Foreword: I have never been a “blogger” before, but given the events of my life which will be unfolding over the next 5 weeks, I would really like to have a written log of everything… ideally on a daily basis. So, this blog is more for me than you, but you are welcome to read 
After a year of anticipation about hosting an orphan child, it is hard to believe that it is actually going to happen!! In 2 days we will be sharing our home with an 11-year old Russian girl named Tonya! The past 2 weeks have been full of frantic home repairs; replacing the carpeted main stairway with stained oak steps, putting finishing touches on crown moulding, re-painting the dining room and kitchen area, and making our downstairs bathroom (previously known as the “cat bathroom”) worthy of human occupants (fresh paint, new toilet, new mirror, new light fixture, new towel racks, etc.).
Of course, all of this occurred only after the preparation of “Tonya’s Room”, which is in every sense a “new room” in our house, created by the strategic re-routing of walls & closets to make it a decent-sized space for a child. Everything from floor to ceiling is brand-spanking new. We have a twin bed and matching dresser for her, and everything is done in a nice bright flowery/polka-dottie sort of theme. Hopefully all those bright colors won’t keep her up at night.
We hosted a small get-together of shelter friends last night, which forced us to pull together all of our dangling home improvement projects. Today, only the smallest of tasks are left to do… put in a doorknob here, stick an air conditioner there, hang some photos over here.
For those of you wondering about the hosting program, it is sponsored by a group called “New Horizons for Children”. (http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/horizons/main.html) They organize trips for orhpaned children from Latvia and Russia to come to the United States and stay with a host family. They typically organize 2 trips per year, one over the Christmas holiday and another over the Summer. There are over 50 children coming this summer to stay with host families all around the Eastern USA. As far as the kids are concerned, this is a VACATION, not a potential permanent home. We are not even allowed to utter the word “adoption” around the kids, and perhaps more challenging still, we are to prevent others from using that word too! No matter what, all of these kids go back to their respective orphanages in the beginning of August. If the “A-word” is something that we wish to pursue, it is a completely separate measure handled by a completely different agency.
Oh yeah… Did I mention that Tonya only speaks Russian? More on that later. Thanks for reading.
