"Decision"

"Decision" was the theme at our camp for adults with disabilities this year.  Forty-seven people with disabilities and 20 of their family members joined our team of volunteers for 6 days of rest, fellowship, small and large group Bible studies, and various activities.  We used road signs and rules to name our teams and open the theme of each day's Bible study.  To welcome people to camp, we had stoplights, honest and corrupt police, a car, traffic controllers and road markers.

Kolya - the good cop!

Our live stoplight

 

Taking pictures in this car was a hit for many people

Historically, the majority of people with disabilities who come to this camp are wheelchair users, and this year was no exception.  We assign a volunteer to every person who requires physical assistance and we are blessed to be able to serve their needs for this week.  Typically, volunteers are side by side with the people they are helping day and night.  But this year, people with disabilities had great freedom to independently move around the campground whenever and wherever they desired!  One HUGE blessing for our ministry in recent years has been the donation of over 40 electric wheelchairs from generous believers in other countries.  Unlike home environments, the campground is fully accessible and anyone unable to propel their own manual wheelchair had an electric one for the week.  For some, it was a freedom to move that they hadn't experienced in years.  For others, like Kolya above, it was a prolonged opportunity to use the electric wheelchair that has been designated as his, but can't be used at home due to architectural barriers.  For both volunteers and people with disabilities it was pure joy to have them zipping around the campground!

 

 

My group for the week was given the road sign "SOS."

 

And I was privileged to help the Novatsky family, who are our friends and fellow participants in the ministry.  Alik organizes all of the transportation to and from the camp and Larisa organizes the craft groups. Since Alik had to work most of the week and Larisa's health prevents her from giving Ira any physical assistance, I got to serve them all by being with Ira.  We had great fun learning to drive her electric wheelchair, singing at the bonfire, and laughing often. 

God blessed us with wonderful weather so we could be outside all day and enjoy all of the camp activities.  Afternoons at this camp are some of my favorite times of the whole year in our ministry.  The schedule lightens and gives us the freedom to sit and fellowship for extended periods of time.  You could look all over the campground and see small groups of new and old friends just enjoying time together.  Sometimes groups were continuing the discussions they began in their morning Bible study groups.  Other groups were just getting to know one another.  All were completely informal, relaxed, and welcoming of new faces. 

 

Another highlight for everyone this year was having the evening programs around the bonfire.  The last night we even extended our time at the bonfire by cooking and eating dinner there too.  The forest backdrop made a beautiful setting to enjoy the evenings together and everyone stayed until at least 11:00 every night. 

 

 

 

Several of our rehab patients from this past year were able to come and all seemed to enjoy it.  Oksana was in my group and was not able to sit through the small group on the first day, which meant that her husband also did not participate in his group.  Later we figured out what we could do to keep her calm throughout the group time and therefore allow her husband to be a participant  in one of the men's group, so we were grateful.  Oksana was not our safest electric wheelchair driver, but she sure enjoyed trying and she kept her husband on his toes!

 

 

This mother and son duo, Marianna and Ilya, repented at separate times during the camp.  Also Pasha, a young man with cerebral palsy, repented after he returned home.  Please join us in praising God for His work of grace in their lives and praying for their spiritual growth.

 

 

Our week at camp was such a joyful, God-honoring time that we were able to serve God and people with disabilities. God answered many prayers for financial provision, health, physical stamina, weather, and the teaching of His Word.  Thank you to all who prayed!  I'll finish with more pictures to help tell the story of our camp:

 

Small group session



 

Kolya (above) was my patient in 2009 after a massive stroke.  Before his stroke, he was completely against God and the church, refusing to allow his wife to go to church or to go himself.  Now, he consistently comes to church, home church, camps, and clubs.  He still can express very few words, but he understands and remembers many things.  Please pray for God's work in his life. 



Taras and his volunteer during small group Bible study



Nelya enjoying the horseback riding

Team SOS taking a "musical" photo for a game

Morning exercises

 

Team SOS!!!

 

"Love is..."

"Love is..." was the theme of our family retreat this year, which we hosted for 31 children with disabilities, their siblings, and one or both parents.  The 6 days we spent together at a campground in the forest were blessed with beautiful weather, a multitude of activities, times of rest, fellowship, and Bible studies. 

