I've Moved!

Thanks for looking up my blog!

I'm no longer blogging here at Semkee/Seeds.

Please click through to www.beetrootsandpostcards.wordpress.com

Or paste the url into your reader.

I will see ya over there!

Thanks!

Blogging Woes

Oh the blogging woes I have lived through!

But this week's blogging antics really won the prize!

 Long story short:

I installed picasa on my computer.

All my photos on my computer were were sucked into the search engine of google without my permission.

I deleted the file, not knowing that the photos in this file that were on my blog were somehow connected via picasa so therefore, I deleted all the photos on my blog.

I'm sharing all this drama in the hopes that no one out there using blogger will ever have to experience this.

This was the last straw for me with blogger/google and do not want to continue to build a blog on such an unstable blogging platform.

Therefore, I am moving!

Please check out my new blog.  Just click on  www.beetrootsandpostcards.wordpress.com

See ya over there!

BLOG UPDATE

APPARENTLY, IN DOWNLOADING PICASA IN AN ATTEMPT TO FIGURE OUT HOW INSTAGRAM WORKS.........GOOGLE HAS STOLEN ALL OF MY PHOTOS OFF OF MY BLOG AND I CANNOT REPLACE THEM. I HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY FRUSTRATED WITH GOOGLE SINCE IT HAS TAKEN OVER BLOGGER AND MADE CHANGES. I DO NOT WANT A BLOG OPEN TO SEARCH ENGINES ON THE INTERNET AND DO NOT WANT TO BE A PART OF GOOGLE PLUS BUT I AM CONTINUALLY "FORCED" TO BE INVOLVED DUE TO GOOGLE GRABBING ALL THE INFORMATION IT CAN TO CREATE THEIR SEARCH ENGINE. DUE TO THE FACT THEY HAVE DELETED ALL OF MY PHOTOGRAPHS, I WILL NO LONGER BE POSTING HERE AND WILL BE STARTING A NEW BLOG ON A NEW PLATFORM. I WILL LEAVE THIS BLOG HERE FOR PEOPLE TO CHECK OUT FOR NOW. WHEN I DECIDE ON A NEW BLOGGING PLATFORM, I WILL POST IT HERE. I AM VERY SORRY FOR THIS CHANGE.

The Child Catchers - Book Review

Some years ago I sat with a group of street children on the curb here in Ukraine and listened to them cry and ask over and over what happened to the Americans who had promised them a home.  When were they coming back?  When would their home be ready? Why was it taking so long?

Knowing that money was raised and had never appeared in Ukraine, and that the promise of a home was very unlikely at this point in time, I decided to tell them the truth.

"Sometimes people have really good intentions and cannot follow through with them.  You have to forgive them, accept them as they are and move on in life."

 Except for these kids, they had no where to move on to.  They were on the street to stay.

About a year later, the big orphan care movement started in Christian churches in America.  I was thrilled.  Now, working with non-profits who had set up a model of rehabilitation for children, from ministering to those living on the street and on through to adulthood.  I was sure that Christians would catch the vision of helping these children both spiritually and physically.

Except that was not exactly what happened.

I visited the states and went to conferences on orphan care.  I was handed stacks and stacks of glossy, expensive brochures and was then told excitedly to go to the fast track workshop were I could hear the first hand stories of a woman who actually worked on the street with street children in South America!

"You really need to hear this woman speak.  She is going to tell us exactly what it's like working with street children! Isn't that exciting?" 

"Uhm, I already know what it's like working with street children.

Blank stare.

I have been working with street children in Ukraine for a few years now." I explained.

Blank stare.

As I sat in the near empty non-profit financial accountability workshop, it began to dawn on me that these conferences were not set up for people like me.

And then the adoption movement gained momentum. 

This really excited me because at the time in Ukraine there was nearly no precedent for nationals to adopt children and there were scattered orphan care ministries around the country.  If Ukrainian nationals started to adopt, this could have a huge impact on orphan care in Ukraine.  Our ministry was one of the very first to promote national adoption and foster care and placed over 100 children in homes. Today more Ukrainian nationals adopt orphans than foreigners.

But while adoption was promoted, I saw that some areas of child care for orphans and at risk children were either ignored or dismissed out of hand by pro adoption leaders who stated at  conferences that "orphan care, is adoption, first, second and last."

That sounds very romantic and good in theory, but how exactly is that supposed to work?

