January Update

January 24, 2007

Dear Friends and Family,
It is January and I have so much to share already. I know that God is going to do BIG things in Ukraine, at Radooga, through KIBC (Kiev International Bible Church), and in my life this year. I will try to keep you all posted on all that He is doing over here, with the request that you let me know what He is doing in your worlds.
I left Tally on the 13th of January and have brought back wonderful memories. Thanks to all of you who were a part of those, ya’ll are so good to me. As always, I wish I could multiply my time and spend more with each of you.
Here, I hit the ground running and have just today found a moment to sit down and catch up on some e-mails, but the past couple weeks have been great. My first week home we had a Radooga staff retreat on which we talked about unity, being a team, and forgiving each other. Oleg Magdych said that “When I hurt you, and if we are going to work together there are going to be times when I hurt you, I need you to come to me and talk to me about it; I need you to forgive me and I promise to do the same for you. If we fail to communicate and to forgive then our team will be weak, but when we lean to talk to each other and to forgive each other and to work together, then we will be able to do a lot more than we think we can.” We also spent time planning our conferences which will be focused on Missions this year, which as I’m sure you can imagine, is very exciting for me. We want to help youth in Ukraine to not just be excited about what they can do to change their nation but also what they can be doing to help change their world. I’ll let you know more about conferences as they get closer. :o)
The day after we returned from the retreat, Veronica and I went to another city in Ukraine called Zaporizhzhia to help a guy named Ronnie visit a couple of orphanages there. Several people I know are trying to adopt children from Zaporizhzhia, but this was my first visit to any of the orphanages there. It was very hard for me to be there and to know all the hardships of adopting children in Ukraine. It broke my heart to watch the children walk the hallways, have lunch, go to classes, do all the things they do everyday. It broke my heart to hug them and know that that was all I could do. I have a new respect for people like Ronnie, like Mark and Jenn, like the Hope for Orphans of the Word program in Birmingham. Thank you guys. Thank you more than I know how to express in words for fighting for these kids; for fighting to give them hope and trying your very best to make that hope a reality. I saw the huge undertaking that that is and my prayers are with you now even more than they were before last week. And I do plead with you, friends and family, to pray for the adoption system in Ukraine, pray for people who are struggling to adopt children, and pray especially for the children who, more than anything, need to know Love.
Finally, I am home. One of my roommates just brought me some hot tea and asked me what I was doing. When I told her that I was writing you, she asked me to tell you “thank you for sharing Lori with us. We missed her while she was gone and are very glad that she is home.” So, yes, thank you for loving me enough to let me be here and helping me and encouraging me and supporting me and all of the wonderful things that you do for me!!! I love you all!

Lori
Habakkuk 1:5
“Look to the nations and watch. And be utterly amazed for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told.”