And This One Matters.........

By Amy McCoy

So, here it begins at the airport with a team from Redline Hosting, who are headed to southern Ukraine to do a week of VBS type activities at an orphanage there.  Our son Alex, in the camouflage jacket, is one the team members as is his buddy and my friend Nicole's son, Kolya (3rd from left).

Here is the team waiting at the airport, looking comfy.  Nicole is the cute blonde seated all the way to the left.

Our boy Alex can sleep anywhere and the team was somewhat jealous of this fact.

 

The team made it to Kyiv but there is 2 feet of snow on the ground and gale force winds...ack!  Let me share Nicole's words on this harrowing piece of the trip:  "Thank you girl for asking for prayer. I think everyone on that plane with us was praying. At least the two next to me were praying as I was then the electricity on the plane went off as we were on the runway gaining speed for takeoff. So we all were wondering would this be our last flight as the snow was piling down hour after hour and very windy. We landed and safe in region around 4/5AM with all body parts! Our orig. 9pm flight took off after 2PM but we are thankfully counting our blessings we landed. We got the last flight at this time out of Kiev to here because of the snow so the airport is on lock down. Blessed we are. The snow followed us and we have had snow all day here in region and the roads turned into an ice skating rink. We went to an awesome church tonight to visit with the youth group and it was a wonderful lesson and time and great company and ended with our bus getting stuck and cars parked all over the road stuck in the ice and Alex, James, Scott and myself trying to push cars in the snow to get them to a dry enough spot to move. It was NUTS and good times....good times!!"

She is a trooper, she is!  I don't think I would have been on that plane...yikes!

Here, they made it south!  Nicole and Alex, holding each other up on the ice. 

James, looking very Ukrainian ;)

Here is the team, beginning their mission work by pushing cars that were stuck in the ice to get them on their way again.  Until the police came and scolded them and blamed the traffic problems on them! That's what you get for helping...

Kolya and Alex with the boys they met from the Baptist Church's youth group.  Apparently these boys were amazing and faith filled.  Great influence on our fellas...

 

The whole team with the Youth Group. 

 Here they are at the orphanage and you can see that Alex and Sasha (on Alex's right) have become fast friends!   

  

 Here the kids are, with Alex and Sasha, pointing to God during the team's presentation.

 Kolya and Alex, in a skit.  Alex is a blind man and here they are praying.

Here Kolya is taking Alex to see Jesus.

 

Kolya, Sasha, Nicole and another young man who will age out of the orphanage system next month. Nicole will be hitting the ground running to try and find him a family quickly.  An I-600 will need to be filed quickly to put a hold on him before he ages out!

As you can see, Kolya and Sasha have hit it off wonderfully.  This was a MUST for the Dewberry family if they were to consider Sasha for their family.  With Sasha being one of the cool kids and at the top of the heap and Koyla being sorta, well, um...not, it is no minor miracle that these boys became close very quickly.  The pecking order that is normally present did not exist for these boys and you can tell, things went really well between the two of them.

This is the photo that just rocks my world and says it all.  Nicole put Sasha through the ringer, asking him a million questions, grilling him on his life and behavior and history.  Every day he came back for more.  Apparently he was not one to stay for all the activities before when other teams came, but he never left the team this time and he and Nicole and Kolya spent a lot of time together.  The look on his face here is one of a boy who is content and safe and at home! 

Nicole asked him directly if he wanted to be a part of her family and he say, YES!  What a happy ending to what began as a sad and desperate story.  Sasha has had many, many people asking about him and praying for him and considering him for their families.  I can tell you, I know Nicole very well.  She will come home will not stop until her dossier is done.  I give her a week to get it all done LOL  She is a machine.  And I bet you a big fat dollar she will be traveling to get him in a few short months.  They will need FUNDS!  She will bust her fanny shopping and auctioning items on Facebook in order to raise funds to go and get him and I'll be sure to post those auctions here.  Please stay tuned and help in any way you can.  Details on how to do so will follow :)  Thanks again for all who have worried and prayed over this boy.  One day soon he will learn of all your love for him and he will know that all along, in his pain, his Father in heaven was looking out for him and preparing a place for him.  All praise to Jesus for the one who was lost is now FOUND!