God first put the plight of orphans in Eastern Europe on our hearts by calling both Russ and I (Denise) to separate missions trips to Moldova. While there we visited orphanages, worked at orphan camps, and met children who we still remember and pray for today. Soon after that, God used a family friend to introduce us to the idea of Orphan Hosting. These are programs that bring orphans from Eastern Europe to the United States for a “reverse missions trip.” Children are given the opportunity to experience life in a real family, hear the gospel, and see the love of Jesus in action. We hosted twice but are not in a position to adopt the girls that we hosted so we began praying diligently for God to provide a family who loves Him, to step in and adopt these girls whom we love.
In the meantime, another family here in Rapid City was hosting two sisters. We met them, and Russ and I both separately knew that God was stirring something. Later, the family who hosted them came to us and told us that they were not able to adopt these girls and asked us to pray about whether God might call us to step in for these girls they had come to love. God is so good and gracious to call families to be His hands and feet to care for the orphan! He miraculously provided a family for the girls we originally hosted, and put in our hearts a love and compassion for these two girls who we don’t even really know yet! We feel His still small voice calling us to move forward in faith.
It seems that it will probably cost about $40,000 when all is said and done for the adoption, and the required travel and associated costs for our family to travel to Ukraine twice, and, God willing, for a family that has grown by two to return at the end of the last trip!
