Vanya

I am so excited for you to read this post because in it you will "meet" a kid who I am extremely proud of. My first memories of Vanya are him and Kory singing pop songs like "Beautiful Girl" and some JT song.:)

Today he is a Godly young man with a passion for Christ. Seriously I am so proud of him! Please take 2 minutes to watch the following video and then read on to learn more about this special young man and how God has worked in his life.

“I remember the first time I saw Vanya because there was something different about him. Yes, he was the only black kid in the orphanage, but more than that, there was something about his eyes that intrigued me.

“Vanya is a smart kid.” Denis, our director, told us. “He was abandoned as a newborn. His parents were students at the university and he is very smart.”

I smiled at him and he smiled back. His outgoing personality was evident as he tried his hand at English. I met a lot of kids at that summer camp in 2004, but Vanya is the one I remember."

-Marla Ringger, Orphan Advocate

Vanya, then 13, was just learning the power of Christ’s love in his life. Recently Lifesong for Orphans had started a program at his home in Sachnovsheena Orphanage. And though Vanya resisted the Gospel at first, through the examples of volunteers and staff members, Biblical mentorship, and educational support he began to see Christ’s love in action, and knew this was something he wanted for himself.

Now at 19, Vanya continues to rise above standards and expectations. He lives in one of Lifesong’s Transition Homes in Kharkov, a home designed to support those aging out of the orphanage system, studies English at the local college, translates for Americans who come to visit, and mentors younger boys at the orphanage in the same way the Lifesong staff once mentored him!

We praise God for success stories like Vanya’s and are thankful for our partners who continue to support those like him both financially and in prayer!

Vanya from Lifesong for Orphans on Vimeo.

Visiting Ukraine - An Update to a Previous Post

Not too long ago I put up a post I had written 2 years ago about some of the kids I have met in Ukraine. Let me give you a few updates!

Tonya is living in Transition home #2. She has a contagious smile and is going to school to be a fashion designer. Denis and Tonya have unofficially adopted her into their home.

Vanya is a Christian. He lives in Transition home #1 and he hopes someone will sponsor him so he can come to the United States for school. It is extremely tough being a black man in Ukraine. He is an amazing young man with a gentle spirit.

Andrea is living in Transition home #2. He is still one of the most friendly people I know with a huge smile. He likes to practice his English when Americans are around. He wants to be a contractor.

Little Tonya is still at Loubetein. Her dad still refuses to let her be fostered or adopted. She was away at a camp when I was visiting so I didn't get to see her this trip.

Alla came to visit us on Sunday night. She has not made a decision for Christ. I don't know what her life is like. She looked hard to me, BUT she came to see us and that says something.

Please keep these amazing kids and the ones coming behind them in your prayers. Pray that God will continue to work through Lifesong, that people in Ukraine will step up and join in the work and that people in America will step up and provide funds that make the work possible.

And, please pray that more and more orphans will break free from the cycle of hopelessness that ensnares so many.

I believe prayer is a powerful tool. Thank you for caring enough to lift these special kids up to our Heavenly Father - your prayers make a difference and that is an exciting thing!

Visiting Ukraine - Transition Homes

In Ukraine, kids age out of the orphanage around 16 or 17 years old. The government will typically provide the opportunity to go to school (depending on grades) and a place to live in state-run dorms.
On the surface this sounds good, but in reality...

• The dorms are not nice places to live and


• The kids are released into the world with little if nothing to catch them when they fall.

So Lifesong started building transition homes (to see pictures and learn more go here).

The transition homes provide a wonderful environment along with CCP staff who live in the homes with the kids. To grab a hold of this opportunity, the kids need to be serious about their lives. They need to commit to staying away from drugs, alcohol and prostitution. They need to commit to going to school and becoming productive members of society.

And the kids who live there are absolutely AMAZING!

You could see the pride in their eyes as they showed us their rooms. We got to hear about their goals and what they are becoming: gardeners, mechanics, contractors, teachers.

They are breaking the cycle of hopelessness. The cycle in which orphans create orphans.

Instead they are becoming orphans who mentor orphans.