On the opening day, we greeted the families with a festive, wedding-like atmosphere.  Many families attend camp year after year and we were definitely excited to see them again.  But for me, it was particularly exciting to have several families come for the first time whose children receive therapy at our rehabilitation center. 



Maxim and his dad participating in morning exercises

Welcoming Mark and his mom to camp

Oksana and her 2 daughters, Tonia and Katya, coming into camp with the help of a volunteer

 

"LOVE" - my group for the week included families with the youngest kiddos!

 

Ivanka and her grandma 

Every year we strive to have a volunteer paired with each child with a disability and their family for the week.  The role of volunteers is to serve the needs of their child as much as possible throughout the week and, by extension, to serve the rest of the family.  I was blessed to be paired with Maxim, a 7-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and deafness who has come to camp for several years now with his mother, Marina, and sister, Dasha.  His father was unable to come due to work.  

 

 



I had a wonderful time serving this family by spending lots of time with Maxim, which included frequent walks in his stroller, sitting together on the big swing, and playing on a blanket during our small group times.  God blessed me with this precious little boy who breaks into a contagious smile or laugh at the sight of a familiar face, interaction with another child, or the vibration of a percussion instrument in his hand. 

 

 

Because Maxim is deaf, he really was a perfect match for me.  I've been in the little kids' group at camp before and my broken Ukrainian is often very difficult, both for them and me.  But with Maxim, my language skills were not a hindrance.  I could use any method I wanted to interact with him and show him love without the concern for whether my words were right...so freeing! 

 

Please join me in praying for this family.  Marina has heard much truth from God's Word over the years that she has come to camp - please pray for her repentance.  Also, I am excited to start rehab with Maxim in September and see what progress he is able to make.  Again, his deafness is helpful for me because it means I can work with him alone, which is something I haven't been able to do with children since I arrived - so I'm looking forward to that.

 

We discussed the retreat theme of "Love is..." more specifically each day with topics such as words, time, gifts, and help.  In the mornings, children and parents had separate small group Bible studies.  This is a really special time for the parents to spend only with other adults, knowing that volunteers are caring for their children.  We had a group for the 4 dads and then 4 small groups for moms.  We are grateful that several of the moms are believers now as a direct result hearing God's Word in previous camps.  Please pray for God's work in the lives of the moms and dads who heard the truth this year.

 

 

 

After Bible studies, we had various activities people could get involved in, including crafts, learning to play adapted harps, games, spa salon, and cooking classes.  Smiles were abundant during these times!

 

 

 



    

 

After dinner each day, we all gathered around the campfire for the evening program.  It was a beautiful setting in the forest and everyone enjoyed this time of singing, dramas, presentations of the groups, games, and hearing the Word. 

 

 

 

Thank you to all who prayed for this camp.  God met our needs in regards to finances, volunteers, weather, health, and all the daily logistics.  Please continue to pray for God's work in the lives of those who attended.  I hope that this week I will be able to post blogs about adult camp and other summer activities, so stay tuned.

 

For now though, I leave you with this beautifully created boy enjoying the beauty of God's creation and I trust and pray that you too have eyes to see our Creator's beauty around you.

 



 



Rehab Update

We had a flurry of activity in our rehab center over the last few months and have now officially closed the center until the end of the summer.  This week our team is devoted to making final preparations for the camps for adults and children with disabilities that begin next Tuesday.  After camps, all of our staff has vacation time before we resume rehab at the end of August.  We had many new patients find our center in recent months and the therapists tried to conduct as many evaluations and consultations as possible.  Our current rehab patients all received detailed home programs to work on during the break and we look forward to seeing many of them at camp!
 
Our children's room has been blessed with many new toys and rehab items, some that we ordered and some that arrived in a humanitarian shipment to the church.  My personal favorite is the basketball goal!  Here are some of our kiddos (unfortunately, we didn't manage to get pictures of several of our newest kids):

Ilya on our skateboard-turned-scooter

Anna- Maria working on her hoops skills

Mark loves to draw and play "guess that picture"



Maxim and Sveta working on the stairs 

 

Ivanka using another makeshift scooter

On the adult side, we have several new faces:

Viktor

Taras

 

 

Vasya's spinal cord injury was 2 years ago and he started rehab about a month ago.  His brother drove him almost 2 hours one-way for rehab twice a week.  Expensive, but profitable trips as Vasya has made good progress.  We are particularly excited that Vasya has agreed to come to camp!  Please join us in praying for his repentance.  

