Halfway through – Welcome grandchild #9

The Big News for May was we welcomed our ninth grandchild. Nicholas Gordon, the 5th child of Christopher and Megan. He is a strong and healthy boy born in Oklahoma on the 18. He will be 9 months old when we meet face to face, a perfect size for Grama and C-Paw to squeeze some love into him. We are very grateful for facetime and video chatting. This is the Proud Father and Nicholas, Sweet Nicholas, and Aunt Sarah's first visit, yes he has a lot of dark hair.

We began May with a busy schedule of visiting organizations.

Because we have had many visits our photos are few. The flowers continue to amaze me with every walk outdoors. So sprinkled in are roses of Budapest.

We visited The School for the Physically Disabled. Wow, what a great work they do. The halls are lined with chairs, bikes, walkers, and other devices to assist all those with differences. The children at this school participate in studies and take the final exams just like every other student in Hungary. This school provides aid so they can learn the core curriculum. We were very impressed.

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We visited a school for The Partially Sighted. The school was built for these students. Technology has been the key to opening the learning doors for this group. It is a great program, with students who arrive daily and some who live at the school during the week. These schools are so cool, I thought I would have loved to attend something like this. Their challenges are not seen as something that will hold them back in any way. That is nice to see.

Next was the Federation of the Blind or partially sighted. This is a national organization working with adults. We felt very welcome and were so impressed with the directors who were visually impaired themselves but navigated the meeting and building with ease. They provide information and services for all of Hungary and have one of the larges Brail libraries in Hungary.

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We visited with the Hungary School for the Deaf. The only one in Hungary. They serve students at the school and the outlying areas with traveling counselors. The school was built for deaf children and was exciting to visit. The bright eyes of the children learning and communicating was a blessing.

We had the unique opportunity to participate in a 7 Stake Conference for our Oklahoma Stake. We saw many friendly faces and learned that we are now a part of a newly created Stake in Oklahoma, The Owasso, Oklahoma Stake. What a blessing to see the Church, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ grow in our home Oklahoma.

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We visited with SOS Children's Organization. This is a worldwide group that serves children who are orphaned or removed from the home. They work with many foster homes, training and guiding the child and the parents. The goals of these organization line so well with the Gospel. It will be a pleasure to work with them.

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We drove outside of Budapest to visit Equal chances. This foundation was organized about 20 years ago. A mother with a disabled son was disappointed in the options available for her son’s development. She was told he would not live past 5 years of age. He is now 42 and her organization provides housing and opportunities for those with disabilities of all kinds. She works with many companies, contracting work that different groups of residents and day students perform, while earning money and feeling of value. They have gardens.

The residents all have responsibilities. We enjoyed meeting the pigs, chickens, and rabbits.

We took a long drive out into the countryside, passing through many small villages and pastures. We visited a Jesuit organization that works with underprivileged Roma children in an after-school program teaching music. Guitar, drums, flutes, singing, dancing, and theatre are all taught a with organized performances for the community. They are being hired by other villages to come and perform. The youth were very talented and kind. One young lady said, “I never thought I would be sitting here talking to two Americans”.

We mentioned when we first arrived that we are working with Budapest Chapter Rotary Club and many other Rotary Chapters to help establish a school for the Ukrainian children that have been displaced from school for over 3 years now, with Covid and the war, continuing their education has been a great challenge. The children are asked to attend Hungarian schools, where they do not speak or understand Hungarian. Online education from Ukraine has been greatly disrupted this past year. We are happy to say this past weekend we toured the school.

For now, it is a satellite international school. Every day they have more and more students show up. The school year is at its end, but they will be having 17 summer weeklong programs. Teaching will be in Ukraine language, along with teaching Hungarian. Those who can continue their studies can graduate from this school with a certificate showing Kiev High School. They will start with 250 students in person and provide the needed online programs to those outside Budapest. They continue to work with the Hungarian government to receive the approval to operate under the Hungarian educational programs. This is the first milestone

We are doing well, Summer has arrived. Melody was down with a virus for about a week through all this. We love what we are doing. We love seeing the Lord's hand in this work. He is watching over us and those who are going about doing good things. We are halfway through our mission, experiencing our first and last summer in Budapest. We are trying to enjoy every minute. We love and miss our children and family, but they are supporting us 100%. That makes every day possible.

Love to all.