Please go to this website to view the unfoldment of the rest of our story. It is our new blogsite.
http://www.gift-of-family.org/our-story/
We will post all updates on our new blogsite. Thank you for visiting.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Selected
" It makes no difference how someone enters a family, by birth or adoption. When souls are meant to be together, there is no stopping it. I am convinced of this. " my friend exclaimed to me. Divine providence. Afterwards she declared she had been adopted as an infant. No accident, no random kids with random families. Selected.
Hopeful, our host kids both expressed a strong desire to return to us for Christmas hosting. "I zdiez Merry Christmas?", Alexander would ask, while Tina stated " I Christmas here! I Christmas with you! "
How can we deny their hearts' desire? I cannot bear the idea , the thought of Alexander and Tina on the streets. Alone. Cold . Hungry. Prowlers on the lookout.
Yes,their country is filled with hundreds of thousands of orphans. Many in desperate need of a loving home. As one family, we are able to add only a few children to our family.
Often kids with physical and/or mental disabilities are viewed as special needs and far more difficult to adopt out. In my mind it takes a very special, loving family to adopt these kids. God calls everyone to various missions. To the majority of adoptive parents only children aged five and under are desirable.Hence the long waiting lists of two plus years for the precious babies.
Shocking as it may seem, human trafficking is currently thriving. After graduation,at age 16 or 17, many young girls and boys in Ukraine fall into the hands of profit-seeking predators. Tempting them with false promises, these men lure the teen kids into prostitution, nationally and internationally. In the USA the number of sex slaves is one of the highest but unknown. Re-usable resources it is called. The term slaves is correct, these kids are owned and forced into prostitution. Sometimes they are sold to others for a few hundred dollars each.
Other orphans end up on the streets and live underground without a thing.
Typically, orphans in Ukraine attend a trading school after graduation, with appalling housing,drug and alcohol abuse, lack of food, clothes and hygiene. Their schooling is incomplete, not at all to be compared to USA highschool graduation, think tenth grade or so. Consequently many are compelled to work during the day and attend evening school and unable to pursue a college education . Fifteen percent commits suicide within two years of graduation, a shocking percentage(70%) of boys turns into hardened criminals. Graduation conjures up positive images for many people. For these teenage kids it is like a terrible dream, only REAL.
Before you will be finished reading this sentence an orphan will have "aged out" of an orphanage, leaving the only world they have known for years, sometimes their entire lifetime,behind. They are literally put out on the streets with not much more than the clothes on their backs. 31 August was graduation day across Eastern Europe.
Are kids over five, over ten, special needs? Yes,they are "too old". Nobody wants to adopt them. Nobody knows about them. Nobody cares.
In the adoption arena they are labeled special needs. Their needs are real and they are URGENT.
How can we sit back and do nothing?
It is possible to adopt these kids before they "age out" of the orphanage and offer them a better future, a home, a loving family.
Thanks to hosting organizations such as Children's Cultural Connection, some of these kids are hosted in the USA, and consequently often adopted into wonderful , nurturing families.
Our hosting kids fall into this category. Yes they are both beautiful, fun, kind, good- hearted and smart.Still, they remain special needs. A small window of opportunity is still open for them.
Christmas hosting is on the horizon. Hosting fees are due soon enough . Fundraisers on the menu for us this time around.
Tina and Alexander asked to be with us for Christmas.
If you would like to contribute to their return please view our puzzle fundraiser with instructions. Or if you would like to donate with a check , please send to : Hosting funds c/o Saryon
PO Box 903
Mt. Shasta , CA 96067
The hosting deposit is due September 15th.,the remainder of $ 4300 in mid October.
For information about our local raffle please contact me at : ailita@sbcglobal.
We are so grateful for everyone's support and love for our kids.
Hopeful, our host kids both expressed a strong desire to return to us for Christmas hosting. "I zdiez Merry Christmas?", Alexander would ask, while Tina stated " I Christmas here! I Christmas with you! "
How can we deny their hearts' desire? I cannot bear the idea , the thought of Alexander and Tina on the streets. Alone. Cold . Hungry. Prowlers on the lookout.
Yes,their country is filled with hundreds of thousands of orphans. Many in desperate need of a loving home. As one family, we are able to add only a few children to our family.
Often kids with physical and/or mental disabilities are viewed as special needs and far more difficult to adopt out. In my mind it takes a very special, loving family to adopt these kids. God calls everyone to various missions. To the majority of adoptive parents only children aged five and under are desirable.Hence the long waiting lists of two plus years for the precious babies.
Shocking as it may seem, human trafficking is currently thriving. After graduation,at age 16 or 17, many young girls and boys in Ukraine fall into the hands of profit-seeking predators. Tempting them with false promises, these men lure the teen kids into prostitution, nationally and internationally. In the USA the number of sex slaves is one of the highest but unknown. Re-usable resources it is called. The term slaves is correct, these kids are owned and forced into prostitution. Sometimes they are sold to others for a few hundred dollars each.
Other orphans end up on the streets and live underground without a thing.
