Vova

The first time I came to Ukraine was 7 years ago. Holy moly, that is a long time ago, now that I say it out loud. There are kids that I still have a close relationship with from the very first trip. Vova is one of them. I remember him at the orphanage as one of the cool kids. I remember him telling us how God was not in his heart. This of course was with basically no understanding of the language at the time. I think God was starting to work on him at that moment. Vova is full of life and sure does love to party. He is a joy to be around. He cannot handle sad emotions which means he is either not around for sad times or tries to lighten the mood. We have walked with Vova for the past 7 years and it has been a bumpy road filled with good times and trying times.  I will always hope he will see that he can live a different life, one with purpose. I will always hope that Vova comes to know the Lord personally as it will change his life. Vova had lived with us for a couple years and in the past year we had to kick him out. There was nothing drastic that happened which I am very thankful for. But the kids have to sign contracts to live here and he was just not upholding his end of the deal. It was really sad and we questioned our decision of course. But time passed and we saw that we had made the right decision. He needed to to get out and figure out things on his own. We told him he was family and always would be. But we of course feared what our relationship might be. We didn't see him for months.  We had heard he was not doing so well in life and drunk most days. This is of course heartbreaking but if I am honest, also frustrating for me. I know these kids have so much potential and sometimes I lose my grace. I am working on it but I fail more than I succeed.
But then he called a couple weeks ago and asked if he could come over. I would like to be honest and say I was thrilled. I knew his birthday was coming very soon and I figured that is why he wanted to come over. Again, I know I need a lot of work in the heart department. Sometimes, I can be very ugly. He came over and it was like no time had passed. He was his usual joyful self full of laughs and hugs.
Yesterday was his birthday and he asked if he could spend it with us. We had some guests that were already scheduled to come so that put a little bit different spin on the day. But he didn't even seem to mind. It was like he was just glad to be "home". Even despite my ugly moments with my bad attitude, I am thankful we were able to spend another birthday with him. He is now 22 and a young man. I look forward to many more with him.

Blowing out his candles.

Happy 22nd Birthday Vova!

Family pictures.

Present time.