USNOF - Latest Blog Entries

Kiev on Sunday Afternoon (Becky)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:08:00 -0500

It's a wrap (Becky)

Sun, 25 Jul 2010 07:23:00 -0500

It seems that among all of us, we either brought or purchased 8,478,244 pounds of items to donate among the programs and faciliites that we visited and worked with. One item that I helped bring to Rivne, was a refurbished (like new!) Fujitsu laptop computer with Windows 7 & a DVD burner... a hot item for the lucky facility that would continue on with producing Polly Movies for their children and families.

Jason chose to give the laptop to Rivne-Pahinets... and as you can see, Tamara was quite pleased with the gift. Truly, her staff took a great delight and interest to the process of using video self modeling with their children & over the course of the week, really became skilled at both the planning, filming and editing of these short learning videos.

It's a great delight to see a need, share the intervention & tools.... and then stand back to watch the dream grow.

Friday/Saturday (Amy)

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:30:00 -0500

Saying Goodbye

Today is our last day here in Rivne. So much has happened, we played with the kids, messages were said, songs were sung, stories were told and most importantly, friendships were formed. It was a pretty emotional time. As I reflect and think on this whole week and what I was able to witness, I am truly blessed by God. I thank the Lord for the opportunity to see that God is working in all our lives and this has strengthened my trust in Him. I've been struggling with trust issues due to the past. This really helped me.

Early in the week, God had me meditate on Psalm 81:7 -
In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
God was testing me and my faith, whether I trusted in His ability to provide for me and He does, just as He promised.

The first day when we talked about Creation in story time, in the recreational time we gave each child a beanie baby. I was wondering if we had enough. We gave the children all each a beanie baby and then gave the kids at the Intake Facility each one, and ended up having some leftovers that we were able to give to the Baby House. On Wednesday we had an overwhelming group of kids that suddenly appeared and the VBS team was exhausted in the middle of it all. When we left and break for lunch we were all exhausted. I had prayed for energy because we still had to go to the older kids and God gave me strength. I ended up playing futbal with them and I thought I couldn't move anymore! Thursday when we talked about Easter and did Easter Egg Hunt with all the children, again I doubted and wondered if we had enough eggs for them. Each little kids were able to get 4-5 eggs and the older children had about 6-7 eggs. It was the perfect amount. God does provide and He provides just enough!

On Friday the older kids did a little performance for us by singing and gave us gifts that they made. We treated them to a pizza party and gave them a copy of the Bible. I also realized that trying to buy a Bible in Ukraine is not that easy. We had to go to a Christian book store in order to get some. Back home, it's so easy to find a Bible in almost any bookstore. We, as Americans, are so truly blessed that this great book is so easily accessible.

Ukraine is a great place. I love the time here and all the Ukrainian friends I made. They all shared with me a little about their country. Each one of them are proud Ukrainians, but like most government in any countries, it needs work. Government is corrupted by selfish leaders and law that does not get enforced. Common people struggle with everyday life, and even with the difficult struggles, my Christian Ukrainian friends are content and thankful for God. So much so, that they are so willing to serve God by helping others even though their situations are not the most ideal. Each of us have different circumstances and struggles, but all of us are capable of helping one another.

Before i end this blog, I'd like to share that there's a lot of pizzas here in Ukraine. Every corner in Rivne seems to have pizza and I hate pizza. I was able to go to one pizza place that had the best pizza I ever ate, it's called La Rivera (I hope I spelled it correctly). It's right by the river/lake/pond. I was able to eat real Ukrainian food and found that they eat mostly potatoes, dill, meat, sour cream, mayo (mostly on their salads), dill, pickles and did I mentioned dill?

Oleg, my new friend, said his wife is a great cook and that she makes everything by scratch. So, if I do come back to Ukraine, Kiev, I am inviting myself to his house and try out his wife's food. Thank you Oleg, for making my mouth water while listening to all the wonderful dishes your wife makes, while I eat the "Ukrainian Pizzas."

