We appreciate the Daily Herald and KUTV for publishing our story. Without a community effort we will not be able to help these three orphaned sisters by adopting them. We hosted planning to host only, not adopt. We choose to adopt when it became clear to us that the girls are adoptable and it is God's will that we do. Read more below.
A video a friend of ours made.
Jay and I (Arin) have been happily married for
21 years and have five children living at home. We also have a married son. We
enjoy doing things like camping, hiking, biking and playing games with our
family. We have felt that we have a good life and have wanted to do something to
help someone in a meaningful way. Last spring we discovered an orphan hosting
program and felt strongly pulled towards two sisters from an orphanage in
Ukraine.
Over the summer our family was blessed to host the two sisters ages 10 and 13. Originally we had been told that the girls probably weren't adoptable because of multiple siblings in other orphanages. That was okay, we thought we would give the girls as much love and good experiences as possible for the summer to help make a difference in the girls' lives. But from the first week the girls were with us, I strongly felt that the girls needed to be adopted. The girls were so good and happy and fit in our family so well. As time went on the girls showed much love and compassion for our family and others that they were introduced to in the community. Over the summer we were able to learn from the girls that they only had one other sibling eligible for adoption, a sister age 12 living in their same orphanage. Two older siblings were too old to be adopted and two others had sadly passed away. The girls spoke no English when they arrived and we don't speak Russian. But some things could still be communicated. The last week of the amazing summer stay, while at the dinner table, the two girls started listing all of the members of our family by name and then adding their names at the end. They were letting us know that they wanted to be a part of our family. On the hour drive to the airport the two girls cried over and over again, "Ukraina no, America yes." It was very hard to send the girls home and we miss them greatly. Friends of ours were able to contact the girls via phone recently. We were comforted to hear that they are doing well, school is going well and they are healthy. They really, really miss our family and America. They say that everything was so good in America. And they love our family. You can see the love between us in the photos on our Photo page.
We strongly feel that God wants the girls we love so much to come to our family and feel so blessed to be able to adopt the three wonderful sisters. I have felt that I have seen the hand of God in the whole process starting with finding the girls all the way through to fundraising for the adoption. Because we didn't host planning to adopt, we don't have the funds saved up and need others' help in raising the funds. We are trusting that God will touch people's hearts to donate and are very appreciate of the sacrifice people are making in donating to help get the three sisters home to their forever family. If you have the means, great or small, to help us bring our girls back home to stay, please donate.
Over the summer our family was blessed to host the two sisters ages 10 and 13. Originally we had been told that the girls probably weren't adoptable because of multiple siblings in other orphanages. That was okay, we thought we would give the girls as much love and good experiences as possible for the summer to help make a difference in the girls' lives. But from the first week the girls were with us, I strongly felt that the girls needed to be adopted. The girls were so good and happy and fit in our family so well. As time went on the girls showed much love and compassion for our family and others that they were introduced to in the community. Over the summer we were able to learn from the girls that they only had one other sibling eligible for adoption, a sister age 12 living in their same orphanage. Two older siblings were too old to be adopted and two others had sadly passed away. The girls spoke no English when they arrived and we don't speak Russian. But some things could still be communicated. The last week of the amazing summer stay, while at the dinner table, the two girls started listing all of the members of our family by name and then adding their names at the end. They were letting us know that they wanted to be a part of our family. On the hour drive to the airport the two girls cried over and over again, "Ukraina no, America yes." It was very hard to send the girls home and we miss them greatly. Friends of ours were able to contact the girls via phone recently. We were comforted to hear that they are doing well, school is going well and they are healthy. They really, really miss our family and America. They say that everything was so good in America. And they love our family. You can see the love between us in the photos on our Photo page.
We strongly feel that God wants the girls we love so much to come to our family and feel so blessed to be able to adopt the three wonderful sisters. I have felt that I have seen the hand of God in the whole process starting with finding the girls all the way through to fundraising for the adoption. Because we didn't host planning to adopt, we don't have the funds saved up and need others' help in raising the funds. We are trusting that God will touch people's hearts to donate and are very appreciate of the sacrifice people are making in donating to help get the three sisters home to their forever family. If you have the means, great or small, to help us bring our girls back home to stay, please donate.
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