Zoo trips and new friends

This past week was FUN packed! I often get to step in as 'mama' when my family here has to go out of town. So that is what I was this past week to 3 of the 6 Weber children. Babysitting the youngest three of the clan is always a treat- because they tend to think whatever I come up with is fun and seem to be amused by my ideas quite easily! For instance when I told them on Wednesday that we'd go to the zoo on Saturday- it became the biggest event of the week to look forward to- and when they found out that the zoo would be topped off with a trip to the disney land of Kiev (McDonald's) they were more than thrilled! That, combined with all the Christmas cartoons I currently have on my computer made for a fun weekend! (Don't worry I know that having kids of my own won't be that easy- so I'll enjoy being the 'entertaining one' for now!) I have to say that these little cousins of mine are a HUGE blessing in my life here. Having had the privilege to be a part of their lives as they've grown up and had so many 'firsts' (including John's first loose tooth this weekend) is just such an honor and joy that I don't take for granted!

Andre and the elephant

Just hanging out in the center like 'normal' Americans

Then today I was able to meet up with the Houghton family, who is another part of my Colorado crew of friends who are taking the adoption world of Ukraine by storm. Such a sweet couple! It was fun spending the day with them and hearing their story. We also met up with my friend Yulia and our friend Bruce, who is here finishing up the adoption of two more of our kiddos from Kherson!

We first met Pasha (far left) at a camp two years ago and Yulia has been praying for a family for him ever since. What a blessing to all be TOGETHER in Kiev today, celebrating God's faithfulness in answering that prayer with Pasha! Pasha and his newly adopted sister Natasha (next to me in photo)- are both finally getting to go home this week...just in time for Thanksgiving! I am so blessed by the job I have and the families I continually get to meet on the journey of adoption. Their stories, their risks, and their faithfulness to the Lord continue to INSPIRE me!

Making Amends: An Adoption Story

3 years ago I was able to help the Amend family with the adoption of their 3rd daughter, Aly. It was an amazing journey to be on with this family for many reasons! I've been blessed to stay in touch with the Amends over the years and stay up to date with the various surgeries Aly has had to undergo. Just yesterday, CBN aired a wonderful story featuring the Amend family! It was awesome to see their story shared with the world- as they truly are living out the spirit of adoption and have a heart for the Lord. It was fun to take a look through my photos when the Amends were here adopting Aly, as she isn't smiling in almost any of them. Now this little girl is ALL smiles and a bundle of energy and joy. Take a moment to watch and enjoy! :)

YouTube - Making Amends: An Adoption Story - CBN.com

Fall

I've not written much lately- maybe because I've been uninspired- or haven’t had much to say! I keep trying to think what to write about or share about...but lately it has been writer’s block.

I have decided recently that fall is my favorite season. There are things I love about spring and summer- but the fall season, with the vibrant colors changing all around, and the anticipation of Thanksgiving and Christmas --that there is something about that I just really enjoy.  I could go on about things I don't like about the fall...like the dark evenings, the cold temperatures, and the rain we are now having....but to keep myself from getting depressed-I'll just focus on the things I love- which are the colors, the cups of coffee  & tea with my family and friends and the walks through the leaves- as is captured here on a recent weekend walk with my cousins Gabrielle and Victoria.

Fall also reminds me of the end of things..or in reality- the death of things....as the leaves are drying up and the trees are left barren and we realize another year is coming to an end.  We could be depressed- thinking- this is it?!  It’s over!  But praise God -we know that as we welcome winter, we know that it will give way to spring! And renewal will happen yet again-- just as it always has. Maybe it is a good reminder that the Lord gave me spring in my name....it’s a reminder that he isn't done with me yet-- that there are still parts left to bloom. So even though I am enjoying the fall color around me and the blessings it contains (even when it feels like they are buried under a pile of leaves)- I too am awaiting the newness of spring!  Sometimes I just wish we didn’t have to go through the winter to get there.

So in the mean time…I’ll just enjoy the fall! :)

Celebrating 50 years?

