Scandalous!

This is what happens when you're housesitting--you make a music video! I think the timing's a bit off after the upload, but enjoy...

Meet Leeana.

That first day when I saw Leeana in the crush of kids crowding our porch, I thought she was a boy. Along with the baggy secondhand clothes, her deep voice, close-cropped hair and rough exterior made her appear anything but feminine. When I discovered she was in my group and asked Melissa to remind me what the name of that boy was, I’ll never forget her response: “That’s actually a girl, her name is Leeana, and you’re not the first person to make that mistake.”

I don’t know her story of where she came from or how she got to the Pravda orphanage, but I’m sure it must be a crazy one. All week long I watched as Leeana sauntered around the orphanage, mostly on her own. When I did see her with other kids, she was often verbally bossing or physically pushing them around. Most times I think we wrote her off as “that crazy girl,” and she never did much to change our opinions.

Then came picnic day! Each of the camp’s 6 teams headed down to the river with bags of juice and soda, cookies and chips, for some bonding and fun. In the midst of the feeding frenzy, some slight confusion left Leeana out of our party. Angrily she stalked off to the river on her own, the lone outsider among the celebrants.

Towards the end of the picnic, I finally learned what had happened. Most of the kids had returned to the river and most of the food was gone, but I rushed around to gather what leftovers I could. I brought my scavenged 2 cups of juice and box of chip-like things to a quiet spot on the edge of the river and called for Leeana to come join me for a private picnic, not knowing if she would continue to sulk or accept my invitation.

What happened next caught me completely by surprise. Leeana came and sat, but not for long. On her way out of the water and up the bank, she’d spotted a boy from our group who looked like he was having a bad day. Before I knew it, my tough little tomboy had her cup of juice in hand and was off at a brisk pace to offer her drink; he turned her down. So she returned for our picnic–and took off a second time to offer him our last box of chips. Again, he refused (the little punk), so she offered them to other kids and teachers instead. I sat in amazement at this simple act. Coming from someone else, maybe it wasn’t such a big deal. But from Leeana, that simple act was so out of character and spoke volumes. We sat, enjoying the rest of our picnic in the summer sun, and I shot up a quick prayer of thanks and asked God to continue softening these kids’ hearts towards each other and him.

Alive in America!

Yep, after 2 days of little-to-no-sleep, a 3-hour delayed flight from Moscow and an hour of trying to find my dad in LAX, I FINALLY made it home in once piece! Slept for 10 1/2 hours that first night and woke up NOT feeling like an emotional wreck anymore...ha. Life is returning to normal, I'm in the process of unpacking and putting away the random odds and ends strewn about my bedroom floor and catching up on things at home. Like In-N-Out. And pizza. And Thai food. And good food in general. And Disneyland. So if any of you would like to assist in bringing me back up to speed in any of these areas, feel free to give me a call! :)

The last few days in Ukraine, I was asked by the kids several times: What do you like better, Ukraine or America? Not an easy question; I definitely didn't love Ukraine itself. But those kids...oh, those kids. Misha. Bogdan. Sasha. Alec. Natasha. Ira. Ira. Alla. Christina. Elina. Slavik. Vitalik. Slavik. Denise. Ilia. I don't even know how to say or spell half of their names right, I don't even know half of their stories. But in those 10 short days of running camp, I came to love them so, so much!

In those 10 short days of camp, I swam with (and almost drowned...kinda) Bogdan and a million other kids as I tossed them around in the river. I went on an "excursion" with cool kid Misha throughout the orphanage grounds. I was taught how to count by my little buddy, Slavik. I led and debriefed (with the help of a translator, of course) teambuilding activities. I sang and danced like crazy with Katia. I played a crazy game of indoor futbol with Sasha and Yura, which I was sure we'd get busted for. I taught kids about s'mores. I took countless kids to ice cream at the magazine. Took (or had taken on my camera) around 1500 pictures. And so much more.

And even thought I couldn't really speak the language or share my faith verbally with these kids, God was still at work through other people and all around me. 5 kids became Christians on the last day, and all heard the good news about Jesus several times. Now they say they're going to get together and study the Bible on a regular basis. Doors were opened for the girls and Ukrainian leaders to keep up conversations about God with kids after camp, and I'm excited to hear what comes of it all. I found myself constantly being driven to prayer just out of the utter madness of it all at times. Yet even in the madness and unknown, God showed himself faithful to provide just what we needed, just when we needed it. And that was freaking awesome.

