Direction 13 Jun 2013 8:02 AM (12 years ago)

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

For most of my life, I thought of this Scripture as a good anecdote to life—specifically about my future.  But now, it’s our lifeline.  Some translations says He gives “plans for good, not for disaster.”  There are times in our lives when we feel like disaster could be just around the next corner, but He says the opposite is true (if we are walking with Him).

Something that we have noticed int he last months is that the “path” or the “way” we go seems strange to us.  In OUR minds, it often appears like the path in the picture above.  If we are WALKING WITH HIM, however, the perspective of our flesh, simply doesn’t match the truth about the path He leads us on.  The path he leads us on is a path that goes directly to the outcome He has planned.  With our fleshly eyes, though, it can seem non-sensical and twisty-turny beyond comprehension.  It’s truly a walk of faith to believe that He DOES know what He’s doing and where He’s leading and WHAT He wants the outcome to be.  It’s also a matter of faith to believe that His plans and purposes will come to pass.  No matter what our fleshly mind thinks about it.

We came here to Ukraine with a bullet list of what we were going to accomplish.  I can honestly say to you that that bullet list has hit the circular file.  We are retooling it according to what we see HIM doing here in our midst.  So much of what He is doing is just having us live our lives here abiding in Him and looking for opportunities to reach out with His love and with the Gospel fo Jesus Christ.   Sounds kind of like the life of any believer, anywhere, huh?  Exactly.

A couple of Saturdays ago, we found ourselves hosting 19 orphans who were on their way to America for a hosting program.  They were to arrive at our house at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning and were to leave our house about 2:00 a.m. to head to the airport Saturday morning.  And they didn’t really want them to sleep because they wanted them to sleep on the plane.  Oh…it was also the morning after Mary was returning from the USA on Friday afternoon.  We set into motion prayer and planning.   Basically, we planned a camp for the 15 hours they would be with us.  We planned games, we planned crafts, we planned movies, we planned snacks and meals.

Here are some highlights of what happened that day:

• They arrived at 9:20ish a.m.
• We gave them all a Russian language “Jesus Storybook Bible.”  It’s a beautifully illustrated Bible that includes Genesis through Revelation in a storybook format.  Some of the kids couldn’t have cared less.  Several read them throughout the day.  One girl sat and read it from cover to cover on Saturday and was so pleased to make sure we knew it before she left Sunday morning.
• We showed the Jesus film for children.  It began with only a handful of the kids watching and all the other people in the room were entertaining themselves and talking.  When we got to the death of our Savior, there were 14 or 15 kids watching with careful attention and two caregivers.  When I say they were watching it, I mean they were transfixed on what was going on.  By the time Jesus was hanging on the cross, one girl was wiping tears and saying that it was “enough” repeatedly.   It was breaking her heart.  We then told them how much God loves them and that they can have a relationship with Him too.
• We sang worship songs together.
• We watched a couple of children’s Bible story videos.  Most of the kids were interested.   We also pointed them to the stories in the Bible and they seemed pleased to be able to connect the dots.
• We talked about the Lord’s prayer and read it together in an easy to read/understand format.  We challenged them to read it every day while they are away.
• Of course there were meals, lots of snacks, sports, games…

To say that it was a FULL and a FULFILLING day is an understatement. Here’s the group (plus some of our kids are mixed in — and one of the kids was fast asleep on the couch and we didn’t have the heart to wake the little guy).  The text at the top says, “How God loves you!  Summer-2013.”

Last Sunday… we got to go to some friends’ house for lunch.  And it was a beautiful time of fellowship and, of course, the meal was wonderful.

There are lots of other things going on right now and we’ll update again as soon as we can.  But here’s some pics of the family to prove we are still alive and kicking.

Thank you all so much for your prayers.  It’s a blessing to know that so many are “holding the rope” for us in prayer.

