Today during ‘first bell’, a traditional ceremony celebrating the opening of the school year, the workers at the orphanage asked us for some help.  Three children are in need of a pair of shoes.  We have their sizes, and know where to get them, but would like to ask for your help.

We need three givers to give $20 each.

You can donate through Missions Network – click GIVE. The moment we have reached the $60, we will notify everyone here on this blog and facebook.

What a privilege to serve ‘the least of these!’

Bruce & Deb

Clark and Noah test out their new school clothes.

Our kids have been accepted to the public school in Kuzmenci.  The school is the same building the orphans live in on the first floor.  This is a big step for our family in the history of our Ukrainian adventures.

Tomorrow will be the ‘opening bell’, strangely on a Saturday.  All the students will be dressed in their Sunday best (which is a standard issue suit uniform), offer flowers to the teachers and.. well, we’re not sure what else, this is our first time.   I thought we should take bacon instead of flowers personally.  I mean how many flowers can a teacher actually enjoy, and wouldn’t they be pleasantly surprised to find a slab of juicy pork to change things up a bit?

The 1945 Patriotic Victory emblem hand painted on most school walls (by the Russians) remind the Ukrainians they were freed from the Germans.

We apologize in advance for the inordinate amount of ‘off to school’ pictures in the coming days.  Our kids have only known home schooling, so the combination of seeing our little arrows fly into a public school setting, and doing it in a foreign country will require some photo documentation.  We’re entering a new season in the Crowe family, it feels right, refreshing, we’re optimistic and look forward to building new relationships in this village.

Deb has been running around for the past several days with the help of our Ukrainian friends getting stamps, medical check ups, standing in lines, buying the required clothing.. it’s pretty official business around here.  She has some interesting stories which most likely won’t make it to the blog but I’ll encourage her to find the time to write.

Noah was accepted last night into Kindergarten, the schools are full but they made an exception.  It helped that his older brothers were entering the grade school down the road.   We don’t have to pay anything for the schooling which is great, but like all other parents, we have to participate in food supplied.  Monthly ‘donations’ of potatoes, cabbage, carrots and the like for the kitchen which prepares daily lunches for all students.

We thank God for the favor He has shown us so far.  We have been treated extremely kindly, our family is the first American family ever to darken the doors of this former Soviet school.  The teachers, although nervous as we are, are also looking forward the experience.  We really appreciate your prayers over the next week especially, this is going to get interesting!

Thank you to the mother! Broderic took my shoes and Brent is excited to open his present!

Thanks as well to the Mom for the parcel.  We love getting these boxes covered in stamps.. something about a physical package, you can touch and feel the love.

Bruce & Deborah

“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.” Psalm 68:5

Ruslan (7) plays with my iPhone while Vlad (10) looks on.

Today I had the privilege of picking up a van load of our local orphans north of Kiev.  It was great to travel and visit with the director and her assistant, very gracious and respectable individuals.   The 11 kids had just finished 2 months of ‘youth camp.’  Can you imagine, 2 months!  The camps, a left over from Soviet times, are a place where the nations youth were shipped off by the thousands.  They aren’t as popular now among today’s Ukrainian families, however they serve to house the nations +30k registered orphans until school starts in the fall.

In the lobby of the kids dorm, a blaring TV show plays - Something about this picture captured my day.

The “Sanitorium” was overgrown with weeds, buildings extremely old and worn down.  Popping out from the shrubs were some young little bodies, white eyed and excited to see some recognizable faces.  The kids don’t know me well, I’ve tried to serve behind the scenes supporting different events and providing the van.  With Genya and Julia now back in the states (they lived in the village for a year), the opportunity to directly help and build relationships was put before us and we felt it was the Lord.

Ruslan was my bud for the day, showing him how to eat soft serve ice cream.

The trip back was interesting.  The kids, all very well behaved, are not used to travel.  In fact, beyond the 2hr journey to summer camp, most of them hadn’t ever traveled that far in their life.  Half way back, several of the kids started to throw up.  Fortunately the ladies had prepared them each with a bag.  Like stewardesses preparing a flight, the ladies were instructive and I thought over-reactive in their approach to group travel.  I am sure glad they knew what they were doing!

Upon returning the weary bunch to the orphanage, just 10 minutes from our house, I was able to just hang out and play with the boys for a bit. Six of them rushing to their bedroom, claiming their bunk before someone else tried to.  The girls raced to the shoe pile, and began to sort through and find ‘their shoes’, as well as look for any new supplies.

If you are interested in Ukraine’s orphan situation, and some startling statistics concerning their future, please visit our friends website – www.biblesfororphans.com. You can also donate towards the cause, a worthy one.

This orphanage is on the first floor of the school that we are attempting to put Brent, Tucker and Clark into next week.  In a couple of weeks I’ve invited the kids to come to our house on the weekend to play on the trampoline and cook out.  They are extremely bored all weekend – my heart goes out to them, sweet kids, so valuable to the Father.

Here are their names, let’s pray together for them and their parents.  Most of these kids can’t be adopted, stuck in court processes, and / or parents have substance abuse issues and taken away from them.  We’ll be learning and documenting their specific situations as time progresses.

Vladamir – 10 and sister Tanya (9)
Ruslan – 7
Halia (13), her sister Yulia (7) and little brother Kolya (5)
Nazar (8), sister Sveta (6), and Anton (5)
Vanya (9)
Ira (12)

Yesterday celebrated Ukraine’s Independence… although one could argue it’s still struggling to realize it.  Our town has a little celebration, I’ve blogged a few times about it.  A few years back we played some country and gospel music on stage!  That feels like a long time ago.  Here are a few pictures from it.

We had the police behind Brent here, impressed with his shooting skills! Go Xbox!

Thanks for checking in!

Sincerely,
Bruce & Deborah Crowe

Reminded this week of the importance of prayer.  Here are a few verses that have stoked the flame of prayer, along with some provoking commentary on each verse.

Eph 6:18 “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints”

Prayer crowns all lawful efforts with success and gives a victory when nothing else would. No matter how complete the armor; no matter how skilled we may be in the science of war; no matter how courageous we may be, we may be certain that without prayer we shall be defeated. God alone can give the victory; and when the Christian soldier goes forth armed completely for the spiritual conflict, if he looks to God by prayer, he may be sure of a triumph.

Matt 6:6 ‘But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.’

We all make excuses that this place is difficult to find, but “the desire to pray, and the love of prayer, will create such places in abundance.  The Saviour had all the difficulties which we can have, but yet he lived in the practice of secret prayer.  To be alone, he rose up “a great while before day,” and went into a solitary place and prayed.  With him a grove, a mountain, a garden, furnished such a place, and, though a traveler, and among strangers, and without a house, he lived in the habit of secret prayer.

What excuse can they have for not praying who have a home, and who spend the precious hours of the morning in sleep, and who will practice no self-denial that they may be alone with God? O Christian! thy Saviour would have broken in upon these hours, and would have trod his solitary way to the mountain or the grove that he might pray.

Matt 6:8 ‘for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.’

Prayer is not designed to inform God, but to give man a sight of his misery; to humble his heart, to excite his desire, to inflame his faith, to animate his hope, to raise his soul from earth to heaven, and to put him in mind that There is his Father, his country, and inheritance.

May God excite your heart to pray.  Pray often, pray with thanksgiving.  The Father wants to abide in us, commune and share His heart, but we must come.

“He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on.  There is no other.” – CS Lewis

Bruce & Deborah Crowe
Missionaries | Rzhyshchiv, Ukraine