Pie Oh My!

You know I love ya'll when I post the most unflattering video ever. That's right, this is what you get on a Sunday morning after a lively evening with several bottles of wine friends, sans make-up and my hair totally un-did. But hey, I'm about to get a pie or two in the face so why bother getting dolled up, right?



Admittedly, the kids took it easy on me because I threatened them with eternal ground-ation they love me. Joe stopped the taping though just before I got Beck pretty good.
Oh and I didn't give him a bloody nose, the kids decided they wanted to be Rodolph this morning. Nice.
Thank you again to everyone who donated to make Christmas possible for 100 kids in Kyrgyzstan. All together 2129 orphans will get to celebrate a day they won't forget. You guys are awesome!!!

23

You guys are awesome!

So far 23 orphans will be enjoying Christmas this year because of YOU! 23 kids will get to experience a day full of fun, food, gifts and most of all, love and hope. 23 children who otherwise have nothing, will know that they matter, that people care.

I wanted to share a message from John, who has dedicated his life to helping the people of Beck's birth country:

It is more then just a Christmas Party, it is bringing a Hope that we are counting on to, in some cases, sustain life ....to give boys like Muksat reason NOT to try to commit suicide again.....

I try my best to simply tell the story here at actofkindness, and leave it to you to decide what to do with it, but today... I am asking please please please help us.... you see when this next week is over, and the challenge is done... we need to sit down and decide... who is NOT getting anything for Christmas this year.....
Please don't make us have to make that decision ....



Thank you to everyone who has logged onto John's site and donated money. I am overwhelmed by your generosity.
$5 will allow another child to experience a day full of wonder and hope. It's not too late! Let's not leave any child out.

These folks do amazing work. Thank you John and company!

Trip 1, 2 Years Ago, 3 Hearts, Joined 4Ever

Exactly 2 years ago Joe and I made our first trip half way around the world to meet a little 2 1/2 year old boy named Aibek. Today, as this wonderful little boy sits on my lap and we watch this video, it's hard to believe he's the same boy. He's grown in so many ways. It's hard to understand from these pictures that before we arrived we had been warned that he was so afraid of people, that he would shy away to the back of the room whenever there were visitors to his orphanage. He was so fearful of people, a fact that scared potential parents away. But in my heart, I feel he was waiting for us. Within a few minutes of meeting him, he was in my lap, something his orphanage director was amazed by.
It was an amazing visit but getting on that plane to return home without him was heartbreaking. To have him bond with us, to trust us like he had never trusted anyone else... and then to have to leave him for 2 months was beyond difficult.

Adoptions have now currently stalled in Kyrgyzstan. Please pray for the parents who know their children's names but remain a half a world apart, and for the children who remain in orphanages without the daily love and presence of parents that every child deserves.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

It's A Small World

Have you ever had a week were tremendous coincidences abound. You know, those moments that find you slackjawed and wondering, "what's the chances of that?!"
I've had one of those weeks.
And seriously, this post isn't the half of it. I've got a real goodie coming your way in the next posting... I'm just waiting, and hoping, for a bit more info before I share it with you.

(yeah I know, don't you hate it when people leave ya hangin' like that?)

But for now, check out this picture...


Right there in the middle is my uber-crush, Ralph Fiennes! That alone, makes it an awesome picture. But look closer. He is standing with Tatiana and the other staff members AT BECK'S ORPHANAGE IN TOKMOK! WHAT?!
Hilary sent me the link to his diary detailing his trip to Kyrgyzstan, and specifically about his visit to the Tokmok Orphanage.
He writes:

This was probably the most distressing place I’d seen, I think. Very young children from a few months old to maybe two or three years old. I get a sense of, well, of the palpable love of the women and the lady who ran it, Tatyana.

Tatyana has been looking after children with disabilities for 11 years. But it was the faces of these tiny children (many of whom were clearly undernourished or psychiatrically disadvantaged) that impressed me the most. When we arrived, we sat down with Tatyana who talked about the principles of the centre. Most of the children have been abandoned because they have some deformity, either physical or mental, or because their parents just can’t cope. Trying to advance them in terms of their disabilities.


They deserve better facilities, better buildings, more equipment. Some of the children were very ill. They had serious mental and motor skill problems and they were housed in a very old building that I recognised as being probably from Tsarist times, which was quite rare. Very old floorboards, woodwork and old windows. Again, the western visitor is stumped for an adequate response in the face of what the women at the centre were trying to achieve, were trying to hold together. They were trying to give these children a life.

It was sobering seeing these tiny faces looking up at us. We must have seemed like weird, strange giants coming in with our camera equipment and books and backpacks and things. And these children reaching out. One little girl grabbed my hand and tried to pull me into the room, and I wondered how long they would be here and what their memories would be of this place when they were older. Will all of them have memories of institutions throughout their life and who would be the ones who would find a home?

Of all the places in the world, how amazing that he came to be at the very same little orphanage, in a tiny relatively unknown country (He admits he knew NOTHING about the country prior to his travel) that Beck came from.

*swoon* It's like we have a cosmic connection. OK, I wish.
So let's see, that makes me, what 1 degree of separation? Or is that 2? Me-Tatiana-Ralph. Hmmm, not sure how that works. But regardless, I think it's super cool.