We had such a great day yesterday and went to bed very late, after meeting and sharing our thoughts on our first day.  Everyone is so excited about what God is doing here!  We are takinig lots of pictures and hope to post some on the blog this week.

We headed to the camp again early this morning and were greeted by the sight of the children waitinng for us, happy smiles on their faces.  Our translators continue to be so helpful, anticipating needs and jumping in where needed. And all the folks on this team are awesome….everyone is so encouraging to one another, and so loving to the orphans and special needs children we are working with!  Already many of the children are bonding with the people on our team, wanting to be stay with them, be held and hugged by them.  These orphans seldom get individual attention and crave our affection (which we are glad to give!!).  The sight of them tugs at our heartstrings – they do not have any clothes or possessions of their own, wearing whatever is given to them, often mismatched summer and winter clothes. They run up & wrap their arms around you and it just melts your heart!!

At this camp, we have found several of the children that were at the Intake Facility we worked at last year.  and while it is wonderful to see them again, it is bittersweet, because we know that they have now moved into the orphanage system, with no family to care of them.  There are many other stories like that…..yesterday while the children were playing with bubbles, one boy sat apart from the rest, eyes red with tears.  Through an interpreter, I learned that Egor’s father had died a week ago, and with an alcoholic mother who was unable to take care of him, he and his brother were now being placed in the orphanage system.  After offering skittles candy and pictures of my own children, I was able to coax a smile from him!  Seeing him there this morning in front of the camp, waiting for me, makes me wish I could scoop him up and take him home with me!

 We did special drama sessions today, one for the younger children and one for the older.  We talked about having Jesus in our hearts and were encouraged by the number of children who have been exposed to the Bible.  We see God’s fingerprints all over these children’s lives…..from the “Jesus” they write on the journals we helped them make, to the “God loves you” they write on the concrete with the chalk we brought for them.  Today, we finished our journal project, enjoyed wonderful sports games, and led the children in Ukrainian worship songs (yes, we are learning ukrainain songs!).  We had to say our goodbyes early because of visitors to the orphanage from Sweden, so we went back to the same restaurant from yesterday, where we enjoyed a local delicacy of stuffed whole fish.  We were supposed to have one fish for 4 people and ended up with 4 for 4 people, language translation issues!.  (and these fish were quite large!!).  Allen had a little talk with the fish head once it was detached (photo will be posted soon)

We then headed to an orphanage in the village of Klevan where we met with the Director.  He gave us a tour of the facility where up to 95 special needs children, ages 7-18,  live together with staff to care for them.  The range of issues varies, from children who cannot care of themselves and have Down’s Syndrome, to those that are called “mentally delayed.”   The children live at this orphanage and learn vocations.   The main vocation for girls is sewing and gardening, while for boys it is carpentry and shoe repair.  If anyone out there has any carpentry tools they want to get rid of, we can arrange to get them to this orphanage. (this was one of his greatest needs, as well as playground equipment).  They teach these special needs children vocations in order that they might provide for themselves.  They are always teaching the children about being self-sufficient, and you can see it in everything from the garden that the children create every year, from seeds they harvest the previous fall, to the back-up heat pump they built (and later needed when Russia cut off the oil supply). 

On the grounds, there is also a school for these children and we are able to tour it and see the special desks and books made just for them.  We saw the classrooms and listened as the director described how his dedicated teachers address the needs of these special children.  They also have a Psychologist, a Speech Therapist, and 2 Doctors on staff.  It is apparent how much they care about these special needs children.

In the evening the team participated in the event at the Pahinets center (see other Blog entry)

 Allen and I have enjoyed talking to you through this blog….in the next couple of days, you will get to read posts from some of our other team members, including our youth!    Thank you all for your comments to our team!  We are passing your kind words on to them.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers – we are experiencing some trouble sleeping and sickness . Pray for God’s protection over our us

Well, it is almost 1am here in Rivne – time to rest up for another wonderful day at the camp!    Good night to all our precious friends and family across the big pond! 

-Amy & Allen