Partying With The Sabaka's Today and The Kids Tomorrow

Another day down and 1 more days to go. We had a good-bye party for the dogs at the orphanage today. All 3 came over to the playground we were on and what started with throwing a few bagel bites to the puppy and Rin Tin Tin brought out the other dog. The kids threw them all the bagel bites and then started giving them cereal. Before you knew it, the bag broke and cereal was everywhere. The dogs loved it! Melissa and Rick joined us with Vysa and Alona. They started feeding the dogs bread. Luke is very frightened of dogs so it was a chance for us to get him closer to them and let him feed them. We finally got more smiles than tears out of him. These orphan animals have been comfort to us while visiting with our boys everyday.

Micah was his usual self today. He has had a runny nose so I think he is a little more irritable than usual. We finally got all the kids running and sliding so he joined in. It's always difficult when you give them something and then have to take it back and try explaining you will bring it the next day. All we have to do with Luke is point to his hat and say zatra (tomorrow) and he understands. With Micah it's a little tougher getting him to agree.The weather was beautiful and we had a good day playing outside for what may be the last time.

Before we got to the orphanage we had Tola take us to the local toy store to pick up some toys to leave at the orphanage tomorrow. Oh, by the way Tola got a new hair-do. He had all of his hair shaved off. He said he went to get a haircut and they cut it too short so he got it buzzed off. We started calling him "Richard". Rick's full name is Richard and that is what he calls him. We had a really good laugh. Tola gave us all an ink pens from the Pro Credit Bank here in Bila Tservka so we would have something from Ukraine. He is so sweet. Also, when he picked us up from the orphanage he brought us a bag of walnuts from his farm. We plan on putting them in a bowl at Christmas.

Tola took us to the open market so we could get some cookies and juice for the party we will have for the kids tomorrow. We had to go to 2 different stands to get the juice and we found 1 box of the cookies we wanted but had to go from vendor to vendor looking for another box. The cookies are decorated really pretty and are very popular. While we were walking and looking the lady we bought the 1st box from came and let me know she found another box for us. That's the 2nd time something like that has happened there. That's God's favor!! While we were paying for them a man walked up and told the woman he wanted a box of them (pointing at mine). James said let's get out of here before he tries to get our cookies. I think he was going to offer to buy them from us. All in all everything cost us about 15.00 USD to throw the party. That's pretty cheap.

While we were cookie shopping Tola took Rick and Melissa to buy sunflower seeds. They roast the seeds and sell them in the market. You can sample the different ones. I could not tell a difference in the flavor except they have no salt. He also took Rick into one of the places that sells meat. He got Rick to try silo. This is pork fat but is a delicacy here in Ukraine. We did not get to witness this so when we got back in the taxi Tola said Rick silo and then he made a funny face and started laughing. We just all cracked up.

This was our last time to get to ride with Tola. I think we will miss him the most. He is a very sweet, kind and gentle man. James gave him a $1.00 bill and he loved it. He understood that we will be going back to Kiev on Friday so we said our good-byes and gave hugs. Sorry ladies, Tola is not single. He is married and has 2 grandchildren. He is 56 years old. Bila Tservka is a better place with Tola in it.

We bought 6 balls and 24 plastic Slinky's. We also brought some stuffed animals with us to give out. We will be leaving some of the toys we bought the boys like the bag of army men and the sand toys.

Tomorrow will be a bittersweet day. We can't wait to get our boys and get to Kiev but also we will miss all the little faces we see everyday. Their smiles, the look in their precious eyes and hearing them all call us Mama and Papa will forever be in our memories. We plan on praying for each and everyone of them as we go around the room and give out hugs tomorrow. Rick and Melissa will be there and they plan on taking pictures and running the video camera for us. Thanks guys for all your help! We will never forget the place that raised our children for 2 years.

We will blog tomorrow night and let everyone know how it went. Keep us in your prayers as you are all in ours.

Mom's it's getting closer and we can't wait to see your faces.

In His Love,

Penny, James, Luke and Micah

3 Days and Counting

3 days and counting! We cannot wait to pick up our boys on Friday. The closer it gets the more excited we are. Today we started going thru our suitcases and getting things organized to pack. We have 2 more nights of listening to "Chocalatte", "Chicken Dance" and "Hokey Pokey". We can't wait to get back to Kiev for a change of scenery. Although we have very much appreciated having 3 square meals a day, we will be able to cook our own meals at the apartment in Kiev. (no mystery meat) I'm already wondering what will the boys like. Will they eat Mac and cheese like most kids? That will be the things we will figure out once they are finally with us. I'm sure we will make a run to McDonald's and TGIFriday's when we get to Kiev.

