Thursday, July 18, 2013

Here's Something Weird...

A few months ago I went to lunch with my friend Daina and her mother Dace.   We'd just been to an exercise class together and were digging into our after-workout rabbit meals when Dace mentioned that she was looking for back up families to host orphans from Latvia this summer.  Dace is involved in a program called Project 143, a group whose efforts focus on placements for older orphans.




With my entire family's voices protesting in the back of my head, I said, "I'd be a back up."  Dace explained that we'd only be called on if a placement wasn't working out.  She took my name and information.  For the next few months my friends teased me about how I was going to have Latvian orphans crowding my porch this summer.

Fast forward to yesterday...

My phone rings at about 8:30am.  It's a woman named Maggie.  She's from Project 143.  A placement for three siblings isn't going well.  The kids are in New York but the organization wants them out of the home immediately.  Can we take them?

Oh boy.  When I'd volunteered to be a back up I'd,

1. Never really thought it would happen
2. Pictured one Latvian orphan

If you know me at all, you know that the outcome of this conversation was me saying yes (providing I talk to my husband and kids and they were on board.)  My family is amazing.

So this Friday, I will temporarily (all of the 200 Latvian orphans who are here for the summer program are scheduled to fly back to Latvia on August 11th) become the mother of six kids instead of my usual three.

This should be an adventure!


15 comments:

  1. Juliet, I so admire you. I can't wait to hear about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Ann. I admire you. You are such an amazing mother!

      Delete
  2. You are awesome! And it doesn't surprise me for a second that you said "Yes." So how old are they? Male or female? I sense a new book in this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are remarkably close in age to my kids - 6,12 and 13. They are siblings. The oldest is a girl and the others are boys. We are all very excited!

      Delete
  3. Wow! That is so kind of you. If they get homesick, I have a young blogger friend from Latvia named Baiba. She is a college student and we have become friends. This is her blog address: http://baiba1205-beginnersblog.blogspot.com/ I'm sure she wouldn't mind hearing from them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! We have some close friends who are Latvian so we are making sure to spend a lot of time with them and with their families. I will show the girl this website though.

      Delete
  4. Good Luck! You must be an amazing person to volunteer like that. I literally have to check with my husband and check my schedule before I can even volunteer a couple of hours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Munir. You are very kind to say so.

      Delete
  5. Oh, wow. Good for you. I'm sure you won't be sorry you did it.
    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, wow. Good for you. I'm sure you won't be sorry you did it.
    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete