Happy Birthday Rick!

Happy Birthday Rick! Today is Rick's Birthday and we celebrated at dinner with a cake and mystery meat. We sang Happy Birthday and shared in Rick's chocolate cake that Melissa bought. Now this was no ordinary cake as none of them are here in Ukraine. Let me advise those of you that come here to visit or to adopt. Most cakes you buy here have some type of liquor in them. Also, if Ukrainians find out you are celebrating something they want to celebrate with you. There was one gentleman that gave Rick his wafer cookie and then offered him some vodka. Another man turned around and we think he was saying I'm in! Russian tradition is that they drink in 3's. They were making hand gestures as to say that Rick would sleep well tonight. I bet he would. The older man seen in the picture left to go get something and told Rick to wait. Rick kept saying nyet vodka. We finally made it out of there without hurting their feelings. I bet this is a birthday Rick will never forget.

Notice in the pictures that James has rejoined the goat club. I think he looks a lot better. Also, there is a picture of me pushing the buttons in our elevator. The elevator holds about 3 people tops but we have been able to fit 4 in there.

We finally got a picture of the little puppy. She is getting so fat from everyone feeding her. She is very unique in that she has 6 toes on both back feet. Every morning when we go out to catch our taxi we play and pet her. It reminds me of home. I miss our babies so much.

We were able to get a picture of the Ukraine flag at our hotel. Ben is going to find us one when we get back to Kiev so we can hang it in the boys room when we get home. We keep trying to get pictures of some of the birds here that are very colorful and unique but by the time we get the camera they are gone.

Chris G- notice the picture of the 2 women. James said he will put you on a flight to pick out a wife. Just kidding these are 2 of the ladies that work in the dinning hall and they are very sweet.

Today was a great day at the orphanage. Not long after we were there and Micah starting his squealing, the Asst. Director came and took us to her office again. I believe they had some more guest and were trying to hide us but nevertheless we always have a great time in there. Remember, this is where all the good toys are. Micah was acutally very well behaved today. He started putting all the magnetic numbers and letters on a board and would bring them to Mama so I could clap and say bravo (which in Russian means good job). Notice how he loves to wear James' hat. Everytime James wears one he will take it off and wear the entire time we are there.

Luke is beginning to ask for juice by saying "juice" and he loves gum so much that he will say it in the Russian name but then says "please". Grandma's make sure we have plenty of sugarfree bubble gum when we get home.

Well we are counting down. Only 9 days left before we pick up the boys. We can't wait, time seems to be dragging by but it will be here before you know it. Today we were both very homesick. Not depressed just homesick. I think mine hit after we went to lunch and the only thing on the table I wanted to eat were grapes. Then Mom called and I really got homesick. I think it is all the groundhog days. We are planning on going to the market and maybe visit the boys twice tomorrow. We are hoping the weather is clearing up so we can go back to the open market. We have a few more things we need to get for the boys. maybe this time we will get some pictures. Saturday we are going to get our favorite driver (Tola) to take us site seeing so we can get some more pictures of the area.

Linda- hopefully we will be coming home around the 8th or sooner.

Love and Blessings!

Penny, James, Luke and Micah

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)

A Great Day, Praise God!

This afternoon we celebrated by eating Pizza at our favorite Pizza place. We went to the orphanage and when we pulled up there was a big tour bus there. We went upstairs to the music room and it was full of people. We heard a familiar sound. The sound of of people speaking English but not just any English it was Southern English. There was a group of about 30 people from a church in North Georgia. They are a choir touring. There were also several people with them from local Christian churches. They came to sing to the kids, give out toys and bananas. Once they found out we were there to adopt they all started asking us a million questions about our journey. We felt like celebrities with the paparazzi all around us.

We got to sing Jesus Loves the Little Children and How Great is Our God with them. They taught the kids a song in Russian. We also spoke with a Pastor from here in Ukraine and told him we were here adopting. The most moving thing happened next. A girl came up to me and had tears in her eyes. She said she was from here in Ukraine and she wanted to thank us from the bottom of her heart for adopting their children here in Ukraine. We embraced and I told her how much that meant to me. Most of the Ukrainians do not approve of Americans adopting here because they hear or see horror stories on the TV about kids being abused and are afraid we are taking them back to abuse them. There was one such story not too long ago about a couple from Chicago adopting and abusing the kids. She said most of these people who think that, are not Christians and do not understand the love that God has placed in our heart for these children.

Micah clung to James once he saw us due to all the strangers being around. He would not let James put him down. There were so many toys the kids did not know what to think. Micah's favorite was a balloon.

God has truly blessed us. We cannot begin to tell you all the prayers He has answered since we have been here.

Martha- we were sitting outside of court about the time you were praying. We felt such peace when we walked in that room I cannot describe it. The judge was a very nice man.

Please continue to pray for Rick and Melissa. They will go to court on Friday. Also, Melissa is not feeling well so pray for her health. It has turned so cold and rains everyday and we no longer have heat.

The past 2 mornings James has woke up at 7:11. Normally we don't wake up until the alarm goes off at 7:15. He felt led to go to the gospels and do some research. He came across the scripture in Matthew 7:11. "So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him". This confirmed what a great gift God has given us thru these children.

Well the countdown is on. We will continue to visit with the boys until we can pick them up. We love you all and look forward to coming home soon. I'm so ready to eat some Las Brisas I can taste it.

With all God's Love and Ours,

Penny, James, Luke and Micah

The Boys Are Officially Ours!

Good Morning to all of you. We couldn't wait to blog and let everyone know that our court went very well and the boys are officially ours. When we finally got to go in it only lasted about 15 minutes. The judge asked us to stand up and state our names, birthdate, birthplace and our address. He asked us several more questions and we took turns standing and anwering. We told him we petitioned to change the boys names officially to James Luke Holcombe and Micah Paul Holcombe. He said congratulations to the new young parents. My eyes welled up with tears as I realized they are offically ours! He shook our hands and we said thank you. I said thank you in Russian and he was surprised I knew how to say that.

We now wait 10 days starting tomorrow (yes weekend days count) and we will pick up our boys a week from this coming Friday. Thank you for all your prayers, thoughts and comments! We will blog again later and post pictures.

Love,

Penny, James, Luke and Micah Holcombe

Spidy Spun His Web Today

Hello everyone,

We hope you are having a wonderful Sunday. It is still raining and cold here. Today we took the boys 2 Spiderman figures that light up. They were so excited. Within 15 seconds Micah broke 1 arm off of his. Within 30 minutes he broke the other arm. They loved going in the toy closet and pushing the lights on them. They would shine the light in our eyes and we would pretend they zapped us and fall down. They would giggle and Micah would pull me back up to do it again.

The boys like chewing gum so I bought some more. Luke likes to chew his and get the taste out then get another piece. That's the picture you see with his mouth open and full of gum.

Today's cab rides were very funny. We had a new driver in a bright green car. He spoke no English but he carried on a conversation with James the entire ride. Also, He kept playing some of the old Russian type music and the more James would dance or act like he liked it the louder he would turn it up. Melissa, Rick and me could not hear by the time we got out.

Tomorrow is our court day and please pray. We have no doubt everything will go fine. All the formalities may take an hour. We are looking forward to getting this part over with so we can start our count down to pick up the boys.

There is another picture of a wedding that took place right outside our hotel at the little Catholic Chapel.

Well, we need to go to bed and get some rest for tomorrow. We love you and will blog tomorrow to let everyone know how court went.

Love and Blessings,

Penny, James, Luke and Micah