Orphan Care | Wide Awake Family

Fun in the Sun…THANK YOU!

Posted on May 12, 2014 by kimnjed

Oh Romaniv…oh sweet boys. I wish so much that each of you could visit Our Boys and spend even just a few minutes with them. I wish I could accurately and fully express just how we feel about them. They are beyond precious to us. I remember the very first time Jed and I ever visited there…nervous, excited…never the same. Never would I have dreamed at that time that we would now be so invested in to these boys. We are learning about their little quirks, their likes and dislikes, who can eat a banana on his own and who needs help; who will try to eat rocks and grass outside and who will try to escape; who will throw their shoes on the roof of the building and who’s feet are too twisted and misshapen for shoes at all; who needs to be held tightly when overstimulated and who likes to sway…the list goes on and on. There is so much to learn and we have the time to learn it. These are the things that matter. To know and to be known, I’ve never understood the importance of that until this move.

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Our Isolation boys stay inside all day every day. There are simply not enough caregivers to take them all outside. All day every day in the same small building with the same hall and same rooms. No wind in their face, no sun on their skin, no grass between their toes. They eat in their building and sleep in their building. It is their whole world.

A few weeks ago we decided to ask the caregivers if we could take the boys outside during our Friday visits. We weren’t sure if they would allow it, but it never hurts to ask! Surprisingly they said yes without hesitation. The only problem was digging up enough shoes and coats for all the boys. Oy. Yeah, they were only able to find enough shoes and jackets for 8 of the 21 boys. We were disappointed that some boys would be excluded, but we still took several of them outside.

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Later that day I posted about the visit on the Wide Awake Facebook page. I mentioned that there weren’t enough coats and shoes to go around and that people could let us know if they wanted to help with that. Oh.My.Word. You guys!!!! Your generosity blew us away. Within the next couple of days $725 was donated to buy shoes and coats for the Boys.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!

We went to Mission to Ukraine (MTU) to discuss how and where to purchase the needed items for the Boys. They, in turn, contacted the Director at Romaniv and he indicated that they should have enough coats and shoes for all the boys…they just needed to be taken from storage. So, we are a bit halted right now on buying the items as we try to verify if there are truly enough clothes for everyone, and if not, what sizes are needed. We already know the shoe supply is not adequate. We’ve got some foot measuring to do.

(Hint: nothing happens quickly in these here parts. No biggie, we’ve got time.)

In the meantime, we’ve been able to take the boys out every Friday since! The caregivers have found enough slippers for those who are willing to go outside. Most of them are broken slippers and don’t stay on worth beans, but at least it’s enough to get them out the door 😉 It’s been warm enough that we haven’t needed jackets, so we have time to work on that issue.

One need that did arise is the need for hats. Our Boys never see the sun, so you can bet they are as pale as can be, We realized right away that they needed hats to provide some sun protection while we’re outside. So, we were able to use a portion of the donated funds to buy hats for the boys!

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A few of our more interactive boys were SO EXCITED!!! It made us feel so much better to know their little white faces were protected. The last thing we need is a sunburn to rain on our parade. 🙂

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Thank you to each and every person who donated so graciously. Each step forward greatly improves their quality of life and we just can’t thank you enough for making it possible.

We’ll keep you posted on the shoe and jacket purchases. We really need to get some shoes that fasten well so “you know who” can’t chuck them up on the roof of the building quite so easily….ahem….not to name any names… 🙂

…ahem…

What? You want me to actually keep this on my head???

Wishful thinking!

Maxim stole my camera and took this one 🙂

Annnnd here’s me begging Maxim to return the camera…haha

If you are interested in donating specifically for the boys at Romaniv, here is a link to their fund.

On Walking, Smelling, and Celebrity Sighting

Posted on April 24, 2014 by kimnjed

Today was so full! Full of funny moments, full of awholelotta walking, and full of joy.

Here’s just a few moments of note.

