Tears and Prayers

for Ukraine

This painting is on permanent display in the Chernobyl National Museum in Kyiv, (Kiev) Ukraine.

It has been there for 22 years and I painted it and dedicated it to the Ukrainian people who have

suffered so much over the years. It especially spoke to the horrific nuclear accident in 1986. I awoke

on February 24, 2022 to the invasion of their country with heartbreak, as I have been following this

build up for some time. My husband, Marty had just returned from Ukraine where he ministered to

troops on the border with Sasha, a Ukrainian chaplain who we have known for over 20 years. He 

traveled the countryside with Jeff and Paula Thompson of Mercy Projects and other Ukrainians to 

deliver gifts, supplies and emotional support to those with special needs children and families in the Chernobyl region.

Our hearts go out to the Ukrainians, as we have so many friends there! Please pray for the safety of

these dear people as this war is not what they want or deserve.  Also for the Russian people, because 

just like the Ukrainians, they will lose loved ones too. Their young soldiers do not want to do this. 

The present unspeakable atrocity is being done by governments, not by the innocents who want to live 

in peace and raise their families without fear. (On both sides.)

The poetry that follows is called "Uprooted."  The painting is created from the words of this poem.

It speaks so clearly about what is happening right now in the country of Ukraine, just as it did when

I wrote it about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster:

Uprooted

If a man's thought dye his soul

What kind of stain do his deeds leave?

A hazardous spill on himself and upon the laps of others

Who share the same air, breathing in and out, in and out

Now there is bitterness that abounds in the breadbasket to the north

Uprooted family trees and forgotten people in yellowed photos dangling down

Wooden cradles set ablaze in the forest

Where blue light sprang from place to place

Luminescent, deadly beautiful, reminiscent of sparklers

Crackling at a May Day parade

The rain has become hot tears pouring down

Falling down, dropping to the earth

The fragmented rivulets on a musical score

Splash on these paper lives, fragile and all too brief

The muffled sobbing is a melody, but only to the ears of Him unseen

It is the aria of the heart that sings a Capella

The high pitched notes of pain

Yet he who suffers much speaks a wordless language

That can be understood, although the tongue is mute

It transcends dialects, country lines, political ideologies

Uprooted, yet not alone

I have seen lives irrevocably changed in one moment of time

From one thoughtless choice, a careless decision

Leaving ancient villages empty, doors swinging on empty hinges

For all eternity, plus seven years more

And plastic dolls of stolen youth sit on dust covered window panes

Vacantly gazing at the loss

Uprooted, yet not alone

Heartbreak and tragedy are no respecters of persons

Traditions, religions or plans

It is blinded by skin color and the coins in one's purse

I have been told that fear is like rust that eats away hope, little by little

Corroding all confidence

This invisible acid obliterates desire

Until we are mere shells with nothing left inside

Uprooted, yet not alone

I believe love is a salve

To be spread on the wound to heal and to soothe

Able to mend the uttermost places that are hidden from men

Faith causes that page to turn

Just because today's sunshine is blocked out by the clouds

Doesn't mean the sun is gone

If God seems silent, it doesn't mean He has left us

Or doesn't hear our cries

Perhaps we are the ones who are not listening

To the voice that is gentle and low, tender and always near

We must be quiet and still

He is here and anxious to woo us to Him like a lover

He will be revealed once more

Uprooted, yet not alone

There is a day that dawns upon all of our broken lives

That we are able to see clearly, if we look with unjaded eyes

We can see that we are all people with ruined dreams

With unrealized plans

Yet somehow they can fit perfectly into His bigger picture

And will be breathtakingly beautiful in time

Uprooted, yet never alone

From these strange ashes-hope will arise!

©Launa

This is how it looks in the museum installation today.

I created this piece, "Hungry for Love" in 1998.

It features a mother and her three children in the Chernobyl region.

It was sold to benefit a home for children who had been rescued from living

on the streets of Kyiv called, "Father's House." I feel that because of today's

invasion of Ukraine, it is appropriate to share this image and poem as well.

