We're Home!

We made it back last night around 7:45 p.m. I know some people were concerned because the last thing I posted about was the legal situation, but we didn't go back to the computer lab before we left on the train for Kiev. On Friday, we signed a document that described why we were at the orphanage and what we did while we were there. It was a simple process, and the director was not concerned with the complaint that was filed. He expressed his appreciation for us and was genuinely pleased with the work we did at the orphanage.

For future trips, we have learned that in addition to the orphanage, the regional children's hospital will be a new focus for our team. I described the hospital some on the blog, and Karen described it more on hers. The staff at the hospital indicated that they looked forward to us coming again. They want more doctors to see our work, and they want our relationship with them to grow. We can see that there are many opportunities to help in this place, and we are looking forward to planning the specifics of how it will work.

The trip was far better than anything I expected. We were received very warmly everywhere we went, and I truly believe God's work was accomplished. I knew my perspective on life would change with this trip, but I don't think I realized just how big of an impact it would make. We live in such a blessed country, and (speaking for myself) I take things for granted left and right. It's a definite that my priorities are being evaluated, and my views on many actions in life are changing.

Here are some more pictures. I'm sure I'll be posting more in the weeks to come!

Sorting through the donations for the orphanage.

Here's the little boy I had so much fun with again.

And again... We are working on identifying pictured objects.

He loved the picture cards - my kind of boy!

Through comments on the blog, we have learned that this boy is in the process of being adopted. Praise the Lord! He was one of the two children I talked about previously - the ones who needed to be adopted soon.

Kym working with another child at the orphanage. This little girl is not able to talk, but we're sure she has a lot to say. She seems very determined and needs to be adopted soon.

Look at this face! The caregivers reported that this little girl cried all the time, but after a little swinging, we were able to get her to work for about 10 minutes without a tear.



Here she is after swinging for a few minutes in the lycra swing. She really liked the swing.

A rare smile from this little boy! He usually growled and took his ball to the other side of the playpen when you got down beside him or acted like you were going to talk to him.

Do you see the hand of the baby on the right? The babies were so cute. They would sometimes hold hands.

They liked to look up at people standing by the playpens.

Amanda playing with one of the sweet babies.

Karen casting a little boy at the orphanage. We will be sending braces for him to wear.