First the Revolution and Now the Volcano

Greetings again to each of you. It is Saturday night and I just finished my message for tomorrow.  It is about the power each of us possesses—that is the power of choice. 

Thank you for letting us know you are out there and that you are praying for us.  The tension of the revolution is dying down some even though we still do not know the course this great country will take after the new government is installed. We have resumed much of our responsibilities at the University and else where.   

We just went through the revolution of a government and NOW we are experiencing the Icelandic volcano eruption which has closed most of Europe and other parts of the world to air traffic.   We are scheduled to leave on Tuesday morning for Ukraine and to Poland, however both airports we fly into are closed and there is no reason to believe that circumstances will change any time soon.  We were to do adoption conferences in both countries.  It will be a huge disappointment to those there as they have planned much and have done much work in preparation for these meetings—not to mention the cost involved.  So, it looks like our plans are changing again.  We are safe, at peace about it all, and honored to be a part of something far bigger than we are.

   

Giving Hope to Akiela

Each and every week we see incredible needs. Recently, we all felt we should stop for this one. Two weeks ago we met a 3 year old little girl in an orphanage. She has heart problems and some other issues.  She is beautiful in every way.  Her heart condition was worsening, but there were no resources in place to enable her to be taken to the hospital for treatment. However, that all changed.

On Thursday, little Akiela taken to Bishkek hospital and will get some much needed medical attention.  Because of the gifts some of you gave to us for humanitarian use, we will be able to provide 10 days of personal care for this beautiful little girl. Thank you to those who made this, and many other things, possible and thank you for sharing the journey with us.

 

Back to Normal and a New Level of Busy Days

The tense atmosphere in the country has lessened thankfully and we are returning to usual level of very busy days. I told David I thought tonight we would be home early and his response was "what makes you think that, we never are!"  We love the work here.

 

Due to difficulties getting on the blog when I have time to do it, plus preparing for the university and our upcoming training trips to Ukraine and Poland, I am taking a shortcut to posting. I know my friends, John, Julie Wright and Lynn and Ruby won't mind my linking to them this week.  So much is going on with the team here and they have posted it on their blogs.  Please take a moment to visit:

 

www.lambinternational.blogspot.com    and www.actofkindness.blogspot.com

 

Over the weekend, I will share what is happening with us personally and thank you for sharing the journey.

Beautiful Stories....

One of the exciting things about the work here is the diversity of the team.  David and I have been spending alot of our time with the university students and also on some humanitarian runs.  Lynn and Ruby have a gift for building relationships with many people. One of the most significant is their relationship with the head doctor at the baby hospital.  They consistantly go there finding out what the needs are.  One of the most recent trips personally impacted them as now, according to culture, they are godparents.  How did that happen. Ruby tells about their experiences the best....

Please visit their blog at http://www.lambinternational.blogspot.com/

Before The Story Gets Lost - An Extreme Makeover and New Beginning

(With the traumatic events of last week, I was afraid this awesome story would get lost, so I grabbed a moment to share.)

We (our Lamb team) have a slogan that is a reality for us.  "As we go, stop for the one in front of you."  We have learned that it is totally impossible for us to meet every need we see.  We also have learned that God will bring certain ones right in front of us and say to us..."stop here."  That is exactly what happened with "Jessica's family."

Last March, a team of social workers from Cleveland was on the ground here for two weeks.  One afternoon, we were in the park, playing with children, passing out ice cream and getting ready to serve dinner to children from a local orphanage.  We all went in the classroom on the park grounds with the children.  I stepped out a moment and saw Lynn Johnston motioning to three children. They were not with the orphanage, but were very obviously hungry. He escorted them into the room and sat them down.

These are the precious children that first caught our eyes and captured our hearts last spring.

Being the social worker Jessica is, she noticed the children and insisted on going home with them to see where they lived.  She packed up the leftover food, loaded the kids into the van and headed for their home. She was devastated when she came back. A small, dirty three room apartment...no running water, no heat and only a two burner hot plate to cook on.  She has never forgotten those children, nor have we. That is why we call them "Jessica's family."

Over the months we have always visited this family and the exciting thing is that we have seen improvement in the care of the children. Their mom is really trying hard....now enter the team from Canada.

AN EXTREME MAKEOVER - WHAT TWO DAYS CAN DO

In a matter of two days, the hard working team from Canada did an extreme makeover in their little apartment. Totally remodeling the kitchen, bedroom and living area...let the pictures tell the story.

Beginning the day...

The desparation of extreme poverty...basically what they had..

Corrie and Kristine...cleaning and painting

Everybody wanted to help

Carrying in the new furniture

Lynn - "I thought you said this would fit?  ( It did!)

The family watching and I am sure wondering who in the world are these people. We have been in and out of their home with food and other humanitarian needs over the last year, so they do know us. It wasn't until this day that mom asked our names.

A lot to smile about...a new rug, brand new beds and a restoring of hope and dignity.

New beds...before, well I just cannot describe.

At the end of a long day, a very tired crew and a job well done.

This says it all....

A post script, if you noticed in the very first picture, Madina's has had an eye injury. She has suffered with this disfigurement for a number of years.  We are interested in getting surgery for her to replace her eye with an artifical eye so she will look normal.  If you are interested in sharing in this opportunity, you can do so through the button on the right side of the blog or email us... jayeschool@aol.com