This Christmas

I am so excited that Rebeka & Robbie are coming to Atlanta for Christmas! We met the Doherty's at the host training and love them! They are such wonderful people and R & R will be blessed by staying in their home!
I have found Rebeka on a "myspace-type" website and have asked to be her friend but she has not logged back on to her profile since the day before I joined the site! Hopefully she will soon cause I am anxious to hear from her!
The kids arrive on December 16 at almost midnight. I am nervous because I don't want to see Rebeka & Robbie at the airport. I think it's very important that they have that time to bond with their new host family without the emotions of seeing us again and possibly confusing them. So we are going to try to not see them and get lost in the chaos of the arrival. BUT we will be able to see them at the welcome party on the 21st and I CAN'T WAIT FOR THAT!! I am going to love on them like crazy!
Pray for the 123 host kids coming to America this Christmas!!
Brooke

They are being hosted!!

One of the previous families we talked to before has decided to host Rebeka & Roberts. they live in canton. I guess that means we will see the kids at the airport. That is a happy and nervous thought all at the same time.
But I am extremely happy that they are being hosted and will have a family for Christmas. Who knows God's plan for the future? Maybe this is their forever family, maybe not. I am praying for God's will to be done, for a peaceful Christmas holidays for all of us, and for all the hosted children to hear the good news about Jesus!

Also, Anya (Jack and Stephanie's newest addition) will be home for GOOD on December 13th!!! That should be just a few days before the host kids get here. And Arturs is coming on the host program for Christmas too! So I am excited!

Prayer Requests:
All the hosted children and the ones who aren't coming this Christmas
R & R's host family
Sergejs
Anya
Arturs
TODAY'S ELECTION
That Craig will find a job he enjoys

Still talking to possible host families

we talked to another possible host family tonight....they fully understood everything that comes along with orphanage life and they obviously have experience raising kids! Please pray for their discernment and God's will to be done!! Thanks for the continued prayers for these wonderful children!

Talking to possible host families

I just wanted to ask for prayers as we talk to possible host families for Rebeka & Roberts for Christmas. I know of one calling us today and we've talked to one in the past but NHFC is supposed to be putting the pics and bios up of the kids available for Christmas hosting so I'm sure we will be getting more calls in the coming week. Just pray for God's will to be done and that the right family will host them.

Brooke

Some new from Latvia

The New Horizons mission team is traveling in Latvia right now (I believe they go to Russia tomorrow.) A couple of days ago they updated the message board with news from the Liepaja orphanage. Le Ann (the director of New Horizons) is the one who is writing the words below:


"We made it to Liapija today and saw Roberts and Rebekka... I am in big trouble if someone doesn't host this little guy! He came running to me and said GO AMERICO!!! Mommy and daddy! Go AMerico! And he cried a bit. I held him and he clung to me the entire day and sat on my lap during interviews. I got lots of kisses for everyone I am sure, and he was such a cuddle bug. Rebekka is as beautiful as ever and smiled all the time. She was wearing some of her American purchased clothes, as was Roberts..."


Oh how we cried and cried when we read this. It made us miss them even more. Poor little Robbie. Le Ann loves Roberts--she has always said he reminds her of her youngest adopted son. I am sure she will host them if no one else does. But seeing as how they are so beautiful I think she'll be "safe" and will not have to host them! (She has 8 children so I'm sure bringing two more in would be tough!)
I was glad to hear some news of them though. At least I know they are okay. We still have not heard from them by email which is sorta disappointing but that's alright. We are hoping to send a package to them soon--I was hoping this past week but with our 2 front tires going flat within 24 hours of each other we have to put that off for a week or so. :) We have a package for Sergeis too.
Please pray for the mission team as they travel. They are going into Russia which could be a little difficult with all that is going on so pray for their safety and God's guidance as well as the children over there who are in the process of being adopted.

Brooke

Sergeis' Blog

We have a blog set up for Sergeis now. It is hostingsergeis.blogspot.com so visit when you can. :)

We still haven't heard from the kids. It makes me very anxious as to how they are doing. I am trying to get a phone number for the orphanage so we can call this week and hopefully speak to either Rebeka or Robbie. We still miss them terribly. Sometimes I wonder if we're making the right decision because I feel so guilty that we aren't their forever family. But then I hear Eileen say something like, "I don't miss them," even though she and Merrick still talk about them regularly and I am reminded that we are doing the right thing. That doesn't make it easier though.

Please continue to pray for a forever family for them. It is at the top of my prayer list and will be until one is found. I know God loves them even more than me but waiting on His time frame is the hardest thing I have to do sometimes!! Thank you for your prayers!!

It's VERY quiet

Neither Craig nor I have had the heart to write any updates on the blog since the kids left. The night before departure was church. After church was over Rebeka cried with a friend and it was hard to get them to stop crying. Most of the way to the airport was silliness--I videod singing and stuff and Robbie slept most of the way there. At the airport, Rebeka & Robbie were reunited with friends (well Rebeka was, Robbie mostly stayed with us) and she was happy for most of the time. But the closer it got the more she started crying. Robbie said, "Robbie America!!!" over and over again. Rebeka kept saying, "Mommy!! I miss you. I love you!" It was so hard to say goodbye especially knowing we may never see them again. Craig was allowed to go to the gate with them to help Robbie and I stayed behind with our 3. I cried. Eileen tried to cheer me up and even said, "We make you happy, right?" Of course I showered her with love and said yes but explained to her that it's okay to cry when you miss someone. But I did stop crying for her! After that we went to visit with other waiting families while we waited on Craig to come back. We laughed mainly to keep ourselves from crying.
It was weird on the way home though. Very quiet and 2 empty carseats. We still haven't taken them out of the car. We decided we couldn't go home just yet so we went out to eat and then driving around looking at houses we can't afford (something we do for fun--I know we're weird) and then finally home.
Home was both a relief and sad at the same time. Eileen asked me how I felt about them being gone and I said, "I'm a little happy and a little sad." She said, "I feel exactly the same as you." Craig has had a much harder time with it than I have but I've had my moments. Like the day after they left I went to Walmart and as I was walking over to get bananas just started crying because Rebeka & Robbie liked bananas so much! It's okay to laugh--I laughed at myself afterwards too!
It is nice to have my 3 along again though. I can give them much more attention and they love it. They haven't said too much about Rebeka or Robbie. Merrick has occasionally said, "Mom, Beka hit me" as he grabs his head. "No, sweetheart, Rebeka's not here." "Beka Latvia?" "Yes." "Oh." Silly little man. We started school Monday (we're homeschooling this year) and so far it has gone mostly well. Eileen still has her strong-willed personality but for the most part she has been very obedient. And she's very smart. If she learns nothing else this year (which she will, don't worry) I hope she learns a ton about Jesus and her own personal character development in her walk with Christ.
Craig and I have been wondering why God wanted us to host Rebeka & Roberts if it wasn't to adopt them. We have been praying and asking "Why God" so many times. Well, I'm not in any way positive of an answer yet BUT we have one reason so far. At the farewell party, we met a 10 year old boy named Sergeis. He is from the same orphanage at Beka & Robbie and so he spent most of the night with our family. He was great with Robbie--helping him and playing so nicely with him. Not like most older boys. I talked with his host mom the next day about him and she told me so much great stuff about him and the few problems she's had with him. (He doesn't get along with other boys his age in the home and she has a 9 year old son that he didn't get along with.) But she said any other age kid, boys or girls, he gets along wonderfully with, which is what I saw at the party. Well, that night he came bowling with our family and then spent the night with us. He was really great. Played with everyone. Was the peacemaker if someone was arguing. And when Eileen felt left out of a game cause Rebeka wouldn't include her, he made sure he told her she could play on his team. (Then Rebeka got jealous and he said they could just all play together and things were fine again. Very good job!) He loved Merrick & Adalynn and Addie even tried to say his name which was funny to everyone. Long story short (sort of) we are hosting him at Christmas! His summer host family is going to help where they can as well! We are very excited about having him here at Christmas and are trying to focus on that! It is hard though since we still miss Rebeka & Robbie and want to find them a forever family.
Even though Rebeka said she would email us soon, we have not heard from her yet. We are very anxious to hear any news of them and hope they are doing well. We will post any updates we have as often as we can. We will also probably be starting a new blog for Sergeis' visit and will post a link to that when we do. Thanks for all the prayers----keep 'em comin'!!

Prayer Requests:

A forever family for Rebeka & Roberts

That the other boys will be nice to Robbie

That Rebeka will learn to see herself as God sees her

A peaceful Christmas visit with Sergeis

Farewell Party

Well we had the farewell party hosted by New Horizons. Basically all of the Russian and Latvian kids, their host families, chaperones, and NH leadership gather for one final get-together before the departure. We went to Sun Valley Beach near Hiram.

All of the host families got to share stories between each other - some good and some bad. Those who are planning to adopt have a confidence and smile about them. Those undecided and not ready to adopt definitely showed sadness. And we were on the sadness end.

