so much on my mind...

Have you ever had one of those weeks? Or few weeks? Not 'bad' necessarily... but just super challenging? 

That has been my life for the past few weeks. I know that it is because God is really challenging me, and wanting to mold me into a woman who knows His love more... 

but -- it's still super hard. It seems like every time I turn around, the Lord is revealing another flaw and insecurity... and giving me another opportunity to rely on His love and not the love and acceptance of others... I'll be super honest... I'm the kind of person who likes to 'fit-in'... but God is really revealing to me that I depend on that feeling of acceptance to give me worth...

I want to be a woman who gets her complete worth and value from her Savior -- not from friends, boys, parents, etc... although God can use those people to encourage you and affirm you... we shouldn't rely on what they say or what they think to make us who we are... our value is found in Christ... and that He loves me so much that he laid down his life for me.

Here is just one of the many verses I have been trying to dwell on lately...

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. - Psalm 139:14

what faith can do...

I had the opportunity to go camping with several families from our church this weekend -- and it was SO much fun (I mean HOTTTT lol)... and it actually turned out that 6 of the kids that were with us had been adopted from Russia... and our friend Viktor who is 22 and grew up in our orphanage is here to visit to so he was with us as well... that made 7 out of 17 people on the trip Russian! And the family who planned the trip actually got their call for their court date about a week before the camping trip, so they were actually in Russia in court during the trip! [side note: the Judge said YES! So sweet Vanya will be home in August!!!!] It was amazing to look around and see these sweet kids. We were all roasting marshmallows and watching the kids run around like crazy -- and someone made the comment.... "Sometimes I just think about what they would be doing right now... what they would be thinking, how their life would be if they were still in Russia." The fact is that they would probably never have had the opportunity to experience a lot of the things they are experiencing if they were still in Russia growing up in an orphanage. It is just amazing to think how much God has rescued them from... things we don't even know.





That being said, I want to share this video with you. God has really been moving through families in our church for the orphan. These families are either done with their adoption process, or are right in the middle. I love watching this video and seeing all of the sweet faces that God has rescued out of orphanages or from hard situations and placed in families!

That being said, I want to encourage you to pray. There are still tons of kids around the world that are without families tonight... and as they their head down, they wonder why... pray that God would wrap his Daddy arms around them and comfort them... and pray that God would continue to break families heart's for these children, and that He would place them with a forever family. 

We know what awaits these kids if they are not adopted.... we have seen it first hand... even just recently with Nastya's apartment. BUT - they CAN come to know Jesus and make a difference... that is why we go to Russia... to share with the children that they are important to our Father whether they are ever adopted or not... they can have a forever family in Christ.

this is reality...

So, I want to share some images with you... and I would love for you to pray for this sweet girl, Nastya... I shared a little bit of her story earlier this month, and we were able to get some pictures of the apartment that was left for her from when her parents passed away. Right now the conditions are [to say the least] unlivable -- so we are praying about what our next step can be in helping the sweet young girl get on her feet... please pray with us...


We have been able to form a relationship with a local pastor in Russia, and he picked up one of the care givers from the orphanage and then went out to the camp where Nastya is and picked her up to take them to see Nastya's place... it has had boards over the windows/doors so they haven't been able to see it... but we wanted to know what condition it was in so we would know how to help her... and these are the photos they sent us...
This is just one story, but sadly this is a reality that some of these orphans face when they leave the orphanage... 

Please pray for resources, and for some people that can be Christ to Nastya and help her get this place in order to be a home... she has to leave the orphanage by the end of August...

Abba changes everything...

My dear friend Nicole came by the church office the other day, and wanted to share an article with me that she found in this month's Christianity Today magazine. She obviously knows me very well, because the article is about adoption -- and the church's call to serve the orphan and fatherless. 


Of course, I copied the article, and it has been nicely placed in the back of my notebook since Tuesday. (These are the kids of things I like to be able to sit down and really read... ) So I finally had some time last night -- this article blew me away... Russell D. Moore wrote the article, and he also wrote the book Adopted for Life (which I am now going to borrow from a friend -- I've been meaning to read it for a while but just never had the chance...) 


That being said, this article speaks to the core of who we are as the church... it talks about how the topic of adoption can't be merely a 'theological' statement and way to explain our adoption into the body of Christ, and it cannot be merely a 'mission' statement of how we are to love the fatherless and defend the orphan....


It must be both. Because that is the foundation of our salvation -- it is also the foundation of our call. Are we not to be Christ-like? Are we not to strive to be more like him? How close to His heart is adoption -- because I am an adopted daughter.... I would say very close, and for that I am SO thankful. 


