What a Difference a Day Makes

It is 10 PM on Sunday night.  This day has been a day of miracles but it did not start out that way.  We have to thank that countless prayers that were offered up for Daniela for the breakthrough achieved today.  Tomorrow may see a different set of circumstances but the results of today cannot be denied.

The day started with tip-toes to the kitchen to root through some candy.  There was a brief smile when we said our good mornings to each other and then .... we met with some resistance.  When told she needed to wash up and put on some clean clothes for church she had a little bit of a tissue-tearing moment.  Then she stalled and stalled until Eileen gently but firmly informed her she had five minutes to come downstairs.  She came but she wasn't pleased.

While at church we introduced her to our friends there which was met with sullenness and attitude as only a teenager can do.  Our friend Cathy graciously offered a slew of clothes for Daniela to try on and topped it off with a lovely little card written in Latvian!!!  That started the ice to melt.

The younger kids at church had made "welcome" cards for Daniela and decorated them with lots of stickers and flowers and colorful drawings.  After Sunday school was over they all went upstairs and handed them to her saying "Sveika".  That brought out a smile on her face.

Then we went to a friends house and met up with a few of our friends from church.  Linda and Wayne were so loving in offering their hospitality and Jana, Miriya and Alex were fantastic in helping her feel relaxed.  After chowing down some pizza, chips and soda we hopped into the pool (even though it was raining at points).  Daniela eventually joined us in the pool!! She laughed, floated around and swam like a fish!  She interacted so well with everyone, including me, and was joking and playing with Peter!

Afterwards, when we were home, she told us that she really likes tomato juice and could we get some at the store for her.  She then asked us to keep Peter downstairs while she took a shower in order to insure some privacy.  We finished off the night with a netflix movie and our new ritual - the nightly affirmation ("Daniela is a joy to spend time with"), "Arlabunakti", "saldie sapni" and "mes tevi milu" (good night, sweet dreams and we love you). 

Sigh

The Blustery Day

So, Saturday the reality kind of set in ... Daniela feels isolated, homesick and frustrated.  She talked to her chaperone twice that day (thank the good Lord for Dace (pronounced "Dachay").  She wants to go home to Latvia NOW, TODAY.  We gave her her space but there were some tough moments.  Tears and anger and frustration and fear were changing it up in an instant. As if it wasn't tough enough being a teenager, imagine being a teen in a country where you don't speak the language and you can't be with your friends.

We slogged through it. Lots of sullenness, homesickness, feeling alone, language barriers (she doesn't speak any English and is resisting) coupled with teenage daughter angst and you get the picture. We've been shopping with her twice without so much as a pair of socks purchased. We figured out she likes jellybeans and wants to visit with her friend Jevgenija. Big pouting when we said "not today". Then came the scowl and storming off to her room when I caught her on Latvia social media and told her the rules prohibit that (but she already knew that - she was ticked that she got caught).

As weird as it may seem, it was comforting to see that many of our host-family friends were posting similar things Saturday.  Being able to talk and laugh about what we and others are going through is a blessing beyond description.  Eileen and I consider ourselves blessed beyond what words can describe for the wonderful friends God has put in our lives!  Thank you to ALL of our friends across the country who are on this marvelous adventure with us.

We spent the afternoon assuring her that we were not angry with her and that we admire her courage for coming to America.  We let her have her time alone to process all of this and eventually she came downstairs with a smile on her face.  She played a little with Angel and had dinner with us.  Thank God for Peter and his gusto for food.  His eating habits never cease to amuse Daniela!!

After dinner, she went upstairs to her room and fell asleep.  Eileen and I processed the days events.  We agreed it was important to be consistent and loving.  We need to be patient and give her time to adjust and never give up on loving her.  

This morning I heard Daniela quietly come downstairs and then go back up to her room.  When I came downstairs I noticed that the bag of Starbursts was gone. :-)

Daniela is a lovely young woman and we are honored to have her as part of our family.

Dr Who saves the day

This is the Eileen version of today's post: Phil kissed me and then left for work with Peter. It's me...alone in the house. Wondering..when will she get up? Is it appropriate to let her sleep all day? Can I not tell Phil if she does. Can I sleep all day too? The answer was a crystal clear maybe. So I enjoyed my coffee, stalked facebook for a while completely dependent on the wisdom of those whose host children had been awake for 5 minutes for deep and meaningful advise. I showered, slipped into my wonder women underwear and prepared for the day. Yes they really do have wonder woman underwear. I purchased at Target just the other day. I prayed and I waited.
This is what I learned today:
1. She likes the same cereal as I do Special K red berry. She did not eat yogurt.
2  Apparently she likes to shop as much as I do.....we purchased....not a thing.
3. We both can go for long periods of time without speaking...we did
4. She would not eat ice cream
5. She will eat ravioli and almost spit it out while she watches P. scarf his food down like a maniac
6. I impressed her and well even myself a bit with the sit and stay hand signals for the bouvier (read giant hairy dog) Willem, then she totally cracked up when he would not listen to go outside. Disobedience apparently is a universal language.
7 Dr. Who translates really great! We laughed at the same things, jumped and screeched in harmony at the gross things. She even said with a hand sign she wasn't going to bed till the episode was over.
8. The jelly beans were all gone!