God is always at work around you. 29 Mar 2013 7:35 AM (12 years ago)

God is always at work around you.  One of my favorite principles from the Henry Blackaby study, “Experiencing God.”  We’ve been through this study several times.   The 4th or 5th time was right before we adopted Matthew and Micah.  When we surrendered to God on a deeper level during that study we had no idea where that would lead us.   We simply put our “yes” on the table…whatever question it would answer.   We put our trust in our Heavenly Father, recognizing that HE knows the whole plan and the whole picture…whereas, we only see dimly and partially.  It was around that time that our lives began to take on a different (and somewhat, dare I say, “weird”) appearance.

Four adopted children later, we discovered another level of trust and obedience.  When we began to realize that God was calling us to move here to beautiful Ukraine, we remembered that our “yes” had already been uttered years ago.  That made the actual decision of moving here much easier.   It didn’t make the process easy by any means, but knowing we could trust Him made it the only direction to go.  Leaving what we knew and were comfortable with was anything but easy.  Leaving my career and in many ways, my identity, was difficult.  Leaving our families and our friends was excruciating and when we physically landed in Ukraine, we realized suddenly that, for all practical purposes, we were all alone (except for the Lord, of course).

We spent our first year uncertain of our future here.  At times the fear was suffocating.  At times it was all was could do to catch our next breath.  Other times, the uncertainty of our lives seemed like a weight that we couldn’t lift, much less carry.  Much of that first year was spent just learning to live here (where to buy groceries, gas, pay bills and absolutely every tiny thing that we had taken for granted our entire lives.   The fact that absolutely every thing (and I mean everything) we had to LEARN to do here and were completely at the mercy of our Ukrainian friends here to help us.  It was very difficult.

Add to those difficulties the fact that we were wanting to be effective ministers here and that our lives would matter here and that most days could barely wait for night to come again so we could sleep and it was a very frustrating year.   We had moved from a place where we could “program” ministry in many ways and here we have had to depend on God even for the ability to share His love with others.

We began to earnestly pray for the opportunity to reach out to the orphans, the institution caregivers, our neighbors…  God brought to our door families with children with special needs and has allowed us to really connect with them in deep relationship and allowed us to encourage them with His love and guide them closer to Him and toward salvation.   It’s been a wonderful aspect of our lives here, but still we have yearned to help the orphans and those who work with them.  We have continued to pray and watch.   Recently God has been opening our eyes to so many different ministry opportunities that we are now overwhelmed with the possibilities.   There is so much to be done all over the country.   So our prayer has now become to have discernment to walk toward the “best” things…not merely the good things that need to be done by someone.

We have been presented with opportunities close to home and far away, alike.

Enter, Valeria…

Valeria is almost 19 years old.   She has Cerebral Palsy.   Her mind is clear, she’s creative, artistic, loving, warm, gentle…  Her legs don’t work and she hops around on her knees using her hands and arms as “crutches.”   Some dear friends of ours have known her since 2006 where they met her in one of the many institutions here.  She’s desperately wanted a family to call her own.   Yet, no one has come.  No one has called her theirs.  Now, she’s too old to be adopted… but you’re never to old to want a family.  (In fact, we met a young woman this week in an institution who is 32 years old.   Still her greatest wish is to have a family.  Heartbreaking.)  But back to Valeria…  she was recently transferred to a different institution where there are more possibilities for her (daily activities and such).   Yet, her desire is still to be in a family.   We have decided that we would like to gain guardianship of her and invite her into our family.  We don’t have any idea when this process will be finished, or what it will look like having another person in our family (especially someone grown who can’t walk), but we know the One Who does know.  We are simply trusting Him, following Him and depending on Him.  She doesn’t yet know what our plans are…we are starting by building a relationship with her and will take it from there.   She lives a long distance from us…but our hearts are close to her.  We’ll keep you posted as we can on the status of all this.   But for now, we simply as you to pray with us that God will be honored.

We don’t really understand all that God is doing.   We would love to see the entire picture of His plan.  Or even a few days in the future…but He’s keeping that plan pretty quiet and right now He is just asking us to trust Him for today and let Him hold our tomorrows.  We’re okay with that.   After all, honestly, if we had known 4 years ago what our lives would be like right now, would we have been able to say “yes, Lord, no matter what”?  I would like to give you the Sunday School answer that we would have still committed to follow Him with our entire lives…but it’s hard to know that for sure.

