We said goodbye

How do you say goodbye to a child that you have taken into your home and loved?  How do you communicate to them how much you love them when you don't even speak their language?  I don't know how and we have done it for three years now.  These girls wormed their way into our hearts and made it really hard to say goodbye, but we have managed to once again send them back to their homes. We all had our goodbyes and we followed them to security and stayed till we could see them no longer.

Back to front, this is Gabby, Bela, Ira, Sveta,  Brittany, Anya(Svetas friend) Dani. Kassie is standing behind.

Goodbye Girls

Once again our time with our Belarusian girls has ended.  This has been a wonderful year as we have taken two girls instead of one this year.  Ira is only 7 and she has been amazing.  The first night she had a little bit of crying, but for the rest of the summer she has really just fit into our family. She and Bela are exactly the same height and people have actually asked me if they are twins.  It is amazing how God works.  He sent us girls that could come over and fit right into our family with no troubles or issues at all.  She has learned quite a bit of english this summer and we will be sending her home with a dictionary and some phonics cards so she can keep practicing.  Ira had 6 teeth pulled this summer, she looks a lot healthier as we are sending her home then when she came.

Sveta is 12 now and this is her 3rd year.  She is beautiful and amazing.  Her English is much much better and she can almost communicate anything she wants to get across to us.  This year she gave her heart to the Lord, it has been three years in the making and an amazing wonderful miracle.  We thank God for the Blessing of being able to have these two little girls in our home all summer. 

I have spent today trying to make all of their things fit into their suitcases and still meet the weight standards that are very rigorous this year. 

Thank all of you who contributed to our cause, either monetarily, with items that we needed for them, or with your prayers.  You have all been such a blessing and without you, and our church family, this never would have been possible.  We also thank you on behalf of their families at home in Belarus.  We know they are grateful for everything we all do for their daughters.  Please stay in prayers for us as we begin to try and raise funds to bring them back next year.  We know it will be a lot more paying for two and we will begin our efforts sooner this year.  I have set up a paypal account to make the fundraising easier and we will be taking donations all year long.  If you would like to contribute please let me know and I will give you details on how your donation can be tax deductible. 

Update

We have had a wonderful time with the girls.  We have just been too busy for an update.  Luckily for you all who are wondering how we are doing, my brakes on my car need fixed, so we have a few days in the house.

We have been lots of places and done lots of things, there are tons of pictures on my flickr.  Click on the link to see them.

The other day for the 4th of July we had a ton of people over and we had so much fun.  It rained of course, but we did lots of fun indoor things for awhile till the rain was gone.  Dani organized a coloring contest for everyone.  She was the judge but she was also a contestant.  She decided that it wouldn't be fair for her to judge her own so she brought it to me to judge.  I thought that was very fair of her.

The kids had a wonderful time.  I hope you enjoy the pictures. :)