 1% chance of ever finding a family, by bringing them here that number will jump to a 65% chance!!!

Please consider hosting a child this winter and changing their lives forever! You can be the hope a child has never had before!

Click here to access the New Horizons for Children preliminary application, the interview teams will be leaving shortly to head over to Latvia and the Ukraine to meet with, photograph and interview the children who will be available for hosting this winter!

I encourage you to pray about hosting this winter, the transformation in them in remarkable!! Just look at Dzintars before and after hosting picture below!!!

If you need more proof that hosting changes these kids lives click here to see the "Before and After" photos of other children hosted this summer!!

Post Orphanage Life

I have to admit when I signed on to host Dzintars I really had no idea what I was in for. Sure, I had a heart for orphans and wanted to help him, but my eyes have been opened to things I was previously unaware of and now I'm left reeling with all that know.

I've been to orphanages similar to his, while in college at Azusa Pacific University I spent a month in Russia on a missions trip and we visited quite a few orphanages. I saw their sweet little faces and wanted to take them all home, but I was young and I didn't stop to think what would happen to the ones who weren't adopted. The ones who aged out.

Now I know and there's no going back! Without intervention, upon leaving the orphanage, 60% of girls will end up in prostitution, 70% of the boys will end up on the streets or in jail, and 15% will commit suicide within the first two years on their own.

How can I allow any of THAT to happen to him???

He's so sweet and innocent and everything good in this world!!

Today a friend posted some pictures of a former orphans apartment. They were shocking to say the least. From what I've learned about "aging out" I'd say it compares to being released from prison here in the United States, only you've done nothing wrong. They might as well be criminals, because that's how their society treats orphans. Between the ages of 16 and 18, kids who aren't adopted will be forced to leave their orphanages, and head out on their own with little to no support and this is what they have to look forward to.

This is what Dzintars has to look forward to if he doesn't get adopted. Do you see the window in the picture above? It doesn't even have glass. I'm trying to imagine my boy, my SUPER cold-blooded boy, who had trouble regulating his body temperature in the middle of a summer evening in California, having to suffer through life with a broken window in the middle of winter in Latvia. I just can't, I don't want to go there!!

Would you want to live there?

Oh please! Somebody rescue my boy!!

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????





Forever Families

You may remember this post where I shared with you what my friend Andrea over at Babe of My Heart had to say about the orphan crisis. Not everyone is called to adopt, but we can all do something!! Maybe you are a prayer warrior? Maybe you can host a child and then become their advocate? Maybe you can help others with the costs of their adoption? What are you going to do???


Many kids found their forever families this summer after being hosted with New Horizons for Children! Their parents are now diligently working to complete mountains of paperwork and actively fundraising. Today, I'd like to share three of these families with you.


First up is the Pierce Family. They hosted Borys from Ukraine.

 

Borys is alone and has been alone as long as he could remember. He has no known family. He’s been at the orphanage his entire life. And yet, he is incredibly resilient and sensitive. He is a God-fearing young man and is caring to animals, babies, and young children. He is a teenager, but he has the playful spirit of a little boy. He deeply wishes for a family, and the last time he came to America on the host program, he just loved anything that involved spending time with the host mom and dad.

Borys is of gypsy descent. In Eastern Europe, many people don’t look too kindly upon that. The color of his skin will greatly limit his opportunity in life. Borys is an orphan. In Eastern Europe, they label orphans and do not give them the same opportunity for education and career paths as other kids. With both of those factors working against him, He will struggle if he stays there… with no family to guide him into adulthood.

Then came the Pierce family. Mom Rawne writes:


We intended to just host and advocate for a child. It was set to be a missions project for our family. I wanted my children to skip summer camps and extra activities this year and minister to the needs of another child who had far less than they did. I wanted to feel compassion and realize that the world is bigger than their community.

We went back and forth on the child to host but settled on Borys because in his photolisting he was wearing his glasses upside down. That was the first indicator that he would fit in our family. We are very silly and always up for a good laugh. 

He was a very easy child. Our three y/o daughter grabbed his hand at the airport and walked him to the car. He was very protective of her instantly. The two of them perhaps formed the closest bond. That was to be expected as they have very similar personalities, sociable, silly, outgoing.

Borys won the hearts of everyone he met. He had the coolest little games to break the ice. When we went to the mall, he chose to spend his money on a carousel ride for the two of us. I could tell the operator was irritated by a teenage boy riding. But by the end of the ride, he had people waving at him every time he went by.

Half way through the hosting, I realized he was no longer a guest in our home but a family member. In other words, I had to decide if I was going to teach him to be a valuable family member or a guest who I could spoil rotten.

Borys with his new family!!!

Luckily for Borys, the Pierce family can't imagine their lives without him and will be bringing him home forever as soon as possible!! If you'd like to help them bring Borys home you can donate to their adoption funds at Project Eli by clicking here.

Next up we have Janis and the Rominger Family. The Rominger family heard about New Horizons for Children at church and decided to host Janis this summer.

