Skimming across a blog, her eyes caught something. She continued reading. She didn’t know that if she kept reading, her life would change forever.

English teacher Jan Cagle didn’t know what would lie ahead as she filled out the forms to host an orphan with the organization New Horizons for Children. Hosting an 11-year-old boy, Misha, from Ukraine during Christmas was not what she bargained for.

“I did research and filled out paperwork just to see,” Cagle said. “We got a call from a couple in Houston who had Misha. They had older children, and he was too active for them. They thought he would be happy with a different family.”

Because she and her husband were not expected to host a child in such short notice, Cagle and her husband did the one thing they knew they should do–they prayed.

“God gave both of us a sense that the answer was yes,” Cagle said. “We made a mad shopping trip, and we picked Misha up on Dec. 23.”

New Horizons for Children allows 200 orphans to be housed in America twice a year, at Christmas and during the summer. These orphans are from Russia, Latvia and Ukraine.

Cagle said she knew hosting Misha was the right decision.

“We fell in love with him 10 minutes after we met him,” Cagle said. “Our intention was not to adopt. We were focused on fostering, and we had started working with CPS [Child Protective Services]. Monty and I would look at each other and just say ‘Nope’. Three days after he left, we knew we had to have him. We began the adoption process.”

Cagle said the adoption process takes about a year. Misha has to have his name registered in the computer for a year, and after that the adoption has to go to court. Cagle will have to live in Ukraine for a month while the adoption is in court. Cagle said the adoption may be finalized in November.

“The adoption will be somewhere from $26,000 to $35,000,” Cagle said. “The money goes to paying adoption agencies, home study agencies, government agencies in the Ukraine, living expenses when we go to the Ukraine, getting documents copied and getting fingerprinted.”

Money isn’t the only obstacle Cagle has to face while going through the adoption process. There is a language barrier. Misha only speaks Russian.

“We used a lot of sign language,” Cagle said. “For things we didn’t know, we typed it into Google translate.”

The Cagle family will have to adapt to having a new family member.

“I didn’t know what to think when Misha got here,” her son junior Jack Cagle said. “I’m going to have to learn patience because I won’t be able to understand him, and he’s really energetic.”

Her daughter, freshman Hannah Cagle, will have to give up her spot as the youngest child.

“The baby of the family gets more attention,” Hannah said. “I’ll be okay with not being the baby of the family anymore because Misha is an orphan. He doesn’t know family or love.”

As the Cagles raise money and hopes to make the Ukrainian boy theirs permanently, they know that the adoption will change not only Misha’s life immeasurably, but also theirs.