The St. Petersburg boys have left; and so has my toothbrush?

Dennis walked into the kitchen the other day and said “we’re like the Radisson.” I can only assume he means because we have had non-stop people staying with us since I got home at the end of December— it’s like camp year round. “I think we’re better,” I told him, referring to the fact that Momma Olya and Oksana provide unbelievable cooking and cleaning services, not to mention ‘tea time’ and friendship. I love that my Ukrainian family is so hospitable and that their heart is to serve and bless others; it’s a huge blessing to me ;o)

The most recent of our guests to come and go were three teenage boys from St. Petersburg (Russia, not Florida). They’re dad is a pastor and he brought a team to meet with some of the leaders of Hillsong Kiev; and his boys, having not been to Ukraine before came too. They stayed with us and it was fun to spend time with them and listen to them laugh at the differences in the Ukrainian and Russian languages. I’m so used to being surrounded by people who speak both. I forget that just because a person speaks Russian doesn’t necessarily mean they speak Ukrainian. We even got to celebrate one of the boys, Timothy’s, birthday. Fun times!

The morning after they left, had breakfast and then went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and my toothbrush was missing. Hmmmm….I thought to myself. Did someone accidentally grab my toothbrush in their rush to throw their stuff together that morning or had they been using it all along? Are they aware that they are using someone else’s toothbrush? We may never know. (and may not want to…)

I have been using my travel toothbrush, having not yet been to the magazine to purchase a new one.

However, upon recounting this story to the Magdych family last night Oksana jumps up and Magdych announces that her brother is working for a company that makes toothbrushes. Oksana comes back with a green one and Magdych says “do you like green? We have other colors.” Green is good. Yay! For my new toothbrush!



Thanks Magdychi, you are my heroes yet again!

Awesome Present :o)

I got this super great package in the mail the other day from one of our summer staff girls.



Pretty much the best ever.

Spaciba, Allison :o)

He sees. He hears. He loves. He saves.

Hearing stories of Street Kids (both first hand and through friends who have been involved in such ministries) and spending time with Mark and Jenn at the orphanage and hearing some of these kids stories has been a real struggle of faith for me for the past year or so. Earlier this winter I blogged about being outside in the freezing weather waiting for a marshrootka and having my heart break thinking—and trying not to think—about the children who have no home to go to.

I cannot express the joy to you that I have felt as I have had the privilege of meeting recently adopted Chris Underwood and getting to know Kevin and John (Mark and Jenn’s Kiev boys). I am watching God build families and it is so utterly amazing that I cannot do it justice with words. Hopelessness traded for hope. God doing God things leaves me stunned. But as my eyes float around the orphanage to the other children, I can’t help but question my Father, “Daddy, what about them?”

The closer the proximity to a problem, the more the heart is affected by it, I know. And yet, something (or perhaps Someone) inside me drives me to involve myself more and more though something else argues that I could never do enough, never love them all. And somehow, kind of like in that starfish story, I know that I can love this one. And this one. And this one. And maybe it will matter to these. And I can trust the Father to send others to adopt, others to pray, others to love.

This week I reread a book called Vienna Prelude. It is a fiction novel about a young girl during WWII who helped get Jewish children to safety. There is a point in the novel where she too wonders about the mercy of God as she sees innocent people—His people—suffer. And often remember the phrase from a song “what God has done is rightly done” she thinks to herself “God has seen the desperate children and the evil darkness that would cover the earth. And He had provided some hope, a few small shimmering candles that illuminated a narrow path to safety. In that instant she felt like weeping with relief. None of this was up to her. She had only to make herself available and God would do what must be rightly done.”

Thank you, Mark and Jenn. Emily. Michelle. Child Rescue. Dennis. The Hall’s. Reach Orphans With Hope. Max. And all the other lights that God is using to pierce the darkness on the streets and in the orphanages in Ukraine.

Thank you, Alan, for your sermon this morning on the infinity of the God we serve. When I (sort of—because that’s as far as I ever get) begin to grasp how big He is, it becomes easier for me to let go, trust Him and step in faith. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. God, what do You want me to do?