Days 4 & 5

I am so excited about a long afternoon and evening with nothing to do! The 3 big kiddos have been riding bikes and playing. The temperature is entirely too cold for me, but if your general geographic location is closer to Siberia, then temps in the 40s don't seem painfully low. (That means Denys doesn't even have on a coat!) We are short one adult sized bicycle helment, so we are improvising and Denys will be riding in a baseball helment. Hey, the rules say he must wear a helment; a helment is a helment? Right? Once inside, it was time for the Wii. Here's a little clip of the moment I like to call "I Might Lose My TV."

This morning was our first time at church. The nursery workers were stoked we brought the screaming monkey Anna Ruth received from Honey & Papa. (Hmmm . . . another video might be in order.) Denys went to class with Jonah and Millie Grace. That crowd was probably a bit young for him, but Mrs. Wanda and Mrs. Pattie are two of the best Sunday School teachers we have at FBCT so if he was going to learn anything he would certainly do it there. I'm sure he didn't understand much, but our church family loved on him anyway. I caught him copying the inscription of the Lord's Supper Table on his doodle paper. "This do in remembrance of me." I was gently reminded that it's in remembrance of what Christ has done that's entirely the reason Denys is here!

How Denys would've spent the entire weekend,
if we'd let him!

We had lunch at the wonderful Crossroads Restaurant here in Tallapoosa. (If you've never been let me share that it gets 4-Stars for a great Sunday Buffet of country cooking at incredibly reasonable prices.) Denys's plate looked a bit different than what I would have let my kiddos choose normally - fried chicken, puree (mashed potatoes), twice baked potato, macaroni & cheese and a biscuit. A plate full of starches! He put a hurting on it and as long as he's not hungry, I'm good.

I had every intention of blogging when we got home last night, but our 2 hour trip was rather elongated  We were all very sleepy and grumpy when we tumbled through the door at 9:30pm and I sent everyone to bed - ASAP!

Trying on Papa's old helments!

I have always known I have a fantastic family. Dad, Mom, Abby, Wes, and Taylor are some of the coolest people I know, but getting to see them in action, loving on a kid with whom they can't fluently communicate and whom they've never met, is truly a beautiful thing. These guys did such a great job helping Denys feel comfortable that we all got to learn more about him that we didn't know - he can do back-hand-springs!

Since Abby and Wesley shared Dexter, their boxer, we got to see how much Denys loves dogs and how gently he is willing to play - or not so gently as the case may be. Mom & Dad shared their time and food and home and toys. Denys was so comfortable that he asked my mom if he could bring home a couple of her old Hot Wheels cars - the Ferrari and the Porsche  And I have to give a shout-out to my little bro. I've never noticed before, but he gives the most AWESOME hugs - the kind that just wrap you up and don't let you wiggle until he's done. For a kid without a family this is a BIG deal!

This weekend I've seen Denys interact with Anna Ruth a bit more and even help her up when she's fallen. He's playing until he's wiped out and sleeps soundly until at least 7am. (And yes, I know this because baby monitors aren't good only monitoring babies!) He seems a bit more adamant about the things he doesn't like, but not to the point of anger or acting out. Jason and I are able to use Google Translate (the app we couldn't live without!) to make sure he understands what we want him to, but he is not as efficient at using the Ukrainian keyboard so we're not sure what he's thinking. He seems plenty happy and I suppose as long as he's smiling we're in good shape. We'll have him call the chaperone again tonight to check-in and get ready to celebrate Christmas with the big families tomorrow and Tuesday.

Merry Christmas and (Jason's new holiday greeting of choice) Happy Incarnation!

~Megan

Day 3 - Shopping and Christmas Presents

Wow. I am completely exhausted. The day has been good, but maybe too busy. I'm ready for a break!

Breakfast was MiniWheats this morning. And again, not a complaint but an empty bowl. I'm thinking I could serve this kid something from Granny Clampett's kitchen and he would eat it 'til it's gone.

After breakfast we all got dressed and 7 of us headed to Dr. Monte Murphy's office for Denys's eye care visit. I have to say this was the BEST eye doctor experience of my life. I was envious that I wasn't the patient. Dr. Murphy's staff was a bit unsure about the prospect of treating a Ukrainian, but he never missed a beat and said that Denys's eyes were nearly perfect and he wouldn't have to worry about a thing until he was 40 - Denys was thrilled at that prognosis!

