Adoption is a very, very bumpy road....but it is worth the fight!

The book below is excellent.  I thought maybe it would be of some help to recommend to those considering adoption or who have already adopted.

Although we have not adopted Oleg legally, our hearts are committed to him.  We ARE family.   It is a very, very bumpy road.  Some days are horrible, then the next day can be a delight.  Adopting is hard when the child is older and there are layers of issues that need to be peeled away with never ending patience and love from all of us.  BUT, God has equipped us with His Word and the perfect instruction it gives.   As Mike and I press on and trust God,  Oleg IS making progress AND our family is spiraling closer to God.  None of this should surprise the Christian who knows God's Word.
It is what God promises!  I tell my children all the time, "Do as the Bible says and trust God. If you do, you will see amazing things happen.  Be patient and wait on the Lord.  It is His timing that is perfect; not ours.  Serve and be as selfless as possible.  Do your best to be like Jesus and God's grace will be on you."

Hang in there dear friends who have taken the road of adoption.  Focus on God's Word....its instruction and promises.  Pray and fast for your family.  Count it ALL Joy!!!!  God will strengthen you to love your new child AND He will help your biological children.   He forgets no one!  And above all, it will grow you closer to God himself!  What a delight to be drawn closer to The One who loves you most!

http://www.crossway.org/books/adopted-for-life-tpb/

The Most Difficult Part of Being a Missionary Kid - by Jen

What is the most difficult part of being a missionary kid? The answer to this question is simple, but the concept is hard to grasp without experiencing it. The most difficult part of being a missionary kid (or an MK- as my friend refers to us) is being an ocean away from the Body of Christ that I had been constantly surrounded by in America. Of course, the Church is everywhere and no matter where we go, we will always find a fellow believer, but the hardest thing about being an MK (and thing I miss most) is Christian fellowship in my own language and culture and age group.

Back at home in the States, I thought nothing of being surrounded by brothers and sisters in Christ 3 or 4 days of the week. I didn't realize the great value of little things like being around girls who dress modestly, young people who don't flirt but still have fun, kids and teens who respect their parents and encourage me to do the same, Christian role models to observe and gain advice from, and friends to have mature Christian conversation with. It was simply part of my life. But when we left the States, we sort of left that part of our lives as well. All those things are little and simple, but are greatly missed; they spring from the Body of Christ and are so precious!

I cannot go without saying, however, that I am totally thankful for the local Baptist church we attend in Ukraine. Yes, the small congregation is almost entirely elderly women and I cannot understand very much of the service, but just being in the presence of fellow believers- whether I understand their words or not- is something to be thankful for. Joy is written on the faces of these saints. A loving welcome is always present. When they weep during their prayers or sing melancholy hymns before communion, I can understand. We may not be able to converse as easily as we'd like, but we are united and all have a common ground of loving and serving a God who redeemed each of us, undeserving sinners. Therefore, we can understand each other. Interestingly enough, as a Christian, I can have a better understanding of a church in an unknown language than a non-believer in a church of his own language. And praise God for that.

One of the things I've learned from being in Ukraine is that the Body of Christ is so precious. Along with the author of Hebrews I want to encourage you “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another...” (Hebrews 10:25). Being away from the Church as I'm accustomed to it has been probably the greatest difficulty to face in a foreign country, but God has called us here and I know He will help us through the difficulties. He knows all our needs and only He can fulfill them.

Differences Between Ukraine and America

BY KARISSA.....

Since living in Ukraine and being from America I have noticed many differences here.

One thing I've noticed most (which probably is something every American would notice) is that everyone walks. In cities, towns, and the countryside, people walk everywhere. I think the reason why everyone walks everywhere is because, if you think about it, having a car can cost a lot of money. Like the gas or possibly a flat tire, even just buying the car itself-- they probably would not be able to afford it. 

In America everyone I know has at least one car. I think the reason people can't walk from their house to the store is because the people who are driving won't be aware of the people walking places. I also think it might be because there aren't really any back roads like there are in Ukraine.

Another difference is that in America, lots of people are not all from America; there are Chinese, Spanish, French, German, and Russian people. In Ukraine there are mostly Ukrainians, and some Russians. One time my brother even met some Germans here. Even though most people here are Ukrainian, many people speak Russian. This is because Russian is a much easier language. We try to encourage people by talking in Ukrainian and not Russian.

Church is also very different here, because there are two or three sermons. During the service there is prayer and singing. When we do prayers, instead of the pastor praying for all the prayer requests, the people in the church pray out loud by taking turns for 10 minutes then the pastor prays last. Here people pray standing up. At our church here in Ukraine, the church doesn't put up numbers for hymns on the wall, but instead when it's time for a song the women decide what song to sing. I say women because I don't think the men care what song it is. During the last sermon we go to Sunday School. The women always make kids tea and put out cookies. Then after Sunday School all the kids go outside while the adults have their tea and cookies. 

In America there is only one sermon and for singing there is always a system on what songs to sing. Prayer requests are always put into a bulletin. Sunday School usually starts in the beginning of church instead of at the end. In American churches, we don't have tea and we don't always have a snack. Usually kids do not go outside, but stay inside while their parents talk.