It was basically a flashback of five weeks right before my eyes. The first half seemed to go so slow and the second half seemed to blow by so quickly it didn't seem like we had enough hours in the day to do everything we wanted or needed to do.

For me it was hard because I got to spend more one on one time with both Rebeka and Roberts. With me working, Brooke has handled the greater load of either individual time (rarely) or just huge blocks of all 5 kids at once. but tonight with the little ones away, we had Eileen, Rebeka and Roberts. Brooke was the photographer and beach monitor. I was the one getting wet, herding the kids, and of course having the fun. Nothing better than being an adult but having the excuse to ride down water slides with a 6 and 8 year old.

But it was hard. As Brooke said, it was a really good night but yet a really bad night. The realization that we're sending them back came hitting hard. We've heard enough stories from Rebeka and seen enough behavior (music and television influences - cultural ones) to know they are good kids being lured into some very bad paths in life. In my "save the world" mentality as Brooke likes to say, I want to just find a way to keep them here and try to steer and keep them on the right path. But God has not shown this as His will. And we can only pray that His will will be shown soon. No rush.

We've tried to fulfill a first mission of setting things right by showing them Christ and the love that comes with Him all crammed into 5 weeks. Now we've created a second mission for ourselves of finding a 'forever family' for these two kids. Perhaps God will tap us on the shoulder one day in the near future and tell us we are the ones. But until then we pray and we try to remain influences in Rebeka and Roberts' lives.

If anything, we can say how much having them has influenced our own lives. If anything, my own life, my marriage, my relationship with my kids, with others, and my own faith have been tested in good ways. I've learned more about each of these areas than I ever thought imaginable. I went on a mission trip 8 years ago thinking I would go to change others' lives or at least influence them. Instead, I came back with my own life changed. Rebeka and Roberts have done the same thing.

Now we are down to the last couple of days. Most of it will be panicking over packing and making sure we have everything together. Of course it will also involve pictures, lots of hugs, quiet moments, hectic moments, meltdowns, etc. But we have to enjoy every single moment. We're still planting the seeds. What we show these kids are what they have to define a family, relationships, and love. What we show even in these last few days are the hope they have of breaking this cycle that seems to continue not just in Latvia or Russia but in countries everywhere. We're doing our calling from God in this little corner of the world with two great kids. We can only pray that we have given them a good image and memory to take back and then let God, who is always in control, do the rest.

Coats, etc...

We found coats at Burlington Coat Factory (even though their website said they don't have little girl coats, they do carry them in store) thanks to Aunt Jackie! Thank you so much!! Their coats are perfect and look so good on them!

I guess we really only need a few more things...boots, gloves and toys and gifts to send back to people. Packing it all and getting it to weigh no more than 50lbs is probably going to be the second biggest challenge we will face in the coming week...followed by saying goodbye.

We found a picture on the internet of their orphanage director and found their orphanage on google maps so we have a better understanding of where they are. Although I was disturbed to hear Rebeka say that there are big boys in the room next to her group of girls. She was very excited though to show us where things in Latvia are and where she has been.

Our friends, Jack & Stephanie, received some discouraging news today that Russia is not accepting some kind of paperwork until August 12 and probably they will not have Anya home until September. Please be in prayer for them and for Anya as she begins school September 1st wondering why they haven't come to get her yet. You can read their blog and find out exactly what's going on by clicking on the link on our page.

Please continue to be in prayer for the host children in America that still need forever families. Selfishly I ask that you especially be in prayer for Rebeka & Roberts' forever family.

Brooke

A Venting Session

So, I'm having lots of trouble finding a jacket for Rebeka to send back to Latvia. It is one of the things we need to send home with her. And it needs to be knee or calf length and filled with down or something similar since it's so very cold over there. I have been searching and searching the internet and can't come up with anything under $100...In fact the only thing I did find was $199 and I'm sorry, but I can't do that! I also have to find one for Robbie but it doesn't have to be a long jacket so that will be easier. So, if anyone out there reading this happens to have one or knows where we can find one, please let me know!!

Enough venting...for now.

