In Plain Language

Voice

2011-07-12T17:18:00.005+02:00

I wanted to write and ask for prayer for our upcoming English outreach, "Voice." Our church will be putting it on next week. This is the 4th year in a row that we have done it and we are excited to see what God does this year. A team from FITP is coming and will also be working with us to put on a kids festival each morning in the Tuberculosis Children's Hospital Here are a few pictures from previous years. Thanks for praying!

Christian Bible Church

2011-05-07T23:08:00.002+02:00

A couple of months ago we had the privilege of having a group of guys from the Halle Project come out and spend some time with our church. These guys have an awesome ministry using film to show what God is doing around the world. They are a really talented bunch of guys that want to use their talents to glorify God. Here's the short film they made for our church while they where with us.
And again, thanks guys for coming out!!!

Christian Bible Church Chernigov, Ukraine from Halle Project on Vimeo.

Going Out

2011-04-07T13:44:00.001+02:00

"Arden, do you want to go outside? "

"YEEEEEE-"

"EEESSSSSSSSSS" It's been a long winter...

Kids, Cakes & Ninjas

2011-04-03T01:24:00.002+02:00

Every Sunday evening I head over to one of the local orphanages with a group of people from our church to spend time with the kids. We usually do a Bible study, games, and crafts... but last Sunday was my 31st birthday. So, after celebrating with my family, I headed over to the orphanage to have a party with these little guys. It was a good day! Here are a few pic's of the time with them. Please be praying for these children!

The Ninja's are ready!

Marina liked the cake...

Heaven's Here

2011-04-02T00:03:00.000+02:00

Today, Randy Alcorn's book, "Heaven" arrived! It's the latest book to be translated and published by In Lumine media. In Lumine is a publishing house that was started by Jake Knotts (my buddy and fellow pastor) to spread Christ-exalting, God-centered, gospel-based resources for the Russian and Ukrainian speaking (reading) world. It's always exciting when a new book comes off the press! It's another book to encourage people towards Christ over here. This book will! It was great seeing the first shipment of three thousand books come today!

I'm "Head of Distribution" at In Lumine.

"Heaven" by Randy Alcorn

The warehouse

Olya and Jake have done a lot of work to see this day! Olya is a wonderful gal in our church and has been working with In Lumine from the very beginning. She is also co-founder of There's A Love.

Lunch Time

2011-03-31T20:45:00.000+02:00

"Dear Lord,"

"Thank you for this food"

"Amen!!!!"

Precious Children

2011-03-31T19:44:00.000+02:00

This morning we headed into the tuberculosis hospital to spend some time with the kids. All these little ones have T.B. and some also have Aids. They don't get too many visitors and they get so excited when people from our church come to play and share the gospel with them. A young lady in our church, Oksana Polischuck, found this place and started going in all by herself to share Christ with these kids. They have a lot of needs. With the help of some generous people we have been able to replace 15 windows so their bedrooms stayed a little warmer this winter. There's still much that we want to help them with. There are about 30 kids right now. Here are a few pictures I took.

Oksana sharing the gospel with the kids.

Two little heads watching us leave... waving goodbye.

The View From Here

2011-03-30T20:02:00.000+02:00

I "Heart" Chicken

2011-03-27T09:05:00.000+02:00

I love to cook, and I love taking ingredients that are cheap and a little different to see what I can do with them. I experimented on some good friends last night. I think they're still my friends...

$1.57

Chicken heart pate

These next few pictures speak for themselves

Bread

2011-03-24T01:26:00.000+02:00

I was visiting a friend in the hospital today and I ran across this little guy in the hallway.

The Moskvitch-Tank

2011-03-15T11:25:00.000+02:00

Crazy & One Of A Kind

2010-12-02T12:09:00.000+02:00

Beautiful & One Of A Kind

2010-12-02T11:36:00.006+02:00

Beautiful and one of a kind, just like the little girl the snowflake landed on.

.

Good Morning Chernigov

2010-12-01T09:33:00.003+02:00

It's Here

2010-11-29T16:06:00.002+02:00

The first snow storm!

Face Paint

2010-11-28T15:35:00.001+02:00

I took these of the kids in the orphanage down the street from our house today. They loved getting their faces painted! It's been really encouraging visiting these little ones lately. They seem to be grasping the gospel more than ever. God is working, please keep praying for them!

