Strength

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31)

Time for another update for our faithful supporters!  I feel so thankful for your words of encouragement, and for the way God is answering your prayers.  He is the one who gives us the strength to do this!  We feel so much love for Vita, and truly want what's best for her.  She is responding to our love, and we pray that God is at work in her heart.  She is doing great in meeting all of the family, and seemed to enjoy all of the Christmas gatherings completely!  Yesterday Mike took her to the Univ. of Maryland Terrapins bowl game in Annapolis, and they really enjoyed that memory-making time together.  

We all enjoyed picking out a Christmas tree together on Saturday

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We celebrated Vita's 12th birthday (which was on November 8th)

Genie is getting lots of extra lovins with Vita here

Vita loved getting to decorate our tree

Today we have a New Horizons for Children host families' party to attend, so that will be very fun.  I'm looking forward to seeing her interacting with the other Latvian kids.

Filler Up!

II Tim. 3:17  so that the servant of God^[a] may be thoroughly equipped for good work.

I remember when I was growing up and my parents would pull up to a gas station and roll down the window and say "Filler Up" to the attendant.  That phrase is in my mind these days, but with a very different meaning, of course.  We have this delightful girl here, with a very empty tank.  Our job?  FILL HER UP!  We love doing our job, and tears come to my eyes as I write to tell you how thankful and excited I am to have been given this job to do.  Blessed, honored, full of joy . . .
Whenever I give her a compliment or word of encouragement, she is just soaking it up.  I know for sure that the reason I am full of strength to pour into Vita is because this is the job that God has for us to do, and He's equipped us to do it!
So far we've been shopping, baking, wrapping gifts, playing games (UNO, Rummikub, Ping Pong), sledding, hiking, journaling, watching Christmas movies and cartoons, and a highlight last night - attending our church's middle school Christmas party!  That was quite scary at first, but in the end brought lots of smiles.  I am VERY sure that the memories made will be cherished, and I can't thank Becca Studer enough for the way she PATIENTLY stood by Vita, encouraging her to participate and even giving hugs.  Her smile and sweet kind words will never be forgotten.  I sure do hope we can carve out some more time with Becca, I would love for her to be able to continue to develop a friendship with Vita.  Becca showed so much maturity last night, I cannot say enough!   We are also very grateful to Patrick Curtis, and all of the other youth leaders/helpers who were kindly reaching out to Vita last night.  Even though she didn't show it on the outside, she truly was very happy to be there.  Everyone's kindnesses to her are all gifts she won't soon forget.
Vita met our daughter Annie and her husband Man and their three children on Monday, and did quite well.  She even enjoyed a couple rounds of hide & seek around the house.  Good thing this girl loves pizza - that makes her a shoe-in around this family!  She's still looking forward to meeting our son Patrick and his family, and our daughter Kathy and her family.  We try to do this in stages, you know!
Tonight's plans include a visit to a dance studio, courtesy of Liz Clinton.  Vita's really looking forward to the lesson time.
I can't say I'm happy to know that the temperatures are forecasted to continue to rise over the next few days.  The snow here in the woods has been so beautiful.  Oh well, I'm glad we got some sledding in before the change, and even a snowman and a round of snowball throwing with/at Frankie!
Thank you for continuing to pray for us - WE FEEL GOD AT WORK!

Snuggling with "Cosette" the kitten

Hiking out in the woods with Bauer & Genie

Front yard sledding

This girl likes to journal!  Too bad I have NO idea what she's writing!  Oh well.  :-)

Arrival

At our daughter Annie's house at a family Christmas party with Frankie, ready to leave for the airport.

                                 

Yay - She made it!

Good morning everyone!  We did it - we met Vita at the airport, brought her home with us, and survived our first night together!  Vita apparently does not realize that night is over, and is still sleeping!  Haha, that's fine!  I'm sure she must have been exhausted after all of that travel, not to mention stress.

She slept more than half of the way home from the airport, waking only when I patted her hand to say we were home.  Just as we pulled into our lane, and she opened her eyes, there was a doe with two fawns standing next to our creek bridge.  Vita saw them and was delighted.  Now who orchestrated that special greeting committee?  hmmm, let me think . . . ;-)

Plans for our first evening

One big question we all wondered about before meeting Vita was would she still have pink hair (?).  As you can see, she doesn't!  She has an adorable smile, and a twinkle in her eyes.  She loves the dogs and cats, and is excited to meet Frankie.  He had a banquet to attend last night, and though Vita tried to wait up for him, she fell asleep on the couch.  Next big question, does she speak English (?).  Yes, quite well, and we've communicated fine.  She says she has been to America once before, on another such hosting program, and was in New Jersey.  I asked her if she liked it, and she said it was cold!  She is getting a kick out of our poor pronunciation of Latvian words, lots of giggles and rolled eyes.

Working on an advent tree puzzle - challenging!

Snuggling with our dog Genie on the couch.

Fell asleep while I was making her some hot chocolate.                                                                                                   

So, here we go, the beginning has begun.  I am looking forward to our day.  Thank you everyone for your prayers for us.  I noticed Vita coughing a bit, so please pray that she gets better instead of worse.

Beckoning

Petey

I just love word pictures, as you have probably guessed by now.  The one I had thought of recently was  brought to mind because of our oldest dog Petey.  He's fifteen years old, and is quite deaf, so we have resorted to sign language to communicate with him.  That is mostly just shaking a finger at him and frowning when we want him to stop barking, and beckoning/motioning for him to come with curling fingers.  He doesn't always know what we're motioning to him to come for, but he does know what it means.  We learned through hosting our two Latvians over last summer that God always wants to talk to us, we just have to look/listen.  He showed us in different ways what He wanted us to do, and gave us the strength to do the hosting.  He gave us love for Eduards & Helena, and now we still have a relationship with them, and are praying for them.  Now as we are seeking His help again for hosting Vita, there have been little ways that He has spoken to our hearts.  It might be in the lyrics to a song we're singing at church or on the radio, or words of encouragement spoken to us by our friends.  Recently I was asked to substitute for someone in the MOPPETS children's program for MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) at church.  Now I had been looking forward to the meeting with the moms, but was a tiny bit disappointed I would be in with children instead.  When I was asked which age I would like to help out with, I picked the nursery.  Randomly.  (not)  My co-workers in the nursery were both regulars, and knew the kids well, and I settled in helping with this and that.  The subject of our hosting Vita came up in conversation and Kara Tumy was so encouraging about it.  She asked lots of questions, and even offered that maybe her 12 yr. old daughter and our student Vita might be able to spend some time together!  I had been looking for a special event to do while Vita was with us, and Kara suggested the Sight & Sound Theater's Christmas show in Lancaster, PA.  That was EXACTLY what I needed, perfect idea!  Kara even knew about a gift card offer that had currently been extended to save on the ticket cost!  As I was going home, I felt such a peace about the whole thing.  I thought of the way we beckon to our old dog, Pete.  I realized that is what God is doing every time he uses someone or something to encourage us,  He's beckoning to us.  He's saying 'come on, you don't know how, or why, but just come on'!  Just like Petey can't hear us, and has to be looking towards us to know we're beckoning, we have to be looking to God to know He's beckoning to us!  I see now, my serving in the nursery at MOPS wasn't random AT ALL!  God orchestrated for me to be encouraged that day, by Kara Tumy!

2 Chronicles 16:9   For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

Okay, we're down to the wire, and today I even got the groceries in the house with Vita in mind.  Thank you so much for your encouraging words everyone, and most of all for praying for us.  God is answering - COOL, huh?!

Our girl!