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
We did the "sky ride" in St. Thomas to Paradise Point, it was beautiful!
This is Bryan looking handsome and checking out the sunset one evening from the back of the boat.
Golf!
We toured the Bacardi place in San Juan, PR.
This is for all my friends and husband who "love" my toes. Here they are enjoying the sand...looking long as ever! :)
I really don't like the sun in my eyes...or being hot...so this is what I usually look like at the pool...just add a book in my hands! :)
