Hey guys, this is Bill again.  Wow!!!  What a day!!!  I don't think I have ever experienced a day like today.  Never have I experienced such extreme joy and sadness in the same day.  Today we received the final approval for the adoption of our new son Viktor William DeFrees.  We are so excited and relieved to have the final approval.  Thank you so much for all the prayers and words of encouragement during this ordeal.  We can definitely feel them as we have been fighting an incredible spiritual battle.  Our son, Trent, sent me a text today that said "I'm so happy God is answering our prayers.  The prayers have been overflowing here in the States from all our friends and even people we don't know.  We'll continue to lift you guys up.  God will never set anything that you can't handle!".  Amen!!  Thanks Son!!

The road to the village from the first village. The road TO the village was even worse and was half way covered with snow.

Viktor's first home (on left)  Brick building is his first school.Viktor's mom's house.

Hey guys, this is Bill.  I thought I would give Pam a break and try my hand at updating the blog today.  I struggle with getting what's on my heart down on paper, but here we go...

Yesterday was full of adventure here in Odessa land.

Our son met us at our apartment in the afternoon. We weren’t sure if he was going to because he had a very bad head ache when we dropped him off the night before. We found out he gets head aches quite often. 

We hung out all day and just vegged at our home away from home for the day. My friend made a hair appointment for me at her beauty shop; my age was showing and I had to go get that taken care of. ;)

Igor was nice enough to translate to the beautician what I wanted done and then he and my family left me there and made faces at me through the window and came back in to take a picture. 

About 1/2 hour later, as I was sitting in my chair, the door flung open and two men came flying in. One large man threw the other man down on the couch where you wait for your turn. The large man started punching the other man in the face repeatedly....oh, the thud thud sound; I hated it. The other man didn’t fight back-he just put his arms up to protect his face. Then the man would punch his head and ear and kick him. A lady was yelling at him to stop. It seemed she knew him and I assumed he was her husband. He would yell back and stop punching while he yelled but he would kick at that time. The poor guy getting hit was not fighting back at all. I was just sitting there, in shock, watching all this in the mirror. It was going on directly behind me and there was no where for me to go. There was a lady sitting in a chair beside me and she didn’t seem very scared or shocked. Finally, when the wife of the man was able to convince him to stop pounding on the defenseless one, the men ran out. Whew. I was so scared and also so thankful that he didn’t have a gun or a knife. If that happened in my hood, one of them would have surely been armed. My beautician was very shocked and as they all came out of the back room, the fast Russian talking started about what just happened. No one spoke English so I just relaxed that it was all over and drank my tea. 

When I called my crew to come pick me up, I told them about it as soon as they got there and Igor asked my beautician to verify that something actually happened while I was there. He and Bill were upset that they weren’t there watching out for me and wanted to know why I didn’t call. 

We all went to McDonalds AGAIN for dinner. Out of all the places there are to eat here, that’s “Luke’s” favorite place to eat so that’s where we go. We left Igor and his friend there while the 4 of us went back out into the cold night to play some games at the arcade type place. There is a thing that measures how hard you hit the large hammer, how hard you punch the punching bag, and how hard you kick the soccer ball. Luke and Bill did the first two even though Bill is constantly telling Luke what a waste of money it is to do this stuff. Luke just loves to do it and can’t wait to see the score everyone gets. He and Dana had a kick off with the soccer machine (you may already be able to guess who won that one). The night before, as Luke kicked on that machine, he winced in pain and held his hip. We knew that look and knew he hurt his hip flexer. He seemed to walk it off and be ok. Last night, though. on his last kick, when he was trying really hard to beat Dana, he almost passed out in pain when he re-injured his hip flexer. He couldn’t walk this one off. He was hurt. Very hurt. Dana and Bill walked home so that Igor, and his friend, and I could drive Luke back to the dorm. As we were walking to the car, Igor left us and went to bring the car to us. Luke couldn’t even walk. They decided he needed to go to the hospital. I knew from experience that there was nothing they could do. I also knew from going to the hospital here for Brian’s broken ankle a few years ago, that it would be a waste of time to go to the hospital, but how cold hearted would I sound if I said no, he’s fine, we’re not going to the hospital. And he was in such pain. So, off we go. Igor announces to the car load that Pam will be staying in the car. I announce very firmly that Pam will NOT be staying in the car. 1)it’s freezing and dark 2)it’s not safe 3)mamma bear never stays in the car when her child is injured. I didn’t give those reasons but I wasn’t asked to give a reason....I was just told not to talk so they wouldn’t know I was American. It adds dollar signs. I already knew this, but I agreed to be quiet.

