Christmas with the Blind Society

While the LAMb was busy with a concert and party with a group of kids  , Acel and Talant were busy with another 100 kids from the blind society .

I remember back when Andy was with us , he visited the Blind society, and was talking to the director.  He asked what was one of his concerns .. Andy was told that they had lost one of there sponsors and were concerned that the kids would not have anything for Christmas or new years .  he did tell him that in the past that Talant came and did Christmas with them supplied by a group of people from North America, but that was never promised from one year to the next, and he was concerned as Christmas was approaching .   

  Well we were able to come through again this year .... Thank you to every one who took a pie in the face .. who threw a pie in the face , and those who donated for a pie in the face ... Because of you .  we were able to be there again this year . 

"the bags were all packed at the door with great care "

socks , candy, yogurt and juice boxes  

even the girls got into the action 

even some of the children from the society joined in the performance 

Merry Christmas and warm blessings to all from the children of the Bishkek blind society . 

More Christmas photo's

I just got these pictures from Bekah of one of the Christmas celebrations .  

Umerbeck is looking great 

It was great for Slavic to celebrate Christmas this year with people that love him   ... what a difference from last year 

what a cutey 

Camalla's first Christmas 

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Christmas celebration at the knowledge store.. thanks Olga for all you do 

this is one of the kids from the apartment we renovated a couple months ago. if it had not been for  intervention from a traveling team and our God son Samat, the kids would have been spending Christmas in an orphnaage.     Here she is  in a photo with Samat and a friend Vlad .    One of our girls  is hiding behind the camera .. not sure which .. 

the LAMb team at the gates of Jeremiah house to take down the for sale sign .. to see more of the home , go to the LAMb blog 

speaking of LAMb team ,  Celebrations at the seniors home  with Emma and the LAMb team the kids from Dayspring and a few men from the mens home ,    they were all very blessed to come together at this time .

Along with the Christmas gifts, we had a special donation that came in for them.  The team was able to bring them a large food drop to help them through the winter , as well as order 7 more ton of coal for them ... 44 seniors will be warm this winter and their tummies full because of one " Act of Kindness" thank you to our sponsors for help with this . 

Christmas day with the Wrights

We would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas, and may you all be richly blessed in the new year 

We had a great day yesterday .   We began with a skype call with the girls and Jengish.   They are doing great. In their Christmas morning , they went out and picked up the brother of one of the Dayspring girls, and brought him to Dayspring were they all had a big Christmas Celebration. Poor Baktagool had to go to school in the morning to write an exam.....I think Kyrgyzstan dodged a bullet there ... if it had been Bekah that had to write an exam on Christmas morning ..... OH MY .. I DON"T EVEN WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT... 

The kids had just gotten in from their day when we were up and ready to open stockings, so we put it on the  tv and we all opened stockings together 

Jonah is into helicopters right now , and we hit one out of the park with this batman flying machine .  believe it or not this was the least violent of all the possible helicopters  we found.. 

Ben and Rachel, and Mom  got a beautiful Aigoola blanket for Christmas from us .

                                  


Julie know how much I love coffee crisp, and found some with      50 % less calories ...yummmm

Christmas tradition for us is to be at the town hall by noon to serve a traditional community  Christmas dinner. 

There are a lot of reasons why people may be alone this time of year , or financially not able.  Every year we have people bring a small portion of the meal hot and ready to serve to the town hall.  that way no one person has to do all the cooking .. this year we had about 30 families who helped in some way .. even if it was to run a pot of mixed veggies or mashed potatoes over drop them off for us ... it all comes together to be something wonderful 

the kitchen crew 

there is a special lady that has been here faithfully since this tradition started ... behind the scenes  she organizes the dish washing and clean up.... believe me .. this is the true hero of the day in my books ....

                                                

ready to serve   .. 

and what a meal it was .   close to 100 people were there to celebrate with us .   as well we had another dozen complete family meals were put together in roasting pans and delivered to families and individuals in the area .  there were even gifts for the kids . 

Message from the girls.

Chui Christmas celebration

Today was Chi Orphanages turn for a Christmas visit from Emma and Larissa & Tanya 

At this orphanage / boarding school , there are 270 kids .  they started off the festivities with giving every one a couple pairs of  leggings  ... 

