Hey friends!

Reci here, and I know it’s been a while. I am so grateful to those of you .

Anna, Misha, Granny, and the kids moved into their house on July 2, and the rest of the month went by pretty smoothly. Shortly after moving into their new house, some people approached Marc and me about getting a car for their family. We were able to find a great deal on an AWD Subaru Forester, and they now have their car!

Our local newspaper wrote an article and their family’s journey to Boone. It tells many small details about how Anna, Misha, Marc, and I connected. If you want to read it, here’s the link.

Speaking of life here, Anna and Misha have both had their fingerprint appointments. This makes them one step closer to getting the right to work. Unfortunately, they still do not have this. Please be praying big that they get it soon. Your generous donations have kept them going while they are waiting for the right to work.

School started last week, and the kids are all adjusting to waking up early again. Thankfully, our school has been so wonderful and the kids have smoothly transitioned back.

Needs:

• As Anna and her family settle here, we’ve noticed that they now need social interactions outside of Marc and me. If you are local, please invite them over to dinner or to hang out.

Praises:

• We are one step closer to the right to work!

• Very kind donors donated enough money for a car, so the family has their very own 4-wheel drive vehicle.

• Food stamps have been restored and they can get food from them.

• Kids are back in school and it is going well!

• Misha has been taking English lessons at the community college 3 days a week. This is going well and helping a lot.

Prayer Requests:

• For the family’s mental health. Anna and Misha have been feeling lonely so please pray for them to feel more connected to people here.

• For Anna’s TPS application to be approved and her right to work (I-765 documents) to be approved.

• For Misha’s right to work (I-765) application to be approved.

• Because I believe that the right to work will come soon, please pray for jobs for Anna and Misha.

• For Misha to learn English quickly.

• We are still waiting on the adults to have health insurance from the government. This would be helpful as we approach fall and winter. Please pray that they get these benefits soon.

We are blessed to be on this journey with them and you! Thank you for reading and following along!

Cheers,

Reci and Crew

Hey friends!

I hope you all had a great Fourth of July! As we celebrated America this year, we were reminded of the amazing opportunities this country offers its citizens and others worldwide! Anna and her family have been so blessed to be here and a part of the several communities we are a part of (Boone, Samaritan’s Purse, Texas, Virginia, and friends of friends). Thank you all for joining this journey with us!

The move was successful!

Anna and her family moved into their new house across the street!! With your help, we were able to fill their house with everything they needed! THANK YOU!!! Thank you for your donations, your furniture, your hands and trucks, your prayers, and your encouragement! With all of that, we were able to have a successful move!

Local Help Needed:

I am going out of town this week, and Anna could use some help driving her kiddos around. She hasn’t yet filled out the google document (because life is SO busy!), but can you please sign up for a day or time of day that you could help with rides?

Additionally, as work picks up for me and we try to help Anna and her family be more independent, I could use some extra hands (or drivers) to help drive Anna’s kids to and from some camps/appointments when I return from Texas. One step in helping Anna become more independent is to have her reach out and take charge of her schedule. A list of people that can drive will help her do just that. If you are available on any day, please sign up.

Please sign up on this google document to help with rides.

Prayer Requests:

• BIG REQUEST: Please pray that Anna’s TPS and Right to Work (I-765) applications are approved! Please also pray that Misha’s Right to Work (I-765) application is approved.

• Anna has started learning how to drive. Please pray that she learns quickly.

• Misha has his driving tests (written and paper) and Anna will have the written portion of the driving test on July 25. Please pray that they pass these tests.

• Misha’s and Granny’s English lessons are happening regularly and lots of progress is being made! Please pray that they can learn English.

• Danny and Mary receive tutoring for two hours a week and are learning so much (Thank you, Heather!!). Please pray for these lessons and that they are ready for school this August.

Your encouragement, support, and prayers are needed and felt! I appreciate you!

Cheers,

Reci

Hey friends,

I hope this email finds you well! As usual, we’ve had lots going on in Boone, and I’d love to update you. First, though, we need some tangible help, so I’m starting with a few requests.

Help request #1:

If you are in Boone and you can help move furniture from my house to Anna’s NEW HOUSE on Saturday, July 2, we would appreciate it. Please contact me (Reci) via email, call, or text if you can come.

We need a few trucks and some strong, healthy people who can lift furniture. All help is welcome. :)

Help request #2:

We are going out of town July 7-15, and work is picking up for me. If you can help drive Anna, Danny, Granny, and Mary to and from various places, that would be greatly appreciated! Please prioritize July 7-15, and then fill in other dates as you are available.

Please sign up on this google document to help with rides.

Just so you know, you may or may not be needed, but we want Anna to know who is available just in case she needs a ride. Mary and Danny have various camps that they attend (thanks to the absolute kindness of Watauga Arts Council, Mt. Vernon Baptist Church, Appalachian Mountain Leadership, Peak Basketball, and several other local organizations!).

The Update:

I (Reci) have learned so much about being an American citizen! Because Anna’s TPS application seems to be taking a while, I decided to contact the state Representative, US Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, to see if we could get any more information on how to receive TPS and the right to work. I have spoken with her constituent liaison and feel hopeful to hear back soon. Please pray for the right people to see Anna’s application or my message so that TPS and the right to work can be given.

I have been able to speak directly with the State Refugee Coordinator, P. Scott Phillips, and he has been instrumental in passing information along to the Watauga Department of Social Services to ensure that services such as food assistance and medical care are given to Anna and her family. We are awaiting the final confirmation, so please pray that goes through quickly and that those services are provided. It has been a bit of a rocky road, so your prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Praises:

• Anna and her family are moving into their place on July 2! This is one big step towards independence!

• Our community has donated enough furniture to fill their house and provided almost all of their household needs/wants! THANK YOU!! (Here’s the list just in case you want to see what’s still available.)

• Anna has started learning how to drive! I am teaching her and she is doing great! (If anyone has experience in teaching driving lessons, perhaps you could reach out and give me some tips or offer a few driving lessons. :))

• Misha has his driving tests (written and paper) and Anna will have the written portion of the driving test on July 25!!

• Misha’s and Granny’s English lessons are happening regularly and lots of progress is being made!

• Danny and Mary receive tutoring for two hours a week and are learning so much (Thank you, Heather!!).

• God has been faithful in so many small things that I don’t want to forget to just be grateful and give credit where it is due. Thanks be to God and thanks to YOU!!

Your encouragement, support, and prayers are needed and felt! I appreciate you!

Cheers,

Reci and Crew

Hey friends-

Summer is here, and Boone is the best place to be during the summer! As usual, we’ve had lots going on and I’d love to fill you in on it all. I’ll try to be brief. :)

Misha arrived Friday, May 27, and my family left for vacation Saturday, May 28. Misha’s first week in America was full of appointments and trying to adjust to our culture. Thankfully, my mom came to help and we had some amazing friends who all signed up for days to drive Misha and Anna to and from various appointments (Links to News Stories Here- Fox News Charlotte and WCNC Charlotte).

After a week in Colorado with Marc’s family, we returned refreshed and ready to be helpful however needed. We had a few follow-up doctor’s appointments and some meetings with Samaritan’s Purse Resettlement program to see what we needed to do.

BIG NEWS: On July 2, Anna, Misha, Granny, Danny, and Mary will be moving to the house next door to us. In Boone, that’s about ¼ a mile away, and it will help them become even more independent. Thank goodness, we’ve had so many people donate furniture that those needs are minimal, but we do need basic house essentials (google doc with those needs here.)

Current needs/prayer requests:

• Anna’s TPS application to be approved and her right to work (I-765 documents) to be approved

  • Until she gets access to work, the entire family must rely on donations and cash jobs.

• Misha's right to work (I-765) to be approved

  • Same note as above. Until he gets the right to work, they depend on donations and cash.

• If you have any electrical handyman jobs and you live in Boone, please contact me to see if Misha can help. (or if you know of any cash jobs Misha can do)

• A reliable 4WD vehicle

• Basic House Essentials (Google doc linked here so you can sign up if you have access to any of these items)

• A vacuum cleaner

• Money for tools so that Misha can work handyman jobs while he’s waiting for his right to work in America

• Please pray For the Bohoslavsky family’s mental health as it is a roller coaster of emotions. While Anna and Misha are extremely grateful, and we’ve promised to help to the best of our ability, they have moments where they feel weighted by the reality of being homeless and jobless.

Praise the Lord, an amazing family has agreed to help donate money towards a car! A car is a necessity where we live, so a car is essential in getting Anna’s and Misha’s family independent.

I LOVE birthdays and we got to celebrate both Anna’s and Misha's birthdays last week!! We had a blast, and Boone did not disappoint. We took a needed break from paperwork and daily stress and went kayaking on the lake for Anna’s birthday and to a Boone baseball game at Appalachian State for Misha’s birthday! We had a BBQ picnic at our house on Saturday and spent the latter half of last week celebrating. It was needed for all of our mental health! We are, however, back into the daily grind and ready to move forward towards independence and a new life in America.

