A Story Needing to Be Told...

Oh this is so beautiful and so amazing and something that only God could have done. I will always look at this and just truly think, "Who but God?!?!"

My heart just swells a little more each time I think of what God has done here and the great thing is - I get to see the results so very often!!! All praise to Him for the story I am going to attempt to do justice to.

When we were in Ukraine, our hearts were broken over so many children that we came to love and that we had to leave behind. The Lord has since worked in some amazing ways in allowing us to continue to minister to those children. We have been blessed to be a part of hosting trips and humanitarian aid to our girls' orphanage. We are delighted that several of those children are now being pursued for adoption. But one in particular grabbed my heart and just wouldn't let go.

From the moment I saw this one little girl, there was something about her that pierced my heart and I just loved her. We soon discovered that she was the best friend and classmate of our daughters. While in Ukraine waiting to adopt our girls, Zach and I talked and prayed about what we could do to help her. As we got to know her we were broken over her story and drawn by her precious, sweet spirit. We inquired about possibly adopting her ourselves but that door was quickly closed as she was not yet available. We prayed about starting the process again and going back for her but every time we prayed about it we did not feel a leading in that direction but yet still a love and a burden for her. At the same time, without discussing it, we both felt a strong sense that she belonged in the family of our dear friends, Camille and John. We were excited about the possibility of her being in their family but didn't really think it was possible because they were in the process to adopt a little boy through the foster care system while we were in Ukraine. We were sure that they would not be adopting again any time soon. Eventually the burden was so strong that we mentioned it to them.

They prayed and God revealed to them in some pretty incredible ways that they were to pursue sweet Galina. It was so clear and He also revealed His provision for their adoption of her. So, they began adoption paperwork and hosted her for the summer. Galina dared to open her broken heart once more and dared to love and to be loved. Last summer was an unbelievably sweet time to see how perfectly this child fit into their family. All those watching just stood in awe of how perfectly this child fit into their family - she looks like them, talks like them, her personality is like them, she was made to be their child. And we just rejoiced in seeing our daughters reunited with their dear friend on the other side of the world and in seeing this child that we had come to love finding her home.

Just after this past Christmas, Galina came home to her forever family. Who but God could have placed these children, Nastya, Katya, and Galina, into the perfect families for them? And He knew from the foundation of the world that they would be taken from the other side of the world and placed into these families. And before doing so, He gave the added blessing to these families and to these children that these families would be close friends and ministry partners? What a delight it is to raise and even educate our Ukrainian daughters within the friendship of our sweet friends.

What absolute joy it is to see Galina Lilly in her family.

Forever.

The night Galina came home forever...

Hosting Pictures! Finally!

Here are all the girls (from Ukraine and those in the host families) after a spa day. They had so much fun being treated like the princesses that they each are and getting haircuts, styles, and make-up!




Allee and Nastya had so much fun in the limo that was donated to take the kids to the spa event.
Nikita was so proud of his dragon!

Kolya (in the middle) was able to celebrate his birthday with his host family.

Sveta, Alexandra, and Vika are ready to show off their skills at ice-skating! We were treated to a night at Schlitterbahn Christmas.

Where Did Three Weeks Go?

The 17 Ukrainian children that Charis Orphan Care and Adoption Ministries brought to Texas for Christmas have now safely returned to their orphanages. But although they are gone from us for now, what has happened in their hearts and in the hearts of those who were involved with them cannot be returned to what it was. All involved have been changed. This trip was short but for some reason it was extra special. God did incredible things through this and we just give Him all the praise and glory for what has taken place. Many hearts have been moved on behalf of orphans - those specifically that came as well as the needs of orphans in general. Many if not most of our host families are pursuing adoption. Wow! And the children - they were filled up with love, fun, memories, gifts, family time, and we pray the presence of the Lord in the host homes. We pray for each one of them, that God will continue to water the seeds that were planted and that not one good plan that He has for them would be lost. My heart aches for several in particular. At the same time I am filled with joy at the gift of being involved in this ministry. Loving orphans has been a joy mingled with pain like nothing else that I can describe. It must be just a small taste of the love and joy and pain that our Father pours out over us.

In Fall 2006, Zach and I went to a Hope for Orphans conference. The opening was a short video with Steven Curtis Chapman and his daughter about hidden treasure. Then our speaker asked us all if we wanted to be blessed. He then said to simply get involved with what God cares about, to join Him in His work, to love what He loves.... I didn't really get it then. But I get it a little better now. Blessed we are to love our own children as well as those who remain fatherless. These 17 children have blessed me and all those involved with them in ways that are incredible. Is it all easy? Of course not - it is incredibly hard sometimes. And I have shed more than a few tears due to the sheer amount of work, the emotions, the pain. But strangely enough - the joy comes through the pain - through seeing God do what only He can do - in hearts, in circumstances, in incredible details that have caused me to just stand speechless as I just see Him at work. And I know it is all Him.

