So we fundraised our butts off trying to raise the funds to Host Tetiana, a 15 year old orphan, from Ukraine. Wow, just wow! Everyone donated, chimed in, helped us out tremendously and we THANK YOU!! Hosting Tetiana was so rewarding but trying at times. By the 3rd week she was with us, she had made a total turn around, started talking more, wasn't as scared as the day she arrived in the US (let me just say, this girl was terrified!) By the time the 5th week came around, she did not want to go home. "No Ukraine, NO Ukraine" she said on the way to the airport. We all agreed.
It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do up until this point in my life. Saying goodbye to this girl was horrible!!! In the short time she was with us, I saw such a tremendous change in her. From this scared, terrified girl, who had never been out of her own little country, and was from a very remote area.
To this confident, funny, silly girl whom we'd grown to care about, A LOT!
She was very very brave to come to a country where everything was different; the language, people, foods, smells, time change, you name it! It was all different to her! That can be a very overwhelming experience, and it was for Tetiana. But, by the 4th week she had settled in pretty good and gotten accustomed somewhat to us as a family. We stayed up pretty late, our schedules were crazy, but I loved it! Tetiana loves children and likes to help take care of them. This was so apparent within the first 5 minutes Aiden and Tetiana met! Tetiana was so helpful with Aiden, they clicked instantly.
Tetiana and Taylor have so much in common, right down to their wardrobes! Skinny jeans and high top shoes is their fav! How is it a girl from almost half way around the world could possibly have so much in common with our girl, Taylor?
I could write for days of our little experiences with Tetiana, but, breathe easy I won't. =) Everyday was a new experience for her. Every hour was a new experience for her. To see all those new experiences first hand, was simply amazing, and fun! She survived, we survived. Just know that our little experience with her for the 5 weeks was well worth it! So much so, that we've decided to adopt her. She turns 16 in mid September.
This will be no easy task. From whatever her life was for the last 15 years will not be overcome in a years time living with us. Times will be hard, times will be tough. Read these words of wisdom by a hosting/adoptive mama: "When you add a new member to the family either through adoption, birth, fostering, etc... It ALWAYS throws life out of orbit for awhile and requires a reinvention of the family and a redefining of normal and daily rhythms. So that is the state we find ourselves in right now."
So yeah, life might be a little difficult in the near future, okay it might be really difficult in the near future! This same hosting/adoptive mama also said this: " Hosting is like an adoption "honeymoon period" on steroids. It is the VERY BEST behavior they can muster. It isn't a reflection of what real life would look like in a permanent situation. If you commit to a child, you have to go into it knowing that parenting hurt children is VERY challenging (rewarding for sure, but it will stretch you to your limit, and then God will grow you some more, so you can stretch further!
So yes, I get it. Our lives will be turned upside down. But, her life will be forever changed by us. And we will be forever changed by her. She is choosing to leave her birth country and all she's ever known to come to America and live with my family and become one of my family. That in itself is MAJOR!
So, no, I can't explain it! It's just something you feel, something you want to do, something so MAJOR to have such an impact on your life, you have to do it, but I just can not explain it. You don't have to understand it, or accept it, period.
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