A Week of Preparing - Our Privilege

We hear it everywhere - whether home in the US, here in Ukraine and I know we will hear it next week in Poland. Adoptive and foster families struggle with the issues facing them. Often facing unexpected behavioral and emotional issues in their children,  families discover the dream of caring for an abused or neglected child is evaporating into hurt, chaos and confusion.  They find themselves in a situation in which they see no answers. This leaves many hopeless and beyond discouragement.

It is this reality that fuels the passion that David and I and our team members, Lynn and Ruby have for our newest training focus - preparing families and those who support them to grow into becoming a trauma competent healing presence in a child's life.

We spent the first two days of this week concluding our trauma informed care training at SOS Village in Kiev. We began the series in late March and finished it on Tuesday.  The training day turned from just being informational to transformation as the participants really connected with the healing principles of TBRI( Trust Based Relational Intervention - Dr. Karyn Purvis.)

Connecting with children comes through the five senses.  These workers are creating fun lists of connecting through vision activities, hearing  activities, touch  activities, smelling  activities and tasting  activities.  Their lists were very creative. They were excited about the useful ideas.

Beginning this week at SOS Children's Village in Kiev, we completed two days of training
with social workers, psychologists, and foster moms on trauma informed care.

We have focused the last portion of this week on training ILDC (International Leadership and Development Center, Kiev) trainers. These trainers are charged with the task of taking the material back to their agencies to train social workers and families in principles trauma informed care. The same thing is happening here as it did at SOS...our trainers are experiencing real insight in how to teach principles that will strengthen families.

A Glimpse of  Working with ILDC Trainers - Our Privilege

Natalia and Luba are planning their trainer's presentation for Friday afternoon.

David is sharing about sensory processing issues with traumatized children

The trainers are learning how to conduct the sensory processing activity with future participants.

                       

  Lena and Natasha, both adoptive/foster parents, are planning their presentation for Friday.

       

Sharing a group assignment, Luba, Lena, Natalia and Natasha are discussing ways to maximize a child's sense of safety in the foster/adoptive home.

We finish with the ILDC trainers on Friday afternoon, have a down day in Kiev, before leaving early Sunday morning for a conference in Poland and then training the trauma series.

Before Lynn and Ruby left Ukraine on Sunday, we had a rare opportunity to connect with them this trip in Kiev.  We are so thankful for the opportunities they have opened to us both in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

                Outside a restaurant Saturday evening in Kiev. 

                                        

David and I look at such opportunities as God's gift to us to be able to share. What we have been given, we want to pass on....and it is our privilege.

Touching the Heart of a Caregiver Touches the Life of A Child

"I wanted to be in your second day of training, but I can not come tomorrow. It is not because the training wasn't good, it was because the little boy you spoke about all day was me.  I never had anyone there for me. I never heard warm words. I never had anyone take care of me and maybe that is why I am so sick.  Perhaps this is the reason that I work with children who are just like me."
                                                              From an orphanage social worker in Kyrgyzstan

This comment from a social worker, a young man working all by himself in a large orphanage captured our hearts.  Here is a young man, who never had the loving touch of a nurturing parent and is now charged with the task of giving something to children he never had.  Our desire is to be a help, support and encouragement to caregivers just like him who look into the eyes of wounded children everyday and don't know what to do.

There has never been a greater sense of mission and purpose in our overseas work than what is unfolding in the next few weeks and months.  For over three years, David and I have been on a journey to learn how to better help caregivers, foster parents and adoptive parents be the most successful healing person in their children's lives.And, perhaps, where needed, experience healing in their own lives.

We have read many books, sat under the training of Dr. Karyn Purvis, watched many hours of instructive DVD's, asked God for His guidance and leadership most of all and now have put all of this together in a three day training for orphanage caregivers overseas and for foster/adoptive parents in this country. The last month has been spent writing training guides and in getting the material translated into Russian and Polish.

Tomorrow morning, we leave for two weeks of work overseas, We have the privilege of again working in Ukraine and Poland.  Next week, we will be training foster mothers and social workers at the SOS Children's Village in Kiev. Later in the week, we will work with trainers in Ukraine teaching them the content of the three day series and leaving the material there for them to pass on.  The following week, we revisit our Polish friends, first speaking as a national conference and then also spending three very full days training their selected trainers on the same material.

It is still amazing to us that these remarkable opportunities have opened to us through our mission group, LAMB International and through Orphan's Promise, an orphan care ministry of The 700 Club. We want to show up and do the work we feel God has called us to.  Thank you for your encouragement to us and support of what we desire to do.....

                            Here is a video we made a couple of years ago and still motivates us today.

