Wednesday, July 9, 2008

My Tebya Lyublyu Matvey!

We are happy to announce we are leaving for Russia on Saturday to meet a little boy who is now living in the same Baby Home that our son Noah Max once lived. We saw a picture of this precious boy on an agency website and fell in love. His name is Matvey, pronounced Maht-VEE in Russian, but the kids call him Matsey. He is almost 3 years old and was born with arthrogryposis, a disorder which affects his joints and muscles. The story and circumstances which brought us to this spot is an amazing one and we give God the praise for how He continues to lead us moment by moment. We will share more of God's faithfulness and our "story" in later posts, but for now we have much to do to be packed up and ready to go!

For now we covet your prayers! Many of you have been asking how you can be praying specifically for this first trip and so here is the list...

  • Please pray for our 4 children who are staying behind. We will be gone for a week, which seems like a long time for this mama's heart!
  • The kids are staying at grandma & grandpa's house. They are all SO excited about "grandma camp" because their favorite cousins will be there too! Pray that all the campers obey the rules. And for an extra measure of strength and energy for the camp directors...who will also be performing the duties of cook, nurse, game leader, counselor, you get the idea! We are so grateful for my parents and their willingness to watch our children once again. Thanks mom & dad!
  • A safe travel there and back and good health as well. We are not interested in catching any bugs, 'cause it's not any fun to be sick, but also it could potentially keep us from visiting the Baby Home.
  • That God would prepare Matvey's heart to meet us. We may look, smell, and sound strange to him. We have an appointment to visit his Baby Home on Tuesday, July 15th in the morning, which will be Monday at bedtime for you. We will be 11 hours ahead.

We are so blessed to have family & friends who have been so encouraging and faithful to pray for us already. We love you all!

My Tebya Lyublyu Matvey...We Love You Matvey!

Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God."

15 comments:

Scott said...

We will be praying for you and yours while you are gone! Can't wait to meet the newest Howard. God bless, God speed and safe travel.

Love,
The Floyds

emily hope said...

We've been thinking of you lots this week ... and will continue to pray that God's perfect plan will unfold for all of you (including the enrollees at GrandmaCamp :) Can't wait to hear more news.

The Davis Family said...

We are so excited and we will pray for you every day of your trip. We love you! The Davis Family

Michelle Krueger said...

Allyson and Ryan- Thank you for including us in this special time in your life. We will be lifting you up to the Lord in the next week and will look forward to hearing any updates. We are thankful that the Lord has paved the way for you to adopt another little one. It is such a neat picture of what the Lord did for us.
Love- The Kruegers

Unknown said...

Your family will continue to be in my thoughts and prayers!
-Meg

The Hertel Family said...

We wish you the best on your trip to see your new baby boy, Matvey! We are greatful to know your family...and we'll continue to pray for all of you during your time away.

All the best,

Brian, Erika, Jayden and Keegan

Karl said...

I'm so excited for you! May God bless your hearts for wanting to bring this boy into your family. I'll be praying for travel mercies.

candice said...

You are on your way!!! Enjoy your stay in Austria... I will be anxiously awaiting any news from the other side of the world...
Can't wait to hear if Matvey is as much like Noah as he sounds to be. We are getting ready for our trip over here as well- I hear that there are going to be exciting things happening over there at Grandma Camp too! We'll be praying for you!!!

candice said...

Ok- that sounds funny. I really DO know where you're going! I meant enjoy your stay in Austria tonight- and then in Russia!

The Older Hertel Family said...

Well, you're off...We already sent you an email wishing you well and God's blessings for you and your family. What a journey awaits. We will keep you in our prayers and check for updates daily.

Jenn said...

We are thinking about you and praying for you. We love to hear how God matches and brings together families. May God continue to pave the way as you continue in the process of adoption and bonding with Matvey.

janet said...

Ryan and Alyson
Samuel is a perfect name. He us soblessed to be in your family. We are so excited and continue to pray for all of you.
With Love Janet

The Older Hertel Family said...

Wow! What a handsome lad. I'm going to try and print the photos and put the on the hall wall at the office for everyone to see. Our prayers are still heading your way.

The Poplin Way said...

I just read your blog for the first time and have tears in my eyes...we've been praying for you guys this week. It's so exciting to see God's handiwork! We will continue to pray!

Love,
The Poplins :)

Jim Howard said...

Today was so much fun for us. I had business in Fresno and time left over so we crashed the camp at Wagenleitner's. The kids were helping build "Ft. Papa" in the back yard and forging many memories of this week. They are appreciating the messages from you and we can sense the excitement growing for thier new brother. We read today's blog message at the camp. The photo's are special to us as we adore this new person in our lives. We now look forward to meeting him and confirming to him that he is loved by us all We are so blessed to part of your family.
We love you all. Papa Howard