1. Addy and Ezra’s class went on a trip to the local puppet theater today. We found out just yesterday that kids who wanted to, could go today. I wondered why we always find these things out at the very last moment. Then…aha! I discovered an announcement board outside their classroom! Yes, I know, it’s been there all along…but when all you see everyday is walls filled with things you don’t understand, it’s hard to know what to pay attention to and really try to decipher, and what isn’t worth your time. I don’t often have the desire to stand in the school halls with Google Translate at my side, so I usually go with the “if it’s really important they’ll tell me” route. No more! I will now be vigilantly watching for new notes on the announcement board. No more surprise field trips for the Johnson fam! We will now be well-informed members of society. (Here’s to hoping at least)

The wonders you can find on this “Announcement Board”! Look, a spelling word list! Hmmmm I wonder how many of these we’ve missed. Oops.

2. When I dropped the kids at school this morning their teacher asked me if I wanted to come along on the field trip. Sure, why not? She mentioned it was quite a long walk, but if I thought the Littles would be up for it they could come too. Well, Jed was in Kyiv today, so if I wanted to be there then the Littles would have to buck up and and hike along with us.

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I gave Hava and Seth a pep talk about being strong, not crying and whining when we go on the long walk….blah blah blah…”If we whine and cry then Teacher probably won’t invite us on another trip, right?”

I’m happy to report that they did great on the walk. 🙂 It was about a mile walk from the school to the theater. It was HILARIOUS to be a fly on the wall with Addy’s and Ez’s class. It’s also funny to learn all the in’s and out’s of school here. Like, for field trips, there’s no permission slips, no planning what parents will drive, no parents at all! Their brave teacher just confidently lined up boys in one line and girls in another, and headed out on the walk with all of her students. Along busy streets, across crosswalks, she walked in the front, trusting the kids would follow. When school classes cross streets they hold up a red flag so cars will stop. One kid in the front of the line holds a flag, a kid at the back of the line holds a flag, and the teacher holds a flag. When crossing a street she just walks on out there, risking life and limb 😉 and stands in the middle of the street for her class to cross. They do this every day when they walk from one building to another for lunch. Today I got to see it in action. I tell ya, that teacher is one brave woman. One woman, taking a whole class on a mile walk through town to a field trip and back. She totally rocks it. I wasn’t a ton of help since I had Havalah and Seth, but I tried to keep the stragglers from straggling too far behind.

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3. I’m a “smeller”. Smell means a lot to me. How things smell really matters, I can’t overlook a bad smell with much grace at all. It’s a struggle. But, being a “smeller” can also bring a lot of joy! Good smells make me so happy! Anyway, I do have purpose for telling you that. While walking back to the school today I had such a strange moment. I smelled a very beloved smell. I smelled “Mission Trip” smell.

All throughout my teen years I went on mission trips. I traveled all over the world during high school and college. God put the world in my heart and I just had to go. There’s a certain smell I remember from mission trips that I’ve never smelled in the US. It’s a smell you smell when you’re walking on a city street. I don’t know what all it entails, but it’s a mixture of gasoline, tires, foreign food cooking…and I don’t know what else. I love that smell. To me, that smell means Jesus. It means being Jesus to the people He’s called you to. It means going out of your comfort zone and giving your all for His sake. It means loving people that you don’t understand and doing things you don’t understand, simply because Jesus said to, and it is what you were created for.

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Today I smelled that smell. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I looked around and saw my children walking ahead of me in a line with their class. I heard the buzzing of Ukrainian/Russian swirling around my ears. For a moment I thought “Oh my word. This is really happening. This is my life. I CAN’T EVEN BELIEVE THIS.” I was overcome with thankfulness, and completely humbled. All my life I dreamed of this and now it’s happening. May I never, ever forget what a joy it is to serve Christ in this way. The last couple weeks have been hard for me, personally. My heart needed that smell to remember it’s purpose. 🙂

4. Jed got to spend the day in Kyiv with some boys from Romaniv! MTU took some of the highest functioning boys to see a dolphin show. Jed got to go along and he had a great time. I’ll let him tell you about that at another time. I just have to share a sweet moment that happened on their way home.

Jed texted me as I was cooking dinner and let me know the boys’ bus was stopping at MTU on the way back to Romaniv so the boys could use the bathroom and volunteers could go home. He asked if I wanted to come say hi. YES YES YES!!!!! I hurried the kids to put on their shoes, paused on the dinner-making, and flew out the door.

