ukraine: later part of week 1...

wednesday morning we arrived and went straight to group 4.  we got a chance to work with sweet lena, and we both really enjoyed our time with her. 

 we went back to the isolation area and slowly worked up to getting this sweet girl out of her bed and sitting.  she warmed up to us and we had such a special day with her.  we got lots of time to just hold and play with her during our day, and we both loved it.  

 just checking things out....

 aww, ok, i think i like these girls....

 we took her from her area to the gym and enjoyed getting to see her take in some new surroundings and enjoy music and snuggling with us! :)

 we brought a cake for lunch with the director, alex went shopping for it..and it was a winner!!  

 hot tea, cake and lots of yummy goodies for lunch time break.

 in the afternoon we got to see this little guy and abby did lots of education on motor development for the ladies in his room.  it went really well.  

 this cutie is in that same room....

 i loved getting her to smile...she was so cuddly.  

 ok, ok...we will do more work with her..not just hold her ;)

 that evening some friends invited us to dinner at their parents apartment.  his momma made us a traditional ukrainian meal of borsch and potato dumplings...and lots of yummy sides.  

a group picture from week one!

more of this sweet girl and her momma, beautiful stuff...

 we left this walker the year before, and he was barely able to take a step...he was doing so good in it and walking all around the room!

i just liked this picture with every one standing around, because it was common for this many people to be hanging out in a room...and little guy just holding his toy in the middle of the room :)

 getting our game plan together for this sweet little one...

ahh, out of that bed!

crinkly book toy

 ahhhhh.....sitting up!

 after lunch we went to a local parent run organization for children with special needs.  we spent the afternoon there and saw many of the children we saw last year!  i kept telling our translators "tell them I remember them from last year!"   

 waiting outside

 it was a group effort to get us ready....

paper-palooza

 our first sweet girl, she was so timid!  but decided she liked us! :)  we found that many of the children were very scared of us, afraid that what we would do would hurt. i think many of them have had painful experiences.  we did our best to let them know we would not hurt them and most of them warmed up to us quickly.  it wasn't always the case though, and sometimes...no matter what you do...kids just cry! 

 demonstration! :)

 we saw this girl last year as well, and could tell some major improvements in her behavior.  her mother asked lots of good questions and we got to do several examples of how we would do therapy here with her.  she is so cute, and moves a lot apparently, since most of the pictures i have of her, she is a blur...:)

i had to load this picture because, number 1, i have crazy eyes, number two "sah-ba-kah" meaning dog is probably on my top 5 list of most popular russian words of the two weeks...and i'm holding the sahbakah picture card! :)

 checking out those arms...

 ohhh sweet girl.  

 one of the little guys wasn't sure about us, so abby did his stretching demonstrations on me...and apparently i'm a little on the tight side as well.  

on another note a mom and her son came that we saw last year.  The mom had the little boy's feet stuffed in the same braces and shoes we had given him last year.  it was so heart breaking because she couldn't get any more, and knew she would have to wait until we came back.  those braces are vital to his walking.  i can't imagine wanting some thing so important for your child, and not having access to get it!  once again, what TEAMWorks is all about....

 oh, good stuff...

 familiar faces from our week, so nice to spend time and get to know these ladies.  

i truly feel like the effectiveness of TEAMWorks Ukraine rests on the growth of relationships with the people we work with there.  i feel like these relationships were definitely fostered during our time there and i look forward to watching them grow more in the future.  and every time i look back at these pictures my heart gets really full.

travel to Ukraine and the first days....

Abby, Matt, Ginny and I traveled over the weekend of October 8th to Ukraine.  days before we left carmen got sick and was unable to travel (she's well now) and Abby stepped up.  carmen is a fellow speechie, and abby is an occupational therapist.  i was heart broken that carmen could not come, because working together at the orphanage is something we have talked about doing for so long.  but, i know God always knows what He is doing, and His plan is not my plan.  He knew we would need abby that first week.  abby was beyond a blessing to me and to all the children we saw.  we stayed up talking at night like girls at a slumber party.  her heart is beautiful.  so many of the kids have physical concerns that she was wonderful at addressing.  carmen and i would have been fine, but our time there would not have been as effective with just two speechies.  i have no doubt that carmen and i will be in ukraine together in the future, and feel very thankful that the trip went so well, even with the last minute shuffle.