Mom Tracey writes:

We fell in love with Janis before we even met him for the first time, face to face. I knew he was my son as soon as I saw his picture and read his profile on NHFC. My husband, Timmy, was being the rational one and really wanted us to complete the 5 weeks with him before we committed to all the fees associated with getting started with the adoption. So we waited and fell in love with him all over again when we met him at the airport on June 28th. He was instantly attached to my husband and I could see immediately he was ours and this time my husband was on board. We sent our application in for the home study agency and the adoption agency right away. We are currently finishing up our home study and it should be complete and finalized by the end of August. Since it happened so quick, we cleared out what little we had in our savings account to pay the $1600 home study fee, $250 application fee to the adoption agency and various amounts for the mounds of certified paperwork and passports we had to get this past month. We have nothing left, but yet we will not let this stop us from dragging this adoption out. He asked for us to bring him home, to be with us forever and we will do that and quickly. While Janis was here he opened up and told us about life in his orphanage-having few friends, getting bullied and beat up on many occasions. He is so shy and fearful of everything. The only place he was really himself and comfortable (after 2 weeks of hosting) was our house. His true self shined and we saw a funny, sweet, amazing teenage boy who just wanted praise and love. By the end of the 5 weeks he was literally begging for it by "getting hurt" so we would make a huge deal about it and hug him and worry over him and always yelling "look mama, look at what I can do". We were his constant cheerleaders and we saw his self esteem start to grow. Departure day came and at the airport we saw him go back into "orphan" mode. He was sullen, quiet and did not even look at us as we stood crying watching him go through security. I am hurting so bad imagining  him back at his orphanage with no one to praise and hug him, no one to kiss him goodnight, no one to protect him. I could see this sweet boy hardening himself for what he has to deal with on a daily basis. I want my baby boy home, so I can protect and love him daily. So you can see why I would love to have him home as soon as possible-he needs to be rescued. We are praying for a Christmas time reunion, but for that to happen the money needs to come quickly. We figured we need close to $20K just to be able to get to Latvia on our first trip to bring him home.

Janis with his new family:)

If you'd like to read more about Janis or to donate to their adoption funds you can check out their family blog called Love In Latvia.

Lastly, we have the McLaughlin family. Danny and April McLaughlin have prayerfully considered adoption for many years and have waited upon the Lord to bring the children that He wants for them. They have one 10 year old son, Coby, but they felt that their family wasn't complete.This summer they hosted two siblings named Lilya and Alex.



Mom April writes:

Lilya and Alex live in an orphanage in an Eastern Europe.  The orphanage that they live in is a very dark place and one of the worst orphanages many adopting families and mission groups have seen.  We have been lead to adopt these two precious kids and are working on our dossier right now to try and bring Lilya and Alex home as soon as possible.  We hope to travel by November.  Lilya and Alex practically begged us to come back and get them!  They are very sweet children with such a good heart and they want nothing more than a family.  They told a translator that they do not want gifts, they just want love. 

Lilya, Alex and their new family:)

To read more about the McLaughlin family or to help with their adoption costs please check out their page on Project Eli by clicking here.



Please consider helping these families bring their babies home!! It has been my pleasure to get to know them and watch their kids personalities unfold on our facebook page for hosting families. Let's get these four home for their first Christmas as a part of a family!!!

Dear Dzintars,

I know your heart is hurting because we had to say goodbye, but I wanted to let you know some of the amazing things God is doing as a direct result of us hosting you!

Because you were brave enough to fly halfway around the world to live with a family you knew nothing about and who didn't even speak your language many lives have been touched. Many more than I ever thought possible!! Because you were so amazingly awesome, resilient and downright fun, people have taken notice of the orphan crisis and are reaching out to help!

I chose to blog about our time with you mainly to record my memories for myself and also to keep my out of town family informed. I had hoped to find you a forever family, and I had hoped that maybe a family or two would step up to host in the future...but God had BIGGER plans:)

Ephesians 3:20-21 says:

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

The stories are still pouring in but here are just a few of the awesome things God has done through you:

• As I created this blog I felt God calling me to link a few of my favorite blogs on the side bar, I wasn't sure why, but I have found some of my favorite bloggers via other blogs I read so I went ahead and added them. Now I know why:) A blog reader found out about the work done by Serving His Children in Uganda and stepped up to provide them with a much needed doctor and nutritionist who will impact HUNDREDS of young lives on the brink of death!!
• A family who had tossed around the idea of adopting an older child for awhile now fell in love with you via this blog. Though they turned out to be too young to be your forever family you have inspired them to start the adoption process now so they can adopt in the future! Another life will be changed forever because of you buddy, a child will have a family to call their own!
• Families I do not even know have contacted me and told me they'll be hosting in the future because of you! And I have no doubt that those families will go on to impact more families who will also step out and host and the chain of lives you've touched will go on and on and on. 

I stand amazed at the ways God is using our hosting experience to His glory! And those are just the ones I know about, who knows what other amazing things are unfolding behind the scenes that we may never be aware of!! 

It's highly unlikely that you'll ever read this letter, though I suppose a good Google search would do the trick, but on the off chance that you do, I want to thank you for your bravery! For allowing us to love you and for loving us back!!

