all within us

we sat in a church service sunday morning in kiev & praises rose up out of a little room full of big hearts...

"i'm counting on God"

"let all within us praise His Holy Name"

"amazing grace, how sweet the sound"

He gently & consistently reminds us in more ways than i can count that He is God & He's got it.  when my heart & emotions get jumbled up, missing hazel & anders, ready for lena, waiting an extra week...He is faithful, He is all we need & He is abundantly enough.

when we found out about our appointment delay & therefore an extra week in kiev, we scrambled calling & emailing contacts we have made in the past with ukraine.  some amazing folks connected us with other amazing folks & we have ended up staying with an amazing family at their apartment here in kiev...yes, i know, a lot of amazing:)

the family we are staying with are really great.  they are fun, they love the Lord, they have a precious baby girl & they are so, so generous.  they may never fully know how the Lord has used them to encourage us & to bless us on this journey to bring Lena home.  in them, in their giving hearts, in the way God has so clearly used them, we see the beauty of the body of Christ, the provision & faithfulness of our loving Father.  how do you say thank you to people who do that?!?  writing a note seems silly.  we are so grateful & an unexpected week has turned into something wonderful.

we got to watch them (aka try not to be in the way) as they put up their christmas tree

great views from their apartment

the family is a part of ICA Kiev, a great church & they took us with them to a christmas play/dessert theater that the church put on.  it was wonderful & such an amazing representation of the gospel!

tara & i at the play...doesn't she just look fun:)

christmas carols after the play

when you stay with americans in ukraine, you end up making things like pioneer woman lasagna...& by "you", i mean tara...i just tried to help some. 

however, you use all ukrainian ingredients, so great sausage & fresh herbs & real mozzerella & parmeson...it was so delicious.

more debonair-ness from matt...snacking on pomegranite

we took that wonderful lasagna over to the apartment of another wonderful gal, karen, who has families stay with her during the adoption process.  

we loved getting to know karen (she is also good friend with the family we are staying with) & how God has used her in ukraine, as well as the story of this family who had just arrived.  this will be their 4th child to adopt from ukraine & they have a great heart & vision for orphans here.

tomorrow we will go back to the department of adoption for our appointment.  i hope to have no updates until we are with Lena in her region in a few days!!