Want to get involved? Visit our website, email me for more info, consider hosting this summer, pray, give, etc, etc.

Charis has some exciting new things on the horizon...

Here are our girls from the salon day! What fun this was!!

Lots of more pics soon - The Salon and Limo Day, Ice Skating, Face Painting, and much more!!

Ukrainian Christmas in Texas

What an incredible joy it is to have these precious children here!!!! Before Christmas we had a big party complete with lots of food, outdoor fun, games, gingerbread house decorating (although most were too busy to get to that) and of course Santa. Thanks Kyle family for organizing this!! It was a blast for all of us!

Sweet little Bogdan meeting Santa and learning to ride a bike.
And here is my Katya - Santa must have told her something good was coming!!!Allee, Liza, and Nastya getting a quick hug from Santa. Liza is part of the host group and such a cutie :)

Here's Anna!

Katya enjoyed spending time with her friend Sveta - they had not seen each other in 13 months!!

Tanya lovin on little Madeline

The kids were mesmermized by Santa reading a book. I think he really might be the real deal... real beard, white bushy eyebrows, a bag full of goodies... I don't know - if kids can come from Ukraine then maybe this Santa really came from the North Pole. Our translator had a few requests for Santa - an iPhone, a Surburban, and world peace :-)

What a cutie! This is Kolya - and cute yes but see that glint of mischief in his eyes... He'll steal hearts for sure :) Well for that matter - won't they all?!?

Yes in fact they have...

Ukrainians to Texas - MIRACULOUS JOURNEY

I have always wondered what it would be like to be a character in the show 24. Zach and I got a little addicted to 24 while in Ukraine. But the last four days, I feel like I have been in one of the episodes with a new and difficult encounter every few hours. It has been intense folks!!



To begin I will tell you the happy ending of the story! - Between last night and today 16 Ukrainian orphans landed in Texas and joined their host families for what should be three joy filled weeks. And I am telling you - God must have some super big plans for this trip because Satan was all over trying to stop it from happening.



So backing up to last Wednesday, we found out that our main chaperon in charge of bringing all the host children was in a car accident and was not going to be able to travel. She is doing fine now from what we hear but was not up to traveling after her accident. So, the scramble began to find a new escort who met the criteria of someone we knew or had excellent references, had an open visa already, and was able to take off work and leave with only a few days notice. Incredibly, God provided the perfect person for the job - we would find out later just how much this specific person was truly needed for the trip. You can imagine the craziness of contacting people in Ukraine about this, changing airfare tickets, letting our host families know of the situation, etc, etc. It seemed pretty dramatic but was nothing to what the next few days had in store!



Sunday at 5:30 am Ukrainian time (9:30 pm TX time) 16 children and four adults boarded a plane in Kiev. They then arrived in Frankfurt where one precious little boy had some type of allergic reaction or asthma attack or something and suddenly couldn't breathe very well. It got worse and the German airport medics came running. They pulled down the poor child's pants and gave him an epinephrine shot and a suppository in the middle of the German airport. Bogdan does not improve and enter the ambulance. The boy, along with our new replacement escort, who just "happened" to be a doctor, were whisked away to the German hospital in Frankfurt. The rest of the group (including Bogdan's terrified brother Andriy) was left with no way to contact them or know what the situation was due to the communication problems. My friend was calling me through this giving me the frightening updates. Another grave dilemma was that Ukrainians are required to have a visa to enter Germany and it was uncertain whether they would be allowed back in to the airport when Bogdan recovered.

I, on the other side of the world, was shaking and crying out to the Lord on Bogdan's behalf and that of the rest of our group for over two hours not knowing what the situation was. This was from 1:30 am to 3:30 am TX time. I suddenly knew that Bogdan was okay as clearly as if the Lord had whispered it in my ear. I had heard nothing but began praising God for his healing and for putting him and the escort back on that plane with the group. Not 15 minutes later my phone rang and I heard that he was indeed breathing normally and was boarding the plane!!!

Miraculously Bogdan seemed to be healed quickly of whatever it was that was causing him to be unable to breathe and they quickly allowed him and the escort to return the airport and board the plane. One of the main reasons this was allowed was because the escort was a doctor!! Who but God knew that we needed to have a doctor escorting the children!! Can you imagine the drama that was in the airport for all the kids including the boy's big brother!?!

So at this point our group was split into two groups - half coming to Denver and half to Chicago and then all ending up in TX. Great plan except that mother nature intervened. The flight that Bogdan and the Ukrainian escorts were on was stuck on the runway for three hours before takeoff. Needless to say they missed their flight and any others that might have gotten them to TX that night from Denver.


We had 8 hours or so to figure out what to do when the plane landed. I spent countless hours trying to find flights for them and calling airports but things were beyond crazy due to the winter storm on the east coast. Nobody would help me even when I occasionally reached an actual person at the airport.