A couple weeks back I traveled to Kherson,  as I was invited to attend the 50th Anniversary celebration of one of the orphanages that we’ve worked with over the last couple years.  When I first got the invitation I did find it a little ironic—celebrating 50 years of an institution that was created for housing orphaned children.  Now, I understand that in fact it is a good thing to have a state facility that can house children who do not have a safe home or who have lost their parents.  I guess in my opinion I just don’t think any such place should be seen as a long-term solution.

Something seemed a little ‘off’ in the celebration.  It was as if they were celebrating the fact that this was the best place for the children- and glorifying the institution itself.  No consideration seems to be taken into account for what these kids have lost- and what they continue to miss out on by not being in families.  Instead institutionalized life is painted as normal, kids grow up in a controlled -yet out of control environment and then are sent into the world, left to fall through the cracks of the same system that placed them in the orphanage to begin with. In my opinion we were celebrating 50 years of  broken families in Ukraine. 

What if instead of putting so much focus into having better and ‘prettier’ orphanages, the government refocused their efforts and aimed at raising up a better system for placing children in families and equipping families with the skills they need to raise these kids?

Actually, the question should be re-phrased. In reality, the question should be pointed back at the body of Christ—specifically the body of Christ here in Ukraine.  What is the church doing to see that these kids are in homes, being taught what it actually means to be in a family? Not just visiting orphans for the occasional  holiday celebration and dropping off gifts- perpetuating the orphan mentality of ‘the world owes me’—but instead embracing the spirit of adoption.  How is the Church reflecting Jesus' act of adopting us? 

Again…these are the questions I continue to ask as I pray for the Holy Spirit to place a growing burden on his people  (myself included)– that we would go beyond what is comfortable and open not just our hearts, but our homes to the orphaned.

Maybe then we won’t need to ‘celebrate’ another 50 years of institutionalized living.

With Vica, Zina and Rimma (after their performance), 3 girls that came with our group to America- 3 girls I just adore! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanging out with the girls on the lovely fall afternoon and having a little photo shoot. Also spent time with the De Young family- new friends, who were in Kherson to adopt two kiddos.

How it Turned Out

What are the chances
Of ever knowing You
Oh God of creation
What would have happened
If I never followed You
Oh Lord of salvation
But this is how it turned out
This is how it turned out

 
Everyday you greet me
With the beauty of the dawn
My faithful Companion
Your mercy is the morning
Your glory is in the sun
My Father in heaven
You knew how it would turn out
You knew how it would turn out

You're the hope of my life
You're the God of my peace
You're the light of my soul the very reason I breathe
I will walk in Your love
I will run in Your grace
I live to worship You

 
You are the reason
For every breathe I take
The strength in my weakness
You have forgiven every one of my mistakes
Power in meakness
This is how it turned out
This is how it turned out

~Song by Phil Wickham that I’ve just come to love.

Reflections on 5 years

This past week marked my 5 year anniversary of the day I first arrived in Ukraine. October 6, 2004. I think the fact that it has been a full five years has caused me to be a little more reflective lately than normal. I look back at these past five years in awe of the blessings that the Lord has poured out in my life and also in awe of the fact that I’m still here!! That was definitely not a part of my plan!

I recently found the original email I sent to family and friends when I was first preparing to leave and laughed to myself as I read the so called “plans” I had:

….. “I am so excited for what this next year has in store in all aspects.  I really feel that this is the perfect time in my life to explore overseas, and to see how the Lord will use this year of my life to teach me new things and grow me into the woman he desires me to be.”

I guess that growing into the woman the Lord desires me to be meant staying a little longer than I anticipated! And I have to say that I wouldn’t go back and change a thing. In some ways, I can’t believe how fast the time has flown, but in other ways, I realize my life prior to Ukraine seems like another life time, and like I was a different person.

Then….

These photos were taken in November 2004, when the Lord first captured my heart for the orphan- in a group of 12 year-old girls. Ira, (below left) was the first girl who won me over when she took my hand, and who I had the honor and privilege of seeing adopted into an awesome Christian family, one year later- a family who has now become dear friends.

