A Marathon to Bring Tavin home

Soon after committing to Tavin, another adoptive family, Jon and Michelle Nuckolls, reached out to us. They brought home their daughter from Eastern Europe last spring, and wanted to help another adoptive family raise funds. Would we be interested? Um...let me think...YES! 

Look at their sweet girl!

Here is little Olha on "gotcha day"....

And here she is now - adorable little super hero!

She came to them a very fearful little girl. Slowly but surely they have helped her develop trust as she experiences consistent love in their family. Her mom related this to me a few days ago:

When we got home she could not sit still for more than a few minutes. She was extremely anxious. It's hard to describe. She barely slept. Now she is very joyful and happy. She is in "felt safety" possibly for the first time in her life. There are still a lot of flashbacks and will be for a long time. Orphanages are not good places for children to grow up.

Right now Olha is sitting across from me, coloring and she just said that this is her home? forever and ever?

Me: Yes Olha, this is your home forever.

Olha: Olha niet (not) go away?

Me: no we will keep you and protect you forever and ever.

Olha: Olha is precious daughter forever and ever. I love you mama.

me: I love you too Olha, you are my precious daughter.

Sometimes she says things like, "mama niet hurt Olha." like it is dawning on her that we really are not going to hurt her.

That has to be music to her mama's ears.

Curious about the fundraiser? Well, Jon is running a marathon. I know...who does that? That's a lot of running. He ran one last year to raise money to bring home Olha, this year he is running the Houston Marathon on January 19th to help bring Tavin home! 

For details on how to get involved, please go to the event page "Jon Runs a Race for Tavin And The Anders Family". Their goal is to raise $3000 for us which would be amazing! It would push us over the 50% mark for our fundraising! We are halfway through the process to get to Tavin, and it would be a huge blessing to be 50% funded. So...go check it out and please share on your own walls as well. Thank you for your ongoing love and support!

~Chrystal