24 hours to go!

I can't believe the time has finally come, but in just a few hours (4:3o am here in Texas), all the hosted children will board a plane in Kiev and fly across the ocean to New York! They will then go through customs and board their last flight that will take them to varying communities in the United States. There are five children and two escorts flying to the airport here, and we will be picking them up very late at midnight tomorrow. I imagine they are excited and nervous and soon to be very tired from a long journey! Much of the same ways we are feeling too! I have no idea whether to expect Nastya to be exhausted from the travel or wired from all the stimulation of new experiences. But we will soon find out!

Today has been an interesting and emotional day. Let me give some background information. I am incredibly blessed to be able to be a part of a few moms at my childrens' school who meet on Wednesday mornings to pray for our children, their teachers, and the school. It is truly a privilege to pray with these ladies and to be able to come to the Lord together and pray for each others' children. We always come away encouraged from spending time talking to our Lord and Father and laying our concerns, requests, and joys before Him. And to know that He has heard our prayers and to often times see Him at work in our lives - it is one of the best parts of my week. The format that we follow is from Moms In Touch International, and anyone can start a group!

All that to say - one of the moms heard that we were hosting and wanted to host also, but she didn't think that she would be able to do so until after the deadline. But then last Wednesday, I got a call from our agency asking if there was anyone I knew who could a little girl whose host family was unable to host at the last minute. I knew this family would love to host and they got all their paperwork together, told their children (one of whom is sweet friend of Allee's), and began praying for their hosted child (a nine year old girl named Alena). We have been so excited that it all worked out and spent a good portion of our prayer time, praying for these girls and their time with our families.

About 30 minutes after leaving the prayer time, Roxanne (Alena's host mom) called me with the heartbreaking news that Alena was not able to come. Her orphanage had some type of illness going through it and even though Alena was not sick, the orphanage was quarantined until the children were well. This affects Alena and 7 other children who were planning to come. We are so sad for their disappointment and are hoping that each one of them will be able to come in the Spring hosting trip. Roxanne was of course very sad as well and we were all a little confused about why all this had happenned this way. Well about an hour later I recieved a call that another child - Sasha - had all her paperwork ready to go but suddenly needed a host home. (I never did get the full story on why.) Anyways, Roxanne and her family are now excited to be hosting Sasha. We will never know why this all happenned this way, but I do know that God is control and has a purpose in how all this is happenning. We will continue to pray for the disappointed children who are unable to come this Christmas. But we are so excited that Sasha is able come. It is going to be some fun girl time for Allee, her friend, and these two Ukrainian girls to all get together!

After I recover from being up WAY late tomorrow night, I will post how the arrival goes and hopefully some pictures! Please pray that all goes smoothly with such long travel and that Nastya feels very comfortable and loved with our family and that we are able to communicate what is needed.