Oh, and as Luke was getting out of the front seat of the car, he had his hand on the car, bracing himself to stand up. I shut the back door very hard (the only way to close it) and it closed right on the poor kid’s hand! Oh my goodness! Mom, good thing he was wearing those new gloves you got him. It saved his poor little fingers!

The doctor examined him and told him the bone wasn’t broken but agreed to do an X-ray, which also showed no break. He prescribed pain medicine (Advil). We got to bring him to the apartment since his dorm is on the 4th floor and he couldn’t walk, much less go up stairs. We iced every 20 minutes/off every 20 minutes. We stayed up very very very late at night just talking and Skyping with family and friends. We had great talks and an awesome night!
This morning, Bill and I met with an American friend to meet a new Ukrainian friend who mentors the friend I’ve been asking you to pray for. Sorry about the no names but it’s the way it is here for different reasons. As we were leaving, I peaked in on my two kids in their different rooms and they were sound asleep. You know how when you peek in on your new little baby sleeping in their crib and you sigh and smile and you can’t believe he’s yours? That’s how I felt as I saw him there sleeping, safe and sound where he belongs. Oh, yes, and Dana looked adorable too and I was thankful that she was sleeping since she has had hardly any sleep since she arrived in Ukraine. 

God filled us with new peace and joy yesterday and a lot of that was due to Brian’s email about prayer that I put on my blog. Bill, Dana, and Igor had an awesome talk about the spiritual battle we’re all in while I was in the beauty shop watching the physical battle that was going on. It was definitely an accurate picture of how we’ve been feeling in this battle. Receiving blow after blow from the enemy. We know we are not defenseless like that poor man was that was crouching down on the couch. We have the Word and we have the power of God and we have the NAME OF JESUS. Praise His name!

Tuesday, March 6th....We've been in Odessa for 40 days now. We're tired. Emotional. Missing our kids like crazy. Fighting a non-stop spiritual battle. And fighting for our boy.

We have great days and we love our time with our friends and love the new connections that God is leading us to, but we are ready to go home.

We had a great birthday party for "Luke's 16th birthday" on Sunday. He had an awesome time and loved every second of the attention, the decorations, the food, and presents. He was beaming all night. Once he went back to his dorm, his friends also had a party for him. He said there were 40 kids there and told me he smiled all night.  

This morning, as usual, I checked to see if I had any messages from my kids. Brian wrote the perfect e-mail. It was/is just what we needed. His e-mail will be the blog for today. I know it will minister to you as much as it will to us. Sometimes it's hard to believe that the words that come out of his mouth are from a 19 year old. They are God's words though; Brian allowed God to speak through him as he wrote this e-mail to us:

Prayer- seems to be a reoccurring topic I am continually learning more and more about.

without prayer, there is no power behind our movements and no fuel to our fires.

I am devoted to praying for you guys over multiple things and I want yall to let the prayers change you. EXPECT God to answer the prayers and give you opportunities and change your life daily.

Acts 12:5- while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.

As you know, Peter escaped jail with the help of an awesome angel and visited the very home that was praying for his escape. funny thing: when he arrived at the door they were in disbelief. they did not think he was actually there. impossible they said. The early Christians even struggled with believing God would come through bc of their prayers. They were praying without even expected it to actually happen, and God still came through.

Why is it important to pray?

-Satan wants to destroy us and the plans God has so specifically gave us. Satan hates it that yall are in 'Kraine right now saving the life of a random kid that the world deems worthless. the devil hates that you are ministering to those who need encouragement and who have never felt the love of the Father before. He hates it and is doing what he can to disrupt and destroy the plans God gave you specifically.

-Prayer is stronger than satan. 

2 Corinthians 10:4 - Our weapons have power from God that can destroy the enemy's strong places

do we actually believe that? 

Pray purposefully with the mindset that it is not just 'another prayer' it is an offensive attack on the one who is trying to kill all you are fighting for. 

God is on our side. who can stand in our way?

James 4:7-8- humble yourselves before God. resist the devil, and he will flee from you. come close to God, and God will come close to you

Psalm 145:18- the Lord is close to everyone who prays to him, to all who truly pray to Him. 

God is right there with us. Look for him. Feel Him. Let Him live through you. expect His Spirit to work in your life and change you

best verse about prayer:

James 5:16- the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective

-were righteous. Jesus declares us righteous through His blood, not our works. there is truly power in our prayers. 

In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; 
   in the morning I lay my requests before you 
   and wait expectantly. 

ps 5:3

God will do as you ask in Jesus' name. that's a promise. cling to it and believe it. 

after you pray, expect Him to do it. Just wait for Him to absolutely blow your mind. pray confidently.

bottom line: prayer defeats and attacks satan's schemes to kill your ministry. prayer draws you closer and closer to the Lord God Almighty.

