This is Alyosha and Eric. Sweet guys and full of love and kindness. I mention Alyosha later in this blog. He wrote me a precious letter and drew me beautiful pictures to remember him by. I will write the words of his letter at the end of this blog.
And this is Andrei, with my husband and daughter. I also mention in this blog. Andrei is in constant prayer for a family.
Our team has been back (the American half of our team anyway) a few weeks now and I think we have all recovered from jet lag. Jet lag is not the biggest thing we have to recover from though. The hardest part is the "grieving process" we go through. Part of our hearts are left in Ukraine and it takes a while to heal. Our thoughts are never far from the children we leave behind. Our love stays behind and our prayers are constantly being prayed for them.
As I have said so many times before, we fall instantly in love with these kids. That is one part that makes it so hard to leave them. But the reality is, we know what the future holds for them and that is the biggest reason we do not want to leave them there. If it were possible to take them with us, I know each of us would take the maximum number allowed and bring them home with us.
Some kids make it on their own when they graduate. My two friends, Vova, who just turned 20 last week, and Artyr, who is 21, are both doing pretty well. I think they are going to make it. And I pray they will begin going to the church that our translator, Ksusha, introduced us to while we were there. Surrounding themselves with Christian brothers and sisters will change their lives and give them the support they need.
I still need to add many many pictures from the trip to this blog, but before I do, I just wanted to talk a little about adoption. It is heavy on my heart.
One of "my boys", Marat, was just adopted. Praise God!!! : ) His sister, Alina, turned 18 just days after the papers were signed. If the papers were not signed in the courts before her birthday, she could not be adopted with Marat. Praise God for this family who is willing to take these two teenagers home with them and add them to the children they are already raising. They followed God's calling to adopt even though they have all the same reasons not to adopt as the rest of us.
Last summer a few other young teenage boys that I know were adopted as well. One family even adopted 4 siblings. These kids are doing great. They are learning English, they are loving their families, they are loving God, and they are adjusting so well. I know there are many adjustments that are being made and I know life is hard, but seriously, they are doing so awesome! In fact, two boys, Alex and Gisha (both in the same city) are on a mission trip to Nashville right now! Alex shared this with me on facebook right before he left and I was overwhelmed!! God brought these boys here to their new American families and now they are on a mission trip, serving Him! WOW!!! Did I mention they were just adopted LAST SUMMER!?!
All this being said, there are so many girls and boys who need a family. There are so many of the same kids year after year who tell us they are praying for a family. Those of you who know me know that I have a list of about 10 kids that I want to adopt and the list keeps growing every time I go over there. I think maybe I just need to move over there and build a huge house so that I can take care of them there. No....I'm not joking! : ) But, all in God's timing. He hasn't called us there full time... yet. YET.
I am adding some pictures of a few kids who would love a home. I am also going to write the words to a sweet letter that one of the boys wrote to me. I am not posting it to show the sweet things that he said about me, but I am posting it to show how sweet his heart is. His name is Alyosha. Another teenage boy I am posting a picture of is named Andrei. He is a boxer and he is one of the most kindest, gentlest kids there. I have seen him grow up all these years and I have always seen him treat kids with kindness. He is a Christian and he even goes to the church that we went to. He takes a bus and gets there himself. Every year he tells us that he is praying for a family. There are many girls too. Life for them after the orphanage is not good at all. A lot of them turn to prostitution to survive. Many end up on the streets if they don't make it in college. Life for the boys is not much better. Prison waits for a high percentage of these boys and so does life on the street.
As I post pictures from the trip in a later blog, you will see many faces of orphans who need a home. Some of these kids are not adoptable. Some have a mom who cannot take care of them or who chose to give them up. Some have grandparents that the child visits, which makes them unadoptable. In the village pictures, there are a mixture of kids in the pictures...pictures of kids from the village and pictures of kids from the orphanage. It is pretty easy to see the difference between the two, however. And as far as I know, the children in the orphanage in the village do not have family and are adoptable. My daughter, sons and I have added a village orphan to my growing list as well (he's on the "cover" of the blog).
If God is not calling you to adopt (and please do not assume He's not) please pray about how you can help these orphans. God does call us to help and love His orphans...actually, He commands it. If you can help someone adopt or help someone minister to the ophans, then please ask God to show you how to do that. Maybe He will call you to help those who have graduated from the orphanage (which is one of our passions but we have no great way of doing this yet) or maybe He will call you to help someone adopt a child. But maybe, just maybe, He is calling you to take one of these children in.
If you could make a childs life better, would you?
______Here is the letter that Alyosha wrote to me this summer:_______
Dear Pam,
I’m so glad to have spent with you these two years and got to know you better and you did the same about me. I saw your kind attention to people and wish them do the same to you (with love and kindness). You are so kind and pleasant to me.
You take care me with truth, gladness, and soul. Your smile helps me not to forget you. You’re the best friend in my life.
I’d like just one time to go to America and to get to know more about this country.
After spending a week with you my soul is full of joy.
I want to present you these three drawings to remind about me. I’ll pray about you every day and you’ll pray (please) about me.
I want you to stay here but it’s impossible. I want to say to you the kindest words, you’re so kind, beautiful, sweet, honest.
I wish you live for a long long time.
Love, Alyosha.
