Hosting Program

Last meeting we had about the hosting program was productive as we had a lot more people show up with some great ideas. It is cool to see that the group has grown to help these children that have no idea!!! One of the big topics was figuring out how we are going to raise all the money to pay for the children to come in so the host families don't have to come up with the $2,500 for each child. Some families are hosting siblings so that's a lot of money to have to come up with in such a short amount of time. Lori Walk, whom is heading the hosting program, was determined to come up with the whole $50,000, however, it has been a little more challenging than expected. As of the meeting last Wednesday, we were about half way to the goal. We all agreed to try and come up with $2,000 each to help cover the costs. I admit, it's been a little more difficult than I expected. About a day later, Lori found out that most of the money is needed to purchase the children's airfare today. Hopefully we had enough money to cover that so all the children will make the trip!!!

If you are interested in helping out, please send a check to Truth Quest Ministries. They are a 501 c3 non profit organization. You may send it directly to them at Truth Quest Ministries, 520 Schoch Hollow Road, Tyrone, Pa 16686. We would GREATLY appreciate your help!

The dates of the trip are August 13th through the 29th. They are also looking for 2 passenger vans that can hold up to 15 people if anyone knows of any, please contact Lori at 312-3204 or email her at questhavenlodge@aol.com. They are flying into Philly. I am not sure of the time yet.

Dusty and I are getting so excited, however, it has been more stressful than we thought due to the financial part of it. All we have to do is look at Dema's picture and all our worries go away!!

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Adoption Process

Yesterday we completed our home study and met with the Social Worker from Families United Network, to make sure were not crazy people that would use our child for slavery:) The lady was extremely nice and very helpful through this part of the process. I felt relief after meeting with her thinking we can relax for a bit....until we received an email from the US adoption agency that we are working with! David form Advocate for Orphans International sent us an extremely detailed email with the next round of paperwork. He is so organized that he's got everything down to the dollar amount for where our money is going to!!!! He also has how long it will take to fill out each form! He so has made us feel so relaxed in this process so far. I have heard some horror stories and so far have not once wondered where our money will be going or if we are using the right agencies. This could be an extremely confusing process, however, everyone has held our hand through each step. Your initial thought of the amount of money it costs to adopt is....where does the money go???...however, once you see it all spelled out for you, you understand.

Our next step is to fill out a few forms and wait for the home study to be completed. So, we may actually have a little bit of a break:) We are about 3 weeks away from Dema coming and each day seems to drag!!! In one hand we are looking forward to him coming and then on the other hand, we are so nervous to meet him. So many questions popping in our minds.....will he fit in our family? Will he like us...because when we are at the court in Ukraine, he will make the decision to be adopted by us! Will he have some major issues that we will have to deal with?

We have been getting that last question a lot and it's kind of funny to us. When someone is having a baby, do you ask what you'll do if they are not what you expected? You wouldn't give your baby to someone else because they weren't easy to take care of right? I know everyone is truly looking out for us, but we feel this child caught our attention for a reason and we will do what ever we have to do to give this boy a safe and loving home!

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Children need hope.

We had our weekly meeting about the hosting program last night. I was a little upset to find out that there still needs to be a good amount of money raised for the hosting program. From what I understand, if we don't raise all the money, the children that don't have a family to host them will most likely not come to the United States. This is their only hope of adoption! The sad part is, if they don't make the trip, they will not be told why. They will again think that no one wants them:( If a child has a host family, but is staying with a family that is not looking to adopt them, then they may be held back from the trip as well. The children that are looking to be adopted will make the trip. Please pray that the money will come through to give all the kids hope of adoption! Even those families that are looking to host a child will give that child a chance because they will expose them to possibly being adopted. Please pass the word around about this hosting program and that they are in need of funding and families to adopt. I know it's a difficult time, however, this is a great opportunity for these children!! They may never get a chance again.

It was heartbreaking to also find out that one of the little girls that Dusty and I were thinking about is not coming on the hosting program because she has false hope that her parent is coming back to pick her up. So heartbreaking that she has not been told the truth. She most likely will be on the streets in a few years and probably go into prostitution because she has no family or place to live!

We realize that this is going to be a very emotional journey and just hope and pray that these children are given an opportunity to get adopted. You all can help by just spreading the word! If you want to help financially, maybe go to your church or whomever to help these children! Contact Lori Walk at 814-312-3204 or questhavenlodge@aol.com.

We are still looking for clothing for ages 6-14 for the children to go shopping when they arrive!! I am not sure about toys as they will most likely not have the room to take them back. I know they don't have many toys there. Lori Walk said she purchased some jump ropes and stuff for the children when she was there going through her adoption process.

In addition to funding, the camp has received some amazing donations from Eden View Farm that will donate breakfast to the children and staff during their 5 day camp and for lunch, Pizza Factory has donated the lunches!!!! Please support these businesses for being so gracious! They are still in need of donations for dinner. If you think your church or a group you belong to would donate dinner one night, that would be wonderful!!!!!

Thanks for reading!

Tentative Dates for Hosting Program

Dusty and I attended a prayer and support group last night at the Quest Haven Lodge in Tyrone where the camp will take place. We were able to meet the other families that are looking to host and those who are looking to adopt as well. We were just amazed at the love and support that is going on to help these children find homes here in America. This is their only hope to possibly get adopted. It was sad to see that some of the original children are not making the trip due to not finding a host family and the orphanage not thinking they have a chance of being adopted. Our hearts also went out to a family of 5 children that are living in the orphanage and are looked at as having no chance of being adopted. Lori Walk, who just adopted Anastasiya just over a month ago and is organizing this hosting camp, is determined to find the right family for the 5 siblings. She wasn't given information about them because they don't think there is even a chance for adoption, how sad!!!! Every child deserves to have a family and to belong!!!!!

As of right now it looks like the children will be coming in on the 8th or 9th of August and will stay until they have to get back to school on the 30th!! We are hoping this is how long they will stay, however, Lori said that it could always change. The first five days the children will participate in a camp at the Quest Haven Lodge. Anyone that would like to help, please contact Lori Walk at 814-312-3204 or email here at questhavenlodge@aol.com. You will just need to have clearances and an open heart to show these children love!

If anyone would like to help out with donating children's clothing from ages 6-14, we will collect the clothing so the children have a change of clothes while they are here as they will only have the clothes on their backs. If you would like to donate clothes, contact Lori or email me at tskel1@verizon.net.

Please pray that all of these children coming to the hosting program get adopted! They have no one praying for them and have given up hope that they have someone to love them!

Thanks for reading!

Some of you who are just finding out about our adoption journey are probably saying "How did this happen?" Long story short, we received our weekly email from a local organic farmer. They mentioned that a local couple just adopted a girl from the Ukraine and were looking for families to host with the possibility of adopting a child or siblings that are coming to the United States for a Christian Camp in August. After looking into it further and viewing the children that were coming over we felt like we needed to do more than host. We were able to look at the children and look at some information about them. Dusty and I didn't know it at the time, but we kept looking at the same child. His name is Dmytro (Dema) and is 13 year old. After hearing the details of what little they eat, that they share clothes, and "graduate" from the orphanages when they turn 16 years old. Most of the children have no family or home to go to afterwards and turn to crime or prostitution. Some children can't handle it and commit suicide. We couldn't look at Dmytro and think of him being on the streets by himself.

we have are now starting the paperwork for the adoption process. We are a little stressed about figuring how we are going to have the money to start the process, however, we just have to stay positive that things will work out for Dmytro to be home with us in about 6 months. His little grin gives us the strength to stay positive!

Thanks for reading!
Tina