Happy Belated Birthday to Karina!

Karina turned 3 on December 28th!!

We partied the day before. Extra day to celebrate? Yes, please!

Fact - Karina loves ice cream cones. Ice cream in general is pretty good but she gets super excited about ice cream cones. So I thought it would be a great birthday party theme!!!

Also, Russians love ice cream. We saw LOTS of ice-cream-cone-eating happening in Russia. Even in the cold. So why not celebrate with ice cream in the middle of winter!! Love seeing her enjoy some cultural things. We Americans love us some ice cream too I guess. What's not to like??

Also, Karina is usually LOUD. So the phrase "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" is pretty fitting.

Here were part of the treats!

I found itty bitty ice cream cones and baked cake in them. When you top with fluffy white frosting and sprinkles they look just like teeny tiny ice cream cones. They were so cute!! (Thank you pinterest.)

Here are some of the decorations. 

All three kids helped me make decorations. The ice cream cone bunting out of scrapbook paper and grocery sacks was fun to make!

We invited family to join us for supper. Ryan's chili was super yummy, especially with all kinds of fun toppings.

Then the birthday girl was ready for opening presents. She was plenty practiced up from all the Christmas presents!

She has got some strong lungs from all the talking and/or SCREAMING she does, so blowing out the candles was no big thing.

We served ice cream sundaes with some of Karina's favorite toppings - she liked the blueberries and strawberries the best. 

Thanks to everybody who helped us celebrate Karina!!

The next day was her ACTUAL birthday.

Donuts and more candles? Why not!!

And Freddy's for lunch for the birthday girl MUST conclude with a huge ice cream cone!

and big cheesy smiles!

Gotcha Day (Dec. 25th) and Christmas Day + lots of family Christmas celebrations + Coming Home Day (Dec. 28th) and her birthday = a whole lot to celebrate in a few days time! 

Thankfully Karina loves parties. 

She stops in the middle of playing lately, looks at me, and says:

"Idea!! I have great idea!! How bout we have a  BIG party?!!

This is a daily occurrence :)

So glad we get to celebrate with her! Super grateful that her mama chose life for her. And I'm glad God has allowed me to be this sweet girl's mama. Life may not always feel like the big, fun party Karina wishes for, but it's definitely worth celebrating.

Russia Trip 2014

Ryan and I were blessed with an opportunity to go back to Russia on a missions trip a few weeks ago. And we want to show you a little of what God taught us and what we experienced during our time there.

So I am hoping this post is less about what we did on this trip. And more about how we saw God working. About His heart for orphans. I hope you are encouraged to care for orphans. To find what way God is asking you to care for the least of these. Go on an orphan care missions trip, adopt or foster, pray, give?? All I know is that with each glimpse into these little ones' eyes I understand the love of our Father a little more, my own selfishness becomes more evident, I ache for the day all is made right, and I refuse to sit around and wait for that day without doing something to be involved and help care for those whom the world seems to have forgotten. 

When we boarded the plane to leave Russia in 2012 we completely intended to go back and come home with another child to love as our own. We saw the need, the children who deserved a family, a country we had come to love, and God seemed to be giving us this big desire to go back. But we learned quickly that adopting from Russia was not an option anymore. Still we yearned to go back and to serve in some tangible way.

In those first days home with Karina after the adoption ban went into effect, we prayed a lot for Russia and orphans. And on this trip God allowed us to see with our own eyes some of the answers to those prayers. I still don't know why He was so gracious to invite us to see what He is doing but I am so thankful to have witnessed many wonderful things. And we were reminded to continue praying for these and many other people we met. And I need to share some of them with you! Here are some of the things we prayed for and the answers we saw.


We prayed for Russian Christians to adopt. We prayed that they would rise up and love these precious ones in a special way and influence those around them to do the same.

We were so happy to make some wonderful Russian Christian friends on this trip. To watch these people joyfully love on orphans warmed our hearts so much. They were much more than just our interpreters or administrators. 

This is Katia, our interpreter.

We were so honored to serve along with our sisters and brothers in Christ that share our passion for loving these special little ones that God created. To spend a week alongside people that are passionate about the exact same thing to the exact same people that we care about was so good and encouraging to our hearts. 

To meet people who are in the process of fostering children and taking them out of orphanages was wonderful!!! 

On more than one occasion the leader of our trip asked the orphanage directors if they had noticed a decrease in adoptions since the ban to Americans in 2012. They quickly answered "Da", Russian for yes. And then when asked if Russians were adopting - on more than one occasion their response was "The people who love God are." Hallelujah!!

We prayed that somehow these kids would find loving families.

We got to meet with a couple that with the help of The Boaz Project is starting a Russian Christian Foster Home. My understanding is that all Russian orphanages are state run; there is no such thing as a privately run orphanage there. But Russia is starting to encourage foster care more - and their definition of foster care is a more permanent placement than our U.S. foster care system. This allows children to be loved in a family. And the government helps by providing ongoing money to care for these children. They can go to Christian families and learn of God's love too. What a wonderful thing that is happening!!! The couple we met are waiting for their first foster child. The Boaz Project is currently raising funds to help them find a larger place to live which would allow them to take more foster children into their home; the number of children allowed to live in foster homes is hugely dependent on the size of the apartment/home of the parents. And in Russia space can be hard (and expensive) to find. We are excited to see which child they will soon foster and how they can break the stigma of orphans in Russia as those around them see the way they love the children that we pray God will add to their family.

