The Hope of the Helpless

The hope of the helpless is grounded in God's position as King.

Otherwise, there would be a desperation in reaching out to the orphans of Ukraine. A feeling of we can't do enough in enough time.

But, since God is King, and He is loving along with being mighty and powerful, there is a hopefulness as we joyfully participate in His plans.

How can we participate? Here are some things we've done over the past year.

Praying by name for these precious children.

We've made and sold cookies to tell others about orphans in Ukraine.

My children emptied out their piggy banks to send to a family who was adopting an orphan.

Anderson and I have had opportunities to tell others about orphans and about praying for orphans at churches.

We've sent pictures and letters to some of the children to let them know someone in this world is thinking of them.

The Lord has given opportunities for me to write articles about reaching out to orphans.

And now, this trip to Ukraine. . . .

So far, these have been the answers to my question "How can our family be a part of God's plan of reaching the orphans in Ukraine?" I am looking forward to seeing what else the Lord leads us to do!

If you would like to be a part of reaching orphans in Ukraine, let me know how to contact you!

What is the Focus - The Size of the Problem or the Size of God?

The statistics on orphans in Ukraine are staggering and full of hopelessness

There are over 100,000 orphans in Ukraine.

Only 20% are there because of the death of their parents. The rest are there because of abuse, abandonment, and neglect.

After the age of 5, only 5% of those orphans will be adopted.

The remaining 95% receive almost no education and no life skills.

60% of the girls become prostitutes.

70% of the boys become criminals.

Many of the kids sleep in the sewer because it is the only warm place they can find.

Within two years, 10% of them are dead. Most of that is suicide.

Before our family sold cookies and prayed for Karina’s adoption, we knew nothing about the orphans of Ukraine. But as we learned about these real children sitting in orphanages, our eyes and hearts became involved.

We began praying for them at breakfast and after only a couple of days, Anderson was ready for action. Anderson’s enthusiastic desire to help our friends adopt Karina was humbling. I was touched at his tender heart and at the same time wondered if we could even make a difference. I asked the Lord, “What can we do?” and He said, “You can make cookies.” My step of meager faith was making the first batch and saying “Use these for Your glory.” And God definitely made things mushroom from there.

We made cookies, we prayed, and we watched God work in amazing ways. Through this, God showed me that my view of Him was entirely too small.

As we learned about the children in Ukraine, I really struggled with the two sides of this picture:

Many of these children are sitting in orphanages because their parents chose alcohol or drugs over giving their children a home and a family. These children are caught in a system that offers them no future and no hope. At age 16, they are put out into the streets with no plan, no job skills, nothing.

God’s Word says that God is King, that He is in complete control, that His plans are established.

He is loving and perfect.

Then, why are there orphans in the first place?

I began searching His Word and found that in the Bible descriptions of the situation of the helpless are often surrounded by verses about God being on His throne and being in control of time and history.

His Word shows that His heart is very tender toward orphans. In Psalm 68 He is called a father to the fatherless. It says that He sets the lonely in families. In Psalm 10, God is the defender of the powerless.

And Deuteronomy 10:17-19 says, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore, love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

The Lord of surpassing greatness and sovereignty is also revealed to be the supremely compassionate God, with deep concern for the least in human society: the fatherless, the widow, and the alien. In this He is our example. (notes from the New Geneva Study Bible)

How do you reconcile these pictures?

In a perfect world, there would be no orphans. Children would be seen as the blessing that they really are. But we live in a world that is broken. At the same time, God is not wringing His hands saying “I didn’t see this coming.” Thankfully, the fact that our world is broken is not the end of the story.

God’s light penetrates the darkness of our world. His light penetrates the darkness of hopeless situations. In ways that only He can, God’s Hand weaves through situations and people, through time and history to give hope and life. And because He works in seemingly impossible ways, His power and glory are seen.

And amazingly, God provides care for the helpless through His people. We have the privilege of shining His light in places of darkness, His hope in places of hopelessness. He lets us be a part of the adventures He has planned.

Looking at the statistics and the problem as a whole is overwhelming and paralyzing. And, really, adopting one child or getting to know one child seems insignificant. It certainly won’t solve the problem.

But God doesn’t call us to solve the problem. He has plans in the midst of the problem.

One afternoon during my kids’ naptimes, I prayed “Now that we know about these kids. Now that we know about Your heart for them. Now that we know, what would You have us do? How can our little family be a part of Your plans?”

The following article tells our part of the story of Karina’s adoption. God has used the adoption of one little girl to get many more people involved in praying and reaching out to orphans. And the ripple effect continues. My trip to Ukraine is an example of this.

