They are Never Far Away

I just looked at my last blog entry dated shortly after we came home. Time goes so very quickly, and now we are just weeks away from returning to a land and people we have grown to treasure.
These beautiful people are never out of our conversations and thoughts....everyday someone comes to mind whether it be young Maksat, Valera, Tedros, Melodie, Victor...all the special ones. Part of the joy of being involved in lives is to see how God intervenes.

Looking Back
Last spring a young man with a severe cleft palate came to the attention of our team. Before the surgery, he was kept hidden. We left before we could see the results and once home, we were eager to hear of the results. Look below and you will see.

Waiting for surgery

At the hospital with his father prior to surgery.

HOME AND DOING WELL!

What a beautiful smile - his life has been given back to him.

Stopping for a Family In Front of Us

While in Kyrgyzstan, our main method of transportation was the use of taxis. Overtime, we met a man by the name of Hymanot, who became our number one driver and took us everywhere. He was not just our "driver" when we are in Kyrgyzstan, he is also our friend. He serves us extremely well and we came to love him and later when we met his beautiful family, we fell in love with them, too. They live in a one room apartment near us. We talk to him often about his feelings about the future of the country, his children and what his hopes and dreams were for them.

Hymanot, his wife and his family....his two boys - Tedros, age 16, Abel, 11 and two daughters, Stehanie, age 4 and Anita, 2.

In one of those conversations, Hymanot told us something that broke our hearts for him.

"I have no hope left for myself and the only hope I have is for my children that somehow they will get an education."

We sat up and paid attention for we knew of a wonderful place where that dream could come true. We wanted to help. If Tedros could pass the English entrance exam to the Professional Institute (we teach there when in country) that dream would be closer. We were so excited to learn just a few weeks ago that he did pass with excellent scores and will begin classes next week. We are honored to be able to participate in his education along with friends from Ohio.

God didn't allow us to take our eyes off Hymanot's other children. Abel, also a bright, energetic young man has a dream to learn English, so he will be ready for college. We have been able to encourage him in that dream and he goes to classes three days a week, along with a few other children from the orphanage. Thank you to our friends who have supported these dreams with us!

On September 19, I leave for Kiev, Ukraine. David will join me there at the end of the month as we fly to Kyrgyzstan.

Thanks to the Institute for Human Services, in Columbus, Ohio, the International Leadership and Development Center of Ukraine and Holt International, our book, Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child will be released in a Russian edition. We have been told a major media event is planned for a national adoption day on September 28, in which we will be training and giving out copies of the newly translated book.

We are eager to return to a very special group of people..thank you for your interest and support...as the journey continues....