Gavin Turns 9

2010-11-27T15:03:00.000+02:00

Video From Last Weeks Trip

2010-11-17T22:15:00.004+02:00

Congrats Curt!

2010-11-13T15:58:00.005+02:00

Koren's little brother is getting married to this great girl! Her name is Reene and we could not be happier that the Lord has brought these two together! Congratulations you two and welcome to the family Reene!

Evidence Of Grace

2010-11-12T14:20:00.007+02:00

There is a group of gals in our church that are headed out this weekend to go visit an orphanage in Bila Tserkva. Its a city about 3 hours drive from ours. From what I hear, the conditions at the orphanage are pretty bad. The group is going to be buying things like toilet paper, soap, and toothbrushes for the children.

What brings me so much joy from this whole thing is that there are five young women that want to use this weekend to serve overs. To see them wanting to use their own money and time to demonstrate to 100 kids that God loves them. It makes me so happy to see the grace of God at work in their lives! These gals are an encouragement to me! I am so thankful for what I see God doing in the lives around me!

Please pray for their time. Pray for these little ones that will hear and see the gospel this weekend!

Vlada, Olya, Marina and Valya.
You can't see them in the pic, but there are about 7 big bags of stuff for the kids the gals hauled on the bus with them.

Our Oksana joined the group a little later.
( We all can't get off work early, Huh Oksana?! )

This was taken at the same orphanage a few months ago.

They sent me this pic on their way there. They got to try the new Domino's pizza in Kiev.

Radical

2010-09-08T12:17:00.004+02:00

This video made my heart pound and my hair stand up. I need to get Mr. Platt's book! This is such a good word to the church, not only for the U.S. but for the whole world. I needed to hear it! I believe its message with all my heart!

Here's another one...

"When Jesus is being twisted into our image... The reality is that we're not actually worshiping the Jesus of the Bible, instead we are worshiping ourselves."

Gummy Bear Surgery

2010-09-06T01:11:00.001+02:00

Gavin had fun with this and Emma had even more fun eating them!

сестры

2010-09-05T22:24:00.007+02:00

Pears

2010-09-05T20:42:00.007+02:00

Let It Hail!

2010-09-02T21:25:00.009+02:00

These two loved this! Nothing like snow in August!

"I'm Sailing!" -Bob Wiley

2010-08-28T18:07:00.003+02:00

Our City

2010-08-28T15:00:00.002+02:00

Voice Week

2010-08-11T23:56:00.005+02:00

Here are some pictures from Voice week. Voice is our annual week long English course. It took place a few weeks ago and it was a really great week. We had about two hundred people come all five nights. It was a very comfortable, friendly place for people to come and work on their English and also be challenged to think about God. They heard the gospel every night. Over the past few weeks we have seen a handful of people come to church. It is encouraging to see God revealing himself to people here in Chernigov.
A wonderful group of people came from Fellowship In The Pass Church, our home church, to help with Voice. They were eager and ready to do whatever they could to help out. They were a true joy to be with! I'm very thankful that we were able to have them come and serve with our church!
I have also included here, photos from our time in the orphanages, and photos of a dinner that we put on at a local rehab center we just recently started visiting.

These two had a great time with their classes! (They all did!)

It was one of the hottest weeks of the summer.

We went through so much water.

We visited three different groups of orphans in our area.

The poeple at the rehab center were excited that we wanted to cook for them, but I think they were even more excited when they saw that we wanted to sit and talk and share the meal with them.

F.I.T.P. thanks again for coming!!!

OXOXOXOXOXOXOX

2010-07-13T21:12:00.002+02:00

Arden wanted to say happy birthday too! She was asleep for both of these photos. She loves her Grandma and Grammy VERY much and hopes you have a happy day! OXOXOXOX

Happy Birthday... Grammy!!!

2010-07-13T21:03:00.003+02:00

No this is not a mistake, our mom's birthdays are one day apart! Yesterday, Grandma Katheen Mary, and today, Grammy Kathleen Marie! We love you both so much and hope you have an amazing year!

WE LOVE YOU!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

2010-07-12T22:17:00.002+02:00

WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Voice

2010-07-12T16:26:00.012+02:00

Voice starts a week from today. Voice is the English course our church puts on as a way to serve our city and share the gospel! Many people in our church were first introduced to the gospel through outreaches just like this one. It is a great way to get to know people and it makes for many opportunities to share Christ. We have a group coming from FITP to help with Voice. They brought a team two years ago and it was one of the best teams we have ever had come along side our church. We are very excited to see what God does next week! Please be praying that God would do a work in hearts and that many would respond to the gospel!