For Easter at home we do an Easter Egg hunt, but in Ukraine they do pysanki eggs. A pysanki egg is a hollow egg with all kinds of designs on them. People give them as gifts to friends. Here they also make an Easter bread as small as a cupcake to as big as a birthday cake. At our church there was a big lunch with potatoes, huluptsi, which is a cabbage leaf stuffed with rice or meat. I think it's very good! We had boiled eggs with a dot of mayonnaise on top (it tasted like deviled eggs), and some slices of sausage. For dessert, we had cake, rolls with cherries inside, and a chocolate and vanilla cake with coconut on top. In America we would go to a friend's or relative's house to eat. 

The last thing I'm going to write about is the fruit trees. In America, to get fruit off of a fruit tree in perfect shape with no spray would be rare. But in Ukraine to get bad fruit off of a fruit tree without spray would be even more rare. At home, people need to water the trees all the time to t get fruit. But in Ukraine, people just let the trees grow without even touching them! In America, you would have to wait until July to get fruit, but we already have six cherry trees and one apricot tree ready to be picked and two other cherry trees already finished! Some of our string beans are ready to eat and my mom said that she didn't even water them! 

So now you can see there are many differences between life in America and life in Ukraine.

Karissa

PIC UPDATE - Part Three of Three - OUR FAMILY WORKING WITH MANY CHURCHES

This was just this past Saturday evening.
This local church body held a concert in the village center to celebrate Pentecost   They invited us to perform four songs.  Two other pastors from nearby churches also came and prayed.   It was so much fun!!!!

It was the first time  the children performed publicly in our village.
They were nervous but everyone was welcoming.  
The kids did a great job singing Mighty To Save, Our God (In Ukrainian&English), Revelation Song,  and Unto Thee O Lord

It was a great evening.  The musicians from the church who organized the concert are a lively group!  You can't sit still when they are on stage.
As you can see, the women in the crowd had to start dancing!
Maybe I should have joined them!!!

Visiting a church in a nearby city.  A great lady who speaks English.

Another great lady at another church in a nearby village.  She does not speak English!

Mallorie's violin debut a few weeks ago at our church on Sunday.

A forgotten pic of our family teaching the Sunday School students some songs at  the  main Baptist church in a nearby city.

PIC UPDATE - Part Two of Three - THE CHURCH SERVING THE BOYS & THE BOYS SERVING THE CHURCH

Vitaliy graduates this weekend.  Here are two pics of  him working on getting his proper documents.  He is on the phone with a church friend who has decided to help him get his school/work documents properly (not with bribery).  These are encouraging moments because our lack of knowing the language and not understanding government policies has moved the church to step in and help where we can not.
God is weaving......our hearts are encouraged!

Again, here is a pic of the guys digging a hole for our home church so that our church can hook onto the city water supply.  It was a WONDERFUL opportunity to help serve.

PIC UPDATE - Part One of Three - DOMESTIC LIFE

Almost every evening the village children come and play with us.
Usually it is a night of kickball, but this night we tried some team building games.  

Finishing school portfolios.  It's never ending......

Children here LOVE pizza.  So, whenever we have a new visitor,  I make the dough and let them have fun putting on the toppings.   Recently, we have switched from American pizza to Ukrainian pizza since American pizza is much more expensive.   A Ukrainian pizza consists of a tiny amount of pizza sauce, mushrooms and a mixture of mayo & ketchup, then topped with a small sprinkle of shredded cheese and parsley.  It took seven months for us to finally convert, but we did!  It's really good.  Give it a try! ; - )

Ta-da!....One Ukrainian Pizza - Two Happy Little Girls!

A day at the park in the village.  This was, thankfully, the last day of a VERY stressful few weeks.  It was a beautiful, quiet day AND when we got home we spent the rest of the evening reading the book of Jonah which resulted in a very good discussion AND we topped the evening off by watching Fireproof w/ Russian subtitles with our two oldest children and Oleg and Vitaliy.  Wow, it was a good evening!!!!

UGH!!!!OLEG!!!!!
Sho Te Robish?  What are you doing?
This pic is to say THANK YOU for all the Americanski  medical supplies that you have sent over to us!
You cannot get good bandages here.   Children are always getting scrapes and cuts.
This is from a diving accident at a lake. Thanking God for sparing him worse injury!

This is how you wash a queen size comforter  

String beans are ready!

A few links that helped...

Deciding whether or not to come home has not been easy.   At a certain point we were all about to give up.  Then these three links came through on our emails and helped.  They are worth reading.  

http://utmost.org/what%E2%80%99s-next-to-do/

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2013/06/dont-give-up/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HolyExperience+%28Holy+Experience%29

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2013/06/a-letter-to-the-north-american-church-because-it-is-time/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HolyExperience+%28Holy+Experience%29

We have been invited to many churches these past few weeks.  It has been a great encouragement and an answer to the prayers that we have requested!

Also, we have found two potential homes to rent.  If you are moved, please pray for us to have clear discernment and wisdom in decisions we need to make in the next two weeks.

above and below.....a church in the nearby city.

                                       

a late Easter pic.....a children's egg dying kit.  so cute!

Mallorie in the front yard of the Transition Home

turning 43!

apparently there was a flour fight while making veshnia vereniky (cherry pierogies) for Joelle's birthday.
hmmmm....I wonder who started it!?

Sunday morning at our home church

Later the same day at another church in the next town over.  Again, we are so thankful for God hearing prayer and answering them through our brother in Christ.

a typical Sunday afternoon....Karissa and Oleg antics!!!!