Thank you all so much for reading our updates and for being on this journey with us! Please reach out if you can help with any needs, and PLEASE be patient as I get lots of texts and emails asking about what we need. If I haven’t responded, a friendly reminder is always welcome. I am, after all, helping schedule the lives of 11 people amidst fielding donation offers and general daily needs.

A special thank you:

I cannot express the amount of gratitude my family feels for each person who has offered kind words, encouragement, and tangible donations. I feel so loved by friends, family, and acquaintances. I do not feel like I’ve had the opportunity to thank each person individually, but if you have helped in any way (prayer, kind words, or financial donations) please know that it has been deeply felt and appreciated!

Cheers,

Reci and Crew

GREAT NEWS!!!! Misha has arrived, and we couldn’t be happier!!

Praise the Lord, Misha arrived yesterday afternoon. Not only was the news at the airport to cover the story, but our dear friends from Hope Church Boone had a welcome party waiting at our house! (Links below!)

Fox Charlotte Link

NBC Charlotte Link

In other still exciting but not quite as exciting news, Danny and Mary have finished school for the year, Granny is well underway with English lessons, and Anna has applied for TPS!

Danny and Mary both got awards from the awards ceremony- Danny not only did well on his End of Year Math test but passed it, which was incredibly impressive because he had to switch from the metric system to America’s measurement system. Without Google, I can barely tell you the difference between miles and kilometers, Celsius and Fahrenheit, and so forth.

Prayer Requests:

• Anna’s TPS to get approved quickly so that she has the right to work.

• Misha to adjust to life in America, to get his paperwork completed, and for approval for his right to work.

• For Danny and Mary to have an enjoyable summer and fill in the educational gaps so that they are ready for school next year.

• For Misha and Granny to learn English quickly.

• For the Bohoslavsky family’s mental health as it is a roller coaster of emotions. While Anna is extremely grateful and we’ve promised to help to the best of our ability, she has moments where she feels weighted by the reality of being homeless and jobless.

A Note to You All:

I want to make sure to thank each and every person on this journey with us! We’ve gotten countless words of encouragement, prayers sent our way, donations of all sorts, and random acts of generosity. If I (Reci) am slow to respond to a text or phone call, please know that I am doing my best to balance life and everything new that got added to it. Feel free to send a kind follow up text or email because occasionally things slip my mind (even though I’m doing my best to stay on top of it all :)).

Every single person that has joined this journey has blessed Anna’s family and my family tremendously. Thank you for showing your love and support in so many ways to all of us!!

Cheers,

Reci and Crew

Hey friends,

I’ve got lots of updates to share, so I’ll try to be brief!

• We bought Mischa’s plane ticket, and he lands in Charlotte on May 27 at 1:00 pm!!!

• Thankfully, Mischa’s reaction to the vaccine subsided, and he is healthy for travel!!! (Thank you for your prayers!)

• We are working on signing the kids up for some summer camps and trying to get scholarships to be around more kids in Boone this summer, get better at practicing English, and start creating a sense of normalcy for their life here.

• School is wrapping up, and Danny and Mary have really adjusted to school well!

• We are getting phones for the family to have American numbers and become more independent.

Needs:

• Unfortunately, the NC government didn’t approve of cash assistance, so until Anna and Mischa get the right to work, they rely solely on your donations for anything other than food.

• We will need some furniture starting in July when they move. If you have anything (couches, beds, chairs, etc) that you are willing to donate, please contact us and let us know.

• We still need some monthly donations willing to help with rent starting in July. If you think you can give any amount on a monthly basis, please get in touch with us.

• The Smith clan will be out of town from May 28-June 4. If you can take a day to volunteer to check in and drive Anna, Mischa, Granny, and the kids around, please get in touch with me (Reci), and I will send you a google doc sign up.

Prayer Requests:

• Anna and her family need wisdom with TPS applications and some paperwork. As their ultimate goal is citizenship, each decision feels like it could affect asylum and green card status. Please pray for peace, wisdom, and discernment on what to do moving forward- occasionally, we get stuck on analysis paralysis.

• Please be praying for TPS (temporary protected status) to be processed quickly so that Anna can get the right to work.

• Please pray for Mischa’s work form to be processed quickly so that he can get the right to work.

