A New Chapter

Things just keep changing. We were intending to host another Ukrainian child but fell in love with a girl from a different country in Eastern Europe instead.  "E" is an adorable 12 yr old girl who's story is heartbreaking. She's been hosted 4 times before (since 10 yrs old) and never been invited back or adopted. In her interview for summer she asked why no one picked her for winter hosting and why no one ever wanted her.  She said that she liked all her host families and told the interviewer that she really wants to be adopted and someone came to adopt her once but she was sick and couldn't go (not true, but this is the story she tells because the real story "no one wants her" is too painful).

There's nothing bad about her. I spoke to her last host mom and the mom said she's a wonderful girl with a heart full of love who desperately wants someone to want her.  She is described as "strong-willed, independent and active".  That's code for - argues a lot, wants to do things her way, needs to be kept busy.  But those are all things I'm okay with. She's been in an orphanage or group home since she was a year old, those are survival skills.  And sometimes those "tough" kids are some of the most resilient if you take the time to work through some difficulties.

Here's the other things about her though - she loves little kids and is incredibly nurturing. She loves animals, especially horses (which finally gives me an excuse to get a horse someday). She's a hard worker and loves to be helpful, she's smart, caring.  She can be a "super girly-girl" but also a bit of a tomboy and is very athletic.  She really seems like a girl who would fit in wonderfully around here and we can't wait to meet her!

We were initially intending to wait and commit a little later down the road, but "E" just seems like an incredible kid but also a kid who can't emotionally handle another rejection and we want to protect her from that if possible. She's absolutely adorable, but that often means people who aren't prepared for "tougher" kids fall in love with the cute one and then are overwhelmed later.  There's no guarantee that we're right for her, but we do have a lot of experience parenting children which other people rejected so we feel that we may be "E"'s best shot.

Of course, that does bring us to the one difficult part of hosting - finances.  The organization just changed their deposit policy to require a lot more up front - we owe $1500 within a week!  I understand their reasoning, some people were backing out at the last minute, but that's still quite a bit to come up with in a short time.  So my continual plea - if you're considering hosting then please do, that's top priority!  But if you can't host yet would like to help an orphan, we'd greatly appreciate your tax-deductible donation.  You can go here to donate and it's applied directly to our hosting account:

https://www.razoo.com/story/Homesforhearts?referral_code=share

Thank you!