The Voices of Ukrainians

2014 highs Fall retreat             Fall retreat started with a really big disappointment and ended up being one of the best times that we’ve ever had with some of the kids who live in the orphanage.   The plan was that we would start out the week with the older kids, and this would let us get to know them better, and would let Kolya and Halya get to know them better so that they would have a better feel for who they should invite to live in Second Chance after the kids finish ninth grade.   The second part of the week we planned to spend in the orphanage doing a program for all the kids who don’t have anywhere to go.   Leading up to the retreat, the director of the orphanage had been telling us that the kids who are wards of the state would be able to go to the camp without any problem.   He would just give permission.   We checked with him about this for almost two months,   we told him that we...

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a story about gift-giving at the orphanage and why I was more and more opposed to it based on the negative impacts. A lady from the US wrote me asking my take on Operation Christmas Child in this situation, because the Operation Christmas child boxes are only supposed to be given out by national groups who have a relationship with the recipients of the boxes. I was mulling this issue even before she wrote. Spending two years away from the States and then being there for four months makes things stand out a bit more starkly, and I think the materialism of Americans stood out more than anything else to me. This past year, though, God has been teaching me quite a bit. My answer is over 2,500 words, but it’s a complicated issue. We Americans always want to give some thing . We did presentations at 24+churches during our furlough last year, and we shared our most pressing need: financial assistance. We need people to partner with Children’s Hope Ukraine...

During our Easter retreat with our church, some of the ladies in our church told me I was like the churches grandpa. Everyone loved, me especially the kids and it was clear that I love them.    I was a little disconcerted that someone would compare me to a grandpa already, but kinda flattered by what they meant.     But then one of the ladies said, “But you never discipline. You should.”   It’s true, I have done almost no disciplining in my time here in Ukraine, but from where I stand, that’s with good reason.   At the orphanage, I’m just one of the group of people who visits once a week.   The director doesn’t even allow us to visit during school hours, so obviously we aren’t people with any authority at the orphanage.   At church and a lot of other situations, I just try to help where I can and stay out of the way the rest of the time.   I believe that discipline should be very intentional, and if you can’t have a discussion with a k...

We just made videos about different aspects of Children's Hope Ukraine.  And in the last video,  the American part of our team answers three basic questions.   What do we do in Ukraine?   What is it like to live in Ukraine?   How has your life in Ukraine helped you learn to trust God more?              

While we were producing these videos, Tanya, the house mom at LifeBoat, was in the hospital with some minor complications leading up to the birth of her second biological son, and so I simply narrated a video with pictures about their home, telling the story of how they took guardianship of their first two kids and worked towards getting their home complete so that they could bring in more children.

We just made a series of videos about Children's Hope Ukraine.  Hopefully later this week it will be up on www.childrenshopeukraine.org , but for now you can watch the first video here.  If you would like to use these videos in your church or small group, etc. please let me know and I can get you all of the videos.  Enjoy.

Three weeks ago at church, Masha sat next to me.   Masha is ten, has Downs Syndrome and is a fantastic hugger.  She just loves hugging.  So I try to always stop and hug her back.  During the service, she came in and sat between me and her dad, for a while she loved on her dad and then she leaned her head on my shoulder, so I leaned my head over onto hers, and she looked up at me with this big smile.  She reached around and gave me a shoulder hug, and then patted my head, and then rubbed my back for a few minutes.  I didn’t move the entire time because it just felt so good.  It was just simple, innocent affection, and it sent tingles up my spine.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about you need more hugs and back scratches. Human contact is so important.  That’s why I try and hug the kids when we go up to the orphanage.  These are just a few stories of some of the hugs I’ve given and gotten this past month, and why hugs are so imp...