your eyes

your eyes
they tell me all the words you cannot say
how your heart breaks because of what you've seen
because you feel unwanted
because you feel alone

your eyes tell me of a child who needs a mom
and a dad
and a family
someone to kiss them goodnight
someone to hold when they're scared

your eyes look to mine
for comfort
for love
for rest
for friendship...

those beautiful eyes
i see a twinkle in them when we hug
and laugh
and then you smile...
oh those smiles I wish I could keep ingrained in my memory forever...
smiles of hope...
and of joy....

but then it's gone....
in an instant
as you remember that we'll be gone soon
and you'll still be longing for a family
and for somewhere to belong

please see in our eyes
see the hope
the love
the joy
the peace
that only comes from Jesus

the father, and family, and belonging

the mender of broken hearts

He can make your eyes shine again -- and forever
and they're so beautiful when they shine...

Playlist

So... we are not ready to be home, yet ready to see our families.... it has been am AMAZING 9 days... I can't even explain it....

It is 1:37AM here now, and we are leaving for Moscow for the airport at 4:00AM... so we're hoping to get a few hours of sleep before then... then we have a 3 hour drive to the airport, then we fly out at 10:15AM Moscow time.... with an 11 hour flight that puts us back in good ol' Houston at 2PM. So, we'll see ya then and say 'yeehaw'..... please stay tuned for more updates from the trip... I realize they'll come after we're home, but there was just so  much and so little time to write... thank you all for praying... we definitely saw evidence of it!

Just a little playlist we'll be listening to with some songs about serving the least of these, and about kids who need homes, and some of them are just plain great songs about Jesus.... check 'em out... this is what I'll be jammin to to pass the time on the plane.

1.) All I Have Is Christ - NA Band
2.) Always - Building 429
3.) Antidote - B.Reith
4.) Background - Lecrae
5.) By Your Side - 10th Avenue North
6.) Hope Now - Addison Road
7.) Lead Me - Sanctus Real
8.) Ooh Ahh - Grits
9.) Glory To God Forever - Fee
10.) Open Hands - Matt Papa
11.) Tears of the Saints - Leeland
12.) Temporary Home - Carrie Underwood
13.) Turn Down the Music - Shane & Shane
14.) Won't You Be My Love - Mercy Me
15.) Your Hands - JJ Heller

Let the Lord speak to you as you listen...

Thank you again for all of your prayers! See you in the США....... Пока!!!!!

As if serving Jesus

So, today is Thanksgiving... and we are about to head to sleep! I have so many things to be thankful for... being in this place, with all of these sweet children who don't have families really reminds me of how much the Lord has blessed me.

Remember that all we have has been given to us by the Lord, and that there are so many people and children around the world who do not have the blessing of a family.... man... I am so thankful. Be sure to thank the one who is author of it all today...

I think I'm a few days behind, but it's just been so crazy!

Wednesday:

Wednesday started a little slower than all the rest of our days. It was really much needed! We slept in a little bit, had some breakfast and Viktor met us to take us to his dorm.  He toured us around his dormitory where him and our friend Vanya live. They have 1 boys shower and 1 girls shower per floor and 1 kitchen per floor. Viktor's room is so cozy, and you can tell the boys have tried to make it home! They have pictures of friends and albums. After that, we went to meet our friend Keith Doyle at our most famous 'Coffee Bean'. We LOVE this place :) Keith flew in from Boston on Tuesday and we are now partnering with him in the rest of our time here. It is amazing how the Lord works because Keith said that seeing that Erin and I were here is what gave him confirmation that he was supposed to come this week! Also, because Viktor and Slava left for Finland, it really is amazing that Keith is here to help get us around the city!!! What an amazing provision from the Lord! Then Viktor had to leave us to go to driving class, so his roommate Vanya (who speaks little english) was our 'tour guide'! Viktor made sure that we had someone to take care of us in his absence! lol Vanya took us to the store where we got some juice and things and then we headed to their wednesday night bible study! Erin taught a bible study on John 15.... Love God & Love others -- having unity.... it was a great night with some great spirit lead conversations! We met some new friends, and heard a story about a sweet couple named Gayana and Artur (more on that to come later... I'm sure that will be its own post)... but man, it was a great night talking to our brothers and sisters in Christ about how we are called to serve others as if serving Jesus...

It's amazing to see how much the enemy is trying to ruin what God is doing here... we have been seeing God do some AMAZING things... but in the same way... we also see the enemy attacking in specific ways as well... please just continue to pray!



***So, it's amazing how American music comes on so much here... and for some reason we have a specific connection with a certain song.... SO ... Viktor, me, Vanya and Erin were in a taxi and all the sudden we hear... "It's too late to apologize.... It's too latteeeeeeeeeeeee"  Oh man, after laughing hilariously we sang (horribly probably).... along together. Again, Russian Taxi driver probably thinking he's picked up some crazy americans.... what is it with us and taxi's??!!?!?!******

God Ordained...