As I was praying for intervention and I remembered that there was this awesome group of people somewhere around Denver who had adopted from Ukraine. I follow their blogs and had become friends with Kari over the past year. They also bring groups of children for hosting in the summer. I thought that perhaps they might be able and willing to help with our group. I don't know them well so I just emailed Kari and hoped that maybe she would get the message and call back. Within 30 minutes my phone rang and she immediately offered to house them, feed them, meet them at the airport, whatever!!! Wow!!! I was so overwhelmed and grateful. Then a short time later she put me in touch with Felix Roge. Be SURE to read his side of the story - you will cry and laugh at the same time!! He just 'happened' to be heading up to the airport anyways around the same time our group was landing. He got there earlier and started working with the ticket desk on their behalf and was able to work a miracle to get them ALL on a direct flight to Austin the next morning. If he had not been there it would have been a mess beyond my imagination, and two Ukrainian men caring for 10 exhausted children would have had to try to figure this out on their own in a foreign country. It would not have been good. But again, God already knew and provided. THEN, Felix drove them in his 15 passenger van to hotel (which we found at an incredibly low rate and was perfect for them with a very helpful staff), got them settled and headed home. In the morning he headed back to the hotel, fed them all breakfast, and maneuvered his way with this large group through the packed, crazy airport. It was quite the adventure and MANY disastrous situations were avoided. He got them ALL on the plane and off to TX.

Thank you doesn't even begin to cover it Felix, Heidi, Nadia, Julia, Kolya, Kari, and everyone else in CO who stopped your busy lives in the middle of Christmas season to help out people you have never met. We are so grateful!! And most of all, thank you Lord for making all those connections and going before us to prepare for the needs of our group.



And so it was much rejoicing this morning when we met the group (who all had a good night's sleep in the hotel) at the airport in Austin. It was an amazing thing to see the children join their host families and the joy on both sides.



At the same time we had our other group coming in from Chicago. They too missed their flight due to weather but since there were already American adults in the group, it was not as critical of a situation. They were exhausted beyond comprehension when we welcomed them last night at midnight to Austin. It was filled with joy though as my girls welcomed two of their best friends, Tanya and Galina. They had not seen Tanya since we left Ukraine and it was a beautiful, emotional reunion. So awesome. Galina was here this summer but it was amazing to see her back. We LOVE those girls and so excited to see them with their host families!!



We have had wonderful reports of their first day here and all of them are doing very well. More updates will be coming as we have lots of Ukrainian Christmas fun coming up!



There has been MUCH more drama on top of all the travel issues - yes it is true. Some of it we just can't share on a public blog but it has been a crazy and very emotional week. The incredible thing has been that as the pressure has increased, God's grace and strength has increased tenfold. I have barely slept since Wednesday night (remember I have also been at dance rehearsals every night until 11), but God has given me and Becca and Camille and our husbands and children just incredible grace and provided people at every turn to love these children. It is not about us and we give all the glory to Him. Thank you Jesus.



Pictures coming...

Kateryna Ballerina

Katya has been preparing to perform in The Nutcracker. She auditioned in August and got the part!! She is truly gifted at dancing, but we were uncertain how she would do because she really only had training in jazz type dance and not really in ballet. She was given two parts (a mouse and a polichinelle) and she has risen to the challenge! We love her dance studio and she has been SO blessed by the friendships that she has made as well as the excellent but gracious teaching of her instructors! Thank you Ballet New Braunfels and all of you families who have encouraged her in dance!

So this week she has had practices every night until around 11:00. It is pretty intense but the final productions this weekend were worth every bit of the effort. It was a beautiful and very professional performance and I was just overjoyed to watch my little dancer just shine up there. And just filled with joy and loving every minute. On the way home last night she started crying and said that she was so happy that God let her do this and made her able to dance and just how much she loves to dance. What a wonderful thing that Katya has been a part of all this. We have seen her grow in her confidence, socially, emotionally, and physically through this semester of dance.

Orphan Sunday

We just wanted to share that we were incredibly blessed this past Sunday. You probably know that it was adoption Sunday and I have been thrilled to hear about so many churches using this opportunity to share testimonies of adoption and about the many other ways that people can minister to children who are suffering without their physical and emotional needs being met.

Our family has a new church, and while it was not one of the reasons that we initially joined this church, it seems that God has moved us there because of a shared passion. Many people at the church are passionate about orphans and adoption. This Sunday, my good friend's husband spoke about adoption - both the adoption of children and our adoption as children of God. It was awesome. Then we were invited up to tell a little about our journey to bring our girls home, and our girls were interviewed. They did such a great job - it is powerful to hear them speak about what they can now see that God has done in their lives. We were just filled with joy to give all the glory to God for what He has done in their lives and ours.

So if you are wondering more about our journey or about adoption, just go listen!!

www.livestream.com/riverstone. Click on menu and then video library -- Nov. 8th.