One of the mom’s who hosted a Chinese boy for our first China host program had this to share with us…
Before hosting, I couldn’t imagine…
…how it would be to have a child in my home for five weeks. My children are in school during the day. What would I do with him? What if he grew bored? How would it change my daily routine?
…our family is extremely active. What if he doesn’t like the schedule? What if it is too much for him to take?
All of these concerns were valid, and although they could have kept us from hosting, we decided to walk in faith that this was meant for us – and in the past five weeks, we have never looked back!
I was so worried about the communication issues we might have. I could tell my husband was too, but we took it all in stride. I prepared little signs with Chinese and English words on them, had them laminated and placed them on the things around the house I thought our host son might need help with – shampoo, body wash, hand soap, toothpaste, and the dirty laundry basket. I also posted a procedure of how to use the toilet and laundry basket because of the cultural differences that come in those two areas. I posted the instructions first in English and then in Chinese. For the first few days we communicated through Google Translate. As I would type in what I wanted to tell him, I would say it out loud. I didn’t realize how important this was until about his fifth day here when he started speaking more and more English. It wasn’t that he didn’t know English – because let me tell you this little guy is pretty fluent – it was because of our accents and how he was used to hearing words pronounced. When he realized we were saying the same things and they just sounded differently, he opened up completely and has spoken English ever since!
As far as food goes, he was willing to try EVERYTHING! He had told me he didn’t like several different foods when he first arrived. Among those foods were chicken, meat, and pizza. I would make meals as usual and he would at least try everything. It wasn’t that he didn’t like those foods, he just didn’t care for how they had been prepared for him in the past. He graciously ate whatever we were having and cautiously tried foods he wasn’t sure about. He quickly found that he actually likes pizza, chicken, and meat; but doesn’t really care for waffles, pancakes, cheese, or hamburgers. He LOVES chocolate, ice cream, ramen noodles, Sprite, and french bread. He really enjoyed trying everything to find out what was for him!
Since our hosting dates fell over Chinese New Year, we went to a local Chinese New Year Festival our city held. He loved watching the magic tricks and participating in the paper cutting activities. He has spent most of his days making memories in America playing basketball, football, visiting science centers, ice cream shops, playgrounds, and libraries. Sometimes we just hang out at home and played cards or board games. He loves watching movies at home with a big bowl of popcorn, and playing video games on the weekends.
He is happy, sweet, funny, and helpful. He is easy going, laid back, and respectful. He is quite the magician and knows how to do the most incredible magic tricks! He had his first birthday party in America and chose a Power Rangers cake. He visited an arcade and went bowling. He loves laser tag and dislikes shopping. He is a typical teenage boy and blushes when he receives hugs or talks about girls.
Now, after hosting, I can’t imagine…
…what if I didn’t have this child in my home for five weeks? I would have never known him. He would have never come into our family and blessed each of us in a way we could never have imagined!
…what if we didn’t step out in faith and place him on hold? Would he have ever been chosen?
God is so amazing and it didn’t take long to realize after seeing pictures and hearing about experiences other host families were having, that He placed each child with the family they were meant to be hosted by.
Before writing this blog post I prayed that each person who reads it would realize the amazing opportunity that hosting a child is. I prayed that you will choose to enrich the life of a child with the love of a family and the love of our Father. I prayed that you will not let fear, doubt, or finances hinder your decision. For those of you who are unable to host, I prayed that you would see what an incredible blessing providing a scholarship to one of these children would be.
Right now you have a choice. You can choose to let this program bless you, you can choose to bless this program, or you can choose both!