Learning New Things

I never realized that my work in Kazakhstan would teach me so many new skills completely unrelated to my daily work with orphans. I have enjoyed learning each of these new skills (some more than others).

Most recently I have learned how to update a website. After receiving mockups from Jason, I had the opportunity to try to update our Interlink Resources webpage. It has been fun to learn this new skill ... but I still have much to learn. I am excited that we are now able to have sponsors for our child sponsorship program actually donate online.

Some of the other things I have learned since being here: how to help keep a network running, how to install and program a phone system, how to run telephone and network cables, how to put in my own bathroom fixtures, how to install light fixtures, how to switch out electrical outlets, how to put in a new faucet, how to make sausage from ground pork, how to take a bucket bath, and so much more.

I love learning new things!

Lost Dreams

Recently, as I have had the opportunity to work a little more closely with some of the children that are preparing to leave the orphanage and those that have already left, my heart has been broken as I look at the dreams they have had to give up and the position they find themselves in today. Here are some stories I have recently heard.

I still remember a conversation I had with a boy at Saramoldaeva orphanage a couple years back in which his eyes lit up as he told me about his dream to be in the military. He has been attending a military academy (high school level) for the last two years and will graduate this year. On Sunday, I asked him if he was still planning on being in the military. He told me that he had changed his mind and wanted to work at the railroad station (menial labor). When I questioned him a bit further, he told me that this had been decided by someone other than himself and he still dreamt of being in the military. Hopefully, he is going to come by our office to talk with Olya and see if there is any way for us to help him reach his goals.

A couple weeks ago we were talking about health and nutrition in our Youth Impact session. We were looking at the food pyramid and talking about what food each girl ate each day. As each one built a pyramid with what they ate the day before, I realized how little choice they had in what they ate. Even those that purchase their own food, have a limited budget and are unable to buy fruit and vegetables, especially in the winter. Their only food group that they were close to fulfilling was grains. After the session, we decided to start purchasing fruit for the youth participating in our program each week.

A young girl didn't come to the birthday party we held for children at Saramoldaeva this month. She was waiting to see her mother for the first time in nine years, but her mother never came.

As I think about these and many other things I see on a daily basis, I continue to be thankful that I am here and have the opportunity to try to build some hope into their lives. If nothing else, they learn that they can trust our word and that we love them. We continue to develop ways in which we can impact the lives of these children not only now, but as they grow into successful adults. Seeing the smile on a child's face is one of those things that renews my hope when I am faced with all their challenges.

A Routine Tuesday

Each Tuesday is busy, but such a joy, as we spend most of our day at Saramoldaeva orphanage. As a company we sponsor three family groups at Saramoldaeva. We spent one hour with each of our groups today. Our youngest children's group enjoyed putting together puzzles. They also loved the game heads up 7-up (what a throw-back to fourth grade indoor recess). We did an extremely difficult craft (frustrating for those of us - mainly myself - that have not completely developed our fine motor skills) and played uno with our girls group. We played picture bingo with our boys group. We also had the chance to spend some time with a group of children that had left our youngest group and moved to a group of children in first and second grade. We celebrated two birthdays and had fun building things with lego-like blocks. Although it was tiring, it was an extremely enjoyable and rewarding day. I look forward to each Tuesday as we continue to build our relationships with these small groups of children.

Learning to Receive

This week I have had the opportunity to learn how to receive instead of give. It is definitely stretching me a bit, but has resulted in an encouraging week. Here are some ways I have been encouraged this week.

I wrote that my hard drive crashed last week and it looked like it would be a month before I would be able to replace it. Jason Walke (an intern here the last two summers) ended up spending three hours on the phone with customer service working out a way to get it here quicker. He convinced them to try to send it so that Walter could bring it in February. To make a long story short, the delivery truck delivered it to Richmond, VA on Monday and Jason drove the hard drive to meet Ember (our new intern) at the airport for her departure. Thanks Jason!

Also, Dan Portnoy in Lynchburg, downloaded some software for me that I had lost when my hard drive crashed and sent it with Ember. This saved me hours of work trying to get the programs reinstalled. Thanks Dan!

While I was gone, Beth had all my furniture moved into the new apartment that she and I are now sharing (an overwhelming task). I was planning on trying to do this yesterday and today. When I returned to Taraz on Thursday morning, I came home to my new apartment with furniture in place. This allowed us to spend today doing some unpacking, decorating, hanging fixtures, etc. It is starting to look like home. Thanks Beth!

I was also able to easily cancel my debit card and a new one will hopefully be coming over with the next guest. Thankfully, Ohio (where I have my driver's license) is able to reissue a new driver's license without the picture (for security reasons). The paperwork for that will be coming over with Walter in early February. With that I will receive a letter allowing me to drive until I get the actual license (hopefully at the beginning of March).

