Giving Hope...

I am continually amazed at how much I take for granted. As we are in our third month of the Youth Impact program we have about 20 young people who are being given practical skills for life and being challenged to dream. During the health & nutrition part of the program it became apparent that many of our kids get one meal a day and that often falls short of the nutrition that they need. When asked what they missed most from the orphanage, most of them replied, "fruit". As a way of adding something special to their sessions, we are now bringing in fruit for the participants and they are very appreciative of this extra treat.

Some of the girls we work with are pictured here on the right with Olya and me. These girls, through the program have really been given an opportunity to dream about their futures, set goals and are beginning to believe that they can be more than what they have been told most of their lives. Each week it is exciting to see the simple steps that these youth are making to achieving a better life for themselves and impacting those around them.

Hot is Cold & Cold is Hot

Life has been exceptionally busy here in Kazakhstan! In the past month I have moved from my house to an apartment in the center of town. I have assumed new responsibilities as the interim director for Interlink. I have given away my horse after several unsuccessful attempts at other plans. The move also meant finding a home for the dog. She is now at Ken's house and all three dogs are trying to figure out who will be boss. And now, we are gearing up for delegation season.

As always things can be interesting! For example, in Kazakhstan you can never assume that if you turn on the "cold" water that you will actually get cold. In fact, more likely than not, it will be just the opposite ~ cold is hot and hot is cold. Never assume that if you buy something that it will acually work. After shopping several hours at the bazaar half the things I brought home didn't work. I later bought a cell phone battery at a real store and behold...it didn't work either. Fortunately in that case I was able to get my money back and get a different one.

It has been very cold here. In fact, we often will joke and say, "B.Y.O.H" which stands for "bring your own heater". Despite the fact that I don't like winter, this year hasn't been too bad especially since we have had minimal snow.