Reading Class Fun!

School is back in session and we have already completed two weeks of reading this year.  Helping the kids learn to read (Romanian) has been such a joy.  When they sound out the letters and form the word we all feel a sense of accomplishment.  Finding the games and activities and translating them is a challenge, but reading is one of the basic skills every child should learn. 

Forming words and reading them on a scrabble like board

Finding vowels in words and forming a snow-flake

With the youngest kids we are coloring through the alphabet

Aren't these nice coloring sheets?  

The older kids hard at work writing a few words...

And then using letter tiles to form the word again.  

Through repetition and different forms of learning, we hope that the kids will learn faster and find it easier to remember.  I have realized how spoiled most of us are, to have excellent teachers in America and parents at home who practice with us.  Some of the teachers we work with are great and really try their best, but the special education system in Romania is lacking to put it nicely.

We have done some pretty cool artwork too with the kids.  Maybe some close ups for the next blog...

Keep praying for these kids.  Not only do some of them have learning disabilities, behavior problems is another challenge we face.  None of this is surprising considering what they have gone through in their young lives, more reason they need us on their side!

12 Days of Christmas

Christmas time always lasts a bit longer here in Romania.  We start giving out gifts early and don't stop with holiday activities until after the new year.  The director of the boy's transition house took his vacation and the five boys stayed in Bucuresti.  We occupied them with many different activities.

Play time at Peris

Mark with Laurentiu who we hadn't seen for years (he moved orphanages)

We took the boys ice skating, it was the first time for all of them.  Some of them got the hang of it by the end of the hour, but one really enjoyed falling.

Three of the boys with a Riley, a holiday team member.

Another thing we did was take the boys to a 3D movie.  All the boys are from Rosiori where there is no movie theater, so it was another first for them.

Christmas Day included opening gifts in the morning.  Gifts are not a new thing, but the family atmosphere in which we opened them was new for some of them.

Later in the day all the graduates came over.  Here we are with Elena.

After Christmas the team arrived and we split up and went to all the orphanages to hand out gifts.  The boys also went with the team and were great helpers.

After the gift giving was done, we had plenty of time for games!

 And somehow we even found time to have a tea party with Dorothy!

Our time with the holiday team is over now.  For us it is back to our regular schedule and teaching.  Lets keep praying for the kids to take the Christmas message to heart and for Jesus to not be left behind in the New Year!

December Happenings

We had two weeks of school before Christmas break.  We returned to teaching our classes and tutoring.  It was fun to see all the cute kids we work with again!

Coloring the letter U.  Romanians do not teach the alphabet in order like we do, so that is always interesting!

Mark reading to the kids.  They loved the pop-out book.

The next week we went to some of the school's Christmas celebrations.

The Alexandria girls.  The program was real short this year, less than half an hour!

After the program we handed out Christmas gifts.  The kids are always happy with whatever they receive.

With the four sisters and Vali.  It is always fun to have a picture with them and see how much they have grown.

The youngest kids at the boys school.  So adorable!

Christmas Carols

A skit

This is the first grade class.  They are a very sweet group of kids and we really enjoy working with them!

Viorel with the bag of gifts he received for Christmas.

It was fun to see our kids preform and give out some gifts.  Christmas can be a real hard time of year emotionally for some of our kids.  Keep them in your prayers!

Our Time at Home in Michigan: Family

Since our last post we have returned to Romania already from our furlough at home in Michigan.  Our month there went really fast because we were so busy, it is true that time flies when you are having fun.  Thanksgiving week we celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families since we didn't stay until Christmas time.

Hand blown glass ornaments have always been a big hit as gifts, we enjoy going to the factory to get them and also seeing where people put them in their houses to decorate.  

We always enjoy spending time with family when we come home.

We spent a few days with each of our families to make sure that we had plenty of time during our short stay home to see them.

For Thanksgiving with Rebecca's family we decided to try some new recipes, so we made garlic rosemary roasted chicken, sweet potatoes with candied walnuts and goat cheese, and roasted broccoli with parmesan and pine nuts.  They were all first time recipes and turned out great. 

I got adventurous on the pie and made bruleed maple cream pumpkin pie.  It turned out amazing and it was fun to brulee the sugar with a torch.  

Mom showed off her new table runner from Romania.

We never took a family picture and our candid shots were less than favorable, so this will have to do this year.  I will let you decide who is who :)

We had such a wonderful time home and it was great to see everyone.  We are glad to be back in Romania and to see our kids again.  With Christmas coming up we will be going to lots of programs and having lots of Christmas parties.  We'll look forward to sharing about those too.

Our Time at Home in Michigan: Friends

Each year we are blessed with the opportunity to come home to see our family, friends and supporters.  We enjoy the chance to catch up with all the people back home who mean so much to us.  The month that we are home is always a busy one and this year has been even more than normal.  Thankfully this is a different kind of busy.  Not really vacation but not really work, it is refreshing to spend quality time with people we love.

It is always amazing to see how much our friend's kids grow in a year!  We love to spend time with our little munchkins.  Here Lexi was showing me her new knitting skills.

I know that kids seem to grow up fast, but when we only see them once a year it is by leaps and bounds!  Thankfully we are able to keep in touch with Skype so they don't forget us :-)

I'm always up for some fun activity like play-dough or legos where I can build things with the kids.

Since we are here around the holidays we get to celebrate them many times over.  We had a nice early Thanksgiving with 23 people at the Jasperse's place.

In a reversal of roles the kids got to sit at the main table and all of us adults sat in the living room.

Thankfully we can fit in some hang out time in between lunches and dinners out.

How cute is that?

We've had some guests as well, Ed and Jennifer came to visit and we tried our hand at Deer Hunter on the computer.  The funniest part was when Rebecca got attacked by the wolf she was hunting.  

We enjoyed also playing some other board games, and I got to cook a meal for the first time in a couple of weeks.

Our friends and former co-workers Josh and Missy also got a chance to come and visit.  We went out to our favorite restaurant San Chez and enjoyed a wonderful meal.  Afterwards we showed them around Grand Rapids and were reminded what a nice city it is.  It was very nice to see them and to hear about what they are up to since returning home from Romania not too long ago.

During our time home we have also had the privilege of speaking at all of our supporting churches.  We enjoy sharing the highlights of our year and how God has been working in Romania.  We continue to feel very blessed by all of the support that God has provided us with.  Thank you all for making our time home great and for continuing to keep us and the kids in your prayers.