We picked out the clothes we will be taking with us when we pick them up. We also took their coats we bought today and let them try them on. We let Luke pick his out first and it fit him perfect. Micah liked his but the sleeves were a little short. Oh well, it will do for the couple of days that he will need it. The weather has been much nicer the past few days. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be around 64.

We are planning a party for both Micah and Luke's group. We are going to go to the outdoor market to get cookies that are decorated real pretty with icing. We will also take juice. We were going to get a cake but we're unsure if it will have alcohol in it so we don't want to take any chances. We brought stuffed animals with us and are planning on going to the toy store to get some balls to give out to the kids on Thursday.

Kathy- By the way, I am 100% better. I hope you got to eat a bite of breakfast. Thank you and everyone for all your prayers.

Martha- Thank you again for your daily comments. They mean so much to us.

Good news about the other couple here from Alabama. They will have their court date on Thursday at 1pm. Praise God!! Thanks for all your prayers!!

Notice the pic of our orphan puppy. She has grown so much since we have been here. James fed her some marshmallows today while we were waiting on a taxi. There are no leash laws here and stray dogs run around everywhere. I tried to take a picture of some of the beautiful flowers here but I think I got a little too close.

We are going on 3 days with no hot water. We have to heat up water in an electric pot and take sponge baths right now. Calgon take me away!!!

Well, it's about 11 pm here so time for us to get to bed.

In His Love,

Penny, James, Luke and Micah

Howdy from Ukraine. This is your ol' buddy James bloggin again on this here plastic contraption. I shoooooo is bored and home sick. You might be a redneck in Ukraine if your soooo bored that you make up words and dance around the room singing them and your wife looks at you and says, "Have you lost your mind?" I haven't lost it yet, but my mind does stay either on Heaven and Jesus or just good ol' Alabama. Of course it is always on my lovely, wonderful, caring, sensational, and charming wife. (Just in case she reads or is watching me type this!! : ) ) And of course our 2 wonderful boys. How we love them. I can't even begin to tell you.

Well, today was a great day at the orphanage. Yes we did go today because Penny was so much better (but she is still a little under the weather, so keep up the prayers) and the sun was actually shinning and it was in the high 50's. They always bundle up even when in the 50's so Micah put on his long pants over his shorts and of course the long pants were too small and as you can see in the pics, kept falling off. Luke's pants on the other hand were way too big and kept falling down also. The clothes here are donated and they have to wear them too big or small sometimes and even the boys wear girls clothes and the girls wear boys. I feel so sorry for them sometimes that it really does hurt. I wish we could take them all home. The are all so special in their own way. I just pray every day that someone comes for them soon. The older they get they have a much less chance of getting a home. I know I've said before that many of them have called us mama and papa, they do. It is going to hurt so bad when we pic up our boys Friday and leave to never see them again. We have spent over 5 weeks with seeing them every day and spending time with them. They almost feel like ours also.

Back to the day we had with the boys. When we got to the playground there was an old lady with her goats on the other side of the fence. She has been there many times but is always watching us so I don't dare take a pic of her. They don't like their picture taking here in Ukraine usually unless you have business with them or if you ask for their permission. I did ask a lady at the outdoor market about taking her picture and she declined. I think she thought the FDA would come after here because she had pigs legs on the hoof, jack rabbits with their fuzzy feet still on and many other critters their just waiting to be supper on your table. The only bad part was that it wasn't really that cold and.......... you know the rest. Ok, I have gotten off track again. Where were we? Oh yea, orphanage. We bought the boys a new shapka (cap in english) and you can see them in the pics. They went crazy over them. They had snoopy on them with little foot prints. Maybe they will stay away from papa's cap now. Now if they will just leave my shoes alone. LOL Luke invented a new game today for us to play. It was the "Sit-on-the-ball-and-let-papa-kick-it-out-from-under-him-game". Of course it didn't take long for Micah to get in on the action and even Vysa (Rick and Melissa's little boy) got in on it. Vysa put on the funniest dance today also. It is in the pic with him on the bridge. We laughed so hard. He is so precious. We brought a chocolate bar today for the boys and Luke loved it while Micah had a pear. When Penny had it out Vysa come running up and said "Chocolate please." Well, how do you resist such a precious reguest. We always share our snacks when we have extra with all the kids. Its like giving them a new toy or a hug.