Take Ruslana. Ruslana grew up in orphanage #4 (one of the tougher ones in the area). Today she is a Christian who is on Lifesong's staff. She lives in Transition Home #1 as a mentor and she works at Loubetein coaching the kids in various sporting activities with the ultimate goal of winning them for Christ.

The afternoon we spent at Loubetein was special. We did a craft project with the kids and then got to play basketball and volleyball with them. While we were playing in the gym Kolya showed up. Kolya stays in Transition home #2, he came to volunteer his time, to mentor those who were coming behind him.

I am telling you, these kids blew me away. Their amazing smiles and gentle spirits. I so wish you could have been there, to see them. They are the fruit of this ministry. A wonderful, fragrant site to behold!

Don't let this little girls face fool you. She was a sweetie with a mischevious grin. She will most likely be adopted by a family in Ukraine. Her brother lives at Loubetein with her. You could tell right away he was also her protector. Pray that the family who wants to adopt her will want to adopt him as well.

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

2 Corinthians 3:2-3

Visiting Ukraine - part 1

We were given a tour of an orphanage near the city of Zap. An orphanage administrator took us around the building to see where the kids sleep and where they go to school.


They took us to see the little kids (I'm guessing ages 3 - 5) who were playing together in a small room.

One little girl (pictured right) caught my eye. I tried to get her name, but every time I asked she would bring me a toy car with missing wheels to play with.


I wanted to play with her, but before I knew it the orphanage administrator was hurrying us along to see another part of the building.

She took us through the bedrooms where we saw 15-20 beds crammed together.




The older kids are a little more spread out, with an average of 6 staying in one room.


As we were walking through the halls of that building, being stared at by teenage kids with hard faces, I tried not to think about what we were seeing. I tried not to think about what it would be like for my little friend as she grew up, day in and day out, in a place like this.

But when you are staring reality in the face, it is hard not to think about it.

It was hard to leave. When you see kids, interact with them, hug them, they become more than a picture or an idea. It is one thing to hear about kids in an orphanage, it is another thing to see them face to face. It is heartbreaking.


But, there is hope. God is using volunteers and the staff of Lifesong for Orphans to reach these kids. They can't change their living conditions, but they can love on them and teach them about Jesus. They can mentor them and pray for them.


And they are making a difference. I saw that more on this trip than ever before.


Visiting the orphanage near Zap (where Lifesong has been involved for a little over one year) and then visiting Loubetein (where Lifesong has been for over 6 years) I could see a difference in the kids and how they interacted with us and each other.


In case you are curious, here is how Lifesong is making a difference. The goal of Lifesong in Ukraine is to bring CCP (constant Christian presence) into the orphanages who are willing to work with them. The CCP work at the orphanages on a daily basis, teaching classes, hosting after-school activities, running camps in the summer, and basically just being there. They also raise money to help renovate and improve the orphanages. A few projects include playgrounds, computer labs and refurbished gym floors.


If you want to hear more or watch a few short videos about this program, go here.


The second part of Lifesong's work in Ukraine are the transition homes, but that will be a blog post for another day!

A Thousand Words

I'm not sure how to begin telling you about my trip to Ukraine. I've been thinking about it all week, processing...

There is so much I want to share. I feel compelled to write about the special kids I met in the hopes that maybe your heart will be pricked and you will get involved.

But it is so hard to know where to start.

Thank you for your prayers is probably the place to begin. I felt them and God answered them.

To start with, the day we arrived I was reunited with Varya AND Valya. I truly believe our meeting was a miracle, orchestrated by God. I will tell you more about that later. Like I said, I'm still processing.

For now I am not going to write much, just show you pictures (with captions). As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so hopefully these pictures will make up for my current lack of words!

Me and my girls, Valya and Varya!

Dad interacting with the kids at an orphanage near Zap. His favorite phrase that day: Yabba Dabba Do. If you ever hear a young Ukrainian child repeating that phrase, you'll know where they learned it!

Me and Corinna - One of the kids I was drawn to immediately.

Misha - our driver for the week. An amazing man who knows first hand what it is like to be persecuted for your faith.