 "Although the christian movement pledges to bring "the end of orphans in the world,"  making adoption the answer seems to ensure that the root causes that create "orphans" will go unchanged and that the poor or at least their children, will always be with us as families mixed in a cycle of devastating poverty, and in the absence of a working child welfare system, continue to relinquish children they still have inadequate means to provide for."  -  The Child Catchers

In my frustration, I began talking with other people working with orphans or involved with adoption advocacy and with parents who were planning or had adopted children.  Thanks to many people who were willing to take the time to talk with me and share their expertise, experiences and knowledge, I began to learn about "ethical adoption" vs the "adoption as a cause" and gained a better working knowledge in approaching orphan care.

I am not against adoption.  I am 100%  for  adoption.  But I understand that sometimes adoption is just one option for an orphan or at risk child and that some of the current marketing of adoption as a cause can do more harm than good.  

Simply stated, sin is in the world to stay and there will always be orphaned and at risk children.  If we, as Christians want to minister to them, then we need to do the best for them, in a biblical and holistic way, in the context of their culture. 

Not every orphan is adoptable and we must be willing to minister and care for them and include them in orphan care if our faith is truly based on Christ's Christianity.  Jesus left his 99 sheep to go out and find the one lost sheep.  How can we quote a theology of adoption which only applies to a chosen few?  Christ died for every single one of us.

The latest statistics I've heard is that Ukraine has 100,000 children in orphanages, but only 20% of these children are adoptable.   

Some children simply are in at risk situations where adoption is not that best choice or even an option for them. 

I recommend The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption by Kathryn Joyce for anyone learning more about the adoption movement and the issues facing those of us who want to do ethical work with orphans.  I don't agree with everything in this book, but whether you agree or not, I know that it will definitely make you think and ask yourself some hard questions.

If you have read it, I would love to know what you think.  Or, if you just want to comment on this post, please do.  I want to encourage everyone who is working with orphans and at risk children to start talking and looking at how we can improve orphan care and the adoption process. 

This was a hard post to write.  Thanks for reading it.

Camp!!!

In Ukraine, summer means camp, camp and more camp!  Here's a video I made of the camp I participated in last week with Agape Ministries and Youth Of Ukraine Phoenix Project.  There's a lot I could write about, but for now, I will let the video speak for itself.

www.agapeua.com
www.youthofukrainephoenixproject.weebly.com

Music by Amy Grant, "Greet The Day" from the album "How Mercy Looks From Here"

Psalms 126:5,6

Photos From Kracow

St. Mary's church

Taken from inside the chapel in the Barbican.

One of the many towers of the Castle.

The top of the National Cathedral of Poland

The Jewish cemetery in the Jewish Quarter of Kracow.

The Jewish cemetery

 

A Barbican tower.

Thoughts On Orphan Care

One of my friends works with orphan graduates here in Ukraine and she told me that sometimes when she goes through the village, the relatives of orphans that were adopted by families in America see her out walking and call out to her asking how their Dasha, Volva or Sergei is doing over in America.

The children that my friend developed friendships with and then watched be adopted out of the orphanage still have families here in Ukraine.  For whatever reason, they were placed in the orphanage, and at some point, parental rights were given up.  My friend says that many of these families give up their parental rights for hopes of a better life for their child in a far away country.

What many people fail to understand about orphans and orphanages here in Ukraine, is that just because a child is in an orphanage, does not mean they have lost both parents or that they don't have family or are legally eligible for adoption.   Most children in orphanages here are what should be called, "social orphans."  They have one or more living parents alive who are unable to take care of them for a variety of reasons.  Poverty and substance abuse would be two examples off the top of my head.

We have a mother in our Day Center whose oldest son lives in an orphanage.  He comes home on holidays to visit her.  They do not have an ideal relationship or living situation but it's the best she can do.  Her other option is to squeeze him and his four siblings into the cramped, two room apartment they share with ten or more family members, most of which are drinking, fighting and screaming abuses to each other. For her, she sees an orphanage or "boarding school" as they are called here, as a viable option to create some stability for her child so he can go to school, receive enough food to eat and escape and chaos of living with her.

I get frustrated with the current popular adoption movement because it promotes and highlights only the children who are adoptable and able to live in families.  Don't get me wrong, there are many children who are eligible for adoption in Ukraine and I want to see those children adopted into loving homes.  If you want to adopt a child from Ukraine, write me, I can give you the contact email of a wonderful woman who can explain the process to you and help you.  I agree that we need to be working together to get as many of these children into families and promote foster families and healthy homes here in Ukraine.

But  I repeatedly find that the focus on social orphans has been shifted to the side in the promotion of orphan care and carefully brushed away.  I hear things like, "We want to reach the 'real' orphans.  We only want to sponsor a 'real' orphan.  The only way an orphan can be reached spiritually is through a family setting."

