Expanding!

It is way past time for an update, isn't it?

The past four months have been very busy for the Project TLC families. I'm so proud to be ministry partners with the Laughrey and Burman families. Each of us are, or have been, expanding our families through birth or adoption. This takes time to adjust and get a feel for the new normal, but now that we are finding a groove in our house, I need share with you how God is expanding the ministry of Project TLC!

In 2011, when we visited the children's mental institution in Crimea, bringing all the school supplies, pull ups, handmade hats, and more, we knew that we wanted to do more. Much more. But we didn't know if the relationship would blossom.

Thanks to our generous supporters, we were able to fund some sorely needed window repairs. Just a few months ago, God answered our fervent prayers to help the children in a more direct way. We now have three to four local volunteers who visit and care for the children on a regular basis. This takes some of the load off of the poorly paid and overworked employees, and it gives the children some things they have likely never had l someone to talk and sing to THEM, to provide them with loving touch, healthy snacks (additional calories!), and time to savor and enjoy those snacks. If you are familiar with typical orphanage feeding methods you will understand this.

The staff report that child children are enjoying the extra attention, act differently and feel better after the volunteers visit them. We have enough funds to sustain this program until the end of the year.

TLC Pals has twelve typically developing children in an orphanage in Ukraine matched with twelve pen pals in the USA. There are many upsides to a program like this, but the greatest, in my opinion, is that the kids know there is ONE person who cares about them enough to take the time to write and send gifts. One person who has chosen to care. It's really huge to these kids who may not have any other positive influences.

So happy to get a letter from the USA!

The program is getting off to a slow start. The logistics of getting the letters from the children over to the USA has been a problem. Our first set of letters was apparently lost in the mail...so disappointing to us all. We are having a new set of letters hand carried to us by a returning mission team. God willing we will be able to distribute these letters to our American pen pals this week! Please pray for us to find better shipping solutions. More children would like to be added, but we need to work the kinks out first. This program could be self-supporting if we have enough participants.

We are expanding in other ways that I must wait to tell you about. In the meantime, we are also planning a fundraising event for the Wichita, Kansas area. We are preparing to hold our second Cupcakes for a Cause - TLC Edition on September 7th. As I make a list of all the things that need to be done, it is clear that I need to put together a team to help us on the ground here in Kansas. Pray that I would find passionate and organized people to help pull this event together. I'm not a natural party planner and the stakes are very high.

Thanks for your support ~ Stephanie