Mary and her husband raised two sons who are just leaving home, so they had good reason to be going to Hawaii. But they decided to invest in a little life instead this summer.
14 year old Alex has grown up his whole life in an orphanage. He has never know the love of a parent, well, until he met Mary and Steve.
But wait, let me tell you how she was feeling before Alex got here, when he was still just one picture of a smiling orphan staring back at her.
Hosting an orphan has unknowns, right? Plus, how would they communicate, she wondered, so she told me, “Ok, so we will have to get together a lot, we have a pool so bring the kids, because I don’t really know what I am getting myself into, right?” she asked me.
Me: “A pool? We’ll be there…” and I really prepared to be there. Well, turns out, they didn’t even need us….
Fast forward like all the weeks that he has been here, and these are all the pictures I saw being posted, (no texts asking for help…) turns out, they were having the time of their lives…
Then FINALLY….we finally got the invite! (lol, I am just giving Mary a hard time 😉
Pool Party!! Vlad and his host family, and some other friends of ours all got together for a BBQ at the pool.
I think that’s how it is with orphans, they just surprise you. You may have ideas in your head, the few stories the the news latches onto, and maybe forgetting that they are just, you know, people. Kids. Who are wonderful. These two teens boys were kind, respectful, helpful…I mean, just amazing.
Mary said that 14 year old Alex’s all time favorite thing to do was: play Legos. He could play legos for hours, which is a common theme for older orphans; allowing them to be little because they never before had the chance.
You guys, a 14 year old boy, probably the last most would want to pick, is picked! He is chosen for a family, all his own!

Aww LOVE these happy endings! Yay Alex!!!
These posts bring tears to my eyes and make my heart go tight…..I hope he gets his family…and know what it is to be loved….
Oh, ya gotta stop with all these gorgeous stories of hosting and adopting. They just make me cry when I get to the end and it all turns out for the best! It is like Alex is the last piece of their family puzzle. How magic that he will have those 2 big bro’s to grow up with. Seriously, these could be made into a book – The Happy Endings Book!
Cheers – Joolz xx
Can I just say how much I am enjoying this series you are doing? Seriously, it’s a breath of fresh air! Thank you so much for bringing attention to these precious children!