Getting Ready for Christmas 2008

While everyone in the states is preparing for the year and settling into their normal routines, the church is preparing for the birth of Jesus. We will be celebrating Christmas 2008 on January 7th. We picked up Yana on thursday to keep until Christmas night. She will go back to the orphanage one more time and then stay with us, I hope. Since there is no school until January 14th, I am sure that she will be with us. Maria is in the orphanage hospital with a sore throat. When she was told she could not go with us she cried. We promised to come and get her on Friday. Today is Friday, she was not allowed to come with us yet. The director of the orphanage is really wonderful to us. She has let us have as much time with Marina as Yana and felt very bad about her having to tell Marina, no not today. But Maybe! tomorrow. Again. Marina cried. We went back to the orphanage hospital and got her laughing again. She has had 5 shots in the hind end and has one more to go tonight. I would never tell anyone that I had a sore throat if I knew that I had to get 6 shots! Hopefully Saturday we can get her until Christmas also.

The weather is brutal. I thought I was well prepared for cold weather. I thought being raised south of Buffalo, N.Y. I qualified as being tough as far as weather goes. There is no comparison to what cold is out here. Those fur hats that we often think of when we think of Russia are not a fashion statement, they are necessity. We try to walk but it is getting too intense for me. Every day I hope for some relief and everyday is getting colder. In spite of the cold, I had an awesome day. Yana and Papa let me go on a short term mission trip. There is a young missionary named Jennie, from Chicago, here for the week. She is teaching Yana English. Wonderful person, Yana just loves her. She is a teacher. Her school sent cards and beannie babies to the orphan children. Ernie and Anna's, as part of their outreach for the city, have helped to get this little orphanage going for children that normally would be on the streets. The parents can drop them off there if they can't raise them, or if the children are taken from the parents. This is a holding orphanage until more permanent things happen, like return to family or the child goes into a more permanent orphanage. Sad? yes! I was asked to go with them to bring presents from the church and to give out the beannie babies. The children would melt your hearts just like they did mine. We walked in and the little ones just surrounded us. I know little Russian, but I was able to ask their names and how old they were. That just drew them closer. There were 2 teenage girls that looked pretty tough. They were covering their hurt, I am sure. At the end I decided to give them a hug and a kiss. Those 2 girls turned into babies. It is such a pleasure when the Lord allows you to be the Jesus in the flesh and give love to those that need it the most. As I looked into the eyes of those children, I asked myself what that kind of experience and rejection must feel like. I had to just pray for God to comfort them and bless their earthly journey. Ernie and Anna are doing great work here in the Ukraine. The stories they share make me realize the sacrifice it has taken them to change the lives of so many others. After the orphanage we went to a warehouse to pick up candy, cookies and other things for the Christmas celebration at the church. After returning home (it is that comfortable to be called home) Rick and I went to see Marina and Yanna had lessons with Genny. I forgot to mention, Thursday night we had our first dinner party at our home. We all had a great time and.....Yana jumped up and insisted on doing all the dishes. Will this last? Yana does like being an only child, she is very comfortable with us. Now for the down side of adoption of teenagers in the Ukraine. My sweet beautiful daughter was at the grocery store with papa and he let her pick out food she likes. She picked out a package of tiny fish (smelt) that are to be salted and dried and eaten like beef jerky. What am I going to do with this? Jennie had lunch with us today, she made me promise not to invite her when we were going to eat the fish, thanks Jennie.
Thank you all as always for lifting us up. New names show up and we get excited, the old names that have been so faithful show up and we are blessed beyond what I could ever imagine. You are all so precious in our sight, can't even imagine what you look like in God's sight.
Pray for a miracle,
Fran