Worth the Wait

For the last few months, all we seemed to see were closed doors in the situation with our daughter Elena. Her issues were too severe for the place she was living at in Michigan and we needed to find a new solution. Hours stretched into days, stretched into weeks, and then months without resolution. We felt so helpless, with no options that really provide for Elena's needs. Then finally, a door opened to a solution that was ideal. Praise God, a place in North Carolina had an opening. We heard about this center months earlier through a fellow missionary, but there were no openings at that time. We couldn't have asked for a better place for Elena. It has the balance of spiritual and clinical healing along with the safety we had been praying for since December. If all goes well, Elena will move down to North Carolina March 9th. Thank you so much for all your prayers. They were vital in sustaining us while God provide in His time. Please continue to pray for Elena's heart and mind as she makes this transition and for her long-term growth and healing. The damage that took place during her early years of development has left permanent scares that will require extensive retraining. We feel so blessed to have finally found a Christian center that seems equipped to help guide Elena toward making healthier choices for herself.

Returning Home

We, along with our mission and sending church, have decided it is time for us to come back to the U.S. on furlough. We all thought it was probably a good time, since Elena will be moving to a new treatment center. We will be returning to the U.S on March 23 and will be living in the mission house at First Baptist Church in New Castle, Pennsylvania, as we did before we left for the field. We are so thankful our housing needs will be met and that we can be close to family.

Our goals during furlough will be to make sure Elena is stabilized in North Carolina, to refresh our family, and to raise the support needed to return to the field. Once we know that things are working out well for Elena in her treatment, we will focus on reconnecting with ministry partners and friends, as well as finding new ministry partners. We will need to raise additional support to fund our return to Ukraine and to help with the added expenses of Elena's care. We know raising additional funds will be a challenge in these economic times, but we are confident the Lord will provide in accordance to His will and in His time. Ukraine has been one of the countries hardest hit by this global crisis and we long to return during their time of great need.

Two years in Ukraine

As we complete our second year in Ukraine, we are very grateful to our sovereign and merciful God for so many things. We look back on our time here and much has not gone as we had expected, but God is using everything for His plan. We have made many dear friends and have gained a deeper knowledge and appreciation for our Lord and life in Ukraine. We love our new church in Kharkov and the many people from all over the world we have met here. We have seen God work in many lives and hearts here, and the outpouring of love we have experienced during our journey has strengthened us.

Little Ones in Need

Through the last six years of caring for Elena, we have repeatedly read and heard from professional sources about the vital link between neglect during the first months of life and improper brain development. "…experiences of neglect and abuse can literally cause some genetically normal children to become mentally retarded or to develop serious emotional difficulties".¹ Such neglect can include the lack of touch and eye contact between caregiver and child; the limited use of language with the child; the lack of healthy stimuli for the baby; and the failure of the caregiver to respond to the baby's expressed needs.

When neglect like this takes place, a baby's brain does not form the necessary connections it needs to grow and develop in healthy ways. If the neglect continues, the results can be permanent. The child will be unable to process information as a healthy child and loving touch will seem unnatural and threatening. Eye contact can be perceived as dominance and is used by the child when they are seeking to control a situation, and avoided when their care givers try to give them instructions. Expressive language can be limited and the child may become unable to communicate their needs effectively, even into adulthood. A lack of trust and fear of close relationships can develop and the child may seek to have only superficial relationships based solely on a never-ending self-centeredness, which may also continue into adulthood. Many of these issues aren't able to be reversed using regular parenting techniques because the child's brain receives the loving input through a distorted filter. The perception of the child becomes their reality and the normally healthy stimulus frightens and disturbs the once-neglected child. The child may be unable to reason in a healthy logical way because their reasoning skills were never able to develop and they continue to work on an instinctual level. If it feels good, then do it, regardless of the danger or consequences.

Our personal experiences during our visits to the Ukrainian orphanages left us wondering if there couldn't be some way to begin to see changes in the care of the orphaned children. Could the tragic results we experienced in our daughter's young life be prevented from happening to other little ones? We just didn't have the understanding yet of how such a change could begin. Remarkably, the Lord had already been at work in the hearts of our dear brothers and sisters at New Hope Church in Kharkov. They had already been involved in a project to reconstruct a children's cancer ward in local hospital. Now, the Lord placed it on their hearts to help the ward for abandoned babies, too.

