Did you know that Nightlight was the very first adoption agency to do hosting? In the early 90’s Nightlight brought over a tour group of older children from Russia. Today’s Feel Good Friday story is brought to you by hosting.
Over Christmas 2009, I was working in the South Carolina office and we were assisting a hosting agency to bring over a group of children from Ukraine. While the children were in the air between Ukraine and the US, one of the family’s backed out of hosting. I sent out an urgent e-mail to families who had inquired with us. One family sent the e-mail to the youth pastor at their church. Bucky and Julie Rogers were youth pastors at the time, and they had previously adopted two children (one child through domestic adoption and one child from Guatemala). They had only adopted babies and had no intention of adopting an older child. However, because they were youth pastors, they figured they could do a good job hosting.
Sasha was 13 years old at that time. He arrived and won all of our hearts.
I remember even the van driver (bringing the children from the airport) told me that he was her favorite of the group. Within 2 days, Bucky and Julie called and wanted to know exactly what they needed to do to adopt Sasha.
Fast forward to travel, Mount Eyjafjallajökull erupted bringing air travel over Europe to a halt. This happened the very day that Bucky and Julie were scheduled to fly to Ukraine. They rebooked their flight to Germany and the gate agent told them that he could not guarantee that once they got to Germany they would be able to get to Ukraine. Julie told the gate agent, “If you get me to Germany, I’ll find a way to get to my son!
Sasha has grown into such a loving, respectful, young man who loves Jesus and his family. Bucky and Julie are now full time missionaries in Uganda, and Sasha has spent a lot of time there as well. Sasha is now 21 years old and getting married this fall. A few weeks ago, Sasha sent me a message on Facebook asking for my home address. I said, “Is it time for wedding invitations?” and he responded that it was. I am so thrilled to be invited to witness this young man’s wedding. He has been a blessing to all of us since his arrival here, and I am so humbled that God used me in a small way to change his story. I am also especially overwhelmed by the fact that this is the first child that I have helped in the adoption process who is now old enough to get married. I guess that means there are more to come. I’m getting up there. Hosting programs are a lot of work and sometimes stressful, but there are so many more children just like Sasha who would not have found a family otherwise. This is why we do hosting and why we do what we do each day!
---Lisa Prather, LMSW | Vice President of Operations
For more information about our Hosting Programs, please contact Natalie by emailing her at natalie@nightlight.org.