OH Baby

Thursday morning started off early with a trip to the market to buy groceries for the Seniors home... Jody was in her Glory as she and Tanya covered the market buying everything you could imagine

We tyhen loaded up the cars and headed out to Altynais house for lunch... Tanya went of with a big smile on her face, but not without first making Jody cry... she shared how Jody was the first one to come and see them when they opened the home, and how as a result of that , word has spread and so many have come to help... but She always remembers that first day and the HOPE that we brought to her at such a low time... it really was touching.

Altynais brothers and sisters have sponsors in North America , One of them sent a special package for Kumushy, .. this is possible because through on going support, these kids no longer live in an Orphanage, but have their own home....

After lunch we went to the Baby orphanage. Despite the Russian smile, they were so thrilled to receive the second portable EKG machine. We also brought Vlady with us, and made arrangements to start putting new flooring down for them. This is all possible because of the generous donations of so many that were touched by the life of baby Matthew . We had just enough to get started , but Jody was able to add to this project with some of the donations that her friends gave, so on Tuesday morning the work will begin...

This is one of the new arrivals...The director is proudly showing her to us.... Such a beautiful baby, but more so what a beautiful Dr who is caring for these kids ... she is able to do so much with limited resources, but when she picks up a baby, you can see in her eyes why she does what she does....

We learned that they were able to transfer 7 babies over to the Baby orphanage yesterday, so that will really help with the # of kids that we are currently feeding at the hospital, but will put more of a drain on the orphanage, so I guess it all works out.

We then went over to the Orphanage and delivered another 80 new blankets, as well as a case of Apples, oranges and Banana's ... Julie and all the girls went to play with the kids... Bekah was so eager to get in to see them... she has a special bond with one of the babies, and had not said anything, but inside she was really anxious looking for her little fellow... then she saw him, and there was a little storey book meeting as they found each other.... they are both a year older now, but this bond they have is still there

We had asked what the current needs were... Diapers are always a big thing, and We will bring her some next week, but they also shared that time to time they have to bring the kids to the Dr in the city, and they have no budget for Gas.. and said that if there was any way that some one could help with that We told her that this is certainly something that we could look into and see if we could find some one that would be interested in helping with that, and would get back to her as soon as a sponsor was found. ... as we came out of the office, Sergey stayed behind to fill out all the paperwork that fallows any donations... We discussed how it is pretty good if the biggest need she had at that time was gas money.... But then Sergey came out and share the rest of the storey with us .. It is not that this was the only or the greatest need, but the director shared with Sergey that it was that they had an immediate need There was one little boy who was very sick and needed to go to the city hospital right away, and they have been looking for two days for the money to get him there... Sergey told us about this, and our hearts sunk... that is why it w2as at the top of her list... That precious young child was on his way before we were... litterly, seconds after Sergey went back into the office with gas money, a worker came rushing out of the nursery with a little one heading to the hospital. I can't imagine the desperation of such a need and having your hands tied over something as little as transportation... It reminds me of Arafat's storey... Ah ... but I will share that in the next post....

We got home with about 1/2 hour to nap before heading out for supper at 7:00.. which is about 6 am our time.... so it kind of felt like breakfast as we all work up so tired... then we went over to Olga's house for a wonderful traditional Russian meal... it is called "Oh Baby" and is served with dried fish and cabbage roles...

OH Baby is a wonderful breakfast meal... it is made of cooked potatoes, chopped radishes, onions, peas, baloney, Chopped dill and green onions, served cold in a broth of skimmed milk and vinegar....Oh Baby !