As we mentioned before, we had faith that God would provide 80 gifts for the children at the Balta orphanage as we stood and asked shoppers to consider buying a gift. The project has come to an end and there are over 800 gifts! You don't believe it?! Neither do we! We are not quite so sure why we are shocked...We serve an amazing God, these are His children, and He constantly provides for us in a big way! Praise Him for filling up the boxes, providing 52 faithful volunteers, and allowing us to serve Him.
We might say that we are excited to be done wrapping all those boxes!! One night we even wrapped the boxes in the dark with headlamps when the electricity went out. We had wrapped so many we could do that job in the dark! However, we are very thankful to a company here in Ukraine that donated to us the boxes. We were able to find paper that was inexpensive and pre-cut to the exact size of the box. Praise God for that because it made the job a lot easier!
Stay tuned for news on the distribution of the gifts. We are planning another marathon of visits to orphanages in January during Ukrainian Christmas holidays. We will also deliver presents through the end of January as boarding students return to the orphanages. Please pray for us as we plan this and spend time with the kids sharing the Christmas story and giving these gifts.