Typically, orphans in Ukraine attend a trading school after graduation, with appalling housing,drug and alcohol abuse, lack of food, clothes and hygiene. Their schooling is incomplete, not at all to be compared to USA highschool graduation, think tenth grade or so. Consequently many are compelled to work during the day and attend evening school and unable to pursue a college education . Fifteen percent commits suicide within two years of graduation, a shocking percentage(70%) of boys turns into hardened criminals. Graduation conjures up positive images for many people. For these teenage kids it is like a terrible dream, only REAL.
Before you will be finished reading this sentence an orphan will have "aged out" of an orphanage, leaving the only world they have known for years, sometimes their entire lifetime,behind. They are literally put out on the streets with not much more than the clothes on their backs. 31 August was graduation day across Eastern Europe.
Are kids over five, over ten, special needs? Yes,they are "too old". Nobody wants to adopt them. Nobody knows about them. Nobody cares.
In the adoption arena they are labeled special needs. Their needs are real and they are URGENT.
How can we sit back and do nothing?
It is possible to adopt these kids before they "age out" of the orphanage and offer them a better future, a home, a loving family.
Thanks to hosting organizations such as Children's Cultural Connection, some of these kids are hosted in the USA, and consequently often adopted into wonderful , nurturing families.
Our hosting kids fall into this category. Yes they are both beautiful, fun, kind, good- hearted and smart.Still, they remain special needs. A small window of opportunity is still open for them.
Christmas hosting is on the horizon. Hosting fees are due soon enough . Fundraisers on the menu for us this time around.
Tina and Alexander asked to be with us for Christmas.
If you would like to contribute to their return please view our puzzle fundraiser with instructions. Or if you would like to donate with a check , please send to : Hosting funds c/o Saryon
PO Box 903
Mt. Shasta , CA 96067
The hosting deposit is due September 15th.,the remainder of $ 4300 in mid October.
For information about our local raffle please contact me at : ailita@sbcglobal.
We are so grateful for everyone's support and love for our kids.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Christmas re hosting
Our puzzle finally arrived!
Another hosting family shared this fundraiser idea with our hosting group. So we purchased a fun, Christmas themed puzzle containing 1000 pc.
HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!!!
I cannot wait to see my "brother and sister" for Christmas :)
So looking forward to baking cookies with Tina, snowball fights with my brothers, skiing together and singing Christmas carols around the tree. Being with Tina and Alexander would be the best, most amazing gift I could receive this Christmas...
Rose.
Help us assemble the puzzle!
Instructions:
For $7, a person/family purchases a piece(s) of the jigsaw puzzle. We will write the name of the person/family on the back of the purchased piece(s). As the pieces are bought, we will assemble purchased pieces when possible and take pictures of the progress. :)
Once the entire puzzle is assembled, it will be displayed in our home as a reminder of the love and support shown to our hosting kids as they are reunited with us.
Thank you for your support,
Rose.
HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!!!
I cannot wait to see my "brother and sister" for Christmas :)
So looking forward to baking cookies with Tina, snowball fights with my brothers, skiing together and singing Christmas carols around the tree. Being with Tina and Alexander would be the best, most amazing gift I could receive this Christmas...
Rose.
Help us assemble the puzzle!
Instructions:
For $7, a person/family purchases a piece(s) of the jigsaw puzzle. We will write the name of the person/family on the back of the purchased piece(s). As the pieces are bought, we will assemble purchased pieces when possible and take pictures of the progress. :)
Once the entire puzzle is assembled, it will be displayed in our home as a reminder of the love and support shown to our hosting kids as they are reunited with us.
Thank you for your support,
Rose.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Socks 'n things
Socks pop up everywhere. Alexander's. Did he forget to pack all of his socks? His two favorite shirts still peek out from the shelf. When I least expect it, an abandoned item appears.
Visions of Tina in her bright pink dress dance in my mind. Purchased for her by Rose. Real sisters. Her most cherished piece of clothing. Very still now, the dress dances not, on the shelf. Shelves filled with a summer of sweet, golden memories, with the anticipation of winter adventures.
Raspberry jam in a cup of tea? Must be a Russian habit...
At last, alas, bedsheets returned to the linen closet. The existence of our two new children, washed away. Clean. Folded.
Returning to reality? Was it all a dream? One day everyone is one, here, together. The next day two are not. For the past week and a half, my life and world occurred mostly "in a dream". After ten days I have re-landed in my body. In the physical octave. Back on track. Mountains will be moved.
Grateful. Hopeful. Expectant.
At the orphanage, Tina and Alexander are served food several times per day and they own a few donated clothes. The orphanage director seems kind and generous.My heart and mind are at ease, knowing they will not be hungry and cold. Knowing two more orphans have a family who loves them. Knowing they will soon land in our arms again.
Protected from canyons of grief and depression, I am cradled in the hands of Christ. Surprisingly, to me , it is now not pain of loss I experience, but gratitude, joy and expectation of reuniting with our children, with our entire family, for Christmas. Each day one day closer to our reunion. So much happiness when we are all together. Panic and fear do not present themselves to me, full trust and faith in God do. It eases my body and soothes my soul. A dance of life. A sense of peace pervades my entire being.
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