Traveling NWA to Ukraine

We are home! We landed in Tulsa Tuesday night a little before 10:00 PM. I appreciate everyone who has followed our team blog and prayed endlessly for us while we were gone. I plan to post an update on each day we were working to give better details of our trip. The "work" we did while in Ukraine could not have gone smoother. Everyone was welcoming and receptive to what we had to say. The traveling did not go quite as smooth but we did get there and back safe.


Some answered prayers were: The airlines let our bags slide 55 lbs and under without a charge and let us check our 17th suitcase for free. It was suppose to be a fee of 200.00 since there were only 8 of us on the trip.


Once we got to the airport we realized our tickets were wrong and we were going to miss our connection in Germany. After many negotiations, we were setup with new tickets. Our flight path was XNA - Chicago - Frankfurt - Kiev - Donetsk. Our translator and drivers met us at the airport in Donetsk and we were very happy to see them.

Ashley and Maria at work preparing information packets for us to take

Endless piles of papers in the office waiting for us to pack
Packing, not sure where to start

Sorting everything out to pack with suitcases waiting to be filled


Christie fixing packets that had missing papers.
Not an easy task when everything is in Russian

Packing a wheelchair.

We managed to get 3 wheelchairs and one stander in our suitcases!

A group of co-workers met us while packing to pray over us before our trip

Christie sorting through the braces.

It seems like we took a lot, but once we were over there,

she was wishing we could have packed more.

Amy was the suitcase weigher!

Arriving at XNA

We took 17 suitcases of supplies and 6 walkers!

Amy, Carmen, Kym, and Gregg

Christie, Abby, Kati, Amanda

Taking a break in Germany.

Once we got their, Abby didn't have a seat assigned so it took some time to get that sorted out.

Everyone we dealt with concerning the walkers were much more patient than we had expected. We had to check them on 4 different planes.

Quite a load!

We got many looks and questions over all the walkers. Some comments include our pilot stating, "you look like you are going to do something special with all those carts", a lady at Chicago airports asking, "what is this all about", and "what are those things". We were also "those" people that everyone talks about when you discuss all the good "people watching" you can do in an airport.

Ukraine Update

While in Ukraine, the TEAM will be periodically updating a group blog. The website is http://www.teamworksukraine.com/. Due to very busy schedules and limited internet access, Kati may not be able to post any individual updates, but this group blog will keep everyone updated throughout the week. Please continue to keep the TEAM in your thoughts and prayers!

Ukraine Itinerary

We have been busy preparing materials for our trip while Amanda, who we completely depend on to coordinate everything, has been working with our translator to create a schedule. This is a good idea of what we plan on accomplishing while we are gone. As you can tell, there will be absolutely no time for sleep so we will have to get that taken care of on the plane. Antoshka is an orphanage that the group has visited and has seen some positive changes already. Green Forest is a new orphanage that we will visit this year and determine their needs and how we can continue to help them.


Saturday, April 10

Fly out of NWA heading to Donetsk Ukraine (Transferring in Chicago, Frankfurt Germany, and Munich Germany)


Sunday, April 11
P.M. - Arrive in Donetsk, transfer by car to Kramatorsk

Monday, April 12
A.M. Antoshka Orphanage
- meet with director
- see special needs children in rooms
- have "clinic" for each special needs child
- go to infirmary

P.M. Kramatorsk Children's Hospital
- meet with hospital director and staff
- tour hospital
- tour NICU
- present materials on NICU
- demonstrate protocol in NICU
- visit orphan ward children and staff


Night
- develop plan for each child at Antoshka

Tuesday, April 13
A.M. Kramatorsk Children's Hospital
- have a "clinic" with special needs children and their parents

P.M. Kramatorsk Children's Hospital
- have a "clinic" with special needs children and their parents


Night
- create charts for each child at Hospital
- develop plans for each child at Hospital

Wednesday, April 14
A.M. Antoshka Orphanage
- present personalized programs
- present new materials & demonstrations of therapy in group setting

P.M. Slavynsk Rehabilitation Clinic
- meet with director and staff
- have clinic with special needs children and staff


Night
- create charts for each child at Rehabilitation Clinic
- develop plans for each child at Rehabilitation Clinic

Thursday, April 15
A.M. Antoshka Orphanage
- deliver equipment, donations
- wrap up with directors and staff


Kramatorsk Children's Hospital
- deliver equipment, donations
- deliver personalized programs
- wrap up with directors and staff

P.M. Slavyansk Rehabilitation Clinic
- deliver plans for special needs children
- present materials and do demonstrations of therapy
- wrap up with director and staff

Night
- travel to Kharkiv by van (5 hours)

Friday, April 16
A.M. Green Forest Orphanage
- meet with director
- see special needs children in rooms
- have "clinic" for each special needs child

P.M. Green Forest
- present materials along with demonstrations of therapy
- wrap up with director and staff


Saturday, April 17
A.M. Green Forest
- deliver donations & visit with children in rooms

P.M. Travel to Kyiv by train (5 hours)


Sunday April, 18
Depart Kyiv and head home!

