A Banner Day..

Lots of story's to follow .... Here I will tease with the photo's and I will try to get some time later today to fill in the details

Kids day parties begin

Remember Erra .. we first met her in the dump, and later PI bought her a house... she was so glad to see us.
The theater began to fill with kids and excitement ... Kung fuu panda ...

300 PRESENTS lined up along the front of the movie theater... we had to go out and get another 50 gifts.

handing out presents

Notice the pink dress girl on the left .. she had the simple dream of having a dress to look like a princess back in the fall

I remember the day we had to tell this little girl that her mother had died because she did not get basic medicine worth about $7.

Others from the village, from the dump and from the streets.. All these kids have become special to us over the years.. It was great to have them all together again.

Second concert was for the disabled children in Bishkek the first 5 rows were all disabled kids. The rest were paying guests. in total there were about 1200 people. each paying guest paid about $3 ... after all was said and done, they weer about $300 short of covering the entire event , including the hall rental and entertainers, which included many of the top performers in Central Asia.

When the show was almost over, we met up with the directors of the Blind society of Kyrgyzstan fund, and we gave them $300 to cover off the event so that they would break even... I was just doing the math, and figured that $300 to cover the 450 kids that got to go to a free concert... that's pretty good in my books... the only trouble is I am not quite sure what pocket, or should I say who's pocket that $300 will come out of...

getting the internet fixed

tomorrow ... taking tatchka driver to hospital

visiting the hospital for mental health

meeting with the plumber to finish fire victoms house

Meeting Rotary club and Mayors office for the dedication of hospital beds

picking up to young friends from the orphanage for a visit

Guess which part of the day tomorrow I am looking forward too...

looking over the back fence...

such a beautiful day today . This is the view from over the fence at the men's home.

So much going on , and many photos to share ... Just don't have the energy to fight with blogger and rearrange photo's so you will have to try to follow along ... no particular order...sorry ...

Is it any wonder Julie looks forward to English class .. Her class is so cute ... and they are such good kids .

Two more of Julies English students... again they are so cute and so gentle ...

Out playing volley ball after English Class. We introduced them today to there new English / sports teacher. Our young friend will be visiting them 3 or 4 times a week for classes.

Larisa went to check out the home of the three girls I was telling you about a couple posts back

She brought them some groceries.. and was very impressed how clean and orderly the house is... falling down, but clean and orderly .

Kids day packets... we packed 300 packets for tomorrow morning when we will be filling the theater with disabled children ... then they will all get an ice cream and a gift bag with ... a coloring book, pencil crayons, a pen, banana, 4 yogurt , a tooth brush and a party horn or hat.

now when I said 4 yogurts each, you probable thought , that sounds nice.. or at least that's what I thought when Larisa asked for them,,,, I just want to say for the record..."YOU TRY TO ARRANGE 1200 YOGURTS IN TOKMOK" our poor translator... she spent more time on my phone today then I did . While we were at the bazaar, I fornd my Tatchky driver (cart) , and he could hardly walk today.. His stomic is all blotted, and he had been told that they needed to operate right away.. That was two weeks ago.. When I asked him why, he said it was $100. and he had no money. So we made arrangements to have Larisa and Mahabat take him to the hospital on Monday morning and pay the hospital directly.

Altynai only thinks she is done... this was taken before the yogurt arrived.

Back to the Volley ball court

Oh and the men loved the new sewing machine... we sat it on the table in the box before the English class and told them we could open it AFTER class... poor Zamir sat and drooled over it for an hour waiting for class to end...

It was worth the wait... he loved it.

Back to the girls house is definatly a few repairs needed there

after English and sports, the kids that came with us wanted to sing for the men

What a great day .. I felt like I was back on the beach ... I even was dressed for it

beds, cribs, hospitals and dentists.