I was invited to be one of the first to visit these precious little children and spend time holding, touching, talking with, feeding, and praying over them. What sadness to see the beauty of God's most precious creation abandoned. Some of them were there because the parents couldn't afford to take care of them, some because they were ill. There were two with HIV, one with Down's, one with a cleft palette, one preemie who was almost four pounds, and three that showed no signs of illness. The babies are cared for in the hospital until they are three months old, then they are sent to a local orphanage.

One nurse was in charge of the care for all of them. Her duties were to feed and change them, or give them medicine if they needed it. She did not have the time to hold each baby when they ate, so they were all fed on a schedule by propping the bottle up in their crib. If the baby slept during the feeding, then they would have to wait until the next one.

The sisters of New Hope have received permission to rotate through day or night to offer the much needed quality time with each baby. Imagine the difference this could make in the lives of these little ones! Imagine the tremendous testimony this could be to the staff as well. Who knows what the Lord might do because of these efforts! We can also see how the Lord has prepared us with knowledge and experience in this area. Our Lord may begin to use us to help bring resources and training from professionals we know in the U.S. to this hospital in Kharkov.

We are so pleased to see the body of Christ here working to help meet real needs in this community. Please pray for our brothers and sisters here as they visit the children in the cancer ward regularly, too. The church hopes they can come along side these children and their families in their hour of need. They will pray with them, spend time with them, and even try to help them pay for medical needs some of them cannot afford. It is another testimony of God at work in this wonderful country!

1. http://www.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/?docID=2422

Getting to Know New Friends

A wonderful bright spot in the last couple of months has been our growing closer to some of our students from last fall's English Club. With everything that was going on with our family, we knew we wouldn't have time to continue the weekly English Club, but at the same time, we didn't want to abandon the relationships we had started. So, we invited some of the more advanced students over to our house for games and informal English practice. This has been such a blessing to us and we hope to them. We have had three get-togethers at our house since the New Year. Our first night was filled with fun, playing games and getting to know more about each other. People started to chat online and email each other and us regularly after that meeting.

By the second game night, relationships were growing deeper. Alex and Andre came early to prepare food and talk about life with us. We played more games, but everyone wanted to talk about more serious life issues, too. It was good to see the level of trust open up in the group as we shared our thoughts and feelings with each other.

Outside of these game nights, our new friends have also been eager to help us with Russian when we needed to get things done around town. They also helped us in finding answers and connecting us with the right people or places we needed. We have been truly blessed by our new friends. We are sad now to have to leave them for a while, but glad that technology will allow us to stay connected with them during our furlough.

Things to be praying about...   Pray for the people of Ukraine. The global economic crisis continues to hit them hard.   Pray for Elena as she transitions to a new treatment facility. Pray for wisdom for those working with Elena.   Pray for our furlough. Pray as we pack things up, and say goodbye to friends. Pray that God will refresh our family and strengthen us for the work He has ahead.

Thank You...Thank You!!!

We can't say this enough. Thank you for all your prayers and support for our family and ministry. God has put you in our lives to play an important part in His plan. Although sometimes we needed to walk a very dark and difficult path, we knew you were lifting us up before the Father on our journey. We had to cast our burdens on Him as the devil was seeking to kill and destroy. We knew that because of your prayers, we were able to stand firm in our faith and the Lord restored, supported, and strengthened us. (1 Peter 5:7-10) Praise the Lord!

Other ways you can help Funds for Elena's Care – Regulations prevent us from using funds donated through our mission for Elena's care. If you would like to give toward helping us with the $1,500 a month needed for Elena's care, you can give your tax-deductible donation directly to the facility caring for Elena. Contact us and we will provide you the necessary information. Ministry Funds – We need to raise additional support before returning to Ukraine. Please consider partnering with us financially. Information on giving can be found on our website at www.fish4him.net/giving or you can mail your gifts to Greater Europe Mission at the address below with a note saying it is for Andrew & Jody Hawes (Account #21320). Furlough Needs – Praise God we have a place to live. Our address while in the U.S. on furlough is shown below. We still need to find a vehicle. If you know of a reliable vehicle for a good price, please let us know. Also, if you know of a church or family that might be interested in hearing about our ministry, please tell us. Email us at GetHooked@Fish4Him.net

Mission Address Greater Europe Mission 18950 Base Camp Rd. Monument, CO 80132

Furlough Home Address Andrew & Jody Hawes 119 Brest Road Apt. B New Castle, PA 16105