New Friends, New Faces and the Love of God

Hello Everyone,

Let me say, We've never been so excited as we were today just to be able to sit down at a table and carry on a conversation in English. We have 2 new friends, Rick and Melissa. They are from Ohio and are adopting from the same orphanage. I forgot to get permission to post pictures of them so hopefully tomorrow I can post those. They are both wonderful Christians. James and Rick talked about guns today but mostly sharing our faith journey with one another.

We are able to share cab rides with them which is helping with the cost. A cab ride to and from the orphanage is $10 and we do that twice a day. It can be more if we go to the bank or market. We also sit at the same table in the dining hall. We know God placed us together to be here for one another. Please remember to pray for them when you pray for us. They have a journey ahead of them. They are also adopting the brother to the other 2 children and he is in an orphanage about 30 miles from here.

When we arrived at the orphanage this morning we were unable to get anyone to come to the front door so we walked around to the back. We spotted several squirrels in the trees. All the squirrels here are red. When we arrived to the back door Micah came busting out the door. His teacher said he saw us thru the window and said "Mama, Papa!".

I must say, James and I are getting nice farmers tans. We are outside so much with the boys. Today the boys were getting a little bored with their normal toys. There is a walnut tree that hangs over the playground. They like to climb up ond pull the walnuts out of the tree then stomp on them and eat them. They are not very tasty right now because they are not ripe.

The boys worked on the tricycle again today. We are down to 1 since the other is now torn up. They only have 2 tricycles in this entire orphanage. When they got bored with fixing the tricycle they showed us another talent we had not seen yet. They are both painters. We looked on the side of the little house and Micah had made some marks with a stick. We wondered how he was doing this and then we saw him spit on the stick and put it in the dirt. He made his own paint. They are very clever.

We went back this afternoon and spent time with Melissa, Rick and their 2 children. As usual Micah started showing off. He loves the attention. On the other hand, Luke was sharing his Cheerios and playing with the other children.

The little puppy you see in the pictures always comes around and wants to play. The boys fed him some of their cheerios. He has a bad eye infection. As you all know, James is so tenderhearted when it comes to animals. He got a baby wipe and cleaned the puppy's eye and put some triple antibiotic ointment in it. You would have thought he had give the puppy a big old bone.

After we loved on our boys we came back and had dinner with Rick and Melissa. Tonight was surprise meat and rice. We had a nice conversation and then walked down to the river. As we got closer, there were 3 little girls trying to get their bikes thru the gate. Rick offered to pick up their bikes and put them over the gate. One little girl spoke a little bit of English. We spoke with them and they let us know they lived nearby. They went on and played by the river. James decided to give them all a $1 bill. At first they would not take it but then decided to. They said thank you and then before you knew it they had picked some flowers for us. They were actually chai plants (tea). I explained to her I would save it and put it in my scrapbook. Her name is Clover. She is 13 and the other 2 girls were 9.

I talked with them and they love disney animation. They like the Spice girls and Hannah Montana. We said good-bye and shook their hands. We went back to our room to retire for the night then we heard a knock on our door. It was Clover and she had brought us a small cake. She called it bisquit. It touched are hearts so much. I hope we get to see them again so we can take a picture of them.

Jon- update me on the Auburn game. War Eagle!

Mom- Luke really enjoys taling to his Meme on the phone. Kyle was so sweet. Tell him the boys say Hi.

Love to everyone- Penny, James and the Holcombe boys

Camo Shoes

Good Afternoon,

This morning we took the boys their new shoes so they could try them on. They both wear the same size and we got them camouflage tennis shoes. They absolutely loved them. Natalya explained that those were their new shoes to wear home. they understood and put their old shoes back on. It's amazing that something as simple as a pair of $7.00 tennis shoes could make them so happy.

We have more pictures of Micah because yesterday Luke's group went on another field trip. The way he explained it to Natalya is that he went to a Sunday School class. He said they did not get to play.

Micah loves roughing it up with Papa. He has shown signs of many talents. We are not sure if he will be a boxer, linebacker, mechanic (see pictures of him fixing the tricycle), musician or a comedian. Most likely he'll end up being a preacher.