Sept 1 is the first day of school in Ukraine and involves a big celebration. All the children dress in black and white. Programs with "important people" are held at schools across the country. We saw a very abbreviated program at the orphanage in Zap. Abbreviated because of rain. They asked my dad to say a few words.

He said, "Thank you for inviting us. I will talk long while you get rained on," just as it started to pour. They laughed nervously and were glad when he ended his speech one line later.

I stayed at one of the transition homes. These are homes Lifesong for Orphans has built for kids once they graduate out of the orphanage. To live there, they must commit to certain rules of conduct. The alternative is state-run dorms which are nasty places.

The kids I stayed with are amazing. More on them later too! Here I am with Galya and Natasha.

Playing Phase 10 in Transition Home #2

Denis (president of Lifesong for Orphans, Ukraine) has a vision of creating a camp for kids from the surrounding orphanages to visit. The site is beautiful. You can see the house in the background of the picture below.

An older couple will live there. The ideas is giving the kids a chance to visit "Grandpa and Grandma's house." To give the kids a chance to experience a piece of family.

Our last day in Ukraine we took a tour of a botanical garden with some of the kids from Loubetein.

And then we went to spend a day in Vienna Austria.

Talk about culture shock!

We went on a tour of the Schoenberg Palace. You can tell how excited everyone was from the picture below!

That's all for now.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but these pictures seem inadequate leaving so much to tell!

Ukraine part 4 - The Kids

Another post I found while "organizing my blog labels" that was never published. I think this might be what you call perfect timing! Let me introduce you to some of the great kids I get to see this week! Please keep them (and me) in your prayers.

The kids at Loubetine (like all orphans) have had hard lives. Somehow, when I am with them it is easy to forget this. It is easy to get caught up in the day-to-day activities of the camp, enjoying fun interactions with the kids, laughing and smiling with them and forget about what brought them to Loubetine in the first place. Denis (head of Life International Ukraine) shared a few stories with us.

Tonya lives with Denis and Tonya right now. She is one of three kids they are fostering over the summer. Denis told us that she was forced to get her meals from garbage cans until she was found at the age of 12 and taken to Loubetine. Today she is a Christian (and was recently baptized). She lives with Denis and Tonya over the summer and holiday breaks (during the school year she still lives at Loubetine). Once she is out of Loubetine she will probably move in to the Transition Home (more on that tomorrow). She has a hope!

Vanya (pictured with Kory) has grown up in the orphanage. He never knew his father or mother. His last name is the name of the town where he was born. He actually grew up in an orphanage in Saknoshinah, but they only teach the kids through the 9th grade making it impossible for them to go on to college. Because of Life International (LI), Vanya and two other boys, were transferred to Loubetine so they could finish high school and move on to college. Vanya speaks very good English. He and Kory would go around camp singing American pop songs to each other! He goes to church, but is not committed to Christ at this point. Keep him in your prayers.

Andrei (pictured below with Kory) was one of the most friendly guys I have ever met. Every morning he would make it a point to personally welcome all of us back to Loubetine. He would come up, shake our hands and say hello. He was transferred to Loubetine with Vanya. He is a Christian. The day we left camp, he came up to me at least twice and said "You are a good sister". He is a special kid!


Pictured with me is little Tonya (there were about 20 Tonya's!). Kory wanted to take her home with us. Her dad brought her a bag of candy while we were at Loubetine. But, he doesn't want to be involved with her beyond that. There was a family who wanted her to come and stay with them on weekends, but her dad wouldn't let her. He doesn't want to be involved in her life and he doesn't want anyone else to be either.

Alla (pictured with Mom) is a girl my parents have kept in touch with ever since our first trip to Loubetine. Many of her friends have made the decision to follow Christ, but she has held back. She knows the truth. And sometimes, she will go to church. She seemed so sad at camp. So unhappy. Denis said she had just spent a month with her sister who is a prostitute.

