Who else could say that their family story began with a haircut?

My husband and I own a hair salon. Several years ago, a friend told us about an orphan-hosting program that would have children in our area that summer. Very casually, I offered a free hair-cut to any of the children who might be interested in a “salon day”. 

Little did I know how much that conversation would change our lives!

Just one little girl’s host family stopped in to take advantage of the offer. She was 9-year’s old, and will forever remain my favorite-customer.  

This sweet little girl appreciated every movement we spent together. First a luxury shampoo, then a simple cut that she chose after looking over several books.  Finally, the blow-dry and the application of vanilla scented finish on her gorgeous hair. She ate-up every moment of her special day.

My heart was struck by the idea of letting someone like her into our lives. As I looked up and made eye contact with my husband, who was working the front end of our salon, our eyes told each other everything.

We signed on with the same hosting organization, and on October 17, 2010 we received photos of not one but 2 little girls who we could host through this program. They were sisters, 8 & 9 yrs old. They truly had us at "Hello" or as they would say "priviet".

What I want other families to know if they are considering hosting a child :

• it is exciting, like the first movie they watched at a theater where they talked to the film the entire time. 
• It's scary, like the moment they cried about something I didn't understand, which ended up to be an argument over who gets to take a bath first. 
• it’s exhausting, because I had not had children and did not understand how tired I would feel at the end of every day
• heart wrenching to realize that they do without so many very simple things in their lives, but also heart-warming to watch them find happiness in simple things
• it's addicting to want to do all you can to fix as much as possible before sending them back.

After our host-children returned to Ukraine, we did everything within our power to file for adoption as fast as possible.

Now that our beautiful daughters are home with us forever, there is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God for hosting programs. I hope that others will give hosting a chance, or perhaps volunteer, as we did, to support the children who will be visiting the USA this summer.  

Click here to learn more about summer hosting through Frontier Horizon!