Hosting Sergeis

Christmas hosting

2009-10-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

For anyone following this blog but not our family mission blog, you can read all about our time with Sergeis during our mission trip to Latvia at www.thehelffamily.blogspot.com.

We are bringing Sergeis here again this Christmas as we await our adoption process to begin. There is a little "hiccup" in the process but when this gets straightened out (no timetable, unfortunately) we will begin the long process of bringing Sergeis home forever! We are so excited to be able to say that! In the meantime, we will have him here for Christmas to be able to bond even further with him as a family. Please pray for our time together. Sergeis has a lot of hurts that express themselves in a wide array of emotions from time to time. We made a breakthrough last year with him but I'm sure we will have to start over again this year. Pray for all aspects involved in bringing him here--emotional, financial, logistical, etc etc. :)

Thanks for your continued support and interest in our hosting missions!!

Brooke and family! :)

This summer

2009-05-05T11:13:00.000-07:00

We've decided not to bring Sergeis here this summer for various reasons. It was not an easy decision and one that we're still unsure of actually. But we have so much going on right now and there's a lot of uncertainty about the next few months for us. One thing is Craig's job is sort of up in the air. They thought they would have work up until the next phase of the census began but apparently it is getting done faster than they thought and we are sort of going week to week right now on how much work he will have. Please pray for his job situation.
But we have been able to keep in contact with Sergeis through the internet and are now working on being able to video chat with him via Skype. We have been able to talk to one of his friends in his orphanage and it's really neat. We are trying to get sergeis to get a profile and user name so he can talk to us. He said he will so now we wait! :) It will be exciting to see his face as we talk with him!
The last phone conversation we had with him, he requested that we mail him his scooter that we got him for Christmas. I'm sure that will cost an arm and a leg! Soon, I will go to the post office to figure out how much it will be and then make preparations to send that along with some other little things for him and a few of the other kids there.
Just wanted to give an update on how things are going with us.

Thanks for praying!!
Brooke

Communication

2009-01-27T10:06:00.000-08:00

Well communication with Sergeis has been off and on. Usually we get one or two word emails from him. But one day last week (we assume his friends must have not been around...) he began writing us like crazy!! He asked how everyone was, said he loves us numerous times, said he wants to come back to America, and said he misses us. It was really wonderful!!
We have been trying to call him since Sunday and no one ever answers the phone. I know it's the right number because a friend has used it to call there and has actually talked to a person!! But so far, we haven't had any luck. Sergeis' 11th birthday was sunday and I was so upset that we couldn't talk to him on the phone. I cried and cried. I want so bad for him to really know and understand that we love him.
Please pray for Craig to get a job. As soon as he does (assuming it's a job that puts us above poverty level) we will begin our homestudy to adopt Sergeis. We are praying that if it is not God's will for him to be our son that He will shut the door to adoption. Until then, we feel like we should move forward with adoption. We love him so much! The kids really miss him. Addie still asks, "Where's Kergay?" every few hours. Eileen asked me if we could please adopt him. I explained to her that we would try but there are so many things to be done to complete an adoption. I told her all the processes, including that someone had to come to our house to make sure it is clean and safe. She immediately got up and started mopping the kitchen floor!! :) Silly girl!
Thank you for all of your prayers!
Brooke

On the way back to Latvia

2009-01-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

Sergeis should be getting into Riga anytime now. Then he will have a drive or train ride (not sure which one) back to Liepaja.
The whole way to the airport yesterday he kept saying how he didn't want to go to Latvia and he wanted to stay here. Once we got to the airport, however, he was having too much fun reuniting with friends to be with us very much. :) We expected that, but it was still a little hurtful. He really didn't want to hug us or anything. Eileen was crying when it was time for him to leave and went to give him another hug--he didn't want that either but she did it anyways.
Getting in the car last night, Addie kept asking for "Kergay" and then again when it was bedtime. This morning, Eileen said "It's not the same without Sergeis here in the morning."
It's a lot quieter, that's for sure.
We are trying to settle back into "normal" and get ready for school again on Monday.
Please keep praying for God's direction in our lives and for Sergeis.

Brooke

Thursday :(

2009-01-13T11:58:00.001-08:00

Sergeis will be going home on Thursday. 2 more days. Wow.

I can't believe the time is already here for him to leave. We have so much enjoyed having him in our family.
We are packing his suitcase today and trying to figure out how much stuff we can fit into it...a hard job considering he has been here through Christmas and his early birthday party. I am trying to talk him into leaving stuff here for when he comes back to visit but he doesn't want to leave anything. I told him we can't fit everything and I would have to mail some stuff. He was okay with that. But I don't know how much I'll mail over there. It costs a fortune and I don't want to have to buy everything all over again when he comes back to visit. HOpefully we will be able to have him come back in the summer. We will see how God provides!

Brooke

Pictures

2009-01-04T12:03:00.001-08:00

I forgot to take the camera with us iceskating. :( Bad Mom! But there was a couple there taking lots of pictures of their family so I wrote down my email address and asked if they would take some pictures of us and of Sergeis and email them to me and they said of course! I explained who Sergeis was and they were very excited to hear about this because they adopted their youngest daughter from China! Hopefully I will have those pictures soon to post on here!

Also it rained Friday so no driving range. However yesterday, Craig and Sergeis went to get hair cuts and then to the driving range. I have pics of that but they aren't downloaded yet onto the computer. Hopefully we will do that soon.

Sometime this week (not sure when yet) we will be celebrating Sergeis' birthday early. His birthday is on the 25th of this month and he will be back in Latvia. We wanted to celebrate with him before he leaves.

Tomorrow, he has his dentist appointment and hopefully Wednesday he can get his eyes checked.

We got into a very minor car accident on the way home from iceskating Friday--scared me to death though because I'm still traumatized by the car accident when Addie was born. But everyone is fine and the car is not too bad off. Sergeis thought it was the coolest thing in the world! He said, "Cool, Mommy! Car broken!" "Cool, Mommy--3 police!" "Cool, Mommy, other lady who boom pays to fix car!" Since it was not our fault, the other lady's insurance has to pay to fix it. When trying to explain it to Sergeis, I think he thought she will be paying us a lot of money to fix it and we get to keep whatever is left over! I had to re-explain (if that's even a word) that she doesn't pay us, she pays the person who fixes it, which I know is still not exactly accurate but I'm not sure how to explain insurance companies to him! :)

We are still having a blast. The kids still adore him, even after their typical sibling rivalry stuff that goes on. Addie can't stand for him to be out of her sight. She starts calling, "Ker-gay!!" over and over again if she can't see him.

Please continue praying for us as we try to makes decisions over the next week and a half. Also please pray for Craig to find a job soon!

Brooke

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T13:01:00.000-08:00

Sergeis does not understand why we stayed up so late last night! :)

This Christmas season has been wonderful. Of course, we have had some issues but he is a very teachable boy and we have been having lots of fun.
He spoke with a chaperone today (we have to check in every so often) and he told her he is "very very very very very" happy with our family and that he wants to stay with us forever. Please pray for us as we seek God's will for our family and for Sergeis.
Tomorrow we will be going ice skating and then Sergeis, Craig and Jack will be going to the driving range. I will post more pictures soon!

Brooke

Wow--we love him!!

2008-12-22T17:27:00.001-08:00

These are just a few of the pictures from our first few days with Sergeis. He is such a wonderful boy! Sweet, nice, caring and all boy! He is wearing Craig out with soccer, sword fights, etc!!

He is calling us Mommy and Daddy and I just heard him yell out (in the middle of a foam sword fight) "Don't get my sister!!" talking about Eileen! Last night when we came home from a long weekend at Nana's, he said, "This is my home!"

We are really having such a wonderful time! Please keep the next 3 1/2 weeks in your prayers!!

Brooke

Sergejs is here!

2008-12-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

Well after a very long delay at the airport due to weather in the north US, Sergejs arrived in Atlanta at 3:00 AM Wednesday morning, along with all the other host children in the Atlanta area! It was a very late night but he arrived happily and very awake! We all got to sleep around 6:00 and he woke up around 12:00--the rest of us around 10:00.
Today we went to the zoo! Everyone seemed to love it even though it was sprinkling and they put most of the animals out of the rain! We got annual passes though so we can go back. Sergejs said he wants to go again!
Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Nana's to have an early Christmas! I hope the ride isn't too long for him--we have been on the go since he got here!
He has been so wonderful! We haven't had any real problems with him. He does get a little impatient if he has to say more than once that he's hungry. :) And if he misunderstands something he really clams up. Last night I tried to explain that his friend from the airplane would be at church with us and he misunderstood and thought we were going to the church and he was going back to the airplane. I didn't know what was wrong for an hour--he just wouldn't talk and looked so very sad. He finally asked me if he was going back and I said, "Oh no--honey. You're coming with us." He was so happy after that.
He is a wonderful child and we just love him.
Thank you for the prayers--please keep 'em coming!
Brooke

Soon!

