For all of you who have been asking for a way to donate to our ADOPTION Fund for Ukraine.
Below is our PayPal account link.
If you would like to make a financial gift use the "Donate" button here.
Thank You Friends! We appreciate your support!
~Tyler & Melissa Goodell
Sunday, August 16, 2015
Monday, August 4, 2014
Monday, May 26, 2014
We're Hosting!
We are very excited to announce that we are hosting a beautiful seven year old girl from Ukraine this summer.
She is expected to arrive the last weekend in June...about one month from now.
She gets to spend four weeks at our house with us and the boys.
It is our privilege to give her a real family experience and shower her with lots of love and attention. She is an orphan, but we don't intend to keep her that way.
We are already very involved in lining things up to adopt her this Fall.
We are very busy in our preparations for her arrival, and are leaning heavily on the Lord to make our hearts and home just what she needs when she is here!
We are raising funds and selling t-shirts to help make this adoption possible.
We need all the help we can get.
Please get involved!
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She is expected to arrive the last weekend in June...about one month from now.
She gets to spend four weeks at our house with us and the boys.
It is our privilege to give her a real family experience and shower her with lots of love and attention. She is an orphan, but we don't intend to keep her that way.
We are already very involved in lining things up to adopt her this Fall.
We are very busy in our preparations for her arrival, and are leaning heavily on the Lord to make our hearts and home just what she needs when she is here!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Goodell Update 2011
Wow, so much has been happening this year, it's been tough to keep up!! Here's a quick update and some cool pics to add some interesting visuals ; )
Spring 2011
Tyler had an opportunity to visit Moscow and St Petersburg Russia for 3 weeks from the end of April to mid May.
He was feed by fellowship with international disciples and missionary families at the Pastors Conference in St. Pete.
He was able to visit Pastor Dean, encouraging the body of Christ at Calvary Chapel Sokol
He was able to reconnect with Mrs Smith and her class of english students.
This is a video of Tyler's visit to the Spiritual Freedom Headquarters in Moscow.
He was able to visit Pastor Dean, encouraging the body of Christ at Calvary Chapel Sokol
He was able to reconnect with Mrs Smith and her class of english students.
This is a video of Tyler's visit to the Spiritual Freedom Headquarters in Moscow.
Tyler has been actively raising funds to support this awesome prison ministry!
Summer 2011
We had an awesome oppotunity to host 2 men from China. Andrew, 27 and Lionel, 19. They stayed for 2 weeks at our home. This was their first time out of their home country. It was such a privelge for us to get to know them and serve them.
Elijah turned ONE!!!! What a great reason to celebrate. We are so thankful to have this little boy in our lives. Raising him has taught us so much. It is pretty cool to experience that parent-to-child bond. It has been such a tool for opening our eyes and hearts to how God is in a parental relationship with us! Amazing!
We just bought a home in Victorville, CA! Such a blessing : )
The process was so quick and smooth-it had to be from the hand of God.
The time it took to put in an offer and actually close escrow was approximately 3 weeks!
The time it took to put in an offer and actually close escrow was approximately 3 weeks!
We have to do some cleaning and preparing the home a little before moving in, so it may be another couple months before we're ready, but the house projects should be pretty fun. Can't wait to get started!
We made it to our 2nd year WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
We made it to our 2nd year WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
Because September 5th landed on Labor Day this year, we decided to celebrate yesterday (09-04-11.) We had a great time in Los Angeles. Picked up a beautiful replica (vegan version) of the top tear of our wedding cake, we had a lovely dinner at PlanetRaw in Santa Monica, and ended the evening at Long Beach with a romantic moon lit Gondala cruise through the canals of Naples Islands.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Finally an update!!!
To all of you who have been waiting for an update,
We are so sorry. We have both been talking about using our blog more often. However, talking and doing are two different things. So, lets go into just a few updates before looking at some more precious pics. Melissa gave birth to a little baby boy. We named him Elijah Dean Goodell. He weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces. He was 20 and a half inches. He has been so much fun and I have to say that Melissa did a wonderful job in delivery not using anything but her will to do the whole thing naturally. She has been such an inspiration in her faith that God is really in control. Elijah was born on August 26, which was accurate according to our sonogram but early by a little more than a week according to Melissa's midwife.
