Praise God, Our Paperwork Was Submitted to the SDA!

Praise God! Our paperwork was submitted today to the SDA for a court date. We should hear something on Monday when we will have a court date. Sasha said it could be on Friday but he will try to get it expedited. Whew, one step closer.

Today has been a muggy cold day. James does not feel well and I woke up with a bad headache so we took the morning to rest. We went to see the boys this afternoon. Since it was so cold we did not go outside. We stayed inside and watched Max Lucado's Buzby. Luke is very interested in videos but Micah goes stir crazy when he has to stay inside. Needless to say he kept getting into trouble.

We took them some seedless grapes today and they ate all of them. We are so happy our boys love fruit. I think we will need to plant some fruit trees since they love it so much.

Rick and Melissa came to visit their kids while we were there. Everything seems to be moving right along and they went today to get everything notarized. Please continue to pray for them.

Tomorrow the weather may be even cooler than today and possible rain so pray that we have a good day inside with the boys and that Micah will behave himself.

Uncle Mark- If you are reading this please stay safe from the hurricane.

Pam- I got the pictures of Jake. I cannot believe how he has grown. Give him a 5 month old kiss from his Aunt Penny. We love you guys!

Pastor- please have special prayer for us Sunday. Please pray for our court date and our strength. We are very homesick but we are so thankful for where God has brought us. We love and miss you and Kathy.

Love to all our friends and family,

Penny, James, Luke and Micah

One Day Closer

Hello Everyone,

Well to update you on our progress the paperwork arrived and was taken to the Inspector's office. We were hoping the Inspector would sign yesterday but she did not. We were expecting her to sign today but she did not. Natalya called this afternoon and they told her it would be signed by 12pm tomorrow. Needless to say we were a little disappointed but Natalya will pick it up tomorrow and head straight to the SDA office in Kiev and submit everything for a court date. She said we could have one as early as Friday. We are praying to get one sooner. After the court approves everything we have to wait 10 more days then on the 11th day we can pick up our boys. We will have to get their birth certificates, passports and medical exams. As soon as we get the passports we can come home. We are looking at being here another 3 weeks at least.

Please continue to pray for us. We are extremely homesick and miss our family and friends. I have to admit the toughest part of this is being away from home. Also, pray for James. He has a sinus infection and has felt pretty rough today. We went to a local pharmacy and got him some medicine. The security guard watched James closely. You know us crazy Americans we come all the way from the states to steal medicine. Their pharmacies are very clean and everything is behind the counter or locked up behind glass cases.

The weather is changing and it continues to get colder. I think tonight's low is 39. Tomorrow the high is around 59. All I brought was a denim jacket so I hope I don't get too cold.

This morning we spent time just with Luke. Micah was in music class. We played and threw the ball. He started getting annoyed with me sticking the camera in his face so he started making funny faces. Micah came out later and they chased each other. We took them nectarines and they ate the whole thing. They loved them.

The little girl in the picture with Micah is in his class. She is being adopted by one of the Italian families. She calls me Mama and sits with me most of the time.

I have to tell you we have a meal that we get served a lot. It is a round meat patty and you never know what is in it or what type of meat (pork, chicken or beef?) The other night we arrived for dinner and Rick's had a fly in it. The fly was dead. Even the fly could not handle the mystery meat. Don't get me wrong sometimes it is good but most of the time it gives you real bad indigestion.

Since we gave you pictures of the sunrise we thought we would give you pictures of the moon. We have a beautiful view here.

Ginger- give our love to Eli and Jagz. Mommy and Daddy miss them very much. I'm glad Eli is doing better. Tell him to hold on and Mommy will be home soon.

FWC- We miss everyone and miss church. Thanks for your prayers.

Moms- we love you and thanks for your words of encouragement

By the way, Bart Simpson has gone to the dogs. Notice the picture of the puppy chewing on a Bart Simpson doll.

Until the next groundhog day- God Bless

Penny, James, Luke and Micah

God is still in the Healing Business!!

Hello,

Well we start off showing you a picture of our Moms working hard to get our house ready for the boys. Just kidding. These women are members of the Catholic Church outside our hotel and they were cutting firewood and working around the church today.

We want to share some wonderful news. We shared a prayer request for our friends Rick and Melissa yesterday. They gave me permission to fill you in on their story as a testimony of how great our God is. They had some concerns about the little boy Vysa and they shared health information with a Dr back in the states. Based on the information that they were able to give this Dr, he told them that he felt strongly that Vysa has Muscular Dystrophy. This was very devastating news to them.

They went through a lot of soul searching, much prayer and a whole lot of tears. After speaking with their facilitator they were able to get a Dr from Kiev to come today. We went to the orphanage this afternoon with Melissa and Rick. Their facilitator and the Dr were there waiting on them. The Dr studied in America and spoke excellent English. He is a pediatrician. They took Vysa upstairs and he examined him. He put him thru some extensive motor skills and other tests. The Dr concluded after his examination and after going thru the medical records that it is only a birth defect that he received when he was born. The medical records were full of documentation since his birth. His scapula was damaged and his right arm was paralyzed. Later they found out both arms were damaged.Also, he told them he is very smart and considering he has been in an orphanage for 2 years he is on the level of a 4 1/2 year old. The good news is that his motor skills have continued to improve since birth so not only does he not have muscular dystrophy but his condition is improving. We have all been crying and rejoicing. God is so good and for any of you that wondered; He is still in the healing business.

