Warning: this is the longest post yet! I typed some of this when I had time at camp using it as my journal so I apologize for the length. My hope is not to bore you but to share how God used our time at camp.) We left Kiev in a winter storm of snow on Tuesday. The roads quickly got icy and at times visibility was not good. We saw one accident in Kiev and were surprised we did not see more. Drivers were driving slower than usual however they were not being as cautious as I would have liked them to be. Soon after we left Kiev I received a phone call from our coordinator/translator. She said she had arranged a meeting at the US Embassy for us and we needed to get there right away. I said we were not even in Kiev and explained we would be gone the rest of the week. She said she had emailed me the day before but I did not receive her email. She said she would reschedule the meeting for the next week. I asked her to please call me as soon as she heard about the passport and I have still not received any news so I assume that means it is still being processed. We made it safely to camp and immediately jumped into the action. The camp itself was like a smaller version of YMCA with only two buildings and a nice big outdoor area. The theme of the camp was "His story". We had an introduction program, lunch, group time, game time (in windy light snow), a skit and then a message from the New Testament, dinner, more group time and then an evening program. Each group was given the beginning of a skit to create an ending during our first group time, practice it during the second group time and then perform the full skit at the evening program. They were quite comical to watch and even funnier to everyone else who fully understood the language. During game time there was a girl from my group who invited me to sit on the swinging bench with her. She spoke some English and wanted to practice with me. Because of her health she could not play the game so she appreciated me sitting with her. She also had no gloves so I gave her mine to wear. Angelica and I were in different groups which at first Angelica said no she wanted to be with me. I said sorry that was what the camp had arranged so she agreed. I wanted to be with her also but trusted God to use her group to minister to her. We still saw each other and sat with each other at times during large group activities and meals. I think it was good for her to not have Mom with her all the time so she could enjoy time with other girls. As I listened to the message and tried to pick out words I understood, I also kept praying that Angelica would have open ears and an open heart to hear and understand how much God loves her. Thankfully we were in a room for just the two of us. When Angelica first saw the bathroom, she was amazed at the size of the shower. She could hardly wait to take a hot shower in the fancy shower stall. None of the buttons worked for the radio but the side jets and top jets worked half way and were quite interesting. Angelica enjoyed a nice, hot, spacious shower and taught me how to turn on the different jets. On Wednesday we started our day with breakfast and then had what they call "story time". It was a program where they did a skit of Home Alone and when Kevin, the boy, was left alone he asked specific people to help him answer questions about faith and what it means to follow Jesus. The leader of Angelica's group shared her testimony and I kept praying for God to use her words to speak to Angelica. Thank you Lord for placing her in that group! Then there was another skit where Mary and Joseph spoke about when the angel came to each of them to tell them they would be earthly parents to Jesus, the King and Savior of the world. Immediately after story time we had small group time where we shared who Jesus is to us. A good discussion followed this question and gave me more insight on how Ukrainians in general have been raised as Orthodox Christians. The young lady with whom I had sat on the bench swing the day before shared that Jesus is her friend but no more than that. I immediately started praying for her to have a more personal relationship with Jesus and ask Him to be her savior. Angelica was given a New Testament in Russian and in English during her small group time. She showed it to me and told me the Russian half was for her and the English half was for me. I pray it will become one of her favorite books! Game time was outside again while it was snowing and blowing. After game time we warmed up in our room for 15 minutes before lunch and going to "monster classes" (exact translation is master classes but it really means enrichment classes that the teens signed up to attend such as painting, crafts, music, table tennis, cooking, etc.) Angelica did painting for her class and then we had an evening program. The evening program was a skit where two brothers and a sister traveled into the book "Chronicles of Narnia". Then the message that followed tied in the choices the characters made for their future and the choice we have to follow Jesus. The main scripture verse of camp was:"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) This day the message focused on Jesus being the way to heaven. After the message and worship songs, the woman who offered to translate for me, asked why I was at the camp so I explained we just adopted Angelica. She asked me to tell the story of how we met her so I shared a short version of how God prepared us for each other. She asked if Angelica knew about God before camp and I said I was not sure. She said she would pray for her and would love to talk to her later if she wanted. She thanked me for coming to Ukraine to save this child. After we had dinner, we went to small groups again and discussed what it means when Jesus says in Mark 8:34 "take up your cross and follow Him". In my group this brought out interesting discussions and the girl whom I sat with on the bench the first day said she did not understand why we must do this. She was questioning why she even attended