The Importance of Hosting

I am home but feel like I left so many stories untold or at least incomplete.  First, about 15 year old Kostya.  When we went back to Schotova the next day, he greeted us and I gave him a hug but I wasn't sure if he had been told that we wanted to host him.  A little later, Lena, who is the self-appointed spokesperson for the group, came up and asked if he was going.  She clapped her hands gleefully when I said yes.  Then I went to talk to Kostya.  I put my arms around his shoulders and asked "Did they tell you that you get to come to my house in June?"  He was overcome with emotion.  He said he hardly knew what to say and that it was so unexpected.  I later found out that he rooms with Yura and Sasha who are coming, and the night before had been talking about how he wished he could come.  I knew that we had made the right decision in adding him.  So here is our group from Schotova:

After leaving Schotova, I went to dinner with the guardian who will be accompanying the kids and the girls went to Belaroschenka.  My meeting went well.  Taryn's, however, got off to a bad start.  We had made a huge mistake in October.  We talked to 4 children at Bela about being hosted, understanding that there paperwork was in order.  After we got home, we were told that they could not be hosted.  I then mistakenly assumed that the children would have been told why although I still planned to talk to them about it.  Well, Taryn was greeted by one of those children with an immediate question about hosting. She wisely chose to leave that discussion to me.  The next day when we all went back to Bela, we sat down with these children and tried to explain why they could not come.  The more we talked, the more questions we had, and we still can't figure out exactly what their status is.  But the most heart wrenching thing was that one of the girls was just absolutely devastated that she could not come.  In English, she said "I am shocked." And then the tears began to flow.  What made it even worse, if that were possible, was that she realized it was ultimately the fault of a mother who had abandoned her.  At first the issue was not being hosted, but soon she was sobbing that "When I am a mother I will not treat my children this way."  

We learned a lesson about how we approach the teachers and children about hosting.  But we also learned a lesson, through both Natasha and Kostya, about the importance of what we do.  A trip to America for these children is a dream come true.  It is a chance to just play, be children, expand their knowledge of a world beyond the orphanage.  They also know it is a chance to build relationships; to be loved; to be honored instead of looked down upon.  We are going to try and figure out if these kids' paperwork can be fixed so that they can come next year.  In the meantime, please pray for them, especially Natasha, whose heart we unintentionally broke.  Hosting has the same negatives as adoption.  Whenever you host, there are always children who must get left behind.  And when you adopt, in the midst of the joy, there is always a lingering sadness over the fact that you simply cannot take them all. 

No, we are not all called to adopt.  But could you be in that 7 % of Christians, who, if we all did adopt, would bring an end to the orphan crisis?  These 2 children were hosted last summer and a family has chosen to bring them into their family.  They arrived in Ukraine today and in 6 weeks, these 2 children will be living in America with a family who deeply loves them.  Please help me make this a reality for all the children we are able to touch in Ukraine.