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A Look into Orphan Hosting: 15 year old Girl, “M”

Here is a sweet orphan hosting story, with fun ending.  A family full of boys hosting a 15 year old girl?  Let the pictures speak for themselves on this one 🙂  Enjoy!

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What made you want to host an orphan and  how did your family feel?

 I have actually never heard of hosting until I read my friends blog. I am not much of a blog reader but something about the title of her blog drew me in. After I read her blog I then called my mom and asked , “Hey by any chance did you read Alicia’s blog”? She replied “That is so funny you would ask because when I was reading her blog I thought of you but I wasn’t going to bring it up, I was going to wait if you brought it up to me”.

I started to feel the Lord’s leading about hosting. Now how was I going to convince my husband?  I knew it wouldn’t be easy.  After mentioning it to my husband he was hesitant at first.  I explained to him that we could bring a child, who has little to no family, from a poor environment and share the love of Christ with them ( I mean isn’t that what Christmas is about ? Christ)  He was, and I quote “All in”!  Wow!

I began looking at the photo listing of waiting orphans, trying to choose a child which I found to be harder than I thought. Until we found our sweet M! You see we have three boys ages 12,10,and 8 so my only preference was a girl.I mean who wouldn’t want to have a partner to shop with and to go get mani pedis with?  She was 15 and had a sweet description.

 

What were your feelings and preparations before you Hosted?

 

To be honest with you as I started to read the parent training manual I was really scared and almost backed out. You see these kids come with a lot of hurt. You hope for the best, but they prepare you for the worst. I put my trust in the Lord and knew that if he called me to do this, he would get me through.

We explained to our boys what we were doing,  they were very excited to be getting a new sister even if it was only for four weeks. Once our family was all on board and eager to bring her here and show her love, we began preparing for her, it was so fun!  We got her some new clothes and shoes and other necessities, when the kids come over here they only come with the clothes on their back. We were lucky enough to have  many friends and family donate clothes, and we went and got her some cute girl stuff and created her own room together, it was so fun to do as a family.  As we waited for her arrival I would walk by her room and just envision her in there safe, warm, full and loved. She couldn’t get here fast enough!

 

Share with us some of your hosting experiences what was it like day-to-day. What stands out to you as really special.

 

 I first picked her up in Chicago, we live in So Cal but they need chaperones to help fly with some kids so I met her in Chicago then flew home with her to California.  She was so sweet but so shy and unsure, this was her first time being hosted.  She was nervous.  When we got her home, she instantly connected with my boys. She was so sweet with them and you could tell she genuinely loved them from the start. Everyday she opened up to us more and more.

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She went from smiling with her mouth closed to showing all her teeth by the time she left. She starting joking with us more and opening up to us everyday.

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Some days we would go go go, and other days she would just lay with us on the couch and hang out. Either way she knew she was loved and was safe. You could see it in her eyes. We had so many special days but ones that stand out most is the day she met with my friend Vera. You see Vera is also from Eastern Europe and speaks the same language as M, it was such a special connection, and I feel as though God once again proved to me that he know what he’s doing, I felt so happy that we stepped out and said yes to hosting, to M.

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By the end of their time together M had given her life to Christ. She now would go back to EE with hope and with a Heavenly Father who was better then any Earthly father could be. I am forever thankful to Vera for this meeting! So Vera if you are reading this Thank you I am blessed to call you a friend.

Another thing that stands out to me is when we were having her “see you later” party the night before her departure and everyone who had grown to love her (especially my niece Bryn who was also the same age) was upset and crying, it was M who consoled them. I mean, shouldn’t be the other way around? She’s the one going back to nobody and to poor living conditions, not us. But  she showed compassion and love for us.  She kept telling  us “No cry please no cry”.

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She is amazing simply amazing.

What were some of the highlights of hosting? Why? What were some of the hard parts?

Hosting was an amazing experience.  To bring a child over who has nothing and to show them they are worth so much more then they’re being told is priceless. To share the love of Christ with them is what we are called to do.

James 1:27 Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.

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I feel honored that God chose us to bring M into our home and show her his love through us. What I found to be hard was just to see this little girl and know she had been abandoned at a young age and I couldn’t make up for everything she missed out on in life.

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To know she had no mom to go to for advice, someone to hold her hair as she was sick and tell her everything was gonna be ok. To know that she would not have a dad to walk her down the aisle or to be an example to what she should look for in her future husband.  All these things just flooded my mind.

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To know that in 4 weeks we would be sending her back just as she started opening up. How could we do that? All I knew is that in those 4 weeks I was gonna let her know her worth in this world. I was gonna let her know that even though she feels abandoned that she is loved by us but more importantly by Christ.  Psalm 27:10 Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close.

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How has hosting changed your life? Or the life of your hosted child?

Well when we first started this journey we were only going to host…

My husband and I talked about  adoption and it just wasn’t something God called us to do…

Well…

We all know God has a sense of humor. M stole our hearts and we felt a strong pull on our hearts that God was calling us to bring this little girl into our home. So here we are in the process of adopting our sweet M!

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We are so, so excited!  We can’t wait!  We are also nervous; a teenage girl in my house for me to raise who speaks very little English? Am I crazy? Maybe but I love her and she loves us. It’s a good thing that Love doesn’t need words, love means the same in all languages through our actions. God is good and we trust him wholeheartedly in our journey with M.

Now to get her home our prayer is this that every document gets filled out correctly and we are able to get through this fast and with no hiccups. We all miss her so much and just want our daughter home.

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You can donate to Campbell’s adoption here, every tiny donation adds up for families working their hardest to bring their kids out of orphanages.  Please donate and share:


http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/operation-bring-m-home-/292878

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  • Crystal January 23, 2015, 5:39 am

    We once hosted a Spanish 15-year-old in a foreign exchange student program. We had her for a year and would have LOVED to have adopted her…except she has an amazing family in Spain who just wouldn’t agree to that. 🙂 15-year-old girls can be such blessings!