Update on Orphans at Play's Helping Hands Humanitarian Aid Project

Orphans at Play is looking forward to announcing exciting new developments and fundraisers coming this Summer! For now, looking back on this past year and our current needs:

We have sent over a total of twenty suitcases and over 600 tubes of diaper cream.

$600 dollars was raised in New Zeland for two playpens given to the Artyem Baby Home in Vladivostok.

$5000 dollars was raised to place our four grandmothers in our baby hospitals for a total of one year.

We raised enough to fund Kirovsky Orphanage for a new television, computer and schools supplies.

Currently, we are hoping to Partner with a Shoe Relief Program to bring shoes to a desperate area in the world where children lay in cribs barefoot, walk in socks, walk on floors where there is dirt and often moldy areas or wear the wrong size shoes, which can often lead to difficulties in walking. Most recently shoes have been our highest needed request in the Primorsky Krai region in Eastern Russia where a decent quality shoe can cost as much as $200 dollars. One of our mother’s reported her son’s toes so curled from being placed in shoes too small. The staff would tell her to put the shoes back on his feet when she was visiting with him as he was continuously pulling them off and even she had a difficult time trying to force his feet into these little strappy tight shoes.

We are also working towards partnering with Korean Air to take cargo to Vladivostok, Russia.

We would like to Thank all of our supporters, adoptive families and incredibly generous donors who have given so much of their time volunteering and helping to fundraise.

Our boys are adjusting well to being siblings. 7 months in and they are working things out a little easier. Alexei had a lot of transition time needed and so many changes to have to deal with as a 3 year old, however we could not be more proud of how well he has done.

Alexei is busy in hockey, soccer and gymnastics this summer and Ewan has been busy watching his brother play hockey, however has tried to get on the ice a numerous amount of times. His feet are too small and his balance is very off at the moment until we get a few more things checked at the doctors.

Ewan will be going into another round of PT/OT at a local Pediatrics Center that specializes in children's sensory and development issues. We cannot wait to see how he succeeds through these next couple of months.

The Avengers have taken over my house! Both boys are so into the comics, the toys and the cartoons. Alexei went to his first movie ever in the theater and what was it? The AVENGERS!

I have posted his photo here of his first movie experience. I cannot believe how happy he was and he was incredibly good through out the two and a half hour movie until we got to the credits when he decided to imitate the Hulk, rounded both shoulders and arms in a bent fashion yelling, "Hulk Smash!". The theater got a good laugh.

Overall, it is a good thing both Michael and I are heavy into movies and comic books or most parents could feel overwhelmed hahahaha. Right now now I have Spider Man, Iron Man, Thor Hulk and Captain America propped up watching SpongeBob and then there are the lego versions of the Hulk and Captain America also watching television.

Along our entire mantle are The Avengers small figures along with Michael's Xmen figures. Alexei has his Spider Man figures, however we are more reluctant to share with him since we saw Spider Man in half.

Those are the Super Hero's, however the Super Villians have also taken a presence in the house. Venom runs the house rampant while Spider Man is watching his every move.

Ewan is still running at 12- 15 months old right now developmentally. We are still working on his communication. Crazily, he is imitating the names of the super hero's over other words he should be working on. Thor being one of his favorites.

Our blog has been neglected the past 4 months or so, however due to being extremely busy with transitioning Ewan into our family and giving him the extra support he has needed to get where he is now. I have included some photos of our boys and how well they are doing together.

Orphans at Play is celebrating our 1 year anniversary as a non profit 501(c)3 organization!

This past year has been quite successful with the following achieved:

Collected and Delivered 20 suitcases to Vladivostok orphanages and baby homes through our Winter Drive.

Donated minimum 600 tubes of diaper cream to various baby homes in need.

Our New Zealand friends raised $600 dollars for 2 new playpens delivered to Artyem Baby Home.

In our first six months we raised over $5000 dollars and placed 4 new grandmothers for one year.

Delivered new school supplies, television and computer to Kirovsky Orphanage.

Melissa Bridges and Kelley Knoll created an entire Curriculum plan to be implemented in Russia.

Shari Eischens has opened the door to future opportunities with the University of Minnesota.

We could not do this without the help of our incredible supporters, friends, family and our Orphans at Play team. When we began June 2011, we had no idea what to expect but we knew we had passion, drive and a desperate need to help those children we had to leave behind in the baby homes and orphanages who need basic supplies and support in physical development, sensory integration and socioemotional development.