Friday (Becky)

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:30:00 -0500

The Baby House Orphanage

Thursday/Friday (Kelly)

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:25:00 -0500

Our final wrap-up days have been just as busy as the rest of the week, and also just as fulfilling. We've done so much in the last two days I'm not really sure where to begin. I am ready to go home yet it's strange to think that we leave Rivne early tomorrow morning and start making our journey home. It always goes by so quickly. We're filled with ideas and passion, and are already talking about what we should do next year and what we can bring.

Thursday was a productive day. We visited Pahinets in the morning and had our annual meeting with Tamara to learn about all she's done and hear hysterical stories about the children. She's had enough rooms renovated and received enough money from the government that she can finally extend her ages past 8 years. In September she'll start the first class for 9-10 year olds. Now Pahinets will serve children from the age of 2 months to 10 years. Her hope is to eventually serve children to 16 years. About 3 years ago, after our sessions on parent advocacy, Tamara had intense discussions with a few parents and promised to extend her school through 3rd grade. I was ecstatic, but it didn't happen, until now. The other great part of the day was that she agreed to help us with Nikita. Nikita is the 17 year old we agreed to help last Sunday. A young man who's never attended school. Tamara agreed to start slowly with him. Sending a therapist to his house once a week, and then hopefully have him attend school once a week and eventually receive some job training. We were supposed to meet him on Thursday afternoon, but he was resistant to riding in the taxi so he didn't come. We had a really nice talk with his grandmother and younger brother though. We met at the OMNI center in the afternoon and reviewed the conference. They seemed pleased. They'd really like even more specialized, practical classes next year.

On Friday every year we visit the baby house. I've included some photos so you can join me in loving and praying for these sweet children. Normally, the director gives us a tour, but this year he had a colleague show us around. Unlike the director, this colleague let us hold and play with the children. It was heartwrenchingly glorious. We were frequently cautioned against taking photos of certain children because they're in the process of being adopted. I was surprised, and of course, overjoyed at the large number of children being adopted. Even a couple of the children in the special needs group!!

After the VBS group finished their annual pizza party at the Intake Center, we drove over to the "mall." The best part is that it has an ice skating rink in the middle and it's probably the only place in Ukraine that's COLD. We spent the afternoon shopping at the mall, the linen store, and the amber store.

The best part of today though was having dinner with Victor, Irina, and their son Anton. Anton is now 8, graduated from Pahinets (his parents hadn't heard they'd extended the classes), and he'll be attending a "school" in the fall called Special Child. Anton is speaking wonderfully now and has made a lot of progress academically. He's a delight. I had a great time chasing him through the park and giving him piggy back rides. For those of you who don't know, Victor is the father that waited in the hotel lobby several years ago for Karen Feathers (founder of USNOF), and made the organization aware that parents such as himself were keeping their children at home rather than placing them in the orphanages and asked USNOF to help them too. This man in essence expanded USNOF into helping the parents, OMNI, Pahinets, and eventually the educators. He's amazing!

Thank you once again for all your support, thoughts, and prayers. It means so much to me. People are flying in many different directions and spread across a few airlines. Please keep us in your prayers as we fly over the Atlantic.

Friday (Dave)

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:14:00 -0500

VBS....Gideon goes to Rivne

A few years ago a team was being assembled to head to Poplarville, Mississippi, in response to Hurricane Katrina. As it was being arranged, approximately 25-30 people were expected to make the trip. As the date for departure drew near, fewer and fewer people were able to make the trip and the team ended up being 9 people. A bit concerned with the size of the team, we headed to Poplarville, stopping in Tennessee overnight. At that night's devotional, one of the team's leaders shared that he had been reading about Gideon that day. It seems God didn't want Gideon to take too large of an army to attack the Midianites lest man take the credit for the great victory. [ed. note - see Judges 7] Well, we had a Gideon sized army headed to Poplarville, and we accomplished everything that we had set out to do.

I had forgotten this lesson in the time leading up to this trip to Ukraine. Our VBS team was too small at 5 people to run an effective VBS. So we sought more workers late into the trip planning and welcomed two others to our team. 7 was doable. 5 was not enough. And then we were reminded that God is in control. He knew that Sherry and Judy would be needed at home, and He knew that 5 was enough. And so we headed to Rivne with our Gideon sized army... and we accomplished everything we set out to do and more. It wasn't easy. But it wasn't supposed to be. Jenny, Rob, Megan, Amy and I were blessed to be witnesses to God's power.