Melissa just recently returned to work. She is working a few days at two different dental offices. I am working weekends at Victor Vally Christian School and it's supporting church First Assembly of God as a custodian. I was blessed with this job after helping with the football team and the new gym at Victor Valley Christin. I am still attending Calvary Chapel Bible College and just loving it. I have been wanting to use this blog spot as a format to bless you and share with you homework and things that I have learned. So, I have added a link at the top of the blog to a page called "Tyler Talk", where I share some things on my mind. My hope is that it may be an encouragement.
We have people ask us if we plan on returning to Russia. We would love to return to Russia as soon as we can. However, we have to wait on God's timing. Financially right now we wouldn't be able to pay our student loans if we returned to Russia without work or support. When we lived there for three months before Melissa's student loans kicked in, we did pretty good with my part time teaching, Melissa's babysitting, and some financial support from friends and family. With loans and a new baby we pray that we can return to Russia more financially stable. God has put it on our hearts to teach the gospel in a specific area outside of Moscow. Whether or not this is His plan, we continue to seek His will for our lives. There isn't a better place than being in God's specific plan for your life. Below I added a few pictures of our little guy. Thank you for staying in contact with us and stay tuned for more pics and videos.
This is one of our favorite pictures.We are so sorry. We have both been talking about using our blog more often. However, talking and doing are two different things. So, lets go into just a few updates before looking at some more precious pics. Melissa gave birth to a little baby boy. We named him Elijah Dean Goodell. He weighed 7 pounds and 4 ounces. He was 20 and a half inches. He has been so much fun and I have to say that Melissa did a wonderful job in delivery not using anything but her will to do the whole thing naturally. She has been such an inspiration in her faith that God is really in control. Elijah was born on August 26, which was accurate according to our sonogram but early by a little more than a week according to Melissa's midwife.
Melissa just recently returned to work. She is working a few days at two different dental offices. I am working weekends at Victor Vally Christian School and it's supporting church First Assembly of God as a custodian. I was blessed with this job after helping with the football team and the new gym at Victor Valley Christin. I am still attending Calvary Chapel Bible College and just loving it. I have been wanting to use this blog spot as a format to bless you and share with you homework and things that I have learned. So, I have added a link at the top of the blog to a page called "Tyler Talk", where I share some things on my mind. My hope is that it may be an encouragement.
We have people ask us if we plan on returning to Russia. We would love to return to Russia as soon as we can. However, we have to wait on God's timing. Financially right now we wouldn't be able to pay our student loans if we returned to Russia without work or support. When we lived there for three months before Melissa's student loans kicked in, we did pretty good with my part time teaching, Melissa's babysitting, and some financial support from friends and family. With loans and a new baby we pray that we can return to Russia more financially stable. God has put it on our hearts to teach the gospel in a specific area outside of Moscow. Whether or not this is His plan, we continue to seek His will for our lives. There isn't a better place than being in God's specific plan for your life. Below I added a few pictures of our little guy. Thank you for staying in contact with us and stay tuned for more pics and videos.
Below:
Elijah is wearing a St. Patrick's day shirt even though it's not St. Patrick's day. The shirt came from his Aunt Christina and given to his Aunt Michelle for his cousin Klhoe. Now he gets to wear it!
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Hello Everyone!
Yes, it has been way too long since I put a post on this blog. Shameful : / So, now, since five months have passed, there is soooo much to update all of you on.
Tyler and I flew back to California in mid December when our visas for Russia expired. It was a good time to return home. We had the opportunity to spend Christmas with our families.
It was our intention to stay in California until February or March, get refreshed, get our finances situated, and then head back to Russia with new visas. As it turns out, the Lord had a different plan for us.
After Christmas, Tyler and I found out that the Lord was blessing our family with a precious little one. I am a little more than six months pregnant, and expecting our son to arrive September 4th. We are both ecstatic about having a new member added to our family and can hardly wait for his arrival.
