Holy, Holy, Holy!

Hello to everyone. This is James again. Penny let me on here again. Hee! Hee!
We sure do miss all of you. I guess you all heard about our court date. All Glory to God for it. It was wonderful and we now are the parents of two great boys. I guess you can call them the Holcombe boys. : ) I love them sooooooo much. They love to wrestle with me and now Penny even gets in on it. Today was a great day. We went to the orphanage this afternoon. But before we went there we went to a pharmacy for some antibiotics, nasal spray, and their brand of TheraFlu. Believe it or not antibiotics are only about a dollar here and they are sold over the counter. We had a guy in their with us that was visiting his parents in Ukraine and is from Ukraine himself and now lives in Russia. He helped us interpret what we needed to the lady at the pharmacy. Rick and Melissa were with us and told him that his English was great and that was all it took. He then tried to talk our ears off. It was ok until he followed us out to the taxi and started to tell us a dirty joke. We all jumped in the taxi and took off. Wew. Then we went from there to a toy store and returned a toy that didn't work to them and they were so nice, I think, cause they were speaking Ukraine and they could have been calling us whatever, but at least they were smiling and did let us exchange the toy. We exchanged it for a whole bag of army men (USA army men, Go red, white, and blue!!) I keep telling Penny when they mess with us here and look at us funny that I may have to call in a air strike. LOL. Just kidding of course. The only jet I want to see is a 747 headed back to Birmingham. Well, after the toy store we went on to the orphanage. As you can see by the pics the boys were just sitting down to eat in each of their rooms. Luke wanted to get up and come with us but they made him eat first and as you can see, he was none too happy. But they did finish and came together with us in a small room we have to play in due to the weather. Yes, it is still cold and rainy here. Its been a while since we have been able to go outside and the boys are going stir crazy along with us. But we have had great time to bond with them and also with the other boys and girls at the orphanage. They are such a blessing. Penny and I both continuously pray over them that they get a good home soon also. I wish we could bring them all home. Its going to be real hard to leave them in a little over a week knowing I will never seen them again. I love them all. We share cookies and goodies of all kinds with them on a regular basis. You would think that you gave them the world when you give them one piece of candy. They are sooooo appreciative and so eager to have someone love them, if only for a minute. They lots of times have called us mama and papa. It tears us up and makes us cry. They are so precious. We had a good time with the boys today. They loved the army men and the ball we brought them. But I still think most of all they like to use mama and papa for wrestling partners. After leaving the orphanage we where on the way back to the hotel (where we have called home for the last 5 weeks) when Tola our favorite cab driver took a different road and took us to a Catholic monastery with the most beautiful church I have ever seen. Tola took us inside and he got some candles and before we could get far a nun came up to Penny and Melissa and made them put on a head covering and a skirt. They were so cute. We couldn't take pics inside. They made us put up our cameras, but trust me, it was beautiful. So many painting on the walls and on the ceilings of Jesus, Mary, and St. Nicholas. It was breath taking. I'm not Catholic but I really did feel the presence of the Lord in that place. The nuns were singing and it was great. At 6 pm Tola called us over and had us light a candle and place it among many others. I don't know what it meant, but on an individual basis I can say that to Penny and I we were lighting a candle to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Well I have to go now, but remember "To be Christian is to be Christ-like." We are to imitate our Lord and not the world that is of the devil. Our home is truly were our heart is. So please if you don't have Jesus in your heart, ask him in. Then your home will be Heaven when you leave this earth (which could be in the next minute) instead of and eternity of torment in Hell. We love you all. Keep us in your prayers. Thanks to all that have emailed us. You really have keep our spirits up high and it gives us something to look forward to everyday. Martha Wallace, we love you so much. You have emailed us almost everyday with encouragment and prayer. Thank you. Sister Cathy keep Pastor straight and I know you went through a lot to get him to finally understand how to blog. LOL. We love both of the new grandmas so very much. Thanks for all you have done. We love you all and miss you very much.

James, Penny, Luke, and Micah (The Holcombe Family in Ukraine)