I wanted to let everyone know that NHFC has pictures and biographies of children here that still need forever families up on there website. When I get done with this post, I will put a link on the side of our page to them. Rebeka & Robbie are on there as well as about 40 other children. Please pray for all of them. My heart is broken over sending Rebeka & Roberts back to Latvia without knowing they are going to have a family. Craig and I have come to feel that we are not it but that decision doesn't leave us at peace about anything. I think Rebeka & Roberts need a mom and dad that either have no other children or maybe older children (teenagers or something) because they need to be retrained and retaught a lot of things and they need a lot of one on one attention that is hard to give them when we already have 3 very young children that need the same kind of attention. They haven't had an easy life and need to learn trust as well as appropriate responses and behaviors to things and a lot of that will take time and lots of attention. It's hard for us because we love these kids so much. Today, Rebeka was off playing and I heard her softly crying. When I went to check on her she started crying more and said, "Me America--me no Latvia!! Please mommy!" I asked her if she didn't like Latvia and she said she did but still "Me America!" I tried to explain to her that she has to go back and she then said "Me Latvia, You Latvia, Mommy." These children need a family. They need to know that kind of love. It made me so sad and upset that I wanted to change my mind and say yes to adopting just so they won't be sad! I think she thinks that if she is good enough, nice enough or asks me the right way that she won't have to go back. Please pray that a Christian family will come along for them! And pray for all of us as we enter the last week they are here with us. It will be very sad.

Brooke

Undecided

So, we checked undecided and faxed it in--a day late but we wanted a little more time to pray about it. We literally go back and forth everyday between yes and no. I seriously wish God would post it on a billboard somewhere....or if I could open my Bible and see written on the page: "Helf family--the answer is..." with a yes or no following it. I've never been very good at waiting for anything.
We have arrived at Nana's and Papa's for the Hicks reunion. There will be a bunch of people here tomorrow--a lot of whom Rebeka & Roberts haven't met yet. I'm very excited but I'm sure they will be shy at first like they usually are. They probably think we're the craziest family ever with having to meet so many people all the time!
Rebeka is starting to listen a tad better to us after a brief talk with Ginta (the chaperone from her orphanage) but she is still testing, which I know is normal. However, knowing it's normal doesn't make it any easier to deal with. I have seen a change in her though. She has opened up to us more and tells us about her life in Latvia. It's tough to hear. It's easy to forget that horrible things happen to other people every second when we live in a "sheltered" box.
We still need your prayers about everything. Since we checked undecided, we now have to send in a biography and pictures of the kids to NHFC so that they can try to find other families who might want to meet them to see if they would like to adopt them. I think that will be both a good thing and an incredibly hard thing.

Brooke

Urgent Prayer for God's Wisdom

Okay so we're not tied down to a firm decision or anything, but tomorrow NHFC is asking for all the host families intentions of whether or not we are adopting. We are allowed an "undecided for now" as an answer. HOWEVER Craig and I don't yet have a peace about "yes", "no", or "undecided." I know that sounds silly, but everytime we go to check the undecided option neither of us feel like it is the right thing to do. Please pray that God will put the answer for us clearly in writing---sometime before tomorrow is over with!

Thank you everyone for reading and keeping up and for all of your prayers!

Brooke

Yard Sale A Success

Well it was very successful. I think we picked the absolute hottest day of the year (not really but it seemed like it). Besides lack of sleep and constant lifting and moving, I personally was beat by 3pm Saturday.

But nothing amazes me more than the hearts of people when it comes to helping a good cause. We had several friends, family, and fellow church members give 110% to this on a beautiful Saturday in the Summer. I cannot thank everyone who helped enough. I also cannot thank those who donated clothes, money, etc. to the cause as well. We raised a couple thousand and cleared under $2K. For our first fundraiser and all of the overhead with an initial event, this was amazing. God blessed us exceedingly and abundantly.

Brooke was in the trenches keeping our herd in line. Merrick got sick and the fear was that we'd go the usual route and pass a bug around the whole family and thus make the remaining time R and R were here miserable. But we've managed to only deal with fevers and hope the worst is over.

Merrick's "Latvian" vocabulary increases every day. He gets mad and just pokes his lips out and yells "biska biska" at everyone. Not sure what that means. I just hope it's not some Latvian obscene phrase. He tries his best to just sound Latvian and will go on just babbling endlessly when talking to Rebeka or Roberts.

Rebeka opened up to some very heartbreaking stories of her life. And yes, it's OK for a man to cry. I couldn't believe what all she said and can only guess this was only a fraction of what she's seen. It really makes your heart break for these kids knowing that many coming to orphanages later after birth have probably experienced life that none of us could ever dream of.

Back to happy thoughts. Over the weekend Rebeka discovered Eileen's battery powered Barbie Jeep. All Rebeka wants to do is ride the "Barbie machina" first thing in the morning. I give her one thing - the girl has persistence down pat. We've tried saying "no" in about 5 languages with little luck. But I'd rather her ask to ride that than most of the other things she's asked repeatedly.

That's all for now. We have to attempt to get more sleep. We've seemed to have lost both sleeping and eating in the past few weeks.