Ukraine

I am excited that I will be joining a group from Children's Therapy T.E.A.M. who is traveling to Ukraine to work with special needs children April 10th - 18th.

The goal of the trip is to increase awareness for special needs children in Ukraine. We will be working in orphanages, a hospital, and with families who have kept their children to educate them on the importance of interaction with the children and provide them with the means to improve development and independence. A clinic who treats children with Cerebral Palsy, motor delays, and other orthopedic problems has also asked us to come and help them. We will be taking handouts, which have been translated, on many different areas of development, video's to explain the handouts, and providing them with necessary equipment for the children. We will be taking toys, feeding supplies, therapy balls, and splints. We also have an equipment representative who will be making equipment such as standers and chairs after we assess the children and determine their needs.

Here is a video of the group that traveled last March from our clinic.

Ukraine Orphans & Special Needs from Jim Evans on Vimeo.

This is a video of the adoption of five children at Children's Therapy whose parents work at the clinic.

Our Ukraine Adoption Story from Amanda Clark on Vimeo.

If you are interested in helping with our upcoming mission trip to Ukraine, please click on the flyer below. It has specifics on what supplies are needed as well as how to make a monetary donation.

Thank you for your prayers. I will update as we continue through this journey.

More Snow

Snow Day

Johnny, Piper and Belle

Belle LOVED the snow

Ready to come in!

Johnny took a ride on the four wheeler before we went sledding

We went to Leverett to sled down the hill and ride the four wheelers back up.

Lindsey and Bryan heading down

Johnny, Bryan, and Bryan

The snow plow trying to ruin our fun. It didn't really make a difference.

Johnny heading down

Johnny now going down backwards

Making the trip back up

Amy and Bryan

Amy and I tried to go down together. The sled was broken by this point, so I ended up alone.

New York City

Johnny and I went to New York City the last week of October. We were really looking forward to getting away for a week. We stayed at a hotel on times square and went nonstop for 7 days. I had a great time, but was ready to come back to Arkansas. Johnny on the other hand did not get tired of it. He kept telling me we were only going back home long enough to pack our bags and move to the big city...Yeah right!

Times square from our hotel

Central Park

We took the subway to Brooklyn and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan. It was a beautiful day for the walk.

Our last day there was the New York City Marathon. This is 1/2 mile from the end. There were some exhausted people, but they kept on going.

Johnny and the wall street bull. We almost forgot to find this beauty before we left New York. Johnny would have been very sad!

We had lunch at the Hello Deli before attending a taping of the David Letterman Show. We were surprised at the "locals" inside the deli. Rupert Jee and the business men were in there talking about real estate and the economy. Not as touristy as we expected.

Fun times on the subway. We took the subway everywhere we went. We never got in a cab. Our favorite subway moment was on Halloween night. We had been informed that the most entertaining thing to do on Halloween in NY is ride the subway all night. We attempted to go to a parade that was miserable, stinky, and pouring rain. We left to get back on the subway. It was PACKED. The announcer was continuously saying, "please stay clear of the closing doors". She was getting more and more frustrated from the people trying to cram into each car. Her last announcement was, "please get all capes and tails inside the car!" We saw people dressed in about everything you can imagine...EXCEPT..oompa loompas! There were none in NYC.

Rockefeller Plaza. This was the day before we left. I was exhausted and ready to come home. As you can tell, my hair had also experienced enough. It is definitely not made for NYC.

We took a 3 hour sightseeing cruise that went completely around Manhattan. It was a good way to see areas of Manhattan that we didn't experience anywhere else.

This is a Best Buy commercial being filmed. These folks did not appear happy at all to be singing their little jingle.

I got my picture taken with the soldier outside FAO Schwarz. We also got to shop in the glass Apple store which was a highlight for Johnny.

Lunch at Tavern on the Green. This was our most miserable day in NYC. It was POURING down rain. My pants were soaked all day. After lunch we spent time inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Other highlights of our trip were seeing Mary Poppins (one of my all time favorite movies), blue man group and West Side Story. Our first day in NY, we took a 6 hour private tour which helped tremendously in learning the subway system and determining a plan for the rest of our week. We also visited the 911 workshop which was created by the only photographer allowed access onto the site, 911 museum which shows a projection of the future sight, original sight of the twin towers, and St. Paul's Chapel. We spent a day on Wall Street, visiting the Federal Reserve Bank of NY where we toured the history of coins/money in the world and took a tour of the gold vault.

There was so much delicious food to choose from, we had a hard time deciding. Our favorite meal was an Italian dinner we had at Becco. We also went to Serendipity for a dessert!

There were many things that surprised us: The subway wasn't scary, people were generally nice if you needed help, and the city seriously never sleeps. At midnight, it was so bright outside it felt like noon. We had a great time!