A little catch up .

After a very Busy fall with hosting 5 different groups totaling 33 people all together, then catching up when we got back to Canada, Julie and I were ready to drop out of society for a week of R&R thanks to a special gift from Julies Dad .  It was certainly needed .    We were limited to a maximum of 90 minutes internet in the morning and 90 minutes at night, so that kept our work load focused and limited, and our days more restful .. 

We did have a few things on the go during that time ..  Last week was disabled persons day ,  so we focused on the Ivonofka children s center and the Iskra mens home .   

Emma and Sergey went to the children s home and Larisa and Tanya focused on the Mens home . 

there were a lot of Government people there for the celebrations , Sergey said that he felt a little funny that with all these government people , yet when the kids saw he and Emma , they then got all excited ...  

Bekah was out with friends to visit the seniors and make sure that they had enough heat for the winter , As well she is helping this Dadushka to get his documents so that he can go to live with his sister in Russia.
  She also is looking into a couple situations we have found out about .. 2 separate orphanages, both great homes for the kids, and both are in financial trouble and could end up closing .. This is always so hard .. there are good orphanages and bad  ones .. yes no orphanage is always better , but until the time comes where alternatives are in place , pulling funding is NOT the answer. and allowing them to close drives the kids back onto the street or into the over crowded under funded bigger orphanages .    Before we sit back and say it is good to close orphanages , we need to have an alternative in place , then begin by closing the worst first . No one should ever allow a child to end up homeless and feel good about it.    Emma has a whole case load of kids that have faced this and are still suffering from those decisions .   but I digress ..... Bekah is gathering facts and we will see if there is something we can do .., 

Tilik went for the follow up visit , and something happened and the price of the surgeries went from almost $1000 to almost $2000 ... just like that ,,.. so we had to cancel the surgery and then send Acel in to try to figure out what was going on .. did they find out that a foreigner was involved, or did they forget that he is an orphan and that they had agreed to do the operations cheaper.. Not sure I will ever know , but Acel used her scary face , and now everything is back on again .. we are looking at January 17th  for the first operation .

 On another front, 5 of the kids have had there dental work started . and are soooo happy to have the worst teeth that were causing the pain fixed.. but still have lots more to do .  Bekah shared that they were having a hard time  excepting the help.. it was so much money that they could not understand how some one that they don't even know could make such a sacrifice for them ... The want us to thank you all so much .

Another one of the operations is not going so well.. Nina's cyst has grown and is in to difficult an area to operate at this time so they are trying to treat it medicinally to try to get it back under control .. and both Maxim and the twins have had there first round of treatments and are doing much better now .. 

The Christmas totals continue to climb.  we are just under $2000 from our target .  We have the funds to cover the Christmas parties and the gifts, now we are just working on the collection of Vitamins and the transportation expenses to get them there .    the Pie challengers are off the hook, but the donate button is still up and donations continue to trickle in

Speaking of pies , they will be flying this weekend in MN  . Julie and I leave tomorrow for Saint Paul where we will meet up with our friend Dr Tatyana from Kyrgyzstan .  While there with her we want to see about getting anm Ultrasound machine for her clinic.  There is not one in Tokmok and would be a great help to them .  then we will be on to the Marquis for a visit Friday night , then on to the Schneider.  Tony and his friend Kory will be joining us in Kyrgyzstan this Christmas to help with the parties.  Both Tony and Lisa will be joining me in getting a pie in the face since we had met our targets.

We will get back to Toronto Monday night in time to meet up with another young lady Shannon who will be joining us for a month , flying out with Julie and I on Christmas day .  She is a dream agent from Possibilities International , and will be able to help as well .

Now are working on putting the party schedule together  for the Holidays ..