There are several families adopting from our orphanage. 2 are from Italy and today we found out that another American couple will be arriving tonight. They will be staying in the same hotel with us. Thank goodness we will have someone to speak English with besides each other. Don't get me wrong, we are not tired of each other but when you are the only ones not speaking the language it can be tough.

We got some good news today. We have been waiting on some paperwork to be signed by the Meir in the region where Micah was born. I'm not sure if Meir is another word for Mayor or judge but he finally decided to stop delaying and sign the paperwork. We are praying that Natalya can pick up the paperwork on Monday; bring it back here for the inspector to sign and then take back to Kiev. We are praying to have a court date by next Friday. If so, that would put us being here about another 2-3 weeks. We are so ready to get our boys and go home.

Please continue to pray that our court date will be soon and that this Meir signs everything and has it ready by Monday.

Ginger - thanks for the comments about our furry babies. When we read about you and Jagz it made us laugh. Give my Eli some extra loving from his Mommy.

Jon, Pam and Baby Jake we love and miss you too! War Eagle!!!

Chris, Karen, Katey and Kyle- we love and miss you too! Tell Kyle hello from his Friend!

Hello to everyone at work!

Kathy- tell Caleb we can't wait for the boys to meet him too. I know they will become great friends.

Pastor- thanks for your call last night. You always lift our spirits. God answered our prayer today!! To Him be the Glory great things He hath done!!

FWC Family- Keep praying! We love and miss you!

Mitch- thanks for your comment. James has videoed the cab ride if you would like to view the crazy driving over here.

Sandboxes and Tennis Balls, Oh what a blessing!

These are some pics around the castle of both of the Holcombe boys playing. But the big thing today was the sand box and the tennis balls. We went in a Shell station to buy them some icecream and at the counter was a bag of sandbox toys. We bought them and took them to the orphanage for the boys. They loved them. Almost as much as Penny. Ha Ha. When we were getting close to leaving I pulled out some tennis balls and started bouncing them off the wall and before I knew it Luke and Micah got into it and were having so much fun they didnt want to let us leave at all. We love them sooooooo very much. We always hate to leave them. But tomorrow comes and where back for another round. (from James aka Papa Bear)


There are some pictures of Micah of him pouting after he got in trouble. We don't even remember the reason he got in trouble. After he sits and pouts for a few minutes he is allowed to get back up and play and he forgets all about it.

The past few days have really been testing our faith. A committee had to come to the orphanage today and they are trying to get all the paperwork straightened out so we can go through with the adoption process and get a court date. Everyone is in our favor it's just a lot of red tape you have to go thru. They did bring gifts for the boys and they loved the chocolate.

I can say one thing, if we thought our faith was strong before it has more than doubled since we have been here. The constant waiting and no concrete answers really test not only your faith but your also your patience. Both of us continue to rely on God and know that He is our strength.

Linda Maddox- Thank you for your encouraging words in your email yesterday. It really helped both of us get thru the day.

There is another couple here from Texas and in their blog they write about another Groundhog Day. That exactly what it is like. The movie "Groundhog Day". Our routine does not seem to change very much. We get up, get ready, eat, go visit with the boys (our favorite thing), come back to hotel, eat, take a nap or blog, go back to orphanage, come back to hotel, eat, read or play rummy, go to bed and then do it all over again.

They are a lot like their Poppy. They love ice cream. I didn't get to eat much of mine after they ate theirs and took bites from mine.

There is another group of kids that came to stay at our hotel yesterday. We are having to listen to the same songs every night. All kids here love to do the chicken dance and a song called chocalatte. Oh and the Hokey Pokey. We sing these songs in our sleep.

We bought the boys some new sand toys and they had fun playing in the sand. We also took 2 tennis balls and James showed them how to bounce them against the wall. Luke looks like he will be a pitcher. He has a strong arm. Micah needs a little more coordination. We would clap and say "Yeah!". He would get so excited and giggle. He was so proud. (from Penny aka Mama Bear)

Until tomorrow, keep praying and thanking God for all He has done and will do.