The Children of Matveevka

How do you begin to describe a human being that craves to be loved, an individual who experiences pure joy just from a hug from another human being, or child in spite of dismal surroundings smiles, dances, and simply enjoys life. All I can tell you is that I cannot begin to describe the spirit that drives a human despite the circumstances. These are the children of Matveevka.



To each of you who have given just one of these children the hope, you will not know what you have done until you walk into Matveevka and hold the child that calls you Papa or Momma. You won’t know the desire of a child to love someone and for someone to love them until you look into their eyes. You are the hands, the feet, the arms of Christ.


To each of you who may think I cannot make a difference. You can! There are 100,000 orphans in Ukraine what difference does just one make. There are billions of people in the world yet heaven rejoices each time One comes to know Christ and is adopted into the family of God. One child, one life, one soul, one you.


Each day we go to the orphanage and visit our one, Christina. And each day the hope grows. And each day the walls of emotional protection crack and begin to crumble. And one day soon the hope will turn to belief. And soon the belief will transform to reality.


Reality does not come with out fear. It does not come without questions. As dismal and dark and undesirable as the orphanage may seem to you and me, there is comfort in familiarity. There are friends, there is fun, there is laughter, there is warmth in Matveevka. America is far, America is different, America is big, parents are new, just remember.



Just some thoughts after my visit today.

By: Ron Gully, soon to be father of Christina Lynn Gully