Huge Yard Sale & BBQ

We will be having a huge yard sale and BBQ to benefit Precious In His Sight, Inc at Youth Middle School on Hwy 81 in Loganville from 7:00 AM until 3:00PM. The BBQ starts at 11:00. If you want to rent a space, it's $20 and you keep the profits or if you want to come shop, please do! BBQ plates are $7. There will be moon walks and other bouncey equipment for the kids and free popcorn from 10-2 provided by Woodlake Baptist Church so plan to come, bring the kids, and have some fun, food, fellowship and shopping!!

Pray that we all get extremely restful sleep because the sleeping will not be able to last very long!! We're in for a late night and super early morning!!

Dentist

I took the kids to the dentist today. They both did so well, although Rebeka was so nervous that he was going to pull one of her teeth out! She apparently had a lot of work done when she was in America at Christmas. The dentist, John Simmons, was so great and did the cleanings for free!! Thank you so much!! That being said, Rebeka has 3 cavities that need to be filled and even with a discount it's going to cost about $736 which is money we don't have. I am just praying that God will provide and that we don't have to send her back to Latvia with cavities!

The children have been having a blast at VBS this week! We will try to post pictures soon!

thanks for the prayers!!

Brooke

More Pics...

New Pics

Going places with 5 children

We get looks now from other people--looks that say, "Are they crazy??!!" We get really strange looks from other adults when Rebeka, 8, says things like, "Me, Mommy, want icecream" who apparently think we are letting her talk like a baby and don't approve. Sometimes I will say, "She doesn't speak much english" and for some reason they just laugh it off like I joking or something. It's all very strange! :) Going to Kroger tonight was VERY interesting. We had Robbie and Merrick in the 2 seater buggie, Rebeka and Eileen were each pushing their own kid-sized cart and Craig was holding Addie. Rebeka & Eileen of course wanted equal amounts of everything in their buggies and were all excited when they each picked the same toothbrush to buy! (Don't worry, they're in separate spots so they don't get mixed up!) Rebeka is in sensory overload everywhere we go. She wants everything she sees!

The past 2 days have been MUCH calmer than Monday! Thank goodness! There have still been some stressful moments but over all it has been rather nice. Occasionally Rebeka & Eileen will argue over something silly and I have to play referee and occasionally the same will happen with Roberts and Merrick but it all ends as quickly as it began and they are playing happily together again. I think they wouldn't have as many of those arguements if the language barrier wasn't there. Most of them are out of not being able to communicate with each other.

We went to the laser show last night at Stone Mountain. I was so stressed about going and trying to keep up with all the children but it was really very nice. We ate a picnic dinner on the lawn and then played some soccer and frisbee and took a lot of pictures--which I will try to post tomorrow. (I know I keep saying that but I'm not good at all this stuff!) Rebeka is like a model. She would pose herself and then say, "Daddy, photo--me!" Then she grabbed the camera and took some pictures too! Stephanie got a GREAT picture of Eileen, Rebeka & Faith that I can't wait to put on here! Rebeka fell asleep for most of the laser show unless a firework went off. That was the only part she really enjoyed of the actual laser show. :)

I took the kids up to Bob Bailey's today. Another interesting outing! Nick wasn't there (much to Eileen's disappointment) because his baby was just born!! Congratulations! Amanda (and the kitties) weren't there either since she's in Jordan with Mr. B and everyone else. Bobby said, "Brooke--I think you need a few more kids." Rebeka saw my desk (yes I still called it mine--after all no one else is sitting there yet cause Brett hasn't moved in there) and thought it was funny that I worked there. I'm not sure she understood that I don't work there anymore but that's okay. Part of me will probably always feel like I work there. :) They are my family! I miss you guys! (But I don't miss coming to work and leaving my kids!)

Tomorrow evening we are leaving for Nana's house for the weekend! I usually look at that as a relaxing time but I'm thinking there won't be a whole lot of that going on! We will hopefully be there in enough time to watch the fireworks in Macaysville. I think the kids will enjoy that and then on Saturday there is a parade. :) And we can go to Sweet Treats (yummy) which will make Rebeka very happy to get her favorite food--icecream. Nana will have a full house with the 7 of us, plus Nannie Massey and then Friday Chuck, Jackie, Greg & James are coming up too...pray for her and her nerves! Pray for all the kids--that they will remain relatively calm and at a tolerable noise level and that they will get along wonderfully the whole time. :)

Okay, off to bed so I can rest up and start all over again tomorrow! (I know it sounds like I'm complaining, but honestly, I can't imagine life any differently! This is awesome!)

