Happy birthday Billy

Today was little Billy's first birthday.  I am sure that it is a bitter sweet day for his Grandma .  Billy lost his mom on this day during child birth.  Billy was failure to thrive and had 3 holes in his heart and not expected to live.   Many of you have been following his journey here on the blog ,so here is a little recap.  Aiperie has been bringing formula and other necessary food and clothes to the family every couple of weeks since November, and we have seen incredible changes in Billy's health.   He has developed muscle tone and two of the holes in his heart have grown in on their own and the third is doing well.  We still have him on a mixture of formula and pablum.  The family is so poor and he is doing so well that we do not want to take him off the high quality formula until we have to . 

Today Aiperi was busy organizing a birthday party for him. 

 

A tradition in Kyrgyzstan is to tie the babies legs with yarn on their first birthday, then the village kids have a running race and the winner of the race gets a prize, as well they get to cut the yarn on the babies legs which symbolizes releasing the baby to begin to walk and run.  

here is a short video of that today 

It was our initial target to keep him on the formula until he was one and we have had some incredible sponsors who made that commitment and have supplied this need.   Now that we have reached that target , how much more we are able to do for him will depend on the generosity of you our readers .. If you would like to help with the on going care of Billy, please use the donation links on the side of the blog and in the memo just put "Billy"  thank you so much . 

" a pot to pee in "

 Just as we were leaving Kyrgyzstan we shared a need of a young widowed mom who had no toilet in her apartment.  she had been living there for some time and could not afford one. 

Today Vlady was able to get them a toilet and install it and fix the lines .. What a blessing .. 

the final days of farm camp.

Our little girl that we have been helping had a bit of a set back today.  It looked like she was improving, but when she went back into the children's hospital today they found that she is not improving fast enough.  She is now scheduled for skin grafts for Thursday then follow up treatment after that.  We are feeling very blessed that several of you have been supporting our efforts with her, and  the funds are in place for the skin grafts and the next round of treatments .  such a blessing. 

The second week of farm camp has rapped up .  This has been such a positive experience for everyone.. Just stop and think about it .. Our farm kids, no longer orphans but now part of a the farm family, running a camp for orphans.   

It was not just the fun activities and the skills that they learned, the kids became part of our family. 

It was so hard for them to say good buy, and hard for our kids on the farm as well.  They did put together a little good buy gift for them from the farm to take home to remember their time . 

Fresh eggs and fresh milk, and of course 6 liters of strawberry jam 

Lets not call this good buy , lets just say see you soon, as I am sure we will be seeing a lot more of these kids in the future.  Who knows maybe one day they too will be living on the farm and helping with the farm camp with the next group of kids.  

Strawberry season

The strawberries are in full swing now in Kyrgyzstan.  This is a cool picture of a bunch of the kids around the strawberry pans helping to clean and pluck to get ready to make jam.  Its funny, there was not that much help when we were washing spinach, but it is understandable and any help is welcome.  

The VERY BEST thing to go along with strawberries is fresh Borsolk .. you have not experienced a raw culinary delight until you have tasted it.  The strawberries in KG are somehow better then anywhere else, and I think that borsolk was designed as a way to eat them.

But its not all eating and playing , the kids still are working hard in the gardens every morning.  

Back in Canada today, Julie and I visited friends from Northview in Peterborough.  We had a great time sharing about the farm.  They have a large team coming to the farm in September.  During our time there we shared about our desire to send so many kids to further education this fall.  Things are going to look different at the farm with many of our kids away at school through the week and only home on weekends .  We are so excited for them all , and at the same time it can be a little concerning when we stop and look at the financial aspect of this.  I have what has become a deep routed belief that when God gives an assignment that the resources are tied to that assignment, and not the other way around.  I also KNOW that education is so important for our kids, not just for their future job prospects, but for their emotional development.    So we have not considered the possibility that the funds will not be there ... Well to be honest that sounds like a cool statement, but  I am not as spiritual as maybe I should be and yes is does scare me at times , usually around 3:00 in the morning , hahaha .. but I do know that I should not worry and just leave this in Gods hands.  This is something that I need to work on. 

Today I was reminded again to put it in Gods hands.  With out a prior plan, the group was prompted to pass the hat and in just minutes over $2000 was raised toward the scholarships.   What a blessing.. I had always heard that if you want to bless a parent, then bless their kids... Today our kids were blessed beyond measure... WE were blessed.  Thank you to everyone at Northview this morning.. Once again you have reminded me who is in control.  