Learning Life Value Principles - A Fun Afternoon with the Dayspring Children

Over the past 18 months, David and I have immersed ourselves in learning much about Trust Based Relational Intervention principles. This is the work of Dr. Karyn Purvis, Dr. David Cross and others from the Institute of Child Development in Texas.  We have intergrated a lot of their teaching into our work both in the US and overseas in training social workers and orphanage workers.  Yesterday, we had the opportunity to try it out with children. Working with them on learning life value principles was so much fun.

Making Sock Puppets...
The first step was creating sock puppets so the children had fun making their own sock puppet that can be used in the life value scripts.

                                     Mark, the son of Olga, foster mom, had some help with his.

                                                   Christina did a great job on her puppet.

                                              Yulia wanted to show everyone her creation

 Costa, foster dad, even got in the act.  He has on his serious face, but it is only a ruse. He is actually like one of the kids - which is great for connecting with them.

Now Upstairs for the Lesson

            Ruby helps them get their skit together on "No Hits, No Hurts" life value principle.

  Emma and Julie Wright joined us and Emma is working with Jenia and Christina on their script.

Costa and Olga work with Mark, Anya and Dasha on "Obey first time."

 

 

The Video

 

We knew that Ruby took video of the lesson time yesterday, and were so excited when she came in today to training with a semi-finished product.  Here is what it looked and sounded like:

 

 LEARNING LIFE VALUE PRINCIPLES

 



It Isn't Just Another Training Day

Our time spent with social workers and orphanage caregivers is not a day just of giving out information.  We ask God before we step out the door to touch lives in a helpful, maybe even transformational way. We count it a privilege to be with them and so wish we could engage in conversations, but the language barrier is always there.

Whenever the topic of childhood trauma is addressed, we know that it will also touch the personal lives of those who come.  We all come from some woundedness.  Recently, a man who was in our training emailed Ruby to thank her for the training, but to also tell her that it opened childhood wounds for him.  We would have loved the opportunity to talk with him further.

Here are some sights from the training room at Dayspring. It felt like a good two days for those who
came....

We needed a traumatized child for a visual .....I know Ruby will not be pleased we posted her quickie artwork around the world. (She is an excellent artist by the way.)

 These workers are caregivers to a local orphanage and Gulnarda, on the right is the cargiver at the Jeremiah House.

                                                       Going over an assignment.

Sharing an assignment.

As always, we get a group picture at the end of the day....

 

Some of these precious folks we will see again. Some of them our meeting was for only this time.  We trust the two days of time they gave to us will make even a small difference in how they care for the children entrusted to them.

 

We have meetings and plans for the next couple of days. The trip here, although short compared to our others, has been meaningful, fun and always a learning experience.

 



Your Life Touches the Lives of 10,000 Others

John Maxwell is quoted in saying that in our lifetime, we will touch the lives of 10,000 people.  We simply touch the life of one, that one in turn touches another and another and the influence God allows us continues.

In thinking about our LAMb team and the team from Ohio in light of John Maxwell's statement, it is extremely exciting and humbling.

Here are some sights from the lives of children and adults who have been along our journey this week.

From the training room - SOS Children's Village - Bishkek

Training on Trauma Informed Care with Foster Mothers and Psychologists

 

 

Training on Trauma Informed Care with Administration of SOS and Foster Aunts

The Ohio Team Touching the Lives of  Children, Disabled and Elderly

David and I have watched from afar this trip as we have been busy training social workers and orphanage care caregivers.   We heard about their experiences and here are a few pictures.  To see it all, visit the Wright's blog: www.actofkindness.blogspot.com   or LAMb blog: www.lambinternational.blogspot.com

At the Kemin Seniors Home

 

In a local village

 

 

We all shared in the birthday celebrations at this local orphanage

 



                                  These young boys all live together in the same orphanage.


Janel and the Komuz

Two years ago, six children from this orphanage wanted a Komuz....the national instrument of Kyrgyzstan. We suggested they earn it and they did. Now two years later, those instruments are still being played everyday.  We watched Janel played and were so amazed at her gift. She is playing in a concert this weekend.  We also saw that the instrument she was playing was well worn and cracked.  A friend of ours gave us a money gift to use any way we saw fit and getting a new instrument and a case just fit for us.  Thanks, Jen Archer....Janel will continue now to play. She takes musical lessons four days a week on the komuz.

Costa, our in-country director tried his hand at playing, however, in Janel's opinion, not too well.

 David and Yuri - a special little fellow we have known since the beginning of our time there in 2008.

 Ruslan was busy picking the olives off his pizza. He wanted to know if David wanted his pile of olives.

 These three had birthdays recently and we were all there to celebrate.

Two special brothers we have known for a long time.

A busy week has ended and we have one more to go.  Training next week, visiting friends and doing much planning with the LAMb team. There are a number of exciting things to share in a few weeks.

Thanks for your encouragement and support.

