Kora is Here!!!

On 10/13/2009 Kora came out at 9:34 pm 7lb 1 oz and 19 3/4 inches! Karen and Kora are both doing great right now. In the early hours of her life Kora has proven to be very easy. We fully expect this to change. Lance has been a very great child so we figured God won't make it quite as easy with Kora ;)
So, Karen was induced yesterday morning for precautionary measures. No big concerns, just wanted to be on the safe side. Believe it or not but October 13th was her actual due date! Yes she was induced but still what are the chances? It was a classic October day here with the fall foliage and light off and on drizzle. Great day to be born! Karen choose the way of epidural but that did not save her from earning any badges of courage. Under some unfortunate circumstances Karen endured three hours of painful contractions. We know there are many of you out there that have delivered multiple children without any relief. And we definitely have respect for that. But I was really proud of Karen for going through what she did. After she got the epidural fixed she was much more aware and able to enjoy the rest. As far as laboring Karen did awesome! When it came time to bring Kora into the light, Karen was very proactive and aware of her body. Kora has a lot of hair as you can see in the pictures. Speaking of pictures...without further ado....

Simply Crazy

We all know life gets busy. What we have on our plate here would rival what an accountant goes through in mid-April.  It technically started about 7 months ago when Karen became pregnant. It kicked into fast gear during our recent trip to Texas.  While there to enjoy "vacation" with family we ended up visiting a private language based school, Capitol School of Austin (possibly for Lance) and getting a contract signed on our house (pending).  Lance ended up actually going to the school for two days after Karen and I visited on Tuesday. Within an hour of leaving the school on Tuesday we got the call for the showing on our house. By Friday at 4:30 we had agreed on a price.  We took the fact that God had this play out this way very seriously. 

 Before I go on, we did enjoy our trip very much, as usual. Lance got to swim a lot and he turned 5 years old!! We had a combo swimming birthday party with his cousin Cadge in Cameron and another party in Georgetown with Opa and Oma's family. Lance has progressed and developed so much that he deserves his own post. Maybe soon.

  So back in Texas we soon needed to decide if we would some how make the move to Texas and get Lance in the awesome school that we cannot afford.  After much prayer, consulting, and discussion we found a plan that eased the tension.....for a minute. 

   We are staying in Arkansas at least until 2010. The plan is to enroll Lance into a similar, smaller, and less expensive academy. We will move out of our house early August and into a house that some awesome friends of ours have for sale.  Hopefully for at least 60 days.  Then move into a rental. My brother Blake is coming to stay with us for a while starting next week too!  Karen getting more pregnant with Kora due in October.  Then it will be maternity leave for Karen. During this time we will try to find out more about funding and jobs in Texas in the event that an opportunity presents itself. We are not saying this is going to happen for sure.  It is just something we want to look into more thoroughly.  So lets recap: Blake arrives, move, sell house, Lance into new school, new work schedule for Karen, move again, Karen delivers Kora,  maternity leave, and research along the way!  Well, I think its pretty crazy. 

  Thats a basic update for those interested. Sorry again for not writing sooner. As you can see, been a little busy. We'll try to write again soon and post more pictures! Please pray for us! For sanity, comfort, patience, and relaxation!

A snipit in time

  Well a VERY quick summary of our lives right now is...awesome!  God has been blessing Lance with new words and excitement about life.  He has also been much more obedient.  I have been praying daily for a spirit of obedience for him.  Truly.  

  Work has been staying busy for JM and for me.  I have handed over the Special Needs Ministry to a very qualified individual who will be able to work at the church full time to run that ministry and another area of children's ministry.  I am very excited about what he will bring to the ministry and how I can help out. 

  The biggest news we have to share (a few weeks late) is that we are having a girl for sure!  She is beautiful and I continue to grow larger!  At the moment I am trying to download pictures of her ultrasound.  Now she should be about 11 inches long.  :o) 

It is more obvious in real life pictures, but these are her feet

Here is one picture of her profile

And another...

We think her nose looks like her aunt Judy's

Isn't it amazing?!  

What a week

So, we have had a busy week here.  I took two days off for 'booty camp' for Lance and JM took three days off.  It has been an interesting experience and it has been nice to have so much family time.  Lance isn't quite as far along as we were hoping, but the typical regimen was not working for him so we had to make some changes.  Unfortunately, I think the training he received the first three years of his life in the orphanage helped him learn to amuse himself in any situation.  The plan was for him to get sick of being in the kitchen and want to get out so therefore he learns to go to the potty whenever he has the urge.  Instead we had a mild maniac with self stimulating behaviors.  Anyway he is now only having one to two very small accidents all day!  We are proud of him.  We just hope it carries over into regular everyday life.

