A Ukrainian Christmas...

James 1:27 " Pure and undefiled religon before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world."

Here's the story ~ For many years but especially over the last year and a half, we have been burdened by the very reality of the many orphans in the world. It is heartbreaking the more we chose to learn about the reality, hear the numbers, the statistics, and the more personal, individual stories. I have believed/hoped in my heart for many years that we would one day be led by the Lord to play some role in orphan ministry. It has been my own little quiet prayer that one day we could help. I did not know when or how that would take place.

Slowly over the past 18 months, certain people have been put into our lives, through whom we have had the privilege to watch the miracle of adoption take place. We have watched children come from orphanages in different places in the world go from malnourished and alone to be placed in families. We have the truth of God's Word be accomplished Psalm 68:6 "God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity" It has truly been a privilege to watch these families and children, and to see things happen that only God could accomplish. We have also seen the very real struggles and sometimes heartbreak that they have endured in their journeys.

Over a year ago we attended a Hope For Orphans Family Life conference. It was amazing and we learned a great deal. We prayed but did not feel led to pursue anything further at that point. I continued to watch others, experience grief for these children, and to ask God, "How do You want us to help?".

Incredibly, my sister and her husband decided to adopt from Ethiopia. I was blown away. Wow - how exciting - my very own family was now going to be part of this! I thought - maybe God just put this desire into my heart so I would talk and pray and be able to be a part of my sister's adoption. And that is a big part of it. They are currently getting super-close to the end of paper work and will then be waiting for the referral of their new baby and my new niece or nephew!

Then, in late September, through rather random circumstances, I met my new friend Becca Hill. Becca had adopted from Ukraine, so even before we met, I was excited because that was the country I have felt so drawn to and had spent time learning about the conditions specific to this country. I met Becca and her sweet daughter Molly, and we discovered we had quite a bit in common. Then she kept telling me about this hosting program that would bring Ukrainian orphans to the US for Christmas. The goal was to bless these children with a great Christmas and to experience a loving family, a special vacation, and to share the love of Christ with them. I just said, "No, not now - can't possibly, but I'm so excited that others are doing this - I'll pray for them." But after a few weeks, I couldn't get it off my mind and asked Zach to pray about hosting a girl for Christmas. We prayed for many days and both felt the Lord's direction and peace that this was His will for us to host a specific child on the list.

Her name is Nastya. She is precious. She is nine years old. Unknown to us at the time, but this child we felt led to choose from the list was one of the only girls on that list who was still available. We know very little about her - just a picture, a few sketchy details from her past, and a tentative birthday. We know she speaks Ukrainian, so we ordered a cd and booklet to help us learn phrases. The kids LOVE learning the phrases - of course my boys' favorite is "Do you want to go to the bathroom? - Ho-chesh tu-a-let?" Gotta love boys :)

She comes on December 20th and will be with our family for three weeks. We are excited to have this opportunity. Here's the big HOWEVER! - We need prayer for this right now! There seems to be a bit of a snag in getting the visas printed for all the children coming from Ukraine. The agency is working on this and has a verbal approval but still needs a little more paperwork before the visas can actually be printed. And they can't buy the tickets until they have the visas, and we are only 2 weeks from when they are scheduled to come. So, we are praying for all obstacles to be overcome and trusting that God is in control and is able to do all things, but that He calls us to pray and works through those prayers. Please pray with us! We will update when we have more information!!

Matthew 9:36 "But when He (Jesus) saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd."