Wow--we love him!!

These are just a few of the pictures from our first few days with Sergeis. He is such a wonderful boy! Sweet, nice, caring and all boy! He is wearing Craig out with soccer, sword fights, etc!!

He is calling us Mommy and Daddy and I just heard him yell out (in the middle of a foam sword fight) "Don't get my sister!!" talking about Eileen! Last night when we came home from a long weekend at Nana's, he said, "This is my home!"

We are really having such a wonderful time! Please keep the next 3 1/2 weeks in your prayers!!

Brooke

Sergejs is here!

Well after a very long delay at the airport due to weather in the north US, Sergejs arrived in Atlanta at 3:00 AM Wednesday morning, along with all the other host children in the Atlanta area! It was a very late night but he arrived happily and very awake! We all got to sleep around 6:00 and he woke up around 12:00--the rest of us around 10:00.
Today we went to the zoo! Everyone seemed to love it even though it was sprinkling and they put most of the animals out of the rain! We got annual passes though so we can go back. Sergejs said he wants to go again!
Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Nana's to have an early Christmas! I hope the ride isn't too long for him--we have been on the go since he got here!
He has been so wonderful! We haven't had any real problems with him. He does get a little impatient if he has to say more than once that he's hungry. :) And if he misunderstands something he really clams up. Last night I tried to explain that his friend from the airplane would be at church with us and he misunderstood and thought we were going to the church and he was going back to the airplane. I didn't know what was wrong for an hour--he just wouldn't talk and looked so very sad. He finally asked me if he was going back and I said, "Oh no--honey. You're coming with us." He was so happy after that.
He is a wonderful child and we just love him.
Thank you for the prayers--please keep 'em coming!
Brooke

Soon!

Well, Sergejs will be here soon. He arrives on Tuesday night at almost midnight and I am so excited!
We have continued to email--short, 2 or 3 words at most--so that is exciting. He doesn't know he's coming to us yet. From what I can understand I think he thinks that Rebeka is coming to us but I don't know. I worry that he is so happy to be coming back because he thinks he is coming to his summer host family. I hope he won't be disappointed to be with us and not them.
We are down to last minute preparations--cleaning, putting boy sheets on the top bunk, putting up sports sticker-type things on the walls and getting ready for Christmas. We are really very excited to have him here at Christmas and know that it will be such wonderful opportunity for him to learn more about Jesus and why He came here.
Please keep us in your prayers over the next few days.
Also--Anya (Jack & Stephanie's daughter) comes HOME tomorrow for good! We will be at the airport to welcome her and just CAN NOT wait to see her again! I am so happy for them as this hurdle is over. Please continue to pray for them as they learn to bond as a family and for Faith and Caleb as they learn to welcome another sister into the mix!

Brooke

Communication

We went to our hosting training last weekend and, boy, did we enjoy it! We learned so much, even though we'd already been through it before. And we very much enjoyed getting to meet all the families that are hosting! Especially the Doherty's who are hosting Rebeka & Roberts.
Michelle, one of the volunteers with NHFC, has helped me to get connected through a "myspace-like" website with some of the host kids that we met, including Sergejs!! He has written a couple of messages to me. Very short and in Latvian. I understood all but one of them and it was about Rebeka. I think it was asking us how we were for Rebeka, but I'm not sure. I have written him back in my limited Latvian vocabulary!! It's something anyways! I don't think he knows yet that he's coming next month and he has no clue it's with us yet. I will not tell him and will wait until he asks me. I wish he could get someone to help him type a message in english and I wish I could find someone to help me with Latvian!!
Sergejs will arrive in Atlanta at 11:52 PM on December 16 along with Arturs and Nastya. I am so excited to pick him up at the airport! It's going to be a whirlwind vacation for him since we'll be on the go the whole time for the holidays but hopefully he will have fun with us!
Please pray for the 123 host kids coming to America this Christmas!!
Brooke

Bowling News

Well, Eileen scored 116 on her Bowling for Sergeis day!!! Wow! It was just absolutely amazing watching spare after spare come--she knew she was doing good. She was thrilled! We were all thrilled--and honestly, a little shocked--that she did so well!
So thank you to everyone who gave. I don't have the exact totals in front of me right now (hey--I have to use the computer when I have a chance and didn't think to grab those first) but Eileen raised about $600!! Anyone needing to do a fundraiser, that was an awesome one!

Thank you thank you thank you again! You guys are awesome!
Keep the prayers coming too! And pray for Rebeka & Roberts as well.

It's OFFICIAL!!!

Our status on the NHFC's photolisting for Sergejs is "HOSTED" now instead of "On Hold"!! :) Thank you Andrea!

I have been praying about this hosting experience daily--usually more than once a day! At first, I had so much guilt about hosting Sergejs and "leaving behind" (so to speak) Rebeka & Robbie. Sometimes that still creeps up a little. But God is so good and He has given me a peace about Rebeka & Roberts and is letting my heart love Sergejs! After all, all of these children are deserving of our love just as much as another. All of these children deserve to know what a relationship with Jesus looks like and what a loving family looks like. All of these children deserve a chance.