We are trying not to get our hopes up, but we also had a couple come look at our house for the third or fourth time.  Whoo-hoo.  Maybe we will be able to move a little closer to JM's job to cut down his commute.  I have to say I will miss this house, though.  

Probably the best part of our week was Thursday when John Michael and I were able to see our now 14 week old baby by ultrasound...yes, you read that right, I am pregnant.  :o)  It was so much fun.  I have to be honest, we were both fairly nervous about it, considering our past pregnancy.  But this little baby looked as healthy as can be and was moving all over the place.  (the 1/3 of a Dr. Pepper probably helped that out.  hee hee!)  We will have a level II ultrasound in 4 or so weeks just to make sure that everything is in fact going well.  So, if you haven't noticed already, I have attached two pictures from the ultrasound.  Enjoy! Disclaimer:  I say 'she' but we are not sure the baby is a girl yet.  

Here she had just taken a gulp.  You can see her head on the left with profile, teeth buds, spine down the bottom and the dark spot is her stomach.  Don't worry she has legs, you just can't see them in these pictures.  :o)

She is a little more curled up here with a clearer profile.  Her right arm is up by her head and left arm is up and slightly across her chest.  You can see her eye sockets and teeth buds.

Ready or not...

...here we come!  For those of you who know Samuel and his mommy Amber, you know about Booty Camp.  It is some hardcore potty training that has led him and his 2 year old sister to be potty trained in one week!  So, starting this Saturday, we are going to do it.  Amber has been nice enough to share all of her knowledge and training with us.  So, goodbye pull-ups!  I know this isn't going to be a walk in the park, but I think it is going to take something a little more intensive for Lance to fully be potty trained.  He honestly, just does not care at this point.  For those of you who are not familiar with Booty Camp, don't worry.  It is never harsh or mean.  You never yell or show any anger during the training.  It is just very intensive and you stay confined to the kitchen until you start getting with the program (obviously not when he is sleeping).  It is one hard week for a grand reward!  Whenever Lance goes on the potty he will earn time out of the kitchen for fun things like Easter Egg hunts, jumping on the trampoline, swinging, etc.  It should be pretty motivating!  So, please say a little prayer that this will be as painless as possible and that God will grant me patience as he learns.  I can not say how excited I am that this could be our LAST box of pull-ups EVER for Lance!!!!  Okay, I guess I have perseverated enough on that.  ha!

He is truly growing up though.  Lance is interacting so much more and pointing out all sorts of things as we drive in the car.  Half of the time I have no idea what he is talking about, but I love that he is trying to tell me about whatever it is.  We are now struggling to figure out what our plans are for Lance this coming school year.  He will be old enough to start kindergarten, but he is very delayed in academics.  There is a school I really want him to attend, but for us to be able to afford it they need some grants to come it.  We are all hoping they will show up any moment, but it isn't guaranteed.  So then the question is, what are my options?  We are thinking, but primarily we have to depend on God to lead us.  It could be a very exciting year ahead, but right now it is daunting.

Okay I will finish on a positive note.  I am going to attach a precious photo of our son.  Unfortunately, his collar makes his neck look like a turtle, but I still think he is handsome.  (Family members- you will be getting some copies, just trying to figure out the best way of doing it right now)  :o)

Update with pictures

Alright, so I am having some technical difficulties.  The pictures are all out of order and my writing somehow became a link. Please enjoy and forgive me for being so scrambled on this post.  I tried to post pictures that were different from Carmen's blog.  It is really hard to narrow them down.  We have over a thousand!  If anyone is interested, I can post more or send them to you personally.  Or if you are local we can look at them over coffee.  :o)

This is a precious little girl that was in the infirmary of the orphanage.  We didn't get to spend much time with her because she became upset with the strangers around.

We adore this little guy.  He has also been at the orphanage all the trips we have taken.  Here we were demonstrating some massage techniques.