Daily, we strive to have a simple, childlike faith in Him that is counterintuitive to our flesh.  Often, we think we need to help Him with planning our lives.  Frequently, we have to repent because of our unbelief.

Yet, we are so encouraged by His work in and through us.  We are delighted to be here in this beautiful country, among these beautiful people who so desperately need the hope of our beautiful Jesus.  We are encouraged by those who support us in prayer, with their kind words and, of course, financially.  Our prayer today is that our love and devotion to Him will grow stronger today than it’s ever been before.

[emptybox]From Mary’s Heart…    For me God has brought me to a place of total contentment in Him. Despite the fact that life here can be hard and I miss our family, and friends, He has made me know fulfillment in Him. He has renewed my passion for the people of Ukraine, for parents of special needs, and for orphans. He is strengthening our relationships in our church, and in our Friday night bible study. He is opening doors for more opportunities to minister to parents in the Kiev area. And now we have even more opportunities to minister to orphans here , and in places we never imagined. We are praying and seeking The Lord like never before, and He is honoring our prayers![/emptybox]

Big Day in Kyiv! 22 Mar 2013 7:33 AM (12 years ago)

Last night, we got the call we had been waiting for.  We were told to appear at the office that handles Permanent Residency documentation this morning to receive our documents.  We had just been there on Tuesday (3 days ago) because we thought we were going to get the documents then.   But what they really wanted was a couple of more documents and for some fees to be paid.  We were pretty disappointed.   We were there FOREVER…waiting…waiting…waiting…  with a ton of other people.

They told us on Tuesday that perhaps it would be ready on Friday.   We held that very lightly… because we have gotten excited several times and then — no documents.  But we got the call last night and headed off early this morning (7:30) for the city.   Tuesday when we were there, there was driving snow and strong wind.  Yesterday, bright and sunny weather.   Today?   Huge snow storm, terrible wind, below freezing again…  But it didn’t dull our spirits!!

We were there for about 30 minutes today and left with our permanent residency documents.

(Hopefully I won’t get in some kind of trouble posting this picture…)

So this NEVER EXPIRES.  We will never have to have another visa, or any kind of other document to live here.   We can live here for the rest of our lives with no problems!  These are for Chris and Mary and Hannah (she’s over 16).  As they other kids turn 16, they will get their own booklet.  Right now the other kids (American) are in Mary’s booklet.

What does this do for us?
We can come and go as many times and whenever we want.  We can have banking privileges.  We don’t have to have any kind of special documentation.   Typically, people can live here 90 days and then be gone 90 days (2 times per year).  Or they can get visa’s that require them to leave the country every so many months.  Or temporary residency that has to be renewed every year (and can be renewed 2 times before the entire process has to start from scratch…with a new visa).

Also…should the country close to “religious” work… we will be able to remain here because of our status.

To show how big our God is…  this process usually takes people 8-9 months.   It took us 4 months.  Pretty cool, huh?

We are so thankful to God for doing this for us in the way He has done it.  It could have only been Him!

Because some of our friends/family/readers have asked us when we will be moving back the USA…
We realize that you are reading this and thinking…  “They aren’t planning to move back to the USA ever.”
Our response to that is the same as always.   We are here for as long as the Lord wants us to be here.   Just like we would be anywhere else.   But yes, we are not planning to move back to the USA.   We are planting our lives here and investing ourselves in the lives of others here — that process on it’s own takes years.  We are continuing to follow Him as best we can.

Thank you for your prayers!

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!!!

One year and counting… 15 Feb 2013 11:16 AM (12 years ago)

One year ago today we landed in Ukraine — with our 33 suitcase and 20something carry-on bags and 3 strollers (2 double, 1 single) and a carseat and a bunch of other stuff we were carrying.

I can’t believe it’s been a year since we moved here.

I also can’t believe that it’s only been a year.