I'll work on getting up some stories, pictures, and videos over the next week or so. But in the meantime, I'm uploading a bunch to Facebook...feel free to have a look around! Thanks, friends, for all your thoughts and prayers over the past few weeks! If you'd like to hear more, I'd love to share more...over that In-N-Out, seriously...

Dasvaydanya for now.

The last few days have been a blur of continual movement and hectic activity. We've ridden mashootkas to the Center countless times, downed at least 20+ 6-liter bottles of water, eaten dinner in a "castle," watched the boys flip and flop on a trampoline, shopped til we dropped for rec gear, food, and birthday gifts...oh yeah, and not hardly slept a wink. Seriously. Last night I got less than 2 hours before Anika and I hopped on yet another mashootka, this time 4.5 hours into Kiev to pick up Tony, our last American team member to arrive. And now our entire U.S. team has met, and now it is the early morning of the first day of camp. Bags are [mostly] packed and lining the hallway, and tomorrow morning at noon it all starts.

Things have been a bit tough for me, though. It's felt like those times when you know you've only got a few hours to sleep but, try as you might, can't close your eyes--and knowing you're running out of time just stresses you out and makes sleep even more impossible. That's how I've felt when it comes to adjusting and being comfortable with the new places and new people around here. Not fun, but God has definitely been working in my heart, drawing me to him in ways I don't normally experience in the day-to-day at home.

And now it's camp time. Since my first whirlwind visit to Pravda my first day here, I've been counting down the days until we get to head back. Seeing the kids who I met oh-so-briefly again and being able to get to know them and love on them more will be amazing. I can't wait to go and really begin to do one of my main purposes in coming to Ukraine; these last few days have been kind of tough as I've felt slightly purposeless and in the way. But the kids...Talia, Elona, Sasha, Ivan, Leela, Anya...I can't wait!

But us going to Pravda means I'm going to be internet-less, probably for the rest of the trip. Any stories and God-moments that come along I will faithfully make note of and fill you all in on later, but in the meantime if you could be praying...

>>That the American and Ukrainian team members will learn how to communicate and work well together as we lead the 6 camp groups in crafts, Bible lessons, and various other activities.

>>That the team will live out our love for these kids in ways that words could never express.

>>That God would continue preparing the kids' hearts for what they will hear this week about who God is.

>>And for me personally, that I will remember that God has me here for a purpose, that he has uniquely gifted me to love and serve, that I will trust in what he thinks of me and not others, that I will intentionally search out and do things that will show God's love to everyone I meet.


(Oh yeah, a follow-up to the last beat-boxing extravaganza...so apparently Annie told me that the next day, Losha brought up my mad crazy skills again, asking her where I learned how to do that, if I did it with other people... I had to demonstrate again last night for a couple more of the boys. Then tonight, Vitalik, Misha, Vova, Roman, and Losha asked me to do it again, and FINALLY attempted a couple beats with me. Even Losha, one of the kids who Anika and everyone else has told me just doesn't open up to or pay much attention to new people! We watched some videos on Youtube of pro beat boxers and break dancers--I attempted some moves, and Vitalik and Vova some beats. Fun times, a great night!)

I'm huge in Ukraine.

So all last summer at Wildwood, I got mocked for my habit of sorta-kinda-not-really beat boxing whenever my mouth got bored. Was yelled at by Bailey to stop, I was driving her up the [tent] wall. Got compared to a beat boxing chicken by Livvy. Got pitying looks and laughs from everyone else.

Tonight I was sitting at the apartment with Annie and Vitalik, and my mouth got bored. Not severely, but enough for a few random "beats" to squeak out. Suddenly Vitalik spun around and looked at me with wide eyes and fired something off at me in Ukrainian. When I looked questioningly at Annie for a translation, she said he'd asked if I knew how to beat box, was any good at it. I laughed, but showed him my mad crazy skills (which really aren't mad crazy skills at all). When I tried to get him to give it a shot, he shook his head but jumped up and left the room, saying something to Annie. Apparently he'd gone to get Losha so he could check me out too! Oh snap.