I couldn't resist the stereotypical Russian hat this time.  I have passed them up several times, but it was freezing and I got a great deal on it...$12  :o)

Sorry but I had to share part of the scary bathrooms on the 15 hour train.  You can't really tell, but the floors were pretty bad, there was no soap or water and the toilet opened to the tracks to flush.  Ha!  The next picture is Kym getting prepared to go in.  She had the pants tucked in, the toilet paper and a germ-X wipe ready to go.  It was a very comical moment, yet it was really helpful to be that prepared.

This was our team with a few of the doctors in the hospital and a couple of the orphaned babies.  They were so precious.

This is a little boy we have seen every trip, but this time they were very pround to show us how they had worked with him.  He is now able to walk in a walker with some control.  hee hee!

This was us packing our ten bags.  They were full of donations and our personal items all fit into our backpacks.  At the end of the trip we had completely emptied all ten bags!  What a fun thing to be able to do.

We have been home for two weeks tomorrow and I am just getting around to blogging...yikes!  I definitely don't win the blogger award.  I have to say that this trip to Ukraine was the best one so far (as far as a therapy trip).  The team was great together and all the people we worked with in Ukraine were so receptive to us and our suggestions.  We are hoping to slowly fill a crate to ship to Ukraine in the future so that we can take larger therapy supplies and be able to offer them to the hospital, orphanages, and families.  We also trained the director of therapies at the orphanage we visited how to cast for braces (AFOs) so hopefully we can continue to help them get braces for each child that needs them as well as update them as they outgrow the previous braces!  All of the people we met were especially interested in the information Carmen, our speech-pathologist, had to offer.  It was completely new to them and they wanted more.  Working with the hospital, we will be able to help orphans as infants to prevent some of the delays as well as families with children with special needs.  They really don't have any support over there.  So the future is looking really bright for upcoming trips.  (I am sorry if I am repeating myself from former posts.)  

  

A day at the hospital...

Wow, today was tiring, but so encouring! We went to the hospital ready to help, not sure of what we would encounter. The doctors first took us to the babies. We saw several with feeding tubes who seemed to be doing well. We were able to share proper positioning techniques, swaddling, and massage. Then we gave them the NICU items we brought. They were very fascinated with those. Afterwards, they took us to a room in the neuro ward and had about 5 or 6 mothers in there with their children for us to examine and give our recommendations. It was really fun and more and more doctors starting gathering in the room to observe. Although we were so busy that we hardly had time to notice them. At this point we had been working from 10-2 or 2:30. They asked us to rest and have hot tea, chocolates and cookies. (That was lunch) Then 30 minutes later we were back at it. We visited the orphan rooms. There were about 7 babies in one room who were waiting on their official papers so that they could be transfered to the orphanage. One with CP and one with Down's syndrome. They were adorable. We were about to share the same techeniques with them as the previous baby room. We also mentioned the need for mobiles, mirrors, music, talking to them, rocking, and rattles. We are hoping to get a baby swing for them tonight. The next room over was three older babies- 1 year and a ~3 year old boy who had been taken away from his parents after being burned with cigarettes. He and his sister were about to be transferred to the orphanage as well.

Each room received toys and positioning aids, some recieved books and therapy balls. They were so intrigued by what we were doing although it was so simple...which they said made them so much more interested! No rocket science needed here. Only time, attention, and love. I believe it was almost everyone's favorite day. The doctors want us to come and do a make shift clinic there next time with PT, OT, Speech stations for parents to bring their children and get home exercise programs. There is no such thing in Ukraine at the present time. Wow. This connections might mean huge changes here!!! Then our goal will be to help them set up a school for children with special needs. At this point they are not welcome in the schools if they can not go up several flights of stairs. When the children get old enough that people can tell that they have special needs they get ridiculed on the streets. The families pretty much just stay at home. This is why so many are given up for adoption here. Although the people we have met all have seen the pictures of our children and our story. They see how every child can be raised as a 'typical' child.
One poopy piece of news. A visitor of our lectures in the orphanage tried to turn us in for lecturing there. Praise the Lord, we had made sure to have legal documents made and legalized prior to our arrival. The person's complaint was that we were approved to work with children, not orphans. This it the mentality we are fighting against. But God is doing amazing things and softening a lot of people's hearts here. They can not wait to learn how to help more.

Tonight we will be going to celebrate Carmen's birthday...a little belated. :o) Please remember to check out the pictures on her blog at www.theharphappenings.blogspot.com. It takes too long for both of us to do it. Although I hope to put some on when we are back at home. Tomorrow will be our final day in this town prior to heading to Kiev. We will finish delivering all our donations, teach one doctor how to cast for braces, play with the children, and say our goodbyes. I hope to have time to write tomorrow, but no promises. We get on a train tomorrow night that will be 15 hours long. Whew-hew!

