Very Good Day

Hey friends,
Yesterday went by so quickly and so much happened. Its crazy how quick the kids get attached and I have 4 of them who are with me almost all the time, Svieta, Olosha, Sasha and Marica. One of the little girls is named Vicka. She wears her hair on top of her head and has bright blue eyes - so cute! She is usually very shy around me but today she let me hold her!!! One of the Ukrainian boys, Sergay, likes Lindsey and it is hysterical to watch her because she hates the attention, haha! Today at craft time we made visors and decorated them with foam stickers and of course the kids were sticking them all over me and Lindseys face. We looked funny and the kids lovedddd it!

Our group meeting tonight was really interesting.... Group meeting is when we all split into the 6 groups or teams the kids are in and only the leaders meet. Usually its just reviewing the day, serious stuff I mean. With the language barrier its harder to connect with the adults and teenagers but it was different tonight because we were all laughing and joking about each other. I think all of us left the meeting crying cuz we laughed so hard. It was so great to finally connect with them. After all the campers went to bed, we had our Grace meeting and we had a burn victim named Anatoni speak to us. He was burned head to toe, he has no ears, no really a nose, he just had surgery done to get eyelids and he has no hands, all from the fire. He is really hard to look at, at first. He looks like a skeleton, almost. Its hard to imagine what he goes through every day. He made a statement that really blew our minds. He said, "I know that God has complete control over my body and I am fine with anything he wants to do with it. Now I am glad that the fire happened to me because I am better now with God than I was before the fire without God." We all just kind of stared in shock when he said that. He is very humble and is a very smart person. I guess after you spend time with him you don't see the burns anymore, you just see his heart for God..... It is incredible! There should be pictures that you can see on our group blog at http://graceinukraine.wordpress.com/. After Anatoni left, we talked about what we are going to do tomorrow and the whole time all I could think about was "the trip is half over and how am I going to say goodbye?" We have all grown so attached to the kids, its going to be so hard to leave them. Also. it will be hard to say goodbye to Vicki our translator because she, Lindsey and me have grown very very close.

After a full day and evening, Lindsey and me went out at 11:30 to see Vicka. We all sat outside and talked for 2 hours. Its really cool to be able to talk with and connect with her. Before coming here, I didn't think I would bond with my interpreter but I did and it is awesome. One other cute thing that happened today was that Brian taught Dema (a sweet 2 year old boy who looks like a fat sausage) how to say "yah dude". It was soooo adorable!

Today was a very good day and I am very happy :) Love you all so much!
Ashley

This will be short but just wanted to say that today went by very fast and this evening we went on a hike with the Ukrainian team just for fun. It was good getting to know them better. God is good!!!

Love you all,
Ashley

Hey again everyone!

Even though I was tired today because of lack of sleep last night, it was a good day. Lots of sunshine and the temperature was good. At dinner I sat with a girl named Marica. She is so beautiful with dark brown hair and bright green eyes. She is in a wheelchair because when she was a newborn she had a brain disease and from that she is not able to walk. She smiles a lot and is very sweet. Brian was drinking water and accidently spilled it all over himself. Marica saw this and burst out laughing! We had not seen her laugh before, so it was sooo good to see her very happy! Please pray for one of the girls in our group named Dasha. She is 2 and she will not leave her mother. We have tried to get her away but all she does is scream and cry. Pray that we can give her mother a break soon.

Everyone who was sick is now well and working! Praise God! Today we did a spa day for all the mothers. They all were sooooo excited to be pampered. It was great to see their excitement and joy. We did worship tonight with the leaders only. Jon and Tyler led worship and we sang songs that the Ukrainians knew too. We all sang together and it was awesome to hear all the languages (English, Ukrainian and Russian) praising and worshiping together as one!

The language barrier is barely noticed now and the kids could really care less. Pray for Linda because the language barrier is a very big deal for her since she is working with the mothers.

Thanks again to all of you who are standing with me and praying for me and all of us here. I love you all!

Ashley

Short night

Hey everyone! It was a restless night for me and several others from our group. Several in our group have been sick and then last night several more got sick. Kris and Cory were sick yesterday and the during the night Emily and Hannah ended up getting sick as well. I have been up with several of them doing what I can to help and as a result am feeling tired today. I feel so bad for them and am praying that they all get over it quickly. Please pray that everyone that is sick recovers quickly. I am thankful that I have not been sick and have been able to help those that are.

Our team is bonding well and we are getting to know the kids better and they are feeling more comfortable with us. The kids and moms are accepting us already and its only the 2nd day. Today has been a good day even though we have four team members sick. Please continue to pray for them. Thanks to those of you who have made comments in the blog and to all of you who are with me in spirit and prayer.

I love you all!
Ashley

It was good to get some good sleep after the long trip. This morning we started by setting up and decorating before the kids arrived. They all arrived around 11:00 AM. We were all assigned to groups and I am in a group with nine kids ages 5-9 who were saved from abortion. Grace senior high kids in my group are Lindsey and Brian. The Ukrainians in our group are Natasha, Oxana, Alona and our translators are Alosha and Victoria. We are all close already and I have already developed some special connections with a couple of them.

Soon we will be going to a lesson and worship time. We will also be coming up with a group name and a mission statement with our kids. God is good! I ask you to keep praying.

Wow! It was a very tiring 25 hours of travel but we arrived safe and sound. Meeting the Ukrainian staff was fun. We already made new friends both within our group and with the Ukrainian Staff. Thank you God for safe travel and now off to bed!

July 5, 2009

For additional information you can go to our Ukraine group blog at http://www.graceinukraine.wordpress.com/