Only God can bring blessing and beauty out of situations of abuse, abandonment and neglect.

And He does.

Prayer, Cookies, and Changed Lives

By Erin E. Ulerich

Anderson Ulerich is five years old. He lives at French Camp Academy where his dad is on staff. His favorite superhero is Batman. He loves to climb trees, although he doesn’t always know how to get back down. With his deep blue eyes and enthusiastic personality, Anderson makes people smile all over French Camp, Mississippi.

The town of French Camp is home to French Camp Academy, a Christian boarding school that sits beside the Natchez Trace. Kids come to FCA for many reasons, but usually as a result of difficult home situations.

Matthew Nasekos was very familiar with French Camp Academy before this story took place. His parents were dorm parents in Cook Home for 10 years, and Matthew spent his high school years there. In July 2008,

Matthew and his wife, Sheila, met and fell in love with Karina, an orphan from Ukraine. After spending two months with Matthew, Sheila, and their four children, Karina returned to the orphanage in Odessa.

Across the ocean in Ukraine, Karina waited. She was 13, and had been in the orphanage since she was six. She knew the Nasekos family wanted to adopt her. Soon, she kept telling herself. They will be here soon.

The Lord wove a beautiful tapestry, connecting these people in an amazing way.

It started with prayer and cookies.

Anderson’s mom wanted to teach her children about missions and how God works around the world. They began praying for the Nasekos family and for Karina’s adoption. Their prayers were the enthusiastic sentence prayers of three preschoolers.

After a few days of praying for Karina’s adoption, Anderson was ready to help. At breakfast one morning he said, “We need to give them a lot of money!”

“Well,” his mom replied, “We don’t have a lot of money. But we can pray that God would show us a way to help.” And the selling of Karina cookies began. Anderson and his family went to the dorms at French Camp Academy and told the students about Karina.

Anderson’s presentations were short. Holding her picture, he would say, “Karina is a 13 year old girl. Karina lives in Ukraine. She does not have a mommy or daddy. Mr. Matt and Mrs. Sheila want to be her mommy and daddy. We are selling Karina cookies to help earn money so they can adopt her.”

It does make sense that a four year old could sell cookies. Who knows cookies better than a kid? And the cookies were full of yummy ingredients – oatmeal, chocolate chips, peanut butter and M&Ms. But it was more than the cookies. What motivated Anderson was the simple truth that every child should have a family. Anderson heard that Karina did not have a family, but that the Nasekos family wanted to be her family. So it made perfect sense to him that this had to happen.

Many of the students in the dorms could identify with Karina’s situation and wanted to help her, too. One of these students, Taylor, said, “I know what it feels like not to have a mom and a dad. I wanted her to have the experience of having a mom and a dad. It really encouraged me to give so she could be happy.”

Kimrey said, “I thought it was pretty cool how Anderson came over and talked to us. It was amazing that someone his age would care about someone he’s never really met.”

Cindy Cox, the dorm mother in Griffin Home, says “When Anderson shared the story about Karina, I saw in my girls a heart that wanted to reach out to somebody that was their age but didn’t have what they have. I saw girls go back into their room and dig up every quarter and penny and everything that they had. Most of them paid about $5.00 for a cookie instead of 50 cents, and that was amazing.”

Students bought cookies. They prayed for her. Connie describes her dorm’s reason for praying, “We put Karina’s name on our prayer board and we prayed for her just about every day. It was really cool for us because we were all enthusiastic about a little girl that we really didn’t know and we just wanted her to feel loved like we feel loved here at French Camp.”

Anderson didn’t waste time thinking of the impossibilities. He never thought it was impossible. It didn’t occur to him that it would take many, many cookies to really make a difference. He is, after all, a beginner in math. Instead, he responded to the need. He prayed. He told people about Karina. He watched money accumulate in the cookie jar. To his four year old point of view, that is all he was doing. But the Lord was at work. The Lord was using this situation as an opportunity for the FCA students to reach out to someone their own age.

Bruce Hoskett, Dean of Students, says, “Many of our kids come from hurting family situations and they feel hopeless. They think they can’t make a difference. They need to see that they can make an impact.”

Buying cookies gave them an opportunity to help to make a difference in one little girl’s life. But, like Anderson, it was more than the cookies. The students caught the vision of bringing Karina home. Kathryn Glaser, a senior says, “It was great to see the French Camp students really care about where the money was going and take a genuine interest. It was nice to see students come together, especially since Mr. Nasekos was a former FCA student.”