On their way to the Dolphins!

Oh.My.Word. Dream come true. Watching my own kiddos meet some our “Our Boys” was so, so sweet. They Boys were so curious and kind. They attempted the kids’ names and shook all their hands. Valera, our “helper” (highest functioning boy) in the Isolation Room was there and I was so happy for the kids to meet him!!! We talk about him all the time. I feel like “The Boys” have been like some big mystery to our kids. Now they have faces for some of the names. Now they see they are real people. Ezra and Havalah were pretty shy. Seth was curious. Addy was smitten. Her eyes were glowing. It was like a celebrity sighting! As soon as we walked out of the building to head home she said “Mom! When do I get to start helping at Romaniv???” Soon I hope. 🙂

McDonalds in Kyiv, complete with balloons!

So, that was today. There were other small funny moments too, like when I walked in to gymnastics to pick up Addy and one mom that I see all the time finally blurted out “Why did you come to Zhytomyr??” Hahaha! Like it’s been bugging her all this time and she finally just had to ask. Hilarious. Or when the kids were getting ready for bed and Hava and Seth tricked me. They acted like they had their jammies on, but then on the count of 3 pulled back their covers to nakey little bodies. Oh they laughed so hard! Meanwhile Addy died laughing as Ezra screamed over and over at the top of his lungs, “Слава Україні! Слава Україні!” (“Glory to Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine!”)

Is this life for real?

Yesterday

Posted on April 5, 2014 by kimnjed

Today I’m glowing. I’m basking in yesterday. Today was a great day, don’t get me wrong, but part of the reason today was so good is because yesterday was simply superb. It was a day of absolute beauty. All day I felt God’s smile. Lovely.

The day started out normal enough with Christina and I heading to Romaniv with the rest of the crew. But Romaniv. Oh Romaniv. We had the BEST time. Yesterday was hands down my favorite day at Romaniv yet. No comparison. It’s hard to say just what made it so special. I think part of the goodness was that we are simply getting to know the boys more. We are there consistently and it’s beginning to pay off bit by bit. We know them all by name, some who are able can recognize us. We are starting to get in to a bit of a rhythm with our little team. We are learning some of the specific needs of each of the boys and when we are able, we meet those needs.

The path to some of the best boys on earth

I had the most beautiful moment with one of the boys, Vova. I’m supposed to save this for our series about Romaniv but I can’t hold it in. You can read about it twice. 🙂 So Nina brought bubbles yesterday. That’s the first time we’ve attempted bubbles with the boys. It was AWESOME!!!! A few of them loved it!!! Total success. Anyway, after playing with bubbles for a bit I decided to take one of the bottles of bubbles and go to the bedrooms to see if some of the boys who don’t come to play would enjoy them at all. I went in to the first room and found one boy asleep on the floor, one boy asleep on the bed, and Vova sitting in his bed rocking back and forth. He was self stimulating, banging his hand on his leg repeatedly as he rocked. I said his name and knelt on the floor below him. Slowly I started blowing a couple bubbles. Instantly he stopped stimming (self-stimulating). He sat still for a moment and I blew a couple more bubbles. He remained still and quiet so I kept on blowing, quietly and slowly, more and more bubbles. Then, after a minute or so Vova slowly reached his hand up and started popping bubbles on by one. He popped some in the air, a couple on his leg, on his bed. He noticed the small wet spot left by a popped bubble and rubbed it with his finger. I spoke softly to him a bit, but was mostly just quiet as we played with the bubbles for a while. After several minutes of fascination with the bubbles he lifted his head and looked in my eyes. He looked at me, and just kept on looking. Melt my heart and make it burst all at once!!! I’ve never had eye contact like this with Vova before. He is normally distant and doesn’t participate at all in our time on Fridays. Then there we were, at his bed, looking at each other. I swear to you he almost smiled. It was magical. I felt the smile of God and His presence so strongly in that moment. I don’t even have words to describe it. Tears were running down my face as we looked at each other. Then Vova looked away and I resumed blowing bubbles.