God has ultimate power (He can literally do anything with ease) and He faithfully loves us (He will provide in every way)

Today was court. Three hours long. I cannot go into any detail at this time but I can tell you that we are all drained and exhausted. We are official!!! Praise God! He is greater than all things! We are so excited and happy. 

Please pray. This is normal procedure, but we are not legally, completely official for 10 working days. WORKING days.... This Thursday, the 8th, is Women's day (which, actually is how we got a Saturday court date) but it's not a working day, so minus out that day if you are counting in your head what the working days are. A lot can happen in that time period and I will ask you to pray a hedge of protection over everything. God knows. 

We cannot thank you enough for your prayers and your encouragement. You will never know the strength it brings to us. 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-6YdT1DEO8

Seems like the perfect time to listen to "Our God Is Greater"  :)

Champions and Warriors

San Antonio Christian High School soccer teams just went to the State Finals once again. Every year they advance all season long, win after win, and make it to the finals. 

This season was especially exciting for the DeFrees family. Our 21 year old daughter, Dana, assisted in coaching the high school girl’s soccer team. Their poor team had injuries you would not believe. By the end of the season, they were short so many players due to injuries, and other odd circumstances, that they had no players left on the bench to even sub in during the game. By the last weekend, I think they had one girl who was able to come back and play, adding another strong player on the team. 

Another reason for the excitement was that our junior in high school son, Trent, plays on the Varsity soccer team that was also going into the final weekend. Our oldest son, Mike, who teaches at the school, assists in coaching this team. 

 Bill and I love watching our kids do anything-it doesn’t matter what. Whether it’s playing a sport, singing in a choir, hunting, tubing behind a boat, or especially, ministering to others. We really, really love watching them play soccer and it’s been a real joy watching them coach as well. So, this weekend was special....but.....I’m here in Ukraine and it’s ok, that’s not exactly what I’m writing about.

Another cool thing that is going on is R.I.O.T. in the middle school. The 7th and 8th grade homeroom classes compete in ridiculous something something (whatever the rest of R.I.O.T. stands for) competition between each other. They dress up all week long with different themes (I’ll post the nerd day pictures, complete with pictures of teacher, Mike DeFrees, and my other son, David, who is in 7th grade). I love R.I.O.T., it’s a....well.....riot! The kids and teachers really get into the competition and fun and they unwind and have hours of fun. It’s as much fun to watch as it is to participate in.

As I was thinking about all this today and also wondering why God always allows us to lose the State Championships (yes, I actually think that way sometimes), He led my thoughts elsewhere. I am really bad about asking God why our godly, good sportsmanship team loses, yet that team that was so ugly out on the field gets to win. The calls were terrible, the team was this or that, or the fans were this or that. Hold that thought.

When Mike was a senior, they did win State. It was so exciting and tasted so sweet!!! At the completion of the game, our players looked like they just won a war. Broken bones, shattered eye socket, black eyes, torn muscles, huge smiles; I mean, they were a sight. We felt the excitement of their win for years. Every season, we taste it again and longed for another victory. Every pre-season, the team prepares for that big win again. They work hard, they sacrifice, they learn, they soak in all that the coach tells them, and they do all that is required of them. All year long, they work and play hard and try for another championship.

I was pondering this, and God just sort of spoke to my spirit.

Why don’t I get this pumped about leading people to Him? When I miss an opportunity to share Christ or show love, why don’t I question God about this instead of question God about why we lost a soccer game? When I share Jesus with someone and they turn away, why am I not as anguished about this loss as I am about losing in the playoffs? 

I’m so burdened right now about these orphans, I can’t even tell you. Yes, I’m burdened about the lost kids in my school. My Christian school. The truth is right there in front of their eyes and some refuse to see. But these kids do not have enough people giving them hope, giving them homes, giving them love, giving Truth, giving them Jesus. “You can’t save them all” is what I hear here and at home. Hmmmm...... is that what you tell yourself when you lose that game? “You can’t win them all?” Hardly? No, you get out there and work harder for the next game, don’t you? You look at what went wrong or you look at what you need to improve on and you go from there. You don’t just give up and go home. 

Did God tell Jesus, “You can’t save them all? Come on back home?”

People, I’m not preaching at you or the choir. I am the choir too. I’m pointing in the mirror and I don’t like what I see. 

My pastor friend, Oleg, ministers to the elderly. That is huge; they, too are forgotten here. But how many of us minister to the elderly in the US? I mean, really minister? Yeah, we may take a field trip with our kids once a year so they can sing Christmas songs to them over at the nursing home, but is that ministering to them? Is that leading them to Jesus? What if they aren’t saved? Are we leading them to the cross?

