We had a baby shower yesterday for my Ukrainian friend Olena.
She is expecting her 4th daughter in March. We had a few
Americans- those of us who have travelled to Ukraine on
mission trips and many of her Ukrainian/Russian friends.
There was lots of good food. Most of her friends brought
delicious Russian style food which I love. I enjoyed
talking with many of the ladies. I also loved hearing them
speak in their native tongue. It was sweet music to my ears!

This week we kept Spencer for 4 days. We also went to Clarkston to do after school
and I dropped by some new quilts donated by our friends in Pa to World Relief.

Many exciting things are happening with our ministry.
The upcoming year is going to have some new opportunities
for us to expand our ministry working with refugees and
immigrants here in Atlanta's international village. Please
pray for us as we plan and get ready for what the Lord has
in store for us. We will share more details later.

Our hearts go out to the people of Haiti who are suffering
from the devastating earthquake this week. We actually know
several sweet families from Haiti. We can't begin to comprehend
all that is going on right now in the country but we can give
and we can pray!

Since I wrote last we have been busy working on school
and some other projects. I have completed alot of
paperwork and organizing things for the ministry.
There always seems to be alot of that to do. We just
returned from Clarkston where we helped with afterschool.
Sarah was able to go with us today. That was fun for
the kids. Praying about some new ministry opportunities.
We are having some people over next week so we have had
alot of cleaning to do too. Right now we are keeping
Spencer almost full- time. He is so cute and sweet. On
the days I go to the mission Sarah will be helping me
and watching him so I can leave and be at work on time.

Leah, Deborah, and I are just getting home from church.
We took an African Mom and her 2 children with
us this morning. I brought extra hats and gloves and
a blanket and I'm glad I did. It was 20 degrees this
morning. Mom didn't have a jacket and the 2 children
had only single layer jackets. The baby and her son went
to Sunday School and then I took her to our
International class. I'm not sure how much she
understood but she said she liked it. Afterwards
we drove through MacDonald's(they hadn't eaten all day)
and I got everyone a Happy Meal. We took them back
to their apartment and then she was going to walk to the
evangelical African church this afternoon.

We have just gotten home after being out since 11:30am.
First I had to go see an African Mom. Then I went over
to the apartments in Clarkston. Had a great chance to
catch up on ministry with one of my partners. We left
there to go and look for a good buy on a car seat. We
visited 5 thrift stores. We found a few car seats but none
of them had straps. I don't know what good a car seat is
without a way to fasten the baby in. Finally we found
a new seat at Big Lots in Snellville. It cost less to get
it than other places so I went ahead and got it. It will
carry a baby 5 - 40 lbs. It will make it easier for me when
I have to transport some of these Mom's if I have one in
my car. Just cooked dinner- now lets eat!