Hungry for Love

I asked for vision

To see them through the eyes of God

I received more than I expected, more than I wished

That day, I viewed them with indescribable clarity

Seeing not just their faces, but their souls

Hungry for Love

Thirsty for Truth

Blinded by darkness, longing for Light

I saw the young women with broken dreams

Because of husbands who had severed vows

I saw lonely widows

Whose partners had been cruelly snatched away

By bitter waters and poisoned air

I saw grandmothers

In bright red babushkas

With hot tears streaming down

Who were left to raise the orphans

To find a way to make nothing

Stretch into something

So their little bellies

Wouldn't growl from enormous need

Hungry for Love

Thirsty for Truth

Blinded by darkness, longing for Light

I have been broken open

To be a fragrance throughout the earth

So that the tender aroma

Of True Bread can be sensed

And all who are hungry for love

Will be filled

And will never feel famished again

And to drink

From the Source that is clean and pure

Streams of Living Waters

From this day on

They will never be thirsty again

©Launa

This is a photo of an elderly women in her 90s who lives in a freezing home in the Chernobyl region.  Marty took this photo while he was in Ukraine in January 2022. Pray for vulnerable folks like this precious one!

This is a photo of Sasha ministering to the Ukrainian soldiers on the eastern border.

Marty and Jeff Thompson are also shown. The faces of the soldiers could not be 

photographed, due to security reasons.

To hear Sasha's recent report from the front lines:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=961302484525322https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=961302484525322

To donate to Ukrainian Refugees

 

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Photos from the special signing of "The One"

on September 13, 2020

at Calvary Chapel Dayspring Church, Chino Valley, AZ

 

The One

 

When Marty and I were in Armenia during the summer of 2019, we had an opportunity to visit the village where the children who come to the summer camp in the Republic of Georgia live.  The town is called Stepanavan and it is everything you'd expect from this lovely country and people.  While there, we were privileged and honored to be involved in making a "Matagh."  This is a ceremony that is done in the local Armenian church by the priest as a symbol of mercy and gratitude to God for granting health and well being.  It is mostly a ceremony that commemorates the sacrifice that Jesus offered for us and then to bless the poor.  During this traditional rite, a male lamb is chosen and salt was placed in its mouth after a priest's blessing.  The salt symbolizes purity and that our savior was the sinless sacrifice for all mankind.  During our Matagh, the priest walked the lamb around the church seven times on its hind legs.  It overheated and gasped for breath as it did this unusual journey. As we and the lamb marched, I bawled the whole time because I knew that the lamb was destined to be killed.  I hated the idea of slaughtering it, as I am an animal lover and find that aspect of life so difficult. I know that mankind has authority over the animals and using it for food is fine, I am just squeamish about it.

Interestingly and poignantly, while we were on the walk around the building and I was agonizing about the lamb's life, I had a thought that stopped me dead in my tracks.  "Had I ever shed tears about the sacrifice that Jesus made for me on the cross?"  "At any point while reading the gospels, had I ever felt as bad for his torture and death as I was feeling for this dumb animal?"

Fortunately, this ceremonial sacrifice was done at a different locations, so I didn't have to witness the lamb's pitiful cries, bleating, bleeding and death.  Later, we met at a park, with the meat already cut up and boiled it in a huge pot with water and salt.  Part of the ceremony was to partake of the boiled meat, which I struggled to do.  I managed to swallow some.  Marty too was moved because he is a softy around animals as well, I don't think he was able to eat the lamb meat at all.  The rest of the "stew" was put in bottles and delivered to seven needy families.  We personally visited them and delivered this "sacred" food and were able to pray with them as well.  The families that we visited had at least one child that was able to come to our camp.  Seeing their living conditions, (one family lived in an old soviet-style abandoned train car,) and the gratitude that they felt for being included in the Matagh was priceless.  It is a great honor to receive the lamb stew as well as participating in the symbolic ceremony in the Armenian culture.

When I returned home, I examine the photographs that I had snapped of the lamb and although a sob still caught in my throat when I looked at it, I decided to paint of portrait of it.  This piece, entitled, 

"The One" came soon after.  I wanted the poor lamb to represent us from the parable of Jesus, which He said that he would leave the 99 sheep to find the one lost lamb. Matthew 8:12-14 and Luke 15:3-7

 

This painting is also special in another way.  The original which is 36"x36" acrylic on canvas, will hang in the new Calvary Chapel Dayspring Church when it is finished being built.  (This is the church that I attend.). 12"x12" giclee reproductions are done and given as gifts for those who donate over $500. for the new building.  You could say it is like purchasing a "brick."  I will be doing a personalization and signing for those donors on Sunday, September 13, 2020 at CCDC.  Sometime down the line, a different size will be offered for purchase as well as gift cards, but for now, I thought it would be nice to share the image and the poetry to my wider audience on this blog.