So many of the kids have relatives who have made bad choices. So many of them seem destined to make the same choices. It can seem hopeless. That is why LI's work is so important. God is using the LI staff in huge ways in the lives of these kids. They are being taught of God's love and given the tools needed to break the cylce of hopelessness. They are given hope. But, it still comes down to their individual choices. It is not easy. Keep them in your prayers. Natasha (LI Staff who works at Loubetine) told me as we left to pray for the older girls specifically. "They are broken" she said. I am asking you to pray for them as well. Pray that God would heal them and put them back together again. Also, pray for the LI Staff, that God would give them wisdome as they interact and work with these special, broken kids.

Before I go today, I thought I would share about the two girls I asked you to pray for. I didn't get to see either of them (probaly the biggest disappointment of the trip for me), but I did get to talk to Varya on the phone. At one point, she apologized to me for hanging out with unbelievers. Keep her in your prayers. She, like Alla, knows the truth. They have so much baggage to overcome, but with Christ all things are possible! There is hope!

A Little Pencil

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."

- Mother Theresa

I have been given the opportunity to travel to Ukraine later this week. I am excited to go... and nervous.

This trip is different from ones I have taken in the past for two reasons:

• I am going without Kory (he is staying home with the kids).
• I am not going with an obvious purpose.

In the past we have gone to run a summer camp at Loubetein orphanage.

This year, there will be no summer camp.

A small group of business men and women are going as part of a vision team with my parents. Some going on the trip are committed to becoming more involved in the Ukraine ministry. Others are going to see if they want to become more involved.

I am tagging along.

I'm not exactly sure what I will be doing. I hope to be that little pencil Mother Theresa was talking about to the kids I meet. Not that I can't be that little pencil here in the States. I can. I hope I am.

But when God drops a trip to Ukraine in your lap, out-of-the-blue, with the doors wide open, you step through them.

Even when it is hard to leave your family and you don't know exactly what you will be doing and you struggle with whether you bring enough value to the trip to justify the cost and it means leaving your comfort zone.

I hope to see my friend Varya. I also hope to see Valya (a miracle I am asking for).

My main purpose in writing this post is this: Please pray for this trip. Please pray for Varya and Valya because I love them and I don't think many people pray for them.

And selfishly, please pray for me, that I can be that little pencil who, by the grace of God, is not afraid to move out of my comfort zone and participate in God's love letter to the children he puts in my path.

Remembering Ukraine

Five years ago Kory and I made our first trip to Ukraine. A part of my heart will forever be attached to that country and the people we met.

Lifesong for Orphans sponsored the trip. Our purpose was to minister to orphans. We helped run a camp of sorts (you can read about last year's trip here). I don't know if our purpose was fulfilled. I have a feeling the American team were the ones truly ministered to.

Since that first trip, 4 teams have returned to Loubetein orphanage. Kory has been a part of two of those teams. I have been a part of one.

Last Sunday, we had a reunion. I knew some of the people who attended. Others, I knew of by name only. Regardless, we all shared a love for a group of kids living in Ukraine.

During the reunion we shared memories of our time at Loubetein. I shared a story about a girl I met on the very first trip. Her name is Valya. You can read that story here.

I still pray for Valya. I know seeds of truth were planted in her heart because of the presences of Lifesong staffers at Loubetein. I also know she has made heartbreaking choices since leaving the orphanage.

But I will always pray for her. I feel like God placed her in my heart for a purpose.

I believe my Heavenly Father knows Valya intimately and He loves her regardless of the choices she makes. I think He connected my heart to Valya's because He wants her to be remembered and prayed for. I get to partner with Him (in a small way) in Valya's life.

My connection with Valya strengthens my belief in a God who cares.

I suppose you could argue that if God really cared, Valya would not live in an orphanage. Orphans would not exist. I don't want to get into that kind of debate in a blog post.

But let me share this thought: We are a broken people living in a broken world. Despite our brokenness, the God of the Universe reaches down and touches lives in personal ways. Sometimes he uses other people to fulfill this purpose. Regardless, He makes himself known and available to those who seek Him. He cares.

He cares about me. He cares about Valya.

I will probably never hear what happened to Valya in this lifetime. But I pray that someday in Heaven I will run into a small girl with long blond hair and brown eyes. She will tell me her story and I will tell her mine and we will rejoice together because we serve a God who cares.