Vought Family
Hosting was a truly memorable experience for our family. My husband and I have always had a heart for orphans, but we didn’t know precisely how to act on it.
We learned about the Frontier Horizon hosting program, so we decided to host a boy for one month during the summer. At first, we thought we should host a younger boy closer to our biological kids’ ages, but the more we prayed about it, the more we felt led to host an older child knowing that there was less of a likelihood he’d be selected due to his age.
We didn’t know much about him, and he didn’t know anything about us, but we thought, “it’s just one month.” It could be a good month or a stressful month, but at the end of the day, those 30 days didn’t compare to the probable lifetime of trauma and pain this child has already felt.
Pick up at the airport was awkward at first due to the language barrier, but Google Translate soon became our best friend. He was exhausted from the flight and slept most of the 4-hour drive home. We stopped for food, and he had no problem eating American fast food.
D transitioned well to our family life. We did the everyday things we do as a family: run errands, watch movies, cook, clean, go to the pool, go to church, etc., and he just did them alongside us. At first, there was an urge to entertain him constantly, but he was content riding a bike around our neighborhood or helping us carry groceries. He was just happy to be part of a family.
One of the most surprising lessons of our hosting journey was how much our biological children learned from him. They were able to see life through his eyes; when simple things like squirrels, the movie theater, and fireworks captivated him, it impressed upon our children that they had many blessings they were probably taking for granted.