Fun!

There have been lots of fun things going on. First of all, I am playing softball with the gals from work. It is seriously one of the funniest and most fun things ever. We are NOT, and I repeat we are NOT serious softballers-we just want to have a good time. We are trying to get better though. I missed the first couple of games due to Ukraine, but I am back in the game! :) I have typically been playing left field, and all the teams we play hit the ball to the outfield ALL the time. So I just run, and pray I catch the ball, and run after the ball some more. I have missed the ball more than I have caught it. But, I will say I caught a pop-fly last week, that ended the inning (they were beating us like 20-0) and you would would have thought I made a game winning play with all the applause and high-fiving! But that is how we are all the time, if someone gets on base or gets a hit, we go wild. The other teams are so good, and pretty much have no mercy on us, so we get excited over all the little things!

GOOOOOOO KNOCKOUTS!

The next fun thing was my night at rEcess with my handsome Prince Leks! :) We spent the evening writing a performance titled "Mrs. Wickerstick and the Evil Spell." And then we acted the performance out. When we would do our performance, I was sometimes asked to leave the "stage" so Leks could perform by himself, but usually I would be called back on stage....hee hee. I was Mrs. Wickerstick, and Leks was Mr. Cecil Bunion. I LOVE HIS IMAGINATION. I laughed all evening. Our play had spells, castles, sheep, and it also involved the sheep going to the time out stall for being bad.
Leks looks very serious in this picture, it's because he's thinking up Act II for the play. If you want to learn more about 99 Balloons, rEcess, and even TEAMworks Ukraine, go here.

We are still working on fundraising for TEAMworks Ukraine. We will be holding a raffle and a yard sale to raise money. I will be sure to post more information soon!

I couldn't end this post without including a Ukraine trip picture.
This last picture was taken when we FINALLY landed in Tulsa after our trip to Ukraine and around the world. Leks' mom Amanda was our trip coordinator, and is also the mom to these 3 wonderful kiddos, all adopted from Ukraine. They were SO excited to see their mom....and seeing them holding a sign after 70 hours of travel and 35 hours of flying was TOO sweet. (PS Leks is on the left, then Dima and Lena)

PS Thanks Christie for the rEcess and Knockouts pictures, I am glad you are capturing these moments for me! :)

Ukraine- Monday

Our first official day in Ukraine was spent at an orphanage. This orphanage was the home to five children I know who were adopted from Ukraine, so it will always hold a special place at the heart of TEAMworks Ukraine's mission to help special needs children.

Walking into the orphanage that morning was a little surreal to me. I had looked at pictures of that building many times, seeing it with my own two eyes was a little crazy. It was very hard for me to think about it being a building full of children without parents.

It was even harder to think about the children there with special needs and that they will face an institution if not adopted by the age of four.

Our morning began with unpacking our suitcases and getting set up to do evaluations and demonstration of therapy as well as a meeting with the director of the orphanage. The director seemed to be very excited that we were there, and sat in and listened during our entire presentation. We did our evaluations and demonstrations of therapy in the gym at the orphanage and we had a good sized audience and we were all excited to share what we do on a daily basis with children at Children's Therapy TEAM.

Here are our Physical Therapist's Christie and Kym getting started with this sweet girl...
Here are our Occupational Therapist's Abby and Kati showing some ball exercises....
And here's Carmen and I seeing this sweet boy...he was great at tracking objects! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVED holding the kids at the orphanages. Carmen and I had to take turns holding them, because we both wanted that job! :)

I remember my heart skipping a beat when they brought the first kiddo in, just so sweet to see her little face. I know that the Lord definitely helped me to focus on loving on the kids, showing how we do speech therapy, instead of thinking about the enormity of the situation these children face.

It took a little bit for me to get use to speaking through a translator. Covering speech, language, oral motor skills and feeding via a translator all while keeping things fairly short and concise was a challenge. We would try to get the best feel of where the child was and their abilities and then find a direction to go for that child. We always encourage them to keep working on vocalizations and verbal speech skills, but also tried to demonstrate ways that non-verbal children can communicate. All I can say is we really wanted more time, with every kid. And to be able to speak Russian! :)
Here she goes up in the stander!

We had lunch at the orphanage with the director and doctors. I was so hungry by the time we sat down to eat! We sat down and I spied this really yummy looking roll. So, the first thing I took a big bite of was what I thought was just a roll, but it was actually a roll filled with some type of meat. :) It was quite comical, because I was so shocked by the middle of the roll. Other than my meat incident, lunch was very nice and we had the opportunity to show them some video's of our clinic and the children adopted from there. I also discovered I really like instant coffee. :) They presented each of us with a picture with a note of thanks on the back. Mine is now hanging in my house where I can see it every single day!

Here is Amanda getting her's from the director of the orphanage.

