Well, it’s the night before he arrives and it’s no surprise that I’m my usual self…easily excited, overly anxious and even a bit sentimental. As I sit here on the couch watching the US OPEN I can’t help but think about the blond headed 10 year old boy who left home today at the 1500 hour….roughly 8am this morning our time. I wonder where he is right now, how he’s doing, is he hungry, is he tired? We won’t actually be hugging him until 11 o’clock tomorrow night. It’s a long way for a young man to go, but I’m glad he does it…glad his mom has the faith to allow him to do it.
When I think about it now, I’m not sure what made us originally sign up for this experience…maybe God just nudged us one morning at church and we responded and the next thing we knew we had a 6 week visitor in our home. When we first heard about the program (The American Belarussian Relief Organization) I remember thinking, “That’s cool. We could do that.” But I think that about a lot of things and we don’t actually DO them. Over time, I started searching for information from people who had already hosted children in the past. After hearing their stories and meeting with Don and Yasmin Teeter, we decided we were in…we just didn’t know exactly what that meant.
So, last summer was our first summer with a non-english speaking Belarussian child in our home. I wish I had taken the time then to write about his FIRST experience with us or I guess I should say, OUR first experience with him . There were so many funny things that happened, yet I can’t recount them right now. This blog is about this summer and this experience. This summer begins tonight…and it’s filled with all the anticipation that goes with seeing someone you love, when you haven’t seen them in a really long time. I can’t wait to hug him! I can't wait to see how much he's changed...and how much he has stayed the same. :)
I think we are prepared…but those are big words. His bed is ready. We’ve got plenty of groceries. We went to Walmart last night and bought him some new socks and clean underwear along with a few t-shirts and shorts. We thankfully received the bag of "hand me down" clothes that Tricia brought over for him and they are all placed in the drawers in his room, ready for wearing. We’re ready…and now we just wait.
We tucked Sydney in bed a little while ago and told her to rest up. She’ll be up late tomorrow night since we told her that we would take her with us to meet the bus when Venya arrives. (Something she didn’t get to do last year.) In the morning, Yasmin and Don (and several others from the group) will take the bus from Coastal Christian High School to Charlotte…meet the kids, hug the kids, feed the kids and then start the four hour trip back to Wilmington.
I pray for safe travels for everyone. I pray that the kids don’t get sick, as many have done in the past after traveling for over 30 hours. I pray for Tatsiana (Venya’s mother) who must have kissed her son goodbye this morning. I’m grateful for so many things, but tonight I’m overly sentimental about the fact that I have a home that is a “holiday” spot for a child from another country. I’m grateful for my church (PC3) and for the mission that it steadfastly sticks to which is "to reach people and help them walk with God.” Thank you for helping me…now God, give me strength, to help Venya for the next 6 weeks and beyond.
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