In 2004, I made my first trip to Ukraine (and to volunteer at) Summer Bible Camp with Bill Wharton. While there I had the opportunity to meet Teresa and Rich Fillmon and their wonderful family.

Again during the summer of 2005, I returned to Ukraine for the Bible Camp. This time I learned more about the work of His Kids, Too! and what I could do to help in this ministry. Seeing these children in the hospitals and orphanages helped me to decide to return in the fall of 2005. I could help in giving out clothes and visiting the children's hospitals and orphanages.

On this trip (fall of 2005), I made my first visit to Toraz and saw for the first time the death house of so many of these children. I do not have words to describe this place.

At this time, my life is consumed with this ministry. God has shown me what I can do for these children. One thing I can do is to try to find homes in America for these children to be adopted so that children do not end up at Toraz. I can see working with this organization for the rest of my life, God willing, and will try to make a difference in the lives of these children. Hopefully we will be able to build an orphanage to provide better housing for the children and find widows to care for them.

If you love God and His creations, there is a place for you in this ministry. There are many ways you can help; raising funds for food and supplies for these children, build housing, buying fuel for winter, donate funding for purchasing medicine, clothing, shipping costs or perhaps making blankets, or writing letters of encouragement to the children.

You may be interested in visiting these children yourselves and if you do, your life will be changed in so many ways. You will see things that will break heart but you will also see the joy in the eyes of these children that will set your hearts on fire.

Come join us. You will see the blessings of our Father in Heaven through His Son, Jesus Christ.

When I was married at 25, my health had dictated it would not have been wise at that time to become pregnant. My mother had said why don't you adopt? I think perhaps this was a very early sub conscience seed that was forever etched in my brain. I remained married for 10 years, and never felt it would have been a good time to raise children, under our circumstances. We divorced when we were 35 and I thought I had plenty of time to find someone and still have children. After all, so many stars in Hollywood were having children in the late 40's and 50's.! I thought great! I have another 10 years to find my soul mate and have children. Little did the public know the women were buying eggs from 20 year olds claiming them as their own. Ahh.. Hollywood.

As I was moving past 40, Mr. soul mate still eluded me, and I knew the chance for pregnancy was going to become harder, even though birthing children was not a major drive in my life. So as I turned 42, I started my exciting journey in the internet to study adoption. I decided that I was not going to live on the planet without children, and perhaps I could find the guy later.

After I read the horrible fate of children in the orphanages of Eastern Europe, I decided that those children have a seriously difficult future compared to children of America. I feel everyone has an opportunity for a great life in America, but this is clearly not so in the depressed countries of Eastern Europe. As the children age out of the orphanage at 16 years old,10% of them commit suicide within the first year. Knowing this, I decided to adopt in Ukraine. Also, I am UKrainian decent, things were falling into place. This is when I met Teresa Fillmon online at EEAC Ukrainian adoptions. We were both doing our paper work at the same time.

I went to Kiev in Nov. of 2000, I had some dossier problems, so I stayed in Kiev for 3 weeks and visited some other older children orphanages in the city. I remember a boy who was 15 and had a family visit in Long Beach, Ca through a church. The photo book of his trip was all he owned in his life, and was waiting for them to return for him, but they had decided not to adopt him. He didn't know this, he just kept waiting for them.

I did not want to adopt a child over 2 yrs. old, but I kept myself open up to 10 years old. But….I truly wanted to change diapers and live through every stage possible. I found my son Alex at 1.11 yrs. old, in the Donetsk Region. The baby house welcome sign reads, There are 200 of us waiting for you everyday. It was clean, warm, and safe. Their bedtime was at 9 – 10 p.m. and up at 6 am. They did not have diapers for bedtime, they marched the little children 2 X a night to sit on the pots . My son was the size of an 18 month old but he was 2. I didn't understand why he would be falling with no reason every 8 minutes while he played. He was completely exhausted. When we got into the hotel, I put his first pull up on him and let him sleep the 10-11 hours he needed, within 4 days this behavior ceased. Within 6 months of great food, sunshine, laughter, and lots of kisses (he DID have love in the orphanage) he grew 4 inches. After seeing 4-5 orphanages and knowing from experience where my son would be if he was still in the system, I had to find a way to give back when I returned home.

That is when I ran into Teresa online again, to find out she had a beautiful daughter from Donetsk, and had a charity that was taking donations back to Donetsk. I was elated! Ukraine gave me the most beautiful treasure in my life, finally I can say thank you.

I showed all my married and single friends His Kids Too web site, and what Teresa was accomplishing. Everyone had committed to saving clothes, shoes toys, movies, and hygiene items, I send about 300 lbs a year of great clean clothing. I know that these donations will clothe hundreds of children and widows, I feel elated every time I close up the boxes and send them.

Yes I am a single adoptive mother, and yes it is important for children to have male and female influence equally. But no, it is not better for these kids to remain in orphanages just because you do not have the perfect situation. My dear father helped me raise my son until his passing in Feb. 06. When I was crying my son came to me and said, "Mama, I'm here, I will kiss your tears away". Alex is a true joy.

If you are single or married and thinking about adopting. Just do it. 🙂 I laid in bed at night with my eyes wide open,,, how can I do this? I kept moving forward everyday and kept my eye on the prize. They say raising children is the hardest thing you will ever love doing and if it was 1000 times harder, and I knew who my son was, I would still do it.