This morning we had Aigoola and Aiperie com over to discuss a business plan for the store at the bazaar. We will help to cover set up of the stock for the store. Aigoola will be selling blankets, mattresses, pillows , sheets and mats. Aiperie will be making original design shirts, and will have about 20 styles on hand. Together they will do custom sewing, everything from hems and zippers to dresses and suit jackets.
We will also work on local marketing plan for them as well as continuing to have them make blankets and mattresses etc. for us as they are sponsored. As well we have about 25 kids sponsored for school that we will need uniforms.
as well as the set up of the store, we have the new sewing room at the house as the "Factory" for bigger orders. They would also need a peddle sewing machine, and a sizing machine. They figure this can be purchased for $300. We have offered them a Business loan for this portion of the business adventure..
They are very excited.. Aiperie spent the rest of the day preparing a price list of the competition, as well as figuring out the new configuration of the store. Aigoola is compiling the list of expected expenditure to finalize the budget.
Such a long way and a lot of water under the bridge since the day we first met these kids in an orphanage, with Aigoola standing off at the fence line watching from a distance to see that her kids were ok... what could she have been thinking..?
Next we went to the bazaar to get the cribs for the hospital, and then the bus stop to meat the hospital beds coming in from Bishkek. Then off to the Hospital to get make the delivery... The nurses and the director reminded me of a bunch of clucking hens when you let them out into the light.. they were all chattering and bouncing into each other with excitement.. Fun to watch.
I got back to the house with 5 minutes to spare before heading to Bishkek for a meeting with Uplift. they do massage therapy for baby's at the orphanages here as well as offering a program to assist mothers of disabled children so that the kids do not get put into an orphanage.. She shared her desire to expand the program to children after the age of 6 as well. It cool, I just happened to have Olga with me translating and doing some banking , and Olga runs the knowledge store that works to bring support to families with disabled kids 6 and over... ... CONNECTION MADE.
I also met with one of our friends in Bishkek... still very early stages, but we have been dreaming of one day having our own dental staff to be able to work in the orphages.. Amagin having a portable office that could go around to work in the orphanages and institutions... provding MUCH needed care.. we have spent thousands of dollars bring kids to the dentists here, and we are only scratching the surface.
Last week we met with a Dentist from another country that is living here now, and contacted us to say that she wants to do volinteer work with us. Today we contacted one of the major hospitals to discuss setting the program up with their covering... it was amazing , not only are they excited, but think they may be able to provide a dental assistant for the program as well as register our Dentist to make sure that every thing is legal and in the right order...
I have been purposely vague about details... I will share more in the near future as the possibilities become realities... I just wanted to give everyone time to think and pray along with us. We are going to need to purchase a portable dentist office and supplies for cleaning and treating teeth.. I think to do this right and effective from the start.. it will take about $3500 some of which is already in place.. This is a great opportunity for us to make life a little more bearable for thousands of children every year... speaking of dentist, then it was off to the Dentist to get my teeth adjusted. and on home again..
Julie taught two classes today , and the girls helped Altynai move back home. Larissa and Tanya visited the three girls we found out about yesterday and brought the report to Julie about them.

"I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Loads of Love

Watch this video.. if you see of feel any similarities to what you have seen happen here in Kyrgyzstan, it is for good reason. Ed Dickson has been more then just a friend, He has been a mentor to us. Our philosophy or ministry is simply a page out of his play book.

Another storey yet to be told .

Yesterday at the graduation, I sat beside Mahabat. She is one of the students heading to Alaska with Altynai. While we were waiting for the ceremony to start, she leaned over and told me that she is finished school now, and with only a few weeks before she leaves, there is not enough time for her to start a job, and was wondering if we had any work for her.. I told her that I could likely keep her busy today , and to come to our apartment by 9:00 ...

First stop to the hospital to visit a little girl that had been abandoned by her mother. We brought her some little gifts, a stuffed doll and a yogurt... Right away Mahabat went to her and began comforting her. For the life of me I can not see how a mother can do such a thing.. The little girl can speak, but does not know regular words, like the name for different foods, but does no all the drinking terms...
Now before I get flooded with emails of how we help this little girl, I want to assure you that she is being helped... because of the support of many of you, we are Finlay ahead of the game here ... The hospital has food, it has cloths, and it has a bed. imagine that a hospital that has all the basic needs... I can not express enough what that means to the people here.
We then went to visit some of our other kids. Julia is one month old now.

We also heard some great news.. Baby Umute has been adopted by a young Kyrgyz couple. She is doing very well.. The director said it was because of the favor that the babies that we give names to get adopted right away into good homes... I think I have to agree...
From there the day got busy..
10:00 Dr Tatyana's to set up 2 home visits for new patients. storey yet to be told
10:45 Regional Mayors office for meeting with Mayor and head of Children's Services. storey yet to be told
11:45 Organizational meeting with Laurisa, at the same time 4 or 5 phone calls making plans and setting up appointments.. ordered an arm.... storey yet to be told
12:15 Met with a "social worker " from a neighboring village to discuss needs .. an incredible family.. you will be hearing more about them in the future.... storey yet to be told
2:45 - 2:46 lunch
2:46 off to the bazaar.. 500 presents for the first wave of kids day celebrations.
400 back to Dr Tatyana's for an emergency call to help three orphaned girls living at their home with no support... again, a storey yet to be told
5:15 back to the apparent to finish some paper work
630 meting with Jayne to work on business plan... big storey yet to be told
7:00 meting with David and friends to work on a huge potential project for the University, and again, a storey yet to be told
930 Home and catching up on Internet, and have breakfast... only 12 hours late...

Julie kept saying today " Let me remind you we have 10 days left" I then pointed out that are going to have lots of work when we get home, and many storeys to share ..... Its like there is a panic and an urgency to every phone call , more then we have ever experienced here before. I don't know what the future has in store for us, We have been discussing that alot lately.. Our hearts ache at the thoughts of not having a return date when we go, its just one more thing that we must just place into Gods hands.
I am going to stand on his promises...

"I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

A theme that appeared to repeat itself here a lot.....I guess it is just another storey yet to be told

HOPE .. it's the last thing to go...

Some days have a way of turning into events.. It appears that this may be the norm for the duration of our stay here.

We began our morning early with a visit from Vlady.. discussing electricity into the store at the bazaar so Aigoola can set up a sewing machine there, then discussed the building of the new store for the micro loan lady who we are working with , then it was off to Emma's orphanage .

