A Valentine's Day to Remember

Before I go any further, you don't need to worry about having been left out of my personal life.  I did not have an exciting date for Valentine's Day.  Instead, I got to go roller skating with some of our graduated orphans.  Gulnar works with them on a weekly basis.  For the last month she has been trying to encourage them to have better manners and be more polite, especially with their caregivers.  The reward for those who did the best job during the last month was to go to the new roller rink that has opened in Taraz.  I drive a car with plenty of room for passengers, so I got to go along.

Many of them had never roller skated before, including Gulnar.  It was fun to help them learn.  We also played tag and had races, for those who were a little more comfortable on skates.  My skating lessons at the local rink in elementary school came back to me.  I was very thankful for this as the floor was cement instead of wood.  It was so much fun to catch up with some of the kids I had spent a lot of time with when they were younger.  The girls are primarily studying sewing, while the boys are studying to be auto mechanics.  However, very few of them actually enjoy what they are studying.  They don't get to chose what they study in the technical school.  Several will be graduating this year and want to go to college next year.  In order to do this, they need to do well on exams after graduation.  Hopefully, they will be able to realize their dreams.  

While we were out, they were really polite.  At no time were we embarrassed by their actions.  Gulnar is hoping that positive habits were formed as a result of practicing good manners for a month.  The coming weeks will tell whether their behavior has formed habits or was just temporary.  

One of the hard parts of the day for me was seeing many of the boys who used to be in our orphanages, making very poor decisions.  These were the ones hanging out behind the school smoking instead of coming with us.  Many of them have started drinking considerably.  They don't take their studies seriously and hang around with others who are making unwise decisions.  It is especially hard to see this in some of the boys who were extremely responsible while living at the orphanages.  We are trying to figure out ways to better encourage them before they leave the orphanages.  However, it is so hard to prepare them for the reality of the pressures they will face.  Gulnar does a great job talking with them and encouraging them to make better choices, but sometimes it feels like everything is stacked against them.  

A Home of Hope

In the fall we learned that three of the children from one of our orphanages were taken into a foster home with 8 other children.  This came as a surprise to me, as foster care is pretty new here and there are very few people who are taking children into their homes, let alone this many.  The other interesting fact is that these three children were all special needs children.  When I hear about a situation like this, there is always a slight tendency for me to doubt the authenticity of the family.  I wonder what it is in it for them.  I wonder what they plan to do with the children.  Thankfully, in this case I was so completely wrong.

Last week we went to see our children to see if the foster mother and father would allow us to continue sponsoring them.  We were ushered into the dining room.  As we sat at the table, they slowly brought many of their children into the room.  Several of them had to be carried, due to physical disabilities that prevented them being able to walk.  Two of our boys were helping with the younger children.  It was so fun to see them already fitting in with the family.  They seem to be very happy.

I was amazed at this husband and wife. They have grown children of their own, but have taken in 11 children with disabilities and made them part of their family.  What impressed me the most was their love for the children and the way they have already taught them to be able to do things for themselves.  The mother and one of our boys are in Almaty now looking into a surgery he needs.  While they are there, they are picking up another brother who just had surgery.

I am so thankful to this family for showing me how hope is fostered.  I was challenged by the softness of their hearts and their willingness to see a problem and do something.  I want to take this opportunity to learn how to love better as a result of this great example.  

Catching Up

I am getting settled back into life in Kazakhstan.  This week has mostly been spent catching up with people and trying to get the office computers operational again.  Most of our computers apparently decided to try to die a slow death while I was gone.  We also have to take our copier in for service tomorrow.  I spent half a day trying to troubleshoot the problem, but was unsuccessful.  The bad thing is this is the only copier with a finisher in town, so the person fixing it is learning everything for the first time.  We are hoping to get it fixed before we have to prepare for delegations.  I figured I'd give you a list of some of the highlights of some of the last few weeks.  It's really good to be back home in Kazakhstan, although my body is still trying to get on the right schedule.

