We are here!

Hi Everyone!  We left on Sunday afternoon from State College airport with a warm send-off from our friends and Church Family from Nittany Bible Church.  After stops in Detroit and Paris, we landed at 5 PM Monday (Ukraine time . . . that's 10 AM Pennsylvania  time) here in Kiev.  We will update on Tuesday with some pictures of our apartment and the city.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers!  We love you!

LEAVING!!!

We are flying out of State College in about 1.5 hours (4:40 PM) and will arrive in Kiev, Ukraine on Monday at 4:40 PM  . . . We'll try to update when we get there and get our internet connection working!  THANK YOU so much for your prayers!

Questions Answered

 

Here is an excerpt from our latest Play by Faith newsletter that we thought would be useful to post here, as well!

We have received many questions and requests for updates concerning our adoption of Artyr.  For those that do not know much about why we are adopting a 15 year old boy from Ukraine, we will take a few moments to explain before giving an update.  When the idea was first presented to us to help our good friends from Truth Quest ministries with a camp for 21 orphans from Ukraine last summer, we reluctantly agreed to help with the camp.  We, however, were not open to hosting one of the children for the 10 days they would be in America after the camp.  As the weeks leading up to the camp passed, God stirred our hearts to be willing to host a young child from the camp (but we were not interested in adopting a child).  Well, within the first 24 hours of camp, God was already changing our heart, AGAIN!  As we proceeded through camp and through the 10 days of hosting Artyr, it became clear to us that we believed God was intending for us to adopt Artyr.  We’ve had many people question why we have chosen to adopt Artyr.  Answers such as, “Because every child deserves a family, and God has introduced us to Artyr” have become commonplace.  Each time, though, it has forced us to pray and seek God to make sure we are doing what we believe His will is.  We have also had people question whether spending the amount of money we are spending on the adoption of a 15 year old boy that we will only have in our house for several years is wise.  A statement that we found on an online adoption forum recently captured our thoughts on that topic, “I can't imagine that when I die the Lord will ever say to me, "I wish you had kept more for yourself, kept yourself happy and comfortable and indifferent to the plight of millions of people around the world in dire need of the love of Christ. I wish you hadn't adopted (Artyr) - (he) really wasn’t worth all the trouble and money you spent on (him)."   Sometimes, we as people make God’s will out to be some mystical thing out there that we are always searching for but can never understand.  Our verse of the month tells us that when we stop believing the lies that this world system tells us (this adoption is too expensive; you can’t adopt a teenage boy, you have two young girls;  this child is going to ruin your family; etc ...) and we renew our mind in God’s Word (daily); we see that God tells us to take care of orphans (do a word search of orphan in the Bible . . . WOW).   When our mind has been renewed, God transforms our fears, worries, doubts, and our lives; and we realize what we believe is His will for us.  It’s right there in His Word.

Here is a video we sent over with one of the other families (http://www.noeladoptionadventure.blogspot.com/) for Artyr to watch (the Ukrainian text in the beginning says "Hello, Artyr;" and at the end it says, "We Love you and miss you and will see you as soon as God allows.  We can't wait for you to come home!") . . .

and here's a picture of Artyr watching the video (3 times in a row, from what we understand)

Our good friends Russ Jr. and Cheri (http://www.walkinghispathcherr73.blogspot.com/) just left yesterday on their first trip.  They are adopting Anslee (blowing bubble in picture above) and Vika (blonde hair, immediately to Anslee's left).  Please PRAY for them as they travel and for their four children at home.  Please also PRAY for Mick and Janel (http://www.bringingvikahome.blogpsot.com/) who are adopting Vika (immediately to Artyr's right) who are in the orphanage right now.  Also, please PRAY for Eric and Cindy (blog mentioned above) as Eric is bringing Dema (immediately to Artyr's left) home very soon.  Please also PRAY for all of the families that are still preparing to travel or who have already brought children home.  Please visit the blogs listed in the right hand column so you can know exactly how to PRAY for each family!  Thank you so much and thank you for continuing to uphold us in your prayers, too! 

Only two weeks left until we leave!!!