Ps. these links are great!!!

Papa, Look What I Made

2010-07-09T13:11:00.008+02:00

Gavin called me outside to show me what him and his little friend had been building. They named him Marlboro man. And we wonder why the kids start to smoke at such a young age!

Vlad & Marlboro Man

I Came Across These

2010-07-06T00:07:00.003+02:00

These were taken awhile ago, but I still wanted to stick them up here. Adren was so little! I am so thankful for these two little girls!

Ten Great Years

2010-05-13T13:53:00.003+02:00

2000

2001

2003

2007

2009

This month marks our tenth year in Ukraine. We were looking through our old prayer cards remembering how gracious and merciful the Lord has been to allow us to live here. To witness God's power in saving lives here has been amazing. We are so very grateful for how He has cared for us and provided for our every need these past ten years. We are blessed to be able to live in Chernigov and be part of the church family here.
Thank you to all who have prayed for us for so long!!! Please keep praying for Ukraine.

Emma Lost Her First Tooth

2010-05-03T21:04:00.001+02:00

Crawling

2010-05-03T18:13:00.003+02:00

Sidewalk Chalk

2010-04-28T09:33:00.011+02:00

This past Sunday we were able to head outside with the children at the Orphanage down the street from our house. We had the Bible study outside and then ran around and played with the kids in the yard. It was so nice playing with them outside in the sun. Spring is here!

Something happened after the Bible study that caught my attention. We gave the kids a bunch of sidewalk chalk and told them to have fun. There is a little patch of pavement in the courtyard. The kids ran over to it and started drawing animals, some drew funny faces, while the girls played hopscotch. I noticed that two little boys had taken their chalk and drawn crosses on the pavement. I walked over to one of them and asked him about his drawing. He told me "I drew the cross that Jesus died on so that he could forgive our sins!" To see this little guy run from the Bible study, draw a cross and tell me its meaning made me so happy! Thank you all for praying for the orphans that our church visits each week. The Lord is good and He is opening the eyes of these little ones to the gospel.

Marina thanks for the pictures!

Hands

2010-04-24T19:52:00.000+02:00

Arden Paige

2010-04-24T10:49:00.003+02:00

Happy Easter From Ukraine

2010-04-04T08:17:00.005+02:00

Church Babies

2010-04-03T13:48:00.002+02:00

Lev and Arden hanging out together before church. They are only 2 weeks apart.

It Just Keeps Coming Down

2010-02-05T13:45:00.010+02:00

We thought February would bring some better weather and a little less snow... We were wrong! It as been snowing for the past three days.

There has been so much snow this year that some weeks it has been impossible to drive down our road.

Our church sign now sits high on a snowbank letting people know where the church is.

Gavin and Emma hope that snow keeps coming!

Christmas Concert

2010-02-04T12:38:00.000+02:00

This year our church decided to put on a Christmas concert at the Philharmonic of Chernigov. A small mission team from Atlanta, Georgia, was able to come and help us with the event. One of the men on the team, David Carnes, is a concert pianist and he agreed to play at our concert. David played his own arrangements of American Christmas songs and Ukrainian folk/Christmas songs. The audience really enjoyed the music. After, Pastor Jake was able to share about Christmas and God’s loving plan of salvation through the incarnation of God. People from our church baked homemade desserts which we served with coffee and tea. Our church worked hard to make it a special evening for our guests. We spent the evening talking with people that normally might not step into a church. It was a wonderful time, a simple and fun way to get to know people and share Christ with them.

We were really excited to be able to rent the Philharmonic for the concert.

Mr. Carnes doing his thing! He is amazing!!!!

Pastor Jake did a wonderful job explaining the the true meaning of Christmas, showing everyone that it is all about Jesus and what He as done for them.

Vlada was the perfect hostess for the event.

Miss Padiy has some great pictures of the event on her blog. Check out Underwater to see her take on the night.

Just A Little

2010-02-03T11:00:00.002+02:00

That's a picture of Gavin around the same age.