Love,
Your mama in America

Even If

Not sure how much blogging I'll be doing in the coming days and weeks...it was easy to blog when Dzintars was here, our days were full of love and fun and we had many happy moments to share. But now that he's gone and his future is uncertain I'm struggling to find something happy to say. I mean do you really want to hear how folding his last load of left behind clothes made me cry? Or how much I miss the childish giggles that would escape when he was wrestling with Peter? My heart is literally aching for him, for the sense of loss he must be feeling. I'm brokenhearted, that much is true, but while I still have Peter and the kids, Dzintars is alone and his dream of being a part of a family now seems dashed.

I'm struggling today, wrestling with one tough question: How could it be part of God's plan for this amazing kid to NOT be set in a family??

He's seen me through some particularily rough moments in my life, one year in specific stands out. After three consecutive miscarriages I was broken and empty and all I could do was cry out to God and trust that He was who He said He was! He was ultimately faithful, but things did not unfold the way I wanted them to and it was hard. Devastating even. But now, more than 5 years later I have some perspective and I see his hand at work and how he used that time to shape me.

I love this song by Kutless. Even if...even if Dzintars doesn't find his forever family...even if he ages out of the system...even if I never hear from my boy again...God is God, He is good and forever faithful! Even when life falls apart and his dreams of a forever family are still undone God is faithful!! It's so hard to live in the "unknown" in the darker days where it would be easier to give into the hopelessness of a situation, but though we may not see it or even feel it I KNOW MY GOD IS FAITHFUL.

So today I choose to hold on to what I know is true and who I know my God to be! He's forever faithful, his ways are not my ways and he'll work all things in Dzintars life for good!

Goodbye Sucks!!!!

Sorry, can't hide my feelings, goodbye sucks:( 

It was just plain awful!! 

I was in tears this morning before Dzintars even got out of bed! And now I'm just numb. Before I make everyone cry, let me share a few photos of the parts of our day that didn't include a 14 year old sobbing and begging me not to make him go back to Latvia. 

My sweet husband took Dzintars out to buy me some gifts last night. I got two bouquets of flowers, a balloon that says "I love you" and some precious pieces of jewelry. Dzintars is such a thoughtful kid, he loves watches and picked me out a new one, as well as a bracelet that has the words "faith, hope and love" on it and my favorite piece is a necklace with a "blinged up" letter D for Dzintars:) Today after Peter left for work he asked me to take him out to buy a gift for Peter. We were already picking up pictures at Costco so I took him to the Azusa Target with the shopping cart escalator. I knew he'd get a kick out of it and I was right:) He thought it was super cool so of course I took his picture with it! 

The kids and I took him for one more sweet treat at Twohey's in Alhambra:) He took one bite and declared it "PERFECT!" Ha! That was the first time I'd ever heard him use that word. It was followed by many "yum-yums":) 

Family hugs before driving to the airport. 

We almost scored another night with our boy when American cancelled his flight to JFK. But after a few hours of scrambling by LeAnn the director of New Horizons and some smooth talking at LAX from our local coordinator and Peter we were able to book all the kids and the airline representative on a flight from LAX to Nashville and then to La Guardia, where they'll have to take ground transportation to JFK. Dzintars was very disappointed when the new flight was booked. He told me "Too bad. I thought I was going to get one more night with you. I wish I was your son!" Rip my heart out why don't you kid?

The kids were rock stars!! Didn't get home till after 11 pm and they were just superb!! Small miracles folks, small miracles.

Playing Uno with Victorja and Dan.

One of Brennan's two new Latvian crushes. She's such a cutie. 

The kids both loved Santa.

They'll miss their big brother. Both of them are already asking why he had to go:(

 One final shot as a family of five.

They had their serious faces on tonight. 

Until they started tickling each other.

Right after this picture was taken we had to say our final goodbyes. It was awful!! I knew he was sad and desperately wanted to stay. But I did not expect him to sob and cling to me with everything he had begging me not to make him go:( We had to pry him off of me and nearly shove him up the escalator away from us.  It was devastating. My heart hurts for this boy, for the loss he is feeling and the fact that all he's ever wanted is a family of his own. We will do our best to love him well from here but he NEEDS a family! These next days will be hard for us all, please keep all five of us in your prayers as we mourn the fact that we're no longer together and continue to pray for a family for Dzintars!! I desperately want to tell him he has a family coming just for him!! He's had a few families seriously inquire about him but none of them will be able to proceed. There is a minimum age gap between parent and child of 18 years, that alone has "disqualified" two possible families today alone and another one last week. I know there is a family out there searching for Dzintars, they just don't know it yet! Please, continue to share his story. You never know when your one "share" will reach the family that was meant to be his all along!!

Tears

I've been pretending this day would never come and now it's here and I'm heartbroken! I'm in tears already and Dzintars isn't even out of bed yet! In an effort not to be the only one crying today I leave you with this beautiful video of some of the hosted kiddos with their promises of God signs! Go ahead, try NOT to cry as you see their beautiful faces.