Brooke

Stress!

Well, today has been rather stressful. For whatever reason, sibling rivalry kicked in big time. All of the kids argued and argued and argued almost the WHOLE day! Constantly someone was crying, yelling, calling "mama!" (or mamu depending on who it was) and the noise just didn't stop. EVER! For lunch, I only had time for half a piece of bread with peanut butter on it and then I had to start refereeing (sp) again. Lack of food led to a headache, which the constant noise helped to accelarate! But after I fixed dinner and finally got to eat--after most everyone else was finished) my headache went away and I had renewed energy.

Don't get me wrong--the day had it's good points. Robbie (as Rebeka calls him and it really suits him) is still very loving and sweet and shares everything--especially with Rebeka. I do mean everything though--food, drink, whatever anyone else asks him for! He'll lick a lollipop and then give Rebeka a lick. At dinner, Eileen needed more juice and the bottle was empty. She started to get upset and Rebeka walked over to her with her cup and poured half of her juice into Eileen's cup. It was just so sweet to see that!

I would like prayer for insight for me though. Rebeka wants to be mommy. She is sometimes very bossy and wants to discipline the other kids. If Merrick (or any of the other kids) is bothering someone else or doing something that she doesn't think he should, she will yell, "no" (or "ne") and go to him and squeeze his hands or arms and sometimes she'll spank him! I tell her no--Mommy will handle it--but with the language barrier it's hard for her to understand what I'm trying to say. I think she feels like it's her job to make the other kids behave or something. I would like prayer to figure out how best to explain to her that she can just be a kid-she doesn't have to try to be the peacemaker!

Also, I have another thing tugging at my heart that I'm not at liberty to write about right now. Please pray for Godly wisdom for us in this matter.

Thank you!!
Brooke

Gymnastics anyone?

Rebeka & Roberts can do flips with the best of 'em! Daddy is constantly helping them flip this way and that! They LOVE it!

First--a complete miracle happened--ALL 5 of the kids slept ALL night last night!! Hooray! It really was quite amazing..and there was no arguing over going to sleep. They must have been exhausted from church and swimming yesterday. They loved swimming too. Rebeka is a very good swimmer and once Roberts finally got used to the water he loved it too! I will try to get pics up here of that as soon as possible!
Church was interesting for them yesterday. Roberts really doesn't understand the meaning of "Shhhh" which was mostly okay for kids church and Sunday school but last night there was no nursery. Roberts ended up on stage by the pulpit (Daddy was up there dressed as a Revolutionary soldier for the Independence Day special music we had) waving his American flag! I really hope someone at church got a picture of that! If so, email it to us! I ended up taking all the kids over to "The House" to play on the playground until service was over.
Well, I hear Daddy upstairs with everyone and sounds like he is being taken hostage! I better go check on him!! :) Thanks for the prayers everyone!!

Brooke

So sweet!!

Okay these kids are seriously sweet!! Rebeka is so loving towards her little brother and wants to help him do EVERYTHING. So much so that she sometimes seems to think she can't do what she wants in order to help Roberts. Roberts is a doll! He calls me "Mamu" which I find adorable! I am "mommy" to Rebeka and they both call Craig "Daddy" and it just melts our hearts. I don't have a ton of time to write now (it's go go go all day) but I just wanted to give a little update while I had a minute!! Thanks for the prayers--keep 'em coming!

This is it!

Well here we are counting down the hours. It's panic central at the Helf house as we clean the place up, stress out, get everything together for the kids, stress out, fix the welcome poster, and did I forget stress out some more? You'd think Queen Elizabeth was coming to stay with us.

We're really excited. Eileen and Merrick are really excited and cannot wait to start off to the airport. We did get some slightly disappointing news. There was a flight change and the arrival time has been bumped another 15 minutes. So now we're looking at 11:42pm. So it will probably be 'tomorrow' before we see Rebeka and Roberts.

I can't speak for Brooke but I couldn't sleep last night. It was like Christmas Eve as a kid. I'm trying to work and pitch in to help Brooke where I can. Seeing it's the end of our quarter, timing couldn't have been better...insert sarcasm here.

We'll be up late and no doubt sleeping late. We'll have pics and arrival news as soon as we can tomorrow!

Joy!

Communication with Rebeka is wonderful! She tells me it isn't her writing but someone named Anna is helping her write. (I don't think Rebeka knows much english.) But just to hear from her at all is a miracle! I sent her some pictures of our family today and she said we are a beautiful family. It's hard to email her though, cause I don't know how it will translate and I don't even know what I should or shouldn't write! :) We are not even allowed to say the word adopt around these kids while they are here--not even when talking about something unrelated to them! Whether they speak english or not, most will know that word and get their hopes up even if you're not talking about them.
Anyway, I am just very excited that she can occasionally send me an email and I can know she is okay. I can't wait until they get here!! Goodness--I love these kids!