James got up early this morning and sat out on the balcony praying for Vysa and watching the sunrise. It was beautiful. Here are just a few pictures he was able to take. It was hard to choose which ones to post.

Now for our great news, the Meir signed!!! Natalya will be going in the morning to pick up the paperwork and come here to speak with the Director of the orphanage and go to the Inspector's office. She said if inspector is there and signs she will go to the SDA tomorrow as long as there is time. We realized that our delay may have been so we could be here with Rick and Melissa to be a support for them through this trial.

For any of you considering international adoption or waiting to get a referral; our best advice to you is be strong in your faith. Know who you are in the Lord. You will go thru trials and to get thru those trials you need to have a stong belief in Jesus Christ, a strong prayer life and claim the Word of God. Also, have a wonderful support system at home. Without any of this it would have been very tough to be half way around the world and do it on our own.

Enjoy the pictures of the boys. They play so well together and get alog great. If you notice they are gaining a little weight. It is getting hard for me to lift them.

Yesterday the kids wanted to pick the grapes and eat them. We think they are muscadines. They kept feeding the sour ones to us.

The puppy is getting better everyday. Her eye is just about cleared up and her nose is cold and wet. I bet ya'll didn't know James was a veternarian. ha ha

Everytime we feed the boys we have them open their mouth so we can make sure they swallowed the previous bite. That is why you see a picture of me and them with their mouths open. They are like squirrels storing up for the winter. They seem to think they have to eat everything in one bite. They love fruit, yogurt, ice cream, marshmellows, cereal and candy.

Don't you just love the shirt Micah has on? Today he looked like he was headed to Woodstock. He was groovy!

Today we were approached by a drunk. After we told him we did not speak Russian it didn't matter because we don't think he was either. He had some liquid courage. The manager came out and told him to go on. We were thankful. We would have hated for James to take him down with his Swiss army knife. haha

Thank you to everyone for your prayers. Please remember our other friends the McMullins when you pray tonight. Please pray for the health of the child they will visit tomorrow.

Jon- thank you for your comments. It touched our hearts so much. We both cried. Thanks for the song. We can't wait for the boys to all meet. Can you imagine what Christmas will be like? Toys Everywhere! War Eagle!

We love you all,

Penny, James, Luke and Micah

God's Promises Are True

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday the boys found an old airplane riding toy and they played on it the entire time. They would take turns pushing each other. We have most of it on video. Micah loves it and so does Luke. Rick and Melissa's little boy Visa (that's a long i)also loved riding on it. The boys are very resourceful when it comes to finding things to play with.

We share cab rides and eat all our meals with Rick and Melissa. We have included some pictures of them and their little girl Alona (she's 6) and Visa (he's 5). We have really been blessed being here with them. We share our faith, fun times, and our groundhog days.

Please keep them in your prayers. They got some news tonight about Visa's health. We serve a great God and know that He is our healer. He is a precious little boy as you can see and we know God has great things in store for him.

We found out that the Meir did not sign our paperwork today. He should sign tomorrow when they have their weekly meeting. Natalya will go there and pick up the paperwork then drive back here to Bila Tservka and have the Inspector sign. Once that is done she can take it back to Kiev and submit to SDA for a court date. They said we could get one within 3-5 days so we are praying we have one by Friday.

Please pray for our finances. All the trips that Natalya has made to the other region has cost us a lot of money that we did not count on. We know God will take care of everything so we are not worried.

Tonight we really got into some deep prayer and we want to share with you the vision God gave James and the word He gave me. James saw a vision of a triangle and the Trinity is at the top, the boys are at the lower left corner and we are at the right corner. There is all kinds of junk and negativity going thru the the triangle getting purified. There is gold on the inside of the triangle and blue all around the outside.

We looked up blue and it is the heavens and pure. We looked up gold and it took me to Psalms 19:1-14. Its an awesome chapter.

As I prayed the word that God gave me was "My children I love you. I wrap my arms around you. I envelop you with My love. My Grace I pour out on you. Earthly powers cannot stop this. This is my redeeming love. I Love you saith the Lord".

We know God has put us here for a purpose and we know that some of the delays we have had are for a reason. When Rick came and told us about Visa we knew we are here to help support them and lift them up.

James just spoke to Sasha on the phone and he said the Meir should sign tomorrow and he has called the SDA to expedite our court date due to all the delays. Please pray they will understand and this will happen.

There is a picture of me with 3 little girls. The one closest to me is Clover. She is the little girl I told you about that brought us the cake. The other 2 are her friends. They saw us coming out to get in a taxi and were afraid we were leaving to go back to the states. I got permission to take a picture. We also passed them today and they were grinning and waving. They live nearby to our hotel.

One of the things we are trying to do is really cut back on eating. Rick is a personal trainer and he has really encouraged us to get healthier for our kids and our future grandkids. They have really been an encouragement for us.

This weekend will be much cooler due to the rain coming in. We are expecting a high of about 59 on Saturday. Yeah!!

The picture of the boys on the slide staring is when a macheena (car) went by. They love cars and planes. The puppy's eye is getting better (we think).

We love you all- please send comments we love reading them.

Penny, James, Luke and Micah