What is "hosting?"

Some of you may be wondering what it really means to "host" an orphan. There are a few organizations who coordinate hosting. We are using New Horizons for Children (http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/). New Horizons is a Christian organization. Their desire is to bring school-aged children to the United States to live with Christian families for approximately 5 weeks. They have a Summer hosting program, and a winter program. The purpose of bringing these children here is to show them what a "normal" family looks like in daily life, to love them, to have fun with them, but most of all to show them that there is a God who is greater than we can comprehend...and He loves them more than anyone ever could. One of the "side effects" of hosting is adoption. Many host families adopt the children they host, or a relative, or friend step forward. That is certainly our prayer for Anastasija...and the reason I so fervently ask you to please pass the word about this blog...it's about her.
As for hosting...
Anastasija will be with us about 5 weeks. She will fly into somewhere in America, be met by a chaperon who will bring her (and others!) to Florida where we will pick her up. She will be immersed in American life! We will be scheduling a dentist appointment, and an eye appointment for her. She has probably never been to either! She will arrive with the clothes on her back, so we will provide all of her clothes, and personal hygiene items...as if she were our own daughter. She will be our guest, but part of our family at the same time.
It costs $2500 to bring her here, and then an extra amount to get her from wherever she lands to Florida. I will provide a break-down of the fees in a later post.

If you have any questions about the process, or anything else, please leave a comment! I would be happy to answer any questions, or find an answer for you!

Drum roll please...and the total is...

$2740
That is enough for hosting plus her plane ticket from wherever she lands in the U.S. to Florida! Thank you so much to everyone who is helping us bring her here!
If anyone else wants to donate please consider providing her with a gift certificate, so she can fulfill her dream of going shopping to buy herself some clothes.
Here is another option: I will be looking for Christian cd's in Russian, a children's Bible in Russian, and Christian children's books (at the 12 year old level) in Russian. Let me know if you would like to provide any of these items, so I don't have duplicates! We already have a brand new cd player for her!

Anastisija's first outfit from America

Anasitsija will come with the clothes on her back...and that is probably all. She told her interviewers that one of her dreams would be to go shopping and choose her own clothes. She lives in an orphanage, so nothing really belongs to her. We will buy her a few things before she gets here, but we hope to take her shopping and let her dream come true of choosing her own things. I have had a few people ask what they can send to her, or get for her, and my best answer at this point is this...a gift card, so she can go shopping!

I went to Target Saturday to get a few things and decided to look at the clearance racks of girls clothing. Target often has really good deals! It 's hard to buy for her because I don't know her style, but for some reason I could picture her in this outfit. I hope she likes it!

This is how God provides...when we leave it up to Him

We began inquiring about adoption two years ago while looking at the children at www.reecesrainbow.org. We have considered adopting a handful of times, but it has always fallen through for various reasons. Maybe God was just bringing us to this point...to hosting a beautiful little girl with no home from Latvia.

We considered hosting last Summer, but we didn't have the money. We considered hosting last Christmas, but we didn't have the money. When we got the email a few weeks ago from New Horizons about hosting this Summer...well, we still didn't have the money!

The pictures of these kids, and the knowledge that once they turn sixteen they walk out of the only "home" many of them have known for years into a very grim existence made me ache for them. But what could we do? I knew the answer was not..."nothing."

I asked Roger if we could host if I could come up with the money. To be honest, it shocked me when his answer was yes. There was a catch, though. Roger is running for public office, so he preferred that I not ask anyone where we live for money. Well, I know people all over, so I was going for it!

I sent out emails and facebook messages to about 140 people on Friday. I thought, "if I could just get 25 people to donate $100, or if they would ask 10 of their friends for $10, or 5 of their friends for $20 then we could do this. This is doable, right?! I was going to call them TEAM 25!

After four days I had only heard back from 6 people. I was crushed and heartbroken. This money wasn't for us...it was for her! I told Roger that I felt defeated and didn't know what else to do to raise the money. And his reply was this, "Kerry, you can't, but God can. Leave it up to Him." We decided to resend the emails and messages on Tuesday, and then leave it to Him.

On Thursday evening we were already at $1810! I could not believe it! When I told Roger the amount he said, "Let's do it! Commit to her tonight!" I began to panic with "what ifs." "What if we can't raise the rest of the money?" "What if we have chosen the wrong child?" "What if we are making a mistake?" And my wonderful husband said, "I think we are meant to do this. God will provide the rest. Let's leave it up to Him."

On Friday we had commitments of $2420, and on Saturday we were at $2500...just one week and one day after sending out a request to help a little girl across the world. I will admit that I had very little faith that we would be bringing a little girl from Latvia into our home this Summer, but God provided so mightily. Once again, proof that HE LOVES HER!

And it just keeps coming...

We are at $2420!!! I am speechless. Yes me...speechless!

One week ago...

One week ago I sent out many emails and facebook messages to about 140 friends and family telling them about a little girl in Latvia who needed a family. I told them that it was our desire to bring her to America through a hosting program with New Horizons for Children. The only problem was that we could not afford to bring her here...and she couldn't afford us not to bring her. It took a few days and a few more emails, but here we are a week later...with 26 donors...and $2370! The cost of the program is $2500. We were trying to raise a little extra because she will need an extra flight from where she lands in the U.S. to Orlando.

I am amazed and completely grateful for those who have chosen to invest in her life by helping her get here, and by committing to pray for her. I had very little faith that the money would come, but I think God wanted to prove a point...HE LOVES HER! We already love her, too!