Oleg shared a fantastic story about a woman in her 80’s who he shared Jesus with. She was a doctor who did abortions. She did 5-10 abortions a day for many, many years (like 30 years. THIRTY YEARS!). She said Jesus could never forgive her for all the murders she had committed so she knew she could never receive the grace and love and forgiveness of God. Oleg shared with her the Good News of Jesus Christ and this old woman received His forgiveness. She praised God and felt the guilt and stains removed from her soul. Can you imagine? WOW! 

I can’t save them all but Jesus can. I can’t save them all but am I saving any? (and when I say “I”, I mean Jesus through me of course).

To be the champion soccer team or champion anything else, we know what sacrifices we need to make to be just that. To be a champion for Jesus, a soul winner, we know we need to do more than just be a good example and go to church and be nice. I don’t just want people to be “saved”. I want them to taste the victory they can have in Jesus. I want them to taste the freedom and the forgiveness He has for them. He offers grace and love and peace. 

Who will go and tell them?

Viktor Migo took me to the orphanage #4 to celebrate a birthday. He played Uno with the kids. 

There is a week’s worth to update everyone on, but there hasn’t been a whole lot going on, so maybe I can keep this short. Wow...I heard every single one of you say, out loud, “yeah right”. OK, well, here it goes.

My friend did meet me at church Sunday and didn’t even play with his phone. I rode the bus with Holly and couldn’t pick up my soon-to-be-son. I forgot to give him money for the bus, so he didn’t make it to church. Two of the girls who we took the mall two weeks before (from the orphanage) were in church as well. They are the one’s who will be adopted to Maryland. It was a great surprise getting to see them there. After church, my friend and I walked about 20 minutes to go to the restaurant we were going to meet Igor at. He wasn’t going to be able to meet us for several hours so we just hung out. Another one of his friends meet us as well. She grew up in the orphanage with him and I remember seeing her at Camp Viktoria when we went there in the summers. She is in medical school and hopes to be a surgeon. 

Right before Igor came, our 16 year old friend, Andrey, joined us. Igor, Andrey, and I left to go pick up Luke and hung out for the rest of the day. Twice, Luke took me to a store by ourselves. I found out later that he kept asking Igor who this other boy was. Both times Andrey has been with us, Luke has acted extra silly and crazy. Igor said he (Luke) was jealous....so cute but I guess he’ll have to share me when we get home. I think that will be different since his brothers will be super happy to have him home and will be giving him lots of attention.

Oh no, this might long because I just remembered a story. You already knew that didn’t you. When we were taking Luke home, we stopped by a little store near his school. Luke and I went inside to buy a few things for him to take with him to his dorm. When we got out of the car, we could hear this yelling and crying and screaming. There was a crowd gathered around the sound. I couldn’t understand anything of course, but I could see in the darkness that there was an old woman laying on the icy snow. People were gathered around her and she was crying and yelling with her arms up as she laid on her side. We went inside to the store and a few minutes later, those people also came inside the store. As we exited and headed to the car, the lady still laid there, yelling and talking loudly. I stood at the car door and watched her, not knowing what to do. Igor opened his door and asked what was going on and I told him I don’t know, she’s just laying there; she’ll die. He said she’s drunk on vodka, but as he said those words, he and Andrey jumped out of the car and went to help her. By then, more people gathered again and said they would call an ambulance and she would spend the night at the hospital. Relieved, we dropped Luke off and went home. The next afternoon we found out that Luke didn’t go back to his dorm. He went back and stayed with the woman and helped to keep her standing up until the ambulance arrived. Precious.

Dana joined us on Tuesday!!!! YEA!!!!! So, as awesome as it was living with Tolik’s wonderful, wonderful family, we moved into an apartment of our own. Tolik’s family was so gracious allowing us to live with them for so long. They were our home away from home. They treated us better than other family members that came through their way. There were times that others stayed there as well but they stayed on the floors in the other rooms. We felt terrible about that but they wouldn’t let us do anything about it. They treated us like kings and queens. 

Igor and his friend, Jenya, went to work to find us a place to live. So, now we are in a 2 bedroom apartment with a huge living room and huge kitchen. Thankfully, instead of hanging out in restaurants and malls all day long, we can hang out here. We can start making meals at home and start relaxing with out having to have our back packs and money and passports everywhere. Luke rides the bus after school to come over and Igor takes him home. It’s awesome! Thank you, Lord! Once again, He has sent friends to take care of us. I seriously don’t know what we would do without our friends. Viktor Migo picked Dana up from the airport, moved us into our apartment, made sure everything worked, fixed things that needed attention, got the internet working, and made sure we were comfortable. God is just going way above just meeting our needs. 