Exhaustion

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:54:00 -0500

No blog posts tonight - but I assure you they are... hot and tired!... and their lives have been deeply touched by the children, and adults, of Ukraine. Sleep well USNOF July 2010 Team...

Thursday AM (Becky)

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:30:00 -0500

Becky loves Auro

Tuesday/Wednesday (Kelly)

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 11:30:00 -0500

Yesterday and today were extremely long and busy, but fantastic. It's 11:30 pm and I'm finally getting to my email for the first time since Tuesday morning. I'd just like to ride this high for the next few days.

"The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped." Proverbs 11:25 (MSG)

That has been a very powerful verse for me this week. It expresses exactly how I feel. I may have traveled to Ukraine to help people, but they help and bless me abundantly. They fill my cup and fire up my heart. They rejuvenate me and impassion me for the work I do throughout the year. Traveling to Ukraine and working with these people is the highlight of my year.

Tuesday: I started the day with a presentation on identifying autism--recognizing the early warning signs in order to detect and diagnose as early as possible. Dianne followed with the specific criteria required to diagnose a child with autism. She even discussed a few of the rating scales we use in the US. Jackie ended the day by expanding their knowledge of the special education process or system. She introduced policies and procedures, and reviewed varied therapy models and how to select the appropriate therapy for your child. As she was talking it became very clear that establishing policies and procedures is an area of need here.

With each break, the three of us were engulfed by parents and professionals asking questions and requesting advice and setting up appointments for individual consultations. While Jackie was lecturing, Dianne and I met with a mother and her 22 month old son who didn't respond to his name and had delays in communication. He'd had his hearing tested, but it was inconsistent. We noticed some possible signs of autism; however, his hearing was a major concern. Not only did he not respond to his name, when I rang a bell, he made no response to indicate that he heard it at all. They've been resistant to travel to Kiev and have his hearing checked further, but that's what we recommended and encouraged her to do.

Wednesday: Today was the last day of the conference. A little shorter this year. We probably could've had another day since we ran out of time; however, I think it went really well. Based on the needs we were hearing throughout the week and because we had a lot of parents in the audience, Dianne and I changed up our presentations today and did a little bit of back and forth presentating. Children with autism typically have trouble attending to objects and shifting their attention from one object/person to another. So Dianne talked in the morning about these topics. This led straight into my talk on promoting communication by using the picture exchange communication system (PECS), which requires attention, joint attention, and pointing skills in order to be successful with the program. Thank goodness for wifi in our hotel because I was able to download several videos from youtube last night to explicitly show the conference participants what PECS looks like. Yesterday afternoon Dianne and I visited a local educational store and purchased several items: book and puppet, train, play dough, large ball, bubbles and light globe, etc., which we used throughout our presentation to model different strategies. We also passed out these items to small groups and had them practice the strategies we'd just described and brainstorm other ideas. At the end of the day we drew names and gave away the same items as prizes. My PECS presentation took so long that Dianne had less time than would have been desired to complete her presentation on play development and how to promote play skills. As a professor, Dianne is very good at picking out the key points in her slides to discuss when time is running short. That's a skill that I need to acquire.

The afternoon was spent consulting with families, mostly children that had recently been diagnosed with autism (like in the last 3 weeks). In the evening we visited the facility where the autism organization has set up. They've managed to acquire a few rooms for a few hours on Saturday and Sunday. The therapy sessions are run by parents, but parents that just happen to be doctors, speech therapists, and teachers. They work full time during the week so the program is only up and running on the weekends. There are many more families interested in joining their group; however, space, resources, and teachers are limited and they've not been able to expand. They've approached their department of education for help and haven't yet received a response. I'm so impressed with their passion and drive. They're doing wonderful things for their children. I wish their country would support them. Down syndrome has been a very prevalent disability here, and while autism is growing rampantly even in Ukraine, they seem to still be in a little denial when it comes to helping/educating children with special needs. It doesn't help that they don't value or even appreciate children with disabilities in Ukraine (that was a requested conference topic for next year---how to advocate for the value of their child). They presented a very professional argument (presentation); even giving us a small folder of documents and pictures. Everything needs to be translated. Once that's done, we'll have a better idea of how we may be able to help them.