Earlier today Natalia (our facilitator) called us and told us that she will be in by Thursday so she can go to the court house to get our court decreee and then we will get to pick up the boys Friday. She called today to confirm that she talked to the court and its a go!!! Praise God!!! We can't wait. I told Penny today that visiting our boys at the orphanage is like having 2 boys in jail and all you can do is visit them and you can't take them with you. Guess what? Friday we can!!!

One more thing then I have to go. We told Luke today that we were coming Friday to get them and take them to our "doma" (home in English) and he grinned ear to ear. We also asked him if he was ready to go and he shook his head and said "da" meaning yes. We were so happy. Of course we told Micah and he just grinned and went on about his business. He has a one track mind and when his mind is on something he usually doesn't hear a word you say.

Well, we love you all and God Bless to everyone of you who helped with this entire journey. Not just financially but also for holding us up in prayer and for all that has been done to make bringing these "once orphan" boys back to Southside, AL.

Have a blessed day and keep seving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is nothing greater!!!

Love to all,

James, Penny, Luke, and Micah Holcombe

Looking So Forward to This Week, Praise God!!

Hello again from Bila Tservka, Ukraine. Wow, it's been over 6 weeks since we left Birmingham and we are sooooooo ready to come home. It's amazing how much we think we appreciate what God has given us until we are away from it for so long. I think of even small things like our front door knob right on down to my favorite coffee cup. Having hot water whenever we want it and being able to go and come as we please without calling for a taxi. We really do take everything for granted sometimes you know. Wow, we have such a different outlook on things now and we realize how much more we rely on our Father and Savior in Heaven. How our faith has grown.

We sure do miss all of you and thanks so much for all the prayers and comments on here. It really does keep us going. We thank God every day for all the people that have made this possible for us. I know that all belongs to God, but I do know that you give of your own free will. So thanks and God bless you all. We love you.

Penny was gonna blog tonight but we have been in all day because she has been sick. I think it was something she must have ate. You never know what your eating here sometimes and I don't think that they regulate things very much here. Please pray for her. Your prayers for us has been answered so many times here. I can't wait to get back to give you that testimony.

The pictures here are from yesterday. They were the ones that didn't get put on due to there being so many. We truly did have a great day yesterday and praise God for it. We needed a day off from Ground Hog day. The first pics you see are of the White Church which the town is named after. (Bila Tservka means white church) And we also have a pic there off the bridge between the church and the museum we visited. The pic of the city there is looking back at the main part of town. The pic of the building that is not a church is of the outside of the museum. They would not let us take pics inside and I wish they had, it was really nice. The pic of the statue is of a guy and his last name is Timchenko (same as our boys birth name, weird huh) and he is a very famous guy (I think maybe the first president or something) here. Who knows, maybe the boys are have an inheritance here and own the town. Wow, we could be rich. No, just kidding. Before the church and museum Tola took us to a restaurant name Count of Monte Cristo and the menu was all in Russian and so we just guess at some we ordered and managed to figure out how to order chicken and potatos. It was all great food. And, the restaurant was really nice and for the first time the restrooms had toilets in them and not just a hole in the floor. (BIG improvement and we will be back!! LOL) There are some more pics of us in the big historical park and I did put a pic of a map in there. Try to read it, we did and we still don't know what we saw and were we went. But we had a great time trying to figure it out. It was beautiful. Our taxi driver, Tola, did the best he could at being our guide for the day even know he speaks Russian. We are getting very good at cherades over here. We will put the challenge out to anyone when we get back to play. LOL There is one pic of an actual Russian Mig jet that we pass buy every day going to the orphanage and we finally got to get out and take a pic of it. Also, there is a WWII Russian tank in a pic. There is also some pics of our boys from yesterday. They are so great and I never knew how much I would love them. They are a true blessing from God and I can't wait for you all to meet them.

Well, I have to go now (not like we have anything to do, but I'm getting sleepy and Penny is already asleep, it's almost 11pm here). Pray for us this week. We are so excited about it because we get our guys Friday if there are no delays. (the Lord willing there won't be, he knows our hearts) Have a blessed rest of the Sunday and goodbuy from James (Papa), Penny (Mama), James Luke and Micha Paul Holcombe.