So, yesterday (Tuesday) was a crazy day filled with LOTS... I feel like I've said that about every day... but oh well :)

We started out by going to get registered..... the process is the most ridiculous thing filled with minute details to make it miserable and take up travelers time lol.... First, you must make copies of all of your documents, then you must go to the bank and pay 2 rubles per person per day for the amount of time you will be in Russia.... for each of us it ended up being 18 rubles.... which is not even a dollars worth... so its kind of silly! Then we go to the registration office where they tell us that we need 2 bank documents instead of just 1 receipt of payment.... oy! anyway- finally we get done and are ready to start the day!

Viktor met us after he got done with his university classes, and we headed to the church to go with one of the local pastors to a new orphanage. It took about an hour and 20 minutes to get there, and once we got there, we only had a short time to stay because we had to have Viktor back in Ryazan for his driving class.... BUT we definitely were supposed to be there... The director was on her 'rest time' but she came back just to meet with us. She was so inviting and welcoming. The pastor even told her that we are Christians and that we love to work with orphanages... she said that the kids love to have visitors.... and even invited us to come back next time! So many more details, but not enough room to write them all! :) We then go to go meet some of the kids.... the people from this church come and work with the kids once a week... they had 3 different bible classes (OPENLY) and they were doing studies and things with the kids that we have only dreamed of doing!!!!! AMAZING! We were so excited to make this connection and so excited to see what the Lord has in store for the future.

After that, we headed back to Ryazan and headed to the Ministry Center. We had called some graduates, and the ministry center had tried to get in contact with some as well, but we weren't even sure who would show up.... on the way, Erin called Lonya (a boy she'd become close to the first few years) and he said that he couldn't come because he didn't' have the money for transportation. He said he may hitchhike from his village, but didn't know... so - Erin just started to pray.... pray that somehow he could come and that she would get to talk to him.... we called him back in about 45 minutes, and he said he'd be there! Praise the Lord! He answered her prayer! When we got to the ministry center, there weren't many kids there, but soon enough the place was jumping with familiar faces! Slava and Keith Doyle (our friend from Boston who decided Sunday to come to Russia and arrived yesterday!!!!!!!!) picked up 'german hamburgers' for all the kids! We were able to hang out and talk with lots of our fav Russians... and then some of them left because they have to get back to their dorms before they close. After that, we were sitting with some of the boys, and crazyness started an amazing God-ordained conversation..... I can't even explain the depth of it, but they were so involved, and they were so interactive -- One thing I remember is asking them, "So, who is Jesus to you?" and Zhenya (that went to the army) said "Savior" ... man, what sweet words. Also, a few said that they knew Jesus died for them, but "what do we do now?"... AMAZING! Erin was able to share her testimony and Sergei (Viktor's brother) said that it was actually a lot like his... By the end of the conversation, you could see the difference in his and Zhenya's countenance.... it was as if a burden had been lifted... they looked encouraged and joyful -- what a great conversation! Man, I can't even explain.... God is so good. That's all I can say.

The cool thing is that Viktor was translating for us this whole time... he was doing such a great job... I cannot imagine how stressful and tiring it is to translate such crazy conversations, but we are SO proud of him. He has been our 'tour guide' thus far on our trip, and we are so thankful for him. God has huge plans for him.

We are seeing the results of your prayers, we are seeing God move, and we are SO thankful for all of your support!!!!!!

Prayer Requests:
- we are leading a bible study tonight... pray that the Lord would direct our words
- today is our last day with Viktor... pray that the Lord would use this time to continue to encourage him
- pray that we would be able to go back to our orphanage tomorrow
- Erin is feeling a little sick... pray that the Lord would guard her from illness
- that we would have some more time with Nastya P.

Слава Богу!!!!!!! (Praise God)

I am so thankful for notebooks... seriously, I am a journaling person... and it's at times like these that I remember why I love it so much! I feel like we've been here for a week! We have done so many different things and seen so many different kids that I feel like I could write 10 posts and not give you all the details of the past 2 days!

I'm going to give you the short(er) version!!!