The Money Box

2010-01-16T17:51:00.012+02:00

Yes, "the money box". It all started with a little cardboard box with a hole in the top. While we were in CA this summer, Emma came to me with a shoe box and asked me to cut a hole in the top. So, I did and didn't really think much more about it. But them Emma kept on asking me for the change in my pockets. "Papa, do you have any coin money?" Every time she would see my wallet out she would ask, "Do you have a one dollar I could have? Please, Dad! " We started to think that this little girl was getting a little money hungry! Then, after being asked yet again if I had any money for her "money box", I asked Emma what she was planning on doing with all her money. Her answer was this, "I want to buy toys for the kids with no moms and dads at the orphanage when we get back to Ukraine." Hearing this response made Koren and I so happy. Our little girl was not becoming a little miser. God was working in her heart love for others.
Soon after, Emma had the idea to put up a Lemon-aide stand at Grandma Kathy's house to see if she could raise a little more money for the kids. (I think that Grandma bought most of the lemon-aide). As word spread about Emma's box, the Lord put it on a dear friend's heart to give a donation for the children. We soon were informed that a church had given a donation as well. It blew us away how the Lord provided this money and how He was using Emma to be a part of His work.

So here we are... Yesterday we took that "money box" money and bought soap, toothpaste, tooth brushes, shampoo, fruit, and a few other things and made up twenty-five gift bags. Recently we found out about an orphanage that we didn't know existed. It is a home for children that have just lost their parents or have had to be taken from their homes for a number of reasons. I was told that there were about twenty kids right now and that they ranged from ages three to sixteen. After visiting the place a few times by myself, we thought that it would be a great place to use the money. We told Emma about these 2o kids and she thought it was the perfect place to take gifts. After talking with the staff we thought that tooth brushes and that sort of thing would be the best way to use the money. You can see by the pictures that the kids were very excited about these little bags.

Emma was so happy to see this whole thing coming together!

It was all up to the kids to get these bags ready.

It was a wonderful time with the children and the staff. The head teacher even asked me if I would say a few words to the children and the entire staff about the gifts. It was a great time to share who these gift were really from. I was able to share with them how much God loves them and what He has done for them! The head teacher also invited us to start coming in weekly from now on. Please be in prayer for this orphanage. There are currently twenty-four children living there. The Lord has opened wide the doors for us to minister there. Gavin and Emma are thrilled to be a part of it and we are excited to see the Lord using them.

Thank you Lord and thank you for using our five year old!

We love you Emmushka!

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Our Winter Baby

2009-12-29T23:07:00.002+02:00

Arden ventured out today to play in the snow with her older siblings. She will be 5 months in a few days.

Click here to enlarge.

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"Christmas" What Is It Really?

2009-12-22T15:20:00.002+02:00

I thought this short film was worth watching. I hope you like it and I hope it makes you think. May us as parents not let our little ones miss out on really knowing and celebrating this truly beautiful holiday. The Christ has come!

That's Christmas! from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

HT: Justin Taylor

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Snow, Snow and More Snow

2009-12-20T21:29:00.006+02:00

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Smiles

2009-11-05T15:07:00.003+02:00

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Halloween Masks

2009-11-04T13:14:00.006+02:00

This Halloween we didn't see many ghost and goblin masks here in Chernigov, but people were wearing another kind of mask. The H1N1 flu virus was reported to have reached Ukraine about a week ago. Authorities have blamed the virus for numerous deaths in Western Ukraine. The goverment has issued a quarantine for the entire country. All schools, universities, outdoor markets and public gatherings have been canceled for the next 3 weeks. We have been asked to shorten or cancel our church meetings and we are not able to visit any of the orphanages during this time. Many people are in a real state of panic here. I have heard of some that refuse to leave their homes and how some stores won't even let you in to shop if you are not wearing a mask. Please pray that people here would look to Christ during this time of fear and sickness and find eternal life.

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More High Fashion

2009-11-02T20:20:00.004+02:00

These McNamee girls know how to dress!

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High Fashion

2009-11-02T20:12:00.003+02:00

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Coffee & Chan

2009-11-02T15:59:00.012+02:00

This morning Koren and I had a wonderful time just hanging out together. The kids were gone and we sat back and drank coffee, talked and rested. One thing that made the morning so good was a Bible study that we watched given by Francis Chan. A good friend of mine turned me on to Francis Chan about a month ago and I have loved studying the Word with Chan through his podcasts ever since. The reason I like listening to Chan is that he always brings it all back to loving Christ and how if that love is real it will translate into loving people. Francis Chan is the teaching pastor at Cornerstone Church, Simi Valley, CA. I have posted the message that we listened to this morning. Enjoy!

