How Ukraine Chose Us

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, the idea of hosting a Ukrainian orphan just sounded nuts.  I truly had no interest in it.  Regardless, I had four separate people who didn't even know each other bring me information about hosting children.  I listened politely and responded with something like, "Thank you, but we are currently working with the Foster Care System. " Similar to how I was taught to respond to a Jehovah's Witness who came knocking on the door, "Thank you for stopping by, but I am Catholic."  This way, you aren't exactly saying, "No, you people are crazy." It's more like, "Gosh, I would really like to, but I was born into this Catholic religion.(insert small frown here)" Then follow the next four important steps... 1. Take pamphlet 2. Say, "God Bless you for being out there in the cold!", 3. smile and 4. gently shut the door.

My line about the Foster Care System was true.  We had been working with them, but I am not entirely sure they were working with us. We spent two years giving papers to Children's Home Society, an adoption agency that assists with adopting children from the Foster Care system. Two years, four case workers, 235,324 documents, and 454 background checks later we still had not been matched with one child. Not ONE.  OK, OK, admittedly some of those numbers may be a bit inaccurate, but the part about two years, 4 caseworkers and not one child to meet is absolutely 1000% true.

Our First Meeting with Marina's Kids
A very nice family, the Kaiser's, invited us to an informational meeing about Marina's Kids and hosting. I didn't want to go.  My husband felt we should go and just listen becasue Allison was a co-worker of his, and it was the polite thing to do.  So we went to this meeting to "be polite".

I wish I could say that I remember all the details of that meeting, but what I can remember for certain is that this meeting forever changed my life. When I learned about hosting and all the opportunities it brings these children, I was so choked up that I couldn't even speak to introduce myself.  I just knew that this was something I wanted to be involved in.  Marina's Kids is not about adoption. Marina's Kids works with children in orphanages, helps to improve the living conditions for these children, helps to buy them shoes and clothing, and Marina's Kids also has an orphan hosting program.  It was at this meeting that my feelings about adding to our family were completely transformed.  I realized that adoption or not, there were kids that needed love and help. We could be one of the families who helped these precious children!  When the meeting ended, I was scared to talk with Shad about my feelings.  I wasn't sure he would understand that I wanted to be involved in this ...even if it meant not being able to ever adopt. I wanted to work with this orphanage. I wanted to host one of the children, but beyond that, I wanted to do something for ALL of the children at that orphanage.  We didn't have to be their parents, but we could do SOMETHING to make life better for them all.

I would like to tell you all that we went home or to church and prayed together about it, and God said, "Go for it!". The truth of this story was that it was a Saturday night and our only child had a sleepover to attend.  So, like all good parents without children for a night do, we went to Tyler's Taproom and drank wine over it.  Amazingly, Shad and I had come to the same conclusion. We were willing to relinquish our well-earned Foster Care license to take a risk.  We both agreed that our hearts were led to do this. Perhaps we would never adopt, but we could touch the lives of multiple children through hosting.  I would also like to tell you that all of our friends and family were immediately on board ready to offer all the assistance and support they could, but let's just keep this real.  They thought we were crazy.  Some of them were nice enough to keep their comments to themselves, but it wasn't a popular decision.  Despite this, in a way that still amazes me to this day, we never waivered about this decision. Not once.  We had chosen a path and we were excited! Now to pick a child!

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Let the nesting begin!  We didn't know who would be in these rooms or for how long, but the Foster Care System requires that you have a bedroom ready.  We were READY!  Now send us some pictures of a child!