camp and whether to go back to church. I had been praying for her and will continue. God brought her to camp for a reason! After small group time I helped Angelica get ready for the dance party. The teens were supposed to come dressed in costumes so she decided to be a black cat. She wore black pants and socks and a dark blue shirt. Then she had me color a black nose and eye brows and draw on whiskers with a black marker. At the evening "party" everyone did dancing and then teams did some competitions. I was thankful to have translation on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday during the programs so I knew what Angelica was hearing and hopefully learning. On Thursday Angelica was tired from all the activities so I let her sleep a little later before going for breakfast. That meant her peers had already eaten and she was stuck with eating breakfast with me. We quickly ate noodles and eggs (noodles for breakfast was new to me but tasty) and went to the morning program. The program was questions from the teens at camp and answers from leaders. The teens from camp had the opportunity to write down questions for the leaders to answer. Some questions were: Can I still use bad language after becoming a Christian? How do I tell others I believe in God? What do I do when people are not honest or kind to me? The leaders did a good job answering the questions and then a leader shared his testimony. Next was a skit where a shepherd told about the night the angels appeared as he was watching over his sheep. In small group time we discussed more about why the angels appeared to the shepherd and why Jesus, the King of the world, was born in a stable. Many of the girls in my small group are believers but there are two I have been praying for specifically who do not know Jesus as their savior. Please pray that their time at camp was fruitful and that God will place people in their lives to bring them to a full understanding of Him. After group time we had lunch and then Angelica wanted me to buy two "cupcakes" as she called them. They were actually large round wafer cookies with a milk frosting in between each layer. One layer was pink, one green, and one yellow and the wafer cake was cut like pieces of pie. It was absolutely delicious! Next we played "2 Truths and a Lie" with other groups, attended enrichment classes and then went outside to play games in the dark with light wands/bracelets. The teens were given sparklers to start the night games which Angelica thought was very cool! After games was dinner and after dinner Angelica played Crazy Uno with some of her new friends in the lounge. The evening program on Thursday night was a skit where the same two brothers and sister from the night before traveled into the book "Peter Pan". After the skit there was a message continuing on from the day before about Jesus being the way and the Truth. After program time, we had small group time with discussion questions about the message. This evening of small group none of the teens translated any part of the group time so as each person spoke I prayed silently for each one in my group. I could not understand most of what was said but I could feel the power of God in that room. Many of the girls opened up and it was a very emotional evening. The girl who swing with me shared for a long time, cried, and was comforted by other girls. I may never know what happened in her life that night but I know God was moving in her life! Another girl went with a leader to her room crying after small group time. I went to my room and spent time on my knees in prayer for each girl in my group and for Angelica. Since I had been praying I was late to the cafeteria where everyone was enjoying a special dessert that cooking class had made for everyone. When I walked in Angelica came right to me and gave me a hug. She had been looking for me and could not find me. What a sweetheart! The delicious dessert was a piece of pie and a chocolate ball with coconut. I sat with a group of girls who wanted me to tell them about Christmas in America. On Friday the schedule was the same as our first day with morning program of questions written down by teens and then leaders answered them and another leader shared his testimony. Then we watched a skit where the wise men shared about visiting the baby Jesus. Following the program we had small group with Bible reading and discussion about that part of the story in the Bible. Game time was indoors as it had snowed more and gotten much colder. It was a clue game that I had a hard time understanding so I was a spectator. After the game, large presents were brought in for each group to start the Christmas Eve celebration. Inside the very large boxes were tea, chocolate and snacks which we enjoyed later during our last small group time. After dinner we had another program as the continuation of the two brothers and sister visiting the best book of all, the Bible. They were in the story of when Jesus was born and the one brother who had not been very interested in the other two books became interested and believed that this book is true. The finale to the skit was amazing and I had wished I had videotaped it. I was enjoying it so much that I did not even think about it until the end. After the skit, the message continued on from the days before, this time focusing on Jesus is the Life. Following the powerful skit and message we had our final small group time. I brought some chocolate from America to share with my group and the pictures of me in the wheelchair and after being healed. (I had actually brought them two other times to small group but the timing was not right. These pictures are ones that I put together many years ago and before coming to Ukraine I google translated the English to Russian and taped on the translations. I prayed God would give me the opportunity to share my story with others while in Ukraine besides Angelica.) A teen who is fluent in English was in small group (she was rarely in our group because she was a helper in many areas