I can't believe we are at this point in our journey. In about 33 hours I will get to hug and welcome "L" to our family for the summer. We have been busy since my last post. With school out for the summer, we have focused on preparing our family for the hosting experience. We have tried to fill up our "love tanks" by spending one on one time with each of the girls. Josh and I also spent a weekend together two weekends ago by attending a Weekend to Remember through Family Life. It was a refreshing time. We have spent some family time with swimming, trips to the library, playing at home, and enjoying being together.
We have also seen a rise in some little kiddo behaviors, most likely in response to the upcoming changes. Please pray the girls would acclimate to the changes and embrace "L" as part of our family with all the good and bad that comes with it.
We had some wonderful friends and family who volunteered to help get the room prepared that she will be staying in.
The clock is set on Ukrainian time and then there are maps of Ukraine and Indiana.
I have definitely felt like an expectant mother these last few weeks. I find myself daydreaming about what our family will be like with a sixth person. I have lovingly put away clothes for her and thoughtfully made purchases that I think she will enjoy. Don't worry I have also had reality checks about it not being all dreams and rainbows of happiness. I am realistic about the harder parts of hosting.
The last couple of days have been an emotional roller coaster for a few reasons. The embassies across the world experienced a crash in the computer program which issues visas. New Horizons for Children has to make travel plans a bit backwards because of rules in Ukraine. In order to host we have to show goodwill intentions for carrying it out, so plane tickets have to be purchased prior to a visa being obtained. You can imagine that we now have all these plane tickets bought and the embassy saying they can't issue visas because of the computer program problems. It was neat to watch the families, as we connected on Facebook, come together in prayer and support across the whole United States, watching God's family at work is an amazing thing to behold.
There was a time of corporate prayer through a conference call everyone could dial into. With the time difference we would have to wait for news to come through about what was happening. At one point it was grim, like no hosting was going to happen grim. This occurred on the day the kids from Latvia (the other country New Horizons hosts through) were arriving. It was so hard to watch the Facebook news feed with pictures and posts about the Latvia kids arriving when there was a good chance our Ukraine kids wouldn't arrive at all. Mixed emotions took on a whole new meaning, I was sad and thrilled all at once. One of my favorite pictures was a group heading to California that had missed their connecting flight and had to stay on the east coast for a night, and when the girls arrived and saw their host families, one of them had this look on her face like she had just won a large lottery sum! It was precious to see but hard too.
At that point, New Horizons For Children asked the Ukraine families to contact their senators and ask them to speak on our behalf to the embassy. God used all these people and moved a mountain. The embassy in Ukraine finally agreed to open on a Saturday just for our kids. Josh and I had a lot of high fives and hugging going on in the kitchen when we found out. The girls were thrilled too. Videos and pictures of the kids at the embassy were posted and it was wonderful. I stalked them all but couldn't find our host daughter.
That brings us up to today at almost 4 in the afternoon. At midnight our time, 7am on Monday in Ukraine, the kids heading to Chicago will board their first flight. They will have two other stops before arriving in Chicago on Monday night around 9pm (10pm Indiana time). We will be staying the night with my brother and his family since it is only about 40 minutes from the airport. Then we will leave the next morning to head home to Indiana.
Prayer Requests:
-smooth travel for all the Ukraine kids
-strength and patience for the chaperones flying with them
-smooth travel for all the host families as they make their way to the various airports across the US for pick up
-the kids from Latvia and families that have already been united this weekend and that adjustments would go smoothly
-peaceful transitions for the Ukraine children and host families this coming week
-for our girls to acclimate to the changes in our home
-for Josh and I to practice patience and love and be the best example of what parents should be like for our host daughter
-for Josh and "L" to bond and that she would experience what a healthy relationship with a father figure is like
-for Katie's back-I did something to it on Friday and have been in a lot of pain Saturday and today
Praises:
-God provided a melting of the heart of those in charge at the embassy in Ukraine and that the visas were issued
-the body of Christ responded by turning to Him for strength and comfort when our plans didn't go the way we thought they would
-the Latvia kids arrived safely and with few "bumps" in the travel plans
I can't wait to update with pictures and stories of the arrival and first week! My goal is to post at least a short entry about each week.
Psalm 104:31-34
May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works, who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke! I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.
~Katie
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