We went from fay to houston to newark to munich to donetsk, ukraine!  God blessed us with travel grace, and for that I am beyond thankful.  it was a whirlwind of travel and i enjoyed my time with my travel partners.   they each have beautiful hearts and love for children with special needs.  proud to know them all.  we each traveled with two suitcases each full of supplies for the next 2 weeks, some stuff they were taking for sweet lena, some walkers, a wheel chair, and adapted stroller.  all of this successfully made it to ukraine, praise the Lord!

and i mean look at them, how could it not be fun!?

 hello germany!  

 breakfast in germany! 

i have love in my heart for lufthansa airlines, mainly because of the warm towels and bailey's on the long flight and that "Pick Up" bar on the right...it was amazing! :)

when we landed in ukraine, i remember thinking, wow, I am here again!  I was so excited.  well, inside i was excited, my exterior might have been a bit sleepy upon arrival.  but that didn't last long.  we were immediately greeted by our ukrainian friends Olga, Alex, Vova, and a handful of others.  it was my first time to drive from donetsk to kramatorsk in the day light and was so excited to look around and see the sights.  the leaves there were beautiful.  

this is the donetsk airport, they are building a new terminal.  come on euro cup 2012! :)
more on this later.  i will say the kiev airport now has a TGIFriday's, and that's the big time.  i didn't see that last year.  

we arrived at hotel kramatorsk and unloaded and walked down to the grocery store to buy some snacks for dinner.  we discovered lots of yummy bread, cheese and chocolate. and really, what more could you need?  

on a funny note, my sweet Abby has food allergies so she packed a lot of snacks, and it was a common thing to watch her eat packaged salmon at all hours of the day.  and i think God put us together because He knew i don't care what time of day food comes.  burritos for breakfast?  yes.  salmon for breakfast?  sure, go ahead, doesn't bother me!! :)  

here we are unpacking and working.  i remember ginny taking this picture and me saying that abby is really the one doing the important stuff, and i'm screwing the batteries into an animal puzzle.  ha!  all small things come together for the big, right?  and it's a very speechie thing to do.  

 view from hotel room!

the first morning at the orphanage we met in the directors office, after some time they asked if we were ready to go to group 4 where Lena was, where matt and ginny would meet their girl.  wow.  God is amazing.  i remember looking at ginny's face and thinking she is exhibiting such good self control!  to be this close and not to just run straight to her.  i had a desire to run up the stairs two at a time...so i am sure i can not imagine how hard it must have been to be as patient as they both were.  even though they would both tell me not to say this, i will say it anyway....they are wonderful! 

walking down the hall to group 4!

here she is, and she is beautiful.  and theirs.  i love it.

after our time in group 4 we ventured down to group 11 and worked with these two sweeties.  

sweet stuff...

 a view from the front....

 doing some speech, picture cards at work. :)

 we have loved this little guy the past several years.....he's a wild little guy and so much fun!

 i love their coffee SO much it's ridiculous.  i want one, right now.  their choice of magazines & television in the coffee shop is another story though....but the coffee makes it worth it.  

this little guy "george" was so cute and snuggly  

 playing

 more time in group 4, and me with the "pom-pom"...it was a running joke after 2 weeks.  the kids loved it, i could say "pom pom" to them because there was not an exact translation in russian....and all of our ukrainian friends would walk up to me randomly and say "pom pom" ha!

 see little vanya likes it....

 oh the boys that we love....

 this little guy melted my heart, praying for him.  made really sweet little sounds and smiled while we talked to him and held him.  due to his diagnosis he doesn't get out of his bed much, and we were allowed to get him out several times and take him to the mat in the floor.  so sweet holding him.  

 just hanging out with this wild man.  

 it takes two sometimes...

 beautiful

 we toured the isolation and quarantine areas and met up with this sweet girl.  we met her last year, and she is heavy on my heart.  praying that she is well and in a room surrounded by other kids.  

this post is definitely a running stream of thoughts...but had to get them on here before i forget.  more to come later.
i am so humbled that i have had the opportunity twice to meet and hold and love so many children.  i can't express how grateful i am.
please join us in praying over these children.  God knows them and loves them.