With this new adventure before us, we are planning on remaining in California for the length of my pregnancy and sometime beyond. Tyler and I still have a strong desire to serve the Lord in Russia, but will have to leave the timing of return up to God's direction.
In the meantime, we both know that it is our responsibility as christians to use our gifts and abilities to serve God and His church whereever He has us. So, we have been keeping ourselves open for ministry opportunities in the High Desert and allowing the Lord to grow us and prepare us for our future ministries in Russia.
Shortly after we returned home, Tyler was asked to share his testimony and give a brief sermon at a local church we attend with our Slavic brothers and sisters. This was exciting and such an honor for him to share with the congregation what the Lord had done in our lives and particularly in our ministry in Russia.
At the turn of the new year, we both got regularly involved at the Victorville Rescue Mission. We gave our time in the kitchen to serve dinner meals to homeless and needy members of our community during the week.
Recently, the two of us have been involved in an organization called Christians In Action (CIA). We were invited to participate in this group by a good christian brother of ours, Anthony Bravo. The purpose of CIA is to find out the needs of our local community and come together as a group of Christians and meet those needs. Once a month, a group of about 15-20 people get together, eat breakfast, fellowship, and work hard from morning to afternoon doing whatever is needed from us. The last few events involved moving a shed from one location to another, landscaping, painting, putting in ramps for an elderly gentleman, and patching holes in walls. Of course, the best part of all of this is the time we get to spend talking with those we are serving and ministering to them in a social and spiritual level. I am blessed with the opportunities to do that the most, since most of the work being done, isn't exactly cut out for a pregnant woman.
A couple months back, Tyler got to help out with some of our friends and leaders of Christ Muscle Ministries. A new project they took on was helping out the sports teams at Victor Valley Christian School. They converted an old storage room into a beautiful and fully functioning gym for the high school students. It was a great work and was all done out of love for the kids there. Tyler was pleased to be asked to help out.
Another ministry we have been involved in lately involves a young woman suffering from liver cancer and her 19 month old daughter. Since the mother is on chemotherapy and just exhausted from the treatments, she has needed some help taking care of her toddler. Tyler and I got involved to help pick up her daughter from her house at 8am, take her to HeadStart, pick her up from the program and return her home to her mom at 4pm. This gives the little girl some time to interact with other children, play during the day, and it also gives her mother a chance to rest. Thankfully, at this time, the mom is responding to treatment and her faith in the Lord is keeping her strong. Working with them has been a huge blessing for Tyler and I and we are grateful to be involved with the work the Lord is doing in their lives.
The Lord has been keeping us very busy and is always seeming to put opportunities to serve at our feet. We are thankful that He is keeping us close to Him and dependent on Him as we face each day we are blessed to live out.
Prayer Requests:
1. For the Lord to continue to bless us with a healthy pregnancy and keep our baby safe.
2. That we would be filled with passion to serve people around us and always willing to put others needs before our own.
3. For a complete healing of the mother with cancer.
4. For blessing and direction regarding our endevors to further our education.
5. For CIA and Christ Muscle Ministries to flourish and grow in their service to our community's spiritual needs.
6. For our Russian church in Sokol and particularly Pastor Dean, that the church would feel God's presence and blessings upon their efforts there.
Thank you and God bless!
Melissa & Tyler Goodell
Yes, it has been way too long since I put a post on this blog. Shameful : / So, now, since five months have passed, there is soooo much to update all of you on.
Tyler and I flew back to California in mid December when our visas for Russia expired. It was a good time to return home. We had the opportunity to spend Christmas with our families.
It was our intention to stay in California until February or March, get refreshed, get our finances situated, and then head back to Russia with new visas. As it turns out, the Lord had a different plan for us.
After Christmas, Tyler and I found out that the Lord was blessing our family with a precious little one. I am a little more than six months pregnant, and expecting our son to arrive September 4th. We are both ecstatic about having a new member added to our family and can hardly wait for his arrival.
With this new adventure before us, we are planning on remaining in California for the length of my pregnancy and sometime beyond. Tyler and I still have a strong desire to serve the Lord in Russia, but will have to leave the timing of return up to God's direction.
