Walking Tall

Dear Marina fans,
Just a quick update to let you know that Marina is overcoming the weakness in her legs, and with two weeks of exercises and hard work, she is walking on her new feet with the help of a walker that Shriner's is letting us use until she walks on her own.
We are absolutely amazed at the progress she has made the past two weeks and she is really showing us all that she is not "crippled" as we were told so many times before!
Her therapist says that she will eventually dance, run and do whatever she wants to do on her prosthetic feet, and I have no doubt after seeing what she has accomplished already!
Marina will be going back into surgery on her mouth at the end of May to have the roof of her mouth repaired. This delays our return to Ukraine, but it also gives Marina more time for speech therapy and physical therapy before our return.
Thank you so much for your prayers and your emails. We appreciate you!
Rebecca

God is Generous

When Vova was born, his mom began to count his fingers – 1,2,3,4,… 11! Surely, there was more than enough! Then she counted his little toes – 1,2,3,4,5,… 12!

“God is generous,” comments Vova.

You can see this happy fellow’s baby picture in the beginning of this blog. There he looks just like a tiny elf in Inge’s arms. Now he is couple years old and solid muscle. He trains by spinning on his stomach, with his hands and feet up in the air or in the baby-walker, rolling wildly in circles. When they figure out name for this rolling sport, you will see him in the Olympics.

Vova has a reason to smile. In the beginning of the year he moved up to our ward at the orphanage. Before he lived in a ward where the children are not expected to learn anything. They are doomed to a life of dreariness, laying in their cribs in silence, waiting for their next meal and a clean diaper. There is no one to hold them, to enjoy them, there is no one to sing to them, or to see God in them. But someone saw his potential. Someone looked into those bright eyes and decided to give him a chance. I think he is taking it all in. He learned to crawl in less than two months and now he can already walk leaning against the sides of the crib. And where did he learn to smile like that? I think he has had some secret friends, heavenly warriors, smiling at him all along.

Sylvi

Baby Steps of Progress for Valentine

Let me introduce you to Valentine or Valik for short. He came to the hospital about 3 months ago and captured the hearts of the team. He was so tiny and small that we couldn’t believe that he was really 4 months old because he weighed only 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds). He cried a pitiful soft cry and would wiggle all the time except when he was sleeping which wasn’t often. We suspected that he was very hungry and couldn’t settle down because he was fed very little with a long time between feedings. Whenever we held him he would become agitated unless we were rocking or swinging him. I gave him a new nickname “Squiggly Worm”. Yet he captured our hearts and became a special little guy to several of the team members.

Recently I started to bring some Johnson’s pink baby cream to the hospital to put on the babies who had dry skin. The children enjoy a massage and this cream helps them smell nice. I tried it on Valik and he loved it! He smiles and coos when I am rubbing lotion on his feet or arms. He especially loves it when I rub his face and head, cooing and smiling even more. As soon as I lay him on the changing table and take off his jammies he gets excited because he knows what is coming. Human touch! Comfort! Gentleness! The transformation that takes place during these 20 minutes is amazing. God is teaching me the power of gentleness in the lives of these children who are starving for love. Pray that Valik would continue to grow and get healthier each day.