Now…. 

These are two of the current princesses that have captured my heart and who have been waiting for almost 2 years for their adoption to be a reality.   Please pray for Zina (L) and Rima that their soon to be family- and pray that soon will be just that- soon! I look forward to the day I’ll get to wave them goodbye!

25 Things living in Ukraine has taught me…

*Goodbye’s get a little easier every time you say them…just a little.

*Distance causes you to lose some friendships completely- and others become surprisingly closer.

*Kindred spirits are found all over the world.

*The bus or metro is NEVER too full for one more person….or perhaps 10.

*It can be very freeing not to own a car and have the ability to get everywhere on public transportation- it also doubles for a good work-out plan!

*It requires humbling one’s self to learn another language and at times sounding flat out stupid.

*Dress warmly and do not wear flip-flops after September 1^st if you do not want to be scolded by a babushka.

*Standing in line and waiting is an art form in Ukraine that I’m finally getting a hang of.

*What women wear (or don’t wear) in public never ceases to shock me.

*Never expect for your entire group’s meals to arrive at once when in a restaurant—just be happy if they get the orders right and your food is hot.

*Never buy more than (or something heavier than) you are willing to carry home with your own two hands- especially when you live on the 5^th floor with no elevator.

*Approach all cashiers/clerks with the expectation of being yelled at or ignored. If they treat you kindly or heaven forbid- smile, you will leave pleasantly surprised and perhaps even shed a tear of pure joy.

*One can never drink too much tea or eat too much chocolate when in the company of Ukrainian friends.

*When you realize that you’ve come to enjoy the taste of instant coffee…perhaps it means you’ve lived here to long.

*It is possible to overcome the fear of “scary” toilets…at least most of the time.

*Letters, emails and phone calls from friends at home are always a sweet surprise and openly welcomed.

*28 seems a heck of a lot younger than it did 5 years ago!

*One can live quite happily without a dryer- clothes just take a lot longer to dry in the winter…and sometimes freeze if left out too long.

*Kiev is a BEAUTIFUL city…especially in the Fall and Spring.

*Going out of your comfort zone is a hard thing…and also where we tend to learn the most about ourselves and God.

*Sometimes a girl just needs her Mama.

*Seeing a child adopted into a family never gets less exciting.

*Seeing teenaged kids living in an orphanage never gets less heart breaking.

*Sometimes you have to be willing to let go of your plans in order to be a part of something greater than you could have  ever imagined.

*When you let Jesus guide your life, it is never boring, never easy and always the most exciting place to be!

Thank you Jesus for the time you’ve had me in Ukraine…and thank you Ukraine for being a place where I continue to learn so much!

 

 

Every girl’s dream

So if I play Barbie too many more times I may start getting a complex!  Our concert team was in need of an actress at the last moment again to play “Barbie” in their children’s musical- and since I’ve done the role a couple times now, I was the one subjected to putting on the floral pink dress- remnant of the 1980’s and playing the life size doll.

I had to share this picture, as there is something quite amusing about having a doll wearing the same dress as you!  The play starts out with the Barbie doll on the shelf and then when the music starts and the smoke appears Barbie comes to life—meaning I walk out on the stage!

Now if I could only sing “My Heart Will Go On” while playing Barbie—then I’d really be living out my actress fantasy! :)           (See several posts back if that doesn’t make sense!)

Letting go of the plan

So I’m a little behind in blogging about the end of the summer and our final camp in August! I’ve been wanting to post pictures and say something—I guess I’ve just not known what exactly to write about!

All I can say is that generally I am a pretty planned out person…and this camp did not go as I planned.  Living in Ukraine I’ve gotten used to things not going as I plan…and each time we do a camp it is another reminder that the ‘type A’ in me has to die more and more and I need to learn to let Jesus guide and sometimes even change my “plans.” Because he always does!

