Do you remember what you did two months ago? Maybe? Well we were on our big European vacation! We started out packing up and eating donuts to find our flight was cancelled! After getting that worked out and getting new train tickets, we were on our way. On the way to Finland Raelyn did really well. Those long flights make even us adults a little cranky. And then we almost didn't get into the right part of our train to Vaasa. Thankfully the man Mark was sitting by helped us realize we had to move because the train was going to separate and go into two different directions. By that time our luggage seemed so heavy, but we made it! Rainer and the boys picked us up and we had a late dinner with the family, like 9pm which is 2pm here, so more than 24 hours after we left our house.
Rainer and Mark, a friendship forged more than 15 years ago!
Our jet lag wasn't too bad, but Raelyn had a hard time adjusting to the time change and often woke up at night needing to play a bit before going back to bed. She did really well though, once we accepted her inability to sleep. The Lorenz family helped us feel right at home and on vacation! They did everything for us except chew our food ;) It had been 4 years since we saw them last, but besides the obvious growth in the "children," we reconnected so fast and it was like only a few months had passed.
They left their trampoline up for Raelyn, and she loved it so much! It was great to have an activity for her when she just needed to get out some energy or crankiness. She loved playing with everyone, but especially Kalle. He has braces and she loved his teeth jewelry. Almost as much as she loved going up the stairs. It was so nice that we didn't have to chase her every single moment!
We took a couple of nice long walks around their house in Finland. Finland is the same latitude as Alaska so it is very beautiful and has many forests. We were able to have many good conversations as well. It was nice to slow down, enjoy tea, conversations and try the licorice ice cream!
Lea, Katri, Rainer, Mia. 15 years ago when we got married, the two then young girls were so excited to come and see my dress. They still remember our wedding!
The whole family L-R (bottom): Lea, Mark, Raelyn, Rebecca, Katri, Rainer
top: Silas, Lasse, Mia, Kalle
We are thankful that we were all able to be together! Lasse goes to school out of town and Lea is away at college, but they were both able to come home for the weekend. We enjoyed our stay with them immensely.
After our long weekend in Finland, we flew to Romania. We arrived in Romania already adjusted to the time, so that was a nice bonus! We were able to be very flexible with our schedule and join h2h activities when it worked for us. We stayed at an airbnb in the city. This was nice because it allowed us to invite guests to our place and have it feel private.
Raelyn the acrobat! She did well, and we even managed at least a little nap every day!
Our first full day we went to the orphanage which we had worked in since our first trip in 2007. Things have changed a lot since then, mostly the kids. Those who were young then are now about ready to age out and leave. Also the foster care system has grown a lot and many of the kids are now in families or back with their own families. So there were less kids and different kids there on this trip. It kind of felt like starting over, save a few kids we know really well. One of the reasons we really wanted to make it there this year is that our sweet little Alina is now 17! She finished school at 10th grade and is just waiting. We don't know where she will end up, so we really wanted to see her.
Raelyn had a blast with the kids who wanted to play with her.
These girls kept calling her Cadence. Cadence was there with her family in the summer :)
The second full day we were able to see two of the young adults who made a big impact on us. Elena, who wrote us the letter in 2008 that made us prayerfully consider coming full time to Romania. And Marius. And if you know us at all, you know who he is! He was able to stay with us part of the time and it was so good! We felt like we were able to regain that close feeling of friendship and he got to meet and be loved by Raelyn. She had seen Marius on video chat before and she just attached to him from the start. It was like she understood that he is a part of our family.
She loved to sit on his lap and feed him. Well, she loved anything and everything with him.
Elena. We saw her a couple times and had a nice time having desserts and walking through the city. She is very dear to us and we were thankful for the conversations we had.
We went to another orphanage we had worked a little at. We also went down to the boy's transition house for the opening of the girls & boys transition programs. We went a saw very briefly an older lady from that town who was always telling us we had to have children. She was so happy to meet Raelyn. She depends on her grown children for financial support. We may complain here about social security, but we are really fortunate and have much to be thankful for.
We also saw Florin & Ramona and were able to here about their active involvement in their church. It was refreshing to hear about young adults eager to cooperate with the Holy Spirit!
We also spent time with Jen & Jenny, Cristi & Amy, Tom & Gila and others we know well from the five years we served in Romania. We have many, many more pictures and stories. In short, Romania still has that home feeling. We still love seeing our kids, although most are in their 20's now!
Our animal lover
Oh yeah, we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in Romania. We did go out to a nice restaurant and had a very romantic time...with our toddler :) It really wasn't an after thought, being with the kids we love and miss deeply was very special.
Until next time...praying for all of these precious kids!
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