At one orphanage there were prospective Russian adoptive parents playing with the children. 

We were just so encouraged to hear orphanage directors speak of how hard they work to get the children families and how they so want the love of a family for them.

We prayed that these kids would be well cared for in orphanages and that caregivers would be very loving.

We got to tour several baby houses. We saw encouraging things like caregivers cuddling and feeding babies their bottles, caregivers dancing around with toddlers to Christmas music, orphans with more severe special needs being played with and loved on that only a few years ago would have been in lying down rooms, impressive therapy rooms being used, etc. It is not a family, but these caregivers are doing their best and for that I am so thankful! One of the orphanages even dreamed of a swimming pool they could use for therapy!! And I was consistently amazed at the love and care from the directors - this seemed like much more than a job to them but that they actually cared for the children in their orphanages.

This was probably my favorite part - playing with the little ones :)

And this is still what hurts my heart most. Seeing all these cribs lined up just reminds me that this is not a family. That they don't get to go "home" at night to have their own mama and daddy to put them in their own bed. I wish those cribs could stay empty. That babies could stay with their birth families. And that those that end up here would be quickly loved by families. This part might hurt the worst.

We prayed for God to show us how we could be involved in Russia and to allow us to still help orphans somehow.

We were so happy when we found out about The Boaz Project Inc. They have been coming alongside Russian believers for years and equipping them with ways to serve Russian orphans. And there was a trip at a time of year that we could handle, at a time of year that Russia and orphans were especially on our hearts, doing things that we loved to do! And we could go provide smiles and hope, but mostly the hope of Christ.

So we started praying about it and God opened the doors for us to go on this trip!!

We were gone December 9-17 along with a group from The Boaz Project ministering in the Vladimir region of Russia.

While we were there we got to purchase gifts for the children in the orphanages. Lots of shopping was done!!

We filled 5 big shopping carts. And made several other stops to smaller stores to finish up. We visited craft stores, stationary stores, and several other smaller places. It was fun to shop and experience the culture!! Once I was standing by myself for a minute contemplating (more like forcing my exhausted, jet-lagged brain to convert rubles to dollar) which diaper pad things were the best buy and a babushka (Russian grandma) stopped to give me her advice. If only I knew what wisdom she was sharing :) I guess I could pass for a Russian part of the time!!

Then we organized and packaged the gifts!

We visited several orphanages.

If the kids were old enough we did a little program for them. 

They heard the Christmas story.

Ryan and I led them in Away in a Manger - they were really good with actions!! 

Even teenage boys thought it was pretty fun :)

I never dreamed I would play the piano in Russia. Away in a Manger will never be the same to me again. 

The kids dressed up and helped us act out the nativity. 

Then we did crafts together.

And played and hung out with them for a while.

The little kids called me (and every other woman caretaker) mama. Oh my heart hurt for them and I prayed for permanent mamas for them. 

Then we gave them their gifts!!

We traveled around the region a little. We got to ride public transit a lot!! Buses, trolleys, taxis, the metro in Moscow. 

Lots of walking on icy snow - or maybe snowy ice would be more accurate!! I have to say one of the things I enjoyed about this trip for me was the chance to just be with Russians - to brush shoulders every day and just be part of life there. We understand culture and so many things much better than we did from our adoption trips. Even though we have so much still to learn, I feel much better equipped to explain things to Karina and for that I am so thankful!!! 

We got to worship with Russians at church. I could go on and on about all the ways we were blessed and challenged to love like they are loving. I hope we were at least a little encouraging to them.


There was a little time to sight see. Russia is such a beautiful country with such a rich history. I can't keep it to myself so I have to show you a few touristy pictures.

We were in Moscow the day the ruble really plummeted. That was crazy to watch.

It was awesome to eat the food again! Beef stroganoff is still my favorite. And lots of yummy meat, potatos, and bread. That's our kind of foreign food :) Oh and ice cream. Russians love their ice cream cones - even in the cold of winter!! 

We enjoyed the beautiful snow and the warm buildings. I have still not acclimated back to our chilly indoors.

We had a great team from the U.S. to travel with.

I never guessed that we would have so much fun together! We laughed a lot. I loved our time together. They even made a really long delay on the tarmac somewhat enjoyable and were gracious with my sick start on our trip home. We enjoyed a late night pizza party in Detroit together and many other fun times.


I'm so thankful for our Russian team. They were so helpful and kind to us. And lots of fun too!!

And I'm thankful for every person that made it possible for us to go. For the people that watched our kids back home; our kids were so looking forward to spending time with some of the people that they love. And that it made it so much easier for us to leave.

We are so thankful that our kids understand why we went and even gave us their own money to buy gifts for the orphan kids. They made us want to go even more and encouraged us to do what God had asked of us. We missed each other but they never once asked us not to go. And that means so much to us.

Thank you to everyone who ate bierocks and gave at our fundraiser to provide for our team's expenses. Thank you to anyone who donated money toward the gifts we purchased for the orphans. I hope you can see the excitement on their faces. Thank you!!! Thank you!!!

I know that I can not make you care about orphans. But I hope and pray that you find some way to care for them. Because in doing so, you will be blessed way more than you could ever bless them. It's a pretty amazing thing to be a part of. And one I am sure I can not do justice to explain with words or a few pictures. Check out The Boaz Project website here to find out more information about this wonderful ministry that we were privileged to get to serve with.