This camp was unique in that we had 50 orphanage graduates.  This was a first for our team.  This means that these were youth that have already aged out of the “system” and are now studying in local trade and technical schools.  We had planned for about 75 youth- so I was a little disappointed that the numbers were down—especially since we had 24 leaders serving! This is one of the things that didn’t go according to my plan! :)  But you know what, it was so awesome to see how the Lord used the fact that we had an abundance of volunteers.   In fact, very quickly we came to feel that we did not have an abundance…as each of us was stretched to our max!  50 youth between the ages of 17-21 is a LOT of relational energy and it became very clear that we had all the extra help for a reason—these “kids” were SO hungry for relationships and for listening ears.

We had the privilege to give each person attending the camp their very own Bible.  For some of these youth it was their first time holding a Bible in their hands! And they were FULL of questions- which was awesome.

The theme of the camp was “Am I the Center of the Universe?” We focused on asking the bigger questions in life- “What am I here for?” - “Is there evidence that points to God?”  “If there is a God, what is his purpose for my life?”—These are the questions we started with and throughout the week we discussed various attributes of God’s character and shared with them about reconciliation to God through Jesus.  This of course is the very brief summary of a 10-day program! :)  By the end of the camp about 90% of the kids make decisions to accept Christ!!! It was TRULY AMAZING.    On the first day, the kids barely moved their mouths when we would sing worship songs in the evening. But by the last night, there was truly a SPIRIT of WORSHIP in the room as these youth sang to the Lord. I had to just stop and watch them- it was truly humbling and inspiring to see how the Lord was moving in the hearts of these young people.

To tell you the truth—I can’t even remember now what half of the things were that didn’t go according to how I had planned that week. Obviously they weren’t that important! :)

These youth come from very dark and broken pasts and have lived through things that most of us wouldn’t even want to imagine. So please pray for them. Pray for those that accepted Christ this summer and pray that the seeds that were planted will continue to take root in their lives. They have already gone back to their “normal” lives in the dormitories and the temptation to fall back into old patterns is so real. Pray for strength, pray for boldness, pray for a passion for Jesus to be etched in their hearts.

       

 

 

 

 

Humanitarian Aid gone Bad

Just a friendly note telling you to be careful of what you donate to the local- well- meaning group collecting clothes for a humanitarian shipment to some country far-far away.  Read what the article of clothing says prior to donating. Then ask yourself the question- ‘Could this cause embarrassment if given to the wrong age or gender?’ If the answer is yes- do not send this item. 

Otherwise one of the following exhibits may be a reality in some foreign country, where the people wearing the said item, will have no clue that they are providing internal laughter for some English speaker who happens to see them.

Exhibit #1

Look how happy he looks? 

Exhibit #2

oh the unsuspecting boy has no idea that he is advertising himself as a male-cheerleader!

Exhibit #3

One must examine this picture closely. But this Babushka is wearing a hat that says “Limp Bizkit”—maybe she is a fan- I don’t know…but this has “Humanitarian Aid gone Bad”- written all over it! :)

My Heart Will Go On….and on and on and on…

So I have a confession to make.  When I was 16 years-old I saw the movie Titanic 6.5 times in the movie theatre.  (The other half of the confession is that the .5 time is because I snuck in to watch the second half after having watched another movie).  I don’t know why I was so obsessed with Titanic at that time- but I was. I remember sobbing each time I watched it, and even told one of my friends that I kept watching with the hopes that it was going to end differently!! But wouldn’t you know- the boat still sank and Kate still let Jack go…and I gave the movie theatre way too much of my money.

So why am I now thinking of this film, more than 10 years later?  Because the theme song has come to haunt my life in Ukraine. I’ll let you in on a secret…Ukrainians LOVE the song My Heart Will Go On and consider it a classic American ballad. I too loved the song, when I was 16, and over-played it soooo much then, that I got sick of it! So when I came to Ukraine I was shocked by how much they love this song.