Tuesday night, we went to the church that we take the kids to in the summer. (Living Hope) Igor had been wanting to go to their Tuesday night Bible study and we were finally able to go. We took Luke with us and he participated in answering questions during the service. I talked to a girl named Julia. I remembered her because last summer during church they announced that it was her first time playing the drums during worship. As we were talking, I told her that we were going to be going to Kiev on the train on Thursday night and coming back Friday night. She said she was going for the weekend. I told her to ride in the 4-bed car with us and she wouldn’t have to buy a ticket-she could just ride with us. I remember hearing (reading) Julia’s name in a few of my friend’s blogs because she was with them when they adopted their children and they just loved her. The great thing about Julia being with us (and I didn’t even think of this when I invited her) was that she knew all about how to get around on the train and when to get off and everything. I know we could have figured it out, but it was nice having someone there with us who knew everything already. Julia’s plans for the day fell through so she hung out with us. Dima met us at McDonald’s and we filled out our I600 (before your child turns 16-form) and headed for the underground train/subway/what ever you want to call it. We walked quite a ways to the Embassy and took care of the paperwork there. Bill and I waited forEVER at the Embassy and we were, literally, the only one’s sitting there with our number in hand. Once they called us, it didn’t take any time at all. We then headed back to the subway and met our friend, Andriy again. He joined Dima and us on our walk to the SDA office where Dima had some paper work to do so that I could return it all back to Alyona in Odessa.

Now it’s only 11:00 or so and we don’t catch the train until 11:00 at night. What to do? It was rainy so we went to the mall to have lunch and hang out. Andriy made some phone called and found a place that we could veg in for the day. We went there and just relaxed. God was so good to send us Andriy, who took a 4 hour train to visit with us, and to find us a place to just relax. The downstairs had picnic tables and WiFi. They brought us snacks and tea. Ahhhh, relaxation. The lady who worked there told us that they minister to orphans. Something that we all love to talk about of course, so we talked a lot about ministry. Dana shared with her the vision that God is giving to her and her friend about helping teenage orphan girls in Ukraine and was able to ask her a lot of questions. While we were there, we were able to help her out by cutting out a lot of little things for some kids she was going to be with the next day. And, because Julia’s plans fell through, she didn’t have a place to stay, but this young lady now offered her her home to stay at while she was in Kiev for the weekend. God just blows us away!

After Andriy left for his train, we stayed at the mall for the rest of the evening. Julia got us back to McDonalds by the train station, where we met our friend, Artem. After visiting for a while, Artem got us to the correct train, where we collapsed and crashed for the night. Igor picked us up this morning and brought us to the apartment. I’m doing laundry and Bill and Dana went back to sleep. They didn’t sleep at all on the way there so they are exhausted. Luke will probably come over on the bus today and we’ll all go to Julia’s church tomorrow. 

OH....and our court date has been changed to March 5th at 4:00. It’s only a one day change but I’ll take it. And somehow it helps with the rest of the appointments that come after the court date and saves us 3 days.

Oh, and my friend who we’ve been sharing Jesus with and bringing to church? He is running, and running hard. He threw his sin in my face as if to say “I’m choosing this over your God and even over our friendship-what are you going to do about it?” It hurt and angered me. But what am I going to do about it? I’m going to love him and I’m going to continue to pray for him. It’s a spiritual battle and the enemy has his big, ugly foot on his back, holding him down and my friend can’t even get up to fight. He doesn’t even want to get up and fight because he feels like he lost the battle already. He told me to forgive him and let him go. I told him that all his life, people who were supposed to love him did let him go and I’m not going to. It has been an exhausting week with him emotionally and spiritually and even physically because it has caused very late nights, but God is stronger. He gave us Armor to wear and He gave us His Word. He loves my friend and He died for Him, despite everything. If not for God’s grace, where would I be now?

I miss my kids. :(

Bill, Jenya, & Igor fixing things On the train Andriy, Pam, Dana at the mall (Julia will NOT get her picture taken) Soccer 2012 in the mallthis hill was a huge hike. Some of these cars got dents in them that night when snow dropped of the building from above them.  Soccer 2012!

Today was a great day with Luke. We had all day to do what ever we wanted and really didn't have any idea what to do. We decided the guys needed haircuts so we headed to a mall that has a restaurant (with WiFI....a must) on the 6th floor and also has a place to get haircuts. After we ate, the guys went to take care of their hair and I stayed at the restaurant and drank my little tiny cup of coffee. One thing bad about restaurants here....no refills. Not only are there no refills, but the servings are teeny tiny. McDonalds and another place we found have large coffee's though. Still. No refills. Same with the little bottles of soda, which I don't drink but everyone else does.