• Please pray for both the Smiths and the Bohoslavskas as there have been some difficulties as our families have all adjusted to a new normal. The Bohoslavskas are still working through so so so many things, so please just be praying as they are continuing to adjust to life here and as the trauma of everything they’ve been through hits at different times. Please pray for us as we are all learning to live life with another family. Sometimes my kids want my time, but I need to spend it doing paperwork or taking Anna and her family to an appointment. While my girls are being patient, they’ve felt hurt over less time with Marc and me.

We are all so thankful for the support you’ve given us!! Thank you for dinners, prayers, encouraging words, financial donations, and so much more! We appreciate you and your role in our journey!

Cheers,

Reci, Marc, and Crew

Hi friends,

Reci here, and I’ve got lots of great news to share!

• Marc and I got approved to sponsor Mischa through the Uniting for Ukraine program. (Linked here if you’re curious about it.)

• The North Carolina government approved Granny, Anna, and the kids for healthcare!

• The NC government also approved Granny, Anna, and the kids for food stamps!

For independence and security sake, we are so grateful that the government is offering these services to Anna, Granny, and the kids. Food is generally our biggest expense, and I think that this will help Anna feel more independent and secure.

Additionally, we are incredibly thankful for healthcare! It gives us a little room to breathe as we have been inundated with sickness since they arrived. I type this as Mary just got over a fever virus… between their family and my family, it seems as though we cannot escape any bugs that come to Boone. We would appreciate prayers that we can all stay healthy.

On that note, here are our prayer requests:

• While Marc and I are approved to sponsor Mischa, it still feels like one baby step in a marathon of a journey. Please pray that things continue to move along quickly and that this family can be reunited.

• We have loads of paperwork to complete and receive food stamps and healthcare, so we would love prayers for understanding and quick action.

• HEALTH! Please pray that we all stay healthy.

• We still need wisdom on asylum versus TPS and the best route to take for Anna to get the right to work in America.

• PEACE. Please pray that Anna will have peace and that the Lord will calm all of our anxieties. At times it feels easy, and at others, everything we have left to do feels overwhelming.

• For the Lord to be a Way Maker for Anna and her family (explanation below :)).

I want to end this update with a really cool story, and hopefully a moment of encouragement to anyone reading this. Go way back to the start of this journey when Marc and I received the email asking for a family to house Ukrainian refugees. I was ready and excited to meet this new family and felt discouraged when I realized that they were going to try to enter America through Tijuana. Being a Texas native and growing up hearing about struggles at the Mexican border, I wondered how long Anna and her crew would be held up at the border and if they’d be able to cross. I went from being ready to house a new family to feeling discouraged at the amount of work it would take them to get to America and specifically Boone, North Carolina.

I texted my friends asking for prayers. I knew that Anna and her family needed to navigate Tijuana, the border, California or Texas, American airports, and eventually North Carolina. This felt impossible.

My friend Meg texted me the lyrics to Leeland’s Way Maker and prayed that the Lord would make a way for this family. I began to pray this song over Anna and her family, who I had yet to meet.

Being faithful, the Lord answered the prayer and made a way for Anna and her crew to get to our house. When we were on our way to the hike a week ago, this song came on my shuffled playlist, and I told Anna that the Lord had given me the word Way Maker for her and her family.

At this time, we were all stressed about how Mischa would get out of Ukraine. I kept hearing the words Way Maker in my mind and kept praying them over Mischa. Again, the situation felt impossible and incredibly scary, but the Lord was faithful, and Mischa was able to cross the border safely.

Now, he is staying with missionaries in Poland. That night when he called Anna, Leeland’s Way Maker was playing in the background. The missionaries told Mischa that they believed this song was for him and his family. At this moment, I felt so encouraged- across the world, a family was hearing the same thing I was hearing, Way Maker. I ask you to join me and continue to pray for the Lord to be a Way Maker for Anna and her family. We still have a long road ahead, but the Lord has confirmed he will make a way. We need faith and trust, though, and of course, your prayers.

Thank you for joining this journey with us!

Cheers,

Reci and Family

Hello Friends -

This week has continued to be a whirlwind of life. God is good and continues to make a way for this family. That doesn't mean that it has been easy for the family. Their stress, emotions, and tension are all being released and added back in, in different ways. Please pray for resiliency and peace for Anna as she is making HUGE decisions for her family.

There is a lot of conflicting information out there on what is best for Ukrainians as they try to settle in here. The government is saying one thing, the lawyers a second, social media a third, and the news a fourth. This is causing some analysis paralysis as Anna is working through what is best for her family. Pray for wisdom, discernment and clear direction for this family.

