WooHooo!! Survived another year of Potts Homeschool!

This is a bit of a delayed post but I am trying to catch up on some posting that I've meant to do - so much I want to document so that I don't forget... We shall see how well that happens - great intentions but I get too busy to post!



Actually it was a great year for us and I just wanted to post about what Katya and Nastya have learned this year. I am always pretty shocked when I look at how far they have come. And I am always surprised when I realize that I have actually taught them some stuff!! Who would've thought that I could teach?

Seriously, it was hard and a lot of days I just wanted to quit. I was exhausted many times this year, but we kept pushing forward toward the goals we had set for school, and it is very satisfying to not only reach them but exceed them. And the girls - they are just about the hardest workers I have ever seen. They pushed themselves and me even more than I would have planned. Because of their diligence, they are getting closer and closer to truly being on grade level, which is something that I wasn't sure we would ever reach.

Here is a short summary of their accomplishments this year!! We celebrated on our last day by going over this list and then I awarded them certificates of excellence, character awards, and gave them the medals that they had earned for completing Memory Master through Classical Conversations (an incredible task of memorizing a TON of stuff - see below)!!


Look At What You Have Accomplished this Year!!!

• Finished MATH Level 3, Finished Saxon 5/4, Halfway Finished Saxon 6/5
• Learned all 8 parts of speech and how to diagram sentences with noun, verb, adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, and article adjectives
• Learned over 300 spelling words
• Improved Speech through daily Speech Practice
• Completed over 100 daily grams learning lots of grammar rules/alphabetization/etc along the way
• Improved Reading Levels; completing McCall Crabbs A&B and half of Book C
• Developed Beautiful Cursive Handwriting and learned verses at the same time!
• Read lots and lots of books in English and Ukrainian
• Rosetta Stone Practice for writing/typing/spelling in English



Also learned a great deal of science and social studies through Paces curriculum and through science experiments at Classical Conversations

• Classical Conversations:
• Memorized: (all of this to earn memory master)
o 160 Timeline Cards
o 100 Science Facts
o 100 Geography Locations
o 24 History Sentences
o All Math Facts and important formulas
o English Grammar including parts of speech, prepositions, helping verbs, and more
o Latin Noun Endings
All US Presidents
• Gave over 20 presentations and learned how to organize information and to speak clearly in front of a group of people


Kayta earned the character award for Diligence and Nastya earned the character award for Compassion.


Way to go girls - I am one proud mom!!

Twice Adopted

Last weekend, the most beautiful thing took place. Katya and Nastya were baptized. The fullness of what has happened in their lives is really the most incredible thing ever. And you know what? We are not responsible for it. Not even a little bit. It is NOT because of us that our daughters now have eternal hope, joy, love, and peace in their lives. Nope - we could never have accomplished something like that because it is outside of our abilities to do so. Instead, we have been privileged to be a part of the wonderful story of their adoption into our family and into God's family forever. We followed God on this crazy adventure of adoption that He called us to and gave Him the little we had to offer (and believe me, it was only a little), and He has truly done big things in it.

Eighteen months ago God made them our children forever. Zach and I, with much fear of doing it all wrong, began to teach them about God's love for them. Sometimes it made them furious at first. When I would tell them that He saw them as beautiful girls whom He had created and loved since before they were born, tears would stream down their faces as they shook their heads in disbelief that they could be so lovable. When I would tell them that God had been with them even when their lives were literally hell on earth, they slowly began to see how even in the midst of abandonment, severe hunger, verbal and sometimes physical abuse, God protected them in so many ways. He sent caring people who were angels to them to care for them. A young teenage girl took them under her wing and would feed them, bathe them, house them, and just be a friend when their Ukraine family would not or could not do these things. And eventually they were removed from this terrible situation and placed into an orphanage with some truly caring people who helped them to begin healing from all that and preparing them for what was next in their lives. When I would tell them that He loved them so much that He didn't want them to do things that would hurt their bodies or minds or spirits, it often resulted in anger or rebellion at first. When I would tell them that certain videos, music, magazines, immodest clothes, etc, was hurtful for them, there was major resistance to my authority or God's authority in their lives.

We could tell them all these truths about His love, but it was with a heart of fervent prayer. Prayer that God would reveal Himself to them. We could say the words but it was only God who could really open their eyes of understanding.

But then, the truth of God's love and grace began to take root in their lives. The resistance that we had seen (more in one than the other) began to melt away, and they began to see God's incredible love for them and that He had always loved them. They began to see that this world is hopeless and broken and that the only hope that any of us has is in His power in our lives to turn our ashes into beauty and our darkness into light. They began to know and experience, deep down inside, that His love is real and complete and they began to experience the healing that can only come from our Lord. And He more than answered our prayers. They began to seek Him on their own and to receive the truth that He began to reveal to them. We began to see their lives transformed as they surrendered to His love.

And so, it was with great joy that on this past Sunday, Zach had the incredible honor to baptize Katya and Nastya in the San Marcos River. It was a beautiful symbol of the new life that they now have in Him and how it is their desire now to share His love with others and to live their lives for His glory. They are not only our daughters but now our sisters in Christ.

I just stand in awe of how God has fulfilled the vision that He first gave us of what He would do in their lives. Thank you Lord. To You alone be the glory!!

He has done and is doing what is impossible. But nothing is impossible with Him.

Isaiah 61:3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."

And as if this day wasn't sweet enough as it was, it gets even better! Their sweet friend Galina who was adopted recently into the family of our dear friends (see previous blog post for this

amazing story), was baptized by her father on the same day. She has the sweetest faith in the Lord and we are so thankful that she too has been 'twice adopted'.

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...