The bottom floor of the mall has a grocery store. We went there next and shopped for Igor's mom's birthday. Luke had a blast shopping for her. We picked out gifts for Mom and got some things for Luke and headed out. The Center looks so weird with snow. When we are here on our mission trips, we are dripping with sweat when we're walking around the Center and now I'm FREEZING! There is an arcade type set up outside, complete with a few rides. As we were walking to the car, I asked Luke what he wanted to do today. He said, honestly? The complete truth? (In Russian). I said, of course. He said he wanted to ride the bumper cars. Well, I will do just about anything for this kid, so, here I go....20 degrees, riding bumper cars outside. Our hands were freezing cold. He was driving and blowing into his hands at the same time so I threw him one of my gloves, which he actually wore for a minute or two. We played one game and then he decided he was hungry again so we walked to McDonalds. Luke drank some of my drink and didn't like it. As he was setting it down quickly, the whole thing dumped over.  My large coffee ended up on my legs and thankgoodness it had cooled off. He felt so bad, as you can imagine. I was so soaked. I quickly let him know that I don't get mad over spills. With 5 kids, I got over that a long time ago. He couldn't stop appologizing and really wanted me to go home to change. Home was 1/2 hour away so I kept telling him I was fine and didn't want to go home-I wanted to spend time with him. He finally told me, "As a member of this family, I'm ordering you to go home." It was so sweet, but I don't obey anyone very well, and didn't go home. 

Leaving McD's we headed for the car. Luke even carried my backpack for me because he was still feeling terrible. We headed to a place close to his dorm that is full of rides, arcades, games, and checked to see if there was a movie to see. No movie, so we played air hockey (thankfully inside) and then Luke played a few games before we took him home for the night. I got a half hug tonight. :)

Since it was still pretty early, we called our friend who we are sharing Jesus with and invited him for coffee. He is going to meet me for church tomorrow morning but is making it clear, in a very nice way, that he does not like church. My prayer is that he will see that people will love him and that it will be a safe place for him. My prayer is that he will come to Jesus and seek His forgiveness so that he can know all that God has for him. I want him to know the peace and joy and freedom that God offers him. The church can be who God uses to help my friend learn about God's Word and God's love. The church can be who God uses to grow him and support him and lead him in a walk that is closer to Jesus. We cannot walk the Christian life alone. We need people in our lives to hold us accountable and help us back up when we get knocked down. 

Thank you for your continued prayers for our adoption. Please keep my friend in your prayers as well. The spiritual battle is strong. The enemy has a strong hold that will be very hard to break. Nothing is too difficult for our Creator. I'm claiming Ephesians 3:20, as I have several times since beginning the adoption process. My kids keep bringing this verse to my attention. God keeps proving it true over and over again. He is able. 

This is the 2nd part of the blog update: just some words about “Luke” that I have also included in previous emails, so if you have received e-mails from me, you are already caught up on the first part. Ice skating is mentioned at the bottom if you want to skim down to the end. Just trying to help a sista (or brother) out here. :)

Luke has a very big heart and really does try to do the right thing. I watch him all the time and he is so polite and so thoughtful of others. It's amazing to me that he is like this. Walking in stores, he moves his basket out of the way of others (no one does this), he opens doors for us, says thank you, is careful around the elderly, and talks very sweetly to people on the street when they ask him directions or talk to him on the sidewalk. Last week there was an old woman walking in the freezing cold. We were walking towards her and could see that one arm was up in a sling and she had a long, heavy coat on. She walked up to Luke and said something to him. I couldn't understand her but I could tell she was talking about her arm in the sling. Luke listened to her and nodded and then buttoned her coat for her. Oh my goodness, that was so precious! She was telling him how she couldn't button her coat because of her arm so he buttoned it for her. We all just stood there and watched and smiled at each other. When he finished, he smiled at her and just kept walking like it was nothing unusual. He's precious (ok, so I said that already).

Yesterday we decided to finally go ice skating. Little did I know we would be ice skating outside! Brrrr! It really wasn’t too bad. Only our toes were freezing. He was adorable! He couldn’t really skate very well; it was only his 3rd time in his whole life to go ice skating. His money kept falling out of his pocket when he fell and when he would try to pick it up, he couldn’t because it would be frozen on to the ice. I would have to hit it with the blade of my skate to move it to him. He thought it would be funny to throw a snow ball at me. He was standing with some friends. Luke was inside the rink and the friends were outside. Hahahaha. He doesn’t know me very well. Of course he lost the snow ball fight and it didn’t help that he couldn’t catch me. We had a lot of fun but didn’t skate very long. I’m sure I’ll be feeling the soreness tomorrow a little more than the stiffness I’m feeling right now. But I have to say, I didn’t fall once! (no, not twice either!). 

