About Matiss...

Welcome! To say we are excited about bringing Matiss to Dallas, Georgia, is an understatement. Right now, Jon and I are loving the scripture 1 Corinthians 2:9-10, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can conceive what God has prepared for those who love him!"

Matiss is an orphan who is living in an orphanage in Latvia. In late December, God led me to the web pages of the New Horizons orphan hosting ministry. It was exactly what my pastor and I had been looking for as a way to introduce our church, Fortified Hills Baptist, to orphan ministry. New Horizons makes two mission trips per year to interview and select orphans to be hosted in Christian homes in America. The spring trip selects children for the 5 week summer hosting and the fall trip selects children for the 4 week Christmas hosting. So, I contacted New Horizons (www.newhorizonsforchildren.org) and before I knew it, I was signed up to leave 6 weeks later for the Russia and Latvia spring/February interview trip to identify the kids to bring to the states this summer.

After the dust settled and I started planning for the trip, I began by looking at pictures of children from past hosting periods and looked through the kids that didn’t get selected at Christmas. My ever supportive husband, Jon, looked through my materials and made the comment, “this looks like a good kid.” Excited to see who caught his eye, I leaned over and said, “but that’s a boy, what do I do with a boy?” I would find out that "boy" was named Matiss. He is 13 years old, but about the size of an American 10 year old, probably weighing about 65 pounds. As is with most orphans, their "13" isn't our "13," both physically and mentally. So, trusting that God had possibly laid a child on my husband’s heart, I went to Latvia with this little boy in the back of my mind, believing God would show me what I needed to see so He could lead me in His will. He did.

As I observed Matiss the day we visited his orphanage, he was the exact opposite of what would probably stand out to me. I’m pretty demonstrative and outgoing and this little boy was quiet, reserved and shy. He could have easily faded into the chaos around him had God not pointed him out ahead of this trip. Almost immediately, it clicked… this little boy was so similar to Jon, with that same quiet, laid back, gentle spirit. But, I could see so much more. I could see the potential in this boy to become the Godly man my husband had become, thinking how much positive influence Jon could have with him, even if only for 5 weeks.

Being teachers, we are “off” for the summer and will have so much time to spend with him. Jon has football workouts and practices in the summer, but we’re sure Matiss will love going to the field house and hanging out at the stadium! As for my role as “host mom,” admittedly I don’t know a lot about “boys.” I pray God equips me to be exactly what he needs. In the meantime, I’m brushing up on my turtle pancake skills, perfecting homemade chocolate chip cookies, learning about matchbox cars, hunting the largest capacity water gun and keeping my eye open for special little touches to add to his room.

Please join us in prayer for our little man. Pray that God is preparing his heart and mind to receive what HE is preparing us, his host mom and dad, to pour into him. Pray that God brings all things in order with his paperwork and ours, and that God would place a hedge of protection, provision and favor around him until he arrives. He will arrive in Atlanta at 9:45pm, June 27th, and will return to Latvia on August 1st.

Stay tuned to this site for updates! It will serve as a "diary" of our time with him this summer and allow all our family and friends to be able to "see" him, even if not in person. Because he is only here for such a short time, we can't possibly take him everywhere we would love to go and introduce him to everyone, although we would dearly love too! But, for his sake, we are going to try to keep him in a central, consistent location, which won't lend itself to alot of traveling. So, I promise to post updates very often, every few days, that let you know all the wonderful things he is doing and learning. We are holding "our" plans loosely, because we really want to gauge the 5 weeks based on him, and until he gets here... we really won't know "him." Being in Atlanta, there are so many day trips right here at our doorstep, the zoo, aquarium, six flags, fernbank, etc. I'm certain we will be hitting some of those spots. Save this website address and we'll all enjoy the summer together! -Michelle