Presentation Day 2

Draftstoycha (My spelling of hello in Russian) :O)

Today is our third full day in Ukraine. It started with our demonstrations in the orphanage from 9-12. We were able to demonstrate therapy techniques on several different kids about 30-40 min. a piece. It went pretty well. They appeared to really like it and took numerous notes. The swing does wonders for the kids here. We are going to have to get more swings. Ideally we would have one for each room (11). They need them so bad because the kids are seeking movement and vestibular input.

At 11:30, Kate and I snuck out to see a little girl who had come to visit us before. She lives at home and her grandmother works at the orphanage. Mom and grandmother came too. The last time I saw this little girl the mother had brought x-rays. It was the time I was the only PT here so I got pictures of the x-rays and had Kym's husband take them to a doctor in the US. The doctor said it looked most like bone cancer. Of course that is not what we wanted to hear, but it was kind of what I expected. Then today they had a new x-ray, it looked much worse. My heart completely broke when I saw it and knew at some point I was going to have to tell the family what I had been told. I asked numerous questions and it seems as though the doctor just told her there was nothing wrong and eventually the child would have to have a leg lengthening. Argh! When they asked what treatment a doctor would do in the states I had to tell them. I made sure to say that I am not a specialist and that the doctor only had the x-ray to look at so they would need to have a specialist look at her and do some tests before we could say she truly had cancer. But that there is a good chance that that was what was happening. We talked about possibilities, ideas, and I just tried not to cry the whole time. I have never had to tell anyone a person they love as much as life itself most likely has cancer that has gone untreated for years. So, my mission today is to find a good specialist for them to go to and find out more. Hopefully there is someone good in Ukraine. I am scared for them and my heart hurts so bad. She is a beautiful 4 year old that walks, runs, plays, talks everything as she should. Please pray for her recovery and the family to be supported during these times. Even if it comes down to her having her leg removed to save the rest of her body that is about as bad a death here. Society does not accept people with special needs very well. I just want to take her home and get the care there.

Well, after that we went to the orphanage for 3-7 year olds in this town. It was very surprising! The place was very organized, clean, and warm. The caregivers had pictures of the kids up everywhere and showed how they wanted all the kids to feel as though they were in a family. They even had photo albums of the kids for them and lots of group picts as they play. They had dress-up stations, play stations, tons of art work that the kids had made on the walls. We were extremely impressed. The had buckets for the kids' tears, bags for them to yell into when they were angry, stuffed animals for them to talk to when they can't say something nice. It was great. We discovered that we most likely will not go back there because they do not need our help near as much as other orphanages. That was some good news after the morning, although, I have to say my heart wasn't all there.

We went to eat lunch around 3 at the 'Milky Way'. That is the American nickname for some reason. It is an authentic Ukrainian resteraunt. We had a nice lunch and will be skipping dinner tonight. Tomorrow we get to go to the Children's hopsital. The director came to visit us quickly yesterday. She was very nice. We were told that it is the regional hospital for children and that there would be tons of things for us to do. That we would not run out of work. The director was so excited that we were coming and I can not wait to help the children there. Please just pray for my heart to be protected and strong in Christ. I love these children and can not always help as much as I would like. I am glad that I have a great team to work with, though. Kate is my roommate just because we have one room of 3 and one room of 2 and we just happen to end up together. But we have had some great talks at night and her spirit is truly amazing. I do not want to imply in any way that others would not be, I just have enjoyed her company this week. Also the car alarms and sounds outside in the middle of the night are always a fun topic of conversation. This morning it helped/made me get up for a longer quiet time. I don't think that was a coincidence. :o)

I love you all and hope you are having a good day!
Love,
Karen

Great

Whew, this will have to be quick. I have 7 minutes. Today went great!!

All of us were able to teach our parts without rushing with 30 SECONDS to spare! It was perfect. Although, while we were talking it was very hard to tell if anyone was appreciating the talk since in the culture here everyone keeps very serious looking faces without much expression. Then afterwards we had several questions and then they had a little lunch for us (with food we bought for them and food they made from home). At the lunch a doctor said such kind words about what we teach, our hearts, and all the help that we have given them that Kym and I were crying. It was a great feeling. There were some funny parts during our speeches as well. Especially Carmen.. she was fabulous!! Kept me smiling with all her energy the entire time. I will have to go into more details later. Anyway, it was great.