We Don't Take the Opportunity Lightly

We have been given opportunities to serve and we don't take those opportunities lightly. David and I have had the privilege of serving people separately this week. He is in Kyrgyzstan working with the leadership and staff  IUCA, where he serves as the president of the Board of Trustees. He is doing much more beyond the university  but we have had no opportunity even to talk with each other, but only short emails.  So I will find it all out when we get reconnected on Sunday in Kyrgyzstan.

This week I have been working with the awesome staff of the International Leadership and Development Center of Ukraine.  We have spent the week in training and as always, the people that we are connected with are incredible, insightful and eager to learn.   Our topic for this series was Building Trauma Competent Caregivers:Nine Essential Skills - a real focus on trauma informed care for orphanages and the country's foster and adoptive parents.

 Beginning the week at the SOS Children's Village in Kiev. The participants were foster moms, social workers and psychologists.

These foster moms and social workers share their own experiences and challenges in caring for children with a history of trauma.

 Wednesday we joined a new group at CBN headquarters in Kiev.  There was a great mixture of public social workers, psychologists, trainers, foster parents and adoptive parents.

 Sharing their groups ideas on the essential skills of trauma informed care.

 This group of social workers discusses trust based relational intervention techniques (Dr. Karyn Purvis) and how those relate to their work.

These workers are applying the principles presented on the first day to their professional practice.

                                           A part of our training group finishing on Friday.


Special Visitors

Because of the historic snowstorm that hit Ukraine just before we arrived, we assumed a planned visit from our new friends, the Wwojtasinskas from Poland was in jeopardy. We figured they couldn't come, but we were greatly surprised and pleased when we received a phone call that they decided to drive the 12 hours it would take for them to come to attend training this week.

David and I will be joining them at a national conference in Poland in June and they wanted to meet us, learn more about the training and best of all for me, make new special friends.  Jarek and Eydta have been foster and adoptive parents for 17 years and care mostly for children with severe fetal alcohol syndrome.  They are so supported by their dynamic 19 year old daughter, Ania, who even though very young, carries the same burden for wounded children as her parents.

One of the exciting things that may come out of this connection is ILDC may be able to meet training needs in Poland and partner with the Wojtasinska's foster care coalition to see it unfold.

     Max and Dasha (ILDC staff), Ania, and her parents Edyta and Jarek from Poland. They represent a large foster parent coalition that is advocating for system change in their country.

The training series ended tonight and it is always a mixed moment for me. I met people that have touched my life and I hope in some small way, we were able to touch theirs.

Off to Kyrgyzstan in the morning..can't wait to get back with David!!!

Getting Ready for Another Adventure

It has been a number of weeks since we have posted on our blog. So much has been happening and we wanted to grab a moment to share before leaving for overseas this weekend.

 Here at Home

For well over two years, David and I have been working on a trauma informed training curriculum to help workers guide families and for families to learn how to live with wounded, hurting children.  We recently had the opportunity to share with audiences in New York, California, West Virginia and Mississippi as well as around Ohio. We have integrated some key principles from the work of Dr. Karyn Purvis and her team who have written the Trust Based Relationship Intervention materials. Their work is amazing stuff!!!  TBRI is hope for children and families and we see it everyday.

 

 

 

 

Social workers and families share together in Tupelo, Mississippi at the  workshop called The Power of Healing Connections. This event was sponsored by New Beginnings, an adoption agency in that city.

However, this is just part of the story . We feel  we are getting ready for another God directed adventure  - one that would not or could not ever come together without God’s  leadership and direction.

Amazing New Adventures

Last October,  David was in Kyrgyzstan and I was home. I was out mowing the yard and while working,  I was thinking about what we were training and how that might fit in over time in our work overseas.  We recently had participated in the creation of a learning series for adoptive/foster parents with Orphan’s Promise (CBN)  and I felt prompted to ask them of what interest they might have in partnering with us.  Orphan’s Promise works in over 50 counties around the world in orphanages and villages where children are at risk.

So, I simply wrote an email and ask them – would you be interested in partnering with us to provide trauma informed training to orphanage caregivers in some of the locations where Orphan’s Promise is working.

 To make a long, but extremely exciting story short that answer came at the end of January – YES.  LAMb International has received a grant to provide training in different locations as a pilot run.  Over the next 12 months, our team will be working in Ukraine, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Poland Armenia, and possibly  Nicargua and Zimbawe.

http://www.orphanspromise.org/

 

David and I are so awestruck and humbled by the opportunities to be His servant in touching the lives of devastated children and the encouraging those that care for them.

We leave this Sunday for both Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.  Although we have a lot of plans for our time there, we simply want God’s direction and leadership ministering alongside those He joins with us.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

 Please visit the blogs of our partners regularly. They do a much better job of keeping up!

www.lambinternational.blogspot.com

www.actofkindness.blogspot.com