We rejoice with them as God has proven His faithfulness and graciousness to them during this long journey.

God be praised.

We are well, submitted paperwork today for Alex’s Passport which we hope will be issued tomorrow, (Friday). Am sending some pics. Hope you can pick them up. We look forward to being home. God has been so good and thank everyone for all the prayers!

Ed

Good News!
There is officially a new Foster Kid!
Mom and Dad and Alex just made it through the Russian Court.
God has bountifully blessed us and answered our prayers.
I will send a fuller update later when I get the details. Just wanted to let everyone know.
Praise the Lord!
Thanks,
Joel

Thank you all for praying, Mom and Dad will be able to stay in Penza through their court date. They were also able to pick Losha up yesterday, and he will be able to stay with them through the court date, instead of at the orphanage. Those are both big answers to prayer. They will all be going to a Baptist church tomorrow at 3:00 in the afternoon, and will have an interpreter going with them. Losha was at the hospital for a full four days, and has not really been able to see his friends yet; Mom and Dad plan to take him to see them sometime next week. He was a little nervous coming back to Mom and Dad, not having seen them for a while, but is ok now.

The court date is the next big problem - 2:00 Tuesday. Pray that all goes well.

Thank you.

Joel

“They (Ed & Robin) went to Nishi Malov (I don’t think that is spelled correctly) on Monday and had an interview with the Director of the Ministry of Education, the director of the orphanage, and a social worker, all of whom endorsed them. All went well, they had a safe but wild ride they said! They are having an interesting time trying new foods.

Losha might have to stay at the orphanage until the court date because he has lost so much of his russian language, but Mom and Dad really want him to be able to stay with them. I think he is kind of nervous. They would appreciate prayer for that. They also need prayer that they will be able to remain in Penza until the court date. There is some ten day restriction they are trying to get past.

On Tuesday they visited eight doctors, had an amazing nurse who helped them get through, they are all done with their russian medical checkups. They say they are doing fine, just waiting now. They hope to be able to do a little sight-seeing.”

Let’s continue to be praying for our brother and sister as they are in Russia.

James 1:27 says, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” It is Global Grace’s privilege to fulfill this mandate to His honor and glory.

A special thanks to Terrell Goodwin, Jason Kors, Bill and Nancy Hunt, and Mike Moore for their hard work this week.

Since Ed is a self-employed tradesman, the loss of three weeks’ work will be an additional financial burden to the family, on top of the expenses already incurred during Alex’s adoption process. This past Sunday evening, Morning Star was able to collect about $1500 toward the Fosters’ needs. Two of the three airline tickets were covered by someone’s donation of frequent-flyer miles, and the bookings were able to be rearranged so that the Fosters could travel together rather than on separate flights (which was originally the case).

We are rejoicing to see these details come together! Everyone is excited to see Alex’s adoption become official and permanent. Please join us in praising God for all that He has accomplished over the last couple years to bring Alex into this family! And please join us in prayer that, three weeks from today, Alex’s “hope to stay” will have come true and he will be coming home for good.

Alexey “Alex” Kharl Foster

Visit Alex’s HOPE TO STAY page.
Keep track of updates about the adoption.
Read what Ed and Robin Foster have to say.
View photos of Alex with his family.

Hannah’s Heart (the adoption-fundraising division of Global Grace) can facilitate tax-deductible donations, if you would like to give toward the offsetting of the Fosters’ travel costs and many other expenses.

Saturday was our play day. We had to take advantage of the beautiful weather so we traveled northeast to Ocho Rios and spent about 5 hours at the small swim area and Dunn’s River Falls. We climbed the falls! It took us — Nancy, Jason, and Chris — about an hour to climb from bottom to top. We had a blast!

Sunday was a great day which we spent with the believers at United Evangelical and Missionary Outreach Church. What a sweet time of fellowship we had together! We worshiped together in singing and in ministering the Word. I had the privilege to preach to the people of Pastor Perkin’s church and our own group. In the afternoon, we traveled to Hope Worship Center in Old Harbour, which is about 1 1/2 hours from Top Hill. We sang “My Jesus Fair,” and Bill Hunt prayed a great dedicatory prayer asking God’s blessing upon this new ministry. It is such a joy to fellowship with the universal Body of Christ around the world.

