Thanksgiving, Dedication, and Shoemaker

Well we certainly had a lot to be thankful for this year. Our 3 little guys are just coming along wonderfully every day. Challenges still abound but they are happy and full of life. Yuri's class made pilgrim outfits and Victors class made indian outfits with a turkey made out of a hand print on their shirts. Their friend, Ryland (2nd grade), was a settler. Vanya's preschool class made turkeys hats and they paraded quietly around the whole school as if they were a group of turkeys. It was sooo cute to see them all with their floppy ears (feet) of the turkeys.

When we asked them at the dinner table what they were thankful for it was pretty interesting. First we had to explain what "thankful" meant and that it was similar to "happy about". Yuri said "the swimming pool" and Veecha followed that up with "the car to get to the swimming pool" and last but not least my little one gave the thumbs up to, yep, you guessed it, "the swimming pool". I think we got the point that we should sign up again for pool membership again this summer. Mayra was thankful that it was her last year in college and Travis said he was thankful for good food to eat. Evidently college food is not to his liking. Brian, my brother, came to join us for the feast as well and was thankful for his daughters and family. Rob did a wonderful job, as always, with the bird and all the trimmings and we were both thankful for all of our children. We all had our fill and I even made a pumpkin pie! Not as good as Babushka does but at least we had some. Altogether a wonderful thanksgiving day!

DEDICATION DAY

We had the boys dedicated at church on Nov 25th. We thought since November was National Adoption Month that it would be cool to have them dedicated then. It was particularly nice that Mayra and Travis were here as well. Another special treat was that Yuri Safonov was here with us from Ukraine and was able to be with us and interpret everything. Even thought the boys understand english pretty well and have lost a bit of their native language it was great for the Ukrainian kids that were in the audience who were here for the Old Russian Shoemaker play. The boys received a special Children's bible and I got 3 roses, one for each son. It was a special day and we know the Lord will continue to give us the strength and wisdom to raise these boys the best way we can.

OLD RUSSIAN SHOEMAKER

The play that inspired our whole adoption journey once again came to Williamsburg. This time I was able to pitch in and help as our Heart for Orphans group sponsored the trip along with Emmanuel (CBN's Operation Blessing in Kyiv). It was great to see this group of kids who came from the Kherson region of Ukraine to perform with the Shoemaker play as well as do some individual songs and they even had a bell choir. There were 17 kids who came and we hope that this round of performances will be as inspiring as the last time which produced about 26 new adoptions. Many host families really enjoyed the kids and would love to have them as part of their families. Obviously they still have to go through the long tedious process if they truly wish to actually adopt. Many people have asked questions about the process and we hope to be able to be a resource for those folks and and encouragement that orphans are really at the heart of God and it is a commandment that we care for them. Not everyone is called to adopt but for those who are we hope to help them along. Yuri was here to answer some of those questions as well and now it is up to the Lord to speak to those who He has called to follow through with the process. We pray for all the kids we had to leave behind from our trip and can see the faces of those kids that were here that they too want to have family. I don't think it is too much to ask for kids to have someone who cares about them forever. These kids will not be forgotten.

Mama Mama Mama