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Backyard Blessings: Chance of a lifetime....

http://backyard-blessings.blogspot.com/2012/10/chance-of-lifetime.html

International Missions.in our own backyard. Thursday, October 4, 2012. Chance of a lifetime. Hosting sign-ups are up and running. If you haven't been following my blog or caught my facebook posts over the last 18 months, "hosting" refers to ORPHAN HOSTING. Specifically, hosting through this organization: New Horizons for Children. What is orphan hosting? Simply put, you are inviting an orphaned child into your home, to stay with you for 4 weeks over Christmas. But ohhhhh- it's SO much more than that.

backyard-blessings.blogspot.com

Backyard Blessings: Dare I say it..... "improvement??"

http://backyard-blessings.blogspot.com/2012/07/dare-i-say-it-improvement.html

International Missions.in our own backyard. Thursday, July 12, 2012. Dare I say it. "improvement? It's been a few days since my last post and things are. well. maybe a little better? Honestly, it's hard to say if things are actually improving or if I'm just developing an immunity to the behaviors. Either way, it's a relief. I'm still not going to detail the struggles we've had. not yet anyway. To my average reader (do I HAVE readers? It won't make a difference. And I don't want that. It's vital to rememb...

backyard-blessings.blogspot.com

Backyard Blessings: June 2012

http://backyard-blessings.blogspot.com/2012_06_01_archive.html

International Missions.in our own backyard. Saturday, June 30, 2012. Everyone but Joe (and Rick, of course) are still asleep, so I thought I'd post a quick update of how things are going so far. Their flight landed at 10:15ish and we left the airport by 10:40 or so. The were quiet at first. AT FIRST. checking things out, getting their bearings, etc. But by the time we got to the car it was a different story. Daniels, especially, is a chatterbox. Their favorite thing in the house so far:. You could see th...

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Backyard Blessings: August 2012

http://backyard-blessings.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html

International Missions.in our own backyard. Friday, August 17, 2012. I've sat down to write this post several times in the last few days- and I just don't know where to start. I wanted to read back over my posts from our time with D&D. As opposed to our previous hostings, there weren't very many. so it didn't take long. It was such a difficult 5 weeks- I wanted to make sure I hadn't exaggerated or embellished things. Did I need to clarify anything? Did something need redacted? D&D left 2 weeks ago. I am ...

backyard-blessings.blogspot.com

Backyard Blessings: Marty and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

http://backyard-blessings.blogspot.com/2012/07/marty-and-terrible-horrible-no-good.html

International Missions.in our own backyard. Friday, July 13, 2012. Marty and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The title says it all. I spoke in my last post about some small improvements. I don't want to trample all over those- because D has. Improved in some areas. But HOLY COW, yesterday was HORRIBLE! I woke them both up at 11:20. I don't usually let them sleep that late, but we didn't have any plans yesterday morning so I figured it would be a treat. And it just went downhill from there.

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Backyard Blessings: Wrapping up....

http://backyard-blessings.blogspot.com/2012/08/wrapping-up.html

International Missions.in our own backyard. Friday, August 17, 2012. I've sat down to write this post several times in the last few days- and I just don't know where to start. I wanted to read back over my posts from our time with D&D. As opposed to our previous hostings, there weren't very many. so it didn't take long. It was such a difficult 5 weeks- I wanted to make sure I hadn't exaggerated or embellished things. Did I need to clarify anything? Did something need redacted? D&D left 2 weeks ago. I am ...

backyard-blessings.blogspot.com

Backyard Blessings: November 2011

http://backyard-blessings.blogspot.com/2011_11_01_archive.html

International Missions.in our own backyard. Monday, November 28, 2011. Ok So I know many of my readers are local. and I need your help. There are 12 Latvian orphans arriving at Akron/Canton on December 11th. Along with them will be a Latvian chaperone. Her name is Sandra and she's in her early 50's. I'm still waiting to find out if she speaks English. We, the other host families and us, are looking for places for her to stay. Before you immediately say "no". here's a little more info for you. Help me spr...

backyard-blessings.blogspot.com

Backyard Blessings: August 2011

http://backyard-blessings.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html

International Missions.in our own backyard. Monday, August 8, 2011. Vladik has been gone for a week. In that time, I've gotten a lot of questions about our hosting experience. Surprisingly, some questions have come from strangers. Like the WalMart cashier who checked us out while Vladik was here. Or the girl at Subway who recognized us from the newspaper article. And the lady who was getting a mani/pedi while I was getting my haircut. Some have come from friends at church. from MOPS. from family. Let me ...

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Backyard Blessings: Weekend activities

http://backyard-blessings.blogspot.com/2012/07/weekend-activities.html

International Missions.in our own backyard. Tuesday, July 17, 2012. We had a busy weekend, followed by a busy Monday. On Saturday, we spent the day at the Cleveland Zoo with a few other host families in the area. Our group was large enough that we had to split up to keep things manageable, and I was sorry I didn't get to visit much with the host families in the "other" group; but I think everyone had a good time. It was cooler than what it had been- and I know we were ALL grateful for that. A couple of t...