Children from Latvia and Ukraine have now been selected for the Christmas 2012 hosting programs!
What is Big Family Mission’s reason for being? In simple terms: To bring orphans into families: on earth or in heaven… but ideally on earth and in heaven.
One very effective way to bring orphans into families: hosting programs.
The hosting programs are not adoption programs, but many of the children who come to the U.S. are eventually adopted, sometimes by the family who hosted them, but often by other families they have met during their visit.
Big Family Mission started the “northeastern branch” of the New Horizons for Children orphan hosting program in the summer of 2007. We (Dianne and Ken) will never forget the conversation we had with LeAnn Dakake (director of NHFC) about the feasibility of the northeastern U.S. program. LeAnn told us that we would need to find families to host at least 6 children to proceed with the program. At first, it seemed impossible, but God blessed us with 22 children from Russia and Latvia hosted that first summer.
We were also blessed that first summer when God introduced us to John and Ann Devine who were much more experienced with hosting and adoption than we were. The Devine family accepted the leadership role for the 2007 Christmas program in the northeast, and under their faithful service, the program has resulted in hundreds of orphans being brought into families. The Devine family and other families in the northeast established a new hosting program for the summer of 2011: Open Hearts and Homes for Children.
Big Family Mission continues to partner with New Horizons and Open Hearts and Homes to help find families who are interested in hosting children. NHFC now offers hosting programs in most areas of the U.S., and OHHC focuses on hosting in the northeast and Atlantic coast states.
Children from Latvia and Ukraine are now available for the Christmas 2012 programs! If you know of anyone who might be interested in adopting an older orphan or hosting a child for Christmas 2012, you can let your interest be known by registering on the websites of Open Hearts and Homes and New Horizons for children.
If you are not able to host, there are other ways you can help:
- Provide a scholarship to help another family with the expense of hosting a child; or
- Spread the word about hosting in your church; or
- Consider starting a hosting program in your area.
Learn more about hosting programs here:
Open Hearts and Homes for Children: www.OpenHeartsAndHomes.org .