Sunday:
The day started with Nastya (one of the graduates that we came to see) meeting us at Slava's house. We took the trolleybus (bc we're so russian), and met Viktor and then went to the Baptist church. The service was long, and we couldn't understand..... BUT the reason I love going there is because of what comes after the service... I have made some great connections in the past with some college age people there, so we stayed and hand lunch at the church with them. They are always so welcoming! It was a great time of fellowship and encouragement. Also, at this church there is a rehabilitation center for boys/young men that are struggling with alcohol and drugs. We met a young man who is living there and heard his story of redemption through Christ.... it was great to hear what the Lord is doing there. After that we went to the Coffee Bean (be jealous Ricardo!!!!) and got our traditional cheese sandwich and cappuccino and had a great talk with Nastya about the Lord. She had a chance to tell us her story and it was great to get that time with her. We then went to Slava's church (the pastor that we are staying with). Many of the students from our orphanage have started to attend this church, and so it is so amazing to walk in and see faces of students that we already know and love.... and they are sitting in a place where they will here scriptural truth about Christ. I am just SO amazed! After a great service, we were able to get to talk to Valdemar and his friend Ruslan. Ruslan is living in a transition home for orphan graduates, and he shared about his experience so far with that. The pastor of the church with the transition home took us on a tour of the transition home... and it was there that he told us that in the Ryazan Region alone there are 3,000 students living in orphanages.... how heartbreaking. Finally, to end the night, we took some of the kids for dinner and then went bowling! Some graduates from the orphanage, some girls from the baptist church, some from Slava's church...... it was great to see the Lord making connections between all the different church bodies represented there..... also that night, Nastya spent the night with us and we were able to have some quality time just hanging out with her! What a day... and God provided us many opportunities to talk about His Son!


Monday:
Monday started early again... we realized that we hadn't registered here yet (this is a very big deal.... when you leave Russia, they look at your visa application and look at the place where you registered upon arrival and they make sure that you came to the place where you said you were going -- a person may run into problems if they do not follow protocol). After running errands, we headed out to the orphanage. We were prayerfully approaching the situation of going to the orphanage but we'll just say this --- the Lord completely worked out EVERYTHING! We met with the director and then when we left her office, all I saw were sweet little faces RUNNING up to us to hug us and say hello..... man, my heart is breaking for these kids. We ended up spending 4 hours there!!!!! We sat in the craft room with kids of all ages coming in and out, but we were able to spend some time with them...... and see them smile. I fee like it's not that often that they smile.... i mean really smile... anyway; one of my favorite parts was seeing Zhenya (a boy I met when he was 12)... for some reason God has drawn me to him... he has been one of the ones I've had a huge burden for... and I got to talk to him for a good while.... and I saw God make a connection between him and the pastor that went with us.... man, God is SO good... I can't even do justice to what He is doing with this little (yeah, ok, not so little) blog post. After leaving the orphanage we called some friends and decided to take some graduates and some friends/translators to a pizza place for dinner... what a GREAT time of fellowship, laughter, and conversation.... man, GOD IS GOOD!

I feel like there is so much more... but if you want to hear, trust me we'll be happy to tell you when we get home!:)


Prayer Requests:
- that we would have another chance to go to the orphanage
- get the graduates connected to local believers who can pour into them
- continue to be aware of opportunities to talk about the Lord
- that the Lord would give us energy & rest in the midst of our crazy schedule! (we have had full days and not full sleep :)
- we would be able to get in contact with graduates that we have not yet seen
- for our friend Keith Doyle as he travels to Russia and arrives Tuesday!!!!


*** Funny story to follow.... disclaimer.... if you're tired of reading.... you can skip this part..... it's of no spiritual significance or really important at all.... but it sure was funny!!!!*****

(Pause for Background: At the orphanage, Erin's camera battery died, then my camera battery died, then on the way home, our phone battery died.... so when we got home, I was going to post a blog before going to pizza... but our laptop was dead.... so....)

Resume story...

Charly: 'ugh! it's dead... like everything else'
Erin: 'yeah, like your attitude'
Charly: 'bahah, that's not nice'
Crazy laughter ensues.......
(10 minutes later in the Taxi)
Charly: 'You know, I was talking about electronics, not life in general'
Erin: 'Ok, so you either just said, 'My elctronics are not life eternal' or 'my electronics are not a live turtle'
Charly: 'bahahahhahhaah'
Erin: 'bahahahahaa'

I'm sure this Russian Taxi driver is thinking he's driving two crazy americanski's around!!!! Man, can you tell we're sleep deprived!!?!?!

We're HERE!!!!!

So, after waiting a loooong few months, making about a million necklaces to raise funds (Thanks again to all those who supported!!!!) and finally fitting all of our gifts for our sweet friends into our suitcases (needless to say this took quite a long time.... who knew Peanut butter could complicate things so much lol) we headed for Houston on Thursday!

We arrived at the airport a little late, and saw the line for security and thought OH NO! but, we were able to go through the 'first class' line which was much quicker. We had a minor setback while waiting for the plane -- at one point I remember thinking, "We're not going to be able to go...", but God worked out EVERY detail (Even our flight was delayed... I believe without that we would not have had time to get everything resolved!) ... God put specific people in place at the exact right time... and obviously we got on the plane and are now in RUSSIA!

