What can YOU do????

Hmmm....ok so I know I don't have many readers but everyone has to start somewhere right?! I went to bed last night worrying and thinking, yeah I know we are not supposed to worry it does no good. I know God's got it but I still have issues with surrendering my worries to him and letting things happen in his way and his timing. I read everyday on my Facebook groups about families trying so hard to raise funds to adopt, children being neglected and abused both here in the US and overseas and my heart just aches. Of course the easy thing to do is just avoid or ignore these things and go blissfully on ignorant of the worlds suffering. Easier yes, right no. Everyone can do something...pray, donate your time or money to a good cause, tell others about what's happening in our world. I'm not even saying you have to support adoption just find a worthy cause you are passionate about and do something. We all can do little things and all those small things add up to something big and you never know who you are going to inspire or touch. If you know a family who is adopting pray for them and do something nice doesnt have to be expensive maybe just a card encouraging them, offer to watch their kids so the parents can have a date night. If you know a family with a sick child pray for them and again offer to help housecleaning, meal cooking, grocery shopping whatever you can do! When you are grocery shopping how about picking up a few extra canned goods or cans of pet food to donate, or personal hygiene products to donate to a homeless shelter. The ways to help are endless and I just get tired of people saying they can't do anything because they aren't rich. Prayer is free people and the most powerful tool of all!!! Ok so getting off my platform now!!! Today I am going to be working on the dreaded "B" word....BUDGET:( we need a list of all our monthly expenses for our home study and we also need to keep better track of our spending and see where cuts can be made so we can put back as much money as we can into our savings acct for this adoption. I hate the "B" word, I have gotten used to buying whatever I felt like at the grocery store and if I wanted Starbucks or mcdonalds just driving thru. Well all that has stopped. If we don't need it I won't be buying it, I'm not saying we won't ever have extras we will but they will be rareities not the norm! So anyway wish me luck I'm off to stress myself out when I realize how much we spend every month on bills:(

Sorry it's been crazy here!!!

Like the title says it has been crazy busy here since we got home a week ago today from taking Masha to NC to fly back to Eastern Europe. Not only are we trying to get all Ashlyn's stuff for back to school taken care of but Friday the 17th we had a court date to finalize Savannah's adoption!!! Yay!!!! Still waiting on the paperwork to be filed and recorded but hopefully it will be soon since I need a copy of her new birth certificate for a new home study. Yes you read that right, another home study so that means we are adopting again! Soooo on top of all the normal craziness going on here we are paper chasing and fundraising like mad! We will need about $30,000 for this adoption we are hoping to bring two children home and complete our family:) unfortunately we are starting from 0 in the financial aspect of things since we literally just completed Savannah's adoption and Kaeden's adoption was just over two years ago. We need to have the money as fast as possible, the country we are adopting from has a fast process. Thankfully we have already had several wonderful people donate to us to get us started. Right now until our home study is complete all donations are being made to us personally, after our home study is done we will have a family sponsorship account set up through a non profit that people can donate to and it will be tax deductible. As for fundraising we are going to have some garage sales, I've been selling stuff from around the house we no longer need and we also have a giveaway going on now for a guided bay fishing trip for 3 in Galveston Bay from Notorious Guide Service. For every $10 donation you get one entry ex. $100=10 entries, you can also get one free entry by sharing this post on your Facebook page you have to let me know you shared by leaving me a comment and in case you win you may want to message me your email address so I can get in touch with you! The giveaway ends Sept 15th and the winner will be chosen by random draw of numbers. I also have an auction going in now on Facebook with several great things up to bid on !!! Please email me or ask me on Facebook how to donate or bid on an item. We are very excited about this new journey we are on and it's scary at the same time but we are trusting that GOD will provide!!!

:( sadness and exhaustion

Well we put Masha on a plane back to Eastern Europe yesterday:( we are all sad to see her go. There is more to this story but that going to have to wait for another day today we are driving home still from NC. We left Raleigh yesterday at almost 3 pm and drove to Mobile AL and arrived around 12:30am. It's now 9:35am and we are somewhere in western louisiana! I'm tired and soooo ready to be home I miss the babies and my king size bed! All this driving has given me lots of time to think and plan though so I'm happy about that, details to follow hopefully in about a week:) in the meantime going to be very busy, we finalize Savannah's adoption Friday and need to get all Ashlyn's school supplies and clothes this week!!!

Update on our last week of hosting

I've been trying to write for almost a week now but blogger has had a different idea than me! It either wouldn't publish and save or let me log in period! So anyways, this is our last week of hosting Masha. In fact as I type hubby is driving down I-10 east headed out of FL on our way to NC. I can't even begin to describe the feelings we have now, let's just say they are mixed and jumbled! We know we are not looking forward to Sunday at the airport and having to send her back. We have truly enjoyed having her be with us for the past 3 weeks. It has been an adventure and a huge learning experience! I'm going to apologize now it's hard to put my thoughts together stuck in the car trying to type a blog post on my phone!!! We have met a lot of Russian speakers living here in America during this experience also it's been wild! Night before last as we were checking into our hotel in D'iberville MS I recognized the desk clerks accent so started taking to her and she later came by to visit with Masha while we ate dinner. We also visited with one of Jareds friends last week after church who is married to a native Russian and she invited one of her friends over who us a native Ukrainian so luckily Masha has had several opportunities to converse in her native language. She has picked up lots of new English words and understands a few phrases now. Ashlyn has enjoyed having someone to play with and giggle with too, every night I have to tell them multiple times to be quiet they are going to wake up the babies! Speaking of which we left them at home with my parents since it is such a long drive to NC. I am missing them like crazy but glad they aren't here stuck in the car all day! Well we are almost to GA I think anyway so pray for us and that hopefully there is a break in the rain we've been driving in since LA so the girls can go to the beach!

