Wedding Engagement Photos in Ukrainian Style

The first weekend of August we enjoyed a great time doing Engagement Photos at Pirogovo, an outdoor museum of Ukrainian Folk Architecture and Culture. We purchased our clothing in Kiev the day before. They are all second-hand, hand made, hand embroidered, and made from very think cloth made of hemp.  The sales woman insisted that such cloth will last for 300 years and that we must past the clothing down through the generations. :) Oleg's shirt is a more general Ukrainian style. Amanda's dress and apron are in a more western Ukrainian style. A babushka working at Pirogovo saw us and helped us get Amanda's skirt and belt tied in the proper Ukrainian way. We were so glad for her help because then it looked so much better!  

We both are in awe at how wonderful the photos turned out! Better than we ever dreamed! Many thanks to our photographer, Cassie Ruth Brooks, Amanda's good friend from Kentucky, serving with the Peace Corps here in Ukraine.

We are still waiting for Oleg's fiance visa to be approved and are anticipating having our wedding in Alaska at the end of October or in November. Please pray for us as we begin sorting and packing up our households here in Ukraine in preparation to move to Alaska. :)

По милости Господней

"... человек оправдывается не делами закона, а только верою в Иисуса Христа, и мы уверовали во Христа Иисуса, чтобы оправдаться верою во Христа, а не делами закона; ибо делами закона не оправдается никакая плоть" (Гал.2:16).

Five Very Long Months That Will Fly By

Hi Friends!

This past week we received word that our visa application for Oleg was received at the offices of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Hooray! And the approximate processing time will be five months! Not so good. Please pray for patience and that every thing will go smoothly with the visa.

We have been hoping for our wedding to be Oct 27th or Nov 3rd. It might even end up being a Thanksgiving weekend wedding. The Lord knows his timetable and what is best for us and for His glory. Amanda just really wants a Fall themed wedding...

Soon we plan to add more to this blog - about ourselves and our thoughts/plans for the future.
Thanks for all your prayers for us!

Blessings,
Oleg and Amanda

A New Life Begins

Welcome, Friends and Family!

Just a few days ago we announced our engagement to be married! And - Hooray! - soon, we will begin our new life together! We really appreciated all of your congratulations and good wishes. Many of you asked us how we met and what our plans are for the future. And therefore we have created this blog as a way of staying in touch and sharing our news, prayer and praise requests.

Both of us have a strong call to Christian ministry and missions and so it will be very important to have you all along on the journey to support us in prayer. We need you!

We have applied to receive a fiance visa in order to Oleg to be able to travel to Amanda's hometown of Anchorage, Alaska and be married there. The application has been mailed already and will take a couple of months before we are scheduled for an interview. We are really hoping for a wedding date at the end of October or the beginning of November but can't plan a definite date until we recieve Oleg's visa Please pray that the visa application is reviewed favorably and that everything will go smoothly and quickly!

After the wedding we will stay in Alaska for our honeymoon. We are still praying that God would reveal his direction for what to do after our honeymoon. We will either continue to live/minister in Ukraine or move to Anchorage, Alaska for a time and minister to the Russian speaking community there.

Our marriage will bring about the finish of Amanda's service with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. While Amanda will greatly miss ministering alongside her IMB co-laborers and having the prayer and financial support of the SBC churches, we look forward to discovering what new avenues of ministry and financial support that the Lord has planned for us together as a husband and wife.

Please submit your email into the subscription box on the left-hand side of this blog. That way you will receive our updates directly into your inbox.

May the Lord bless you all,
Oleg and Amanda