If you are now searching, be patient, as pregnancy is possible, adoption is for sure. There are 80,000 orphans in Ukraine, they are wonderful, smart, beautiful children and just know that your child is waiting for you. What a precious gift children are, they are a true spiritual cycle of life.

But please …don't delay, these children pray everyday to have a family. They have a horrible future ahead of them. Good luck in your search and thank you for those of you that will donate.

Blessings and respect to those who are reading His Kids, Too! web site. This means your thinking and feeling for others.

Andrea Robinson

To read more about Andrea's single adoption, and her experience as a single mother, watch her interview at: http://www.current.tv/studio/media/9781198

I have been to Ukraine 5 summers in a row mostly to direct the children at Summer Bible School at one of the elementary schools and an orphanage boarding school. This experience has changed my life; it changed the way I look at my life and the life of our US children. It changed the way I teach. It changed the way I live my life. I am so much aware of the waste the US goes through, how much we take for granted. Like running water, flush toilets, electricity, food (do you know we do "art" projects with food that could feed 20 children?), and transportation. The excuses we can come up with for not worshiping our Lord. "My car would not start", etc. I met a man in the Ukraine who rode his bike to church every Sunday (while he was alive) 7 miles one way I was told. And children who walk to school for the Bible classes with holes in their shoes – they were always early waiting for us and anxious to begin. (Are the children you teach on time? anxious to learn? can't get enough of God's Word?), and there were very few behavior problems – because they WANTED to be there!

It is such a wonderful experience to spend time with the children , to get to know them and play with them and just to let them know we care about them. Not only were my skills of comunication improved but my photograghy improved – you just can't help but take pictures of them – not only to remember them but because they are so much fun. I'm enclosing a picture of 2 girls I took last year – best friends – and I won 2nd Place at the North Florida Fair with the picture.

If you want a fantastic trip go to the Ukraine and help with the Bible school or with Teresa & Rich as they visit orphanges and deliver food, clothes and toys. The look on the children's faces will bring you to tears and it is such a feeling of pleasure to know you had some part in bringing a little happiness into these children's lives. What can I say – they gave me so much more than I gave them!

Thank you for letting me share some of my story with you

Judy Henderson

I live in Valdosta, GA, and teach journalism/English at Lowndes High School.  I went to the Ukraine in the summer of 2005.

I taught the high school class at Public School #10 in Dzerzhinsk for a week.  Then I stayed another week to help visit the orphanages.  I got to see most of the ones His Kids Too! helps.  We passed out many bananas and cookies which gave me the idea of Going Bananas for Orphans.  Lowndes High School raised almost $2,000 this Fall to provide seasonal fruit to as many orphanages as possible.  They will collect again in March.

I was certainly touched by the conditions andvchildren.  I could tell you stories of walking with Oleg, a toddler badly burned, or holding hands with a malnutritioned, barely clothed teenager before we entered Torez who looked longingly at the food in the market.

I have known the Fillmons for almost 20 years and taught Dallas (their son) as a kindergarten student during Sunday school.  I also kept in touch with Bill Wharton and have helped send money and clothes to the Ukraine.  It is very faith building to see how God has provided for the orphans and the people of Ukraine.  God continues to open doors and opportunities to this area.  Jesus said pure and undefiled religion is helping widows and orphans.  This is a wonderful opportunity to be like Jesus.  You can help in so many ways.

 " We must become the change we want to see in the world."  Mahatma Ghandi

I met Teresa while sitting in the Kiev International Airport in late March 2004. I had just spent a week teaching a class in the Kiev Business School. Within five minutes, I was intrigued by her passion and her commitment to this noble cause, and I have been involved with the organization since.

Since that time, I have been involved in various activities here in Birmingham aimed at raising awareness, money, and resources for HKT. First, we had Teresa come to Samford University in Fall 2004 to speak to a group of about 150 students about her ministry. This same semester, the student leadership honorary Omicron Delta Kappa raised money for the organization via card sales throughout the university, resulting in card sales of about $2500 and increased awareness of the HKT mission. (These cards are now sold on the HKT website, and feature lovely artwork of Ukrainian orphans.)

The following spring (2005), I initiated a shoe drive at my church, Independent Presbyterian Church (PC-USA). This effort is ongoing, and so far has resulted in several hundred pounds of shoes. We hope to provide care packets for orphans in the next few months through a similar effort, and we are bringing Teresa to speak to our congregation on April 23, 2006. Finally, a private foundation begun by church members (the IPC Foundation) granted $5000 to HKT for the coming fiscal year. I will work with Teresa to apply for additional funding in the coming year. I hope this is just the beginning of a productive relationship between HKT and our congregation.

While these efforts are small, they’re a start! I am committed to this cause and to Teresa, and intend to remain involved in this ministry as long as I can help.

Finally, I will say that my involvement with Teresa and this organization has served to strengthen my faith, particularly in two respects. First, I believe that we are surrounded by opportunities to exercise our faith and make a difference in the lives of others, but we must be receptive to these opportunities when they occur. Who would have thought that a casual airport conversation would begin such a meaningful experience for me?! Second, I believe our world needs more “Christian faith in action,” and I am grateful for this opportunity to exercise my faith through involvement with His Kids Too. A favorite quote of mine comes from Mahatma Gandhi – “We must become the change we want to see in the world.” I believe that Teresa Fillmon and the His Kids Too ministry illustrate this notion admirably.