Vlad: after summer update

First of all, the first thing learned about Vlad after he arrived in the US in July was, his name is not Vlad.  His name is Vova.  And as I write this, Vova is on an airplane heading back to Ukraine.

Here are a few pictures from his first week of hosting:

Vova was hosted with his friend, Bogdon.  I heard that the boys were really enjoying themselves when they first got here.  It was a little hard on their host family, who really wanted to connect with each boy instead of see them interact together so well.  (At least that is what I heard.)  But by the end of the summer, the director learned that they were very unhappy where they were, and the two boys were each placed with a different family for their last week.

Vova's second host family enjoyed him and said that he is a very very very good boy.  He was kind and gentle and wouldn't let his host mom carry anything.  He also enjoyed playing video games.  (How completely surprising!)  And he's a pretty quiet boy, but they got him to come out of his shell quite a few times.  Yesterday they were at the zoo:

And on top of all of the great things I've heard about Vova, I've heard nothing but positives about his friend Bogdon, as well.  So please remember to keep both boys in your prayers.  I can only imagine that as they fly back to Ukraine, they have quite a few things to process:  their experience here, living with a few different families, etc.  Both boys would like to come back over Christmas for winter hosting... please pass their information along if you know anyone interested in adopting older children.  The winter trip could potentially place them with their forever families.

And, thank you, everyone who has been keeping up with Vlad (Vova) updates.  I was really impressed with the number of people praying for him, those sharing his information, and those that wanted to give financially.  So I'd really like to thank you all.  I'd like to think we're all advocating for Vlad together--so thank you for making me feel like I'm just one of a group of people who really care about this boy.