Next couple days: We have a few more consultations scheduled. Tomorrow we meet with Tamara at Pahinets to discuss ideas for next year. We'll also meet Lyubov at the OMNI center to debrief. Jason and I will meet with her later to discuss their dream for the Child Diagnostic Center. They've made some strides over the course of this past year. I want to talk to her in more detail about how we can help them achieve their goals.

Over the course of the week, several of us have been approached with the idea of helping other locations, organizations, and orphanages. We've been traveling to Rivne since 2002 (this is my 5th trip) so the thought of going somewhere else is a little daunting. However, it has become increasingly clear that God is sending us a message. It's happenned too many times for us to be able to ignore the thought. As we begin to make plans for next year, please pray that we make the right decisions.

Monday/Tuesday (Becky)

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:42:00 -0500

Don't forget to read Becky's Blog too :-)

Tuesday (Lindsay)

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:49:00 -0500

Having been to Ukraine four times in the past, I was fully prepared for a long, tiring trip to Rivne. I was fortunately blessed with a straight flight, few delays, and plenty of time to rest at the hotel on Saturday, before the rest of the group arrived later that night. The bus ride to Rivne was without any problems or delays. Though the weather was hot, and there was no A/C on the bus, everyone's spirits were high, and the trip seemed amazingly short compared to usual.

One of the concerns some of us in the group had about the children's camp was the ratio of children to group member. Our team is smaller this year than it has been in previous trips, and we were concerned that this would cause some difficulty with the children's camp. When we arrived on Monday, we were surprised to find that each group consisted of about eleven children. As our original thinking was that there were going to be about 20 per group, the small size came somewhat as a relief.

I have been working the craft station with two of the translators. Monday was a slightly crazy, but succesful day. One of the highights of the morning was when one of the children heard me mis-pronounce the color purple. I had taken a year of Russian, and had used Russian when saying the color, rather than Ukrainian. One of the little girls burst out laughing, and pointed at me saying "she doesn't know her colors." All of the children immediately moved to that table, holding up their markers and screaming the name of their color. Within a few minutes I had learned the names of the colors, and we were given an opportunity to tell the children where we came from and how we did not know their colors as we spoke English (The group consisted of mainly six and seven year olds. They still thought it was "funny").

We made animal masks that morning, representing the animals in the creation story from the story session. As each child colored their mask they took on the personality of their animal, starting to imitate their animals....we were soon being "attacked" by groups of animals growling at us and putting us in a "cage." While it was not what we had planned, it was a great way to get to know the children, and they had a wonderful time.

Tuesday came with a "gift" that brought a challenge with it. We woke up to cool air and thunderstorms early in the morning. The day was overcast, and breezy with some showers all throughout the first half of the day. As the heat had been close to unbearable all weekend and through Monday, the cool air and the breeze was definitely seen as a blessing. This did however bring a challenge with the camp. Both the craft and recreation sessions are held outside at the children's home. The teachers did not want us to move it inside, but within minutes of starting the craft with the children, it started to pour down rain. We were immediately moved inside, but were delayed for a few minutes as the teachers decided where to put us. Having had such an active group the day before, I was concerned about keeping the chidren busy through out the entire session so that they would not get too wild and upset the teachers. Amazingly, in contrast to the energy the children had displayed on Monday, we had three wonderfully calm and attentive groups throughout the morning. The children not only sat at their tables the entire time, coloring and making their nativity scenes, but they also questioned us and told us about what they had learned about the baby "Isus, Maria, and Yosepha" in story time with Jenny and Oleg. Overall, the past two days at the children's home have gone wonderfully, not as I had expected them to go, but better.