Day eight of Farm Camp

A very busy day yesterday but a fun one.  We started bringing in the hay, 

We had 

guests to both the kashar and the farm, As well the kids farm camp is still on .  but we have a great team on the ground and it all went off with out a hitch 

One of the families we work with is having a crisis right now. Their daughter has suffered severe burns and is in the hospital, so Vlad had to slip away from the excitement on the farm to go to the hospital and arrange treatment as well as a ride to the Childrens hospital in Bishkek.  We will keep you posted as we know more. 

A little work and a little play.

Yesterday I posted about our scholarship program and our hope to get it a big boost over fathers day.   Vlad has been working at that end to see if there are any scholarships available and what help we can get in country.  One of the schools can not offer any special price, but they are willing to let us pay monthly rather then in two installments.   As well some of the scholarship will be going to housing or transportation costs that are also covered on a monthly or daily basis. This is great news for us.  It also means that if you our sponsors would like to help in smaller amounts on an on going basis, you could consider setting up a monthly sponsorship using the donate button on the side of the blog. 

Camp has been going great.  The kids are starting to get the hang of the morning chores.  On the rainy days they have English and math class as well.   

the ping pong and biking riding are a big hit as well 

yesterday they went for a hike up to the water falls, then had a picnic there.  

After the hike picnic they went to the yurts for the night ..they enjoyed the camp fire , in fact they loved it so much at the yurts that they plan on going back .

tonight's activity is board games at the cafe . 

  

Fathers day Scholarship fund .

Well we have made the jump across the pond and we are settled back into our home in Canada .  It is nice to see everyone and start to make some planes for the next couple months here.  We will be speaking in Peterborough this Sunday and Patrolia next Sunday and Stirling and Norwood after that.    If you would like to have us come and share , please let me know and we will see if we can fit it into our schedule.  This fall we have 5 groups coming to the farm beginning Aug 13. 

A Father to the Fatherless 

Hope for the future is what the sign says on the wall behind Baktagul as she receives her nurses diploma.  

Over the next couple months we need to really focus on our scholarship program .  

I heard somewhere recently " when you are just surviving, you can't dream "   If you stop for a moment and let that sink in.  The people that we work with, even just surviving can be a reach for them.  But we are just so excited and encouraged when we see the changes in our kids as they move past survival and settle in and actually start living .. we see them begin to dream ..  They dream of a future.. they dream of an education, they dream of one day having a drivers licence , they dream of one day getting a good job.  And in all this dreaming that they are doing it is as if God is breathing a fresh breath of life into each of them.  I know that He says that a " people with out a vision will parish, "  so it only makes seance that as our kids begin to live they will begin to dream , or is it the other way around .. as they dream they begin to live.  I am really not sure but what I do know is that we are facing this incredible awakening on the farm right now, Dreams of taking Petagodgy, Art collage, psychology major,  automotive electronics. two others would like to take tourism, and one in I.T.  We have three that would like to begin the 6 week intensive course to get their drivers licence. and the list goes on.  We have one boy that is exceptionally gifted and would like to go to a private school rather then the village school, ( and we agree) We possibly have a new boy coming to the farm soon, and we will need to get him ready for school as well.    

The last few months our coworkers have worked hard to get all the kids documents ready and their registries in place so that  they can begin the school process. this has actually added up to quite an expense.    

When I do a quick calculation, I think that we need about $15000 over the summer to ensure them all a place in school this fall.   But what a place to be in .. a farm full of kids that are dreaming .   As they each think and pray about their futures I am reminded that our assignment is not tied to our resources, but the resources ARE tied to our assignment .  These are Gods kids whom he has placed with us for safe keeping .. now we just wait upon Him to move on the hearts of his people to bring the resources. 

As I was starting to formulate this post I got a message from a friend who would like to start the ball rolling with a $250 scholarship donation for fathers day ... what a blessing , and what a great idea .. I wonder how much more would come into a scholarship fund in honer of all the fathers out there.  

Please consider how you might be able to help with this and at the same time please pass this along to others that you think might be interested. 

Day two of farm camp

Second day of farm camp was a rainy one, but that was no problem.  We have lots of indoor crafts for them as well.  Today is was some wood working projects that were supplies to us buy one of our grandchildren's classes.  The kids loved it.  

Then last night they had a movie before bed . 

But it is not all fun and games on a farm.  The kids were up early because they had chores to do .. Feeding the animals , weeding the garden, and a few even  worked in the kitchen learning how to make home fries, kasha and most importantly COFFEE...

Last night we went out for burgers with Bekah before heading to the airport .  After supper we ran into a couple of our boys from the farm out checking out the big city ... It was nice to get one more good buy from them.