Thanks for all of your prayers. We are having a birthday party for three children (each one gets to bring a friend) from Saramoldaeva orphanage tomorrow. We will play games, eat cake, eat pizza, and watch a movie. I will try to post some pictures from our time together early next week.

The Hits Just Keep on Coming

It seems like things over here are not going to slow down. This afternoon Beth and I went to the bazaar to purchase some things for our new apartment. While we were there, my wallet dissapeared.

I was walking down a path - which with the snow today and the snow pack previously - had turned into an ice skating rink (perfect for broom hockey, but not so good for shopping). I was following nicely behind Beth when my foot got caught in a bag. While I tried to shake it loose from my foot, my other foot lost its grip on the ice and I slid down to the ground. It would have been a nice slide had I been playing softball, but I was trying to walk on a crowded road. I was carrying a bag that had a lot of plastic containers in it. So, when I fell, it made this horrible noise that sounded as if I had fallen extremely hard, but it really didn't hurt at all. I imagine it was pretty entertaining for anyone watching.

I don't know if my wallet fell out of my zippered pocket at that point or if someone had taken it before. I thought I had my zipper closed, but I'm not quite sure. Thankfully, the other day I had taken my credit card out of the wallet. I lost some cash and my driver's license and my debit card. I have already cancelled my debit card, but I am a bit concerned about the process of getting a new license. My parents are going to check out the possibilities on Monday. It could have been a lot worse. As I was thinking about all that has happened this week (lost wallet, computer crash, etc) I was encouraged to remember that God has it all under control. I am glad that He is bigger than everything going on right now. I can't imagine going through all the daily things in life (especially this week) without knowing that He knows all that I am facing, what I will face in the future, and what will come from everything.

What a Week!

This week has been a bit rough. It peaked today when my hard drive crashed for the second time in six months. I have been on the phone with customer service trying to get something done about it, but it looks like I will be without my computer for at least a month. As a result, I figured it was about time for some random funny stories from Kazakhstan.

We have been having regular power outages throughout the city. Originally everyone said it was to conserve electricity for New Year Celebrations. After going by the governor's office I understood why. Their decorations were strings of light bulbs (yes real size light bulbs) attached between all the lamp posts outside their office. There are probably at least 500 of them. Maybe the power outages will stop when all the decorations are taken down.

Yesterday the gas inspectors came to our office and cited us for some things we needed to change to comply to the law and gave us three days to do it - although it changed to two hours on some of the items today. Here are some of the ones I found kind of amusing. One was that we can no longer have a a flexible gas hose leading to our stove - it must be a solid metal pipe. Hope we don't ever have to move the stove. Second was that you are not allowed to have gas pipes running within any walls - they must all be visible. This explains why you can see pipes running above ground throughout the city. Third (and I think my favorite) all gas pipes must be painted yellow.

Many of the side roads are covered with a layer of packed snow which has become ice. A favorite pastime for kids is to run behind a slow moving car, grab the bumper, and squat. They then see which child can hold on the longest as they slide down the street on their feet. I guess you have been in Kazakhstan a while when instead of worrying about their safety, you find yourself glancing in your side mirrors to see if anyone is still holding on. Beth and I had some hanging on for at least 3/4's a block the other day.

Highlight of the week - getting a package from mom and dad with copies of my mom's new books (they're really cute and will come in handy as I move and try to organize my things, a Redskins game (one that they one), and a movie that one of my friends was in. YEAH for packages from home.

Well, I feel a little better after looking at some humour around me. I'll have to remember to put things like this on the blog more often. Have a great day!

Interlink Blog

Interlink Resources (the company I work for here in Kazakhstan) has just started a blog. We hope to use the blog to keep people updated on the different activities that we are a part of here in Kazakhstan. I hope you enjoy seeing some of the other things that we do.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Our team celebrated the New Year in a unique way. We combined moving (Beth has to be out of her house by Friday) with a Rocky Marathon. Amidst the moving, we watched four Rocky movies. I was really glad that the Rocky movies weren't as slow as the only one I had ever seen (the first one). I have a new appreciation for them ... I had been a little bit frightened by the concept of watching more than one at a time. We also had Mexican food for dinner (we had brought some tortilla chips back from Shymkent the last time we visited since we can't get them here).

Today, in celebration of the New Year we (Ken and I) took the four children at Rakhym (and their two cousins who are visiting) bowling. We had a great time. We also had a chance to have tea with them and watched them open their presents. It was such a fun time! I wish you all a wonderful year!