The last several days we have been thinking a lot about the last year and specifically about the last days we were in the USA and the journey to get here.   We’ve been recounting the funny, the unbelievable, the inconceivable and the miraculous things God did.  We’ve even been watching the clock and reminisced about what we were doing at given times during the journey.   Like taking a pickup with a trailer for our luggage to the airport.   Or the wonderful ladies at British Airways that checked all of our luggage all the way to Kiev even though they were supposed to make us pick it all up and take it to the hotel with us (on our one night layover in London) and then recheck it the next day and then proceeded to check about 15 carryon bags for us so we didn’t have to actually carry them on.

We laughed about the tiny tiny tiny tiny hotel rooms in London.   The elevator and hallways were so narrow that we couldn’t even get the strollers through.  The rooms were so small that you could talk on the phone, answer the door, look out the window and use the bathroom all at the same time.

We remembered how the littles were so good on the trip the entire time.   Granted they were probably in terrible shock.  I know we were.

We considered the deep sinking feeling Mary and I had in our stomachs when we landed in Kiev and realized that this was our new “normal.”  We thought we had done “hard” before. We found out that we hadn’t.   In fact, we didn’t even know what it was.  Probably we still don’t – because who knows what God will ask of us next.

We thought about how everything we owned in the world was in suitcases.   Literally.

We wondered when we first arrived what would happen to us.   How would we possibly  survive?   What was going to happen to our kids?  How could God really provide everything we would need?

God has been so good.

Here’s some notes from the kids.   I am not editing these at all – so you can see what they are thinking.

From Blake:
The past months have been some of the best and hardest months of my life. I knew my life wouldn’t be the same once I moved, but it has been so much better than I could have imagined. God has given us so many opportunities to share his love with the people around us! He’s given me new friends along with my old friends. I’m excited for the next year and to see what God has in store next!

From Hannah:
It is hard to believe that a year ago today we arrived in Ukraine.   This past year has been kind of hard.   We’ve all been homesick at sometime or another.   This year has also been very good, though.   God has not stopped providing for our needs since we’ve lived here and He has blessed us with good friends.   I can say that I am glad that God brought us here to Ukraine.   He has taught me to trust in Him completely and to trust in Him Alone.   I can’t wait to see how He will use us this next year and in the years to come.

From Bethany:
My first year in Ukraine has been scary, fun and full of excitement.  We have been very busy here in Ukraine: learning the language, church, school, [taking care of the] littles, Bible study, camps, and many more things.  It seems like just last month we were getting on an airplane to fly to London [we had a one night layover in London].  It has been so much fun here, bu some days I do get homesick.  It is cool to know that we can change people’s lives here and we can’t wait until we can speak the language so we can reach more and more people.

From Seth:
The first year in Ukraine has been a little scary.   It was hard to get used to a new life.  There were good things this year.  We got four black cats and one red eared slider turtle named “squirt” and a lot of visits from family and friends.  I miss my friends a lot.  Sometimes I wake up and I think I am in America.  The little kids are doing fine living here.   I think Micah was a little sad when we got here.  I miss our old house a lot but I know tomorrow will be better than today.

So you can see that our kids are doing okay.  We all have our moments that are very difficult…but we also know that we are where we are supposed to be and are glad to be in the Lord’s service in Ukraine.

Here’s some pictures from the last year…

Sveta, Blake and Mary on Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day

Fall Festival at Hannah’s school.  (Yes, that’s Micah dressed as Mr Fredrickson from “Up”)

Who needs snow?  Ethan and Bethany playing in the yard.

Fun in the city during Gus, Wartha and Sally’s visit.

Making playdoh.   Yes they ate some.   Oh well.

Relaxing at the camp where we spoke back in the summer.

Happy Birthday (we’ve all celebrated a birthday in Ukraine now (except Blake)).

Thank you for your consistent prayers and for your support.  We will be amazed what God does in the next year.   We’ll turn around and another year will have gone by and we’ll be just as thankful to the Lord.

Today and always.   Blessing the Great Name of the our Great God!

Life rolls along… 18 Jan 2013 7:02 AM (12 years ago)

We are still living.  All of us.