2008-12-12T14:48:00.000-08:00

Well, Sergejs will be here soon. He arrives on Tuesday night at almost midnight and I am so excited!
We have continued to email--short, 2 or 3 words at most--so that is exciting. He doesn't know he's coming to us yet. From what I can understand I think he thinks that Rebeka is coming to us but I don't know. I worry that he is so happy to be coming back because he thinks he is coming to his summer host family. I hope he won't be disappointed to be with us and not them.
We are down to last minute preparations--cleaning, putting boy sheets on the top bunk, putting up sports sticker-type things on the walls and getting ready for Christmas. We are really very excited to have him here at Christmas and know that it will be such wonderful opportunity for him to learn more about Jesus and why He came here.
Please keep us in your prayers over the next few days.
Also--Anya (Jack & Stephanie's daughter) comes HOME tomorrow for good! We will be at the airport to welcome her and just CAN NOT wait to see her again! I am so happy for them as this hurdle is over. Please continue to pray for them as they learn to bond as a family and for Faith and Caleb as they learn to welcome another sister into the mix!

Brooke

Communication

2008-11-23T16:28:00.000-08:00

We went to our hosting training last weekend and, boy, did we enjoy it! We learned so much, even though we'd already been through it before. And we very much enjoyed getting to meet all the families that are hosting! Especially the Doherty's who are hosting Rebeka & Roberts.
Michelle, one of the volunteers with NHFC, has helped me to get connected through a "myspace-like" website with some of the host kids that we met, including Sergejs!! He has written a couple of messages to me. Very short and in Latvian. I understood all but one of them and it was about Rebeka. I think it was asking us how we were for Rebeka, but I'm not sure. I have written him back in my limited Latvian vocabulary!! It's something anyways! I don't think he knows yet that he's coming next month and he has no clue it's with us yet. I will not tell him and will wait until he asks me. I wish he could get someone to help him type a message in english and I wish I could find someone to help me with Latvian!!
Sergejs will arrive in Atlanta at 11:52 PM on December 16 along with Arturs and Nastya. I am so excited to pick him up at the airport! It's going to be a whirlwind vacation for him since we'll be on the go the whole time for the holidays but hopefully he will have fun with us!
Please pray for the 123 host kids coming to America this Christmas!!
Brooke

Bowling News

2008-10-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

Well, Eileen scored 116 on her Bowling for Sergeis day!!! Wow! It was just absolutely amazing watching spare after spare come--she knew she was doing good. She was thrilled! We were all thrilled--and honestly, a little shocked--that she did so well!
So thank you to everyone who gave. I don't have the exact totals in front of me right now (hey--I have to use the computer when I have a chance and didn't think to grab those first) but Eileen raised about $600!! Anyone needing to do a fundraiser, that was an awesome one!

Thank you thank you thank you again! You guys are awesome!
Keep the prayers coming too! And pray for Rebeka & Roberts as well.

It's OFFICIAL!!!

2008-09-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

Our status on the NHFC's photolisting for Sergejs is "HOSTED" now instead of "On Hold"!! :) Thank you Andrea!

I have been praying about this hosting experience daily--usually more than once a day! At first, I had so much guilt about hosting Sergejs and "leaving behind" (so to speak) Rebeka & Robbie. Sometimes that still creeps up a little. But God is so good and He has given me a peace about Rebeka & Roberts and is letting my heart love Sergejs! After all, all of these children are deserving of our love just as much as another. All of these children deserve to know what a relationship with Jesus looks like and what a loving family looks like. All of these children deserve a chance.

