"You should defend those who cannot help themselves. Yes speak up for the poor and needy and see that they get justice."
Proverbs 31: 8-9
May 05 2008 The News
THERE ARE 143 MILLION ORPHANS IN THE WORLD. TODAY THERE ARE
SEVEN LESS WHO ARE NO LONGER ALONE AND HOPELESS.
Praise the Lord ! Seven beautiful children of God have left the wretchedness of Krasny Hutor orphanage and have been united together with their new houseparents Ludmilla and Anatoliy in a safe Christian home in Rogoziv, Ukraine. A new family is born amidst hope, love, promise and the grace of God.
It has been a year since we first visited Krasny Hutor and were touched by these special children. It has been eight months since we identified Luda and Tolik as houseparents and seven months since we acquired the home. There was continual frustration and disappointment in surmounting an unending trial of bureaucratic obstacles. But through the relentless efforts of many and the constant prayer of many more these children are safe in a loving Christian home.
We thank you Lord for your mercy and grace !
It is fitting that the person most responsible for arranging to bring all seven children out of the orphanage should be their new mother, Luda. Her faith in the Lord, her steadfastness to her dream and a doggedness that leaves most of us in awe made all of this possible. We admire you Luda. We thank you for your love and hard work and we pray that the Lord will continue to bless you and Tolik and your beautiful new family.
Of course our hearts go out to all of our friends and family both in Ukraine and at home. This new home would never have come to be if we didn't have the support and assistance of Roger, Diane and Marc McMurrin, the staff of Music Mission Kiev in Kiev and Orlando and all of those special folks in the sphere of love that is Music Mission Kiev.
We have witnessed the power of God as He brought together a handful of very special folks to enable this wonderful event. Zhenya Ivasko helped us understand how we could best help the orphans and was responsible for introducing us to Luda. Peter Keay is part of this family. While staying at Krasny Hutor he ministered to the children, fathered them when they were ill, provided them with hope and promise and certainly brought them closer to Christ.
Jenny DeGeus came to live in the new home to help Luda prepare for the children. She sacrificed much to come to Ukraine in January to be part of the dream when we thought that the children were to be released from the orphanage. The children love her. Her busy schedule has moved her to Germany for the month of May and then on to summer mission work in Africa. Jenny's heartfelt letter to us as she left for Germany.
Daryna Bukach who has worked so hard with the summer camps at Krasny Hutor loves the children and has been our "Ukrainian Conduit" serving as translator in keeping us in good communication with Luda, Peter and Jenny as well as helping with the trips to the home and Krasny Hutor. Her assistance in helping us with the tiring ordeal of purchasing and closing on the home will never be forgotten. She has always been there to help when needed.
Of course, we thank all of those in various organizations who have given us advice and help. But, most likely, the key ingredient of success in this endeavor has been the constant uplifting of prayer from our friends and family and all of the many caring individuals who read of our mission. Thank You !
The Release
We have not provided updates for several months because there has been little to
report other than a discouraging series of disappointments. We truly expected the children to be released around Christmas time during our last visit. Not only did this fail to materialize but there was little to give us hope for an early release. We became disconcerted and paralyzed in a sense and just went into hold and pray mode.
Well, we won't report on all of the drudgery over those months but here is a bit of a call coming down the home stretch.
After delays, government inspection of the home and medical clearance for Luda and Tolik as houseparents was finally achieved. The remaining obstacle was to gain guardianship of the children. This task took Luda back and forth across the country repeatedly between Kiev, Borispil, Chernigov, Krasny Hutor and Novgorod Severskiy. Each government official passed the buck to another one. In an undying effort, Luda eventually got to be heard by the equivalent of our Attorney General.
There she found compassion. This is why we pray. He agreed to assure that the red tape would end and directed officials to expedite authorization, but it was late on Friday and the papers couldn't be prepared. Moreover, the following week was the beginning of Orthodox Russian Easter and the whole country basically shuts down. More disappointment as usual. But, once again, Christ is on the move. A secretary (an angel ?) offers to prepare the papers over the weekend for Luda to pick up on Monday which would be April 28.
When we received the news on Tuesday that Luda had the guardianship papers in hand we allowed the paralysis to be put aside. Luda and the crew were on their way in the van to pick up the children at the orphanage. After being numb for so long we just began crying and praying. We sent brief emails to some friends but sadly it turned out to be another false alarm. But our enthusiasm ran high as were told that Luda would return to the orphanage on the following Monday, May 5 with a government official who would facilitate the transfer with the director.
The day was not a bust however, as it was Easter break the children were free and the family
jumped into the van and headed on a family picnic. We so much wish that we were there.
The side panel shows a few pictures of the visit and picnic that day. Also shown are some
great photos of the family "farm" being developed on our parcel of land behind the home.
We have few details at this time but we do know that Luda and the family will likely be surrounded by volunteers and helpers from her wide circle of friends and supporters within her family, church, grad orphans and, very likely, caring residents of Rogoziv.
More News
We recently returned from a three day conference in Fort Lauderdale for the Christian Alliance for Orphans. We returned energized and quite excited about the new friends that we made.
It is a bit premature to offer too many details but we are exploring working in partnership with an organization that ministers to orphans in India and Zambia as well as Ukraine. Please visit Life Song for Orphans Their work in Ukraine has been primarily in Kharkiv and is strongly attuned with our mission philosophy. They seek to provide a constant Christian presence in the orphanage which follows the orphan through transition when they age out.
We are planning to spend time with Gary Ringger and his staff when our planned trips to Ukraine are expected to coincide in June. We strongly urge our friends to visit and study the sites of these two organizations. You will be hearing more of this in future posts.
A closing thought. We often hear the much quoted verse from James
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after
orphans... " .James 1:27
that directs us to help the orphans (yes, there are now 143,000,000 orphans in the world. Think of that number. We have learned that if they were all able to stand shoulder to shoulder they would circle the perimeter of our nation 10 times ! ) But the theme of the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit was taken from an earlier verse in James 1:22
"Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves..."
Please think on it.
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