Today (Monday) we went back to Violet’s house to pull the cement forms and clean up. The Lord gave us another productive day free from injury! Violet is full of smiles and hugs…she is overwhelmed with gratitude for all that we are doing.

It is overwhelming to us to be used of the Lord to meet the physical needs of one who has experienced such damage from Hurricane Dean. I can’t help but think of Matthew 10:42 – “And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.” We also, I believe, are preparing the way for future ministry in the country of Jamaica for the glory of Jesus Christ. Please pray that we will continue to build relationships with the people of Jamaica.

We have also been experiencing some interesting Jamaican dishes. Tonight we enjoyed Oxtail Stew. It was delicious! What a blessing our sisters Joy (from Jamaica) and Nancy (one of our own ladies from our church) have been in preparing the daily delicious meals. Tonight we are off to Junction, the closest town to Top Hill, to pick up some needed groceries and to get internet service to give updates about our trip.

Please continue to pray for our team as we work to finish this project. If you would like to donate to this project, please visit the main Global Grace website for more information.*

Serving a Sovereign Lord,
Chris Metras

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* Learn more about Global Grace at the main Global Grace website. If you would like to donate directly toward the continuing hurricane relief and ministry work in Jamaica, you may do so by sending a check to Global Grace, or initiate a tax-deductible monetary gift by credit card, online bank transfer or PayPal via the PayPal venue.

We arrived in Montego Bay airport Tuesday evening at about 9:30 after two flight delays, but nothing serious. We had a little trouble going through customs, but we could feel the presence of the Lord and the prayers from back home. Each officer wanted to see the leader of the group (oh, boy!) and ask him questions about the visit. After a little more information, they allowed us to go through. Pastor Perkins met us, and we loaded up and travelled the 2 1/2 hour road trip down to St. Elizabeth. Again, the roads were very bumpy, and, after a long day of travel, our group was exhausted.

We began prep work on Wednesday by laying sheeting and nailing up the forms for the cement. It was a tiring day after a long day of travel, but the Lord gave us grace. Thursday was a long and hard day. We worked about 11 hours, and it was probably the hardest any one of us had worked for a long time.

We are feeling the aches and pains of mixing concrete, carrying buckets, and lifting the buckets on the roof. They do everything by hand. We had no electricity and made all of our cuts with one handsaw! We praise the Lord for the 4 Jamaican men who helped us! After working the long day, we felt a sense of accomplishment when we looked at the completed roof.
We will take Saturday to do some sightseeing, and Sunday to attend services; but then we will go back to work on Monday. Please pray for continued finances for the rest of the trip.* We know many of you are praying for us…please continue to pray! There has been great fellowship among the group, as well as with the Jamaican people.

Today we visited the children at the First Step Basic School. Our group sang for them, they sang for us, and I talked to the children for about 5 minutes about how they can please God, even from age 2 1/2 to 6 years old! It was a sweet time of fellowship for the group…we even held hands with some of the Jamaican children while they sang a song to us about meeting together again in heaven someday. Hopefully, we will see them again in August, since we are planning a VBS, Bible Conference, and medical missions team to minister in August in that same area of St. Elizabeth.

Grace and Peace to each of you!
Chris

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* If you would like to donate toward the continuing hurricane relief and ministry work in Jamaica, you may do so by sending a check to Global Grace directly, or send a tax-deductible monetary gift by credit card, online bank transfer or PayPal via the PayPal venue.

While we normally try to stay OUT of court, the Fosters have been waiting for a court date in their adoption of Lyosha. The scheduled court date is March 11, 2008. This means they will be flying to Russia next week and will be there for approximately three weeks.

Please be praying for the Fosters as they prepare to travel. While this is an exciting time, they also carry great burdens. There are airline tickets to purchase, arrangements to make, and many projects to complete before leaving for Russia.

If you are able, please also consider helping the Fosters make this trip. You could donate funds through Hannah’s Heart/Global Grace (designated for Alex or the Fosters). If you have Mileage Plus award miles with United or United affiliates (Star Alliance), it could be arranged for you to share them with the Fosters to help offset their travel costs.

Rejoicing with our brother and sister,
Jeremy Scott