Why are we hosting?!?!?!

Why are we hosting?! Well there are several reasons but I guess the biggest one is why not?! We aren't super parents, we are just regular people with normal boring lives. I have wanted to host for a year or two now but things came up and also when you start getting down to brass tacks....well it's scary! Lol like I said we are not special or extraordinary we are very very normal. I read about these other families that are hosting or adopting and think wow what awesome people but truth be told they are probably as normal as we are! You don't have to be this super organized, well traveled person to host a child. What you do need is a genuine want to help an orphan enjoy their time here all it basically requires is a little paitence and a little bit of a sense of adventure. Sure it's kinda scary I mean it's unknown and unfamiliar but what in life hasn't been that way at some point?! On the plane ride to NC to meet Masha I kept thinking to myself are we really going to be able to do this? And guess what we are! It hasnt even been a week yet but I already know it's worth all the scary feelings you'll have and questions you will ask yourself. It is awkward at times?! Uh heck yeah it is but it's a lot of fun too! I seriously recommend hosting to any family who have contemplated it before but thought they weren't brave enough to do it! Just look at the pictures on my Facebook page of her smiling and having a good time, that right there makes it worth it to me:) and the best is yet to come my 9 year old daughter will finally be home this weekend so the fun really begins then!

Ok more about Masha and why she's here!

Ok so imagine having someone in your home who speaks no English and you dont speak their language either....now add in that someone is a young teenager...ok now they are also an orphan that lives in an orphanage. They are not used to how to act in a "normal" family setting and their social skills are a little off because of where they live! That's how it is here, it's nothing bad just different than our version of normal! Masha is not used to riding in a car or wearing a seatbelt in fact she hates the seatbelt and grumbles everytime I make her buckle up! Her sense of personal space is a lot different than mine also she bumps into me constantly when we are walking and other people as well and if you cross paths while walking well watch out because she won't stop! Lol like I said nothing bad just needs a little fine tuning for American life! I still don't know if she even wants to be adopted and leave her country. She is available and has no siblings or special needs, she just needs love. I can tell she would be a great daughter for someone she is blossoming here in just the few says of being around our family. She's a typical teenager she likes to shop, likes babies, likes trying on clothes and likes to sing. I could totally see her in choir and cheerleading with those long skinny legs! Lol here in america we take everything we have for granted, I'm not saying adoption internationally is better than adopting a child from the US foster care system. An orphan is an orphan they all need families. At least here in the US you are not shunned for being an orphan as a lot of other countries do. Unfortunately most children overseas will age out and end up on the street or dead. The statistics are stagerring and sad. In just three short years Masha will age out, hopefully if she is not adopted she can go to a trade school and get a job, unfortunately the statistics are not in her favor for that outcome. It's more likely she will be into drugs and prostitution or dead:( that is why I believe in hosting and adoption this experience could change her life for the better! That is my hope and prayer.

Our hosting experience so far!

Well we decided at the last minute to host an orphan from Eastern Europe for three weeks. Hosting in and of itself is an adventure but of course our family has to have more of one than normal!!! We saw a picture of a cute nine year old named Masha and got all excited about having a kid Ashlyn's age here for her to play with. The kids flew in to Raleigh NC so I flew out last Thursday and of course my flight was delayed by around 2.5 hours! Then the kids flight was delayed about 45 minutes so they arrived just after midnight exhausted but very excited! As all the kids came running up to their host families I was looking for my kid but didn't see her! After a few minutes Amanda the co-founder of te hsng organization realized I was kidless so she asked the chaperones that came with the kids where Masha was...well I was presented with Masha but it was a different Masha than I expected! I took her back to the hotel for the night since we were both exhausted and figured what the heck we'll figure it out! The next day we find out the original Masha went into a foster home back in their country so the orphanage director sent this girl who is 13. The hosting agency gave me the opportunity to get my hosting fees back and said they would find another family for her but Jared and I both agreed we said we were hosting an orphan so here we go! We were not about to take a chance on hurting this girls feelings by saying you are too old. This is our first hosting experience, first experience with someone in our home who speaks a different language and first experience with an older child coming into your home. This gives me such a greater appreciation for foster parents! Here we are with this 13 year old who we know nothing about and she doesnt even speak the same language! I had downloaded several apps for translation from English to Russian but not all the translations are correct! It sometimes takes a few tries to get some kind of understanding! I'm going to write more tomorrow about our first few days together and about Masha but I'm exhausted right now! Masha is so excited to be here she is wearing me out, ok well it's not all her my 2 year old and 5 month old are contributing! Anyway I'll just say this it's a challenge but it's worth it! I'll let you know why tomorrow.