November

Dear friends! December is already here and this means that we’re getting ready for our charitable Christmas performances! We wish you a Merry Christmas and pray that in this very special time God would bring you joy and coziness of Christmas homes and would protect you and give you strength and peace! Here’s our news in November 2020. The month has been rather difficult for us as our accountant Olga was sick and worked from home. Yet we’re going through the rush season of preparations for our Christmas project for 1500 orphans and children of needy families from Izhevsk. So our ICHC team has been temporarily reduced, but we hope for and we count on your prayer support! We couldn’t do anything without you as a part of our team! Meanwhile, all the candy is already bought and delivered to ICHC office and volunteers are ready to get to pack 1500 sweet gifts for orphans. We have just found out that we are allowed to actually organize our Christmas performances for kids and we are now going to have it on the 8th of January, 2021 which is very close to observed Orthodox Christmas in Russia. Guided by our theatre director Yuri Chubukov our volunteers rehearse the musical play three times each week, as well as our choreographers and dancers. Why do all the volunteers (about 50 children and adults altogether) do this for us? Because, like you, they want to donate a part of their heart, time and efforts to celebrate the miracle of Christmas, to show its worthiness to all the people who don’t know it yet. Let’s continue to do it together! Let’s celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus! But! It remains very important to maintain social distancing while gathering and sitting in the Christmas hall during the performances. Izhevsk city administration is quite strict about us fulfilling requirements of safety during the Covid-19 pandemic. So please pray that everything goes well for us all! As for our regular projects, in November ICHC helped 10 needy families from Izhevsk with food, household & hygiene items and diapers for babies. In November ICHC had the opportunity to help a 5-year-old boy named Fedya suffering from cerebral spastic infantile paralysis. The boy lives in Izhevsk and unfortunately at age 5 still could not walk. Fedya has already gone through a surgery and four rehab courses. As a result, he learned to walk leaning on the walking frame! Now he needs one more surgery! His parents are ordinary people and can’t afford to pay it by themselves. We all hope for good results of the treatment and are looking forward to see Fedya walking all by himself! Thank you for being the body of Christ and helping this precious boy to walk! Let’s continue to pray and support this little boy! As you might remember, we have a Foster parents club gathering here at the ICHC office each month to spiritually and psychologically support the women who have adopted kids from orphanages. In November our psychologists invited adopted teenagers to come and watch a movie on challenges and success in sport and in life. Altogether they discussed difficulties we sometimes go through in life and on whom we can and should count on to get help. Besides that, the teenagers had an opportunity to show their diplomas and Thank You cards proving their successes in hobbies, education and sport and sharing their experience with others. Such meetups mean a lot to those who attend. Our Russian society can be judgmental towards adoptive parents and often such people just don’t know who to ask for advice and how to get adequate help. So these meetings are a great opportunity for adoptive moms to share their pain and emotions, as well as their positive experiences, with those who can understand them to the fullest. Dear friends! We are so thankful to all who support our work and ministry! Financially and in prayer - your contributions are a precious blessing for us! Thank you and may God bless and protect you and your beloved ones! Merry Christmas!