I'm not quite sure what Losha thought of me, but I got a smile out of him at least. So Bailey, Livvy, everyone else who's ever made fun of me: eat your heart out. I'm huge in Ukraine.

Simple things

This afternoon we went to the park to watch a handful of Pravda kids dance at some thing. Didn't really know what was going on, didn't really know the kids all that well. Felt a little awkward and out of the loop walking along with everyone else, arm in arm. Ivan turned and took pity on poor American me, walked over and put his arm around me for the rest of the stroll. Pretty amazing.

Went to McDonald's with everyone after the park. Sat with Sashko and one of the Pravda girls, Anya. Wished I could talk with her, instead of just smiling across the table. Attempted a few comments. When we left, she came back to walk with me, her and the yellow balloon. Even saved me from getting run down by a machina [car]. She has such a beautiful smile!

Back at the apartment, I was sitting watching Ani and Melissa play Tetris. Losha and Roman came home, the game got paused, and everyone jumped up to give hugs. I sat, not completely sure what to do and not wanting to make either boy awkward (like I apparently did when I tried to break the ice a couple days ago by asking some questions and joining a game). Losha saw me sitting and came over for a hug, followed close after by Roman. Made my heart happy.

"It's the simple things that make us feel at home." [Amy Kuney]

I made it!

After 24 hours of travel--filled with 3 babushka friends at LAX, feeling alone and so out of place in Moscow, my Russian friend Alexander on the flight to Kiev, and a 4+ hour slightly scary careening-around-corners-way-faster-than-it-felt-like-we should mashootka ride to Anika's apartment in Sumy--I arrived in one piece! Enjoyed about 3 hours of sleep, then was up and training/taxiing/walking to the Pravda orphange for graduation day! (needless to say, last night's 10 hours of sleep felt AMAZING) Finally got to meet so many of these kids I've heard so much about over the past few years...and let me tell you, it was amazing.

I was a little nervous and unsure of how it would be, since I don't speak the same language and am a total outsider and newcomer to the kids. But apparently having Anushka as "muya seestra" grants me much credibility, because from the first time I said "Menya zavut Kari," I had kids who wouldn't leave my side! First the quiet-but-faithful Elana, not saying much but continually smiling my direction glued to my hip. Then the spunky and slightly in-your-face Talia, the author of the "Ya rada, ya rada!" dance with me (apparently in Ukrainian they don't have a word for "excited", so Anika told me "ya rada"--I'm happy--got the idea across. Since it was about all I knew to say, I kept saying it to these two girls over and over again. And now it's mine and Talia's favorite song and dance!). Right before graduation I met (for the third time, I think; so many new faces and names, it was hard to keep them straight!) Leela, who pulled me into the ceremony with her minutes after we became friends (I wish people were so welcoming in America!). Amazing, to be so welcomed into their world, even if only for an afternoon! Humbling, to be a complete stranger in a completely strange place, and to have to rely so heavily on others to communicate the simplest things. Exciting, that I get to spend 10 days of camp getting to know these kids more!!!

I'm definitely still adjusting to things, though--jet lag, new people, new places, the unknown in general. I'm definitely one of those people who likes to know my part to play and what's coming next, and that's not so much how they roll here. So if you think of it, friends, pray for me...

>>That I'll be able to be a blessing to all I come in contact with--the kids at the orphanage, the kids at the apartment, Anika, Annie, and Melissa, the rest of the camp team--even when (and ESPECIALLY when) I'm feeling a little unsure of myself.

>>That I'll learn how to communicate without words, since that's not such an option, but with what I do (hey, does that remind anyone else of 1 John 3:18).

And to sign off, I'd like to leave you all with an amazing quote from a great book I read half of on the way here, "Everything is Illuminated." This line comes at a part where Alexander (a Ukranian) is consoling his friend Jonathan (an American) about an unfortunate thieving Jonathan had occur while riding a train in Ukraine...

"Please do not let your experience in Ukraine injure the way you perceive Ukraine, which must be as a totally awesome former Soviet republic." :)