Tracy's Top Ten Reasons to
Consider Orphan Hosting
1. YOU GET TO TRY YOUR HAND AT FUNDRAISING
Stop rubbing your eyes and blinking hard. YES, you are reading that correctly...you GET to fundraise. Asking for help is never easy. Asking for MONEY? Ten times less fun. BUT...you will be surprised at how your friends and family will WANT to be a part of your orphan hosting journey. It's not like you're asking for money to get Botox or a year of spray tans; this is a child's LIFE. Like I've said many times before, this is a TEAM effort, and many of your team members are going to help you out financially. PEOPLE WANT TO HELP, and you're just providing them with an opportunity to do so! Orphan hosting fees are about $3,000. That does NOT include domestic travel to pick up or return your child to the airport the kids flew into. This year for us, that was Chicago, which added another $2,000 that we weren't expecting. IT. WAS. ALL. COVERED. God will provide!
2. IT WILL INCONVENIENCE YOUR OWN KIDS
Bringing another child into your home for 4-8 weeks (depending on if you're hosting during winter or summer) is going to rock your entire family's world. That is a good, GOOD thing. As humans, we are pretty selfish. It's just how we're wired. When you're an adult, you learn to "mask" that selfishness a bit. Kids? Not so much; it's just OUT THERE for all to see! Especially at Christmas time...can I get an "amen?!" It's so awesome to see your children take their eyeballs off of themselves, and put them on a child who is so very different. A child who longs for the very things that they take for granted, simply because of where they live and where they were born. Loving parents, public school, church, a stocked 'fridge, their own belongings, and affection, just to name a few.
3. IT'S REALLY COOL TO LEARN ABOUT ANOTHER CULTURE
Most children haven't traveled outside of the U.S. much, if at all. Through orphan hosting, another country comes to YOU! :-) So far we have hosted a child from Ukraine and one from China. It's so much fun for all of us, but especially the kids, to hear conversations in another language, to see and taste some very different foods, and to try to put themselves in the orphan's shoes. We look at the globe to see where they are from, hear their national anthem, learn some of their ways, etc. When I showed them this picture of a Chinese toilet, they were like "Whaaaaaaaa?!"
4. IN SHOWING YOUR HOST CHILD A GOOD TIME, YOU'LL HAVE A GOOD TIME, TOO!
As soon as we decided we were going to host again, I started tucking extra cash away in an envelope on my dresser, marked "Jia Fun Money." Being hosted is an incredible vacation, away from the monotony of life in an orphanage. EVERYTHING is new to them, and they are so excited to experience everything from going out to dinner, to seeing Santa, to shopping for something that is special and just for them, to taking a trip to Jumpology. All of these things are pricey, especially when you add in your entire family, so just start saving! You'll be so glad you did. The special activities are special for EVERYONE! At the end of your child's stay, put together a little photo album of their time with you, so they can always remember the special things they did with you and your family. They'll love it!
5. A FIRST THAT MIGHT SURPRISE YOU
When we did our hosting training in 2012 (which was live, not online), the instructors were actually teaching us how to teach our host kids to give and receive a hug. No kidding- they told us that they may or may not know what to do, and they would need to be taught. Turns out, Alyona knew the ropes and was fairly affectionate. JiaQing? TOTALLY NEW. He had no earthly clue how to give or receive a hug, a cuddle, sit on a lap, be picked up and carried, none of it. Is that heart breaking, or what? Although I wouldn't say it's his favorite thing in the world, he now will let us hug him. He's still rather stiff, and we're lucky if he hugs us back, but it's a start. He'll also let Chris throw him over his shoulder in a playful way, accept goodnight kisses on the forehead, and he hugs the kids- especially Loren. It's kind of like a "tackle-hug". :-)
6. THE AIRPORT MOMENT
Oh. My. Gosh. The airport moment. When you finally lay eyes on the child whose picture you've studied for hours, there is just no describing it.
7. YOUR GROCERY BILL WILL SKYROCKET, YOU'LL GET LESS SLEEP, AND THE DIRTY LAUNDRY PILE WILL BE A LOT BIGGER
OK, I see that you're rubbing your eyes and blinking hard again. I add this as a reason to host because in all honesty, sacrificing of your time, resources and energy to serve another, expecting nothing in return, just feels so gosh darn good. We all should do it every now and again! Get out of that comfort zone! *The amount of fresh fruit these kids consume in a day will blow your mind.
8. IT WILL DO WONDERS FOR YOUR MARRIAGE
Now, I need to elaborate on this one a bit. If you are not BOTH on board with hosting, don't do it. I wanted to host again over Christmas 2013, but Chris needed a break (we were still doing interim care for Bethany Christian Services at the time, so I could see where he was coming from). Although I was bummed out, I didn't push it. Why? Because it's not always easy. It has to be both or neither.
That is true of adoption, too, by the way! I haven't mentioned this at all, but the first few days that JQ was here, Chris was struggling. I'm not even sure he could tell you why, as I don't think he could even pin point it. I know the house volume like quadrupled, and that might have been part of it. Although it was hard for all of us to see him grumpy and stressed, we were able to work though it, talk through it, and pray through it. Hosting will bond you- trust me on this!
9. HOST BECAUSE THESE KIDS DESERVE A BREAK
It's not their fault that they were dealt a crappy hand. They didn't choose to be abandoned by their birth parents. They didn't choose to live in an orphanage or a foster home. They didn't choose to have birth defects. They didn't choose to be born in Ukraine or China or Latvia. A lot of times these kiddos have a pretty tough exterior, but they are just hurting little marshmallows on the inside. They are forced to be independent, to make their own way, to do what it takes to survive. Coming to America to just be a kid is such an amazing gift for them. Even if the child doesn't go back with a forever family identified for him or her, they are leaving with amazing memories of fun activities, of being LOVED by a mom and dad and siblings, of relaxing and letting their guard down to just BE.
10. BECAUSE YOU HOST, AN ORPHAN COULD FIND A FOREVER FAMILY
Let that sink in. Because you host, a child's life could change FOREVER.
Not every child that is hosted is adoptable (in which case they will be listed as "host only"), but most of them are. Many of them have been waiting for years to be chosen- JiaQing has been an orphan his ENTIRE life, and he is still waiting for a forever family. If he hadn't been chosen for hosting, he would still just be listed on a few "waiting children" adoption sites. Just a crappy, blurry photo with a couple of sentences about him. That's it, and clearly, that hasn't worked for him up to this point. When you host, your job is to advocate for this kid like there's no tomorrow. You'll tell EVERYONE he or she is here. You'll post pictures and videos and stories. You'll tell people to share about him or her. You'll make yourself available if any adoption minded couples want to meet or get to know your host child. I know children who were adopted by their host families, and I know children who were adopted by friends of their host families. And of course, many children aren't adopted at all. Please don't let that stop you. Hosting gives them a CHANCE, where their chances would have been close to zero, otherwise.
For more information on orphan hosting, please check out these websites!
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