Home.

Ukraine trip 2011 has come and gone.  It was beautiful, and so many other things.  It was a wonderful two weeks, it felt really long and really short at the same time.  My heart is heavy.  I am thankful.  I am glad to be home and want to go back.

There were tears and laughs, and ups and downs.  I loved it.  I have a Ukrainian "family," and I tried to embrace my time there, definitely more so than I did last year, including eating a tongue and mushroom salad, better known as "meat salad" and my fair share of lard in various forms.  I have been deemed a "Ukrainian Girl," so it's official.  

My new motto: when given the chance, eat the fat sandwich.  

We loved on kids, served families, and strengthened relationships.  I got to see parents meet their child for the first time.  I got to hold and love kids.  I am so thankful to know that He created each of them and I am thankful to know they are His children, every single one of them.  

I was reminded of what is important, and what isn't.  

I got into the states and had a message to report to jury duty first thing Monday morning at 8:45.  I did a weird laughing and crying thing when i listened to the message sunday at the chicago airport.  I drug myself to jury duty monday morning, still carrying my ukrainian adventure fanny pack.  just a fun tidbit.  and come to find out, it was a murder trial.  When they said murder trial, I immediately teared up...I have been reminded so many times these past two weeks of the value of a life.  Every life.   And thankfully, it turns out, I was dismissed for "knowing of" one of the attorney's on the case.  Thank God from whom all blessings flow!!  I ran out of the washington county courthouse, by Mama Carmen's for an almond latte (which tasted very different after 2 weeks of delicious ukraine cappuccino's) and headed to work.  I was thankful to go to work and see MY kids at TEAM.

I have so much to share, so i just loaded some pictures that caught my eye today...from week #1.  I plan on adding some every couple of days while things are fresh in my mind.  

i saw some beautiful views....

i got to spend time with wonderful people...especially my dear Abby.  and she has the best facial expressions ever, and it makes me love her even more. 

one of the sweetest moments i have ever had the privilege to see in my life....so appreciative i got to spend time with them and their sweet girl.

 it was a perfect fall in Ukraine.  It's my favorite season and I got to enjoy it in two different countries. you can't beat that.

 i got to snuggle sweet, sweet babies.  my desire to snuggle often made doing my job of speech therapy a little more difficult.  i am glad.

 i got to teach and be taught.  i learned SO much this trip.  i love that.  

i have so many beautiful pictures.  my ukrainian friend Alex took some great pictures with my camera.
i am forever grateful!

 i saw stuff that made my heart ache.

 i got to watch things come to life and my heart was full.

 i ate wonderful food.

 as mentioned earlier, i ate unusual things, and loved them!
exhibit A.  fruit/crab/mayo salad on the left....

 we got to enjoy the company of the people around us, and slow down enough to get to know them better...mainly over hot tea and food.

an ukrainian accordion player made me very happy....

Can't wait to post more later.

Ukraine, tomorrow.

We leave tomorrow.  After a quick shuffle, bag packing and lots of love from our friends and family to get us all together, we are almost off!  Abby and I will work for a week at the orphanage we went to last year.  Our hope is to establish a therapy routine, engage the children, and LOVE them!

My sweet Carmen is still not feeling great, and is super, super heart broken about not going on the trip, but resting up and feeling better is #1 priority.  I'll miss you Missa Carmen.

We will be traveling with the Mooney's who will meet their daughter for the first time.  What a special trip.

I am always reminded at how God is completely in control, and I should stop trying to figure things out...or worry about them.

Prayers that children are loved, hearts are changed, Jesus is shown through us...and for safe and smooth travels for our groups.


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