In the meantime, we both know that it is our responsibility as christians to use our gifts and abilities to serve God and His church whereever He has us. So, we have been keeping ourselves open for ministry opportunities in the High Desert and allowing the Lord to grow us and prepare us for our future ministries in Russia.
Shortly after we returned home, Tyler was asked to share his testimony and give a brief sermon at a local church we attend with our Slavic brothers and sisters. This was exciting and such an honor for him to share with the congregation what the Lord had done in our lives and particularly in our ministry in Russia.
At the turn of the new year, we both got regularly involved at the Victorville Rescue Mission. We gave our time in the kitchen to serve dinner meals to homeless and needy members of our community during the week.
Recently, the two of us have been involved in an organization called Christians In Action (CIA). We were invited to participate in this group by a good christian brother of ours, Anthony Bravo. The purpose of CIA is to find out the needs of our local community and come together as a group of Christians and meet those needs. Once a month, a group of about 15-20 people get together, eat breakfast, fellowship, and work hard from morning to afternoon doing whatever is needed from us. The last few events involved moving a shed from one location to another, landscaping, painting, putting in ramps for an elderly gentleman, and patching holes in walls. Of course, the best part of all of this is the time we get to spend talking with those we are serving and ministering to them in a social and spiritual level. I am blessed with the opportunities to do that the most, since most of the work being done, isn't exactly cut out for a pregnant woman.
A couple months back, Tyler got to help out with some of our friends and leaders of Christ Muscle Ministries. A new project they took on was helping out the sports teams at Victor Valley Christian School. They converted an old storage room into a beautiful and fully functioning gym for the high school students. It was a great work and was all done out of love for the kids there. Tyler was pleased to be asked to help out.
Another ministry we have been involved in lately involves a young woman suffering from liver cancer and her 19 month old daughter. Since the mother is on chemotherapy and just exhausted from the treatments, she has needed some help taking care of her toddler. Tyler and I got involved to help pick up her daughter from her house at 8am, take her to HeadStart, pick her up from the program and return her home to her mom at 4pm. This gives the little girl some time to interact with other children, play during the day, and it also gives her mother a chance to rest. Thankfully, at this time, the mom is responding to treatment and her faith in the Lord is keeping her strong. Working with them has been a huge blessing for Tyler and I and we are grateful to be involved with the work the Lord is doing in their lives.
Tyler has had a desire to attend the seminary program at Calvary Chapel Bible College for some time now. Our church, Calvary Chapel Victorville, offered a satellite course teaching 1 Corinthians 1 night a week during the Spring semester. Tyler jumped on the opportunity to get started with his bible college education and just finished his last class about a week ago. He intends on continuing courses through our church program as well as attending online courses offered through the Calvary Chapel Merrieta Bible College. God has really provided a great way for Tyler to earn his degree in Theology. It is our hope that the Lord will bless his endevors and use this education to better prepare him to minister to those in Russia when we return.
I myself, have been working on a new avenue in furthering my education. Through careful prayer and consideration I have come to a decision to obtain my teaching credentials before we return to Russia. With the limited availability of work for dental hygienists in Moscow, Tyler and I have concluded that it may be beneficial for me to have options to teach at an English school when we return to the foreign mission field. So far, I have only taken the C-Best to help get me into a credentialling program, but am slowly working on piecing together everything else to get me started in the right direction.
The Lord has been keeping us very busy and is always seeming to put opportunities to serve at our feet. We are thankful that He is keeping us close to Him and dependent on Him as we face each day we are blessed to live out.
Prayer Requests:
1. For the Lord to continue to bless us with a healthy pregnancy and keep our baby safe.
2. That we would be filled with passion to serve people around us and always willing to put others needs before our own.
3. For a complete healing of the mother with cancer.
4. For blessing and direction regarding our endevors to further our education.
5. For CIA and Christ Muscle Ministries to flourish and grow in their service to our community's spiritual needs.
6. For our Russian church in Sokol and particularly Pastor Dean, that the church would feel God's presence and blessings upon their efforts there.
Thank you and God bless!
Melissa & Tyler Goodell
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