Behold

One of the most powerful scenes in Scripture is when Jesus is on the cross and his mother comes to Him, along with his disciple John, who was a young man. They are both devastated at seeing their son and brother dying before them. When Jesus saw Mary, he said, "'Woman, behold your son!' Then He said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!'" Jesus was telling them to take care of each other, but he was also showing them a new way: He was making them into a new family.

Zheka, Pasha, Ira and Danya

On New Year's Eve, all of the young guys and girls at the house, Bogdan, Anya and their sons, Danya and Pasha, and I got dressed up to welcome in the night. There were games, lots of food and a lot of laughter. Bogdan and Anya had also invited Roma's brother Gena and Oxana's sister and brother to come for the week. All three of them still live at the orphanage. As the party was going on, I sat back and watched how Pasha right away loved Oxana's brother Andrei and how Danya was all over Gena. I saw Bogdan put his arm around Masha and then Andrei and how they drew ever so much closer to him. I saw how the girls watched Anya, followed her and helped however they could.

New Year's Eve

Yesterday, I had coffee with Zhenya, who works with Campus Crusade for Christ. Zhenya and I met many years ago at one of the concerts we did in Kremenchug, where he grew up. Zhenya got to know Lydia Petrovna and actually went into the prison with her for a year. As we were talking, Zhenya asked if I remembered Sasha--a young man who became a believer at one of our concerts in the prison and who lived with Lydia when he left the prison. He said that Sasha is now married, has a daughter, is working, is involved in his church and still sees Lydia as his grandmother.

When I returned here to the house, Anya and Pasha (who is almost 2) were in the house alone. As I walked in, Pasha took my hand and we played with some of his toys. Then Andrei, who is 22, came in and Pasha took him by the hand and took him to get a book for Andrei to read to him. Anya said that Pasha hates being alone and this is all he knows. He loves being with all of the guys and girls and sees them as his big brothers and sisters. This is his family. And it is mutual: when I saw Andrei's blog, I saw one post that said "I (heart) my family" and it had a series of photos of Anya, Bogdan, Danya, Pasha and all of the others here at the house. His family.

Anna Zhuk, Andrei, Pasha, Bogndan

Behold.