We came home and had a quick lunch (that he wasn't interested in) and he and I headed out with Papa (my dad) to do some clothes shopping. I am thankful for Old Navy! We found super clothes at fabulous prices and he was happy with what came home. Next was Target. I was looking for a sweatsuit as he has worn his from home since his arrival. Success again.

We were told not to expect too much response or gratitude for the things we give him, but the smile on his face, while looking for clothing just for him, was priceless. After shopping we grabbed some popcorn and water and made a few other stops before heading back to the house. And on the way home . . .

Let me preface by saying I am SO grateful my dad went shopping with us. It was a wonderful experience that I will treasure my life through. He is an amazing and generous man, but, well, sometimes he drives a bit like he's the only one on the road. 200 yards from the house the dreaded carsickness hit. The neighbors now have a bit of extra fertilization in their yard.

Other than the fact that he hasn't eaten much else tonight, I think he's recovered nicely.

Once we had dinner and got all the kids off the iPhone games we unwrapped presents. Denys got his suitcase for his return home trip and his first UGA shirt - GO DAWGS! (Yep, we ain't scared!) But, I have to say that the sunglasses from Aunt Abby and Uncle Wesley were the hit of the night. I don't think his face could hold a larger smile!

Before shower time I did catch him trying to use the phone. I asked him did he need to speak to the translator or his chaperone. He smiled and shook his head, "no." I had to take the phone and away and tell him "No phone." We'll probably never know who he was trying to call or what on earth he was going to say!

One of the cutest moments of the day was when he spotted a sports car in the parking lot. "Ferrari?" He asked. I giggled and responded, "Corvette." We also looked through a Creation magazine and he would name an animal and I would repeat what he said and they we'd try it in English. And I shed a few tears when I got text/picture message from my sweet Uncle Danny and Cousin Jack with handwritten Ukrainian messages for Denys.

We are learning that Denys probably knows more English than he's letting on; he's a smart cookie. Once all the Christmas chaos is over we'll get started on some serious learning of English for him and Ukrainian for us. Google translate is working well, but we're making an effort to learn more phrases and trying to make a really strong connection away from the computer.

Showers are done and we're headed to bed soon. I'm hoping everyone sleeps long and hard and maybe we won't all be up by 7am! Thanks for the prayers as my throat has hurt less and less throughout the day. Christmas at home with the fam has been AWESOME and I will hate to leave. I hope Denys has loved being her with my "brat" and sister as much as we have loved having him.

~Meg

Day 2 - You HAVE to watch the video

We have packed a lot into this 24 hrs. Denys was up and kicking at 7am. He did wait for me to come let him know he could get out of bed. I fixed oatmeal for breakfast (butter only), added raisins and he ate it up. He declined the yogurt I offered and doesn't seem to like milk either, but apart from egg salad, those are the only things he's turned down.

Since the other kiddos were still snoozing I let him play video games for a bit. Jason and I decided that we were going to nix the whole video game thing, but the batteries beat us to the fix. I told the boys absolutely no video games until late in the evening and, surprisingly, they agreed without argument. (But as Jonah doesn't usually get to play video games except on the weekends I didn't expect anything different from him.)

Our adventure of the day was shoe shopping. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures, but we made it through the event unscathed thanks to a surprise assist by MaMac. I laughed when I realized how conservative Denys is. He wanted the black tennis shoes and was only interested in the gym shorts in dark colors. He did choose a brightly colored t-shirt. Did I mention that I was shopping for shoes for ALL my kiddos today? The gal behind the counter tried to convince me I need to do just a little more shopping. What?!? I'm sure I met their daily quota by myself!

At lunch he met Gmama, Uncle Danny and Cousin Jack. Jack is 13 and only about 6 months younger than Denys. After a while of silence they began drawing pictures and writing notes and playing games on iPhones. I am always amazed how fun knows no language boundaries! It was a joy for me to watch them figure out how to be friends. I was proud of Jack for being unselfish and showing love.

He ate 3 hotdogs and did not touch the ketchup. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with how this thing is supposed to work let me explain: He's not supposed to want to eat anything we try to feed him and what he does eat he's supposed to slather with ketchup. (Per the stories of the other NHFC host families past and present.) This kid is amazing in that he truly does eat everything we put in front of him. He doesn't seem to eat grudgingly either. He starts slowly, but at the end of the meal there's nothing left on his plate. WOW. If only Jonah and Millie Grace would pick-up on that life skill!

