Sat. Evening Post- the Friday Ad section

FOR SALE: My brother's childhood and adolescence

*disclaimer: at some point, we children will have to go through our parent's house and get rid of the junk(or treasure, as some refer to it). I am simply choosing to do so now rather than later.


This fantastic collection of treasured items is sure to please any avid collector of just about anything. Treasures include, but are not limited to:

A Christmas greeting drawn and sent by my grandfather for his sister, circa 1943

*an original Florida mortgage deed from 1896, plus other old deeds
*an old cigar box full of old stamps
*1 Kodak Brownie movie camera II, circa 1950's- excellent condition

The Kodak movie camera is in the center, next to the Ortho Spray-ette 2

*1 old jar still full of preserves- type unknown
*1 cardboard cylinder of "Gore's Poultry Wormer & Conditioner- Guaranteed Harmless- Absolute Egg Producer"

Lady Schick Crown Jewel Razor- model 100, circa 1959

*3 porcelain door knobs
*1 chamber pot
*4 tiny metal boxes, "Ideal Split shot" for BB guns(Split shot still inside), with slogan," Take a boy fishing."

A 1927 fishing license, in the form of a pin to wear on your shirt

*2 old pink plastic cowboys
*a pillbox with 5 pills inside, for "Miss Bessie Jeters, circa 1935
*About 300+ old bottles

All interested, please contact Anna at 1-800-Throw-Will's-Childhood-Away. All offers will be accepted. Sales are final. Bring your own garbage bags.


**further disclaimer: this is only a joke........kind of. Our house is old and each of us kids grew up with a kitchen attached to our rooms. Will's kitchen has been the great storage/junk room for years and I've been working on organizing it. I just about had a heart attack this afternoon, when after working hours in Will's kitchen, I went into Abby's and opened one of her cabinets...only to find another 100 or so bottles. Sigh. I think this is the never ending organization project.

Christmas Miscellania

Picture of the day: dad doing handstands for Ethan & Evelyn. The best part was when we were all trying to convince him not to try this and my little, tiny grandma said with great force, "Sit down, son!!" Obviously, he ignored us all.

Enjoying time with Ethan & Evelyn(my "adopted" niece and nephew)

A picture perfect Christmas- one that Charlotte hasn't seen in decades(perhaps even in my lifetime). Our old house sure does look beautiful surrounded by the snow.

My best friend, Tapley, and her husband, Matt are in town visiting her family. They took a little time out from the family to enjoy the snow with me. =-)

Sat. Evening Post, 12/25, Christmas Edition

This was another super busy week: dinner with two friends, coffee with one of the girls who used to be in my Varsity small group, a birthday party, a baby shower for my best friend who is in town for a few days, coffee with her, her family Christmas party, breakfast with Taps and her husband, Matt, played uptown again, spent Christmas Eve with the Rosses.....plus various other things that came up this week. Again, I've just been so blessed to be here with my family and friends.

With Jon and Carrie, friends who serve with YWAM in Perm, Russia

Kristie's 30th birthday party

Christmas day: with Mom, Dad, Gram, Sally and the Carr family

Ethan & Evelyn blowing out the candles on the baby Jesus cake

Dad, me, Gram and Mom

One of our Christmas morning traditions is for Dad to read a lot of different things about Christmas. The following is from one of the books that he read this morning:

Song of Great Joy

"Sound over all waters, reach out from all lands, The chorus of voices, the clasping of hands; Sing hymns that were sung by the stars of the morn; Sing songs of the angels when Jesus was born!

With glad jubilations bring hope to the nations! Rise, hope of the ages, arise like the sun; All speech flow to music, all hearts beat as one!

Sing the song of great joy that the angels began; Sing of glory to God and of good will to men!" -John Greenleaf Whittier

Merry Christmas to all.......and to all a good night!!

Sat. Evening Post, 12/18, US Edition #2

Weather of the week: snow and cold in Odessa; cold and finally a little bit of snow in Charlotte.


This has been an eventful first week back and it seems that I have been rather slack in my picture taking. I will do a much better job this coming week.

Sunday: it was great to be back at GBC, where I had the pleasure of seeing everyone and meeting a new little friend just adopted from Ukraine. Mexican for lunch made me extremely happy and was followed up by rejoining the Varsity group for the afternoon. I'm really excited that I'll be a part of Varsity again while I'm home and that they're going to "adopt" four of our training center students for the period of their six month internships. They'll be supporting them financially as a group and through prayer and encouragement.

