Merry Christmas from Flach Manor!

It amazes me how busy life has gotten.  It's been 2 months since I updated this blog and my goal is to update weekly!  Well, time to get you caught up on what we've been up to!  

When I last updated, Justice For Orphans was in full swing of preparing for our annual orphan conference on 10/26 and Orphan Sunday on 11/3.  Then we launched a month-long campaign on The Sound of Life radio network to celebrate National adoption month in November.  As our weekly radio show wrapped up at the end of November, Mary and I sensed that God wasn't done yet, so we renewed our contract with The New Light WDCD and are back in the studio recording our weekly Orphans No More show.  We are in awe at how the Lord has grown this ministry.  We are prayerfully seeking Him for a vision for 2014 as we anticipate many exciting opportunities to share God's heart for the orphan with the Church.  

On the home front, life is busy and blessed as usual.  We celebrated Slava's 8th birthday, Anna's 14th birthday, and Wayne's 50th - all in October!  Then Sierra turned 17 in November and I officially graduated her from homeschool-high school in December.  She is now enrolled in Liberty University's online degree program, and since all her credits she'd been earning through Liberty's Edge Program (for high school students) transferred over to the degree program, she will have an Associates Degree in Psychology by August (at the age of 17 I might add)!  Curtis just completed his first semester at RPI and plans to move into his own apartment in late January.  We just survived the 1st quarter of our homeschool year with all the kids doing great.  Slava is still attending OT, PT and Speech weekly too.  We are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of Iona Elizabeth!  Kerri has about 7 weeks left to her due date of 2/11.  Did I mention we are excited!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wayne Jr. sharing his espresso expertise with Sierra.

 Sierra got an espresso machine for her birthday and has been busy caffeinating the whole family!

Orphans No More!

 Mary and I were so excited to interview my good friend, Phyllis Whittam, and her 2 adopted children as we celebrated National Adoption Month on the show!

Orphan Sunday!

 As Mary spear-headed the Orphan Sunday celebration at our church, I was at Goodwill Church in Montgomery, NY with the Sound of Life radio network.  Sierra and Andrii joined me as orphan ministry is a family ministry!  I got to speak at both services at Goodwill and on the air with SoL.  We had a long, exhausting, blessed day which ended with a dinner date with Wayne's cousin and her husband who live down by Montgomery.

My heart swells with blessing...

 ...I walked into church early one morning to discover my boys (left-to-right):  Curtis, Andrii, Jordan, and Wayne Jr. in an impromptu jam session!

Making Dreams Come True!

 Anna has long desired a horse of her own.  She's taken lessons for a while now and we'd been on the look out for a good "first horse" for her.  Anna's instructor found this horse for us.  And it seemed that  if we were ever going to make her dream come true - this was the horse to do it with.  We welcomed Avalon, an 8 year old mare, American Quarter Horse - paint to the family in December.  She's boarding at the stable near our house where Anna takes lessons, but in the spring we plan to move her to Flach Manor once we're set up for a horse.    This is a big step for us, but since equine therapy can have such a positive impact on kids from hard places, we feel it is worth the investment.

What is Flach Manor you ask?  Well, it's an affectionate name for our home that our teens came up with.  They've even started answering the phone, "Hello, Flach Manor."  It stuck!

Jordan plowing the driveway after a recent snow storm.

Slava "helping" with the snow blower!

Happy 8th Birthday, Slava!

 He wanted his own Bible for his birthday.

Happy 14th Birthday, Anna!

That's all from Flach Manor for now.  I pray you have a blessed Christmas season and a Happy New Year.  If you enjoy following our family you can find me on Facebook at "Sandra Flach" and our ministry at "Justice For Orphans"!