I should add, to be fair, that the snow ball fight continued the rest of the night and I definitely lost. He never stopped. He was very much enjoying himself even though he will not wear gloves and his hands had to be freezing. 

Today we will go to the movies. Of course it will be in Russian but it’s an American movie and I’m just going for the popcorn; same reason I go inAmerica.

Warning: If you have been receiving e-mails, keeping you updated on things, then this is a repeat and I know you don’t want to re-read it! :) And remember, “Luke” is a pretend name. Also...this may be a bit choppy since I am taking parts from a few emails that have been going out.

I had mentioned before that there was a paper that the school needed to sign to basically give over rights for Luke to be adopted. They did not feel they had any papers telling them they had these rights and wanted some document to show them they had authority. There was no such paper so we asked for prayer. God heard our prayersand they signed the papers but added a little clause saying that they are signing it but they don't want to sign it. Bill and I signed a Petition to go to Court document. Along with that, Alyona turned in all the documents she has been working so hard on all this time. 

I’ll skip a lot of what has been going on with the courts going back and forth and just let you know that the first court, which is in the Region of the school, denied our case last Friday. Alyona then had to submit our papers to the court that is in the region of Luke’s dorm. This court is also in the same Region as the orphanages so it was looking like it would be a done deal-no problem. 

Monday night came and we got the bad news that the secretary of the judge called Alyona to tell her they were going to deny the case. Alyona spent the whole afternoon talking with the judge the next day, pleading for our case.  During all this time I was posting Facebook status updates just asking for prayer. Everyone was so awesome by sending encouraging notes or even just clicking on “like” which tells me they are praying. I sent e-mails out so they could be quickly forwarded to all the prayer warriors at my work and to my family. I asked specifically for miracles and I asked for prayer for Alyona, who was on the very front line of the battle. This is a huge spiritual battle. We will not have a court date until after 2-28. 

We’ve had some time with Luke and we’ve also been hanging out with another older boy I’ve known for 7 years. We’ve been witnessing to him and praying he will come to know the forgiving grace of Jesus. He came to church Wednesday night (he was sort of ... well... tricked into it) and he says he will come again this Sunday. 

We took the boys to a mall last week that has arcade games along with bumper cars and bowling in it. We did the bumper cars and played some games together. That was a lot of fun! Then we all went bowling. Igor, my 6'5 or 6" Ukrainian "son", had never bowled before so Bill taught him how. Luke is really starting to bond with Bill. It's so cute. Bill calls him "my son" in Russian. Last night, Luke said, "my father" in English to Bill. This was after we were trying to Skype at the restaurant. We saw Dana on line so we tried to talk with Dana and my mom but we couldn't hear each other. Luke knows Dana already but we were telling him that was his "sistra" (sister) and "Babushka" (grandmother). He was so cute! 

Igor had to take someone to the train station late that night so my friend who I’ve known for 7 years, Bill, and I had to walk Luke home from the restaurant. He has to be in his dorm by 10:00 pm and it was about 20 till and Igor was still not back, so we had to go out in the FREEEEEZING cold to walk him home. He wanted apples so we stopped at the store to buy about 10 apples. I'm sure he will have them all eaten by the time we see him today. Every time we buy him apples I think he'll have them for the week, but he eats them all that night! The walk was about 15 minutes and it was so cold. Luke and I had fun on the walk though. We sang about it being "Ochen" (very) cold and walked super fast. Then we hid behind a building and scared my friend and Bill - I almost got punched in the face. I got in trouble and was told to NEVER do that again! :)  

Here is bits and pieces of the last email update I sent out this week:

We are loving our time that we are spending with him every day and we are seeing more of his personality. He is very smart and he has very strong opinions about children's rights, understandably so  (he learns about them in his classes at "Lawyer College") and very strong feelings that the Ukrainian language being more "beautiful (a word he loves to say) than the Russian language. For every word he teaches us, he teaches it to us in both languages. :) He is doing very well on learning English. I have a translation app on my iPhone and we had a lot of fun talking into it the other night. Luke can be very silly and at times seems to have the maturity level of a 9 year old, but at other times, he seems extremely mature as he  makes very good decisions, knows what's right and wrong, and speaks very openly about his faith in Jesus. 