Then we went to various rooms of the orphanage to work with any kids they asked us to. They are all precious. We asked to go to the infermiry (sp?). There we saw several more kids and some that broke our hearts. The last portion of our time was spent with two 4 year olds...one with spina bifida and one with down's syndrome. Wow, they were both really smart and interactive. What breaks my heart is that if we do not find a home for them by the summer they will be sent to the institution. It completely breaks me down....completely. They could live independently. Please help us find a home. I will have information for anyone interested. Seriously, they are really high functioning.
Okay, everyone is waiting on me. I have to run.
I love you guys!

From Ukraine

Hello everyone,
We have made it here safely and things are going fairly smootly so far...
We left NWA Saturday at 12:30 and headed to Chicago, there we spent about 6 hours and headed to Munich. That was a quick layover of 45 minutes and we were off the regional airport, one more leg...an hour drive to here. All of that went very smoothly other than Kate and I having very full bladders on the car ride and going over some roads with numerous pot holes. ha! We made a b-line to the bathroom as soon as we reached the hotel. We arrived here around 4:00pm Ukraine time. Due to the time change I think that would be 9am there. Then we went to eat, get a few groceries for our room (primarily water) and headed to bed. I had a hard time adjusting to the time and was awake from 2-4am, but hey, it could have been worse.

This morning we awoke and ate at the little cafe in the hotel (the restaurant is no longer here). It was a little funny since we had to try to figure out what the food was and order it without any english. I picked out a danish, thinking it was going to be sweet. ha! It was filled with cabbage like saurkraut (sp?). Yumm. Afterwards we were able to go to the orphanage!! I love it there. For some reason, it is starting to feel like a very comfortable place to be. I have to be honest. I have not felt nervous about this trip at all, THEN when we were waiting in the Munich airport to board the plane here it started sinking in. I was thinking, what am I doing again?! Ahh! But by the time the plane landed and everyone was so calm I felt fine again. Then today we toured some of the rooms and the caregivers where doing so many things we had taught them. It was fabulous!!!! We were excited, but realized a lot of the material we had planned for tomorrow was going to be way too simple. There are doctors coming from this orphanage and two others locally. They expect there to be about 30 total. Okay, so the nervousness has begun again! We are all going to have to alter our talks somewhat to challenge them more and not talk down to them. What a miracle! And an unexpected challenge. God is showing us that He is really using us here. Group 4, where the children with special needs live was completely different. Before, we were teaching them to have the children sitting to feed them, then we were encouraging them to have the children feed themselves but it seemed like a long shot. Today we walked in and all but three of them fed themselved with a spoon independently! Please pray for us to have the wisdom on what they need to hear and how to teach it effectively!

This afternoon we ate at DaVinci and had a great lunch. Then we unloaded all of our bags and organized. Amanda and I went to the store with Olga and Alex to buy food for everyone tomorrow while the rest continued to work. We also found out our timeline will not work due to the children's lunch and nap time, so we have changed to teaching two mornings and rearranged our schedule at other locations. It's all about being flexible. :o) So, I guess I should go soon to get all my talk finalized. We are still trying to figure out how to download the pictures onto the computer using our card reader again. The lady helped Carmen save them onto the computer but she is having to pull each one up and look prior to posting. So for now I am going to refer you to her blog...www.TheHarpHappenings.blogspot.com

I love and miss all of you, but am excited about the possibilities here. I hope to write again tomorrow to let you all know how the teachings went.

Also, I want to lift up my in-laws in a difficult time. My mother-in-law's mother passed away in the middle of the night before I left. So, I am very sorry I am not there with you all to help, listen, hug or just be there. I pray for your healing and peace that only our Heavenly Father can provide. I love you!
Karen

One more week!

Hello friends,

It has taken me a while to write once again. :o) The last few weeks have been slightly insane with my normally busy schedule and getting everything prepared for Ukraine. Our team is fabulous! I am looking forward to ministering together. Everyone has worked so hard on their parts and the preparations will soon pay-off. It will be great to see the children's and caregivers' faces when they see all the great things we are bringing for them. Donations have really started to pick-up this week! We have a huge box full of bright colored toys, exercise balls, teethers, pacifiers, etc. Then we have another large box of items for the NICU. Thanks to those of you who have given so much! Although there are still items we need, and our funds are still below our hopes, we feel great knowing we have a lot to give away now. Our presentations and photo albums are almost prepared, clipboards for all of the attendies (with milestones chart in Russian), Bibles (child and adult), and devotionals are ready to go! I will try to take pictures of all our bags of donations once they are packed. Now just one week left, whew. Dear Father, please bless us with what your children in Ukraine need. We ask for your guidance every step of the way.

