About two weeks ago, I was adding prayer requests to a post and I decided to ask you all to pray that God would privide a larger vehicle because we were not going to have enough room in our one vehicle that we have. I haven't really made it a matter of prayer myself because it seemed like a selfish thing to pray for. As I typed it, God said not to bother asking others to pray if I wasn't willing to pray about it. After all, He is my Father and likes me to ask Him for the things I need. It would be like one of my kids asking their friends to ask me if they could have a new pair of shoes because the ones they have have holes in them. Seems silly in that context but that's what I was doing. So I began to earnestly pray.

About a week later we drove past a new auto auction across the highway from our church and there was this beautiful crimson red van in the lot and Mary wondered aloud if we could ever afford it. I encouraged her to call and just see. Well, they were asking well below the blue book I found out later when I checked it out with the VIN but it was still more than we felt we could do. Actually at that time, it would have been impossible but Mary told him an amount and we didn't think there was any way they would come down so much. Later that day he called back and said he could do it for the price. Well we didn't have the money even for the lower price. But the next day as I did a blue book value and a car fax report I was shocked to find out that the price was almost 50% of the blue book price. A while later, the financial assistant came in my office and said that she had good news for me about a love offering. So of course I got excited but was BLOWN AWAY when she told me how much it was. I couldn't believe it!!! It was given specifically for a vehicle!! See the wonderful gift our Father gave us below.

We are now the proud owners of a 2006 E350 Super Duty 15-Passenger Van (Crimson Red).  It’s like BRAND NEW with only 28,000 miles and we got it for almost half of the retail blue book value.

It’s late and I’m sleepy so will tell more tomorrow!

PRAISE GOD!!!!

Today, we purchased our airline tickets to Ukraine.  We were already excited…but it seems even more real now!  We have only a little over 5 weeks left until we fly to Kiev and then to our boys.  We can only guess what our lives will look like in 3 months from now.  We’ll be NINE instead of SEVEN.  <<You just thought we were loud when we were coming down the hall at church all together!  You ain’t seen nothing yet!>>

We don’t even really know for sure who will be coming home with us.  We found out that nothing is a sure thing!  We are depending on God to do HIS work.  We’ve done our part.  We said, “Yes.”  That’s all it took and now here we go!  Back in July when we said, “Okay God, we’re game if you want to do this” we had no idea the swift course that our journey to adoption would be.  We had no idea that God would provide thousands of dollars (many of those dollars from people we didn’t even know).  We had no idea that our family would grow by TWO and not just ONE.  I’ve always wanted twins!  Huh…God gives the desires of our hearts in the most unique ways, doesn’t He!?  We only knew that we could trust God and that is what we are doing now as we prepare to go…we are trusting God.

The kids have been out of school since the Thursday before Christmas…and I was home for the last two weeks on vacation (except Sundays, of course).  We’ve had a great time together and I know that it was good for us to have virtually no responsibilities outside of our family for those two weeks.  I was back at work today…but that’s okay.  After all…my work isn’t really what I consider a job.  It’s a DELIGHT and just part of who I am.  God is good!

The next 5 1/2 weeks will FLY by.  We have lots of details to line up, yet but feel confident that God will help us with those details.  He’s all about details!  Boy…am I glad, because I know that He will think of so many things that we never would!

Here’s some Prayer Needs:

• To find someone to fill in for a couple of the Sundays while I’m gone.  My original plan has fallen through.  I’ve got 3 of the Sundays covered, but still need to cover at least 2 more and possibly 3. ANSWERED!!
• That these next few weeks will be wonderful family times even with all the hubbub involved with the activities of 5 kids and a busy church schedule.
• For my mom who will be coming to stay with the kids while we are away.  She signed on for a month originally and it looks like it’ll be at least 5 weeks now.
• That if we need more financial resources for our trip that God will provide them.  WE think we have enough, but God knows the whole picture and we do not.
• For a larger vehicle.  Right now we have a mini van that seats 7 and I have a scooter.  Obviously…not enough seats!  ANSWERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• For Mary and I as we go on this adventure of a lifetime into the unknown of the adoption process.  We know God will give us grace sufficient for each moment!
• For our kids…us being away will be very difficult for them.

