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A child in the Stara Zagora
baby home. (Click any picture on this page to enlarge.) |
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Spring '07SHOES, Shoes, Shoes!
983 children were fitted
with tennis shoes in one week!
(For a slideshow of pictures from the trip,
click here.)
The Heights Baptist Church sent us another fantastic
shoe team. Since all but one
volunteer had been here before on
shoe teams, I knew these folks and I knew that they could really
work hard and accomplish a lot. I planned our most ambitious week ever
visiting 17 orphanages. The team put new tennis shoes on 983
children!!!!! And some of those 239 to be exact also were fitted
with sandals. Some homes had infants who were not ready for shoes and
others had handicapped children who do not walk. Those kids got lots of
hugs and new socks. We socked well over 1100 children. It was a
wonderful experience and the team worked hard and fast.
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Unloading the truck at
Berkovitsa 2. |
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We began the trip by taking the team straight from the airport to
Blagoevgrad. We were happy to attend Sunday services there with church
leader Anatolie Cernii. Teo Angelov was the guest speaker and delivered
a powerful sermon of encouragement. We attended the Sofia Baptist church
on Wednesday evening, and Richard Covington from the Heights staff
delivered a message from the book of Micah reminding us of the Lord's
requirements: to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your
God. Though we didn't go to services in Kazanluk, we did have dinner
with Pastor Hristo Gurdev, his son George Gurdev and George's fiancee,
Lara.
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Jim Abernathy holding a child
from Buzovrad. |
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This whole week was a moving experience in every sense of the word.
We were on the road a lot, just over 1,000 miles. We traveled as far
south as Blagoevgrad and as far north as Montana. We traveled east to
Pleven in the north and Stara Zagora in the south. Stani did a great job
of getting the truck into some really tight places. Paul and Andrew got
us safely to all the homes, in spite of all the traffic hazards.
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Cookie Slate blowing bubbles
for children from Dren. |
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At every stop along the way, we were moved emotionally by the
children we met. We prayed for these kids, the workers, and the
directors of the homes. It is impossible to understand how so many kids
could be abandoned by their parents. We cuddled babies. We hugged. We
tickled. We sang. We did all the things that parents or grandparents
usually do with their children. And it was wonderful. Hopefully, in a
summer newsletter the spring one is already on its way to the printer
you will get some eyewitness accounts of this trip.
Besides visiting familiar homes, we visited two new ones:
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A child at Dren showing off his
new shoes. |
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The baby home in Pleven houses 240 babies from birth to 3 years of
age. They didn't have any disposable diapers so the kids were diapered
with ragged clothing. They asked me for sheets and little overalls,
especially for the handicapped, bedridden children. They also asked if
we had any possibility of helping them purchase lab equipment for blood
analysis. Some of the children were premature or born with chronic
ailments that must be monitored by lab work. The orphanage must pay for
this lab work to be done in the state-run hospital. This money comes out
of their food budget!
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Distributing shoes in Roman. |
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The baby home in Stara Zagora houses 196 babies. At this home, we saw
Boshidara the two-month-old that had surgery a few weeks ago. She is
doing very well. She is focusing her eyes on objects now and responding
to those around her. Her head is a little prunish and mis-shapened at
the moment, but as more of the fluid drains, her head should be more
normally shaped.
The other baby from this home who had surgery is in the hospital. Her
name is Kudun and she is a delightful baby. Please pray for her. She has
a skin condition as a result of a milk allergy. Anyway, her skin is not
very elastic and is separating around the incision for the shunt. The
doctors may remove the shunt altogether. Please pray for the best
possible solution. She is a dear little child who won my heart when I
cared for her in the hospital.
I can't tell you how much we appreciated the great spirit of this team.
We would have loved for them to stay a few more weeks!
Slideshow |
