Pictures of the infamous carnival and more!

The carnival was fun. My mother will love the pictures of the kids trying to decide which eye to use to fire the gun. The bumper cars were crazy with each of us ramming each other...the kids were driving!!!

There are very sweet moments like when they wake up! Even though they sleep in separate rooms they always get up and go to find the other person. Laura Gorham told me she was so glad we were adopting 2 not just 1. There are great advantages of having 2 kids at one time. There are also disadvantages. But their friendship is a great thing.

Then there are the not so good hair days! I decided to look like cousin IT from the Adams family!

The last picture was of Christina. She wanted her hair put into pigtails for church. She looks so nice.

Church yesterday was a sweet time of worship in the morning with the Russian church and in the evening with the MTW team listening to John Piper preach. In the morning we read Isaiah 52 and I was reminded that God has gone before us AND that He is our rear guard. In the evening from Romans 6:12-14 I was reminded of my great sin, my salvation from the penalty of my sin in Christ alone, but my response is to "Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies". I was again reminded of my own sin and that sinning is a choice that I continue to choose...I need to let not sin reign in my mortal body.

In Him who deserves all glory and honor,

Leslie

After the Hugs and Kisses....

Very tired from several days of parenting our kids. Don't get me wrong, we love them and are so glad they are our kids but Mama and Papa are tired! We want to go home and be in our own bed!!

Ok, pity party is over!!

We have taken the kids several times to ice skating and to the other misc rides of the small carnival. However no more carnival.... since they both got very upset when we said no after ice skating, shooting guns, bumper cars, etc. They are normal kids that will keep on going as long as you keep on paying out the money, grevna. So yesterday was the last day of the carnival for us. We can still look out the balcony window and see it, still hear the music, even walk pass it on the way to the mall, grocery store is in the mall, but no more carnival. And you know what, both of the kids understand why! Russian or English there are consequences to bad behavior. They asked if they could go skating and we said no. They looked at us and said nothing at all. That tells it all.

Really, the last 2 days have been tough. We are tired and ready to be in the States in our home. Please pray that we will finish the race well here. We know we have about 1 week left so that makes it feel worse instead of better:)

However these last 2 days have made us fully lean on God alone. Sometimes we say that and we mean it when we say it but when you get in situations that there is nothing you can do but pray and be still, and wait for the Lord. Then He works right in front of your eyes!!! You are seeing the Holy Spirit changing a heart, tears are coming from eyes that a moment ago were full of anger....and you have done nothing....it is God alone. Why do I not keep that mind set!! I have to be hit over the head before I really get it!

All this to say it has been a tough day but we are glad we are here and that God is here with us.

In Him Alone,

Leslie

Hugs and Kisses

Just spent last 1 1/2 hours watching Cars in Russian with English subtitles. I was snuggled up to 2 wonderful kids who have been kissing and hugging all night. What is the Visa commercial...PRICELESS!! Where was Dan? Oh, he was sleeping so that he can get up at 3 AM to watch the football game...ROLL TIDE!!

Here are some miscellaneous notes:

Vica is the wonderful lady in the apron. She is a sister in Christ who has been praying for us and our kids. She and her husband, Oleg, are members of the church here in Odessa. Vica has been our cook for one day a week. She shops and then cooks several meals and is a real blessing to me. She has shown Christina and Kolya great love and friendship and they look forward to seeing her here at our home and at the church.

When we asked the kids what their favorite food was, it came out...McDonalds!! We know never to say the "M" word unless we mean it. I had wanted to make the whole trip not ever stepping inside a McDonalds but now I cannot even count the number of times we have been to one. We all have our standard orders. The kids immediately inform the person behind the counter that we speak English which means we may be shuffled off to someone who can speak alittle English. I have now started ordering a 2 patty gyro type something! I like it, no cheese, no fries unless I cannot resist and then I steal Dan's! We have lots of toys from McDonalds, many duplicates, and balloons with the backward R, the heart and then McDonalds. I Love McDonalds!

The close up picture is of Sasha Taunton, pardon me, Alex Taunton. She is Christina and Kolya's friend in Alabama. We were talking with her via Skype and Christina took her picture, well, the picture of the computer with the image of Alex:) they had a good time talking, part Russian, part English and a lot of singing and laughing. We hope to do it again soon.