I have to admit that while I am getting very excited, I am completely drained. John Michael has had a very unusual work schedule, I have had three nights of after work obligations, and now JM is at an overnight men's retreat. I don't want to complain about that. I know he needs fellowship with other men. I just hope that Lance can tolerate my craziness for one more week. :o) Tonight, I have chosen to finally stop for a moment to update everyone on the trip. If you have any questions, I would love to talk about it. I feel completely blessed to have the opportunity to do just that. This trip I will also get to brag on Lance to all of his former "moms" and show them how much he has grown. That should be fun!

If you can see the light yellow line by his shoulder that was marked a month after we were back in the United States. He has grown quite a bit as you can see!

Jumping like a pro

Lately, Lance has been working hard to trace his name and say the letters. Before, we would throw a huge fit when we tried to get him to write anything.

Please join me in praying for:

- Wisdom when teaching the caregivers/doctors

- Safety

- Ease for John Michael and Lance while I am gone

- To be filled with the Holy Spirit and that it would radiate throughout the orphanages and hospital, so that others may feel Christ's love and want that relationship

- Change for the orphans

Thank you so much!

I am going to try to get to bed now. There is no telling what time Lance will be bright-eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow...almost certainly before the sun comes up. Goodnight!

Just kidding...

Okay, so I guess the trip to Ukraine was just too luring. :o) John Michael and I have decided that we can work out the details around his work for me to be able to travel to Ukraine once again. I am really excited! The crazy thing is that we only have one month to prepare. There are five of us going (3 physical therapists, 1 speech pathologist, and our trip coordinator.) I think it will be a fabulous team. We have been meeting at least once a week to get things in order. We will be fortunate enough to work in the orphanage where Lance is from (as well as 4 more of our kids), an orphanage for children above the age of four who where not sent to the institution, and the NICU! We are hoping to start making positive changes earlier in the development process to prevent the common delays we see in these children. Please be praying for our team's safety, wisdom from our Heavenly Father, that the orphanage and hospital staff's hearts and minds will be open to our teachings, and that we will be able to gather necessary items for these children.

I have attached the information from a flier we made to be distributed. Unfortunately, I was unable to attach the 'real' version with pictures and pretty font. ;o)

Therapy Mission Trip to Ukraine

March 7-15th, 2009, a group of Children’s Therapy TEAM therapists are traveling to Ukraine to train orphanage and hospital staff in how to improve the life of special needs orphans in Ukraine.
Any donations would be greatly appreciated and will go directly to orphans in Ukraine.

We would appreciate donations of any of the following items...

Exercise/Therapy Balls
* All different sizes: 45cm, 65cm, 75cm, peanuts
* These can be purchased at Wal-mart, Target, etc.
* Also available at various websites such as www.isokineticsinc.com ~ Caddo brand seems to be
the most reasonably priced

Basic Hardback/Board Pictures Books
* Simple pictures of basic objects, animals, numbers, colors, and shapes. Minimal words as it will have to be translated to Russian.

Pacifiers and Teethers
* A variety, must be able to sanitized and must be in original package.

Children’s Music CD’s and DVD’s
* Instrumental music and Baby Einstein type DVDs.

Flashcards
* Simple pictures of colors, numbers, shapes, animals, and basic objects. No alphabet please.

Crib Mirrors
* Unbreakable with washable surfaces.

Small Toys
* Minimal batteries, washable surfaces that can be sanitized.
*Rattles, crackly toys, noise makers, stackers, shape sorters, nesting blocks, pop beads. More examples at http://funandfunction.com/infant-early-learningc-7_29.html

Therapy Equipment
* Seating systems, positioning, medical equipment, sensory integration tools, adaptive feeding supplies, and orthotic equipment will be purchased with any monetary donations.

Monetary Donations
*Any monetary contributions are 100% tax deductible.
* Please make checks out to New Heights Church with “Ukraine Therapy Trip” in the memo.