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Hey Dad

2009-10-29T00:16:00.004+02:00

" To point me to Christ when no one else will." We have no greater calling dads. This is a great little video. JESUS HELP ME!
.

2 & 1/2 Months

2009-10-16T09:25:00.005+02:00

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It's Official

2009-10-13T08:37:00.007+02:00

I have been married to the most wonderful woman in the world for NINE years! This is a little late in coming. Our anniversary was actually last week, but we have been a little busy since getting back to Chernigov.
To share with you in a few words how thankful I am for my wife Koren... she is a better mother then I could have ever asked for to our children. Koren is a gift from God in my life, constantly showing me so much love and grace as we live this life together. I am so grateful to God for this beautiful woman that I have been given. I love being married to you Koren!!!!!!!

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Good To Be Home

2009-10-12T09:58:00.003+02:00

darriuss.livejournal.com

The Whole Gang

2009-09-23T18:22:00.003+02:00

Gavin & Arden

2009-08-14T08:57:00.004+02:00

I Love You Betty

2009-08-14T07:40:00.006+02:00

We made cookies tonight, but not just any cookies. Gluten free chocolate chip cookies! We have a little girl with Celiac disease and this made her day. They actually taste really good! We will be bringing a bunch of these back with us to Ukraine. Emma will make sure of it!

Good Night

2009-08-14T07:34:00.002+02:00

Emma & Arden

2009-08-12T18:10:00.006+02:00

This is one happy big sister!

Arden doesn't seem to have any complaints either!

Uncle Curtis...

2009-08-11T07:24:00.009+02:00

Today Uncle Curtis had some fun with the kids. They had fun too!

Arden Paige McNamee

2009-08-09T08:44:00.002+02:00

Sping Cleaning

2009-04-22T22:36:00.000+02:00

I love a good bonfire! I get it from my Mom and growing up in Maine. There's also no better way to clean up your yard in the spring. Once that fire's lit all I want to do is feed it and make it grow! All that stuff I thought about keeping (the just in case I might need it someday stuff) has no chance once I see those flames.

Easter Sunday

2009-04-19T16:16:00.012+02:00

Today is Easter here in Ukraine. (We are on the Orthodox calender here.) It was a wonderful day celebrating Christ's resurrection with the church. Here are some pictures from the service today and the picnic we had afterward. I also threw in a few of the kids. They had a lot of fun with balloons today!

Girls

2009-04-18T13:44:00.005+02:00

When I got home today, found this little girl waiting for me. Emma dresses herself these days. I can't wait to have another little girl running around and Emma can't wait to dress her!

What's Been Happening

2009-04-13T22:55:00.010+02:00

Winter has ended and spring has finally come. This winter we had more snow than we've ever had in the past nine years. Needless to say, we are really enjoying the blue skies, dry ground and warmer temperatures. It was a long winter, but we have seen so many blessing during it!

Since December, we have been seeing new people in church almost every week! It has been amazing. Whole families, single moms, children, and lots of guys! Our church is growing and we are literally running out of chairs! This is encouraging to all of us. During the past month Jake and Anya hosted Sunday lunches at their house. This came at a perfect time. It meant for great fellowship with all the new people who have been coming. Thanks Anya for all that good cooking!

The weekly ministries to the mental hospital and orphanage are also going well. Conor constantly says how blessed he is to serve with the people in our church at these places. Please continue to pray for the children to grow in the Lord and for those who do not know Christ to come to know him and receive His love for them.

Gavin and Emma also grew a lot this winter. We've been homeschooling and really learning a lot together. Gavin is finally enjoying reading and we're having a lot of fun reading together. Our favorite part of school is Bible. I love it when the kids constantly ask for more! Praise God for their passion for His Word! Emma turned five last month. She recently started taking violin lessons. God blessed her with an amazing teacher and she is really enjoying learning something new. Our newest little member of the family is growing well and we are all anxiously awaiting her arrival!

Here are a few pictures of the last few months. We love you all so much! Thank you for all your prayers. We are very blessed by all the Lord has done and is doing. Please keep praying for Chernigov. Pray that this springtime would be a time of new birth and growth for many!

Our Baby Girl

2009-04-10T13:12:00.004+02:00

We're Having Another Baby

2009-01-08T00:23:00.004+02:00

We are looking forward to having another one of these!

