Our Ukrainian Connection: The Powells

It's so amazing how God looks after His children! In February 2007, He led us to adopt from Ukraine, a country we knew nothing about. A month later, we met Jonathan & Heather Powell - Ukrainian missionaries that were home on furlough - so we felt like we had a bit of a connection to the country.

Well Ukraine is about the size of Texas, so the chances of us ending up anywhere close to them were slim.  But as I continually remind myself, never attempt to put limits on God!!  I remember calling Jonathan from Kyiv to let him know we'd be heading to Mariupol. And as it turned out, we were only about an hour or so away from them!

You can read about our previous encounters with the Powells by clicking HERE and HERE and HERE.

The Powells are currently back in Georgia on furlough for several months.  A couple of weeks ago, they came to our house and spent the day with us.  It was great to finally introduce them to William.  We spent a good bit of time with them in Ukraine, but it was before we had custody of him so they only saw him in pictures.  William had so much fun playing with their girls, Maya and Sasha. And we enjoyed spending time with our friends.  We hope to see them some more while they're here!

We also plan to host an evening sometime in the next couple of months where they will share about their ministry.  If you're in the area and are interested in attending, just send me an email here.

Unfortunately, if things stay on schedule, we probably won't get to see them while in Ukraine this time, because they'll still be in the U.S.  But hopefully we'll get to introduce them to our new child once we return home, before they head back to Berdyansk.

Nov 22: Thanksgiving in Ukraine

(If you haven't already, be sure to take a look at the other post from today, with William's acting debut!)

11/22/07: Jonathan picked us up at 7:30 on Thursday morning and we drove to Berdyansk. We arrived around 8:45 and were greeted by Heather, Maya and Sasha. We visited, talked, played, and had coffee. Heather's parents had recorded the Macy*s parade last Thanksgiving and sent it over, so we watched it for a while. Zack read some Thanksgiving and Christmas books to the girls, and they did a Thanksgiving craft.

Around 12:30 it was time for lunch. Turkey is not a common thing to serve in Ukraine, but a man in the next village over had raised and 'prepared' a turkey for the Powells. Heather, always the wonderful cook, had gone all out for Thanksgiving. Along with the home-grown turkey, we enjoyed stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and homemade rolls. Everything was delicious!

Shortly after lunch the girls went down for a nap, and we enjoyed some coffee and pumpkin pie. After the girls got up, we went for a ride down to a different part of the shore. We saw a boat that was run aground into the rocks during the recent storms. Some of the old cement barrier walls had crumbled as well.

After that, we drove into town and went to a place called Neon. It's an indoor "zoo" - mainly aquariums of fish and reptiles. It was a nice way to spend some time out.


We went back to their place and munched on leftovers. We played play*do with the girls for a while. Then Zack and I got on the computer for an hour or so. We talked to some of our family through Skype. We played some more with the girls, then they went to bed. We watched a couple of episodes of Friends before laying down for the night.

It was different from any Thanksgiving we'd ever had before, but by far I think it is our most memorable Thanksgiving ever, and definitely a good one! We had much to be thankful for: that God led us to meet the Powells; for friendships that are built on and because of Him; for blessing us by leading us to our son in Ukraine; for keeping us safe on our journey; for protecting our son for his first 5 1/2 years; for family and friends back home that were supporting us through love, prayers, emails, and finances; and of course most importantly for a Savior who died so that we might live. Half a world away from the land where we'd normally celebrate this day, we went to bed feeling blessed and encouraged, and once again re-energized by the time spent with our "Ukraine family".

Nov 18: Worship in a different language

11/18/08: Outside of finding our son in Ukraine, I think one of the best things we got to do during our 33 day trip was going to church with the Powell’s. On Sunday morning, we had breakfast and then we all bundled up and walked to church. The service lasted for about 2 hours. We sat on the back row so that Jonathan could periodically lean over and translate. We recognized many of the hymns, so as the congregation sang in Russian/Ukrainian we would just sing the same song in English. The music was beautiful, and it was really exciting to experience a church service in a different language and cultural setting. The people were incredibly kind and welcoming. The love of God definitely transcended the language barrier!