Really?  So what happens to the children who are not adopted out of the orphanage system?  What happens to those who are left behind after the hosting party bus drives away?  What happens to those children who have a deteriorating family, but one that in some way, loves them enough to not give up their rights to their children so they can be adopted?  What happens to the social orphan?

I'm going to stop here before I get too carried away and share with you a series of blog posts from Jen Hatmaker's blog which addresses international adoption ethics in much more detail than I have time to put together for you.  Why re-invent the wheel?  She covers everything.

Please, please, please, read these posts if you are interested in ministering to orphans or are involved with orphan care ministries.........Click through the title to read the post.

 Examining Adoption Ethics: Part 1

Examining Adoption Ethics: Part 2 

Examining Adoption Ethics: Part 3 

Tell me what you think?  Should orphan care be focused on only adoption and children who are actually adoptable, or should all children's needs be addressed?  Should we as Christians promote the belief that children can only develop a healthy spiritual relationship with the Lord in a family?  Why do you think there is such a focus on adoptable children and not on social orphans?

If I can stir up a dialogue, I'll write more posts about this topic.........

Documentary On Kyiv Street Children

                                                                 

Over seven years ago, I spent several years ministering to children who lived on the street.  At that time in Kyiv there were many such children living under bridges, under apartment buildings, under the ground sleeping on radiator pipes during the freezing winter weather.  They existed in the cracks and crevices of the city and could be seen hanging out everywhere.  

I learned and experienced a lot during those years.  I really was innocent and naive back then and learned a lot and made a few mistakes along the way.  There's a lot I could share and teach about from that era but I am not 100% ready yet.  I will eventually.

This documentary trailer from the film, "Flowers Don't Grow Here" features the children that I ministered to during that time.  It's a hard clip to watch.  If you want to see the whole film, there is a link that you can click through and you pay about $1.56 to do so.  I highly recommend it if you are interested in my ministry or in the work people do here with orphans/at risk children.  Fortunately, Kyiv has changed a lot since then and thankfully, the numbers of children living on the streets has been reduced dramatically.  However, the issues and psychological hardships these children deal with in the film are much like the ones I continue to address in my current ministry.  

Experiential Truth or TRUTH?

So far May has been typical with long and beautiful spring days that have unfolded in a slow pace. I have been trying to put together documents for a little project I'm working on thats, well, let's just say......pretty important which has made this month a little more anxiety ridden than....well.....maybe there's always anxiety.......

Anxiety and out of control feelings due to the fact I live in a country where EVERYTHING is out of my control can sometimes lead to a lot of second guessing about decisions and even about myself when I start thinking about things too much and try to look for answers. 

Second guessing everything leads me to look at the experiential truths that have happened to me over and over to me in the past and then my head tells me definitely and repeatedly, "THIS is the way things will turn out in the future."

Guess what?  I have no clue how things will turn out.

Okay, sometimes I'm right.

Occasionally.

But really, if you think about it.  None of us really knows how a situation will turn out.

But this week I was convicted that if my experiential truths don't line up with the Word of God, then something is out of whack.

And if I'm labeling the experiential truths as TRUTH and not allowing myself to see any other way to how things will turn out, then chances are, things are going to turn out the way I expect them to happen.  And experiential truths are not necessarily the actual truth of a situation.

And I was also convicted that sometimes I even make an IDOL out of my idea of "the way I think things will happen." 

This is where the fleshly part of me is jumping up and taking control and guess what?

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain".......John 12:24  (NKJV)

The experiential truths in my head that don't line up with the Word of God need to die.

So I took my cursor and put them all in the little waste basket and clicked "delete" and imagined that little crinkly sound which is so cool when the trash leaves the little metal basket. 

Now, I'm ready to go out and produce much grain, because God knows how things will be resolved.

Awesomeness!

I just have to post these because they are completely awesome photos!

Help us EMPOWER orphans and at risk children in Ukraine through sports programs!

www.youthofukrainephoenixproject.weebly.com

Jesus Has Risen - Happy Easter!

Today is Easter in Ukraine and I have been listening to church bells ring since they woke me up at 1:45am this morning.  They are still ringing even as I write this post.  I love the sound of Orthodox church bells.  I made a little video for you so you could hear what they sound like.  These are real bells being "played" by a musician.

Jesus has risen!

Happy Easter!

Easter Party!

This past weekend we had an Easter party at ChildRescue!

We had a puppet show AND a spectacular!  (play)

We had a good turnout and invited children from our community.  Some were familiar faces, some were new!

 

Afterwards, we had Easter bread and candy!

