U-what?

God has a strange way of working in our lives.  We don't always realize what He is doing at the time. Come to think of it, we probably rarely understand what He is doing at that specific time or why He's doing it, let alone how He is going to use that particular event/situation/circumstance at some point in the future.  We can try as hard as we possibly can to make sense of God's ways, but we will always fail.  We will forever come up short.  And that's okay.  It just means that we have to accept by faith that God is indeed doing something far bigger and far better than we could ever even begin to imagine in our wildest dreams.

I feel like God is up to something in my life right now.  I don't know exactly what it is, at least not completely.  For now, God seems to be showing me little snidbits, brief glimpses, like tiny pieces of the humungous jig-saw puzzle He is putting together.

On Tuesday, I posted how I entered a Make-Over Contest for the sole purpose of winning $5,000 for the charity of my choice: Ponca Bible Camp.  You are probably tired of seeing my repeated posts to vote for me.  And it's only day 3 of the 10-day voting period, so just humor me until June 15 when the voting part of the contest comes to an end.  Until then, please, please, please vote for me!  I think it would be absolutely amazing to donate $5,000 to Ponca! 

That's just one piece of the puzzle though.  The winner of this Make-Over Contest also gets $2,500 personally.  As I said on Tuesday, all of this money will go towards a sponsorship for an orphan from Ukraine.  Sometime in April or May, shortly after I found out about the Make-Over Contest, I heard an announcement on K-Love regarding the opportunity to host an orphan from Europe for 6 weeks during the summer or 4 weeks during the winter.  Seeing as how we are licensed foster parents who are interested in international adoption at some point in our lives, I immediately checked out the organization New Horizons for Children.  After reading about the program, I felt like this was something God was calling us to do.  So, I filled out an application so that Lawrence and I could personally host a child in our home.  A few days later, I got a call from someone in the organization asking more about our family and what child we were interested in hosting.  Wow!  I didn't realize things were going to happen so quickly!

After talking with the woman for a bit, I discovered that the timing for this summer was not ideal for us to host a child in our home.  We would be at Ponca for two of the six weeks that the boy/girl would be with us.  Since the child won't speak that much English and will be adjusting to life in our home, not to mention the United States in general, we thought that going to camp with a whole new set of surroundings and people might be a little overwhelming.  However, the winter session is absolutely perfect for our schedule!  I assured the woman we would "re-apply" this fall and have the money raised to sponsor a child and have him/her stay in our home this December.

I am so excited about this amazing opportunity!  For so many reasons:
*We get to show a child what it's like to be part of a family
*We get to introduce this child to the love of Jesus Christ
*We get to celebrate Christmas with this boy/girl
*We get to learn more about another country and the culture there
*We get to expose our girls to missions at a young age

While we don't know anything about the child who will be staying with us, we are fairly confident:
*The child will be a BOY, or maybe even a set of BROTHERS.
*The boy/brothers will most likely be 6-10 years old
*The boy/brothers will be from the country of Ukraine

I don't know anything about the country of Ukraine.  My heart has never been specifically drawn to Europe, let alone the country of Ukraine.  I have always be interested in Africa.  Whenever, I think about adopting a child from a foreign country, I tend to see a little girl with dark skin and black hair that I can twist and braid and put into lots of pretty barrettes.  Or sometimes, I see a little boy from India or South America, who will love playing soccer for hours on end.  HOWEVER,  God seems to have something else in mind, at least for right now.  And so, this is the fun part where He has been up to something, working behind the scenes to orchestrate something special, something I never would have come up with on my own.

*One of my friends from college, Meg Collier and her husband, do have a heart for the country of Ukraine.  I have been getting their newsletters and updates for about a year now.  I get to hear what God is doing in their lives and how He is preparing them to work with the youth of Ukraine.  They just had their commissioning service and will be headed to Ukraine very soon.  Their picture is on my refrigerator.  I see them every day, multiple times.  And so, I pray for them quite often.  Little did I know, I would soon be invested in the country of Ukraine myself!

*About a month or so ago, another friend from high school (and college), Ryan Brandenberger and his wife, sent us a letter telling about an opportunity they have to go to the country of Ukraine.  We agreed to pray for them while they are there and sent a small gift to help with their expenses.  Just this week we received a nice thank-you card in the mail from Ryan and Kristine.  Again, I had no idea when I wrote them a check and put their prayer request list on the fridge, right next to Meg's picture, that I would be hosting a child from Ukraine in just a few short months!

Like I said, I know absolutely nothing about the country of Ukraine.  I had to look at a map to find out where in Europe it is.  (At least I knew it was in Europe and near Russia at that!)  But, as I see God putting these pieces together, I am inclined to start doing some research on the country of Ukraine.  I want to learn as much as I can.  If we are going to have a little boy from Ukraine living with us for a month, I think we should know at least a few words/phrases in his language.  We should be able to make some authentic Ukrainian food for him to enjoy.  Or music to listen to.  We should know about special traditions and customs the people of Ukraine have during the Christmas season since he will be spending the holiday with us.  And so, I have begun my independent study of Ukraine.  Granted, besides the internet, my primary resources are going to be books from the Juvenille Non-Fiction Section of the library!  When we make our weekly trip on Monday, I plan to check out every book they have on the country of Ukraine. 

Until then, I have found a few interesting websites with information about Ukraine.  I had better get busy on my research project!