[Photographs by Dave]

Care and Repair Update

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:49:00 -0500

The Baby House had an inspection this year and has to implement a new requirement - every child who enters the facility must be keep in quarantine for 22 days before being placed with their age appropriate group. This has required a new quarantine area to be built. They are combining a couple of rooms in the front of the building (in the front lobby, near the bathroom and across from the pool area) and are creating a space that is the mirror image of the infirmary space. He was given some money, has received some donations, and has all of the materials. Now it needs to be finished - the walls are rough brick, the windows and doors that divide the internal space haven’t been installed, and there are exposed wires everywhere. It will cost $2440 for the labor to complete this work. There is also an old exterior window that has to be replaced with 2 smaller windows (an interior wall was in the center of the large window). Our donation of $3000 will also cover the cost of those windows. The space should be complete in September.

Next year we will continue with the replacement of windows. Our next priority will be any room in which children receive services. So the therapy rooms, sensory room, all of the specialists offices, and such will be next on the list. The director will prioritize the window replacement based on the amount of time children spend in the rooms. Eventually we will get to pure administrative space, hallways and stairwells.

I asked the director about how their year went, if he had any problems with influenza. He said that he did not, that he was working on a report that showed that the number of illnesses has decreased each of the last 3 years. He also said the rooms are definitely warmer and he believes it is contributing to the children’s overall health.

Monday (Amy)

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 06:14:00 -0500

First timer perspective

For years, I had a desire to go to some missionary trip. When I was younger I had thought about joining the Peace Corp and did a little research on it, however, I met someone during that time and was distracted and ended up getting married and having kids. That dream was put on hold. Now divorced and single again, this desire to help people is back.

I heard about USNOF through a good friend, Amy Jones. She has been trying to get me to go for the longest time. Then when I met Jason and Jennifer Miller, and the desire to go grew even more. After five years of dreaming about going, this year it was made possible.

This year I had some extra money from the tax refund and also the time to go. I was still a bit anxious and wasn't sure if I should still proceed. God had told me to trust Him and allow Him to work it all out. True to His promise, He did His end and all I had to do was follow His calling and accept the mission. So, I accepted the challenge.

The Travel to Ukraine was a long 8 hour flight from Dulles, Virginia to Munich, Germany. Then it was another 8 hour wait at the airport of Munich. Thankfully Munich airport was nice with a lot of shops (almost like a mall) to keep one occupied. I arrived at Kiev the night of Friday around 1030pm. By the time I was done with customs and security, the ride to the hotel, it was 1130pm.

The next morning I woke up at 630am and had to leave again, this time for a bus ride to Rivne. A 5 hour bus ride. Ukraine is a lot more developed than I had expected.

By 1230pm we arrived at Rivne and I had the pleasure to witness a civil wedding of a friend, Allen Hull. I was told that in Ukraine, they have one civil wedding and one church wedding. The civil wedding is what "counts." Whereas, in my friend's opinion, the church wedding is what really "counts" and makes it legal with God's blessing. I will have to agree with my friend, Allen.

The weekend was spent recovering from the two days of travel and with some preparation and discussion on the expectations of who is doing what for each team.

Today, Monday 19 July, the Outreach/VBS team visited the orphanage first. This was a group of kids from ~2-5 year old. We split up into three teams and the kids also split up into three groups rotating every half hour. The first group did story time, then another worked with them on arts and craft. We had them make masks and lastly, I was on the recreation team and basically played with them and chased them around. Many asked that I chase them. I started out strong and chased all the kids and played ball with them, then the second group came around and I tried to keep up and chased some, but stood and played ball. By the third group I had to sit and all the kids were just running around me. The orphanage needs a lot of renovation. The playground is in really bad shape with overgrown grass and rusty playsets. Yet I was told by the translators that this orphanage is one of the best.

We broke for lunch and after lunch visited the "Intake facility" - this place was opened by a Director who used to be a military official and has a huge heart for helping kids. The kids here are a lot older range from 7-16 years old. This place is for runaway children and children whose parents have problem such as alcohol/drug addiction. This is a safe place for them while their parents recover from their addiction or until a close family relative comes and claimsthem.

The children are all very well behaved, and played well with one another. We started out with singing songs and then working on crafts. We later took them outside and play ball, jump ropes and did any other outdoor activities they seem to enjoy. The day started out very well. We ended the day feeling exhausted, but fullfilled.