 

And then before the children left, they each received a Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child shoebox.  Okay, it's Easter, but it's like a two for one holiday gift!

 

I was able to read and translate the letter this boy found in his shoebox from the people who sent it.  Thank you to everyone who packs a shoebox.  These children were blessed and thrilled with them!

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday so there are lots of people attending Orthodox church services today.  Instead of taking palm leaves, they bring pussy willows to church for the service.

Here people are gathering at the church as the priest comes out and sprinkles holy water on them to bless them.  You can't see the priest, but he's there.

Easter Again

In Ukraine, we celebrate Easter according to the Orthodox calendar, so Easter will be on May 5th.  I am more than fine with that since the trees are finally turning green and it should be lovely weather wise in a couple of weeks.  I love celebrating Easter in Ukraine as it is approached in a much more serious manner that in the West.

Yesterday we had nine moms show up at our Mom's Club at ChildRescue for our Easter party!   We had a great time together.  We even gave out Operation Christmas Child boxes to a couple of moms who hadn't received them yet for their children! 

Here is a post on Orthodox Easter with a lot of great photos which show how it is celebrated if you want to learn more.  Just click .HERE

Life Update

Life keeps moving on as we head valiantly towards spring.......Well, it IS actually spring, but we're still off to a slow start.  It is starting to get green outside although these trees in the photo above have not started to bud yet.  I am hoping that it will be gloriously green by Orthodox Easter!

I am moving valiantly forward as well with all kinds of stuff going on, most of which is total chaos which then somehow rights itself back up into something awesome.  Which mostly just makes me more amazed at how God works everything together.  I am really grateful for the things I'm learning in this season of my life. 

Our Mother's Shelter/Center/Rehabilitation home (I'm not sure yet what we will call this in English for technical, legal reasons)  is making progress and we are pretty much finished with the remodeling and are working on getting the furniture installed.  It is absolutely beautiful and when a young woman comes to live there, she is going to feel awesome just being inside such a cozy and warm atmosphere!  I will post photos when it's totally finished.

Coffee As A Lifestyle

I woke up in the middle of the night last night and suddenly a blog post was running through my head.  Every sentence was written perfectly.  It was awesome.  And today I've totally forgotten what the post was even about.

So.....this post may involve a rant.

A true Ukrainian style rant usually involves copious amounts of coffee and at least one friend if not more.

So here is my friend Lori visiting me in Kyiv at Coffee Life.  Because, coffee "as a life style" is a wonderful thing.  Here you can see she is checking out the menu where we figured out that a caffe Macchiato is a step up in the world from a plain, regular, cappuccino. 

She has a big smile on her face for a reason.  More caffeine.  We are truly moving up on the scale of European coffee drinkers.

So what was I going to rant about?

I forgot.

Before And After Shots

Before...........

And after.............

Just Believe

The 40 million tons of snow from the Snowpocalypse snow storm has either been hauled or shoveled out of the city.  What's left behind is a bleak, brown, and dirty city.  The time has moved forward so it now stays lighter for longer during the day, but the skies are still mostly grey, and cloudy with just an occasional peep of light blue sky.

It's April 8th and for Ukraine, it's been one very long winter season.

Have you ever felt that longing like something is never going to come to pass?  That feeling that you know what you want but everything keeps getting messed up and you yourself can't figure out how to get from A to B?  It should be simple but nothing is?  It's like when you pray for something but get no immediately answer.  You pray for something you obviously need but......no answer, it doesn't happen.

Technically spring should be here by now.  But it has to come doesn't it?  I mean if global warming is real, then shouldn't it be warm by now?

It's by faith that we believe that winter will end and then turn into spring and spring will turn into summer and so on and so on.

"For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.".......Matthew 11:30  (NKJV)

You have to believe that.

You have to make the choice to walk by faith or walk by sight.

And believe that your spring is coming soon.

It's Melting!

All the snow is melting in Kyiv.  They did such a good job working to haul it out as it came down last week that getting around is not as bad as I thought it would be.  It's still cold and we might have some cold rain or snow this week.  I am SO ready for spring weather!  I can't believe it's April 1rst!

Follow Semkee/Seeds On Facebook!

With the increasingly growing options on how to follow blogs and with the future termination of google reader looming ahead of us, I've decided to open a Facebook page for my blog to give readers the option to follow on Facebook.

I'll be posting my blog posts there plus other content.

Just click HERE to "like"

I've also added a plug in for Youth of Ukraine Phoenix Project's Facebook page in case anyone wants to follow along and stay updated with our ministry.  Scroll down and look for it on the side bar.  You can't miss it!