Alex Coblentz, pastor of French Camp Presbyterian Church, says, “It’s been like the feeding of the five thousand. A child innocently gives what they have and the Lord takes it and multiplies it. In this case, God did not multiply the cookies, He multiplied the money. The cookies were the catalyst that opened people’s hearts. I’m sure there were people who gave and never saw a cookie, but they caught the vision to support the Nasekos family getting this child out of the orphanage and into a godly home.”

Alex’s wife, Mary Nell, says, “To watch the Lord use the simple faith of a child has been an incredible joy. The fact that Karina came from an orphanage resonates with many of our students. This place cares about people that have difficult family backgrounds.”

Karina’s adoption became official on Christmas Eve, 2008. In March, she visited French Camp. That day the students had a tangible answer to months of prayer.

It was a day of celebration. A day of praising God, who used unusual means for a remarkable result.

That is how God works. He has amazing plans and he uses ordinary people to accomplish these plans. That is how, one by one, lives are changed. And He gets all the glory when He works powerfully through something as small as a cookie.

“We were made to glorify God and to serve other people. God can provide everything we need to be able to do that. There is a great need. There are a lot of orphans out there. God has blessed us. In some way, let’s reach out to them. Don’t be afraid. Have faith in God to provide and be used by God in some way.” Matthew Nasekos

The Power of Hope

In her book There is No Me Without You, Melissa Fay Greene describes the reaction of five year old Mekdes at being left at an orphanage.
After watching the only family she knew walk out of the compound, Mekdes threw herself at the steel door, determined to run straight through it. Again and again she ran full force into the metal door. Eventually she stopped and just wailed.

No one knew it that day, but God had a plan of hope for Mekdes. She and her brother were adopted by an American couple. Years later, Mekdes described the scene to her adoptive mother, Mikki.
"You were sad," said Mikki.
"No hope, Mommy. I have no hope."

No hope. Having no hope makes us take desperate actions.
A few weeks ago, having no hope caused another orphan to run away from the orphanage. In doing this, she also ran away from the possiblity of adoption. Thankfully she is back at the orphanage and within the range of hope.

Karina used to be an orphan, but now has a loving family.
I asked her what it was like when she was waiting for a family.
"It was very sad,"she said. "I didn't know if a family would ever come."

But the time of waiting was different when she knew a family was on their way to adopt her.
She smiled and said, "That was a happy waiting." That waiting was filled with hope.

We all need hope, especially when we are in difficult circumstances. Having hope gives us endurance to make it through tremendous struggles. The absence of hope causes despair.

Children in orphanages also need hope. They need to know someone else in the world cares about them. And though they may not understand it, they need others praying for hope for them.

God's word makes it clear that His heart is tender toward orphans. He has promised to be a father to the fatherless. When we pray for hope for orphans, we have the attention of the mighty and powerful God who cares for them. When we pray for hope for orphans, we just might have the honor of being the way of hope that God has planned for them.

Our New Cookie Adventure

This is a picture of the Children Around the World Cookies. So far they include sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies. I am testing other cookie recipes, so stay tuned! I've had two cookie orders and found several volunteers to take care of the ones that didn't make the cut.

I am taking cookie orders to raise money for a trip in January to visit children in an orphanage that our family has been praying for since last February. I am so excited about the possiblity of meeting these children face to face, of learning more about them, and learning how our family can be more involved in reaching out to them.

Taking Cookies to the Next Level

A year ago, our family baked and sold cookies to help bring Karina, an orphan from Ukraine, home to a loving family.

Selling cookies and telling people about Karina involved our whole family. My children, especially my oldest, caught the vision of bringing Karina home. Our "Karina Cookie" adventure turned into a journey of learning about orphans and about God's tender heart for them.

After Karina came home, we began praying for her classmates. As she told us about her friends, they changed from being faces in a picture to children who need a mommy and daddy to love and care for them.

We found out that Edic is talented at drawing and Vladik likes to eat sunflower seeds. We found out that deep down they are terrified at the thought of turning 16 and being turned out of the orphanage and onto the streets for survival. We found out that they long for something they have never known . . . a family who loves them.

We found out that when you pray for God to act on behalf of the helpless, He gives you a heart for them that is a faint reflection of His heart for them.

As I rock my two year old to sleep, as I scoop up my four year old and hug her until she squeals, as I tell my five year old how proud I am of him, I am so aware that these kids across the ocean have never had that.

I often tell my children "You are a gift from God." I want them to know what a treasure they are in my life. And the children dropped off in orphanages are also priceless treasures. The mother's heart within me longs to let them know they are loved.

I have the opportunity to go with a missions team to meet orphans in Ukraine and find out more about reaching out to them. Our family is embarking on another cookie journey. This time we are making "Children of the World" cookies to help raise money for my trip. I am looking forward to seeing what God has planned for this cookie adventure.