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!!