(There are no known photo's of Gavin at this age without this thumb in his mouth.)

Conor's mom is here right now and she was a little surprised when we told her, as you can see.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-27T17:32:00.004+02:00

Being A Dad

2008-12-18T10:21:00.005+02:00

A friend sent us this video and I must say I know how this guy feels! This reminded me of Emma so much! It's a funny clip!

He's 7

2008-12-04T20:52:00.003+02:00

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated Gav's big #7! It seems like only yesterday he was our fat little bald baby trying to making everyone laugh. Gavin we love you and couldn't be more proud of you or thankful for you!

Winter's Here

2008-11-28T16:35:00.002+02:00

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T21:32:00.001+02:00

Picking Grapes

2008-11-23T18:10:00.006+02:00

These were taken last month. I have been meaning to post them. They love helping out in the yard, but I think Emma ate more then she picked!

He Is

2008-11-21T13:11:00.000+02:00

Our Neighborhood (today)

2008-10-25T13:13:00.007+02:00

Click on the picture to enlarge

Thank You Jesus

2008-10-24T10:15:00.018+02:00

For so long we have been praying for the children in our city. Gavin and Emma were the only kids in the church for a long time. All that changed after our summer kids club. We have many kids coming weekly and many of them have put their faith in Jesus! One of the boys comes with his mother, but the rest of them come without parents. Every Sunday they wake up and walk to church on their own. I'm so thankful for these little ones! I wanted to post these pictures from last week and ask you to be praying for them.

My Brother In-Law

2008-10-24T09:46:00.007+02:00

I just had to post this pic of my brother in-law Curtis. Not many people have in-laws this good looking!

Fall Day

2008-10-20T20:44:00.007+02:00

Fall

2008-10-13T23:57:00.000+02:00

My Family

2008-09-24T15:56:00.001+02:00

I just found these on the computer. I'm the most blessed guy in the whole world! I love you my family!

Knock Out

2008-09-20T15:05:00.005+02:00

An Encouraging Visit

2008-09-20T14:40:00.005+02:00

A lot of you know Paul and Melanie Billings. Paul is the Pastor of Calvary Chapel Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. They have been in Kyrgyzstan for the past 3 years. Last week they where able to come and visit for the day. It was really good to see them and their 3 beautiful kids, all boys! It was also wonderful hearing what the Lord is doing in Bishkek.

Paul and Melanie, thanks for visiting! It was a real blessing to see you!

Can You Dance?

2008-09-16T14:08:00.009+02:00

Cause my friend Adan can! Today we woke up and checked email and there were a bunch of Eyejot video's from the Marlette Family. They had some encouraging words and awesome dance moves that kept us smiling all morning long! We go so long without seeing so many of your faces that to get a video message or be able to talk on Skype is such a blessing for us. Thank you Marlette family for all the love and encouragement that you have shown us!

There is Adan bustin it out... Emma wants to start a dance team with him.

She Got It!

2008-09-15T12:27:00.006+02:00

Reenie just text messaged me that the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland gave her a 2 year personal invitation visa. This is great news because the documents that we have been waiting on are still not ready. Even with those documents she is only suppose to be able to get a 1 year visa and they just gave her 2! Praise God! Thank you all for praying.

Peddle Boats

2008-09-15T11:44:00.006+02:00

Here in Chernigov!

Update On Reenie's Visa Situation

2008-09-14T00:02:00.007+02:00

Reenie and Christina took off Friday morning for Poland. The papers Reenie needed from the government weren't ready for her to take with her. We are praying that they will be done on Monday so that we can fax them to her. Please be keeping Reeine and Christina in your prayers. Thank you!

Prayer For Reenie's Visa Situation

2008-09-09T20:29:00.008+02:00

I thought it was time to bust out the bat-beacon again. Reenie is having problems getting all the paper work together that she needs to get a new visa in Poland. She is running out of time and could really use your prayers. This is a letter that she just sent out and I thougtht I would post it for you all to read. Thank you for your prayers!

Hello!

If you could all be praying for this that would be great. My registration in the country ends on Friday (12th) so I need to be out of Ukraine by then. My visa ends on the 16th and I need to get a new one in Poland. The problem is that it could take way longer than expected for the local government here to finish my invitation letter, which I need in order to get a religious visa. If the letter is not finished and I'm not out of here by the 12th I will have to pay fees at the airport, and I just don't want to cause any hassles with the authorities. We tried to solve the problem by going across the border near Belarus but they weren't in a good mood, so they didn't let me.

