Orphan Sunday

Orphan Sunday
Summer 2014

Sunday, March 23, 2014

The Calendar Says It's Spring

Well, the calendar says it's spring even if the upstate NY weather hasn't sprung!  It's still cold, but our days are busy and full.  Recently I enjoyed a little escape with Sierra as we headed to the western part of NY to visit Houghton College.  She loved it - even if it is 4 1/2 hours away.  She's already been accepted there for the fall, but we're looking at a couple more.  I guess that means more road trips are pending!
Houghton Or Bust!

The little boys are getting cabin fever.  They keep escaping to Daddy's garage and dragging various items of interest into the house.  The other day Jordan actually used plexiglass and wood dowels and built this little table.  Slava decided to enjoy his snack on it.

Great Grandmothers with Iona!
 I love this pic of my mom (on left) and my mother-in-law (on right) holding their great-granddaughter!  This is a precious picture to me.  My mom has been ill and my mother-in-law had a hip replacement the same day the baby was born!

Legislative Day in Albany, NY
 Crystal Langdon, of Crystal Clear Finances invited me to share her table at Leg Day 2014 so I could represent Justice For Orphans there.  Crystal is responsible for me being on the radio for the very first time a few years ago.  That led to our radio show on The New Light WDCD in Albany, and then the Lord opened the door further for us to be on The Sound of Life also.  Two exciting radio developments:  (1) all of our past Orphans No More shows are now on our website  http://justicefororphansny.org just click on "Events" and then "Radio Show"!  (2) WDCD just added another time slot for or show!  We are now on 1:30pm Fridays, 10:30am Sundays, and 1:30pm Wednesdays!
Miss Iona & Aunt Sierra
 This little blessing is getting bigger! She's almost 2 months old already!  She's looking around and checking everyone out - and there are a lot of us to check out!
Uncle Curtis!
 Iona would like to announce that her Uncle Curtis made the Dean's list at RPI this quarter!  

Grammy & Iona
 Wednesday nights are my "date nights" with my grand baby!  I love this special time to visit with Wayne Jr., Kerri, and the baby.
Grammy Love!

Can you tell I'm loving being a grandma?  


Sunday, March 9, 2014

Exceeding Abundantly Above

Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worth in us.  Unto Him be glory...   Ephesians 3:20

It's been a long winter, but God has been faithful and blessings abound!  
I came home from a day of appointments and found the kids all outside and playing with these giant icicles.  We've been studying the American Revolution and it has affected their play time!

Icicle Guns!
Jordan, Slava, Neighbor Mary, and Anna

Slava - Burrito Bongo!
 Slava often has trouble managing himself and deep-pressure touch helps him to regulate.  I'm always on the look out for ways to help him manage.  He has a weighted blanket which I wrap him in burrito-style when he feels the need.  The other day I added these weighted core discs and played "bongos" on him.  He loved it!
Patriots!
 We've been watching the Liberty's Kids dvd series as part of our history curriculum.  We've also been following the current events in Ukraine since our kids are from there, we have friends there, and it's a country near-and-dear to our hearts.  While watching an episode of Liberty's Kids which included a battle between the Patriots and the British, Jordan commented, "This looks like what's going on in Ukraine."  Hmmmm, very good observation, my son!

Baby Shower Shenanigans!
 Sierra, Missy, Anna, & Kerri (opening gift).
We finally were able to pull off a baby shower for Kerri.  Between snow storms, sickness, and Iona arriving early, this was no small fete!  
Me and my girls!
 L-R (Anna, Kerri w/ Iona, Me, Missy, & Sierra)

Sending off a son.
 Recently our pastor's son, Sergey, who was adopted from Ukraine over 10 years ago, embarked on a new adventure.  He headed back to Ukraine to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM).  He's with a team that works with older kids in orphanages.  Serg has a heart to minister to orphans in Ukraine, as he had been one.  In the pic Pastor Stan is preparing to pray for his son.  On the left is Victor, Sergey's younger bio brother.  These 2 young men know what "adopted to sonship" really means.

JFO - "Love In Action" wrist band fundraiser.
 We are currently preparing for our biggest JFO event to date.  Our Love In Action - Finding Families For NY's Waiting Children event on May 16th is a foster care focused event.  Our fundraiser includes these wrist bands we're asking a $3 donation each for.  Let me know if you'd like one...or ten!  To learn more visit our website:  http://justicefororphansny.org

JFO's Justice Conference booth!
 Wayne decided to take our little boys skiing for the weekend recently, so I used the opportunity to represent JFO at the Justice Conference in Clifton Park, NY.

Radio Show Recording
 This is my view front the hosts' seat for our radio show Orphans No More.  For this episode we interviewed Stepan & Oksana Terletsky of Mercy Trucks Ukraine (pictured on the laptop).  It was our first attempt to record a show from a remote location, in this case Ukraine.  In the background is Mary's son, Kireel.  He was watching from the producer's studio.  You can listen to past episodes of the show by visiting our website http://justicefororphansny.org and click on "Events" and then "Radio Show".

Slava's Stitches
 Friday evening, while everyone was out and I was home all by myself (a rare occurrence) the phone rang beckoning me to urgent care.  Slava was bitten by a friend's dog.  With Slava's many issues, impulse control and reasoning are weak points.  He has pulled a very large dog's tail and was bitten as a result.
 He got 3 stitches in his left cheek, 1 on his head, and 5 in his ear.  He's on an antibiotic and we're watching him closely.  When I discussed with him that we should never touch a dog, he pretty much declared that if that dog bit him again he'd punch it.  I guess we still have a lot of work to do!

Singing Sisters

Missy stopped by the other day to practice music with Sierra.  Missy works at an assisted living facility and she's had Sierra come in to play the piano for the residents.  Now they're  working on some songs together.  I was blessed to hear their music!  

So that's what's been going on here!  Feeling very blessed!