In that moment of connection I saw Vova in a different light. Normally I think of him almost as an old man. He walks unsteadily, legs bent at odd angles, not interacting with anyone. He often shrugs away from touch. I don’t know if he is verbal at all. Head shaved and nondescript face, but not yesterday. I saw him as a young man yesterday. I feel almost like I had the tiniest glimpse of how God sees Him. He was beautiful and valuable and precious. I will never ever forget that time. It fills my heart with hope for what God has in store.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

That verse is for Vova. That verse is for Misha. That verse is for Bogdan and Vladik and Valera and Zhenya. And because we believe that to be true, we have hope.

I got back home from Romaniv, and as I walked around the corner to our house I saw the kids talking to our neighbor!! Our neighbors are like total mystery people. We doubted their existence, so rare were the signs of life coming from their home. Our building is actually made up of 6 “apartments”. It’s hard to explain and hard to even tell where the different apartments start and end. Well, finally I met one of our neighbors! Not only that, but she was nice! And she has a 2-year old! Seth and little Vitaliy played trains while we two Mommies attempted conversation. We managed to visit for an hour!! OMG. HUGE breakthrough! I could have burst I was so happy to have a neighbor connection with an actual human. Woot! Thank you Jesus and thank you Google Translate.

Getting our crazies out before going in to the theater

Then to wrap up the most fantastic day ever, the kids and I (Jed was in Kyiv) went to a concert at our local theater with some friends. We listened to a local Acapella choir that is famous throughout Ukraine. It was absolute heaven. They were beautiful. I can hardly wait till their next tour. You guys, it was such a treat. They sang old traditional Ukrainian songs, songs in Latin, a fun song in English about springtime love, and even an old spiritual that I sang in high school choir! Now that was a kick. During the English song Ezra leaned over and said “Mom, this sounds a lot like English!” “Yes, that’s because it IS English my boy.” Haha! They sang a tribute song to “Heavens Hundred”, the people who died on Maidan in February- ordinary people who gave all so their country could have a future. Everyone stood while they sang, many people were crying. It was a moment I’ll not soon forget. The spirit of the Ukrainian people is astounding. In the midst of occupation and threat of invasion at our borders, they steal away on a Friday night to partake of beauty and honor their heroes. At the end of the concert the singers and the audience cheered “СЛАВА УКРАЇНІ!” (“Glory to Ukraine!”) You could see the pride in their eyes.

So there you have it; my yesterday. My heart is full.

Here is a video tribute to the Heavenly Hundred. The song in this video is the song we heard sung last night. May God bless Ukraine and may their deaths never be in vain.

Our Boys: Gathering Time, Part 2

Posted on April 4, 2014 by kimnjed

Yay for Friday!!!

You can find the next installment of our posts on Fridays at Romaniv over at the Wide Awake International blog right here: http://wideawakeinternational.org/blog/2014/4/2/our-boys

I’m really excited for you all to read about what happens at Romaniv on Fridays. I just returned home from there a couple of hours ago and had the sweetest time. I feel like God is moving there and we are really able to connect with some of the boys in a way we haven’t been able to before. It’s so cool.

And, since you came all this way to take a peek at our little old blog, here’s a few pictures of our week to reward you for your efforts.

Have a super weekend!

Girls love a good mohawk

Preschool at MTU 🙂

Honing our Ukrainian braiding skillz

Havalah, aka “Rock and Roll Girl”

Ez is so handsome in his school uniform!

Our Boys: All of Our Boys, Part 1

Posted on April 2, 2014 by kimnjed

Hey there!

Every month we send out an email newsletter and for this month’s newsletter Jed asked me to write about what a Friday looks like at Romaniv orphanage. Welp, I started writing, and approximately 2700 words later I had a post. Ahem….2700 words might be a tad long for an email newsletter. 2700 words is also far too long for a blog post. So, we decided to make it a series!

You can head over to the official Wide Awake website to read the first installment. I was going to post it here, but then that would involve lots of cutting and pasting and formatting and I just don’t have it in me. Dinner won’t make itself ya know! 😉

Follow this link to give it a read if you like: http://wideawakeinternational.org/blog/2014/3/30/our-boys-all-of-our-boys

We’ll probably be posting the second installment tonight, so I’ll make sure to post the link here when it’s up.

Happy reading my friends!