Is it just me or...

Is it just me or is anyone else having a difficult time keeping up with all the tasks at hand?
Looking at my last blog post entry, I realize that I haven't updated since last summer-sheesh!

Update:I am still alive and juggling all the things that I usually do, but am apparently not ever going to be a consistent blogger.   As a quick rundown.  2019 saw me working with kids at a local domestic violence shelter and in the public school system and loving a therapeutic art program that I started at a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) home.

My middle daughter is graduating high school in June---woot woot woot!!! One more to go and that won't be until 2025, sigh.  That's kind of it. Lately, I have been working in my poteger (garden), riding my Quarter Horse Abby...

and introduced 7 ducklings and a goose name Luce into the mix.

and since the COVID 19 quarantine, I have actually been writing as well.  It takes a nationwide shutdown for me to sit down and relax!

I am doing the follow up to Unbutton My Heart, so far the working title is, 

"He Loves What's Broken."

Also, I have done a painting called, "The One" which will be reproduced on canvas soon, so be watching for that.  It is a special piece that will benefit something near and dear to my heart.  I will talk more about it on my next blog...hopefully, sooner than 12 months from now.

Switzerland, Armenia and the Republic of Georgia...via Poland and Turkey

Summer 2019

Marty and I just returned from a very long trip to Zurich and Thun Switzerland, 

Yerevan and Stepanavan, Armenia and the yearly camp for kids at risk 

at the Black Sea in The Republic of Georgia.

Thun, Switzerland

A view of the Interlaken Mountain Range

We were invited to a three day conference on persecuted Christians sponsored by ICR, a 50 year old nonprofit organization, founded by Richard Wurmbrand.  It was gripping to hear about the things that are really going on in places like Yemen, Nigeria, Syria and other far-flung countries 

where whole populations are being systematically tortured and killed. We have personally been

to places where persecution, poverty and war are rampant but even we were stunned with what is clearly absent on the news and the media, but is clearly happening on a daily basis.

We left the city with heads and hearts full of information that increases our world view even further.  Switzerland seemed like a million miles away from such horrors and atrocities with its gorgeous green hillsides and cows with tinkling bells around their necks.  While we were there, Europe was having an unprecedented heat wave. The above photo is a shot from our guest house, overlooking snow on the Interlaken Mountains.  It looks so pristine and refreshing, but truth be told, it was at least 97 degrees Fahrenheit that day!

While in Stepanavan, Armenia, I was able to make a presentation  of art to the Mayor of the city during a planning meeting.  The children in the artwork are from Stepanavan and attended last year's camp. We (Mercy Projects and Global Impact) are in talks about potentially doing a school or group home for the most vulnerable children in the city. The Mayor has a great heart for the children and has done so much to make sure the most vulnerable have clothing, transportation and opportunities.

There is such profound poverty and need in this city and a large fraction of the adults 

have to go to Russia for employment.  

In terms of a school type project in Stepanavan, we will have to see if it is a viable idea 

and could be sustainable in the future. This takes a lot of groundwork, planning and money!

The Mayor of Stepanavan, Mikayel Gharakeshishyan

For the second year, I was blessed to be a part of the camp at the Black Sea for Armenian youth from Stepanavan and the surrounding areas. Marty was able to join me and it made it that much more special. I did art projects as I had last year and was able to reunite with my sweet friends again from Armenia and from the United States.

A well known reporter, Peter Wooding from England came to the camp and conducted interviews and produced stories to bring awareness. He has a wonderful 3 minute piece about the impact of the camps on the lives of these amazing children.  It can be accessed at:

https://gna.news/content/mercy-projects-bible-camps-impact-armenian-youth

This year has been so fulfilling thus far. I have been working at a local Domestic Violence shelter and in the schools teaching empathy, compassion and gratitude.  I have also had the opportunity to volunteer with the homeless population, with a group of families with Down syndrome and recently will be starting an art program with young men with Traumatic Brain Injury...

Who could ask for more?