STAS!!!!!!!

Before I begin rambling...this will definitely go down as one of our most memorable days!!  At this point, we had not seen Stas in 8 months and have had very little communication.

Ok, so we start our day w/ Tonya and her driver picking us up to go buy cookies, candy and gifts for the kids at the orphanage. - Then we head off to the "camp by the Sea" where the kids are for their last week of summer.
It is probably a 2 hour drive, but our maniac driver got us there in 1.5 hours.  We literally prayed the whole way to make it there safely. There are potholes bigger than I have ever seen; we are traveling at over 120 km (speed??-fast!); and he feels most comfortable in the passing lane-then occasionally squeezes between 2 cars just in the nick of time-back into the right lane.  I would love to tell you that we have working seat belts but...(pretty sure I just caused Dave's mom to have a stroke!!)

We (God-willing) get to the camp.  It is run down, sad looking and we see no kids.  Finally we realize they are all in for rest time and someone directs us to Stas' quarters.   He  comes out-sees Dave and takes him into a big bear hug.  Then he looks over at me and pulls me in...We stand there for a long time just group hugging!!!!  At this point, time stopped and all was right in the world.  He finally lets go and says to us, "Stas America" while shaking his head yes.   Honestly, a moment we hope to never forget.

We go down to the sea...a pathway the kids call "the walk of death"...(I guess because it is a long walk, hot and there is a spider you have to watch out for that supposedly could kill you.)  He runs into the black sea, which is very shallow and we follow.  He is afraid of nothing.  I begin to see the jelly fish swarming and start to panick.  Meantime, he says, "it's ok Mama" and picks up the jellyfish and throws them-clearing my pathway.    We swim for awhile and just continue to enjoy this very happy child God has placed in our lives.

 Next, we decide to play soccer.  On the way past his building, he yells up to his 2 friends and excitedly says something.  Within seconds, they have escaped  rest period and are flying out of the building and heading as fast as possible (bare feet, no shirts) to the soccer "field".  We have a fabulous time playing soccer, Frisbee and just loving on all the kids.  They were so beyond precious and happy to be sharing the afternoon with us .  They loved getting their pictures taken and taking pictures of us with our camera.

  There was a moment when I thought how 'unsuburban' this seemed...they had no expensive shoes (in fact-bare feet), no nets on their soccer goals, an incredibly rocky, uneven soccer "field"-and were playing wide open.  Nothing stopped them from flying to the ball, and when 1 would get knocked over, they simply got back up and rejoined the "team".  There was nothing fair or spoiled about this situation.

Stas 2 friends, Sasha and Koya could not have been sweeter, more loving or more fun.  Our hearts were trying to figure out how to take these 2 home with us as well...

After sometime, we came back to to the courtyard and hung out with many beautiful, happy kids.  This is a good orphanage-all their needs are met and they don't seem to notice how rundown it is.  The problem comes when they are forced to leave the orphanage and face the streets at around age 16...I wish everyone reading this would prayerfully consider changing a child's destiny and in turn changing your own heart forever...what if...we could change the world... 1 child at a time?

We are on our own tomorrow-then will head back on Monday to the Sea and spend the week w/ the kids at the orphanage...Life is blissfully good...altho we do miss our kids at home!!

Thanks for all the prayers...we feel them