Thanks for praying!!!

GOLDEN RULE TRAVEL rules! Edlo at Golden Rule got us all set up on United/Lufthansa to go to Ukraine February 13. He found us tickets for $1000 each and the boys will cost $503 each to get home. We were very happy with that price! We had the option to wait til January 30 to buy them and the price might go down a little because of fuel charges, but I'm a bit too neurotic to wait that long. I'd rather have them purchased so we know we have seats!

So Monday's the day...he'll have it all ready for us to purchase then. We did have to give him the boys' names for their tickets so we handed them over. We'll unveil them online after they are officially ours...so until then you'll know them as Matthew and Misha. :-)

We are pretty much at the point of waiting to leave. The only details we are waiting on (which are big ones, I guess) are where we will stay in each of the regions. Derek and Renee Loux are going to try to help us with that when they go back to pick up their THREE boys in mid-January. We are very grateful for their help!!

So...if you're doing adoption travel, we wholeheartedly recommend Golden Rule Travel! Did I mention they RULE!!

Hey boys...WE LOVE YOU and are COMING FOR YOU!

We had a great time with our family during the Christmas holiday!

Blake, Hannah, Bethany & Seth
at home

Eli at Grandma's. It was 70 degrees!

Seth with his tickle box turned over.

Hannah in the tree at Grandma's.

Blake in the tree at Grandma's.

Seth...he didn't get his front teeth for Christmas.

Bethany at Grandma's.

Eli at Grandma's.

The kids.

Surrounded by toys...paper wins the prize.

This year is sure to be a year full of unexpected events, surprises and great blessing from God that we cannot even imagine as I write this. In 2008, we went through many exciting times and several very low times. Times when our relationship with God was all we had and all we wanted. Those times made us cling even more to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

During 2008, God led us to adopt two boys from Ukraine with Down Syndrome and we began the process in August...wondering how in the world it would ever really happen...where the money would come from...all the logistics and paperwork. But God did it and as we celebrate this first day of 2009, we are also preparing to leave the country for 5 - 6 weeks to rescue our two boys. Bittersweet, for sure. Leaving our kids in the USA for 5 weeks seems unimaginable. Leaving the comfort of our home and normal schedules is not the easy path. Yet...God has called and we answered and we TRUST HIM.

During 2008, one of the lowest moments was the moment we realized that one of the boys we had planned to adopt had been adopted by another family. The only consolation being that we know the family, know their love for our God and the fact that we have only every prayed that GOD'S PLAN WOULD GO FORWARD which it has and is! Again...we TRUST HIM and HIS HAND a lot more than our small-minded, short-sighted plans.

Some scriptures that stand out to me as we begin this year of uncertain journey...

2 Corinthians 5:7
"We live/walk by faith, not by sight." (NIV)

The Amplified says is like this...
"For we walk by faith [we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance."

It is my nature to want to have a plan. We have, time and time again, tried to get a plan set and have tried to stay with that plan throughout our adoption process. God has met us at nearly every turn with a different plan or at least process. It has been with great joy that we have surrendered to His hand. Joy...not necessarily because we liked the way He did something, but because the Hand of our Father is so powerful and we know that everything He does is RIGHT and GOOD. We know that what we see is just a tiny part of the picture and He sees the picture in its entirety. Every nuance. Every beautiful color. Every tiny detail. So...we rest in His Hands by faith...not sight.

We know that we will have to stand strong in FAITH this year. We don't know why...but we have decided to begin with that we will trust Him. No matter what.

Psalm 139

"13 For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery]. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!" (AMP)

It is a truly amazing thing to know that God didn't just create me, my family and the boys we are grafting into our family. He also wrote the details of every one of our days before one of them came to be. Before we were born. Before the foundations of the earth. Another reason to TRUST HIM! He is trustworthy because He has already planned every moment of our lives. All we have to do is follow and obey. Not easy...but simple.

God is enlarging our tent and we are opening wide the doors to what He has for us during this new year. We place our lives in HIS hands and will follow, obey, and trust.

"I will walk by faith, even when I cannot see."

Happy New Year from the Malones
Chris, Mary, Blake, Hannah, Bethany, Seth, Eli, Matthew & Misha