Our team at Orphans at Play: Sabrina Dickenson Turri: Founder/ Executive Director Heather Overstreet: Co-Founder/ Operations Director HunterAnn Booth: Co-Founder/ Marketing Director Jody Garber: Director of the Helping Hands Humanitarian Project Melissa Bridges: Director of Development Kelley Knoll: Research and Development Shari Eischens: Resource Development Specialist

We also give a special thanks to our partner Vladmission in Russia who has helped us in many of our achievements.

In the coming year we look forward to bringing together New Partnerships, introducing our Medical Board, Implementing our Curriculum into the Training Phase in Vladivostok, Placing more Grandmothers into new baby homes and orphanages, answering the request for much needed Shoes for the children and building a greater foundation for Orphans at Play.

Your continued support gives so much to the children of Russia. Russia is in the top three countries Americans choose to adopt from with 1,079 adoptions in 2010. Of those adoptions 5% of the children are under 1 year old and 77% of the children are ages 1-4 years old. This is a small number given that there are an estimated 700,000 orphans in Russia.

700,000 orphans. It is just the beginning in our Orphans at Play Journey.

It Has Been A While But Here It Goes......

I often write about Super Woman, mostly because I feel all of as women tend to juggle more than we can often handle but we do it with style and we make it through. We are stronger than we think even when life puts us to the test.

Super Woman fell this week, beaten down by too many of life's tests and challenges. Michael and I this February have been together for 12 years, 10 years married and we have been through so much but the last 3 months has proven to be incredibly difficult and complex. We have lost family friends, will lose another very close family friend and best friend in the coming months to cancer, lost our daughter in Russia, gained a son, went through a very personal loss, spent a long 6 weeks in Russia and many more issues all in the time period of returning from Russia in November, family visits, holidays and this past weekend was our first weekend to just breathe.

As we reflect and move forward in this year 2012, which we gratefully said goodbye to 2011, we think about where it will lead us and how we will become stronger.

Our new son from Russia is doing quite well. As most of you know he was a 6-9 month sizing for a 2 year old. He is now 12 month, going on 18 months and has gained 5 lbs in the last 3 months and grown 3.5 inches during this time period. It is amazing how well he has done. He loves his sleep due to all of his growth and is slowly being okay with a brother although he threw the first punch.

We are rolling towards the end of our transition period and becoming more used to having 2 boys. They are energetic, keep going every second of the day and are currently in competition to see who can get the most attention from us. In fact, my Alexei often likes to pretend he is Ewan. Aye, aye, aye.

When it comes to Russian Adoption, I highly recommend leaning a bit on other parents for advice and just to feel normal. I do not often ask for help, hold my cards tightly to my chest and feel that I, Super Woman can do it all on my own. Well, it didn't work out this past week and I finally broke down hard. I will get back on my feet and move forward but for those of you who are in the early stages, in the midst or transitioning, we are here for you!!! Reach out and don't try to be the ultra I got it all together type. It just doesn't always work out. You are not alone.

Just $1100 More Dollars to Raise for Orphans at Play This Year

Just $1100 more dollars to raise in reaching our goal to fund two grandmothers for the year 2012. We look forward to giving the children 2 wonderful supportive grandmas who will help encourage positive development, give hugs, interactive play and stimulate growth. Every dollar counts so please think about giving a coffee drink worth of money or if you have a special person you would like to honor this month we are still sending Give a Grandma Cards to those you would like to donate money in their name with a special message.

On a personal note: I have two boys, one from a Russian baby hospital and the other from a baby home and I would have given so much to know they had that extra interaction and love each day. When I met my first son, he would stare blankly into the sky and out of the window. I could see such much more happening in that little mind of his however with such little stimulation, he just sat there. He did not even know how to grasp a play car they had put in front of him. The simple pleasures like feeling grass between their toes, many may not experience until they are much older. I walked him around the hotel that first day and we touched leaves together and I saw his eyes widen with each experience.

The grandmas will be put into these homes following curriculum that has been created specially by our development team giving these orphans a chance to flourish a bit more than they would in an average day.

Please take a moment and help us reach our goal. We have come a long way and are almost there! Thank you to those who have helped us raise $3900 dollars.

Orphans at Play