Once upon a time, there was a family who God called to serve Him.  The family thought about it and the dad and mom said, “Yes.”  When they said, “Yes,” they didn’t know what God wanted them to do, they just knew that they wanted to do it.

The family found that even though they had told God that they would lay down their lives to follow Him, there were times when it was unclear exactly what He wanted.  So a few years ago, they felt God calling again to surrender to Him at an even deeper level.  They had a child who had Down syndrome, they had visited Ukraine several times, they had seen the terrible plight of the orphan there (especially the special needs orphans and the older orphans – both completely unwanted by society).

They came home from a trip to Ukraine and thought they had figured God out.  They started getting their house ready to sell and were preparing to move their family to Ukraine to work with special needs orphans.  They imagined they would have a private home for orphans with Down syndrome – in Ukraine.

After several months of preparations, God said, “No.  That’s not what I’m asking you to do.  Just wait on me.”

A couple of years passed and even though the family had said, “God, anything You want, You can have,” it was becoming more and more difficult to wait on Him.  But finally, He called again and the family knew they were to adopt a child with Down syndrome from Ukraine.  So the family started the process and one child turned into two children.  The family saw God do AMAZING miracles to make the adoption possible.  They learned more about their Heavenly Father than they had ever known before.  They found out that God’s heart is bent toward the orphan.  They remembered that they, too, had once been orphans and that God had adopted them…saved them from certain death.

God had called them to do the same.  So they did.  During the entire journey toward adoption, a little girl had caught their eye, but God lead them definitely to two boys, hand-picked for them by God, Himself.  The little girl with pig-tails had been chosen by a couple of families but for reasons known only by the Father, those adoptions did not happen.  So once again, this precious cherub was on the at risk list because she was in danger of being sent to a mental institution to wait for certain early death.

Finally, another family stepped forward and started the process of getting the paperwork done and the orphanage made the decision to keep her in the baby home instead of moving her to the institution.  And everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The Father had another plan.  The new family went to Ukraine to meet her and bring her home, but something happened that changed their plans and they were unable to complete the adoption.  She was to be transferred immediately to institution since she was not going to be adopted.

A few months ago, the family that had thought they would one day have a private home for orphans with Down syndrome in Ukraine realized that maybe God was building that home here in the United States.  God cultivated this in their hearts and when the girl became available again for adoption, they said, “she’s ours.” 

So…yes.  The Malone Nine is about to become the Malone Ten.

Our hearts ache for the family that was unable to adopt her, but we know that God’s plans are always much better than ours even when they are gut-wrenching.  We have NO DOUBT that God has always meant for little Ruslana to be part of the Malone clan and that He had planned everything so that at just the right moment, it would happen.  We don’t understand His hand sometimes, but we trust His heart.

We have SO much to tell, but for now, please meet our little girl, Ruslana (we have another name but we aren’t ready to share that yet).

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!  Check back soon for more exciting things God is doing.

Today was the annual Down Syndrome Association Christmas Party.  It’s a chance for families in our metro area to come together and celebrate with each other the wonderful blessing of children with Down syndrome.  It’s an event provided by our association with a meal and gifts for all the kids.  In addition, there is a local photography studio that takes family portraits as well as photos with Santa.

Now we’re not big Santa people, but for some reason, Micah is taken with Santa Claus.  Who knows why.  Maybe it’s because of the red suit and the hat.  He loves red.  And he loves hats (on other people, not himself).  We had a great time with the couple of hundred families that got together this afternoon.

I didn’t really think that Micah would sit in Santa’s lap. He’s kind of skittish about certain things.  But when he saw him, he ran to him and said “hi” (his new word) and jumped up in his lap.  The smile on this santa is genuine.  The boys really made him smile.

For some reason, there is not a single picture of Bethany from the event.  Hmmmm…  she was hiding, I guess.  That could be one reason.  The other reason is…  I had purchased a package of duracell batteries for my camera and of course when I tried to find them to load it up before we left for the party, they were no where to be found.  Undoubtedly, the kids had taken them.  So I ended up with batteries from dollar tree.  These pictures are the ones I got to take before the batteries died.  Yes…they died after just these few pictures.  Hope the kids enjoy the duracells.  Argh!