Confession number two: I have performed this song  in public on more than one occasion in Ukraine.  At our office in Kiev we have birthday celebrations once a month and one time they asked me to sing “the song”, to one of those really cheesy back ground tracks.  There was part of me that was cringing inside as I sang this “ballad”- knowing that my American friends would be dying in laughter- but the other part of me secretly enjoyed it- I mean, who doesn’t want the chance to pretend to be Celine Dion for a few moments in a foreign country without your American friends ever knowing?! 

This summer at one of our summer camps, I was playing the guitar and singing with some of our girls when they all eagerly asked, - “ohhh can you sing the Titanic song?”

- “Really?” I asked, “that song, you really want me to sing that song?”

- “YES!!!! It is our favorite,” they all chant. 

-“Oh boy…” I think, “here we go again!”

So on multiple ocassions this summer I was found singing the “Titanic song” to a crowd of adoring teenage girls. The best was when they said I sounded better than Celine Dion! (Don’t worry, I won’t let my adoring teenage Ukrainian fans go to my head—I know I’m a far cry from Celine :).)

That brings me today…a girl I work with comes into my office and says, “Karen, there is a song I really want to sing and I really would like your help with the pronunciation.” 

- “Okay” I respond, “What is it?”

I really shouldn’t have even asked… 

Maybe I had this coming to me…after all I did see the movie 6.5 times in the movie theatre! So I guess this will keep going on…and on…and on.

Waiting for a Sunrise

Have you ever gotten up to wait for the sunrise?  Not just happened upon it, but actually gotten up extra early with the intention of seeing the first glimpse of the sun peak up from the horizon?

At our final camp this summer, on the last morning, we decided it would be “fun” to get everyone up at the crack of dawn (literally) and experience the beauty of the first sun break.  Well, none of us knew exactly when the sun would rise so we decided we better get up earlier than we thought- just to be sure not to miss it.

When my alarm went off at 4:45am I jolted out of my bed—and feeling the effects of having gone to bed after midnight, I questioned how badly I really wanted to witness this crack of dawn experience.  But I said I’d go- so I dressed warmly and joined the group outside.  And waited. And waited….and waited.

So apparently by the end of August the sun is not really rising at 4:45 am…and by 5:45 we were all still waiting…cold…and really ready to see the stupid sun!   Some kids actually got too cold, too tired, and they gave up. They said they didn’t want to wait any more- that they were going back to bed.    I know they didn’t doubt that the sun would actually rise- but they couldn’t stand the wait to see it- they didn’t like feeling uncomfortable and tired and decided it would be better to go back to their warm beds.                                                

But the rest of us kept waiting.  And wouldn’t you know….the sun did rise (around 6:10 to be exact). And it was beautiful.  It was breathtaking. In the hour we had spent waiting we could see signs that the sun would rise as the sky got bluer and lighter, but the sun still wasn’t visible—we knew it was coming but we couldn’t actually see it. Then suddenly it appeared and the process of it rising happened so fast that if you turned away for a few moments you would have missed it.  The kids that gave up and left early had missed it.  But those of us that had remained were able to witness the beauty- and suddenly that waiting didn’t seem all too bad.  The perspective had shifted when we witnessed what we had been waiting for.

Lately my life and walk with the Lord can feel a little like that sunrise.  Some days I’m tempted to just crawl back into bed like some of our kids did because I’m just tired of waiting- I’m tired and cold and would rather go some place more comfortable and  go to sleep.  Sure, you say that the sunrise is going to happen- but I’ll just take your word on it.  I’m too tired to care.

But something about seeing the sun at high noon isn’t quite as glorious as when it is viewed at the first break of day.  There is something marvelous in witnessing it rise- in not only seeing the realization of what you had been waiting for, but getting to take part in it. And if we don’t take part in the waiting, and in the trusting- then we might actually miss out on the blessing. We actually could miss it!  But when we wait…and when it does rise-- suddenly the waiting will have seemed like no time at all.  We will instead be captivated by the light revealed in that first glimpse we catch of the Son.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1-2

those of us that made it! :)