Mischa did make it out of Ukraine over the weekend. He is currently safe with a missionary family in Poland. The US government shut down the border on Sunday and released a new program Uniting for Ukraine. From what we have heard, this is a much easier process than others in the past. However, it is still a very difficult process to move through. For Mischa to come to the US, he needs a sponsoring individual (not organization) to sign up and guarantee the provide housing, physical needs, and medical care for two years. The process is pretty invasive from a sponsoring individual point of view. As Reci and I were working through this, one of our daughters came up to me, grabbed my hands, looked me in the eyes and said "if not us, then who? It is always worth it dad." After I picked myself up off the floor and wiped my eyes from the "dust", the decision became clear. We submitted our application to the government to sponsor the family. Pray that the evidence of income and sponsorship is enough and that the path is made straight for Mischa.

Other Updates:

• Last week our home got hit with Covid. We had ducked, dived, dipped and dodged since the beginning of the pandemic and had not gotten it. However, Aurora and McKinley got it and then soon Anna got it. Good news is that it was not a severe case for any of them.

• As of last night (4/27), Aurora got a stomach bug so we are hoping that doesn’t run through the group. Please pray for protection against that.

• The family was able to get in and see doctors for checkups. Granny needed an Xray for some sounds in her chest. So far, so good though.

• The family was also able to sign up for food stamps. We should get the cards very soon

Needs:

• If you are near Boone. Please consider hosting the family for dinner or hangout. We would love for them to meet more people in the community.

• Pray for resiliency and peace for Anna

• Pray for wisdom and discernment

• Pray for the paths to continue to be made straight for Mischa.

Thank you,

Marc and Family

Marc version

• Anna, Granny, Mary and Danny arrived on 4/8 around noon. We met with the school, Samaritan’s Purse and others.

• Mary and Danny start school on Monday!

• Current Status: The US has allowed them to enter, but have not provided any benefits or the right to work. They are completely dependent on the generosity of us and you to take care of them.

• Next Steps: Meet with immigration lawyer on Tuesday. Meet with healthcare providers that provide services to underinsured/non-insured. Get cell phones and mobile service.

• How to Help Financially:

  • Donate to hopeboone.com and choose Ukrainian Family Support.

  • Venmo Reci - reci-smith
    

Reci version

Hello friends and family!

Thank you all so much for joining this journey with us and Anna’s family! We have felt so loved by the texts, calls, and donations we’ve already received. If you didn’t get our first email, I linked it here so you could have the back story.

I wanted to send an update to keep you in the loop. Anna, Granny, Danny, and Mary arrived in Boone, NC yesterday, and are already adjusting well! We had lunch, a meeting at the school, and a meeting at Samaritan’s Purse with their resettlement team. We spent the afternoon with friends, food, and video games (a universal language among children).

The meeting at the school went well, and Parkway is going to be wonderful for Danny and Mary. They had backpacks with school supplies ready, a school counselor, and a social worker to help us start getting Danny and Mary adjusted to American culture. They gave us a $25 gift card for shoes for Mary because she is currently wearing her moms.

I took the kids home after the meeting at the school, and Marc went with Anna to Samaritan’s Purse. While Samaritan’s Purse is being incredibly helpful and amazing, this resettlement is not through them. Marc and I are leading it, so we are trying to get all of the help that we can (thus, this email :)).

As we jump into our list of things going on, I want to ask for your patience with us if we misspeak or get some information wrong. We are working with LOTS of moving pieces and are trying to figure out how much help the government is or isn’t giving, how much help local churches and services are offering, etc and we’ve already gotten some conflicting information. If we ever say the government isn’t helping, but find out they can, please forgive us. We have never done this before and are trying to take care of many, many needs. Ultimately, our goal is to have Anna completely self-sufficient as soon as possible (and of course new friends!).

Needs we have:

• Praise! We have a house for the family starting July 15, and it is next door to us! We want to have 6 months of rent taken care of and have about half of it. If you are interested in helping with a monthly donation for 6 months, please let me know.

• Counselors for four people four times a month ($70 a session per person)

• We meet with an immigration lawyer on Tuesday. The cost of the representation is $5,000 per case. There will be two cases one for Anna, Mary and Danny and the other for Tatiana (granny). There will be a discount for the second case, but we don’t know what it is yet.

• Monthly donations for cell phone bill for Granny and Anna.