After dinner (streak-o-lean, biscuits, potatoes and molasses - yep, he ate it all) we packed up and we headed to Macon.

*NOTE: If you are a sketch-o-rama reading this then please stop now. As far as you are concerned we are at home and are armed to the gills. If Hooper doesn't eat you on the way in, you won't make it out.*

Now, for those of you who aren't looking to burgle our home while we're gone, we're in Macon until Saturday. Denys was asleep before we could get gas and get out of town. He slept the full ride down and wasn't quite ready to wake when we arrived.

But, Papa & Honey's house is Christmas Magic Land. I have not counted the total number of push-button music makers in their house, but we have to be pushing 50. I couldn't resist the temptation to post Denys's favorite one:

SCORE! (I can't believe I was actually able to post that!!)

Are you getting sound? I'm not. If you don't it's a rthymic/rap version of "Jingle Bells." And, it's hysterical the first 27 times you hear it! Now, I've heard these guys are at Cracker Barrel, but if one shows up at my house I will personally find a way to make this giver's life a misery. All the kiddos do love these elves, but we only been here 2 hours and have head them Jingle Belling 66 times (I don't think that's an exaggeration).

My parents really do put on an amazing Christmas show and I'm so glad we brought him down. Short of Callaway Gardens you won't find a brighter, more festive place to spend the holidays. I only wish our visit was going to be longer.

Denys took a bubble bath in Honey & Papa's giant garden tub. He didn't have much to say about it, but I think he enjoyed it. I noticed that he didn't use his washcloth or the soap - hmmmm. But at least he washed his hair!

It's eye doctor and Bass Pro Shop visits tomorrow. We should have some good stories then too. I'm thinking of calling the interpreter just to make sure things are going as well for Denys as they are for us. (Wouldn't that be a downer if we were having a great time and he wasn't!?!)

Oh, and I'll have to add the story about this lamb in at some point. Suffice it to say he is something that Denys and I do not see eye to eye on!

Prayers for me as I think I may be coming down with some kind of cootie bug and Happy Birthday to Anna Ruth who turns two today.

~Meg

Day 1 - Conquered

Glory! Hallelujah! And pass the offering plate. We have everyone in the bed and it's 9:30p. I'm so excited (and ready for bed myself) I can't hardly stand it.

Let me begin by getting all you late arrivals up to speed on what is happening. We are NOT adopting. We are HOSTING. New Horizons for Children (NHFC) is an orphan hosting program that brings Eastern European kiddos to the states twice a year - during the summer and during Christmas. (They are also opening a China hosting program and that crew will come for the first time in Feb. Yay!) And before you get worried, let me explain that these kids would be travelling during these seasons anyway and going on some sort of holiday. Coming to the States is just in place of another institution, camp, or European destination. Now Denys (our handsome fella) is available for adoption and if you are interested in that please talk with us and let us know, but under NO circumstances is anyone to say anything to him regarding the "A Word." It's off limits. Period.

*Just checked on this awesome kid and he is snoozing! Yay! I told him lights out & video games off at 9:30p and he complied! Wow!*

If you saw my earlier post I want to explain that I in no way meant anything negative towards NHFC. They have done a fabulous job putting this program together and because of international flight delays, that were completely out of there control, have nearly 230 eastern Europeans at their expected destinations (among nearly as many families) in under 24 hours. That's outstanding work! My intent was merely to share how overwhelmed I was feeling. NHFC has done a superb job preparing us; there's just no way to not be overwhelmed when a 14-year-old who speaks no English joins your family!

The good news is that he's eaten everything I put in front of him thus far. He did choose the pizza (fresh deli pizza) for lunch. Dinner was BBQ chicken (NC style) with roasted potatoes, peas/broccoli, and bread. He also had some Southern sweet tea! He cleaned his plate and, when offered, did not choose seconds.

Funny food story - I was teaching him to put his plate in the sink when finished eating and he thought I meant for him to wash it!

As far as the kiddos go, Jonah, Millie Grace, and Anna Ruth love him already. AR follows him around saying, "Hey, Denys. Hey, Denys. Hey, Denys." The highlight of my day was to the oldest 3 in a Nerf gun battle all over the yard (anyone want to donate Nerf bullets??) They had a BLAST. Even when MaMac (my grandmother) came to visit she was "talking" with Denys and suddenly Nerf bullets started flying. He light up like a Christmas tree and ran off to find his gun and fire back!