The middle picture is one that I thought I would never see. Christina with a doll. Dan was all excited about getting a doll for Christina for Christmas. Well, she never even took it out of the box. To spur her on to playing with the doll, Dan and Erin changed her clothes and played with her. Christina never took any interest at all. Last night as she wanted to hug on me while she went to sleep, in desperation I said she needed a baby doll. She looked at me and said "Yes". Not really thinking that she would want it, I thought she might not understand the words, "baby doll", I went and got Hannah. She took it and said that Hannah was sleepy. She took off her dress clothes and got Hannah ready for bed. I quickly got Dan out of bed to see this. He took Hannah and sang to her while Christina just laughed at her funny Papa. Then she went to sleep with Hannah tucked under her arm. This morning she dressed Hannah and tonight Hannah is in bed with her again. I showed her the above pictures and for some reason she loved that I had taken it of her. It shows the only quiet side that we know of Christina! :)

The last picture is what I look like each time I sit here at the black round table in the living room of our flat. It may be late at night like now or early in the morning or some rare times it may even be while the kids are up. I enjoy sharing our experiences with you all. Thanks for the many who have been praying for us. KEEP PRAYING!! Today we had several episodes with both kids but they were quickly worked through. I think they are seeing that we will not allow unkind words and actions and we will hold them to this. Please do not stop praying. I feel like the apostle Paul except he was usually saying that he was praying for so and so. We do pray for many of you as we hear the needs. Being a part of the body of Christ is a great privilege!

In Him Alone,

Leslie

12 day waiting period ends today!

Court day was USA Christmas day. Twelve day waiting period is over on Ukraine Christmas. Yeah! Praise the Lord who has worked in every aspect of this adoption process!

Monday we start the new birth certificates and passports. We will find out an approximate time of leaving!!

Today we went to a worship time at the EPChurch. After the worship was over then the children put on a program with memorized speeches, a girl who played the flute and singing.

The youth group then presented a very interesting play. It was about a Christian man who fell asleep and dreamed that Christ had not come. His friends visited and he said Merry Christmas but they did not know what he meant. He explained and as he explained, the rest of the youth group acted out the nativity story. Then a philosopher came and the young man tried to explain through the Bible but the Bible was only the Old Testament and without any prophecies of a coming savior. He was greatly distressed knowing that his only hope was in Christ's paying the penalty for his sin. Therefore he was doomed. It was really quite good in presentation and thought provoking. He then awoke from his dream and rejoiced that Jesus did indeed come as a child and was crucified to pay the penalty for our sin.

This was all in Russian so Christina and Kolya took these pictures and heard it all. We had a translator telling us the story!

We went back to the flat for Borscht and then went ice skating, bumper cars and other rides. As we stood waiting for the ice skating, a couple with a 13 year old boy said are you the couple from America adoptiong Christina and Kolya? They had been watching our blog as they too were adopting from Ishmail- forgive me for the spelling. As our kids were ice skating we enjoyed a time of sharing our stories. The mother had actually met Kevin - he chose this name from the movie Home Alone, in an airport, then hosted him and have now adopted him. They too are waiting for offices to open to get passports, etc. I did not realize others were following this blog but we are following others also:) May God bless each of you who are in the process of taking care of God's children!!

Have had trouble with blog...Sorry!

I have tried and Erin tried to enter a blog and it would not work. The last blog was a fun day of ice skating on Saturday.

We then had horrible Sunday. We were hit in the face with the realization that we are indeed in a spiritual battle.

Woke Sunday morning, leisurely got up, showered, dressed. When we told Christina and Kolya that it was time to go to church, their faces got ugly and their talk became harsh and then they ran up the spiral staircase saying "no!" when we asked them to come down. I immediately asked Erin and Jake to start praying. Dan picked up Kolya and Christina came down. We got coats, boots, gloves, etc. and off to church with 2 very mad children. We held their wrist so that they would come with us, they kicked things. We entered the church and for 2 1/2 hours (worship was long because of communion) the kids sat calmly and quietly. There was still an undercurrent of anger but it did not surface during church.

However as soon as we stepped out of the building Kolya immediately became defiant again. They had both wanted to go to the carnival near our flat. We were planning to go after lunch but Kolya was so angry he would not walk with Dan. We got back home and Dan immediately went into the room with Kolya. I took in lunch and they were in their for over 2 hours working out things. We are not spanking as they are not yet ours so Dan was doing a lot of waiting, praying and loving. The rest of us were praying also. Christina understood that a consequence of Kolya's anger was that no one got to go to the Carnival. The rest of the day went well but we stayed home.

