Merry Christmas from Ukraine!!

Merry Christmas from Ukraine!!

Merry Christmas! We hope that you are all having a wonderful Christmas season celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus!  We are so grateful this season for SO many reasons and we hope that each of you enjoy reading about some of the amazing things that have happened in Ukraine and in our family this past year.  

Marina and Sasha! We are so proud of the lovely family they have become! They have two beautiful children and are both amazing parents, giving their children love, care and stability.  We are proud to call them family and are blessed to have them in our lives.

Vika is in her last year of nursing school! She has plans to go into dentistry, so she is in the process of  improving the subjects she will need for entering the university next year.
Diana is in her last year of high school! She has plans of going to college and being a landscape architect or designer!
Bogdan is in his first year of trade school at a construction and road equipment trade school.  He is enjoying a chance to experience freedom and learning a great deal in the process!
Bogdanchyk is in his first year of trade school learning how to be a chef! He has grown so much since he started his trade school. He is more responsible and is thoroughly enjoying school. He hopes to open his own restaurant one day!
Alona is in the 10th grade this year. She has grown up so much, not just in height (she can almost look her dad in the eyes!), but also in maturity.  She would like to be a psychologist. She has one more year left of school after this year and plans to go to college to study psychology.
Snizhana is in the 9th grade this year.   She will be graduating next year and has expressed a desire to go in to the police academy.
Yulya is in the 8th grade! It’s hard to believe that the little 2 year old we took into our family so many years ago is now turning 14 in just a few days! She is expressing an interest in becoming a journalist and going to college for journalism in the next few years.
Francesca started first grade this year! This little one has more energy than our entire family put together! She is doing great in school and is also learning to play the piano and learning traditional Ukrainian folk dance which she is loving!

Bella is now almost 15 years old! She has been in the states the past 5 months studying as a sophomore at Highland Rim Academy in Cookevile, TN.  We are so thankful to the many people who are supporting her daily through the many ups and downs of this experience.  Thank you Zsi Zsi, Bailey family, Drakes, Creeks, Dills, Stefanicks, Uncle Kiran, Uncle Ravi, Muni Auntie and families, without each of you this would not be possible for Bella or for us. We are forever grateful!

Ruslan and Archie – We are both busy wearing many hats, but trying to learn how to properly juggle all those hats and weed the unnecessary ones out has been a challenge for the both of us this past year.  We are blessed to be entrusted with so much from the Lord and want to do the best and be the best at whatever He lays before us.  We are thankful for the many prayers and support that are keeping us afloat spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically and financially.  We know that the foundation of Raising Hope is based on so many prayer warriors and supporters and we do not take that lightly!

We are very excited about what God has in store for 2020! Our calendars are full with 7 teams coming, individuals coming over to minister, a new crisis center in our city, starting new schools, new ministry opportunities and simply caring for the projects that have already begun through Raising Hope. Please pray with us and consider being involved with us in 2020, whether it’s in prayer, coming to Ukraine or financially supporting the projects that are underway or beginning.  Below is one large project that is already in full swing!

Local Crisis Center
This year our pastor, Igor, and Ruslan went to our city government asking if there might be a building that we could use as a place where people could find help in times of need.  The mayor was all about helping and said there was a vacant dental surgery center and that if we were interested we should take a look and act now.  So, we did!  As you can see from the pictures above, we are already in the process of doing the necessary renovations in order to make it functional for use in January!  We have signed the lease with an option to buy at the end of three years!  Our hearts are to provide a soup kitchen, humanitarian aid, other services for families and children that are looking for a way to care for their families.  
Please consider helping get this project underway with your end of the year gift. We need approximately $9,000 to install a kitchen, change windows and set up a cafeteria to begin the soup kitchen.  We recently heard about a grandmother in a local village who died of starvation, we want to do everything we can in order to not let this happen again.  The humanitarian clothing and aid is already being sorted and shelved!  We are so thankful to the many hard-workers in our church who are putting in their own time, finances and effort into making this possible!  We appreciate any help we can in order to get this crisis center off the ground and running.  

Thank you for your continued support this past year and so many years! The Lord seems to be expanding our territory back in to Vinnytsa (the above picture is in front of one of the houses purchased this year), but we continue to minister and support all the projects that Raising Hope has begun in the past five years! We know that this is not possible without the many prayer warriors and supporters we have, so we want to say thank you with all our hearts. Would you consider continuing being a part of what God is doing in Ukraine either monthly or a one time gift? We are forever grateful!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!