House of James One

Koval Family

All studio portait photos were taken for less than the cost of 1 US dollar and really helped to boost the self esteem of all the children.

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 Seliche. 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.

Vica was born on March 2nd 1995. She moved into House of James 1 in 2006. She lived in a abandoned house with her alcoholic father (see footage in video page). He just passed away February of 2008. Her mother left her when she was just 7 years old. We just got news recently that she also passed away in June 2008. Vica loves living at the house, where she has lots of brothers and sisters to spend time with. She is a big help with the little ones. August of 2008 marks her two year anniversary at the home. She is doing great in school and has private lessons in the English language. When she grows up, she wants to help kids that are going through the same struggles she went through. She loves her new mom and dad very much. She also loves her new Uncle Sean and is very thankful for his commitment to House of James ministries. Check out her interview from two years ago in the Video’s link.




Lelaw was born March 9th 1999. She moved into House of James 1 in 2007 with her sister Rita and her brother Valira. Her mother died in the summer of 2006 and her father passed away a while back. She has totally adapted to her new big family. She loves having someone she can call mom and dad. She is doing well in school and she is a big help in the kitchen.

Luda was born May 12th 2000. She moved into House of James 1 at the end of 2006 with her brothers Max and Turas. Her mother left her to live with the grandmother, but then grandma passed away from to much drinking. Her father is not able to take care of her and her brothers. He is a major alcoholic. She loves having other kids around that are not just her brothers. She looks up to Vica and loves to help out around the house. She loves her new mom and dad very much and she doesn’t ever want to see her biological mother ever again. She is doing well in school and she is making friends. That is a big progress for her.

FULLY SPONSORED! Max was born on June 20th 1995. He moved into House of James 1 at the end of 2006. He has the same biological parents has Luda and Turas. He was sent to an orphanage where he did not see his siblings for a long time. House of James was able to bring them all back together to be part of our big family. Max loves taking care of the dog and keeping everyone in line. He is a neat freak. Everything has to be clean and organized. He also loves to build things with his own two hands. We have hopes that he will become an engineer one day.







Rita was born on November 16th 1996. She moved into House of James 1 in 2007 with her sister Lelaw and her brother Valira. She shared the same mother as her siblings, which passed away in 2006. She has a different father, but he is in prison. She loves to dance and go swimming. She hopes to be a teacher one day. Rita loves her new family.

Turas was born on April 11th 1998. He moved into House of James 1 at the end of 2006 with his brother Max and his sister Luda. He was separated from his siblings for some time. But that all changed when he moved in to House of James to live with his brother and sister and the rest of the kids. He loves going fishing with his new dad and his new uncle Sean.

FULLY SPONSORED! Valira was born October 19th 2004. He moved into House of James 1 in 2007 with his sisters, Rita and Lelaw. His mother died in the summer of 2006 and his father died a while back also. He was living in small crib at a hospital for 6 months before he came to House of James. There was nowhere for him to go during that time, but now he has a home and a big family. He was a biter when he first moved in, but we gave him some gum and that has solved the problem.







Denise birthday was August 30Th 1996. He is doing great in school and has a very good attitude. Denise likes to go fishing and camping.









FULLY SPONSORED!Kristina was born February 24Th 2002 and also has a great attitude. She loves to play house with the other girls.









Roma was born on October 31st 2005. He is Vitalik and Natasha’s biological son. He always has somebody to play with. He loves to talk about cows and always wants gum. But I think his favorite thing to do is, wake up in the middle of the night and make a bunch of noise.








Vladik was born May 16th 2000. He is the house parents son. He loves having brothers and sisters to play with around the house. He always says; there is always something going on here. Vladik is Natasha’s (house mom) biological son and Vitalik (house dad) adopted him as his own.