Also pray for God's provision to pay for the trip and the visa. I know that
God will show Himself graceful! Thank you!!!

Reenie

Let's Go Fly A Kite

2008-09-07T20:06:00.007+02:00

We took an hour today and spent some time together. Gavin and Emma loved it!

Emma's a Pro!

Wedding Day

2008-09-06T01:29:00.006+02:00

Today Sasha and Sveta were married. We had the privilege of hosting the wedding in our yard. The weather was perfect and it was a wonderful time celebrating their union. We really wanted to get a few picture posted for all you guys back in CA that were here when they got engaged.

Trip to Western Ukraine

2008-09-02T17:57:00.011+02:00

Well, first off I would like to thank those of you that where praying for our time in western Ukraine. The trip was amazing! I was blown away by how God led and blessed us.

So many people where affected by the flooding and have lost everything. After the waters receded many of the homes had so much water damage that they just simply collapsed. Everything was covered in mud and none of the villages had clean drinking water. ( You can see the water lines on the houses in many of the pictures.) It was extremely sad because the majority of the people we met there were older and so helpless.

Our goal was to go down and help any way we could, so that Christ's love would be seen. We were able to buy tons of flour, oil, sugar, buckwheat, bread, and pasta to give to people. Many times as we would hand a bag to people they would be on the verge of tears, they were so thankful. We met one woman whose house had been completely under water for a week. One of our days was spent trying to help her clean and salvage what she could.

This trip put a lot of stuff in perspective for me. We met so many people. Some had quite a lot before the flood and many had very little, but after the waters left everyone had about the same. Nothing! There was one grandmother who had lost everything. She was living in a shack. She probably had less than anyone out there. But, as they tried to give her food and cloths, she refused some of it and told us that she had enough and that God would lead us to someone in greater need then she was. This sweet grandma had nothing and yet was content. This grandma loved Jesus!

We also had the chance to get to know the coolest bunch of Romanian believes! That's right Romainian! We were on the border of Romania and some of the towns and villages are almost 100% Romanian. This Romanian church took us in and showed us so much love and hospitlay. It was very humbling! I know that we all left this trip feeling like we were the ones that were being blessed.

Again, thank you for all your prayers!

(thanks to Greg and Jake for some of these pics )

Please pray...

2008-08-28T09:18:00.003+02:00

Very early this morning, Conor, Jake, and a group from our church, headed out to the other side of Ukraine. Earlier in the summer there was terrible flooding in Western Ukraine. The waters have receded and now there is need for clean up. Olya made contact with the pastor of a Baptist church in the area. He was extremely emotional and said that help is greatly needed. He was so happy to hear that we wanted to drive out and do some work. There was a lot of damage because of the flooding, people not only lost their homes, but they lost their gardens as well. All of the fruit and vegetables they planned on preparing for the winter months have been lost. It will take a long time to restore the area and a lot of help is needed in the smaller villages where there are many elderly people who can't do such hard work on their own.

Please pray for the group: Conor, Jake, Anya, Marina, Vlada, Valya, Mira, Olya, Adre, Greg, and Dominic. Pray for protection as they make the ten hour drive. Pray for direction as far as where to help and wisdom for how to help. Pray that a lot of fruitful labor would take place and that people would come to know Christ.

The plan is for the group to return early Sunday morning. I'll let you you know how things progress. Thank you for your prayers!

Black Sea Vacation

2008-08-26T10:38:00.001+02:00

It was a blessing to get away for the week at the Black Sea. Our vacation was restful and the kids had a great time in the water. Thank you for all those that were praying for us to have a refreshing time. The Lord blessed it!

Voice Pictures (As Requested)

2008-08-01T10:00:00.000+02:00

Little Lions

2008-07-13T23:06:00.003+02:00

Here's some video of the youngest group at our kids camp. They were called the "Little Lions."
We advertised the camp as a place where kids could learn English.
Here the little lions are trying to repeat a few words and they couldn't be cuter!

Tired, But Good

2008-07-11T13:28:00.006+02:00

This morning we finished our last children's festival. We have a few hours till we head back to prepare for our last night of Voice. Everyone is pretty tired, but we're really looking forward to tonight. I will let you know how it goes and try to write more about the whole week soon.