Christmases Past!

First, we begin with 2004 - 2006 Group Shots:

Oh my goodness, these kids have grown!

Do you recognize the pjs Josh is wearing? They are the ones Zack is wearing this year! And, Kaylie and Josh are still this close! They have made it clear, however, that they will not marry!

I don't remember this pic, but that there is a great smile. How in the world did Gina's hair get that straight???

Okay, well, I will hear about posting pics of the sisters wtih no makeup, but all in the spirit of the holiday season!

As for this pic, Mike should never call another dude a girl again! HA HA HA HA! He looks so young and innocent!

And, here's grandma 2 1/2 years before she'd become babushka!

Now, for Christmas of 2005:

The four youngest Riveras and mom after her 11th knee surgery!

Proof that the quiet Rivera girls can get crazy!

Cuteness! Another, outfit Zack now wears!

I miss this laugh! My mom is a kick and a half!

A tripod - OMW! I will use it twice in the next 2 years! LOL

Christmas Eve 2005 - the infamous I DID NOT WET MY PANTS PIC. LOL

That there is the dad - can you see where we get our outgoing personalities? This is grandpa pre Zack and Sophia. He is in pretty bad shape now, but sends gifts to the kids often and already sent all of the Christmas gifts for this year. Thanks pops!

Christmas 2006:

A fake gift that Mike thought was really his! He scored with Lakers tickets, and iPod, Jordan XXIIs and a stereo system.

Um, Stephanie (not yet stepha was tired)!

Josh has always had a crush on Victoria! And, here unbeknownst to Victoria, she is expecting Torie AnnMarie!!!

And, shortly after all of these 2006 Christmas pictures were taken, Gina and I boarded a plan for Moscow and then another to Nizhny Novgorod, Russia to meet a four year old boy and his three year old sister housed in two separate orphanages. This is all we knew before we left.

First we arrived in Moscow:

Then Nizhny Novgorod...it wasn't too cold - 14 degrees. Not as cold as Chicago most winter days!

This is a picture that was taken on the pedestrian street in Nizhny.

This picture was taken on our first bitterly cold drive to Vyska from Nizhny. It was a three hours drive each way and a day of no food or water! It was much colder than 14 degrees and there were holes in the floorboard of the car.

This is in the town square. A Christmas tree - but not to celebrate as we do. Russia has never fully recoverd the celebration of Christmas since communist rule did away with Christmas in 1917.

This was along the pedestrian street. Lots of Putin propaganda posted here and there.

This is me before I entered the orpanage to meet who we know now as Sophia.

And, once inside we walked up some creeky steep steps that looked unsafe to a stifling hot, big pink playroom. And, this is who we met!

This next pic is Zack's orphanage called Pelican. It looks nice on the outside but was in very ill repair inside! It was smelly and looked unsafe. Zack was the first orhpan to leave this orphanage. Eighty plus other orphans aging 5 to 17 were in need of families too. Their faces are forever etched in my mind. I was not allowed to take pictures.

And, this is who we met inside those doors.

This was Zack's only wish for the holiday season - a sword. He spent an entire hour scaring Aunti Gina with it! We could not understand a word he was saying, but we recognized the growl and giggle. Zack said later that he broke his sword shortly after we left! He now has about seven swords.

These next pictures are my favorites - the first is the long road to Vyska. The second is the gate that we last exited when we became a family. It is the gate at the orphanage that housed Sophia and 78 other orphans NEEDING FAMILIES.

Please pray for the orphans all over the world, and pray for the people here in the states longing to adopt one or two but are not blessed with the money to do so.

My prayer is that churches will begin to see this as a field ripe unto harvest. We support missionaries, but most churches don't financially support giving orphans homes. These orphans could very well be the next Charles Spurgeon, Billy Sunday, Billy Graham, D.L. Moody, or simply a missionary to their own neighborhoods. And, as a side note, the Bible says clearly that TRUE RELIGION is this - helping the widows and orphans and keeping yourself out of sin (paraphrase for sure), but it IS in the Bible nonetheless just as clear as that! It costs approximately $40,000 to adopt one child from Russia. That number scares away and eleminates many who have the heart to adopt. The cost is exorbant, but it is what it is, and we as Christians should be helping to fund foreign adoption just as we support missionaries to foreign lands.

At my Christian workplace, they donate funds to missions trips to Mexico to build houses, to New Orleans to help with Katrina victims, but they do not find adopting orphans to be missionary work. That there was the most disappointing statement I heard while employed there, and it is FAR FROM THE TRUTH or the Scriptures are false. There is something seriously wrong with that mentality, and I hope that someday it changes for the sake of those needing forever homes.

If you could hear my two sing about Jesus or pray for dinner or inquire about Christmas, your heart would melt, and you'd know for sure, WE as christians HAVE TO DO MORE!!!!!

Look at those faces, and praise God with me for His provision. Then take a moment to pray for the others and ask God what you might do to help. It pains me greatly to imagine where these two would be had I not said that very prayer about 5.5 long years ago. It was about the time Zack was conceived that the Lord began knocking on my heart's door. If you can't bring a child home, maybe you can help someone else to do so. It is not about having kids as ornaments but about saving lives.