So here we are. January 12th and Zhenya's been gone for 2 days. We miss him so very much.
I apologize for not posting more during our hosting. I had high hopes that I could get lots of things done in the evenings, but by the time 8:00 rolled around, I was pooped! Keeping up with 3 active boys is tiresome!
Our visit with Zhenya was amazing! He is such a fun, hungry, athletic, hungry, loving young man! Did I mention hungry? This kid can eat! Oh my! His absolute favorite food here was hot dogs. He would eat 4 at a time, with chips or whatever else we were eating. He did NOT like my chicken brocolli casserole that we ALL love here in the south. One night he offered to cook a dish for us. So, I'm thinking....Oh, this is awesome! We get to eat a Ukrainian dish. So as he's chopping and stirring, I ask where he learned to cook this dish. His reply? Spain. This is a dish from Spain! (He's been on other hosting programs to Spain.) He had fun cooking and we enjoyed the dish :) I was just amazed that a 12 year old boy could actually do something productive in a kitchen!! (besides eat)
Thank heavens for the YMCA! We frequented the Y to play indoor basketball and swim. Zhenya never could get the letters in the right order for Y M C A, so I always got tickled when he talked about going to the Y.
He also loved Plaza Fiesta! We went one afternoon with Grace Bevilacqua and her boys. He had so much fun, he literally begged to go back.
Okay, so now I'm going to get serious. Can I just say how much this child blessed our family? He brought so much laughter and sunshine into our home. It is so evident how God orchestrated this whole hosting time. Just to name a few....Zhenya could understand English really well. We didn't have to rely on google translate the whole time. This was one of our prayer requests, that we would be able to communicate well. Through this process, we met a missionary that lives 5 minutes away from Zhenya's orphanage. She volunteers some of her time there and knows Zhenya. She's from the US, so speaks English :) We talked for over an hour one day and still communicate via Facebook. What a blessing! A family in Columbia hosted a 12 year old boy that was from the same orphanage as Zhenya. We were able to get to know them and the boys were able to talk on the phone a few times. Another blessing! I could go on and on about how everything fell into it's perfect place. This was not a coincidence. This was God's perfect plan.
We took Zhenya to the airport Tuesday to head back home. It was much harder than I expected. We were able to hang out together for a few hours before the kids had to go through security. I wasn't sure what to expect from him and I hadn't prepared myself for how he would act in those last few minutes before we sent him off. He hugged and kissed, but never said a word and never got emotional. (He probably thought I was a fruit loop, with my red, splotchy face.) My thinking is that he's built up a protective wall around himself, so that he won't get hurt. That breaks my heart.
We do plan to communicate with Zhenya. We have requested his orphanage address so that we can mail packages to him. We also plan to use Ukrainian Facebook.
Again, we thank you so very much for your prayers and support!
Mandy