Chris has been fighting off (or trying to fight off) the flu or something similar.  It’s been two steps forward, one back…  hopefully tomorrow will be recovery mode only!

We are preparing for Bible Study which starts in about 1 hour.  Tonight’s teaching is on John 6:1-27.  We’ve been teaching from the book of John.   We are taking it in small bites at a time…so sometime in 2016 we will be finished.  Maybe.

Funny story:

We have not gotten ANY mail since our address changed.  I don’t think I ever reported that our address changed when we registered the land and ourselves. It’s a long convoluted story that I won’t bore you with, but it changed.  We knew that some people had sent us cards, but we never saw them.  Jamie had been waiting on some stuff, too.

So today, Mary and Jamie stopped at our little store down the street to buy matches.  Of course, there aren’t a lot of Americans around here…so we kind of stick out.  The lady working in the store asked what our address is.  When Jamie started saying it, the lady finished it and promptly pulled out mail for us from under the counter.  They postman couldn’t find the address (never mind the fact that we have a big, bright yellow sign on our gate with our address on it because we assumed that a new address could throw off the post man since there is no new construction anywhere near).  We asked the clerk to PLEASE tell the postman where the address is.

Strange huh?  Can’t find the address?  Oh, no bother… just leave our mail with the store clerk down the street.  Maybe sometime you can figure out where it goes.  We have also been waiting for a box to be delivered.   Hopefully it didn’t get distributed throughout the neighborhood.

Bless the Lord today.  He is worthy.

Happy New Year 1 Jan 2013 1:41 AM (12 years ago)

New Year’s Eve in Kyiv.  We weren’t there but I found this video on YouTube…

[pb_vidembed title=”” caption=”” url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwP_oZsKZpY” type=”yt” w=”480″ h=”340″]

Bible Study Tonight 14 Dec 2012 12:42 AM (12 years ago)

Tonight there will be several new people with us for Bible study.  Thanks for praying with us about the opportunity. 

We were unable to have it last week because the driver who helps us sold his van.  Glad we are back on!

To Kiev again today… Jiggedy Jig 13 Dec 2012 8:23 PM (12 years ago)

Off to the city again in a few minutes. We were there all day yesterday it seemed like. We had Russian lesson for three hours, two hours there, two hours back… Oy! But we are very thankful for our teacher and for the opportunity to study with her. She’s highly acclaimed.

Today, I am going to town to get our Permanent Residency process started.  You might be thinking that we already did that.  No, alas, that was just temporary residency (for one year – that can be extended up to three years).  Permanent status will be, well, permanent.  Meaning we will be permanent, legal citizens of Ukraine with all rights (except voting and holding public office — rats, I can’t be pres. after all!).

The process takes abut 6-8 months so we didn’t want to let it drag to the last minute and hope to get it done.  We want to stay ahead of the ball.  Thankfully, much of what we did for our temporary carries over and we just provide more copies of those things.  There are a few additional things to do but it’s all paperwork and just takes time, and is not difficult.  Phew.

The snow stopped late yesterday!  Maybe no snow today after all.  We will see.  

Thanking God for all He is doing and for His presence in our lives.

Bless the Name of the Lord.

 

The snow continues… 12 Dec 2012 10:32 PM (12 years ago)

More snow overnight.  No power overnight.   Thankfully, when we woke up, the power was back on.  It’s really hard to do things here with power.  Especially when the sun is not shining.  The wind was very strong in the night and I suspect the icy power lines decided they had had all they could handle.  

Thankfully, though, someone worked during the night and got it fixed.  

I was looking for an article that talked about the massive snow we’ve had and that it was record breaking.I found THIS ARTICLE instead.  Click to read it. 100,000 homeless children.  And I was complaining yesterday that our house was too warm and turned off the heat.  Ugh.

So what to do?  I don’t know yet.  But there must be something.  The first thing I knew to do was to email the writer.   

Please pray about this with us.

I didn’t find the article about the weather.  For some reason, after reading this article, I didn’t care much about the weather.

Bless the Name of the Lord!