New Shoes

God is faithful in the BIG things. God is faithful in the little things. And God is faithful in all the in between things. When we doubt, when we charge ahead recklessly and when we take caution, God remains faithful. We’ve seen each of these truths in the last 45 days since we first laid eyes on our new son

In 2005, when we came to bring home Noah Max, $1 exchanged for about 29p (rubles). Today, the same $1 exchanges for about 23p. If your reaching for a calculator, that’s about a 20% decrease.

Yesterday, we bought Samuel Matvey some new shoes. When we met him he was wearing worn out, slightly too small little leather high tops. We looked around at a couple of Russian department stores. We decided on a pair of traditional little shoes, pretty American looking. Fisher Price actually, a little bit expensive but we thought well worth it. We passed over another pair, at a high end shoe store in a new shopping center, the Actob (pronounced Astor), that makes you feel like you could be in downtown LA. Even with my (Ryan) normally reckless spending habits, we resisted because they cost nearly 4000p. We gave him the new shoes yesterday afternoon.

This morning, Samuel Matvey was wearing his new kicks again. As we sat out next to the playground playing, Olga introduced us to the orthopedist who’s been working with the little man. She explained as delicately as she could, that his new shoes didn’t provide enough support for his right foot. It was a little red last night after wearing them. We immediately agreed that whatever she suggested would be best for him was fine with us. So we took off the new shoes and she found the old pair for him to wear again. They definitely helped support his ankle better.

This afternoon, between visits, we decided to do some more shopping for Samuel and the kids in his group. We collected some Russian candies and cookies, and a few toys. We searched the local marketplace for shoes, but found none that would fit the need. Then it happened, my weakness for spending welled up, and we headed back to the Astor. Our son needed shoes, it didn’t matter the cost, we were going to leave him with what he needed. We’re sure he hadn’t experienced too many, if any luxuries in his nearly 3 years at the Dom. We wanted to spoil him. When my beautiful wife with the keen fashion sense decided on the appropriate pair, we asked for his size and went to the cashier. She rang them up: 3910p. Well worth it in these new parents’ opinion. I handed her 4000p, and she shook her head and smiled. This happens everywhere we go, including McDonald’s, so I assumed I had given her the wrong amount. But she grabbed a notepad and scribbled 1170p. Huh? No sale signs were posted but Ally asked her why the difference? Was there a sale? The clerk smiled and nodded “sale, yes”.

God is good all the time. Even when it comes to “unmarked 70% off shoe sales”. Big, medium, little, He cares about it all, because He cares about us so much.

As we sit here, on the other side of the world, we are so thankful that He has blessed us with the privilege of meeting and getting to know a little boy in Rostov on Don, Russia. We’ve been able to experience the pleasure of His grace, through the giggles, the tears and the limps of a boy God has not forgotten. We don’t deserve this privilege, but we thankfully pray for what has been and what will be.

Thank you for your prayers.

Ryan for Ally and Samuel Matvey

Current Prayer Requests:
Our final visits Friday with Samuel Matvey would be sweet.
That he would understand when we don’t come back Saturday, that we will return soon.
That the additional paperwork back at home, and in Russia, would be swiftly completed.
Safe travel
Taylor, Lauren, Makenna and Noah as they wait for mom and dad to return