We walked back to the apartment and had lunch. Then Zack and I went with Jonathan to the next village over to attend a church service there. It was made up of about 15 or 20 people meeting in a music school building. It was a very simple service, but we really enjoyed it. While we’d seen a lot of poverty throughout Ukraine, it was obvious that this village was especially poor. We got to hear Jonathan teach in Russian, which was really cool. At the end, there was a time to share prayer requests. Many of these people had endured severe damage to their homes in the prior week’s storms. Yet their first request was our adoption of Stanislav. How awesome to join in prayer with fellow believers, and know that God understands each and every voice, regardless of the tongue.


We went back to the house and played with the girls for a while, then had dinner (spaghetti - Heather is such a great cook!). It had been a wonderful weekend, and just what we needed to combat the homesickness we’d been feeling. We were so thankful that God "just happened" to place our son an hour or so away from the only 2 people we knew in the entire country of Ukraine. Even in the small stuff, God is always there. How awesome He is!

Nov 17: Celebrating a birthday half-way around the world

11/17/07: I (Jennifer) have never celebrated my birthday in another country before – likely due to the fact that this was only my second time to ever even travel outside of the U.S.! So this was definitely a birthday like no other.


We were staying with our missionary friends for the weekend, in Berdyansk. We had breakfast and then all went down to the Sea of Azov. We walked around and took some pictures. Then Maya (their older daughter) had gymnastics. So we dropped her and Heather off, and Jonathan toured us all around the town.






We saw the beach, some churches, and a water park, among other things. A really bad storm had passed through the prior weekend (remember me talking about the window flying out of our building?) and had caused pretty major damage all over Berdyansk, and we saw a lot of people trying to clean up and recover.

Then we went downtown and walked around the markets. We met a few people from Jonathan’s church and enjoyed more of the sights and sounds of everyday life in Ukraine.

We went back to pick up Maya and Heather, and then headed to the Potato House for lunch. Note: if you are ever in Ukraine and you see a Potato House restaurant, you must try it. Their burritos and salads were awesome!


We went back to their house and hung out for the afternoon. Then Heather made homemade pizza for dinner. After that, they surprised me with a birthday cake and gifts: a birthday mug and a children’s Russian/English picture dictionary.

All in all, it was a great birthday, one I won’t likely forget any time soon!

11/17/08: While last year was a fun and memorable birthday, this one is even more so because I have my boy with me this year! He and Zack started the celebration last night by giving me my gifts early. William gave me a beautiful pair of earrings – picked them out all by himself! And Zack got me a subscription to XM radio – awesome! The best gift of all is knowing that I get to go home this afternoon and spend the rest of the day with my two favorite fellas!

Nov 16: Heading out of town

11/16/07: This was our last visit with our little guy for the week. We wouldn't be visiting on the weekends since no one would be there that spoke English and there was typically different staff on the weekends.

We had a nice visit. We took play*do with us for the first time, and he had lots of fun with it.

On the way out of the orphanage, we saw a funeral procession. There were quite a few men and women walking solemnly down the road. The body was being carried atop a board, which was adorned with flowers. It was very sad, and also very different from the traditions of our culture.

Once back to the apartment, we ate a quick lunch. Then we got to do something fun - our friends Jonathan & Heather are missionaries in Berdyansk (the next region over) and they invited us to spend the weekend with them. (We met them earlier in 2007 while they were home on furlowe). So Jonathan came and picked us up and we went back to their place.

We finally got to meet their daughters, Maya and Sasha. Heather prepared us a great dinner of baked chicken, mashed potatoes, carrot salad, cauliflower, and bread. It was nice to have some normal food for a change! We enjoyed getting to speak English and being with other Christians. We looked forward to getting to hang out with this great family over the weekend.