Monday, January 22, 2007

Keep the Prayers coming!


Hi guys! Sorry I haven't been updating the blog much lately! It has been crazy as we try to get back into the routine of daily life and plan for Gene to go back to Latvia! Things have been crazy with meetings and planning, and list making, and more planning and Skype calls to try to get all the details hammered down. Gene knows he only really has 4-5 working days to get lots of work done on the Skrunda day center and he doesn't want to waste a minute of it! So it is better to get all the details figured out ahead of time! Pray for the entire team. They will be leaving at different times around the middle of Feb. Gene's team is leaving on Feb 18th and will return on Feb 27th! Pray especially for the people in Skrunda. This church has only 20 members and they are doing BIG work for God! It is amazing!

As for Edgar...I know people all over the country are praying for him and anxiously awaiting details of how things are going. Edgar is doing fine. He is his typical silly self. Goofing off when we talk to him. "Krista, Guess What?" "What?" to which he replies "Chicken Butt" He thinks he is so funny and bursts into laughter! What a mess he is!

He got in a fight at school last week because the kids have been teasing him calling him "American Boy". We hate to hear that he is fighting. We tried so hard to drill into him that he needs to use words and not hands. But his first reaction is to hit and when he gets back into that environment he falls back into the habits he knows. Other than that, he seems to be doing good. He finally put his Hummer bedding that we got him on his bed and he thinks he is something else!! Of course he is lacking two essential things that he says he HAS TO HAVE - Popcorn and Hot gum!! :-)

His new family has started the adoption process, filing their I 600 and starting their Home Study. They hope to travel to Latvia in July after their oldest daughter gets married. They may even get to bring Edgar home with them after the first trip and he can stay with them until the adoption is final. That would be great bonding time for all of them! His sister Karina will be in Latvia about the time they should be traveling and that would be great for them to all be there together. It may even help for Karina to put in a word for them at the courts.
Keep praying for him and that everything goes well!

Everyone keeps asking...Are you going to host again? I have no doubts we will again one day, but not right now. I doubt it will be this summer or even Christmas. But if God speaks, we will obey. We will just have to see what the future holds for the Burell Family :-)

Love,
Krista


Thursday, January 11, 2007

The kids arrived home safely!

I got a call from Edgars yesterday morning to let me know he was home. He was very sick on the flight. He blamed it on the Airborne I gave him and the fact that Ruta would not stop talking. He sounded very tired and said he slept very little.
He goes back to school next Monday. Please pray for him and that he will be able to hold on for just a few more months until he can come home to America!
Also please pray for Liza, Janis, and Ruta who did not find adoptive families on this trip. Please pray that God will send the family he has planned for them, just like he did for Edgars!
Gene will be leaving in just a few weeks to go to Latvia. If you have any donations, they would be greatly appreciated! Especially board games, shoes and head lice treatment. Just let us know! kristarev320@comcast.net
Have a great day!
Love,
Krista

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Saying GoodBye




Saying Goodbye is never easy. It was a lot easier though, knowing that we will surely see Edgars again. Only one week ago we were not sure if we ever would. It is great to know that very likely he will have a family to call his own soon!
We shed some tears and promised to continue to call and keep up with him. He thought we would just forget about him. How could we? We don't know what our life was like before we met him! For the past year, so much of our focus has been on doing all we can for him. Now we will call him and be friends but we can also just step back and see what unfolds.
We also need to step back and reevaluate where do we go from here? We definetly want to devote ourselves more to ministry and reaching out to other kids. What a wonderful blessing it is to see kids come to the family that God had planned for them all along. Now I am driven to help more of them find that very thing!!
Gene will now begin preparing to go to Latvia on Feb 19 to continue work on the Skrunda Baptist Day Center. We would appreciate your prayers in that as well!
Thank you for all of you across the country that have prayed for our family and most importantly for Edgars. All I can say is Wow! Their is power in prayer and God is SOO cool!!
I will try to keep the blog updated on the progress with Edgars and his new family!
Love,
Krista

Monday, January 08, 2007

Dievs ir Labs!!! God is GOOD!!!

Edgars at the Adventure Science Museum in Nashville
I wish I knew how to say God is AWESOME in Latvian instead of God is Good because Good does not even begin to describe how AWESOME God is!!! If only each of you could be in our shoes to see what awesome things God has done in the past week alone! Last week I sent out an email. A desperate cry from a mother's heart. A cry for a family for Edgars to call his own. Over the past year we have grown to know and love this child. When God very clearly closed the door for us to pursue him any further...we were all...Edgar included...to the point of almost despair. We did not understand why this past year was going to end like this, with no hope and no answers. And then from my heart I typed an email that reached out all over the country. Literally. A ministry called The Shepherds Crook in Ohio took my email and forwarded it out even more. Thru them...it found its way to a family from Texas. Bob and Teresa and their four girls Mary Teresa(almost 23), Katie(20), Monica(17) and Jane(9). We drove to Nashville yesterday afternoon and spent all evening and all day today with Bob, Teresa and Jane. They are a wonderful family whom God has been preparing in many ways for Edgar to very likely become one of their own. Let me just name a few...They have always been open to adopting a son. Bob's favorite uncle who raised him, is named Edgar. Mary Teresa is in Medical school and plans to specialize in Pediatric Endocrinology (which includes Growth Hormone Disorders). Katie is studying in St Petersburg Russia and working with orphans. She called and spoke to Edgars in Russian. And oh my goodness...Edgar resembles their family!! The picture of Edgar and Jane is unreal at the resemblence. Gene and I have a wonderful peace that can only come from the Lord. We KNOW that this is God's plan and his PERFECT timing. Thank you so much for everyone who has prayed for us and for Edgar all along the way. Don't stop now! This family has a long road ahead of them. This has happened very, very fast. Two days ago they did not even know Edgar existed and now...they are possibly gaining a son!!! WOW! Isn't God AWESOME??? Thank you to everyone who passed on the emails...you played a part in something that may have seemed small but will make a forever difference in Edgars life! I will close with the Bible Verse in Bob's devotional for yesterday. Galations 4:4-5 "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."
We love you all!!
Krista

Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy New Year!!



Happy New Year! We had a great first day of the New Year! I hope you did as well! We baked muffins, the kids made stepping stones for the yard, and we finished off the day with Edgar's favorite meal...Shishkabobs! As you can tell from the picture he was thrilled! He ate about 5 helpings!! If only we could cook that for every meal, we would fatten him up in no time! hehe! In 8 more days the kids go back to Latvia. Please pray for them and the families this last week. It will be the hardest one. Most importantly please pray for a family for Edgar. He really needs a family to call his own.

Love, Krista