This is not an article telling everyone to go out and adopt a child -- but it does speak of ways that the whole church can get involved.... my best suggestion for you would be to read it, because my little synopsis can't do it justice... Abba Changes Everything 


Please read, and pray about how the Lord would have you be a voice for these sweet children... 

feeling crafty :)

So, I've been feeling super-duper crafty lately (thanks to my friend Katy Stone - who introduced me to the world of craft-blogging... SO FUN by the way!!)


Sooooo -- I found an idea online that I've been working with... basically they're glass tiles that you use different scrap-booking paper with and then make them into necklaces. I've been using ribbon as the 'chain' because you can accent with different colors!


I have made quite a few different ones in the past month... we made about 50 to take with us to Russia and give as gifts for the translators, and girls that we met! I think they enjoyed them!!


One of the couples from our church that is adopting from Russia asked me to make some for them to take as gifts to give on their upcoming adoption trip... so of course my answer was YES :) Another excuse to craft! haha!! Here are the ones that I picked out for their trip...

There are SO many different styles to chose from, and here are just a few that I've done! :) the one in grey says 'любовь' which means 'love' in Russian :) 


I think I may have some fun ideas for these in the upcoming months... I will probably use them to help raise funds for my next endeavor to Russia!!!

Here are a few closer shots :) Hope you like!

The ones with Russian writing are my favorite ;)

If you're interested in a necklace -- let me know! I can pretty much customize them in any way possible :) 

FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!

Our friend, Viktor, from Russia has been wanting to come visit the states for a few years! He grew up at our orphanage, and He came to California when he was 16 to stay with a family... he became very close to them, and even talked of the possibility of being adopted. He ended up staying at the orphanage,until he was 18, graduated, and is still going to school at a University in Russia. He trusted Christ when he was 16, and has definitely been growing in his faith these past few years!

Keith and Erin met him about 4 years ago on their first trip to the orphanage -- and then I met him a year later on my first trip to Russia. Since then, he has become like part of our family... and this past trip, he was definitely a part of our team as we shared our faith with those we came in contact with!

He really has a heart for kids, especially kids that are growing up in orphanages -- because he knows what it's like... He has started working at a different orphanage teaching the kids to play soccer and building relationships to be able to share Christ with them!

We are SO excited for him to be here... He'll be here from July 9th (that's THIS friday!! woo hooo!!!) to August 27th!!!!!!!!! So I really want you guys to meet him... be praying for his time here, that it will be a time of rest, and a time of growing in the word... he really thrives of off fellowship with other believers, so I'm so excited for him to get to do that while he's here. I know God will continue growing him so that he can go back to Russia and be a light to the people there!!

We're trying to figure out some fun things for him to do while he's here in Tee-has (Yee-haw!!) lol... so let me know if you have any ideas :)

what an awesome reunion that would be..

Our church sponsors our orphanage through Children's HopeChest... this organization strives to meet the needs of orphans across the globe...

That being said, when you sponsor through Children's HopeChest, you get the opportunity to write to your sponsored child. They have made this process very easy, and all you have to do is go to the HopeChest website. Write

If I am honest with you, I must tell you that I do a horrible job of writing consistently. There are so many kids that I want to communicate with, and usually I get in the trend of writing about 10 letters in 1 day, and then I won't write again for a few months. I have made a commitment to try and be better about this. If I write a few letters a week, I can correspond with all the kids...

Let me tell you -- sometimes, our letters are the ONLY time that these sweet kids hear about who Jesus is besides when our teams are there (and that is maybe once a year)... so I would say this is VERY important...

One of the tendencies I have is to only write again once I get a letter back. And the kids are not good at writing back -- either time constraints, or they don't feel like it that day... they just don't write that often. After talking with some of the Russia staff, I realized that it's really not about whether I get a letter back or not, but it's about these kids knowing that they have someone that cares for them. The discipler for another orphanage said that when she goes, the kids ask her if they received any letters, and it breaks her heart when she has to say no...

Let me tell you a story that one of the HopeChest staff told me... it totally put a new perspective on writing letters to these kids...

There was a sponsor that faithfully wrote her sponsored child once a month for about 3 years... she NEVER got a letter back. As far as she knew, the girl didn't get her letters, or didn't care.... but she wrote. What a faithful woman. The little girl ended up getting adopted to America. Her new family contacted the woman that had sponsored her, and told her that the only thing that the little girl had wanted to bring from Russia was a pile of letters from this woman. Of course, the woman had no idea that they meant this much to this child, but she knew God was calling her to just be faithful.

What a beautiful story... I think it speaks to all of us (not only about writing or sponsoring a child through HopeChest) but about being faithful to what God has called us to... even if it seems like it's not making a difference -- you never know what God is up to!!!

If you are interested in sponsoring or writing a child, please get in touch with me... and if you already do, please write.... write.... write and write some more and write about Jesus!! -- you never know what little heart God is touching through you... even when you don't hear back.... what an awesome reunion that will be in the heavenly Kingdom one day...