Donations may be mailed or delivered to:
Children’s Therapy TEAM - 2474 E. Joyce, Blvd., STE #2 - Fayetteville, AR 72703

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

Upcoming Ukraine Trip

I am so excited that a trip is planned for March to help out in the orphanages in Ukraine again. As you might remember, this is what started our whole adventure with Lance. (For more details on that, please go to the first posts on this blog.) Thursday night was the first meeting to get the details planned. It looks as though there will be two physical therapists (Kym and Kate), at least one speech pathologist (Carmen and possibly Amy and Kristy) and Amanda, our trip coordinator. We would love to have a pediatric occupational therapist!! Unfortunately, I will probably not be able to go on this trip due to John Michael's work schedule. I have to say that discussing the trip at the meeting brought up a lot of good memories and I long to go. I would love to see the people, be completely drained from working for them all day, and love on the children.
Please pray for:
-proper preparation (planning, gathering, and most importantly the hearts of those involved)
-funds to serve these children and caregivers as Christ would have us
-safety
-any role you might play

We love these people- adults and children. They desperately need to know that God has not left them. He knows them intimately, as he does us. Each and every one of them. Instead, He tells us to reach out to them. Psalm 139 reminds us that he knows our every thought, every move. There is no where we can go to hide from Him. We are all made perfectly. Sometimes that is hard for me to comprehend about myself. I can only imagine how these orphans must feel. What a privilege to share that love.

OOOKra!

Happy Saturday!
It is still cold here, but nothing like the last two days. The sun is shining and we might actually get into the 50's today! Still a great day to sit for a few minutes with a cup of coffee though.
While the boys are out trying to tame Lance's mane I thought I would check in and share my favorite thing Lance is doing this week.

Monday night or so we had him swinging in his new swing and he ended up taking a tumble out and scratched his back on a box left over from Christmas decorations. (Yes, we were a little behind.) It looked like it was going to be pretty painful and started swelling so I grabbed the quickest cold pack I could...frozen okra. At the time he was crying and fighting the cold touching his back. When he calmed down a bit he became very interested in the 'cold pack.' We showed it to him and explained that it was okra. Since then he has randomly called out "Oookra" when he gets really excited. I'd love to know what that translates as in Lance language, but it must be something good. :o)

On the subject of communication, Lance has started back with a picture book (PECS) to help others know what he is trying to say. He is pretty proficient with it. That gives me hope for his future communication/comprehension even if he is unable to speak as clearly as we would hope.

Back in the swing of things

Good Evening! Today has been a great day. Actually, the past week has been fabulous with Lance. He is opening up and I can not wait to spend more time with him each day. He is making an effort to be around us, communicate and play. That may sound like a simple thing, but for John Michael and me, it is HUGE. Lance has been known to want to spend hours by himself, not wanting to interact, and it was really starting to take it's toll on us. In fact, Christmas eve I had a heart-to-heart with God while taking a walk. I pleaded for Lance to show interest in life around him. I also asked God to open my eyes to all the talents and gifts Lance possesses. He has completely changed our relationship. I know it sounds crazy, but it is true. It wasn't overnight- but what...6 days instead. I believe more than anything, I am able to see how truly amazing Lance is now. He, in turn, can sense my passion for him. Please don't take that the wrong way, I have always loved Lance and wanted to be around him, but frustrated by things I couldn't change. We pray daily for him, his health and development, but maybe I needed to truly be on my knees and not trying to control the situation.

Our time at home is a blast now! It became more apparent today. I took him to school after a long Christmas break. Typically Lance LOVES school and asks to go daily. So, I thought he was going to be ecstatic today. Also, he never cries when we leave him with people. We arrived at school, went to his classroom, opened the door and the flood gate opened. He clung to me, crying "no, no, no, mama". I can not explain how my heart was breaking and somewhat rejoicing at the same time. I did consider taking him back with me, but realized that would not be a very good idea. (They called 30 min later and reported he was doing well.) Needless to say I was chomping at the bit to pick him up today. Then this afternoon/evening was a ball. I am posting a few pictures so you can share a little of the joy.

JM was standing half way in Lance's tunnel and I was pushing Lance with the swing around his torso. We fixed it so that Lance was swinging into the tunnel to his daddy. I think he would have asked to swing all night.

Once taken out of the swing he jumped onto his horse. He literally rocked himself to sleep on his horse. So much so that we took this picture with a flash and he didn't flinch. The funniest part is his little body was still moving back-n-forth about a centimeter at a time. What a great time!!