I bumped up an old post, but since my new post appeared on page 3, I decided to to it this way.

I'm just bumping this up from 3 or 4 yrs. ago. I haven't been on this site much in the last 2 yrs. until this past week and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is now much easier to navigate and WOW, it has grown from about 2,000 members the best I remember to over 29,000. That's fantastic!

At the time I posted this tee shirt quilt, I mentioned it was for our daughter who was moving to the other side of the world. Some of you asked where, and I had been instructed to not advertise the location. I think it is still not identified on the mission website, but they all post to Facebook, so how much more public can it get?
She lives in Kazakhstan ( Borat's imaginary country), but there's nothing imaginary about it. It's a real place with real people although, it's a half century behind the rest of the world. We visited her there.

She teaches English as a second language and works with about 300 orphans at one children's home and close to 100 babies at a baby house and also does some volunteer work at a house for kids at risk in a poor neighborhood.

This is in the region of southern Siberia in central Asia and was part of the Old Soviet Union. The word, Siberia, is enough to tell you that the winters are brutal with possible temps dropping to 45 below zero and the ground is covered with ice from Nov. til the spring thaw in April. BUT, she began calling this land home almost immediately.
Nothing ever works all at once...i.e., the heat or the water or power will go off without warning or the lift will be out and she lives on the 5th floor and her clothes dryer is on its' last leg, but she cannot find a dryer in the stores...the Americans are the only ones who use them, so they are not stocked and hers is one of the oldest in the country. Sliced bread only came to stores since she moved there.
They shop outdoors in bazaars all winter and at times the vendors have to use hair blow dryers to keep their produce and their hands from freezing. She literally bought snow boots in the snow.

She now has a family of six siblings who consider her their mother. Seven siblings were dropped off at the orphanage nearly 10 yrs. ago. The oldest is now deceased, and 2 are still living at the home, but the older ones who have been released from the home at 16 or after 9th grade are either enrolled in a school with a dorm or working. They visit with our daughter on weekends and the 19 yr. old girl lived with her last summer while she did an apprenticeship in the city. They range in age from 11-22.
I sent the red tee's & plaids for a family portrait, but they haven't all gotten together at the same time yet. This was made at the orphanage on New Yr's eve. These are 4 of the siblings...2 boys aren't there...

Such a lovely giving daughter. Bless you and bless her. You must be so proud.

What a truly gifted and blessed person your daughter is! To share of herself in such a formidable environment. Just a wonderful story.

WOW you have raised a wonderful young lady and you should be so proud. What a kind soul your daughter is.

I just had to send these pictures made at the baby house. They are so precious.

What a wonderful person you created... how proud you must be!

Hugs

You are so blessed! What giving hearts you and your daughter have.. And those babies.... so sweet

My son is adopted, from NM, and he is 45 yrs old now. I have a lovely 20 year old granddaughter by him, and she's my only grandchild. Always wanted a big family, but life doesn't always turn out the way we want... I'm grateful for the little family that I do have, tho.

Please tell your daughter that one more grandma will keep her and the children covered in prayer..

It's so inronic, Victoria never wanted kids of her own and never liked cold weather. But she says she loves her life.
These babies were not very social when she first started visiting the baby house, but I'm guessing they may be a tad spoiled now. There are only 2 workers per 10-15 babies and they do love them and they seem to be well tended, but 2 people cannot give much individual attention to 10-15 babies, so the volunteers have given them lots of attention and socialized them. She speaks to them in both Russian and English and it was so funny hearing her tell of the one little boy who was pushing back in his high chair and she said, "No, no." And he repeated it in English. She and a local Kazakh friend have chosen one group to spend most of their time so they can give continuity as the kids grow up. Other volunteers take a different group. Many of the babies have siblings there and about 70% have mothers who visit occasionally. Only about 30% are adoptable. A few have fetal alcohol syndrome.

I replied on the other page..... You have done a remarkable job as a parent for your daughter to do this line of work. Kudos to you.

These babies are precious!!!!

On The Go Love the photos and what a blessing your daughter is. Great to her about her life and being able to help other. I know that area that she is in my son was in that part of the world a in the earily 2000's. Life is not easy there. Thanks for sharing with us. Jane

What an incredible young lady! God bless her and all the others who labor so hard to help these people. And what a tribute to you!

Yes, it is a hard life there. Inconveniences, hardships, very low pay, brutal weather. I suppose that's why so many kids are left at the orphanages.....there's no way to take care of them and the parents are doing what they can to make sure they're fed and clothed.
When Victoria first went to the baby house, she said they were reusing disposable diapers (as plastic pants) over cloth diapers made from old clothes. They dry the disposables out. She looked for cloth diapers with no luck. We and several of our friends bought about 12 doz cloth diapers and all the plastic pants we could find (that's something else I can no longer find at Walmart) and pacifiers and diaper pins. She said you'd have thought she was giving them a million dollars when she delivered them to the home.
There are 48,000 institutionalized kids in Kazakhstan because they have no foster care system.

