Alyona and Slavik...

...Humble me.

Last October, Bill and I were in Ukraine working to adopt Katya.  Every day was spent chasing forms, waiting on the other side of closed doors, opening up every detail of our lives for scrutiny by people who just couldn't understand why a couple with six children would want to adopt another.

Slavik drove us from place to place and Alyona, steel velvet that she is, ran all the negotiations.  Working to see orphans moved from institutions to families would be, for most of us, enough.  But not for Alyona and Slavik.

During the month that they were helping us adopt Katya they also:

• Began a program called Kid Games in five orphanages in the villages outside of Odessa.  Every Saturday they went to a different orphanage offering sports, games, and the message of Christ. During Kid Games, Alyona and Slavik were able to connect with nearly 500 orphans bringing hope into their world.
• Hosted American missionaries from Romania for a ministry workshop and gave them a tour of Odessa on a Sunday afternoon, instead of taking a nap.
• The ministry workshop was to learn how to be a clown.  So, on Monday night, after sending the Romanian missionaries on their way and spending the day with us, Slavik painted his face, put on his clown suit and spent the evening with children in the pediatric oncology ward of the hospital.
• Asked for prayer and support, and took their Kid Games and went to a village orphanage in Ananyevo, outside of Odessa.

Would you please pray also and spread the word about the village orphanage in Ananyevo (Odessa region). We are going there this Sat. There are 160 orphans. They need almost EVERYTHING: shoes, jackets, stationary, drawing pads, sport equipment and etc. We are going to run the Kids Games project there for 4 weeks (Saturdays) and this Sat is the first one. We trully hope to raise some support so to bless them supplying at least some needs.

All of this WHILE helping Bill and I to adopt Katya.

Yesterday I emailed Alyona and told her that people are interested and desire to support her and Slavik in their work.

I love her email back to me:

This is so interesting, Cindy!! Thank you very much for spreading the word about our ministry! God is great!! May God bless you richly our dear friend!!!

Wouldn't it be great to richly bless this couple who is pouring out their lives for the forgotten children of Ukraine?  Julia is working to get a mechanism in place for donations and I will hopefully have news on that soon.  Alyona did send me her phone number, for those who are going over to the Odessa region and would like to make personal contact and/or take donations. If you would like this phone number, you may email me at cynthiafin@gmail.com.

Tune in tomorrow for more with Alyona and Slavik!