The afternoon was spent going from room to room. We started in Group 4 which is the special needs room. In each room we evaluated the children, took notes, spoke with the caregivers, demonstrated a few things and then that night we gathered information and a developed a plan of care for each child. We compiled these into a folder for each child that was delivered later in the week. A typical speech-language evaluation for a child can take 1-2 hours, sometimes you need even more time than that. We had around 5-10 minutes with each child. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. Whirlwind.

Several of the children from that day stick in my mind. I think about them all the time, and I pray that they find parents and that they will know what it is like to have a home and a family. Here are some of the faces I think of every single day...

This little boy cried at first, but quickly stopped once we held and played with him.
I couldn't pass up an opportunity to hold any of these children, and I couldn't wait to hold this sweet little girl.


This sweetie was TOO cute and fun.
This sweet baby girl was 8 months old, and moved from the infirmary to a regular room due to the education provided regarding her diagnosis. She had the most beautiful blue eyes, and was definitely watching each of us interact with her.
This little girl was a bit timid, but warmed up to us during the afternoon when we visited her room. She was so sweet, and told us "goodbye" in Russian as we were leaving.
I was surrounded by a group of ladies (and one fella) I work with daily, and I will say that I loved watching them go. You could definitely see their love for children with each move they made. I can't say enough good things about the group I traveled with.

Continued prayer requests for these children are that our suggestions for each of them are still being carried out and that each of them find a home.

"But those who hope in the Lord, will renew their strength. They will on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." -Isaiah 40:31

Ukraine...in a nutshell.

Our TEAM!

I will say I love these girls, and that Gregg is missing from the picture. He was in charge of building all the equipment while we were there and did an awesome job.

We are home from Ukraine! Praise the Lord!
The children we worked with were amazing and sweet. A little of my heart is still there with them.

There was a volcano in Iceland (like you didn't already know that).
I dislike volcano's a lot!
We flew around the world to come home due to the ash plumes (plume was the funniest word to us, and a word we kept saying while traveling...haha) from Kiev to Dubai to Sydney to LA to Denver to Tulsa. It was around 35 hours of fly time. Insane. We talked about some crazy ways of getting home, one involved driving to Spain, another riding a train to Rome, another involved a ferry to Istanbul, Turkey. Every time we discussed a new plan, I would have a new stomach pain! The travels involved in this trip were definitely a test of faith for me!

Back to the children in Ukraine. Our work was well received, and caregivers and parents lined up to listen and learn how to better the lives of children with special needs there. I got to hold and love on so many children. I especially loved holding the children at the orphanages. I didn't want to do therapy, I just wanted to sit and hold them or play! :) I hope this is the first of many trips that I get to participate in, but right now I am so thankful to be home. God was definitely guiding us and our travels. I know HE is the only way we were able to see that many children, educate so many receptive minds, and get home as quickly as we did. Even going the long way around the globe!

The world seems a little smaller to me now!

I plan on blogging about each day of the trip with more details about the kids we got to meet and the whole Ukrainian experience. But I'm going to take a mental time out for a few days!
Kati managing two walkers in the Chicago airport!
On the way. We got lots of looks and questions regarding the walkers. The kids faces who got up and walked in those walkers once we got there, made carrying them through airports SO SO SO worth it.

TEAM SPEECH! :)

Kiev

Emirates Airline was amazing. I had to take a picture of my screen at my seat! I'm a dork.
This is how concerned we all were that we missed our connection in LA and that our plane had a mechanical issue in Sydney....so concerned we all 3 fell asleep! :)

Tulsa Airport! Yay!! This is what we look like after 35 hours of flying.

Here we go!

We are off to Ukraine in the morning. We continue to ask you to keep our trip in your prayers. We should arrive in Ukraine around 3:00pm Sunday afternoon (Ukraine time). We will be blogging from our new Teamworks Ukraine blog. Specifically prayer for favor with the airlines and that all of our luggage and supplies are able to be delivered to children who need them in Ukraine.

The past couple of days have been a whirlwind of activity. We packed, re-packed, prayed, weighed luggage, and re-packed some more. :) The kind words and generosity of friends and family has been overwhelming. Definitely has pushed me to tears several times over the past 24 hours. It's so nice to see people give of their time and money to help children so far away. I hope God uses each of us going on the trip to touch the lives of the children there.

Count Down to Ukraine- 5 days

We leave for our big trip to Ukraine in 5 days. In some ways, it's hard to believe it's here...in other ways...it's been a long time coming! Just some last minute information.

Donations:
We are still collecting monetary donations for our trip. You can donate here at 99 Balloons. (don't worry, you don't have to specify the money is for Teamworks Ukraine when you donate, it will get to us) We will be using this money to purchase materials/supplies needed once we reach Ukraine.

Prayer Requests:
We would love to have as much prayer support as we can get. Specifically for safe travels for our group, that our information is well received, that we reach as many children as possible while there, that our recommendations for the children are carried out once we leave, that we show God's love to everyone we meet, and that HE works through us with each child we touch.

Here's are tentative schedule. Can we say busy?