of the camp) so I was able to share the story of how God healed me and she translated it. Many of the teens had questions which I answered and was so thankful to have the language barrier broken for God to speak to these girls through my story. One girl whom I have been praying for because she does not know God personally, listened very intently and asked questions. She has been the jokester of the group but as I spoke she listened intently. I continue to pray that she will think about all she heard at camp and will choose salvation that comes from Christ alone. It was clear to me that this was God's timing to share all along. The girls also asked me to share about why we adopted Angelica. The girl who was translating for me did not know what an orphan was so I explained it to her and she translated it for the group. It was interesting to me that even though there is a high population of orphans in Ukraine, they are separated in orphanages so many teens do not know about them. I was thankful for the opportunity to share about orphans and pray that God will use what I shared to bring forth more forever families for the many orphans in Ukraine. After small group time we had Grammy awards with all the campers. There were a lot of talented teens at the camp and the leaders made the last night at camp memorable and comical. Saturday morning I went to the early morning worship service to listen and videotape some worship songs. Angelica did not want to come along because she wanted to sleep. I loved their worship songs; several I knew in English. I was amazed at how full the room was even on the last day when everyone was tired. At breakfast a girl came to me and said Merry Christmas in Russian which I actually understood! That made me remember that Saturday was Christmas in Ukraine since January 7 is when the Orthodox church celebrates it. We had the final program of questions written from teens and answers by leaders. Then the teens were asked to share their stories of how God worked in their lives while at camp. For many teens this was their first time at camp and I loved listening to their stories and seeing their joy for God. After the program the leader who translated the most for me during programs asked me what Angelica thought about camp. I told her she loved it and the leader shared that when she was in small group time with Angelica, she was a good listener and seemed interested and curious. She said she will continue to pray for Angelica and we exchanged emails so we can keep in touch. Thank you, Lord, that Angelica heard the gospel in her language and that she seems receptive. Having one of her leaders share that with me was a wonderful Christmas gift! We said goodbye to new friends and went to finish packing and cleaning the room. Angelica looked out the window and saw the car we came in being pushed. It was so cold that motors froze in 4 vehicles, ours included. The vans finally started running so the kids could load up. Andriy's car finally started after about two hours of being pushed and towed. This is a typical problem for Ukrainians in January and February because of the cold temperatures and the cars/vans being old. We were so thankful when we got home safe and sound. Since more snow had fallen in the night, the roads were again quite slippery and most roads are not plowed. Once we returned home Angelica played with Andriy's son for awhile and then she wanted to FaceTime her friends from the orphanage who are being hosted in America. As she was finishing that we got a knock on our room door inviting us to a movie and popcorn in the play room of the apartment. Andriy had set up a projector so we watched Madagascar in Ukrainian on the big screen (a white wall in the room). Angelica enjoyed the movie and I got a taste of what it will like for her to watch movies in English. It was hard to understand words in the movie with different pitches of voices but it was still enjoyable to sit next to my daughter and watch. After the movie we FaceTimed Jason at home. We missed the children because they were at a friends house. It was good to talk with my husband and then for Angelica to have some time with Dad. Please pray for Jason and the children back home. We are all missing each other very much and we need Angelica's passport to arrive this Tuesday so we can get her Visa and fly home! Please pray for Angelica and her salvation. Seeds were planted in her through this camp. Now I pray the seeds will be watered by her new loving family, friends she will meet at church, through reading her New Testsment, etc. I am praising God that we did not wait around Kiev in hopes that Angelica's passport would come this week. God knew we both needed to be at camp this week and I thank Him for how He will continue to use what we heard to bring us closer to Him. С Рождеством! Merry Christmas from Ukraine! (This Christmas greeting is now a day late since I fell asleep typing last night. I guess camp life wore me out! When I was ready to post this morning I realized we had no internet due to the snow and cold here in Kiev.) Since I couldn't post earlier today and we were without internet until now, I figured I would tell you about our day today as well. Today was a resting day after our fun filled week at camp. Angelica slept until after 1:00 p.m. and then we had lunch. We played games and practiced English. A gift I gave her for New Years was a princess Alphabet workbook which we used today for her to work on learning letters and sounds. She is a quick learner and she impressed me with her ability to read and spell some simple words! Now we are getting ready to go to an evening Christmas concert at Andriy's church if he can get his car to start in this terribly cold weather. I think I could get used to celebrating Christmas this long every year! Maybe our family tradition will be to stretch it out from Christmas Eve in America until Christmas time in Ukraine. It has been a great joy to celebrate Jesus especially when Christmas usually seems to come and go so quickly.