The blog Siberian Lights posts a link to photographer Anna Skladmann's portraits of Russian children. The portraits are entitled "Little Adults" and topic is children of wealthy parents.

The photos are interesting as while they look somewhat "posed," they also highlight what I see in children here in Ukraine. I've noticed that childhood is short and from about ten years and up, children are modeling adult behavior in an almost freakish attempt to be cool, hip or attractive to the world around them or to the opposite sex. It comes across as extreme and very superficial. I think the photographer captures this aspect in her photos. It gives the photos and the children a slightly disturbing look but it also is very authentic to the culture as well.

Check out the photos by clicking HERE.

Well I am officially back in Ukraine and have been spending this week getting organized and finding out what has been going on in Kyiv and in our ministry while I was gone. It is amazing how much can change in only six weeks! Some of our staff have been shuffled around as many are busy having babies of their own and Ukraine itself is still reeling from the effects of the economic downtown, translated from Russian to English as, "The Crisis."

"The Crisis" has become a noun and taken on a personality in itself. Everyone is talking about it non-stop and the big question now is, "When will the economy get better?" Most people I talk to are not optimistic and feel that the economy will not get better soon.

The bad economy means more children living in poverty and this means more needs to be done in the community as a whole to help Ukrainian children who are living in what we call "at risk" situations. This process is slow and can be very frustrating.

But the good news in these hard and confusing times is that we have hope. God has called himself the father of the fatherless. (Psalm 68:5) For those of us working with these children, we are not alone. God is their provider and I believe he is actively involved in helping take care of them no matter how bad the economy gets.

In difficult times, the focus needs to be not on what we don't have to work with, but with what we do have. I believe prayer is a powerful tool and we need to be constantly praying for the children who find themselves in institutional orphanages and living on the streets.

"Arise cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street." Lamentations 2:19 (KJV)