Hosting

So it begins...

We are going to be hosting a child over a three week period this summer. The child is coming from an orphanage in the Ukraine. The what? That's right the Ukraine. Let me back up and fill in some gaps.

The new church we are attending partners with an organization called Redline United (check 'em out at www.redlineunited.org). For the past couple of years they have sent mission teams over to the Ukraine to a visit orphanages and as much as possible, or allowed, share the gospel. Last summer they flipped it around. Instead of sending a mission group over to the Ukraine, they brought 16 orphans over to the US. These children stayed with host families during their stay. The families basically welcomed the children into the homes. During their stay the children attended VBS at the church. They went on a couple of field trips to the beach and zoo. Redline also put on a Sunday picnic for the families and children to get together. The purpose of the hosting program, as best as I can tell, was twofold. First, immerse the children in a fun study of Jesus Christ. Second, get the children adopted. If the host family was not going to adopt, they became the child's advocate. 15 of the 16 children who came over last year were adopted. To hear some of the stories of the adoptions, you know God was clearly at work.

When we first heard about the hosting opportunity we were excited. Though, with my wife's travel, we didn't think they would allow us to host if one parent were missing for a week. Well, as it turns out, she would only miss a weekend. No problem, what's next?

Redline has done a fabulous job of developing a process to get you ready to host a child. The first few steps in getting ready is watching about a dozen instructional videos...which will prompt a discussion about the topic and at least open your eyes to the potential environment these children are raised in. Next is taking an online course. Again, they are trying to better prepare you for what to expect. The third piece of the prep process is attending three information sessions. One of these info sessions included a panel of host/adoptive families from last year. This was a priceless session as we got to hear four different stories on the hosting, how they came to the decision to adopt, to the adoption process itself.

Now it's our turn. We've submitted our application, watched and studied (and prayed). Two days ago, we found out the name and received pictures of the child we will be hosting. I'm not sure who is being blessed more in this process. The Redline staff for knowing they are enriching the lives of these children, and the people who participate. The blessing on the children is the potential to find a permanent family, both on Earth and in Heaven. By the way, you have to admire the courage of these kids to leave their home, fly half way around the world to a land that is about as foreign as it gets for a Ukrainian, live with strangers, and hope that someone will love them and adopt them. These guys are my new heroes. That's livin! The final blessing is on the families who host and or adopt. As we go through this, we will continue to share our experiences, good and bad, to help those who go through this next year.

For now, we wait and pray.

"Follow Me!"

Allow me to tell a story to explain the title of this blog. Back in college I had the opportunity to go snow skiing. Being from the Texas coast and having gone water skiing many times, I figured how hard could this snow skiing be. Well, let's just say that snow and water ain't the same (5 years and a chemical engineering degree to come to that conclusion). I was at the top of the mountain standing with a couple of friends about to lead the way down and I said, "Follow me." The next second I was sliding down the mountain on my side listening to the laughter of my buddies at the top. This phrase became a battle cry of sorts from then on.

Little did I know at the time that this same phrase was spoken by Jesus to Peter. I am no Jesus, far from it...way far from it. Needless to say, I liked the message, so it stuck.

Now for the real reason behind a blog as I can barely stand to take notes, much less keep a diary. An organization "affiliated" with our new church brings orphans from the Ukraine to the states for 3 weeks in the summer. During that time they will stay with a host family and attend VBS at the church and basically be a member of the host family. In a nutshell, we are planning to be a host family. Though, that's only a fraction of what we feel moved to do. We have an overwhelming desire to adopt one of these children. Because of this, we want to keep a running dialog of what we are going through from hosting to the first steps off the plane as our child. This will be similar to a pregnancy in many ways. We won't know the sex for at least a few weeks (though odds are great it will be a boy). The process takes anywhere from 7-9 months with loads of uncertainty. The biggest difference this time around is I'll probably be the one who gets all emotional.

Lastly,there are families who went through this process last year and a few of them blogged their experience. From our perspective, it helps take some of the edge off the unknown. Really it gives us the sense that it can be done, just pray and wait. So for now, we pray and wait.