A Week of Celebration

Exactly one week ago tonight, I was one of the guest of honor at the Children's Home for International Women's Day. The children danced, sang, and recited poetry. It was absolutely beautiful. These kids are so amazingly talented that it astounds me.

After the program I was invited to celebrate with the teachers in the orphanage at a banquet. You would think by now that I would have learned what a celebration meal is like. There was SO much food--and it just kept coming. (Now, mind you, before I went to the orphanage, I celebrated Women's Day with my fellow teachers at Vineyard Christian School. We had salads, shashlik, lavash, sauces, and potatoes. I was stuffed!) The food kept coming, and culturally, I was expected to keep sampling it. It was great food, but I was so full!!!! They kept putting stuff on my plate... stuff I usually don't eat--like liver pate', mushroom/garlic/onion sandwiches. I lived to tell about it, though!

The food was great, but the companionship was even greater. I felt so honored to sit around the table with these wonderful women that care for the abandoned children everyday. I loved laughing with them, listening to their banter (even in Ukrainian), and hearing them sing traditional folk songs. What a gift to be included! Their hearts are so precious.


On Monday, I went back to the orphanage to talk with the director about the children dancing at my school this week. While I was there, I had the most precious opportunity to share my Christian beliefs with the accountant of the home. She has been so friendly to me every time I have come and on Monday was full of questions. I don't know where it will lead, but seeds were planted.

Pray for my ministry with these ladies and the children of the home. There are about 45 kids there now... ages 2-17. The director has been so good to let me come and go as I wish. She even let me take three of the girls out today to dance at my school and then out to eat. More on that later.

(On a side note, if you are at all interested in helping fund House of Hope--a foster home I hope to start--please contact me. I need 1000 people that will give a tax deductible gift of $300. Pray for me as I wait on God's storehouse to open!!!!)

For now.... I am.....

In His Hope!

Happy Birthday Ukrainian Style

Well, it is that time of the year again. I just celebrated living another year. Every year, I start off February saying that I don't want to have a party this year; and every year..... I end up having more than one. I have learned that it doesn't matter whether I want to celebrate getting a year older. There are people that want to celebrate it anyway. I am not sure that it isn't just to rub it in that I am getting OLD-er, or if they are really happy that I made it another year. Whatever the case, if I don't plan something.... it will happen anyway... like spontaneous combustion. If you know me very well, you know that I would rather have a plan than to be caught off-guard.


Since my birthday landed on a Wednesday, I thought I had won a reprive until the weekend. Nothing doing...! The school planned a "Day of Knowledge" celebration to acknowledge the first graders completing their first text book and I had to be at school. Now mind you, Wednesday is my day off and I had visions of sleeping until noon and then lazying around in my Eeyore pj's for several more hours. Now, I had to not only get up early, but shower and dress. UGH!!!! As I entered the hall for the celebration, the MC for the day announced that the day was special for another reason. All the students and teachers yelled out Happy Birthday and began singing the birthday song in English. I guess it was worth waking up early for after all.

Wednesday is also my day to teach English at the Children's Home. So I planned a party for that time. Cake (shaped like a cute little chick), chips, candy, and drinks. It was a lot of fun and the kids were SO polite. I had to make them eat.... but once they started... well that is a different story. At the end, one of the girls (Lena) stood up and read a card she had made for me IN ENGLISH. Then she turned to me and said "I love you" and kissed me. WOW!!!!! This was the best birthday present ever. Such unhindered love and affection coming from a child who was abandoned and had NO family to ever visit her.

That wasn't all. Dinner out with friends. Another party with our adult English class. A full-fledged Ukrainian celebration with all the food on Saturday for 12 people. And... a Shrimp Po-boy lunch with a friend on Sunday.

Isn't life great? I am glad that God has me here and has given me such wonderful friends to be apart of my life. I just pray that in some small way I can bring glory to Him by bringing joy to these friends. All-in-all... this was a great birthday. I can't wait to see what next year brings!!!!