They have a class room and office that has been under halted construction for about 5 years. sponsors pulled out, and now the children are over crowded in their home. There is a young man that if my translation is right, is a graduate from this orphanage and has now returned to try to get many of these "dropped" projects revitalized... one being the class room. He will be having a party next week to discuss what can be done. He is planing on having "influential" people from Tokmok there... I wanted to have Vlady take a look so I would know for myself what the task at hand is.. It looks like the roof can be on and the floor poured for about $3500 and another $2000 to finish it after that. I remember what our friends from Norway said last week at the seniors home... I can't finish it, but I sure can start it... I am racking my brains to see if there is a way that we can inspire the local community to step up and get this job done. I am not sure how that will look, maybe if we can break it into sections, and try a match insensitive with them ... Still waiting for clarification on this one...

Then it was over to the Bazaar to arrange the pick up of the cribs to the hospital, and back home again to pick up Julie and the girls... We had been called to the mayors office...

when we got there we were ushered into council chambers where there was the entire city of Tokmok's city councilors and administrators there along with the local press. The council meeting was opened, and then they began to read out a list of things that we had been involved with in Tokmok... ( or at least what they knew about) many of the things I had forgotten about , but they hadn't. We were then called forward, and presented Honorary social certificates by the council chair, then publicly thanked by the mayor as well.

They had prepared certificates for all of us... It was a very humbling event...




This photo is in front of the White house with our new documents... we tried to not be to excited

but inside we felt more like this

It was really great that Emma and Bekah were recognized for their contributions as well... ore then just for their sake, the fact that in this society, two young girls would be honored in such a way... I am very proud of them and the burden that they carry here .

From there it was over to the hospital for tea with the director and staff. They were so exited for us. It was them that led the charge for this day. The director shared that when she first brought our name forward, the head of the health department asked what was so special about us, she said that she then bean sharing all that she we had done there, and then asked him " Could you have done such things" he said "of course not!" and agreed to put our names forward.

When we first came here , our friend Ed told us two things ... The relationship is the most important thing... make sure you keep returning to those you are helping, and the other was to be very careful never to promise anything that you can not deliver, and NEVER fail to deliver what you have promised.

As we sat with the staff and shared with them the assistant to he director told us something.. She said she had worked along side the director for 20 years. She watched as things became worse and worse for them.. Many people came over the years and promised the world to them... the odd one did deliver , but the majority they never saw again..but what stood out the most for them is that we are the only ones that have ever came back... and in the 3 years they have known us, so much has been done, and not once have we ever failed to deliver on a promise.. The director then began sharing with her staff about the wonderful home that LAMb has, and how excited she is to know that a home like DaySpring is available for them.. She said it is HOPE that keeps them going.. HOPE is the last think to leave you... She then shared about the desperation that must be out there , Just yesterday a little girl was drooped off in front of a restaurant with a bag of clothes and nothing else.. she speaks and is a fun little girl.. from the best they can tell she is about three. Right now, Hope for a future is all that this little girl has left... we will go back tomorrow for a visit with the kids, today we had to run , it was graduation at the University.
Representatives from several Embassies were there to bring greetings, including the US Embassy...

The mayor and his group arrived just in time as well

I was very proud of Dr. David Schooler... yes that's Dave .. he is the new chairman of the boards for IUCA. After serving on the board since the inception of the school, David has agreed to take on this responsibility.

As we work with the needy and the orphans in Kyrgyzstan, we see that for the kids here, there is only one way out. There is only one way to break the cycle of poverty that is a way of life here
.. And as far as education goes, one is quickly rising to the top when it comes to quality , and integrity.. and that is IUCA. For many of the kids we help... this is the key to a new life. The amazing thing is that the University had such a burden for the kids here that they take students soly based their potential of circumstances and not based on their ability to pay... I know of no other University that operates in such a way, but with people like David at the lead, I am not surprised.

It was a big day for LAMb ere in Kyrgyzstan. Search and rescue, and education were in the for front today, but as we sat in the ceremonies, we could not help but think about the thirst strand of our team. Lynn and Ruby who are busy State side right now "Tent making" and working on preparing the structural changes necessary to one day make Search and rescue a thing of the past.... But for now we put our HOPE in the One... Because as the Dr shared ... as all else leaves us, there is HOPE....

so what about tomorrow...

Baby hospital to check on the needs of the kids, Chui Mayors office for a meeting, preparing a business plan for future development at IUCA, meeting with a man coming from Bishkek, nit sure what about, but its just not my time to know, then start shopping for kids day and the 600 disabled kids and orphans that we will be celebrating with, meeting with director at a local orphanage to set up English classes for one special young boy there, then find a Russian tooter for the summer for Aigoola's kids. Day spring training meeting, and finish of with an IUCA meeting with Dave.

As I look at the days ahead, it is easy to get overwhelmed , we only have 2 weeks left, and so much to do.... it's times like this that I think back to last week when we stays at home and took a day off... too bad we can't borrow that day back... I have a few things I would like to do back then..