Let the rivers clap their hands; together let the hills sing for joy

A miraculous story brought two incredible hands together, and yes the hills did sing for joy.......

So what am I talking about ? The hands in the first photo share a special connection. the strong looking hand in the middle is one that was severely injured a few months ago... It was not known if the hand could even be saved... PI was contacted, and we spread the word.... Then something interesting happened... Someone in the U.S. heard about the story, and shared her own experience of having lost some of her fingers in a car accident... she shared from her heart, and took up the cause of looking for more support... in no time at all, the need was met, and the the funding was in place for Serge's operation... This loving caring father was given a new start on life... Just when he had reached a place of dispare, a ray of HOPE came into his life.... In this photo , you can see those two hands joined together not just in friendship, but as a symbol of the Power of Philanthropy.......



This next photo is taken in the market in town here. 30 soccer uniforms and 30 pair of sport socks were purchased along with juice and Somsa's for one of the local orphanages....

The children were so excited... this orphanage is one that is dedicated to dealing with special health concerns, so many of the children may have serious issues in their lives. The Dr and staff there take incredible care of the kids. Sergey has worked for a long time with this orphanage, and has nothing but good things to say about the director there.. that is one reason we were so blessed to come along side them to help bring water into the building.. this will make things so much easier for them ... I had enough funds to cover just over half of the project... this will be enough to get things started, and we will continue to work away on it as more funding becomes available... I would love to see this completed before I leave at the end of the month. I just love the PJ's on under the uniforms....

I stoped by the invalid home . We had some photo's printed and framed to put up for them... They were photo's of the men from when they were helping with the last renovation... they were so thrilled to see themselves... They will put these photo's up in the new Barber shop....

While in town we made several other stops.... This is Larisa with me as we drop off food and juice for a new family that has just been sponsored.... We actually got to visit 4 newly sponsored families this day.... I will tell you more about each of them at a later date... It was just nice to spend a little time with them and get to know them better... There is so much that we will be able to do to help them ...Home after home, I watch relief from the dispare come over the faces......

As you can see in this next Photo , NOT EVERY ONE is happy I am in town... I guess this guy lacks the ability to understand that we are simply helping those he thinks he is protecting....

He almost got me... you know one good bite, and it would be off to the airport for me, but fortunately my friends warned me and I emerged just a little shaken, but unscathed ... Hummm we have a family Joke... "There are no dogs in Central Asia".... For some strange reason, the first few times we came here, we hardly saw a dog, so we told our girls that they would not see many while they were here... boy were we wrong....

Fortunately this little guy was more bark then bite.... and it was off to see the mayor , I have a special present for him... I brought a team hockey Jersey for him from my home town in Canada...I think it will look great in his office. This Mayor has been a great support for Larisa, and the work she does in his town... you may remember seeing photo's of him at the ribbon cutting of one of the remodeled rooms at the invalid home and also at the ceremony when we helped him by bringing water to the village. He was working on opening a hospital at that time. We only found out about it on our last day in town last year, so I want to discuss with him what we can do to help with this project.... I had forgotten that this was a holiday, and he was not at the office, but being a small village, as soon as he knew I was looking for him he called, and I have been invited to super at his house . A night I am looking forward to. So with a little time left , we went to the dump to make sure there were no kids there... Larisa has been doing a great job at providing for there needs, and encouraging them to stay out of the dump... We did find half a dozed people there... we put together food hampers as well as hot Somsa's and Sharrow... Yumm... but as a special treat, I had small tubs of Honey for each of them... This time the wind was blowing in the right direction, so it was a little more favorable to staying for a visit... we actually had a good time... I am getting to know many of them well, and they ALL know me... next week, we are going to be renting the amusement park in the neighboring town, and bringing all these families there for a special day, then out for supper.... there is still opportunity to be a part of this if anyone wants to help..... since I just spent a little more then I was expecting to help pay the tax etc. on a shipping container full of humanitarian aid supplies that our friends have just received....... they say if you will laugh when you look back on something, you might as well laugh now, so this one will be a BIG laugh....basically I got the figures mixed up in my head, and came up $600 short when I told them I could cover it ...I told Sergey he will have to keep me busy unpacking the container for a couple weeks....Keep me busy if I run out of money...lol...

I then went over to see the parents of the little boy we have in for the Cleft pallet operation, It has been a week now that the babushka's have been in the hospital with him, and I wanted to make sure that the parents could get in to see him as well... so I spoke to them, and they were hoping to go into the city the next day, so I gave the father a special hand shake, and I could feel him melt as I did... As I look at him now, I no longer see a hard exterior, I see a soft kind heart, and a gentle man..I wonder who has changed... him or me.... I wish my Russian was better, sometimes I want so badly to be able to be able to speak, but for now I guess all I can do is speak through my actions...

I made the trip into the Capital today as well to meet up with a friend, he has been such a help with the operations we have been involved with... he or one of his friend has stoped in daily to make sure that the families are looked after. He brought me to follow up on some of the projects that we have helped him with , as well as to bring me to show me another possible project... There is an association of parents that have disabled kids... They support each other so that they can keep there kids out of the orphanages... The Government sees the value in this and has given them an incredible piece of property and building to use in the centre the capital city... it has a place for gardens and work shops and playgrounds as well as an excellent facility for doing physiotherapy... they have volunteers in place to give the children a full evaluation and set up a personal rehabilitation schedule based on the individual needs of the child.... One more example of how the people and the Government are now working together to improve the lives of the children...