Winter Garden

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. ⁶ Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture.⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”  Luke 8
   

     Funny time to be thinking about a garden, but . . .
The seeds in the bird feeder trigger the thought of seeds being scattered.  Here we are spending four weeks with a girl from across the world, and what seeds are being planted?  Because we love the Lord, and desire to follow His ways, we are reaching out to her, trying to share His love with her, hoping and praying that her heart is open, and the seeds will take root.  Only the Lord knows her heart, we just plant, water, and pray that He is at work.  Vita has spent quite a bit of time reading her new Latvian Bible - yay!  We know His Word is powerful, right?!
I'm so thankful that we got this cold wintery weather back, something inside me craves some real winter every year, and feels very disappointed if it doesn't happen.  I'm especially happy to experience it, and share it with Vita.  I've been keeping tabs on the weather in Latvia, and theirs this week has been at times 20 degrees warmer!  But today theirs is very similar to ours since we're heading back to a normal range.
We've enjoyed this past week, including a nice invitation to Becca Studer's girl scout bunco night, a fun dinner at our daughter Annie's, and a great time with Pat & Sarah and family on New Year's Eve.  We had Chinese food, and watched the movie Elf, which made Vita laugh so hard.  It was really fun to see her enjoying it, and I've been calling her my elf, since she was so helpful getting gifts wrapped, etc.  Vita tried to stay up to say Happy New Year at midnight, but couldn't quite make it.  She sneaked off to bed around 11:15.   Mike's been under the weather, and Vita and I've been taking good care of him together.  He's feeling much better now.  We got to go over to Pat & Sarah's and babysit one day, which I'm really glad she got to experience.  Those kids are irresistably cute!  Vita's loved painting and coloring by number, thanks to a fun trip to the craft store.  We watched the movie Beauty & the Beast, which moved Vita to tears (okay, so it gets me every time too!)  The fresh snowfall on Thursday evening was too hard to resist, so a nighttime snowball fight with Mike, Frankie & Vita ensued.  We also were treated to a very fun day at Chuck E Cheese's, courtesy of our friends the Tumys (Kara, Maggie, and Ethan).  I was very happy with the way that went, with Maggie taking Vita under her wing, and they were loving those shooting games! The Tumy family's graciousness and generosity will not be forgotten, and I hope a lifetime friendship has begun.  :-)
Well, thank you again for your support everyone, and especially remembering to pray for us.  We feel God is really in all of this, and you are too - so how cool is that to be part of a winter garden?!
XO
p.s. If you get to see Vita and are talking with her, please don't mention things from this post, etc.  She doesn't see or read this, and is confused when people have said they saw photos, and know about what she's been doing.  Thanks.  

Some people & dogs just love winter!

We all said "no, we're not coming out" so she went out to the back yard alone.  Then Mike & Frankie sneaked out the front door and ambushed her - she LOVED it!

Puzzle master

At Skate Frederick on Christmas Eve with Nathan, Lyla & Frankie

Cora's holding her kitten Moses, Vita's got the amazing cat Yosemite!

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!

Anticipation . . .

Hello Everyone!
Well, we are prayerfully anticipating meeting Vita on December 15th!
I recently came across this video that shows photos of past Christmastime hostings, and I thought you might like to see it.  A picture says a thousand words, and music makes it even more meaningful!
http://vimeo.com/74345285
Hope you can enjoy it, and keep us in your prayers as we look forward to meeting our host child!


Also, here is a link to a recent newsletter from New Horizons for Children that gives a lot of good information for anyone who's curious how this whole thing works.
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/457018/43571506f2/463450403/81c9708624/



Thank you to everyone who's already been praying for us in this new endeavor.  We truly feel encouraged by the Lord, and we know He hears and answers your prayers.

Our Cat "Chase" keeping an eye out for something . . .

Watch Out For That Next Wave!

Hello Again Everyone!
     After the last post on September 12, several weeks went by and we did not hear anything else from our adoption agency, or our Latvian attorney.  We were praying about if there was anything else we should  do next.  Back at the beginning of all of this process we felt God wanted us to share the blessing of our home and family with an orphan.  Okay, we did that and attempted to adopt them, but sadly that did not appear to be working out.  So what to do next, if at all was heavily on our hearts.  Then after several more weeks went by, we got an email from our agency which told us that after checking in again with Eduards & Helena, there was a slightly different answer.  Eduards said yes, he would like to be adopted, but Helena said no still.  Wow, I wonder if this came between them, I hope not.  The agency said that the Orphan Court in Latvia would not separate them, and I can understand that.  At this point, we just feel that we will continue to be in touch through email, and pray for them knowing God is with them.  I'm sad, but peaceful about it.
     As weeks passed after that last information came, I considered several other "options" about answering this call to share our blessing with an orphan.  Since nothing was clearly jumping out, and Mike was very involved in planning a trip to India for October, I was just in the waiting mode.  Waiting and wondering.  As Mike was getting ready to leave on his trip, I read an email from the director of New Horizons for Children describing the need for more families to host for the winter hosting period, Dec. 17 - Jan 17.  I thought about it, prayed about it, wondered about it . . . mentioned it to Mike . . . he said I should look into it!  So, I did that, but now he was away across the world, and communicating was very difficult and minimal.  I thought maybe the Lord was just keeping this from happening right now for a couple of reasons.  But then toward the end of Mike's trip, God impressed on his heart that we should try to host again, try to adopt again!  When he told me this, there were only a few days left before it was the deadline to sign up to host for the winter.  By the time he got home, we were up against a very close time frame, but God made it very clear in our hearts, individually what we should do, and who we should pick.  It's so confirming when two people are praying about something, and come up with the same answer separately!
     So now I am happy to announce that we are planning to host an 11 year old girl from Latvia named Vita beginning December 17, for four weeks!  I'm thinking of things we can do, here's what I've got so far:  baking, ping pong, Christmas music, Christmas light shows, ice skating show, playing in the snow (hopefully we get some!), visits to see family, play cards, make gingerbread houses, take a cooking class, take a dance class (she says she loves to dance), walks/hikes in the woods, bowling, live nativity, knitting class.  If you have any suggestions, PLEASE let me know!
     Most of all, would you pray for this girl, that God would be preparing her heart?  And pray that God will give us the grace and creativity we need to be excellent host parents for her.  One of my last posts said we felt as if we were just riding a wave that God has set in motion.  Continuing with that metaphor, as waves come in and drift back out, another one can appear very suddenly - Watch Out!  It might be a BIG one!