It is 8:18am on day 3 of hosting orphans from Ukr@ine and I have been up nearly 2 hours already. NOT like me. I decided that since I couldn't sleep I would start a blog :-) . I have to get these emotion out somehow. I have no idea how to blog, but here goes!
I'll start with a disclaimer, some may chose to see it as a warning. My blog, my thoughts, my opinions, my experiences, my grammar, my spelling, my choices, my judgement calls, my run-on sentences. You don't like them, don't continue reading them. It's that simple. I am passionate about many things. My family, my faith, orphans (right now 2 in particular), the universe, learning, growing and on any given day it could be anything from sunshine to ice cream. My passion will come through in this blog, that's why I'm doing it! I will be harsh at times and will not play nice and be all PC. Some days I will be positive and upbeat, even funny. I can be quite funny you know. Other days I will be wailing on the world! But like I said, no one has to read it. Now I'll get on with it :-).
Our orphan hosting adventure will be my focus for at least the next month. I should have started one months ago when the process to Host 2 teen orphans from Ukraine, in our home for 5 weeks stared, but I was to busy, and frustrated, fundraising for the $6500 to get them here, or at least attempting to. I could rant about that for several post, but I probably won't. Today. Today I'll play catch up fill in on Arrival, Day 1 & 2.
Arrival did not goes as smoothly as planned. Customs at Chicago's O'hare took over 4 Hrs! Their flight to Indy was delayed 3 hours and they finally arrived after 11:00pm on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. These 2 exhausted and disheveled teens that flew all the way across the planet with just the clothes on their backs. Traveling for 2 days to visit a country and a family they had no real knowledge of. Brave! They ran straight to us, into my arms and hugged me like I was their mom. I melted and lost a piece of my heart right there in that airport. I wanted so badly to tell them they were home! This is not what I signed up for! And the $4500 we personally spent just to get them here, BIG DEAL! I'd sell my house to do it again!
When we got to the house about midnight all they could say was WOW! They were excited to see everything. The cats, the dogs, all the rooms, the high ceilings seemed to fascinate them. They had to play pool, they had NO idea what it was, even before getting something to eat. Finally after a couple game of pool, that they pick up on well, they did eat a bit and then shower and off to bed at nearly 2:00am. I don't remember the last time I saw 2:00am and my body is not fond of it!
Day 1: In bed at 2:00am, up by 9:30 jumping on the trampoline! How can they be so energetic an I have jet lag!? Every part of my body ached as I cooked a breakfast I had no clue if they would eat. They did. Not one complaint. They were skiddish about dishing out their own food. I understand this is a common orphanage behavior. Most times they are not allowed to serve themselves or decide on portions. They ate fairly well and said they really liked scrambled eggs and hashbrowns. Well, they didn't "say" it exactly. We do a lot of thumbs up & thumbs down since we have a small language barrier we are working on. After breakfast they wanted to go for a walk. The 4 teens walked to the park and Denis (our host son) impressed them by catching a Blue Gill fish with his bare hands. Then they all had a fun day swimming and playing. It was WoNdErFuL!!!!!
Day 2: All Lena (our host daughter) wanted to do was "see big store", so we went shopping! They needed clothes really badly since they arrived with none. We had some hand-me-downs that loving people had given us and thankfully some of them fit. They loved Old Navy, Aero and Penny's. They LOVE bright colors! They ate cheeseburgers. They laughed at my charades describing what a cheeseburger is! Now I have 4 teens laughing at me instead of 2 :-). Another great day!
We are told to expect a "honeymoon" phase of hosting and so far I guess that's where we are. These kids have been nothing but pleasant and appreciative. Never expecting or even asking. She did ask via Google translate last night "Mom, I really, really like you give me music player for my ears" (MP3 player). Well litle girl, I have one hidden for your "birthday" party :-) .
The emotions are starting to hit mom. I cannot bare to think about sending them back! I cannot. Morning 3 is here and I will cook breakfast and we will have a blessed day 3 and I will keep swimming! I bet they do to!
www.newhorizonsforchildren.org
