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House of James 1
First meet our house parents...
Rev.
Vitalik Koval --
originally from Kiev, accepted God’s call to be the
father and Pastor to the children of the House of James.
He came to know Christ in 2001 through a Nazarene Church
in Kiev and later became the director of a drug and
alcohol rehab center in the village of Celishe. After a
couple of years serving at the center he felt the call
to be a pastor and started a church plant in the same
village. Once Sean Johnson heard of this, he asked him,
and his soon to be wife, Natasha, if they would accept
the call of being house parents to the children of HOJ.
He and his wife Natasha are not only parents to their
own two children, but parents to all the kids at HOJ.
Natasha
Koval -- originally
from Vinnitsa, accepted God’s call to be the mother to
the children of the House of James. She also came to
know Christ in 2002 through an outreach program from the
Nazarene Church. When her brother Sasha was released
from prison, he entered a drug rehab center that the
Nazarene church still operates in Celishe. They not only
ministered to her brother, but to her and her mother as
well. She and Vitalik were married in November of 2004.
They moved into the House of James in July of 2006.
My
name is Vica and I am 11 years old. I attend the 6th
grade. I like history, Ukrainian language and reading. I
also like Sunday school and I love Jesus.
I now live at House of James in Celishe with my
biological brother Oleg. Before I lived here I lived
with my alcoholic parents. When I started the 2nd grade
my mother left me. But I don’t miss her anymore because
I now have a good family that loves and helps me. I now
have lots of sisters and brothers that I love very much.
I have been living here now for over half a year.
I accepted Jesus in my heart. I love to play
with my new siblings in the snow. When I grow up I would
like to help other kids like me. Also, I love Sean very
much and I’m glad he built this home for us.
My
name is Lelaw and I am 8 years old. I attend the 1st
grade. My mother died last summer (2006) and my father
died a while back as well. I now live at House of James
with my biological sister and brother Rita and Valera. I
love having a family again. It’s nice to have someone
that I can call mom and dad. I like going to children’s
church and I also like to color.
My
name is Luda and I am 6 years old. I attend
kindergarten. I love to go sledding. I also love Jesus.
I now live at House of James with my two biological
brothers Max and Taras. I like it here. My parents both
drank. My mother left a long time ago. I now have a new
family and we live with Jesus.
My
name is Max
and I am 11 years old. I attend the 5th grade.
I like to build things with my hands. I have asked Jesus
into my life. I lived with my alcoholic father and
my mother left me a long time ago. I now live at
House of James with my sister and brother. Before this I
lived in a orphanage. My siblings and I were separated.
I like everything to be clean and organized. I like to
go to church and I like living at House of James. I love
my new family. I have a dog named Spike & I love him. I’m in charge of watching
over him. I love horses and I like to ride them. I
want to be an engineer when I grow up.
My
name is Rita and I am 10 years old. I attend the 4th
grade. My mother died last summer (2006) and my father
is in prison. I now live at House of James with my
biological sister and brother Lelaw and Valera. I love
my new parents and new siblings. I love to sing
and dance. When I grow up I would like to be a
teacher and play sports.
My
name is Taras
and I am 8 years old. I attend the 2nd
grade. I have a brother and a sister. We now live
at House of James. We lived with our mom and dad. They
are alcoholics. Our mother left us and our father
continued to drink. I like living here at House of
James. I like to ride my bike, play ball, color
and go to church. I also like to ride horses.
When I grow up I would like to be a pilot and fly
planes.
My
name is Valera and I’m just over two years old. My
mother died in the summer of 2006 and my father died a
while back also. I was living in a hospital for the past
6 months because there was nowhere else for me to go.
But now I live at House of James with my biological
sisters Rita and Lelaw. It’s nice to have a big family.
My favorite thing to do is to bite people. But I don’t
think many people like me doing that to them. So please
pray that I will stop.
My
name is Vladik
and I am 6 years old. I attend the 1st
grade. I like to write. I am fortunate to live with my
biological parents at House of James. I like it here. I
like it when there are a lot of kids around to play
with. I also like to play with mom, dad, grandma,
grandpa and Sean. I like to swing in the summer
time and sled in the winter. I don’t know what I
want to be when I grow up because I like a lot of
professions. I go to church with the adults and other
kids. I like children’s church. I love God.
My
name is Roma and I am 1 ½ years old. I am fortunate to
live with my biological parents here at House of James.
I love having all these new brothers and sisters around.
I always have someone to play with. My favorite thing to
do is to wake up in the middle of the night and make a
bunch of noise.
Greetings!