Saturday, April 10

Fly out of NWA heading to Donetsk Ukraine

Sunday, April 11

P.M. - Arrive in Donetsk, transfer by car to Kramatorsk

Monday, April 12

A.M.- Orphanage

- meet with director- see special needs children in rooms

- have "clinic" for each special needs child

- go to infirmary

P.M.- Kramatorsk Children's Hospital

- meet with hospital director and staff

- tour hospital- tour NICU- present materials on NICU

- demonstrate protocol in NICU

- visit orphan ward children and staff

Night

- develop plan for each child at orphanage

Tuesday, April 13

A.M. - Kramatorsk Children's Hospital

- have a "clinic" with special needs children and their parents

P.M.- Kramatorsk Children's Hospital

- have a "clinic" with special needs children and their parents

Night

- create charts for each child at Hospital

- develop plans for each child at Hospital

Wednesday, April 14

A.M. - Orphanage

- present personalized programs

- present new materials & demonstrations of therapy in group setting

P.M. - Rehabilitation Clinic

- meet with director and staff

- have clinic with special needs children and staff

Night

- create charts for each child at Rehabilitation Clinic

- develop plans for each child at Rehabilitation Clinic

Thursday, April 15

A.M. - Orphanage

- deliver equipment, donations

- wrap up with directors and staff

Kramatorsk Children's Hospital

- deliver equipment, donations

- deliver personalized programs

- wrap up with directors and staff

P.M. - Rehabilitation Clinic

- deliver plans for special needs children

- present materials and do demonstrations of therapy

- wrap up with director and staff

Night

- travel to Kharkiv by van (5 hours)

Friday, April 16

A.M. - a new orphanage

- meet with director

- see special needs children in rooms

- have "clinic" for each special needs child

P.M. - new orphanage

- present materials along with demonstrations of therapy

- wrap up with director and staff

Saturday, April 17

A.M. - new orphanage

- deliver donations & visit with children in rooms

P.M.

-Travel to Kyiv by train (5 hours)

Sunday April, 18

-Depart Kyiv and head home

WOWEEE. :)

Hats!

I love hats! And I really love hats on these two kids! :) Here is Hadleigh in her new pink flower hat that Bryan and I got her, and Riley in his monkey hat that Pa and SuSu got him while we were in New York City! I don't think either one of them could be any cuter, or that I could love them any more than I do.

Reading Up on Ukraine Facts!

I've always liked to look at globes, the world just seems so big to me! And when I travel places, I like to know "where" I am in relationship to home or other places nearby.

Here I am in NYC doing my favorite thing, reading my map! And no, I am NOT ashamed to pull out a map and look like a tourist. This pic was several years ago, and now I have an iphone, but I find that technology is sometimes annoying. Annoying in the sense that it always seems to fail at the most inconvenient time! You'll never beat a REAL paper map or a REAL paper book or a REAL game of bowling, etc....I'll save more thoughts on that for another post. :)


I know some people hop the globe, but I'm not one of them. Yes, we travel frequently..but generally not TOO far. So this is a big trip for me! First of all, I will say I am so thankful to live in the United States of America, I thank God for my life here every day! I am so excited to work with the children in Ukraine. I try to imagine what it will be like, who we will meet, what we will see....I'm so excited to see what HE has in store for our group on this trip. I've also been thinking about who is going to get more out of this trip, the kids....or us?

OK, back to the point of my post....

The farthest from home I have ever been was Hawaii in 2001. From my home state to Hawaii it's around 4,000 miles from here! Wow.

Ukraine is approximately 6,000 miles from Arkansas! 6,000 miles?!?! Too bad I don't have a frequent flyer card with the airline we are using, that would be awesome mileage.

Ukraine Facts:
Capital: Kiev
Location: Eastern Europe, between Poland and Romania, and Moldova and Russia in the east.
Regions: Ukraine is divided into 24 regions or oblasts
Languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Romanian, and Hungarian
Gained independence from the Soviet Union on August 24, 1991
Time Zone: 7 hours ahead of Eastern Time Zone, which makes it 8 hours ahead of us? Right? :)
Historical Fact: the Chernobyl nuclear disaster happened April 26, 1986 in what is now Ukraine, approximately 60 miles north of the capital city of Kiev.

The region we will be working in is Donetsk, in the eastern part of Ukraine. We will fly into this region and then travel to Kiev to return home. And I am going to look at the 15 hour train ride from Donetsk to Kiev as more time to experience as much of the country as I can. :)

Also, I use these :) too much. I'm trying to cut back...but I find my habits are VERY hard to break. :) <-see

If you are just now catching onto to our Teamworks Ukraine Mission trip, please read the background on the trip here and read how to help us here!

It's so amazing to watch our trip come together, supplies come in from friends, family and even complete strangers, all in order to better the lives of children 6,000 MILES away!

PS I love my iphone, we are in a very serious relationship. My Aunt Deb refers to it as "that phone." So don't get the wrong impression, I love technology. It can just be frustrating sometimes....