Saturday was an awesome day. Luke works in a group from school that does volunteer things for children. It’s a Children’s Right’s Organization. They went to an orphanage a few hours away and was going to be gone all day. Igor took Bill and me to a mall to wait at a food court (the same place we go with our team from SA Christian when we're there on mission trips). We waited for him to come back with a hand full of kids from orphanage #5 (one of the orphanages we minister to on or summer mission trips). He returned with my KOSTYA!! and 3 girls, Liza, Dasha, and Katia. Dasha and Katia are going to be adopted to Maryland. They're new parents have been in Odessa for a few weeks but left to go home. They are coming back soon so I guess they are working on their adoption process. They have 6kids. :)  A young lady, Alla, also joined us for a little while. Alla and I keep in touch on FB through out the year. She sends my letters to Kostya and then sends me letters and pictures from him. A few other boys were invited to come but couldn’t for one reason or another. We'll try to go to the orphanage to visit

them all if we can.  (Kostya doesn't smile in pictures because one of his teeth was knocked out this past summer :( )

After the kids had to leave to go back, Luke was back from his trip and also met us at the mall. He was starving so we fed him a huge dinner. He had a great time with the orphans and said they were very good kids. He video taped them and it was sad to see how many orphans were in this orphanage at this village. There must have been 60-100 little kids. So, so sad. 

Sunday morning, Bill spoke at Oleg’s church.  Bill gave a testimony of how we ended up here and how God called us to adopt by using a kid named Vlad, who I met in Ukraine several years ago. (THANK YOU VLAD!)  : ) Of course, Vlad didn't know that God was using him to break Bill's heart. you never know when God is using you. You never know when God may be using your words to speak to someone. Igor translated for Bill while he shared.

A quartet sang during the service. I leaned over and whispered to Bill, "Is is strange that I know 2 people up there?" He said I knew 3, because I had met one of them at Oleg's house a few nights before. SO funny! So God!  The one he was referring to was a young married mom--her husband runs the sound system. He loved Bill's talk and talked to him after church about how he felt that God was calling him to be a missionary. Two of the other people I knew that were singing are Facebook friends that I finally got to meet. Holly is one of them. She is a young lady who is a nurse and goes to clinics to minister to people in villages as others evangelize. She is an American and I found her on Facebook because she has pictures of Luke and his orphanage. She has a passion to begin a ministry to help girls choose life instead of abortions. The other lady is the pianist, who was also in pictures with Luke. Any pictures that I find from the orphanage, Luke is always with the adults who are there to minister. Also, at church, was my friend, Michael. I met Michael on my first trip to Ukraine. He was staying in the same place as our mission team. We all became instant friends with him and have visited with him on several trips. He and I met again at the mall last summer and he joined our team for dinner. He has been reaching out to my friend (the one I’ve known for 7 years) since this past summer as well.

We went to lunch at Oleg's house after church. An older lady, Deb, joined us, who is also American. Her husband teaches at a Bible Institute here and they also have a heart for the orphans. Holly and Michael (Misha) joined us as well. We had such an awesome day of fellowship and great food. Oleg passed around several photo albums for us to look through. I saw pictures of their wedding, his ministry, and lots and lots of pictures of Luke's orphanage. Oleg has known Luke for 5 years so there these adorable pictures of malinki Luke (little Luke). Luke was in the orchestra, and in Oleg and Lena's wedding album are pictures of the orchestra playing at his wedding. There are also pictures of the other boys from that orphanage standing there in their nice suits. Also present, were the elderly people at the Old Folks home where Oleg ministers. How cool is that? So awesome. I was so choked up seeing those hearts at his wedding. There were many pictures of Oleg and our boy together. Deb and Holly were also in some of the photos. As I looked around our table, I saw God's vessels. Vessels that He put in Luke's life all these years while he was an orphan. He had so many strong Christian people investing in his life, loving him, teaching him about God's love, showing him by being an example, hugging him, feeding him, bringing him clothes, helping him at his dorm at college, playing with him, bringing him into their homes, and just spending time with him. I just sat there, overwhelmed, and thanked God over and over for this. God cares so much for these children. So many feel forgotten but God has not forgotten them. 

In the early evening, I received a phone call from a teenage boy who graduated from orphanage #4 last summer. His name is Andrey, he's 16 years old,and my family adores him. Andrey wanted to know where I was because he wanted to see us. He caught a "taxi" and ran for 10 minutes and met us at Oleg's house. Oleg and Lena were so sweet. They immediately got all the food back out and fed this boy who they knew had to be very hungry. We had a great visit with Andrey and I know we'll be getting together a lot with him.. 

Thank you again everyone for your prayers and encouragement. And thank you again, for taking care of our family at home. We love you all!!!!