• Spending time with family and friends in the States
• My cousin Jeff came to MT to visit and he, Steve (my brother-in-law) and I got to go skiing.  I was glad I hadn't forgotten everything in the 10 years since my last trip down a mountain.  I was also super thankful I didn't break anything before the flight.  It was probably one of my most enjoyable times skiing because the slopes were empty.  The windchill was between -5 and -11 at one point.  
• Eating besparmak with my Kazakh family when I returned 
• Seeing everyone here in Kazakhstan again
• Babysitting my niece
• Celebrating a friends birthday
• Helping Comfort with some projects at her business
• Decorating my apartment with pictures I took and Comfort printed for me as a Christmas gift
• Watching football with my family
• New Years with Comfort, Steve, and Nivi
• Making sushi with my family
• Finding actual rice cakes (not wheat cakes) in the store today
• Finding out the road to Almaty is now open, which means nice roads and a quick trip
• Learning IKEA has come to Almaty
• Delivering a camera to a boarding school for children with disabilities here in Taraz 

Now that I am settled, I will get back to posting more regularly and will make sure I share some funny stories.  

Hero Mothers

A couple weeks ago we had the chance to give two wheelchairs to boys whose mothers are part of an organization in Taraz called Hero Mothers.  Today, I had the chance to visit the place where they spend most of their days.  Hero Mothers is a group of mothers of children with disabilities (the ones I saw today all had CP).  In society's eyes, these children don't have very bright futures.  However, as one mother described to me in English "we see our children's future as a smiling future."  These mothers have come together and created a center where they meet each day to do exercises with their children.

The exciting thing is to hear how they got where they are.  They asked the government for a couple rooms in an empty building in order to meet together and set up an exercise room for their kids.  The government has allowed them to use the building temporarily.  They have since requested more rooms and have four rooms.  In one room, the youngest children and their mothers do exercises.  In a second room they have equipment set up for the older children to work on.  Most of this equipment has been made from things they found at home.  The third and fourth room are currently empty.  They want to turn them into a physical fitness room (with weights and exercise machines) and a classroom where the mothers can take turns giving classes to the children.  They are hoping that as they continue to increase their work, the government will actually give them the building for good.  

Parents have to pay to use the center on a monthly basis, about $500 a month.  They have hired a therapist from Almaty who has been working with the kids for half a year.  She teaches the mothers which exercises they need to do with their children.  The mothers are not looking for a quick fix, unlike so many mothers of children with CP here.  Instead they realize they need to keep up these exercises regularly.  

What encourages me the most is these mothers are determined to build a bright future for their children. They are reading and researching and trying to do what is best for their children.  However, they are doing this together, not alone.  I love seeing them work together and encourage each other.  Unlike most people I have seen with children who are hurting here in Kazakhstan, today I saw parents and children with smiles on their faces.  These children are loved and these parents have chosen to fight for a better life.  These mothers really are heros!

Learning on a Sunday

Today I am taking the day, as I try to do each week, to not study and just spend time catching up on things around the house and relaxing.  Here are some things I have learned about myself and I thought you might enjoy them.

• If I want to continue doing dishes just once a week, I need to buy more large spoons.  I run out of them before I run out of anything else. 
• I love having a dish rack in my cabinet (everyone in Kaz has this and as long as you keep the tray underneath the dishes, your cabinet does not warp and you can hide all the dishes you just did or not even have to put them away.  (pictured below)
• Ziploc bags should be re-used and sticking them to the tile backsplash is a great way to dry them. 
• I am more of a perfectionist than I want to admit.  It bothered me that there is one large plastic bag in the midst of all the small ones.  I use the excuse that it makes it easier to put the dishes away when they are all dried according to type.  So, my OCD tendencies are really just efficiency on my part (at least that's what I like to tell myself).  
• A cluttered house actually causes me stress ... I guess I like to be stressed most of the time.  
• Doing dishes often gives me a headache.  I find myself grimacing from focus while I wash.  However, today Gungor kept me from this.  I'll have to play Gungor more often while I wash my dishes.  It's kind of ironic because earlier in the week, when I had a headache, Gungor caused my head to hurt more.  
• White Christmas can make any day better.  
• Here in Kazakhstan the top sheet while getting a massage is used to protect your pants from getting massage oil on them, not as a form of modesty.  
• I shed as much as any dog or cat.  It's a good thing I am not allergic to myself. 
• What looks like rice cakes are really wheat cakes.  I thought I was doing such a good job avoiding gluten.  I'll have to figure out some other solutions.  
• I have figured out a convenient way to bring my computer up to a good working level, using my current furniture (pictured below).  

Well, I guess that's enough learning/entertainment for one post.  Hope you have a great week!