Brooke

Rebeka Emailed Brooke Today!

Brooke called from work crying. She received an email from Rebeka today out of the blue. Talk about happiness. Here is what she said:

"hello, here Rebeka.at summer i will be with you. i am whaiting be in america. i finish first great.(help write girls)"

It's short and simple but who would think such few words would mean so much? I was just happy we were down to two weeks from today. And then Brooke called with this news. And to top it off, she sent a picture as well. Note her modeling skills. Love the fern...be the fern. We will now have to buy a fern to have something linking back home.

We truly are excited and cannot wait for these next two weeks to go by...

35 More Days!!

Well, there are only 35 more days to go. I say "only" but it feels like an eternity! I know it will go by fast, but it still seems like it's a long way off! We are all still very excited about them arriving in Atlanta.
We had our safety visit a couple of weeks ago and it went very well. Everything was fine--naturally. Why do I worry? I'll worry again when we do a homestudy in a few months, I'm sure!
Jack & Stephanie just returned from Russia on Monday! They got to spend a good amount of time visiting with Anya and some other girls from the orphanage. Hopefully they will get to go back in a couple of months to finalize everything. You can click on the "Our friends adoption blog" link to read their story and find out specific prayer requests for them. We got to watch a video last night that they took while in Russia where they filmed Anya talking, singing, playing arcade games and bowling! It was so cute and funny!

So the countdown for Rebeka & Roberts arrival continues. We have plenty of things to do to make the time go by fast until then, though. Today is our youngest daughter's 1st birthday. Eileen finishes kindergarten tomorrow, our 9th wedding anniversary is June 5, I quit work the first or second week in June, Eileen's birthday is June 15 (as is father's day)....so much to do! But I'm glad there will be things to keep us busy so we aren't completely obsessed with waiting for June 26!!!
Anyways, keep the prayers coming. Pray for health for Rebeka & Roberts, as well as the rest of us!
Thank you!!
Brooke

God did it!

As of today, all of the money needed to get Rebeka and Roberts here has been given! God is soooo awesome! It's fun to see Him work like this! Following God's call for us has been the most amazing thing. We have been blessed beyond belief in so many ways. And to top it off, last night Eileen prayed to ask Jesus to live in her heart! Words can not describe how that feels!

Today we have to overnight the rest of our paperwork to NHFC. The money, letters to the orphanage and letter & pictures to Rebeka & Roberts all need to be there by tomorrow. Next Wednesday, a very nice lady is coming to our house to meet us and do a safety visit in our home--just to make sure it is a clean and safe environment for the children. She said she knows it's a stressful thing, but not to worry! :) Well for those of you that know me, I am worried and in complete stress mode about it! I know it'll be okay, but I'm just one to stress over things like that!

Keep the prayers coming! Thanks for reading our blog!

Brooke

The Home Stretch...

Well this is it! One week left to raise money and we're only $192 away! It's truly amazing that God has blessed many people in giving. Looking back, I was a little nervous about raising over $4,000 in such a short amount of time. But He has provided. This money will truly go towards a good cause. And we thank everyone who gave and those who wanted but were not able. Words of encouragement are just as valuable and we thank all friends and family who have supported us.

Thank you,
Craig

We're not crazy--seriously!

And we're not the only ones bringing more than the statiscal 2.5 children into our home. Everyone keeps telling me we're nuts for doing this. We already have 3 kids. So? Maybe we are crazy, but sometimes God calls people to do seemingly crazy things. So glad He sees the BIG picture--but I wish He'd let us in on it every once in awhile. :)

I have been reading a little about the Dunn's adoption. For those of you who don't know, they are the family in Monroe (our neck of the woods!) who have 3 biological children (hey--another similarity) and returned today from Brazil where they adopted 5 children. I have to say, their story encourages me like you wouldn't believe! God raised the $40,000 to adopt these kids for them! Seriously! This money was raised in a year! How awesome is that?! And it all happened because they were willing to listen to God's call. What would happen if you stepped out of your comfort zone and listened to God's call? A move? A new job? Quitting a job? Maybe even bringing another child (biological or adopted) into your home? You just never know.

