Motherhood, Ministry, and Miracles

We are in an incredibly busy season right now.  With the arrival of September came the beginning of our home school year, Justice For Orphans is in full swing, and Jordan had surgery.  

Big Brother Curtis helping Little Brother Slava

 Curtis began his junior year of college at RPI.  He still lives home and it blesses my heart when I see him taking time out of his busy schedule to play with the little boys.  Sierra is a senior in high school, at home of course.  She is taking all of her courses through Liberty University's Edge Program and will officially graduate high school in December.  She will be an official Liberty college student in January, but has her heart set on attending Houghton in the fall (sniff, sniff, tear, tear).  Andrii is in 11th grade with plans to attend Hudson Valley to become an electrician.  Anna is in 7th grade, Jordan is in 3rd, and Slava is in 1st.

Anna cracking the books!

 In addition to homeschooling, Slava is receiving services again this year from our local public school.  I really prayed that the school schedule would work with our home schedule and thankfully it does.  On Tuesdays we are at the school from 1:00-2:30pm for Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech.  On Thursdays we are there from 1:30-3:00pm for OT, Social Skills, and Speech.  Since these classes are in the afternoon they do not interfere with our school day and I use the block of time to run errands close by and conduct business from my car (orphan ministry business that is)!  It's kind of nice to have a quiet hour to sit and work on emails and radio show outlines.

Jordan and Andrii (hiding) hard at work!

Andrii being our poster child at the Casting Crowns concert!

 This is the busy time of year for our orphan ministry.  We had the amazing opportunity to be part of the Sound of Life's booth at the Casting Crowns concert on 9/12 at the Glens Falls Civic Center.  We handed out 150 Orphan Sunday postcards and 140 JFO postcards and we could have doubled that had we brought more.

Mary & I at the Miriam's Heart regional conference in NJ

 Mary and I went to NJ for an orphan conference.  Miriam's Heart is a ministry very similar to Justice For Orphans.  We learned some things and made some great connections.  October 26th is our 2nd annual orphan conference and November 3rd is Orphan Sunday.  These are 2 of our biggest events and they are keeping us very busy.  The radio part of our ministry is growing too.  Our partnership with the Sound of Life is getting us much airtime everyday and our radio show "Orphans No More" is now being aired twice a week!  We are also looking at extending our contract with the New Light 96.7fm which means the weekly show will continue.  God is doing amazing things!

Happy Birthday Wayne Jr.!

 A mother's job is never done!  We celebrated Wayne Jr.'s 24th birthday this month.  It's hard to believe that my first-born baby boy is going to have a baby of his own!  We are sooo excited!

Wayne & Slava

 We took some time out for a family fun day at a local theme park.  It was a beautiful fall day and the kids had a great time!

Jordan post-surgery this week.

 I have lost track of how many of these rod-lengthening surgeries Jordan has had.  But since he had the growing rods inserted for his severe scoliosis, he has had to endure this surgery every 6 months.  He is such a brave boy!  The plan all along has been that once his torso stops growing (for most boys that's in the early teen years) then the growing rods would be replaced with permanent rods and spinal fusion.  We sort of just accepted this plan and rejoiced at the fact that his spine is getting straighter.  But after this surgery when Dr. Carl met with me, he indicated that we have several options - one being NOT putting in permanent rods and NOT doing spinal fusion!  I was stunned and even repeated what he said back to him to make sure I heard correctly.  Jordan's spine now has a curvature around 30-40 degrees.  The doctor said that if a teenage boy walked into his office with that type of curve, he wouldn't even do surgery on him!  It will all depend upon how Jordan grows over the next couple years.  He's 10 years old but only a peanut at 4 ft.  But we know that this is a miracle in the making!!!!

Another miracle in the making.....

Mom-to-be Kerri

Gender reveal parties are all the trend these days, so we of course had to have one!  Tuesday night the family gathered for some pizza and very special cup-cakes.  Inside these cupcakes was a very special cream filling in a very special color - would it be pink or blue?????  Twenty cupcakes were passed out on the count of 3 we all dove in.  I did not have a preference, none of us did really.  Well, Slava did want the baby to be a boy named "Slava".  We are all very excited that a baby is on the way.  A boy or a girl???????   It's a girl!!!!!!  We are expecting Iona Elizabeth Flach to arrive in early February!

Yes the blessings and joys of motherhood, ministry, and miracles.  And now that I hear mayhem coming from the other room...it's time to go start school!