Hospital Party and Big Snow

This weekend has been full of fun and celebration. We had a party at the Baby Hospital with the staff that cares for our ABC children. We also had a great snow that brought out the whole neighborhood to play and build a snowman.

Happy New Year

Our church family had a great New Year's party Saturday night. We had our regular folks plus quite a few visitors. Everyone had a good time and we are all praying for a wonderful 2007.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Greetings from Gorlovka, Ukraine. The church family and the Payne family wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2007. Thanks for your continuous support of our ministry through prayer and giving.

Love,
The Gorlovka church family and the Payne family

Family Care Center Progress

The weather has remained unseasonably warm (which means mostly above freezing!) for the past month. What a blessing from God. Thanks to those who prayed for the warmer weather.
We thought we had everything we needed to hook up to the city gas line, but recently discovered that the arrangements we had made were not going to work after all. Nothing is easy in dealing with the gas company here! However, Igor has done a great job in getting a new way worked out and it seems that we will have gas flow very soon. In the pictures above you can see some work done with the gas pipes. Vova and Oleg are close to finishing the boiler room as well so we should have heat throughout the building soon.
We have started building some of the balconies on the outside of the apartments, as you can see in pictures above. The warm weather gave us a window to start working on them before spring.
Inside the sheet rock crew is almost finished with the first wing and have already sent a few workers to make preparations to move to the larger wing. It is so amazing to walk around in the building and see the progress. Thanks to everyone who has prayed and/or donated to this project. It is going to be a great home for our precious children and their foster families.

Family Care Center Update

There has been a lot of progress at the family care center since my last update. It is so exciting just to go walk around the site and imagine what it will be in a few more months! The boiler room is almost completed which will provide heat throughout the building so that work can progress all through the winter. More windows have been installed and almost all the sheetrock has been hung in the first floor of the smaller wing (for a total of three apartments, the garage, an office/workroom, and the guard room). Please keep the workers and the progress of the project in your prayers.

News from Gorlovka

We are settled in and back into a routine in Gorlovka. Tammala and Carol are making friends and painting rooms at the Baby Hospital. On Sunday we took the church family bowling and everyone had a great time (see pictures). The Family Care Center is making great progress. I was amazed when I saw the work that has been done since mid-July. I will try to post some pictures in the next couple of days. On a sad note, Igor's father passed away unexpectedly last night so please keep Igor and family in your prayers.

Trip to Ukraine

The Payne family, along with Tammala Spencer and Carol Gray, two friends from the Palo Alto Church of Christ, will be traveling to Gorlovka, Ukraine on Monday, October 30. The Payne family plans to stay for about 10 months while Tammala and Carol will stay for three weeks. Please pray for a safe trip for all involved and that there are no issues wth our luggage (like customs problems or lost items). The above photo was taken this morning as our shepherds prayed for our trip.

An Amazing Gift

Tonight Lora and I visited a church in Brantley, Alabama and made a presentation about the Family Care Center. We are busy now raising funds for the project. After our presentation was over a three-year-old named Wade went to Lora and gave her a dollar. Then he came to me and gave me one as well. When I asked him what it was for he said, "I want to help those babies!" Wade was just given one of those dollars today by a man in his church. I stand humbled by such a gift and can only imagine what God will do with such a great sacrifice. I feel like I am part of Jesus' story with the poor widow who gave her all. It is amazing to be part of such a holy moment.

Family Care Center Update

Work continues at the Family Care Center. The two four bedroom apartments are dried in and tile is being installed in the bathrooms. They are located on the second floor of the garage wing. On the first floor of that wing the garage door has been moved to the other side of the building giving us a nice interior courtyard and a great exterior entrance to the garage. The first floor apartment will be five bedrooms and two baths and the bedrooms are being framed out currently.
Most of the focus currently is on the exterior boiler room which will house the heating tanks for both hot water and the heating system. In the other wing lots of brick laying and window installation is going on currently. We are in the last two months of warm weather and have to get some projects completed before winter sets in. Igor and crew are making great progress in that direction.

Garden in Bloom

Recently Ira Grabko sent us these photos of the garden we built in the late spring. It is really doing well and all the neighbors are working hard to keep it free from weeds. It has really been effective in creating a new sense of community among the people in our building. It even succeeded in creating friendship with some neighbors who have been critical of our work with the children in years past. God has an amazing way of changing hearts if his people will continue to offer love for any evil that comes their way. Our church family in Gorlovka decided that no matter what happens we will fight evil with "beauty!" Enjoy the photos of one of our efforts to live that God honoring lifestyle.

Family Care Center Update

A lot of progress has been made at the Family Care Center site in the past few months. Two of the eight apartments are well on their way to being totally completed. As you can see in the pictures the sheetrock is finished, tile is going up in the bathrooms, and the ceilings have been dropped in. Work is continuing on the heating system, and this is high priority right now. We have to have the heating system operational before the cold weather comes in October/November. However, once completed the heating system will give us the opportunity to work inside doing positive construction during the winter, which we could not do last year. It will be a great blessing. When I walk through the Family Care Center now days I can almost hear little children playing and making joyful noises in their new and wonderful home. We still need lots of donors to help make this dream a reality. Email Kenny Payne at kennyp@gorlovka.net to see how you can help.

Our Precious ABC (Abandoned Babies and Children) Kids

One of the most rewarding, and most emotionally draining, aspects of our work in Gorlovka, Ukraine is the care we provide for the abandoned and orphaned children. Walking through the hospital halls and into the rooms of the children is usually a joy and there is a sense of anticipation about seeing the children. Then you hold them, feed them, pray over them, and think about their situations. You want to “bring them all home” but you know you cannot. The walk away from the children can be absolutely depressing.
And yet… I remember when the children laid for hours in their beds without good diapers, without much food or drink, and, sadly, without nurture and interaction. Children who were two and three years old could not walk or talk. The children were “frozen” at the point of their abandonment – and their lives, not to mention their souls, withered. But thanks to the help of many Christians a new day has dawned in their lives. They now receive good meals, pampers, lots of love and attention and the facility where they live is suited to their needs. Your help in providing for these precious children is greatly appreciated. While we do not talk about the babies all the time, they are benefiting from your generosity 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. When you look in their eyes, you see all the thanks you need to keep you working for the children!

Yalta Retreat

Thirty folks from our church spent a week in Yalta July 1-8, 2006. Our theme was "Walking with Jesus." Our teens worked hard to produce the Children's Bible School and worked even harder on the community improvement projects in May and June. The time in Yalta was a well deserved rest and a time of great spiritual focus. Six of our young ladies were baptized in the Black Sea (believe it or not it was extremely cold!) on Friday July 7. The chaperones included the Payne's, Ira and Igor, and Kostya and Olga Farkovets.

Children's Bible School

We closed out our 2006 Children's Bible School with a bang. We had parents night - inviting the parents to come for the drama presentation at the end and stay for supper. We fed 160 people! It was a great event for our church family and the community around us. Thought you might like some more pictures...

The Foster's Visit to Ukraine

Our friends, Randy and Amy Foster, from the Palo Alto church in Panama City were recently with us for a couple of weeks. They painted a room at the Baby Hospital, worked on the beautification projects in our neighborhood and helped with Children's Bible School. Thanks Randy and Amy for blessing our lives with your time and talents.