 

Miroslava came for a consultation last fall due to progressive weakness in her legs leading to falls and difficulty walking.  We ended up referring her to a neurosurgeon who discovered a tumor on her spine.  She had the tumor removed and returned to us about a month ago to work on her walking.  She is a joyful and kind lady and she's so tiny that she gets to use the pediatric crutches! We are thankful for the progress she made in a short amount of time and look forward to seeing her again in the fall. 

Being able to help new patients is great, but it also presents challenges.  During this last month, it meant that our therapists had to have difficult conversations with some of our long-standing patients who have maximized their potential.  Unlike in America, we no insurance regulations that determine the length of rehab services for each patient, no physician who oversees patient care at our center, and no multidisciplinary teams to discuss and determine each patient's plan.  Sometimes the absence of those things is a pro, but often it's a con. 

You see, most, if not all, of our patients with spinal cord injuries arrived at our center with no realistic understanding of their prognosis.  It has been our experience that physicians in our region are not clear with them about their potential after their injury.  They either tell them exactly what they want to hear..."You will walk," or they fail to tell them the information that we find later in their documentation...that the patient's injury is classified as the most severe, indicating no potential for walking.  As our therapists conduct their evaluations and begin educating patients about the results and the goals for rehab, they often find themselves to be the first voice of reality and "negativity."  They break the news that the patient's leg movements are caused by spasticity and they actually exhibit no voluntary muscle control over their legs.  They have the challenging discussion about the patient's goal of walking and how it is not realistic at this time and may never be, so we will start with simpler, more achievable goals.  Over time, patients often come to understand their prognosis and work hard to progress toward these other goals of rolling, sitting, transferring, and propelling their wheelchair. 

Some of our patients with spinal cord injuries have had rehab for years to achieve their maximum potential and some maximized it in months.  Either way, the topic of discharge is always difficult.  First of all, our therapists have to acknowledge that we don't see more potential, that we can't write any more achievable goals for this patient...that's tough.  Then it can be even more difficult to face the patient and state the honest truth that their rehab potential has been maximized, that their current functional state is probably the best they can expect, and that we are discharging them.  It's hard to be the bearers of this news.  And it's harder still for those patients whose physicians and surgeons have been telling them the opposite.  God was faithful to give our therapists wisdom as they had these conversations recently and He answered the prayer that patients and their families would be understanding and accepting. 

Thankfully for us and our patients, discharge from rehab does not have to mean complete discharge from our center.  This is one pro to being on our own with no insurance regulations.  We have two categories of patients at our center: patients who receive rehab services and patients who receive prophylactic services.  Those who receive rehab services are progressing, continue to have achievable goals, and come 2-3 times a week.  Those who receive prophylactic services are those who have maximized their rehab potential and come 1 time per month.  We have this prophylactic category for several reasons.  First, our center is part of a ministry and our first goal is for our patients to know Christ.  We want to stay in their lives to show them more of Christ.  Second, many of their families cannot or do not perform physical tasks for them like range of motion of their legs or transfers to a wheelchair.  Bringing them to the center lets us keep an eye on their physical status.  And third, it give them an opportunities for activity and fellowship with people outside their home, something that can be very infrequent for some of them. 

Anya continues her rehab

Kolya comes for prophylactic services

Anya was discharged and will receive prophylactic services if she chooses

Anya, in the last picture, was a particularly difficult person to discharge.  I have mentioned her before - she had corrective surgery of her scoliosis and is now a paraplegic.  Her surgeon was telling she and her family exactly the opposite information we were about her prognosis.  Unfortunately, more than 8 months after her surgery she continues to show no signs of muscle activation in her lower body.  She is very independent in a wheelchair and in answer to prayer she and her father accepted the news of her discharge with understanding.  But please continue to pray for Anya, who is only 14 years old.  Pray that her therapists will be able to stay in contact with her and that God would work in her life.

Lastly, please pray for these folks:

With the exception of my mom and the addition of a couple of others, this is our core ministry team.  Please pray as we head into 3 weeks of camp: for love, joy, wisdom, endurance, and the truth of the gospel to go out.  Pray for those attending the camps, helping in the camps, and all the logistics involved when 150+ people are in camp, many of whom have disabilities.  Pray for God's Word to be spoken clearly and for the Holy Spirit's work in people's hearts.

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer and I look forward to telling you all about camps!