Monday (Dianne)

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:51:00 -0500

We arrived at the Omni Center, greeted by a film crew on the front steps (of course this makes all of us nervous -- especially when we see how large the lights are -- like we need something to make us hotter!). We found our way to Lubov's office and started the usual "discussion" of how the week would flow. After deciding to continue the planning at a later time, we went downstairs to start the conference. Jackie VanLenkveld from Canada was our first speaker. Jackie, whose family is from Ukraine, gave the majority of each presentation in Ukraininan. One of the translators leaned over the me and said she was doing a good job -- congrats Jackie. Participants were attentive, enjoyed the great door prizes, and asked some questions. The group asked to work through lunch so they could get out earlier (remind me to pack some food tomorrow!). Our afternoon session was Becky Roth from Alaska. Becky's presentation and wonderful videos were on a Mac. Here was our first discovery of the day -- Ukrainian projectors do not talk to Macs! So folks moved closed to the front to watch three great videos on the laptop screen -- we are nothing if not adaptable! Participants really seemed interested in the topic of video self-modeling and asked lots of questions. I was really pleased because there was no previous knowledge about video self-modeling. Becky and Jackie are both going to work with individuals and small groups of folks from the remainder of the week. We'll let you know how those groups go.

A small group approached Jason and Kelly and described a program they started for children with autism after the last conference. We are going to visit that program on Wednesday afternoon. I am excited to see their efforts, and so very honored that they were inspired by our conference last year. May God continue to work on behalf of the children, families and professional serving those families in Ukraine!

Dianne Koontz Lowman, Ed.D.

Monday (Kelly)

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:23:00 -0500

Hi all,

All USNOF teams have just returned to the hotel and crashed after a very successful first day. Despite a few technical difficulties, the first two presentations went really well. When I think back on our first conference a few years ago, I'm surprised at the change.... everything went very smoothly. I'm pleased with how our relationships with the people here have grown and developed. I'm also noticing that our mission, our goals, have begun to merge and now we're relatively on the same page and working as a more cohesive American-Ukrainian team.

And I was thrilled to get reports of how they're applying what they've learned (more on that later).

The month of July is typically their vacation season. Most people leave the city and travel so our numbers aren't as large as last year; however, I'm happy to report that we had between 40 and 45 people.

Tomorrow's presentations might draw a larger crowd since the topic is autism. Jackie, who's from Canada, opened the conference this morning. She actually has some Ukrainian heritage and can read the language very well so she was able to give her entire lecture in Ukrainian. I, of course, wasn't able to understand her, but I do know that she was talking to them about specific strategies to promote literacy. Jackie received a lot of financial support (I think from her local rotary club) and was able to purchase books here in the city of Rivne, which she'll give to each organization we support, and give a book to each orphan at the Children's Home.

Becky traveled all the way from Alaska and she spoke during the afternoon session. She spoke about video self-modeling, which is an excellent visual support to train people both with and without disabilities to perform a task that they were previously unable to do. [Learn more at http://newabilityproductions.com/]

The trick is to edit and film the video so that it looks like the person is 100% successful and independent even if they're being prompted, or they're not doing it at all. For example, she made a video for a child with autism who had picky habits when it came to food. They filmed him sitting at the table with the plate of food in front of him, but the mouth eating the food on the video was actually his brother. They just zoomed in on the mouth, showing the fork full of food, and when watching the completed video it looked like the child with autism was eating the unpreferred foods. Very tricky! And it works. There is a lot of evidence and research behind this method.

Becky's donations purchased video cameras and dvd players for the 3 OMNI centers and 3 early intervention centers we work with. Becky will meet one-on-one with specialists from each center and train them how to make and edit a video.

The highlight of my day was when Jason and I were approached by a doctor, speech therapist, and teacher, all parents or grandparents of a child with autism, who attended our conference last year which revolved around autism. After the 2009 conference, several parents of children with autism from Rivne and 2 other nearby regions formed an organization. They are renting a space and gather 3 to 4 times a week to teach the children with autism. They've started an autism program!!!!!! They don't have any support such as government or financial support. They seem to have some loose ties to the Pahinets in Rivne. I'd like to explore that relationship further.