Prayer Requests:

• Top request: Pray that the government would grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) - this will allow Anna to get a job and other benefits in the US

• We have a meeting with an immigration lawyer on Tuesday. Pray for clarity and wisdom. Pray that we understand what is going to go into the proces.

• For Granny: She is really stressed and uncomfortable. She does not speak English at all, so we’ve been using google translate to speak to her. I know of one family who speaks Russian, but anyone who speaks Russian makes her nervous because of the war. She feels very lonely and unable to communicate.

• For Anna: Anna has a lot on her plate. She’s trying to meet the needs of Granny (her mother in law), her kids, while she is still working for her company in Ukraine.

• For Danny and Mary: They are adjusting, but this is a lot. They speak some English, but not much. (google translate- again, lifesaver), but they saw some horrific things and experienced a lot of trauma when they left Ukraine. Although they seemed excited at the toys, games, and friends we had, I know it is a lot for them and they can barely speak to the only friends they’ve met.

• For me: I couldn’t sleep last night because my mind was racing about all of the things I need to get done (while simultaneously working and taking care of my family)

• For Marc: Like me, we both feel a great responsibility for Anna and her family. We are so grateful for the opportunity to serve them, but taking on a new family overnight has its challenges.

• For my kids: Shiloh will be taking Danny around school and McKenzie will be taking Mary around school. We have asked them to be responsible for making sure Danny and Mary feel safe, know what to do, and get what they need. Additionally, at home, Aurora and McKinley are asked to do quite a bit to help them feel safe, comfortable, and welcome. I ask that they shoulder this responsibility well and that my kids care for our new friends well.

Things Happening this week (that we know of):

• LOTS of paperwork

  • School registration

  • Medical Packet for the Community Health Clinic

• Danny and Mary start school on Monday!

• We are trying to get Danny, Mary, Granny, and Anna seen at the community health clinic so that we can (hopefully- prayers for this please!) get them health care and a county social worker.

If you are interested in helping with any of the needs, please let me know. You can donate through Hope Church (follow this link), but please be sure to give it to “Ukrainian Family Support.” If you want to give through Venmo, I can also send you my information. Please do not forget the power of prayer. I am really excited to put together the story about how we got involved with Anna. As Anna and I were talking last night, we started putting the story together about how we got involved with each other, and it’s really wild. It involves legos, strangers, and the Lord in only the way that he can. When we finish sharing notes, I will write that story and share it.

Cheers,

Marc, Reci, & Crew

Hey friends-

Last Tuesday, Marc received an email from his mom that came from her sister that came from a missionary…. The title of the email was “Ukrainian Family coming to North Carolina.“ When he read the email, he asked Reci if she was game to help out, and she quickly agreed. The email was a call to action to house a Ukrainian family for up to 6 months.

This past week has been a roller coaster. When we responded, we learned that Anna, her mother-in-law, and two children (Mary-10, Danny-12) were actually in the air, flying to Tijuana. When they landed, Anna and Marc briefly connected for less than 5 minutes. She stated that they were in line to get across the border, and that was the last communication we had with her for over 20 hours. In the meantime, Marc shared with Samaritan’s Purse management the challenges Anna and her family were facing, and Samaritan’s Purse mobilized a team to help not only Anna and her family but also other people at the border. We are so blessed to be a part of this organization.

Long story short, they made it to a hotel and flew to stay with a couple in Virginia. As we are working through the resettlement details, we’ve all decided that moving to Boone would be the most beneficial thing for now. We are hosting them at our house while we navigate their transition to America. Very exciting times!

There are many details to work through with this family. They left Ukraine in a hurry and have almost nothing to their name.

Call to Action:

Short Term:

PRAY for Anna, Granny, Danny, and Mary.

- We need to support the family as they transition to permanency.

o Clothing/Money for clothing for Anna, grandma, and the two children

· If you want to donate clothes, give us some time to get sizes

o Two twin bed mattresses for Anna and Danny

o Need drivers to help get Anna to the store and various other things (she does not drive yet)

o Toiletry supplies like hairbrushes, toothbrushes, etc…

o Mobile phones for Anna and grandma

o Groceries, Dinners

o 12-year-old boys to play basketball with. (I promise this isn’t for Shiloh)

Medium Term:

- We are super excited to have them stay with us, but we will be trying to help them transition to their own apartment/house.

o It would be great to get a few families to come together to cover rent for a specific time.

Please join us first in prayer. If you want to help with any of the other needs, please reach out and let us know how you’d like to help.

Cheers,

Marc and Reci