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....

Ukraine- Ways to Help!

We have several ways set up to make contributions for our upcoming mission trip to Ukraine to work with children with special needs. Here they are:

Prayers:

Please keep our group in your prayers as we prepare for this trip and while we travel. Specifically prayers for safe travels for our group, that our information is well received, that our recommendations are carried out after we leave, and that we show God's love to everyone we meet!

Monetary/Supply donations can be mailed to:

Ukraine Therapy Project
c/o Children's Therapy TEAM
2474 E Joyce BLVD, STE 2
Fayetteville, AR 72703

**Checks should be made payable to New Heights Church with "Ukraine Trip" in the memo. All donations are 100% TAX DEDUCTIBLE
We will be building customized equipment for children that have physical impairments. This equipment will require us purchasing most of the supplies once we arrive in Ukraine. Monetary donations will make these purchases possible.

Wal-Mart Wish List Registry:

We have a wish list registry on www.walmart.com or available to be printed in the store.
To locate the registry use the following information:

First Name: Ukraine
Last Name: Team
Month: April 2010
State: Arkansas

Sammons Preston Supply List:
Go to:
www.sammonspreston.com

User ID: Team Ukraine
Password: April 2010

Go to supply lists, and you can view items we would like to have for our trip.

We also need some other specific supplies (cleft palate feeders, etc.) and if you would like information about ordering those items for us, please leave a comment and with your email address and I will be happy to send you some specific links to those items!

Monetary Donations can also be made online now:
Please go to www.99balloons.org
And click on Donate

Our Ukraine Mission Team is now under the umbrella of the non-profit organization here in Northwest Arkansas called 99 Balloons. 99 Balloons was created to celebrate the life of Eliot Mooney. I won't attempt to explain their story, because I could never do it justice. But we are so excited HE has brought our Ukraine Team and 99 Balloons together. This is a video of the story of Eliot and their precious 99 days with him:





Thank you! Amy

Ukraine Video's!

Here are two videos I wanted to share.

The First:
It's several adoptions stories compiled into one video. All of the children in the video have been adopted from Ukraine from the same orphanage we are going to be working at in April.
Also, I know all the children and parents personally and think they are all wonderful! :)

Our Ukraine Adoption Story from Amanda Clark on Vimeo.

The Second:

Here is a short video that shows the work done last year by the group that went. I am so excited to be able to go this year!

Ukraine Orphans & Special Needs from Jim Evans on Vimeo.