Mountains And Babies

Here is a look at what we've been up to in the last week and a half:

We enjoyed a dinner at a Romanian restaurant with Ryan and Danielle and also went to a violin/piano concert at the symphony hall.

We took a day trip to the mountains near Sinaia where the Ryan and Danielle toured the Peles castle. JT, Krista, and Mark climbed up a mountain and were awed by the beauty there. Rebecca and Jenny hung out in a coffee shop because Rebecca was still under the weather. Someday we'll go back and hike all the way to the top, or take the gondola to the top to see the cross that is at the peak of the mountain.

Mark got to go to the baby hospital for the first time in 3 months and it was so great to see the babies! They have all grown and most of them have their first teeth already. They were so interactive and we are so thankful that we can go there to work with them again.

We spend lots of time at the orphanage playing with Alina, who is really becoming attached to us. Each week playing with her is a highlight of our time there and her smile is always so big when she's having fun.

Other updates and prayer requests:

-Rebecca is starting to feel better and her cough seems to e going away, it is helping that the weather is warming up. The lice are gone after hours and hours of combing hair and the second treatment with shampoo.

-Please pray for the situation with our orphanage as the director is causing all sorts of problems and is making life very difficult for some of the kids. Pray for the kids there and especially the ones that are the targets of his abuse. Pray that God works in this man's heart or removes him and replaces him with someone who loves God and the kids.

-Continued learning of the language, we have been learning how to tell Bible stories because even the newest Bibles use lots of uncommon language. Soon we will start working on Bible apologetics which will help us prepare to share the gospel and also help us to practice speaking fluently. We only have one month of lessons left so please pray that we finish strongly.

Fondue Party And Some Unwanted Guests

Two weekends ago we celebrated Jenny's birthday by having some fondue parties. Jenny prepared lots of great food like pizza dip, cheese dip, and veggie dip, with all the fixings. The girls from the Transition Program made her a wonderfully decorated cake.

The staff bought Jenny a chocolate fountain and it worked wonderfully. It was really neat and the chocolate was very good.

Showing off some fruit and marshmallows smothered in chocolate.

We went to the orphanage as usual and Marius was showing off his strength.

Alina was all smiles as usual, though she did lightly bump her elbow on the table and then put on a show of how much it hurt. She is very dramatic and loves to get sympathy. She usually has someone pick her up when something "happens" and then she points to everyone one at a time to show her owie to. We get a kick out of her pretending, she's so sweet and we always look forward to playing with her.

Also last week we found out that Rebecca picked up some unwanted guests from the kids at the orphanage - head lice. The kids love hugging face to face, you can see a suspect picture at the end of the last post. We used special shampoo that killed all of the lice but unfortunately it doesn't kill the eggs, so we've been spending almost 2 hours each night going through her hair combing out the remaining eggs. Soon we will shampoo again which should wipe out anything that's left once we have all the eggs out, and then it will be over. Such is life when working with kids, especially at the orphanage where outbreaks happen fairly frequently. Thankfully we have the time and patience to work on this, at the orphanage the kids' hair usually gets shaved off, and neither of us would be fond of that solution for Rebecca.

Prayer updates: Rebecca has been struggling with a cough that won't go away, please pray that she will be healed soon (and that the lice problem will be gone soon). Praise God that the baby hospital is back open, unfortunately we won't be able to go until Rebecca is better but at least others can go to take care of the babies. The vans have all been working lately which is very nice, and it's supposed to be getting warmer this weekend. The language learning is going well but is still really tough. Please also pray for staff and short term team members who will be flying in and out of here next week.

A wintery day

The weather here has warmed up some, but it continues to be a winter wonderland here. Because of our class schedule, we can only go out to the orphanage one day a week. This past week, Corny did manage to get into the new baby hospital. Please pray that these doors will remain open! On Tuesday we went to the orphanage. This week the kids have a break from school so we had a less structured program there.

Along the way

Out on the lake playing with the kids

Mark getting bombarded by snowballs from Ana

Mark pulling Vic

Eating popcorn with Alina and Danielle.

We watched a movie about Joan of Arc with the kids. This year we have a hero's theme and they are learning about the different characteristics that heros have and that they can be like a hero too. Every week we have a lesson about a different hero and they learn what qualities make some one a hero. We hope to teach them that they can overcome anything and most importantly learn about the best hero of all, our savior.