Hosting program

First off, thank you for all the kind words and encouraging comments. It has meant the world to me. An update: we had a better night last night. We woke Garrett up three times for potty breaks and as a result the bed (and rug) were dry in the morning (which he proudly showed me). Dressing him seems to have a calming effect (as opposed to telling him to get dressed on his own). He still yells and has temper tantrums, but my latest "trick" is to ask him where did good Garrett go? I make a game of it, "Let's look for good Garrett. Where did he go?" After awhile, he starts to laugh a little. We'll see how long this "trick" works. He told me to shut up last night, so papa promptly put him in a time-out. This morning he said, "shut up bad." I questioned where he had heard it and he ran back with the Toy Story DVD and pointed to Woody. Tonight we'll play it to see if Woody has a potty mouth.

On to another really important topic that is near and dear to my heart: hosting an older orphan child. As many of you know, we hosted a Russian orphan in the summer of '06 for three weeks. Vova was a delightful little boy and although we didn't adopt him, we enjoyed our time together. He eventually found another forever family and now lives in a southern Twin Cities suburb. Although hosting is an excellent program it is not a free program; families have to pay for airline tickets, visas, chaperones and all clothes and related expenses, which can quickly add up to thousands of dollars. But the chance for these older children to find families is priceless. One such family who is ready to host a sibling set of three in December is Holly and Josh Trawick. If the name sounds familiar, it should. Their son Jonathan was the other little boy from Garrett's baby house whom we met in Marietta.
Here is Holly's email; in her own words:
"As most of you know, we are hosting a sibling set of 3 Russian Orphans this Christmas. I am asking all of our blog friends to post links to our blog and our fundraiser page on your blog. First of all this will help us raise the money we need to bring our host kids and second it will get the word out about the hosting program. You may be the person that helps our host kids come this winter and you might even find a host family for another child.

The fees to host siblings are: $2050 per child. This money pays for the kids travel expenses (flights, passport, visa....). Because we are hosting 3 kids, our total fees are: $6150! We have already raised $4100, so we are very close to meeting our goal of bringing the 3 kids into our home for Christmas... we only need $2050. Please help us with this goal by posting a link on your blog/website. You could also send out an email to your friends and family. Because our hosting agency, New Horizons for Children is a non-profit, all donations are tax deductible.

This is the link to our fundraiser page:
http://www.active.com/donate/orphans2008/trawickfamily
This is the link to our new blog:
http://trawickfamilyadventures.blogspot.com/

Thank you so much,
Holly Trawick
From left to right, Kolya, Sergei and Valya. If there is any way you can help Holly and Josh bring these three beautiful children over for the holidays that would be wonderful. Any donation amount will help them get closer to their goal.