I know some people don't get this--why host? Why are WE hosting? Aren't you crazy? You have 3 kids already. Even, "You just seem to have so much on your plate right now" and that was said by someone who doesn't know me in any way other than in passing. There are the "brave" people who will tell me to my face that we shouldn't be doing this and then there are those who just say it behind our backs. Either way, the only explanation I can give is that this is a mission. Jesus told us to go into the world and tell others about Him. He also told us to care for orphans. He has also (for those who have accepted Jesus) adopted us into His family and we are now sons and daughters of the King. He told us to care for the poor and the needy. Put all of that together. That's why we are doing this. That's why all of these people are doing this. Craig and I have prayed for God to show us what He wants us to do for right now. And we feel like this is it. God never told us it would be easy or free from any kind of issues. And knowing there were (with R & R) and will be issues can't/shouldn't make us turn back. Did Paul turn back just because he was beaten and thrown into prison multiple times? Did any of the disciples? And I mean, thank goodness Jesus didn't decide it wasn't worth it to die on the cross because it would be hard and painful. We tend to put Paul, Peter and the other disciples and martyrs on a pedestal like they were special and had some sort of special ability to withstand those pressures and hardships but they were just normal, everyday people with a lot of the same problems, doubts, etc that we have. The reason they have been put on a pedestal is because of how they lived out their faith. They stood in the face of persecution. They didn't back down. They carried out what God had called them to in spite of all that was in their way. If they could do it, why can't any of us? Why are there so few Christians who won't back down?
Goodness I'm not sure I expected this to turn into all that. :) But we are going to do what God has called us to do and I hope you all do the same.
So all of that being said, we ask for your prayers between now and December and while Sergejs is here. Pray that we will shine with the love of Jesus to all who see us.

Fundraiser

2008-09-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

Hey--we've decided to have small little fundraiser for now to help bring Sergeis to America for Christmas. Eileen wants to help so we decided to have a sort of Bowl-A-Thon to raise money. We are going to take donations per pin that she knocks down. In a couple of weeks, we will take her best game out of 3 and collect the donations for that amount. It's easy for you to participate--you don't have to be present while she bowls unless you just want to (she bowls with a homeschool league every Monday.) I will send out an email with sponser forms to fill out with your name, address, phone number and pledge amount. If you'd like to participate and don't get an email, please email me at brooke@inhissight.org. I will then call or email with her score!
Just some information: Eileen has bowled 11 games. Her highest score has been 101 and her lowest score has been 69. She usually scores somewhere in the 70's. She has gotten about 4 strikes before. So that's it! I'll have more details and sponser forms soon!
Thanks in advance for partnering with Eileen to help bring Sergeis to our home for Christmas!

A little news

2008-08-29T21:11:00.001-07:00

We got a little news from Daina (the Latvian attorney) that Sergeis was indeed born in Latvia. We were a little worried about his citizenship because Sergeis had told us he was born in Russia and lived there for awhile. He might have lived there for awhile but he was born in Latvia. This is good news for anyone who wishes to adopt him because it is much easier (and cheaper) to adopt from Latvia than from Russia.
The New Horizons mission team went to his orphanage the other day to see all the kids and interview children for Christmas hosting. They didn't mention seeing him but I'm sure that they did. They only mentioned a couple of the children on their post to the message board.
Pray for us and for Sergeis as Christmas approaches. (Yes it seems incredibly far away to me--but apparently merchants see it is right around the corner because literally almost half of Hobby Lobby is Christmas stuff! Crazy!)

Brooke

Meeting Sergeis

2008-08-16T19:21:00.000-07:00

We met Sergeis at the summer farewell party for the kids returning to Latvia and Russia. He is from the same orphanage as Rebeka & Robbie so he hung around our family a lot that night since he knew them. He was very sweet to Robbie and not one of the "mean boys" that Rebeka always talks about. I started thinking that night that I would talk to Craig about hosting him at Christmas. After talking to him, he said he felt the same way so I emailed his summer host mom. She called me and we talked a lot about Sergeis and about Rebeka & Roberts. Everything she told me about Sergeis affirmed what we saw at the farewell party. He came bowling with our family and spent-the-night with us a couple of days before the kids left for Latvia. He was wonderful with our children. He was the peacemaker when someone was arguing. When Rebeka wanted to exclude Eileen from a soccer game, she got upset. Sergeis went to her and said, "You can play with me." (Then of course, Rebeka got jealous so Sergeis said, "We all play together!") He was very good playing with Merrick and Adalynn and the way he genuinely cared for Robbie was touching. We have decided to host him at Christmas. We would love your prayers and help in any way possible again. Everyone was so generous when we hosted Rebeka & Roberts and I know you will be again!
We will post any updates we can about Sergeis as we get them and know dates for his arrival, when our fees are due, etc.
Thank you in advance for your prayers and help!