Merry Christmas from Kyiv!

Merry Christmas!

Clarke, the girls and I have enjoyed our Christmas Eve and Day here in Ukraine.  We were able to have Anna spend the weekend with us and just now Clarke had to leave to take her back to the "House of Joy".  We had fun shopping, cooking, wrapping, singing and preparing on Christmas Eve Day.

Today we went to church ICA (International Christian Assembly) here in Kyiv (8 Metro stops away from the apartment on the blue line).  As we approached the entrance, Christmas carols were being sung and I had to hold back my tears.  It felt so good to be here celebrating with fellow believers on the day we remember the birth of our Savior.  As we joined into song "What Child is this?"  the verse that resounded in my heart was:

"Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,

The cross be borne for me, for you.

Hail, hail the Word made flesh,

The Babe, the Son of Mary."

Thank you Jesus for coming to earth to be our Savior, 

Lord of lords, Wonderful Counselor, King of Kings, our comforter

Creator, Deliverer, Holy Messiah

Immanuel (God with us) 

Peace on earth and goodwill to men.  

And the bells they're ringing, 

Like a choir they're singing

And with our hearts we'll hear them

Do you hear the bells, they're ringing

The life the angels singing

Open up your heart and hear them

Peace on earth, goodwill to men

(Casting Crowns)

Below is our Christmas greeting to you all!  We had fun putting it together and we would love to hear what you had for Christmas dinner.  Sit back and take a glimpse into some Ukrainian culture and yummy food!

Merry Christmas from Ukraine

Our adoption process is still in a holding pattern.  We are praying for court at the end of this week, before the New Year Holiday.  It is all in God's timing I know, but prayers are much appreciative for us to at least find out when the SDA will have the paperwork approved.  Since the SDA opened back up in the beginning of December, as I understand it, the typical 3-5 day approval at the SDA has now turned into up to a 10 day wait.  Our paperwork approval in the Fastiv region seemed to go seemingly painless and our facilitator had the paperwork in the hands of the SDA on December 21st.

Anna, Natalie and Rhya enjoying dessert

While we wait we will visit a few places this week.  We will visit with Tatiana (from UOO camp 2011) tomorrow and we would also like to visit "Fathers House" here in the Kyiv region this week as well.  We will also do some sight seeing with the girls as well as continue to enjoy the Christmas season in Ukraine!

On Friday December 23rd, we had dinner with the DeYoung family and walked around Independence Square enjoying the lights and the wonderful chocolatey tastes that Kyiv has to offer!

Natasha, Anna, Natalie, Clarke, Rhya, Abigal, Bruce and Michelle

So, will you please share what you had for Christmas Dinner?  It would be great to hear from as many as possible!

Merry Christmas!