Monday: a day of rest- still adjusting to the time zone.


Dog of the Week: This week's Top Dog earns the distinction of being named "Top Dog" two weeks in a row!!

We decided to take pictures on the very day where there was a huge marathon taking place. Georgie had a hard time concentrating on picture taking, since he would much rather be chasing the runners.

Tuesday: had lunch with my good friends, Jon & Carrie Dulin, missionaries from our church who serve in Perm, Russia, with YWAM. They're only here for another week, so I'm so thankful that I was able to spend time with them! Tues. evening was Ladies' Meeting and it was really nice to get together with some of the church ladies and encourage one another through prayer and fellowship.

Wednesday: spent the afternoon shopping with Mom, which was really nice. Had dinner with my friend, Julia(who came to Eng. Camp this summer in Odessa). As always, it's great to spend time with her and I'm excited that I'll have more opportunities to be refreshed by my friends and in turn, invest in their lives while here.

Quiet time of the Week: Change is often good and change is what I needed. My quiet time with God this week has been so great and I'm so thankful for the truth contained in His Word. It doesn't mince matters and it doesn't worry about feelings. It just speaks and reveals truth.

A Quiet Place. This is my quiet place, where I spend time with God.

Thursday: another quiet day, with some shopping and down time in the evening with mom and dad.

Friday: played a Christmas job uptown with Elizabeth L.. When it's no longer your livelihood and you're not playing 30 services in 25 days, it's a much more enjoyable experience! I found that my arm muscles were rather exhausted from the two hours of playing, but it was a lot of fun. After that, Elizabeth and I had lunch and caught up on life, which was great. I ran home, made an ornament for the gift exchange and headed back out to the Varsity Christmas party. That was a lot of fun, with lots of party food, an ornament exchange, Christmas caroling, a hayride, and a rousing game of Mad Gabs. It's good to be back and seeing the growth in the Varsity kids.

Varsity Christmas Caroling

Blessed To Be a Blessing

Airplanes are amazing things. One day you're in one country and the next, you're on the complete opposite side of the world. This past Sunday found me at home in Charlotte, NC, at my home church, Grace Bible Church. And while it was great to be there, it's also overwhelming. People are constantly hugging and talking and asking questions and you want to explain things, but there's not really adequate time. It seems that there's so much activity and you(or rather, me) are the one who has to adjust to it. I kind of felt like I was wandering around: there, but not really there.

And right then God brought an incredible blessing to me: a little girl, Lena(she has a different name now, but that is her Russian name), who was adopted from Ukraine only four months ago. She speaks English quite well, actually, but was feeling overwhelmed by all the new people in a new place. At first quite shy, I wasn't even sure if she wanted to speak with me, so I said hello, spoke for a minute and moved on. A few minutes later I realized she had found me again and was standing there watching me talk. So I went over and sat down and started speaking with her in Russian. As church started, she asked to sit with me and I was so glad that I had my Russian New Testament with me, as well as some bulletins from the last several weeks of church in Odessa.

Sunday happened to be Communion: a time of remembering the sacrifice and great gift of life that our Savior gave us. She didn't know what was going on and I thought, "I don't know if I can explain this in Russian!" But praise God, I thought it through and explained that we do this to remember that Christ died for us, was buried and rose again- and that in doing so, if we believe, we can have eternal life with Him. She said, "Oh yes! I know about that!" As we sat there and wrote notes back and forth and I tried to listen to the sermon, =-), I saw this little girl watching me. And I realized through her notes to me, that though she's very happy to have been adopted, she misses the security of everything she knew back in Ukraine. It may not have been a good life, but it was the life she knew. And I understood that to her, I was just a little bit of "home." After church was over, she didn't want to leave me and it made me want to just hold her and comfort her. I gave her my e-mail, promised that I would write and said goodbye.

This afternoon I received a sweet e-mail from her and I know that this tie is very important to her. I know that God put me there on that very Sunday to bless this little girl and in turn, to use her to bless me. "Thank you, Lord, for letting me be a comfort to this little child and thank you for being my comforter!!"

An Exercise in Faith

*this is something I've never done before, that I thought I would share with you. It is a good exercise to do for the last year, or a certain period of time, particularly if you've had any difficulties during that time. It is not an exercise meant to bring glory to self, but instead, great glory to God, because He is indeed our strength when we are weak. Faith motivates us to step out into the unseen and the unknown.

