Busy Day 6

What a day:(

The team left last night. I stayed up until 2:00a.m. afraid I would not hear the driver. He honked at the gate. Yes, at 2:00a.m. I am sure it is him. We walk, in the dark, to the van. They are loaded and ready to go. Hard to leave and hard to stay. I think it was a great experience for all of them.

Ola is beautiful. She has worn the same outfit all 6 days. Her clothes are old and filthy. Her shoes will be posted. They are torn and have a hole in the bottom of them. I asked for them and took them to the house. As I walked to the house I could not longer fight the tears. A new pair, too big, was given. She is happy. She was sitting next to me the last few minutes. She has just left. It was much earlier in the day when the shoes were given. But a new friend has been made. She has had Rachel's heart from the beginning. I carried her into the dorm and washed her feet. Then place the new shoes on her. Humbling. How many pairs of shoes or clothes do my children have? She has one old, faded shirt and shoes....shoes with big holes. America is blessed.

Twice today I have cried. The injustice of it all. The things that are taught that may never be undone. The beauty of the innocent. The blessing of being called to be here with other Christians working to bless these precious children.

Yura on day one made fun of the songs. Today he leads them and sings them proudly. He is not ashamed of what he has learned. He has found a safe place. Not reason to fight for things. Three good meals and day and three snacks (2 are fruit and one cookies). He is living the good life. Sad to see the team to go. I watched as it affected him. Today, has played flag football for the second time.

We had a couple join us today. Good God thing. We had only a few workers. The other left for home. More leave later tonight. The schedule changes often. Things we need are not always available. Timings are off. The Ukrainian team girls are used to a strict run camp. Not this one. I like free time. Cancel that, do this later, they don't want to? Ok, we don't make them! One of the workers said this is more like a family than camp. Excellent!

Camp Day 4

Sorry, day 3 no internet.

So many things go one here. We heard that one of the boys is in a foster home. His sisters are in the other foster home that has children here. They have loved being together for the week. It is precious.

Yarislov is 7 and cooks. His hands are peeling from stress. He is not used to playing with other children. He has a sweet spirit.

Yura: HE SANG JESUS LOVES ME TO ME IN ENGLISH! So wonderful. Some were laughing at his English. I loved it! What a change in that boy. He was the trickster.

We had another boy get up and sing a song yesterday. Awesome.

Masha and Vitalik were here some yesterday and I was able to go to the store and get a phone. Yay. I can hopefully find out where people are and work on hosting.

To a Bible group....

Camp Day 2

I never know what will happen.

Today we came for the 7:45 a.m. meeting. Apparently Jay will be Adam and eat the apple. The children were awoken about 8:00 a.m. We ate Trix for breakfast, brought from the US, and doughnuts with condensed milk.

I met a pastor from Poltava. He was here for other business. He would like help from Americans to do camp in Poltava. He is in the process of building the church. He invited me to come and see it. Praying God's will be done.

OOp kids.

Camp Day 1

What a day! We met with the Ukrainian workers and then the children began arriving. We have had a great start to camp. The workers are all young, as requested. They are sweet in spirit and excited to be here. Our US team was a little jet-lagged. We were happy to have a few minutes break in the afternoon. The day is well planned with Bible, games, song and crafts. Bed at 10 for the orphans.

Our end of the day meeting was at 10:15. I talked with the US team at 9 and they headed to bed. I thought someone should get some sleep. I met with the Ukrainians to discuss day 2. We decided bed at 9:30 for the orphans instead of 10!

My sweetest moment of the day was Yura playing trying to get everyones attention. He is one of the older boys and full of mischief and life. He likes to play tricks. We sang a Christian son to the beat of "We Will Rock You". Americans are already laughing, because of the change in words, but Yura's dancing....hard to describe, but delightfully funny. He has the attention getting personality.

Some may not know but we are at Village of Hope. There are homes for Christian foster families here. There is a real difference in the children of the foster families and the ones from the orphanages. A little love makes a lot of difference. They are dressed better, follow directions better and behave better. It is great to see Christian Ukrainians making a difference.

I hear many churches dream of doing camp but lack the money.

There is no air-conditioning here. It gets hot in the buildings by afternoon. Many homes and apartments do not have air-conditioning. We open the windows to cool off at night.

More to come

Mission Trip, Camp 2011

Thank you to all that are praying and donated money. Without you the orphans would not be able to come to camp. You are the hands and feet of God.

We look forward to teaching, playing, feeding and seeing the orphans. In a few hours we will be in Ukraine. We are in Texas on our first layover. The rest of the group is playing Phase 10. My time is being spent, well I'm updating the blog and answering emails.

We are partnering with a church in Bucha to teach Bible to orphans. God showed me His plan on my trip in February to Ukraine. I am amazed at God's plan. He had every piece of the puzzle worked out and I just am honored to be a part of it. We are already discussing camp for next year. Several have asked us about going in the fall. We are seeking God's guidance and plan. Please pray with us. We want to be in His perfect will.

We are hoping to have internet access at camp. I have asked the team for the first week to each blog some about their trip. They will introduce themselves.

We are working on the details for the hosting trip August 12-31. Ten orphans will be in one home for a cultural exchange. This blog is for both events; camp in Ukraine and hosting in the U.S.