We landed in Russia, walked through customs and got our baggage the fastest that we have EVER done! We walked out into the airport looking all over for Viktor (all the while we are trying not to look at all the cab drivers offering us a ride... yikes!) .... and all of the sudden someone comes up behind us and scares us to death!!!!! Viktor!!!!!!!!!! We are so happy to get to spend some time with him this trip! Yay! We went out to meet Slava at the car, and then headed to Ryazan! It was a great drive... the weather is a bit rainy... but not as cold as we thought it would be... maybe in the 30s/40s!

That night when we got back to Ryazan we went straight to a 'party' at Slava's church... One of the first faces that we saw when we walked in was Valdemar! He is a great young man, and close to our hearts -- he graduated from Solotcha this year, so we were so excited to see him at the church! Some missionaries from America were sharing about their experiences, and also some students from the international church were there as well -- one that I met was from Zambia!!!! (shout out to my friend Katy!!!!!!!!!! :)

One of my favorite parts of these trips is to hear everyone singing praises to the Lord in their own language... I think it is one of my absolute favorite sounds... and it was a great night of worship Friday night!

This morning (Saturday) we got up and headed to the church and sat in on their 'leadership meeting', after that we went to the orphanage where Viktor coaches soccer. It was Erin and I's first time there... the orphanage is larger than I would have expected. We went in and went to the gym where some of the boys were practicing with Viktor. We hung out on the sidelines and cheered them on, and watched as the little ones that weren't playing at the moment did flips and took pictures with our cameras..... it just breaks my heart to meet more and more kids that don't have families. It really was a fun afternoon with them, and we're hoping to return.

We came back into town, and had a small girls bible study. The american missionary from seattle fixed lots of fun snacks, and we talked with the girls about the story of the woman with the alabaster box...

A great few days coming to an end.... its 1: 28 AM here and we're about to go to sleep.... we're so excited to see what the Lord has in store for the next week!!

  Here are some ways you can pray...


- focused/purposeful conversations with all we come in contact with
- that God would work across the language barrier...
- that God will helps us connect with kids that He has put on our hearts to get in contact with
- that we will be allowed to visit the orphanage and see our kiddos
- encourage the local believers 
- ultimately that we would be sensitive to the spirit moving and be able to share the good news with all we meet

*countless*

I am recently finding that when the Lord is teaching you something, He gives you many opportunities to put into practice that character skill that he is teaching. He has designed it lately in my life like this... I am struggling with something right now, and this week alone, I have had countless opportunities -- *and when I say 'opportunities' what I really mean to say is super tough/hard situations that make me realize all I can do is trust in my Savior* -- anyway- countless.... I mean countless opportunities to look to the cross instead of worrying or being discouraged....


I must confess -- I am still working on this... but I'm thankful that the Lord gives many chances because if He only gave me one opportunity to show growth in a specific area, I would, in all honesty, screw it up. When He gives multiple opportunities, I hope with each situation that I can grow closer and closer to having a complete Christlike reaction -- again, I am still working on this... but I am beginning to see a pattern in some recent happenings and some things that the Lord is obviously calling me to 'work on'... Have you noticed any 'patterns' in your struggles? Do you think that these are something that the Lord is trying to teach you? Here is the kicker.... are you being a good student? (Again, I must admit -- I haven't been... I don't listen very well... but I am now trying to have my eyes & ears on my teacher alone...) 


I know that the Lord is at work... Russia in 2 weeks... and I know that He has something big (mostly b/c I've seen the enemy up to no good more recently than in a looooong time...) I just want to trust.... I want to trust completely

Tug of War

Lately, my heart has been pulled in so many directions. It's this constant tug of war between my flesh and my spirit. I seem to struggle constantly with the same things over and over... The Spirit reminds me of who my Savior is, and that my God provides for every need, and that He ALONE satisfies.... that tells me I am created in the image of God and that He has a plan for my life. Yet, the enemy tells me that I am insignificant. That I am incomplete in certain areas in my life. That I, because I am different from other girls, am not 'good enough'. My flesh desires certain things so much..... so much it is overwhelming. And lately in those overwhelming moments, I seem to hear the lies of the enemy over the truth of my Savior.

I need help. I need the Lord to come in and renovate this heart of mine... I need to listen to the Spirit and to combat the lies of the enemy that come into my mind, and that come from the lips of others. 

I think the root of the issue is my selfishness, and that when it all comes down to it, I focus on 'me'. I was reminded tonight, that when we pray and seek the Lord for who He is, His power, His will, His glory, then it gives us such a different perspective on out 'needs' an 'desires'. I need and want to lay aside 'me'.... 

I know that while I am still in this flesh, there will always be struggle... but I know the Lord is calling me to trust and be satisfied in Him no matter what.... rich or poor, single or married, healthy or sick, living in the states or living across the globe.... He is calling me to trust that His way is better... I want to live this daily .... because I am so tired of this tug-of-war. 

The Lord is good, and He alone satisfies. I must fight my fleshly mind & the enemy that tells me otherwise.