And just in case you didn't know, 14-year-old boys from Ukraine smell much like 14-year-old boys from the States! He has not been nearly as excited about the American underwear I bought him as he is about his new (in the package) underwear he brought from home. I put it in his drawer anyway. I hope by the time the 3 pair he brought get dirty he'll figure out that the others are necessary. He was, however, excited about American deodorant. (Yay.)

Oh, did I mention we decorated the tree? It was fun and Denys never missed a beat - getting the back of the tree covered as nicely as the front. And we only suffered one ornament casualty in the melee!

As of now he's not used to lots of hugging, but between the 5 of us and FBC Tallapoosa he'll get over that pretty soon. Family story time seemed a little awkward for him as well, but he sat patiently while I read about Mike Huckabee opening all his Christmas presents early.

The best God-moment of the day was when I sent the kids to check the mail and Jonah came in with a package. I had ordered a Richard Scarry book in Ukrainian/English from a publisher in Canada several weeks ago. He mailed it ahead of receiving my check payment and it came today! A small event orchestrated wonderfully to coincide with Denys' arrival. Thanks to this silly little book we won't have to run to the computer every time we need to say something. It has also given me the chance to make sure my kids hear words in Ukrainian and he hears lots of specific words in English.

Whew. I think that's enough for tonight. Tomorrow is a new day and I have another 17 hours or so I've got to figure out how to fill for a house full of kiddos. Keep us in your prayers. Pray specifically that we have peace in our home, that our communication grows stronger and easier, and that God graces us all with a special love for each other.

~Meg

Our Plan for Christmas

Tomorrow we'll get to 4 Under $40. Today I felt it was time to let the world know (he he) our plans for Christmas.

Yes, we'll still be at home. Yes, we'll still go to the half-dozen Christmas parties we can't avoid. And yes, we are still getting our babies Christmas presents (we've not totally lost our minds).

But this year, Christmas won't just be about us. This year Christmas at our house will be about Denys, too.

Denys is our new friend who will be with our family over the Christmas Holidays. He will come all the way from Ukraine (that's Eastern Europe), arrive on December 18th and return home January 15th. Whether or not he's orphaned in the truest sense of the word, he lives in an institution and will be experiencing Christmas in America this year.

And no, we are not adopting Denys. We are hosting Denys. In January he will return home.

Last summer I randomly came across the name of the group New Horizons for Children (NHFC) on Facebook. I "liked" their page which meant I began to receive their feeds on my news page and discovered what this group was doing. I found out that twice a year they visit Eastern European institutions and interview kiddos and the institution workers to see which kids might benefit from a trip to the US and would fit well into a family environment during that time. As I followed these posts I thought, "Wow. That's a really cool idea. I'm glad someone thought of it". And, "Good for these families."

Fast forward six months and on my news feed pops up this photo of a super cute kiddo - Denys - who is in need of a host family for the Dec/Jan trip. I show the pic to The Preacher and read him the 4 sentence bio. He says, "Call and check on it." I do. And Denys has already been spoken for. The NHFC staff encourages us to look at the photo-listing for other kids and . . . well, we don't. We're not really interested in other kids. Fast forward another few weeks and his photo pops up again. His initial host family has fallen through and he's available. The Preacher says, "Call and check it out."

I call again and get a little more information and discover Denys is a bit older than we thought he was from his photo. I tell the gal we'll think about and I'll let her know. Two days later we receive a phone call from another NHFC worker who tells us that not only is Denys available, but he has a scholarship and his hosting fees are half-price!

Did I mention that part of hosting is footing the bill for getting him here, flights, documentation, room and board, and getting him home?

I look over at The Preacher and tell him. He says, "Let's do it."

Because God is big, he had seen fit to provide. The Sunday before Denys became available again our church family had blessed us and honored us in an amazing way. Thanks to their generosity and some side jobs The Preacher had recently completed, when the opportunity came to say "yes" to Denys, we were able to do so with much freedom and peace.

At the risk of boring you or adding more typos that you can bear to read I'll stop here for the night. I'll add more about Denys in the coming days; let you know how he does while he's here and what we're up to with him. I'll even fill you in how completely nuts our families think we are (of course, they were headed down that path anyway!). If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll answer them as best I can. Also, check out the NHFC website and the New Horizons Facebook page and see who they are and the ministry they do. It really is super-neat.

~Megan