Erin and Jake spent the evening playing "Settlers of Cataan" at the Quatermans. Jake came in the victor! We had spent a quiet evening with the kids.

We do realize that there is a spiritual battle but seldom it is so evident. Satan can have no victory over Dan and I but he can attack us through the kids. We must pray for their salvation. We are truly in a battle for their souls right now.

Monday we walked over 45 minutes to the Dolphinarium. It was a long cold walk but we had a lot of fun! The dolphin show was very good. Then we ate pizza and walked back. I am sure there were buses but since we did not know where we would end up and none of the buses looked like the right number, we chose to walk back in the low 20 degree weather with light snow flurries!

There is still an under current of anger with Kolya. He is fine until we say no about something he thinks he should get. We are praying for him and working through this with him.

Tuesday we took Jake and Erin to the airport to return to the States! We got news that they have arrived safely in Chicago. They spend the night there and return to Atlanta today, Wednesday, at noon. We miss them . I thought Christina was going to cry! Even Kolya was very quiet on the ride home.

Today is Christmas Eve. Yes, it is here again:) The Ukraine Christmas celebration of Christ's birth is on Jan 7th so tonight is the Christmas Eve service and tomorrow a Christmas pagent. We have already told the kids today that we are going tonight so we will see how it goes.

We are ready to be home but do not think we will be able to leave for 10-14 days. We ask for your prayers!

In Him Alone,

Leslie

Guess what we did today?

Thanks to the Burnham's who arranged this outing of ice skating with another missionary family. None of them had been ice skating. This was Jake's first time and he did great. If you are wondering where the picture is of Leslie, Well, long time ago when I was roller skating for 1 minute, fell and then could no longer skate because of my bruised knee, all my family declared that I could no longer skate and I have taken it to ice skating too! However I enjoyed watching and the fellowship.

We have been experiencing Christina and Kolya, separately,pushing the limits. First to see what the limits are and second to see what would happen. Would we reject them or still love them?
You can guess that the answer is still, we love you. We say that to them even as they are pushing the limits! However how many time do we hear God whispering, "I still love you," when for nth time we have disappointed him, some time defiantly! May we have His love, His patience, His endurance for without Him we are not capable!

In Him ALONE,

Leslie and Dan

Busy New Year's Eve

We were able to get tickets to the matinee of the Nutcracker performed at the Odessa Opera House. It has recently, in the pass few years, been renovated and is gorgeous! Last time I was there was to see Madame Butterfly in 2001 and everything was old and faded! Now....WOW!

We had box seats however when we presented our ticket to the usher she showed us the box and motioned that we were to set at the six stools on a 3 tiered platform. We eventually split up and had good views of the performance. Christina and Kolya were very still watching the whole performance. There was an intermission and the usher, we called her the crazy lady because she acted like she understand and then took us all over the place, whe brought some snacks for the kids! It was a beautiful performance and we enjoyed it very much.

We walked back to our flat and changed clothes, grabbed some food and walked over the Quaterman's flat for a time of food and games. We had a great time of fellowship around the table and then played UNO ATTACK! Everyone loved especially the kids. Christina was always disappointed if she pass the UNO button and she did not get cards. When the game was over she would press it until all the cards were out!

We went back to our flat and we to bed. At 12 everyone except Kolya and Christina were awakened by all the fireworks, sounding like a war just down the street! But we knew the new year was here so we turned over and went back to sleep.

However in Ukraine New Years' Day is when the presents are exchanged. We had one present under the tree for Christina and Kolya, the watch for Kolya and a ring and necklace for Christina! By ten o'clock we were out walking on deserted streets! It is colder today and windy. Most of the shops were closed. We walked for about an hour in new areas we had not been before. We turned back and walked to the park across from the Hotel Centrally. We had been promising horse rides and this was the right time. We had cameras and the horses, ponies, arrived and Christina and Kolya rode the horses. Kolya is all smiles but Christina did not smile until she got off!

God has blessed us greatly this past year. We never thought last year this time that God would be leading us to Ukraine for Christina and Kolya. We have been blessed with Jim -28 in Charleston, SC, Stuart - 27 in Oxford, MS, Erin- 23 in Atlanta, GA, Jake - 13 in B'ham and now Christina and Kolya both 10 and soon to be in B'ham.

Praise the Lord for His many blessing beginning with His one and only Son that brought us into His family!

In Him Alone,

Leslie