When we tucked her in tonite, she read her affirmation in Latvian and we read the English: Daniela you are light and love. Then she gave me a serious hug!
I understand more of how you can love someone you never knew. It reminds me that this is just a drop in the bucket of how God loves us.
Blessings and Love to all
Eileen Gentile

D-Day (Daniela Day)

What a whirlwind of a day!!!!  Woke up at 4:30 a.m. (I did, Eileen slept like a baby) because of all the nervous energy of the anticipated arrival of Daniela.  We were on the road by 9 and headed for our rendezvous at JFK Airport in Queens, NY.  We hit a few traffic snarls along the way but we arrived at the airport by 12 and met up with some of the other families.  It was quite special to finally get the chance to meet the people behind the facebook personas - Trish, LeAnn, Paula and Kristine just to name a few.

Apparently there was some glitches getting through customs so although the plane landed by 12:30 the kids didn't start filtering out until almost 2.  It was weird but recognizing some of there faces from the photo album it was almost like we already knew them even though we only met them for the first time today. We spent months pouring over their profiles and later talking with their host families and here they were ... for real!

It was really quite indescribable to see all these lovely young people filled with such joy and promise as they walked through the terminal toward us.  Several waves of lime-green t-shirted young people came past us but no Daniela yet.  One of the girls, Kristine, lives with Daniela and overheard us asking about her.  She was kind enough to tell us that Daniela was coming!! 

Finally, Daniela came into view and you would have thought that we were a bunch of kids on Christmas morning the way we were yelling "Svieka Daniela" and jumping up and down!  She smiled and waved.  Then we hugged her and welcomed her and waited for the "all clear" signal before heading out.  After several pictures we said our "good byes" and headed for home.  We had some fun pantomiming what the car sickness bags were for and that made Daniela laugh.  Daniela was whipped and fell asleep in the car.

We arrived home at about 5:30.  We practiced our language skills (Latvian and English) and had some dinner.  Daniela really enjoyed watching Peter eat with such gusto ... she giggled at him (perhaps because she was such a dainty and slow eater).  We showed her her room and how to use the shower, had her read her first affirmation, kissed and hugged her good night and wished her Saldie Sapni (Sweet Dreams).

Daniela's Room

72 Hours!!!!

Words cannot begin to express how excited we are!  We are down to counting the hours .... yes, hours .... until Daniela is physically with us.  I know it sounds crazy to most people but for us it feels like Daniela has been with us on this journey from the beginning.  And it hasn't just been us on this journey!  Every one of our friends and family have been with us on this journey, too!  We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends at work, in our neighborhood, at our church and across the country!  They have made this part of the adventure so filled with love for Daniela it humbles us.

I don't really know if we will ever really grasp the immense love and grace of God in this mission of love for Daniela.  Perhaps we aren't meant to understand it, just feel it and share it with others - love God, love others, serve the world.  When I can pause and take a step back, I can see all the pieces falling into place all along the way to make this dream of ours a reality. 

Eileen and I had this calling to help orphans when we were introduced to Nelya two years ago.  We met this lovely young woman through a friend who was hosting Nelya.  We bonded with this girl and that relationship changed Nelya and it changed us ... forever!  Jesus promises us "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." John 14:18.  Eileen and I cling to that promise and hold God to it!

Father's Day

Today is Father's Day.  As we celebrated the important role that Dad's play in the family we heard a very inspiring sermon in church this morning.  The topic of the "conversation" was Superheroes.  The gist of the conversation was that superheroes, like Superman, have super-powers - x-ray vision, strength, speed, etc.  Unlike our societal concept of what super-powers a superhero needs, Jesus flipped over that concept.  Jesus says the meek, peacemakers, the poor, the grieving, etc are the real heroes.  I can be a "superhero" by modeling my life after Jesus' life - serving the downtrodden, the sick, the outcasts, etc with compassion, love and humility.

That struck a chord with me today.  In about ten days a young woman will be experiencing life with our family here in America.  While certainly we will have lots of fun and learn many things about each other, my priority is to be of service to God by taking the love and compassion and humility he showed to me and doing likewise to Daniela.  We must be of service to her, meet her where she is and love her unconditionally!

By the grace of God I pray that she may know God's love for her through our love for her.

As for where we are in the process ... we have been especially blessed.  We needed two air conditioners and a full mattress set.  Today we received two air conditioners and were able to purchase a full mattress set at a reasonable price.  God is good!

18 Days Away!

Well, the safety inspection went very well (thank God she didn't look in the basement).  Seriously, Nancy was sweet and we enjoyed getting to know her.

We are almost fully funded for the hosting fees.  Eileen and I are so blessed to have such wonderful friends (new and old) and family who support our mission and our vision of serving orphans.  Our photo puzzle is now completed and we have a few Mudlove bracelets left to sell.

We now are focusing on getting the last items done on the list before June 27th.  Speaking of which, we found out this week that Daniela's flight arrives at JFK on June 27 at 1 p.m.  Sooooo excited!  We have some photos framed for her room, we have a variety of small gifts and other items ready for her (mp3 player, necklace, purse, etc) and we have been brushing up on our Latvian language skills!

Eileen used her artsy skills to make Daniela's welcome sign for the arrival at JFK.  Looks wonderful! Today, the kids at Church will be making welcome cards for Daniela and learning a few key Latvian phrases to make Daniela feel welcome.  More to come ...

24 Days Away

Home safety inspection looms - tomorrow at 6 pm.

Eileen's theory is to hide all the crap in the washing machine.  Skeletons neatly tucked away in the closets.  Dogs are sedated. Batteries changed in the smoke detectors. Bribe money conspicuously laying around (ha ha ha).  Phil has promised to watch his vulgarity for a short period of time (Lord we need a miracle on this one)!

There is nothing more to do except .... pray!!