"Now FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Heb. 11:1


*By faith...I moved to Ukraine, believing that's where God wanted me to be
*By faith...I served in a ministry where my talents & strengths were not used, believing that I could learn much in my weakness
*By faith...I chose to trust God and work through forgiveness in the death of a relationship
*By faith... I traveled to Vika & Marina, knowing that they needed encouragement and fellowship
*By faith...I obeyed
*By faith...I trust someone I love to the security of God's hands
*By faith...I trust that God's plans for my future are better than the ones I desire for myself
*By faith...I pursued a relationship with someone who hurt me in the past
*By faith...I trust that He allows everything for my best
*By faith...I can know that He has placed leadership over me for my protection
*By faith...I have confidence that He will supply all my needs(material, emotional, physical, spiritual)
*By faith...I can do what is honoring to God
*By faith...I can cling to His promises
*By faith...I can live a life of Thanksgiving

**another great exercise is to make a list of the things that you did NOT do by faith during that same period of time. How can that list help you draw closer to the One who holds you securely in His hands? Do you trust Him more than you trust yourself?

Sat. Evening Post, 12/11

Note from the Editor: this is the first in a special series written from the U.S. This week's edition takes us from the foggy shores of Odessa to the sunny skies of Charlotte.

Getting ready to leave:packing didn't begin until Tuesday, because the weekend and Monday were still very busy. Monday I met in the center with one of the students from last year's training center class. We try to get together periodically and it was great to have a chance to hear how ministry is going for her.

Trying to hitch a ride at the Odessa Port

Alyona. She has a great ministry serving orphans and sick children in children's hospitals and women's prisons.

Even cows like to feel festive for the Christmas season

Thursday: I woke up to a lot of fog and didn't think I was going to make it out, but the fog lifted enough for planes to land and take off. After flying to Warsaw, I had an overnight layover in New York. I was hoping to make it in to Times Square to see the lights, but I got in too late.

Friday morning I headed back to the airport for my final leg of the flight, taking time to stop at Starbucks, of course. =-)

Dog of the Week: Like I said, this is a very special edition and so, a very special doggy is this week's Dog of the Week:

Georgie!

Event(s) of the week:

*church Thankfulness lunch(in Odessa)
*first church baby dedication
*fellowship time with Alyona
*having Yulya over for a sleepover
*lots of packing
*flying home
*decorating my own little Christmas tree
*church Christmas party(in Charlotte)!

My little tree

Sat. Evening Post, 12/4

Weather of the week: Well, the typical Odessa Fall has finally arrived. After weeks of unusually beautiful Fall weather here, the gray, foggy days have been here all this week. Wednesday it sleeted and snowed and the next day it all melted, leaving lots mud. I've worn my rain boots every day this week and have been so thankful that I have them this year!


Girl's activity of the week:

Darlis(the wife of the Pres. of IM) did a tea and craft time for all the IM Odessa staff females. I'm not a craft enthusiast, but the fellowship was great and I really appreciated Darlis' planning and her time with us.

Dog of the Week: Boris

Boris the dog hanging out at the Colonnade

Big event of the Week: Seaside Missionary Training Center graduation

Marina, Edzia, Dima, Anya, Sylwia, Szymon, Anton, Vali& Sergei. After three months of preparation, these nine students are heading out to their internships: two staying here in Odessa to serve with IM teams, two going north to serve in the rebuilding of a church in a small town, one going to Siberia, two going to do soccer ministry in India and two doing children's ministry in the Philippines. Please pray for them as they return home, finish raising support and head into ministry.

Goodbyes of the Week: this was a really special class at the training center this year and goodbyes were sad. The hours of classes, chats, dinners, game nights and other random times were just really special and I look forward to keeping up with them throughout their internships and beyond.

Edzia & Sylwia

Szymon, me and Vali

Christmas party of the Week: today I went with my roommates to a Christmas Party for missionaries in Odessa. I haven't been able to go to many of the meetings this year and really enjoyed getting to meet different missionaries that live here. It was a really great start to the Christmas season: fun to be around other Americans, to sing carols, to do a gift exchange with them and to have good fellowship.

My roommates: Laura, Michelle & I at the party

News of the Week: this time next week I'll be writing you from.........Charlotte!!!! I'll be flying out Thursday and have an overnight layover in New York, so won't be arriving until Friday afternoon in Charlotte. See you soon!