Personality Plus

Ok, so you saw from the pictures that we are moving forward in our relationships and that God has been answering prayers about those left and right. We are thankful for all of you on your knees for us, and all of the things you are doing to help us to get ready to get home.

Each of the kids have their own personality that is awesome… Here is a snap shot of each with words:

John… Where to even start with the compassion that floods his face sometimes is hard to capture. John is strong, and John is weak. John has lived in hard places… some times you can see on his face that those places have taken from him more than they ever should have by 14 years old. John is a giver. John is wise in some ways beyond his years… all our kids are… John is a peace keeper. This is a blessing for all of us and some times it is hard for him… He will go with out if he thinks it will cause a conflict. When John is finally fed up and feels an injustice past what he thinks is fair you will know it and so will the next town over. He bottles it and then when he is done and is ready to explode you stand back and let him roar and get it over with. He wants to understand. He tries. He is afraid to use English so it will be hard for him to start with. He is a loner… not the first one we have had in our lives, surely not the last. When he laughs and smiles his whole heart is in it and joy spills out over him and anyone else around. He is John.

Anna is something else. She is a village girl. Therefore, LOL, she will fit in perfectly in Milton. She is to these folks here in the city, what rednecks are to “high falutin” folk at home. She is a totally awesome person. She is funny. She is prissy. She is a royal pain in the rear… she is hard headed, she is soft hearted, she is loud and she is contemplative. She watches people, she is a decent judge of character, she is smart and she will tell you she is the best student in our family. She is a whiner, OMG… we hate whiners!!! She is strong. She can whoop your tail and then dry your tears. She tries to do the right things and when she fails, after a while, when she is good and ready… she can say she is sorry. She has blue eyes that you can swim in, and when they are happy she is so lovely… and when she is mad, you better run for cover or be able to take her on. We have done both. She has learned we will not take her guff… and she is learning limits though we have no fear she will test them again stateside. She is Anna.

Kevin… Can you say clown? The kid knows no limits. He is funny, he is serious, he is as lazy as they come. He is the one at the car wash that looks like he is working no matter what he is doing but you know he hasn’t done beans because his hands aren’t wet. He is smart, he is too street smart. He has been in the system since he was born. He knows nothing really of family save what he has seen on tv or in a movie. He loves us, but doesn’t know what to do with us. He is good with Max… and then again… watch out because those two together are trouble right here in river city. Kevin is the one we want to see “feel at home” with us more consistently. He plays hard. He is competitive. He wants to be the best at whatever he does. He likes to take Mark’s cap and act like a rap master. He is loose as a goose… and yet his so wound up… tighter than a drum. He will be the one who is the wild card. He is the wild card for all purposes. We are glad that God has called us to learn from him and with him. He is Kevin.

… and then there is Max. You can take one look at Max and know that you are in trouble because you are going to get sucked into his personality. He is the charmer. He is whip smart, he is naive. He is smart enough to stay out of trouble and then boy enough that when it finds him he thinks he might just go along for a while. He has an alligator mouth and a tadpole body. He will hold his own, and if you don’t believe it, try him… he is a strong little bugger. He will work, and he works hard, but when it is time to play he will play just as hard and crack you up the whole time. Max has had to depend on his personality to be his trump card with people around him. Max was a baby ~ the baby ~ when things went way south in the family. Anna has been his “Mama” till now but she is slowly letting go of that title, slowly, LOL… He is able to hang with the big dogs, he doesn’t know he isn’t one of them, save all the people who try to tell him over and over. He doesn’t listen. He has one speed ~ GO… from early in the morning till late at night. He is Max.

We are thankful that court is Thursday. Please keep praying with and for us, we do not foresee any problems. We are confident that those have been ironed out. Read it however you choose. More than court I am thinking about this weekend and looking forward to it and dreading it. Please pray for us. See the deal is, we have a chance this weekend to get the boys and take them and Anna and Max to a rough equivalent of Student Life Tour for Easter. David Nasser is going to be here and he is going to preach. Sergey, a friend of Mark’s, is doing worship. He is a wonderful person and a lead worshiper for sure. I hope that the kids will be allowed to be a part of this, but this requires permission for them to spend the night Friday and Saturday. We are ready to do what ever we need to do to get them permission to be there. On the flip side of this which is what we are looking forward to, none of us are jumping up and down with excitement about Papa going home. By the same token we know that this is important for our family and for Papa to go back to the States and get to it with the Youth Group! He is ready to get back to Rolly Pohlee too. He had a dream the other night that he had to get up and feed them~ I had one that Pohlee was licking my face. I think it is time to get back to the boys aye? Mark leaving is the right thing to do, but I have to tell you, he is my partner and I love him so much. I miss him like crazy when he is gone. The kids do too. They totally love their Papa. Please pray that God will use that time apart to strengthen their love for him and their desire to be with him.

More than praying for a smooth court, please pray for us to be able to get the kids to “tour” here and for Mark’s travel. That is what we are all focused on most of all. On Thursday time flips over again. It marks the start of the 10 day wait here in Kiev. On April 1st our papers for John and Kevin come into full effect. They will be totally official. (It really ends on the 31st but we have been told it will be the first before we can get them so far… who knows… ) Lori’s birthday is the 3rd. We look forward to celebrating it with her some how fun! In the mean time we will be doing medical stuff with the kids, and trying to get their passports from the embassy etc. This is a rough look at what is ahead. Those who have gone before, any advice you want to pass on is welcome at my email address. I am looking for tips, hints, landmines to avoid. Ya’ll have helped us so much by telling us what to do and not do, please keep it up.

Today was great.... we had a small "birthday party" for Blonde Vova. He turned 14 today. Ya'll whom ever is writing him, please do... some days he looks so hopeless... he just wants a family... More to share and will do so later on...
Love
MJ & Crew