It is an UNDERSTATEMENT for me to say that we were an oddity at the party.  Everyone thinks the boys are triplets and everyone asks…which we like, because it gives us a chance to tell them about our journey and it will only help to let more people know about Eli Project and others will surely decide they want to rescue a child, too.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

PS>>> If you’re in the area, come to Celebrate the Light 2009 at FBC Moore December 11, 12, or 13th at 6:30 p.m.

This was the day before we left to come back to America (after being in Ukraine for almost 6 weeks).  Matthew hasn’t really changed that much in appearance (surprisingly).  He’s grown taller and has a more healthy look about him, but his features haven’t changed at all.  Micah has changed a lot physically.  His undernourished distended belly is normal now.  The veins in his head are hardly noticeable and he has turned from a scared, skittish  boy into a happy and confident-in-our-love boy.  His deprived-skinniness has been replaced with normal body tone.  He’s grown in height too.  Both boys have outgrown their clothes that swallowed them when we got them.  The pajamas we brought them in Ukraine will barely button now.  But we still put them on them because it’s a reminder of what was and what is now.

They’ve been home for over 8 months now.  Most of the time, it seems like eons ago that we were nervously waiting to meet them for the first time.  As hard as it was being away from our kids while we were there in Ukraine, it was such a sweet time with each other and with the Lord.  We saw literal miracles happening before our eyes and the blessings of God were being heaped on us to the point where we were actually weary of being so “high” all the time.  We learned truly what it meant to be overwhelmed by God.  I, personally, miss that feeling of God being right there.  I know that He is always right there, but my relationship with Him was much stronger during those days because He was LITERALLY ALL WE HAD to depend on.  Everything else was uncertain and changing as often as minute by minute.  He was the only constant in our lives.  I want that back.  I know that it’s my fault that it’s different.  There is so much that distracts me in this life.  I’m so busy at work, there is always something someone needs from me and I have little time to just rest in His arms.  I MUST take more time for that.  I have gotten pretty good at saying NO to people to protect myself from total burnout, but whatever time I have gained, has been sucked up by something else.  But God is right there.  I’m so grateful.  A dear friend sent me this verse on Tuesday (although I didn’t see it til today—which is when I needed it the most—I was sitting in the doctor’s office waiting on test results to find out what was wrong with me this time—more on that later)… Be encouraged! The One who loves you the most and sees all your good deeds done for His Glory, lives within you giving you access to the power, the same power that raised Him from the dead.  (Thanks Sally!)

All the kids are well finally.  I was well on my way to being over pneumonia and feeling quite good.  Then, last Friday, I crashed and burned.  By Sunday I was feeling worse than I had with pneumonia.  This is the busiest two weeks of my life (getting ready for Celebrate the Light (our Christmas program at church)) and each day I felt worse and worse.  Today I went to the doc and he did tests and found that while the pneumonia was nearly gone from lungs, I now have the flu (regular, not H1N1).  He also said that my blood work showed that my body was actively trying to fight allergies.  So I’m on Tamiflu and a steroid pack (to stop the allergy problem).  Supposedly, I will feel great tomorrow.  We’ll see…  :-)  But regardless, God is on His throne!  For that I am grateful!

We had such a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving with the boys for the first time.  Everything was new and it’s wonderful to experience things with them for the first time.  We got our tree up last night (finally) and Micah woke up this morning and went crazy over it.  Every time we turn on the lights, he claps!  What a joy.  Matthew hasn’t torn it down…yet.  He’s a destroyer.  I’m just saying…

Sorry we aren’t doing so well keeping up with posting…  life is so busy.  Eli Project continues to move forward and God is going to do great things (more great things, I should say).

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

This time last year we had justgotten our dossier submitted and we
were waiting to hear a travel date. We were so excited to meet our
boys or the first time. We could hardly wait to hold them in our arms
and tell them how much we loved them.

Here we are a year later. The guys have been home for 8 months (which
is totally impossible to believe) and it seems like they have always
been ours. We are so grateful that they are our sons and can't
imagine our lives without them.

It is such a blessing to have them.

Blessed be the Name of the Lord.