Unfortunately, the parents are currently having to pay for everything, which is of course very difficult for them to afford. They've asked USNOF for support. We're going to visit their classroom later this week and learn more about their organization and specific needs.

Obviously I want to help them. I don't know at this time if we can or how, but I'm just so excited! God reveals something to me each summer.

Tomorrow I'll be speaking in the morning about the warning signs of autism, and Dianne will follow in the afternoon with how to diagnose autism. Please pray for us. It's incredibly hot in the auditorium so I'd just like to remain on my feet. I wasn't even speaking today and I became a little shaky and sick feeling. I'd also like to be calm and articulate. Please also pray that God will continue to reveal himself to me and the organization so that we may help these people according to his plan.

Thank you ALL for your support, prayers, kind thoughts, and words of encouragement. When you're so far from home they mean so much. I really appreciate you all.

Love, Kelly A.K.A. Kellichka in Ukrainian, which means kelly dearest

Sunday (Becky)

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:40:00 -0500

Click for Becky's Sunday Blog entry

Sunday (Kelly)

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 04:33:00 -0500

Greetings from Rivne, Ukraine. Trip 2010 is off to a good start. We have a small team this year, with a couple people unable to travel at the last minute due to family emergencies; however, everyone made it safely. One poor team member traveled from Dulles to Munich with some of us, only for all of us to find out that she had a different flight to Kiev and it left 7 hours after ours. Fortunately she made it safely and was escorted through the aiport quickly and put in a cab to our hotel directly. The entire team convened in Rivne on Saturday afternoon.

One of our board members, Allen, was married in Rivne on Saturday. He met Olga, one of our translators a few years ago, and they held their civil ceremony yesterday. In a couple weeks, Rusty, from New Hope, who married Daniel and I, will travel to Odessa, Ukraine and officiate their formal church ceremony. In Ukraine, the church and state don't recognize each other. You have to hold the civil ceremony in order for a marriage to be official. The reception was held at Olga's sister's house and we had a fantastic Ukrainian backyard BBQ. It was a truly unique experience.

Today, a small group of us met with a mother, Lena, about her son Nikita. Nikita has Down syndrome and is now 17 years old. A couple years ago, when we first held the Pahinets Day Camp, Nikita arrived for camp; however, Nikita has never been to school. When Pahinets was founded he was too old to attend and there is still no school that provides services for a child his age. Some of you may remember that he struggled a bit at camp. He wasn't used to being around so many people and participating in a school routine; this resulted in some aggressive behaviors presenting themselves. Two volunteers that year worked one-on-one with Nikita and had remarkable results by the end of the week. Lena has searched for help/training/education for her son and has had no luck. A man that had heard about USNOF, put Lena back in touch with us, trying to get her some support. We had a wonderfully informative conversation over lunch. We were able to learn more about Nikita's stengths, needs, likes, and discuss the vision for his future.

We've asked to meet with him on Wednesday afternoon to glean some more information and see how USNOF might be able to best help him.

The conference at the OMNI center starts tomorrow. We'll be presenting Monday through Wednesday and a couple presenters will be holding private consultation sessions with the educators and therapists throughout the week. More details to follow We pray that it all goes smoothly and that our time will be used effectively and efficiently.

It's uncomfortably warm here and we're all still adjusting to the seven hour time change, but overall we're all doing well and excited to get started. The leisurely start to our trip this year has been very beneficial to adjusting and getting acclimated. Hopefully it will help give us the strength to get through the week with high energy and good health.

Safely in Rivne on Saturday, July 17

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 01:56:00 -0500

The team is now all together in Rivne, unpacking supplies and getting acclimated to the hotel and the city. It is hot, with a forecast of 90 degrees F. today, and there is no air conditioning (at least not the kind we are familar with!).

And they're off!

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:28:00 -0500

Our small, dedicated, talented team is making their way to Rivne. Special Thanks once again to Steve Lee for providing each traveler with a goodie bag of treats for the journey. Steve makes up these goodie bags each year and comes to the airport to see the team off, and his support is very much appreciated, and enjoyed.

Coming Soon!

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:17:00 -0600

The July 2010 trip updates will be found here!