Here are a couple faces you may remember from the last post up in the mountains 

                                          Its all about how you arrange your treats .. :)  

  fresh fruit in the winter is such a treat, and a banana any time of year is a treat.. but when you put it all together and through in cake, a juice box and a chocolate bar, you have hit the home run .    

 Here Tanya has enlisted the help of some of our young friends to help bring in the apples 

I have to tell you about this cake they are eating .. it is the best ... it is a honey cake , layered with cream and graham wafer type layer ... it is soooo good . and like I say, is the best you can buy .... I usually serve it in pieces about 1/4 that size , so this is very special ... in fact for many of these kids it is unbelievable ...  

                                                     

      There is a place that most avoid.. it is the TB hospital where people are brought if they are found with TB.  not a nice place at all.. It is the kind of place that is avoided and forgotten by most ... but not  this team., not this time ....                                 

       

the team is just getting started .. please pray for health and strength for those who are down right now with the flew ..  lost more to come ... 

Let the parties begin ! Here and There

It is turning out to be a hard , cold winter in Kyrgyzstan.  Many are starting to feel the effects , including many of our team that are  battling the flu.  Lynn and Ruby are having ups and downs , Sergey and Anya and there family are mostly downs right now.  With this in mind, we have decided to hold off a bit on some of the Christmas parties at the orphanages ,.. we do have a bit of grace as the Orthodox Christmas is not until later in January so we still have a little time .   

Today the focus was on many of the folks that Larisa works with .. The home for the disabled, the families at the dump and the little village that we brought water to, and have come to love dearly.  Jengish enlisted  some help from the city from a group of volunteers that came to help over the Christmas season... 

Emma and Tanya with the team(this is Larissa in the pink - I thought it was Tanya at first too - She is looking so young)  

So they were put to work ... pushing the bus in to the village 

Every one was excited to see them .. and happy to know that they were not forgotten 

Larisa had everything organized , as only Larissa can do 

even the kids at the dump got a visit and some special gifts 

They were happy to see Larissa and the team... I was happy to see the photos of them

Emma and Tanya prepare the drink table 

Some of the team entertain ... what's a party with out a fiddle 

a big smile  .. a big thank you 

another big smile at the dump 

a special song from our friend at the home 

hitching a ride through the snow 

this friend got home from helping for the day and wrote this as her FB status       "What a precious day, we had 3 Christmas do's, for orphans, dump workers and men's home. Best Christmas party I've ever been to. What a privilege to be here with them. Great day."   I know exactly how she feels ... a true blessing ... a spiritual act of worship 

then, just like that it was over and  it was time to go ....

stay tuned . lots more celebrations to come ... 

On the home front,... or at least the Canada home front, we had a good day as well.  We are not really set for Christmas here yet , though we do have the tree up now.

 We have Jonah with is this weekend. We started early this morning with a trip in to our town hall.  At Christmas , a couple friends join us in heading up a Christmas dinner for any one in the community that is alone . Today we met there to get the tables set and the room decorated. Every thing is all set up now so that we will not have so much to do Christmas morning .     Then we had our dump and dine date , then down to see Julies brother .    We were having a hard time figuring out what to get them for Christmas on a limited budget, but then decided that a practical gift like fire wood might be appreciated.. I know we have appreciated that in the past , so Jonah and I spent a little time this morning stacking wood .  

then it was out to play with the chickens 

and go with Uncle Dan to feed the horses 

Not so sure about this one 

But the tractor he was all over that 

Mean while Julie stayed in to look after the baby ...

Tonight we were part of a live nativity in the Journey to Bethlehem   What a great time... a little cold out , but with the costumes and the fire it was nice and warm .   The entire back field behind our church is set up with little stations and villages that a traveller might encounter on their Journey  ...   

The three wise men sure looked the part in their costumes from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan 

this is Jonah and I at our station.. I was the profit... We had our Samovar going, and Chicken roasting on a spit on the fire ... Jonah was gorging himself on the little roasted cocktail weaners 

Here is with the flash on so you can see us a little better 

it was a great day all round .