Valya

Royalty

Found this quote on a friend's blog.  Definitely worth sharing: The special ones in God’s kingdom are the weak ones: the ones who can’t fight for themselves, the ones who can’t speak for themselves, the ones that don’t have someone to feed them, the ones that don’t have someone to protect them, and Jesus says those are the prized ones and you treat them as the royalty here on Earth. And the way you treat them is ultimately how you’re treating me. What you do unto the least of these is how you’re ultimately treating your God.  - Eric Ludy, Depraved Indifference

Marina

This story is worth sharing.  It is about a little girl who once lived at Bela, one of the orphanages we are working with.  It gives a glimpse of how life can be for a child in Ukraine.

http://vimeo.com/41876599

Here is a little more background on the story:

http://lanternvision.org/share-a-story/featured-story/

God makes my job easy

On Mother's Day I got an email from someone I had never met before.  She said she and 5 of her friends were coming to our informational meeting because the Lord had been burdening each of them about the orphan crisis.  They were looking for ways to show love to orphans.  This is what I pray for daily, that God would bring to us those that he has already called.  It is not my desire, nor do I believe it is my calling, to beg and cajole anyone to help us care for these children.  I have always felt that  I just needed to get the word out and then trust God to bring whomever He chooses.  It was such a joy tonight to meet these ladies and hear about what God was doing in their hearts and lives.  It was also a blessing to meet with other women who obviously have servants' hearts; who want to be, not only a blessing to the children, but to me.  I have a dear friend in the middle of a major kitchen renovation but she does not give even a second thought to signing up for meals.  I am so thankful for the Lord's provision.  He definitely makes my job easy!

Tanya

We got the Visas!

The Embassy appointment today was successful.  Vita and Andrey, the guardians accompanying the children, traveled to Kyiv on Thursday evening for the appointment, carrying all the necessary documents with them.   We had gotten official permission from the regional officials yesterday.  All the Visas were granted.  So, on the Ukraine side, everything is in order.  Our facilitators in Ukraine are awesome.  Ira and Anton live in Lugansk and took care of all the paperwork with the orphanages and officials there.  We have known them for about 4 years.  I first met Anton when he acted as my translator the first time I went to visit my son Roman.  We got to know him and Ira better through Camp Friendship.  I plan to blog more about Camp Friendship and how it relates to Grace to Ukraine in the coming days.  We value Ira and Anton, not only as professionals, but as friends to both us and our children.  Our other facilitator, Sasha, lives in Kyiv and handled all of the paperwork there.  We have known Sasha for about 6 years.  He facilitated all 3 of our Ukrainian adoptions and has also been a true and dear friend to us dealing with various situations that have arisen and continue to arise in Ukraine with family and friends.  It is truly a blessing to know Sasha, Ira and Anton and to have them, their compassion and their expertise on our side.