James 1:27 and a 3rd Grade Project

During the amazing few days when our lives were forever changed by the clear knowledge that Lera and Vitalik were meant to be part of our family, there were so many sparks flying.  I have already included several of these in an earlier post, and remembered a couple more that I wanted to record here.  It's not that any of these things made up our minds to adopt, but rather all of these things just helped us feel so affirmed and at peace with this crazy idea of Movin' to Marz.  :o) 

James 1:27
On August 18, after sharing with Eleni (host family) our decision to adopt Lera and Vitalik, I was looking at her Facebook photo album of the kids' wonderful time in the U.S.  The photo album's title was "James 1.27". 

This picture was my very favorite from Eleni's "James 1.27" Photo Album.
I believe it was their first night in America.  Aren't they just gorgeous?!


Not being great at memorizing scriptures, I thought I should look this one up.  As I flipped through my Bible, I thought, "I already know what this is going to be..." and when I got there, sure enough, it was the passage I had underlined back in March - and one of very few things underlined in the entire Bible.  It reads:

" Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the  Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

I remembered that back in March, I had really been touched by this passage during a Bible Study among leaders in our new church.  My reaction to this passage had been so strong that I had come home and written a big passionate email to one of our church leaders.  The email subject read, "Widows and Orphans".   An excerpt from that email explored what this passage might mean to our church today:

"...i think our challenge is to also be sure to serve those who are marginalized in a worldly sense - the ACTUAL poor ... the least, the last, the lost.  ...those whom nobody else sees or wants to see.  this is an easy thing for me to say, and sounds great, but it makes my stomach hurt to think about actually doing it!  in many of our daily walks, we have extremely limited visibility to the poor among us, and of course, this is a quite comfortable place for us to remain.   

in short, i feel it's time for us (our church) to identify our widows and orphans, and i seek your help."

After digging up this old email and doing a few "oohs and ahhs", I sent this person a photo of Lera and Vitalik with a note saying, "I think I have found my orphans."  That night, as Eugene and the boys played with Lera and Vitalik at Eleni and Adam's pool, I shared the scripture coinsidence with Eleni.  She told me that back in March, when I had been so moved by the passage, their group had been in Ukraine working with the orphans - no doubt, conceiving plans for the summer program that brought Lera and Vitalik into our lives.  WOW!  :o)

A 3rd Grade Project
The day after we met Lera and Vitalik, I went to my mom's house to drop the bombshell that we were adopting two kids from Ukraine.  She listened patiently to my quite shocking story, and when I had finished, she said, "I can't argue with anything you have said."  She stepped out of the room and returned holding a blue and yellow rectangle of fabric. 
"What's that?" I asked. 
"The Ukrainian flag," she answered with a smile.
"Where did that come from?"
"Don't you remember, Krystin did her research project last year on Ukraine?"

Amazing!  I did remember!  Last year, my neice Krystin had chosen to do her 3rd grade research project on Ukraine.  I will never forget my mom saying, "Of all the countries in the world, would you have ever guessed that she would choose to do her project on Ukraine?"  

After Lera and Vitalik had flown back to Ukraine, the exciting (and very surprising) news of our upcoming adoption was sweeping through our family.  That weekend, we had a family gathering, and after dinner, Krystin presented all of her research, complete with maps, history, customs, holidays, and pictures to the whole gang.  It went very well, but she did have to repeatedly call down her Uncle Eugene, who kept asking questions out of turn!