Her father and I can't take credit because we were against the move at first. Now we're both happy because she is happy, but when she first suggested giving up a career with Marriott and moving (at that time she had asked for South America), you can't help but think...WHY? She already did all kinds of volunteer/charity work in the US.
She has fallen in love with the people there, esp. the kids. I'll post more pictures. She feels right at home no matter where she is living.

Thank you for sharing your daughter's story. How hard for you to let her go. But the blessings are so great. so many children she can nurture and love. I'm so proud of you all for making a difference. :D :-D

You must be so very proud.

Some pics with Victoria at the Baby House.

your daughter look so young! you must fear for her, but also must be so proud for her compassion and caring

You have raised a beautiful, strong and loving woman...well done! Thanks for posting the pics and the stories behind them. We hear much on the news about worldwide events, but stories such as your daughter's and those children, never make the headlines. I wonder how many more places like this exist in the world....how many more small people are forgotten and neglected. Food for thought indeed. Blessings to her and all the children.

Don't know why it takes so long when I try to send 3 pictures at once. 2 go right through. So I'll try a couple at a time. I have a few thousand...don't worry, I won't post them all. The kids take everybody's camera and make pictures til the memory card gets full or the battery dies. I'm glad becaue Victoria would never make that many pictures, esp. at the birthday parties she hosts at the orphanage for older kids. She's busy and they just snap away.

I don't worry about her. If I did, I'd be worried all the time. I think she's perfectly safe. She has always traveled by herself...she actually lived in Scotland one summer during college...went by herself, didn't know a soul and got a job in a deli and rented a flat for the summer and traveled all over Northern Europe alone on weekends.
I'll have to share part of an email from her in a later post about her stay in Europe a couple of weeks ago. She was at a leadership conference in Brussels for 4 days, but the other 10 days she was traveling alone in Prague and Austria.

Wow!

Here are a couple more pictures...the first one was made at summer camp. Each summer, the Krupscoi Children's home packs up everything including their beds and moves to the country so they can play in the fresh air.

You have a wonderful, caring daughter who gives her whole self to those children. God bless her!

Here are a couple more pictures...the first one was made at summer camp. Each summer, the Krupscoi Children's home packs up everything including their beds and moves to the country so they can play in the fresh air.

Not sure what's happening here. The pictures aren't posting for some reason. I didn't intend to post the same msg. twice above. Will try 1 picture next and see what happens.

What an incredible story. I love your daughter and don't even know her!! :)
Thanks so much for sharing and hope to see more pics !

WHAT A FABULOUS WOMEN! You must be proud, and I'm sure they all appreciate her there too! :thumbup: :thumbup: Thanks for sharing your story with us!

What a wonderful thing she is doing!

Here's an excerpt from a recent email about one day/night in Austria....as promised.


I will tell you one story from the trip now that I am home safely. On the Monday that I went on the Bavarian mountain tour, the only train I could get back to the village was a late one. I got there at 9:30 pm and it was already dark and there weren’t any taxis at the train station. I walked to the Shell gas station in the dark and asked the lady to call a taxi. She didn’t speak a word of English or Russian but fortunately taxi is the same in most every language.

She called and I bought some food since I thought I was going to have a ride up “Baby Everest”. I waited and the taxi never came. She called again. Then she turned off all the lights and brought stuff in from outside and closed up and left. She said before she left that he was on his way. At least that was what I thought she said. I somehow doubted that he was. I waited a few more minutes and took off walking up the mountain.

It was straight up and I was more afraid I might fall than anything else. There was no moon or stars but they did have poorly lit street lights all the way up the mountain. It only took me about 30 minutes and I was carrying groceries. I tried to wave down a taxi on the way but I must have frightened him instead. My hips surely were sore the next day. That was the only time I walked up the hill I named “Baby Everest”.
I later found out that the taxi driver misunderstood and was at the hotel looking for me to go to the train station. Obviously something got lost in translation. It was probably him that I tried to wave down.

This is one of the most touching stories (non-quilting) that I have ever read on this board. What a difference your daughter is making in those tiny lives and you have to be commended for having raised such a wonderful person. We never know what our actions will bring but looks like yours, by having such a sweet and caring daughter, have made a big difference in this world. Thanks so much for sharing and look forward to hearing more stories.

You can't go away now for another two years!!
I have been captivated by the story of your daughter and the smiling faces in the pictures you share. I love how you sent diapers and plastic pants. That's the kind of practical help that seems useful, and for sure the package went to the right place.
Your daughter must have more than her share of patience mixed in with her adventurous spirit. What a woman!!!

What a wonderful, inspirational story of your most caring, loving and giving daughter. Thank God that there are people like her on this earth. My concern, is, cannot the women of Sibera learn about birth control? So heartbreaking to see all those children growing up without parents.

My thoughts exactly, but I stopped short of saying it.

What a beautiful story..God Bless Her!

What a fantastic woman you have raised! This wonderful story brought tears but warmed my heart and filled me with such joy! Thank you for sharing!

God bless her!

Beautiful story about a very special person!

God Bless your wonderful daughter, and YOU for giving her to this world....

Welcome back to the board. Wow what a wonderful story. You must miss such a wonderful daughter.

Welcome back--and will add your daughter and those precious children to my prayer list...