Friday, June 25, 2010
Oh My Heart
What a night! I hope to never forget the emotions of today!
Today was the day Davids was to arrive. My friend in town and her family are also hosting and it turns out that the little girl they were bringing here is from the same orphanage as Davids! We planned to ride together as her husband and a few of the kids weren't going with for different reasons. She and five of her kids (yes, five! and four at home!) :) rode with the kids and I - lucky for us we have the wonderful 12 passenger van!!! Love that thing! :)
Anyway, not knowing how traffic ever is around Chicago, and I not having been to this airport in years, let alone knowing where the international terminal was, we left with plenty of time to spare, of course missed all traffic, and arrived at 4pm. Their flight was originally supposed to be there at 6:20, but was actually running ahead of time and scheduled to come in at 6. We had packed dinner, and had a few things to occupy time, so we hung out at the airport. :)
My friend is also Liam's home day care provider, and was at one time one of our foster care caseworkers - was actually the one who brought Olivia to my house the first day she lived with us! This is two of her littles and Liam sandwiched between! :)
Olivia and one of her others...
Finally at 6 we headed to the entrance to the terminal to wait. Let me tell you... it was AMAZING What God had in store!!!
A few families around us started noticing our tshirts. They say "New Horizons for Children" on the front and "Summertime in America" on the back with the Ichthuys and a Bible verse. We also had huge signs welcoming the kids with their pics, etc. Then they asked us about them and when I started telling them we were welcoming an orphan from Latvia for five weeks this summer, they stammered out, "We're all Latvians!" What!!?? They were people welcoming back kids who had gone on a two week trip around Latvia. Their kids go to Saturday school through the American Latvian Association and this trip is a yearly "gift" to graduating eighth graders to see the country they've learned about. There were people there originally from Latvia, their kids who were first generation Americans, and then their kids who were coming back from the trip. Two couples in particular were especially interested in the program and took down the website information. I think they may host in the future!!! They couldn't stop talking about it to all who were with them! One couple had their parents there who were born in Latvia and the woman turned to me and asked about the orphan staying with us. I told her a bit about Davids and she said in her beautiful accent that it was wonderful what we were doing and that they should give us a medal in Latvia. She patted my shoulder. It was just amazing!!!
We unfortunately had to wait a LONG time after their flight arrived!!! It was almost 7:45 pm when we finally saw the "blue shirts". The kids all had to wear shirts like ours. :) The cutest thing, when they came near these doors, Davids was in the front and saw us and our signs and practically ran through to us. The chaperone came running over and he got in a bit of trouble for leaving the group, but my heart was racing, he just wanted to be with us... we were HIS!
Finally when they were finished and allowed to come through, he led the charge through the doors right to us! (He's a bit blurry!) :) The little girl to his left is the nine year old staying with my friend. Davids speaks some English, pretty well too, but she speaks NONE. She just kept giggling and smiling the whole time! So cute!
Davids was happy to finally be with us, and when they took this picture, he just squeezed me to him, it was so sweet!
Liam just wanted to hold his hand the entire time he was with us in the airport! And Braeden did a little, but when he wasn't and he'd go near Davids, I watched and Davids would hold his hand out just a tiny bit, in case Braeden decided to hold it. He was just too sweet for words!!!
He was fascinated by everything in this gift shop, especially all the toy planes they had, we may have to pick one of those up! :)
In the car I overheard Braeden ask him, "Do you miss Latvia?" and Davids replied, "No, not much." What a statement. I was amazed. I just wanted to listen to more! But with ten kids in the car, it was a little hard to hear! :)
I pulled the DVD screens down in the van for the ride home and he said "Ooooo... " :) When I listed out a couple movies I thought they might like he said, "G Force!" Guess he has at least heard of some of our movies! :)
At the airport Davids said he had a gift for me, and pulled out this big beautiful wool felted ball. He told me he made it himself. Later I saw the little water bud portion and my friend and I realized it was a vase! This is the flower Olivia got today, and we never have real flowers in the house, how perfect!!!!!
After we got home Davids was wanting to just look at everything. He loved the gerbils and helped get them fresh water! He was mesmerized by everything and played and played. When he came into the living room he was curious about the Wii remote and I tried to explain it was a video game we could try tomorrow. He just shook his head, looked around, and said "This is so much better... than my life." I was dumbfounded. And the thing was, the way he said it, it wasn't a tone that's easy to explain but was just kind of glad to be here and thankful and grateful. He is the sweetest kid!!!
We gave him a Mickey Mouse teddy bear tonight. He is a bear with mickey head on it's paws and a tshirt with Disney World and Mickey. Tonight I asked him if he knew who Mickey was and he said yes. I said we were going to Disney World while he was here and he rolled over and grinned and almost pinched himself, it was too cute!!! I asked if likes rides, if he's ever been on a roller coaster or anything and he just shook his head no, I said, "Well Olivia and I sure do and we hope you might try it!" He was just grinning ear to ear. I wonder what he'll do when he realizes we're going to go to a million fun places!? :)
We have so much planned and I can't wait to get started!!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
Let's Connect!
Olivia - 14
Braeden - 11
Liam - 9
Macy - 5
Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store!
Other Awesome Blogs
-
5 years ago
8 comments:
Your gift of folding him into your family and your heart this summer is more precious than anything else. They say experiences are what we remember more than material things. He'lll remember this forever!
What an amazing thing! I have such a heart for the older kids. Your going to change this little boys life forever. I am excited to follow your summer on your blog!
Wow, that sounds like an amazing day! I can't imagine the thoughts going through his head. I'm positive that he will get to experience a lifetime of memories with you guys. Update us as much as you can, with pictures and all!!!
Christie
That was so nice to meet those people at the airport all from Latvia. Hopefully they will follow your lead in taking in chidlren for the summers.
Davids is such a sweetheart! That's so heart touching what he said when shown the wii, I'm sure you guys are going to have a great summer together. I look forward to hearing all about it. So happy for you. :D
Oh Lisa. I am praying so much that he will find a forever family. I can't imagine him going back to an orphanage with NO hope after having a taste of what it is like.
Praying.
Enjoy his company!
What a gift! For all of you. He sounds such like a sweetie! He's going to remember this forever.
Holly You are SO right!!! Because while I feel ok saying this in a comment, not sure if I can really post about it (we have to be very careful about posts and with the kids can't even ask them about their life "before")... but in his country you are UNADOPTABLE at age 16... and he will be 16 in January!!!! :(
This made me cry.