I have to say, I am scared. Differently than I was scared before. At first I was scared that things wouldn't work out. For whatever reason, we wouldn't be able to adopt Rebeka and Roberts if that's what we decided to do. Now I'm scared that it IS going to work out. Weird, right? I start having all these doubts about how we will work everything out--from teaching english and homeschooling and the ineviteble sibling rivalry that will come. Sometimes I start to wonder if we're doing this for us and telling ourselves God told us to. But then something will happen that will be so GOD that I can't deny His role in all of this. He has brought us here. He has put these children in our lives. He has raised this money for us. He has brought people for encouragement into our lives exactly when we need them. He has brought that money and encouragement from such unexpected people/places that the only explaination is that GOD DID IT!
So, are we crazy? To most people, yes we are. But we're going to go on being "crazy" and follow God on this journey until He leads us somewhere else.

Please pray for our continued seeking of God's will and for our whole (even those across the world) family.

Crazy for Jesus!
Brooke

Arrival Date!!

We found out today that our kids will arrive in Atlanta on June 26 at 11:24 PM. Yes, PM!! They will probably spend an hour or so in customs before we even get to see them! Pray pray pray for no delays with the flights and a speedy customs check! I think we will put Eileen, Merrick and Adalynn to bed around 4:00 or 5:00 PM and try to let them sleep and then wake them up around 9:30 or so to go to the airport. I think it's very important for Rebeka and Roberts to see everyone they will be living with for the summer as soon as they arrive. I think having the children there will make them feel more comfortable as well. Merrick and Addie will probably sleep in the stroller, but I'm sure Eileen will have tons of energy as always! Plus, Craig, Eileen and I will have so much anxious energy that we won't be tired one bit! We will all sleep very well (and late!) the next day. Hopefully it will give Rebeka and Roberts time to get used to the time difference and catch up on some sleep.
We also found out they will leave on July 31 at 1:20 PM. So they will be here for 2 days short of 5 weeks. I wish they didn't leave until later. I'm sad for that time already. I hope that I can remember to enjoy the moments while they are here instead of dreading when they have to leave the whole time.
We have about $780 left to raise by April 30! That is so awesome! God has done amazing things in getting the money for the hosting to us! I am going to try my best to continue trusting in Him for all things! I am leaving my job of almost 11 years to be a stay-at-home mom at the beginning of June so trusting God to provide is going to be something I learn BIG time soon! :)

Thank you for your prayers!
Brooke

Host Families Needed/Starving for Information

The deadline for families to host children from Russia is 4/15/08 and the deadline to host children from Latvia is 5/5/08. There are just over 60 children waiting for host families. If you or anyone you know would be interested, please visit New Horizons website to get more information. These kids deserve to learn about the love of Christ and to find loving homes!

That being said, I am starved for any information on Rebeka & Roberts! I want to hear how they are doing, I want to see pictures of them at Christmas (they were hosted by a family in Maryland), I want to meet them so badly! I'm so excited for summer to be here, I almost can't stand it! I wonder if anyone else is going through these same emotions--and I know they are! Our host training session will be on June 7, all day and we will learn so much more and meet other host families. I am very excited to meet other people who have the same heart as we do and whose first words when they meet us won't be, "You're crazy for wanting to do this!" :)

I pray every night with Eileen, Merrick and Adalynn that God will let Rebeka & Roberts know we love them and keep them safe and healthy. And we do love them--all of us! Merrick says, "Roberts? Rebeka?" all the time. It sounds more like "waburts" and "beka" but that's okay! :)
Please pray for their health and safety and for God to comfort them.

Thanks for your support and prayers,
Brooke

New Horizons Hosting Video

Precious in His Sight

Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red & yellow, black & white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.

This song has been playing in my head recently. Mainly because we recently named our new orphan's ministry Precious in His Sight. I think of it as a cute song to sing to my children and those at church about how much Jesus loves them. Now, that song sings to me of Jesus' love for the orphan and His desire to see all children cared for! Jesus says in John 14:18 "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." God's Word often speaks of us as being adopted as God's children. James 1:27 plainly states, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." God clearly has a heart for those without parents. He calls us to help them. That doesn't mean everyone is called to host or adopt a child. It doesn't mean everyone is called to give financial support, although even a couple of dollars wouldn't hurt MOST of us. It does mean that EVERYONE can pray. Everyone can do something. Craig and I feel that we have currently been called to host and to reach out to our community to create an awareness of the need. Will hosting lead us to adoption? I hope so! But God might call us a different way. We are leaving it up to Him. We do know that Rebeka & Roberts are not adoptable until Rebeka turns 9, which is February 22, 2009. So for now, we are focusing on our current calling--to love these children and teach them about the love that our Heavely Father has for them.

In Christ,
Brooke