I know some people don't get this--why host? Why are WE hosting? Aren't you crazy? You have 3 kids already. Even, "You just seem to have so much on your plate right now" and that was said by someone who doesn't know me in any way other than in passing. There are the "brave" people who will tell me to my face that we shouldn't be doing this and then there are those who just say it behind our backs. Either way, the only explanation I can give is that this is a mission. Jesus told us to go into the world and tell others about Him. He also told us to care for orphans. He has also (for those who have accepted Jesus) adopted us into His family and we are now sons and daughters of the King. He told us to care for the poor and the needy. Put all of that together. That's why we are doing this. That's why all of these people are doing this. Craig and I have prayed for God to show us what He wants us to do for right now. And we feel like this is it. God never told us it would be easy or free from any kind of issues. And knowing there were (with R & R) and will be issues can't/shouldn't make us turn back. Did Paul turn back just because he was beaten and thrown into prison multiple times? Did any of the disciples? And I mean, thank goodness Jesus didn't decide it wasn't worth it to die on the cross because it would be hard and painful. We tend to put Paul, Peter and the other disciples and martyrs on a pedestal like they were special and had some sort of special ability to withstand those pressures and hardships but they were just normal, everyday people with a lot of the same problems, doubts, etc that we have. The reason they have been put on a pedestal is because of how they lived out their faith. They stood in the face of persecution. They didn't back down. They carried out what God had called them to in spite of all that was in their way. If they could do it, why can't any of us? Why are there so few Christians who won't back down?
Goodness I'm not sure I expected this to turn into all that. :) But we are going to do what God has called us to do and I hope you all do the same.
So all of that being said, we ask for your prayers between now and December and while Sergejs is here. Pray that we will shine with the love of Jesus to all who see us.

Fundraiser

Hey--we've decided to have small little fundraiser for now to help bring Sergeis to America for Christmas. Eileen wants to help so we decided to have a sort of Bowl-A-Thon to raise money. We are going to take donations per pin that she knocks down. In a couple of weeks, we will take her best game out of 3 and collect the donations for that amount. It's easy for you to participate--you don't have to be present while she bowls unless you just want to (she bowls with a homeschool league every Monday.) I will send out an email with sponser forms to fill out with your name, address, phone number and pledge amount. If you'd like to participate and don't get an email, please email me at brooke@inhissight.org. I will then call or email with her score!
Just some information: Eileen has bowled 11 games. Her highest score has been 101 and her lowest score has been 69. She usually scores somewhere in the 70's. She has gotten about 4 strikes before. So that's it! I'll have more details and sponser forms soon!
Thanks in advance for partnering with Eileen to help bring Sergeis to our home for Christmas!

A little news

We got a little news from Daina (the Latvian attorney) that Sergeis was indeed born in Latvia. We were a little worried about his citizenship because Sergeis had told us he was born in Russia and lived there for awhile. He might have lived there for awhile but he was born in Latvia. This is good news for anyone who wishes to adopt him because it is much easier (and cheaper) to adopt from Latvia than from Russia.
The New Horizons mission team went to his orphanage the other day to see all the kids and interview children for Christmas hosting. They didn't mention seeing him but I'm sure that they did. They only mentioned a couple of the children on their post to the message board.
Pray for us and for Sergeis as Christmas approaches. (Yes it seems incredibly far away to me--but apparently merchants see it is right around the corner because literally almost half of Hobby Lobby is Christmas stuff! Crazy!)

Brooke

Meeting Sergeis

We met Sergeis at the summer farewell party for the kids returning to Latvia and Russia. He is from the same orphanage as Rebeka & Robbie so he hung around our family a lot that night since he knew them. He was very sweet to Robbie and not one of the "mean boys" that Rebeka always talks about. I started thinking that night that I would talk to Craig about hosting him at Christmas. After talking to him, he said he felt the same way so I emailed his summer host mom. She called me and we talked a lot about Sergeis and about Rebeka & Roberts. Everything she told me about Sergeis affirmed what we saw at the farewell party. He came bowling with our family and spent-the-night with us a couple of days before the kids left for Latvia. He was wonderful with our children. He was the peacemaker when someone was arguing. When Rebeka wanted to exclude Eileen from a soccer game, she got upset. Sergeis went to her and said, "You can play with me." (Then of course, Rebeka got jealous so Sergeis said, "We all play together!") He was very good playing with Merrick and Adalynn and the way he genuinely cared for Robbie was touching. We have decided to host him at Christmas. We would love your prayers and help in any way possible again. Everyone was so generous when we hosted Rebeka & Roberts and I know you will be again!
We will post any updates we can about Sergeis as we get them and know dates for his arrival, when our fees are due, etc.
Thank you in advance for your prayers and help!