Spring- New Beginings

Spring is coming here! Today was in the 60's and sunny. After winter we all look forward to spring. Just like after difficult phases in our life we look forward to less difficult ones. We have been in Romanian for over 6 months now! And what does that mean? We are almost finished with language lessons! We have one more, on Friday, and we are going to tour some of downtown and talk about the architecture and history. Does this mean we can speak Romanian fluently? No! But it does mean we understand a lot and can speak Romanian, we just have a lot more work ahead of us. As we took a walk today through the park- Tineretului Park is just down the street- I was thinking about the new life springing forth and how a lot of things are just a matter of perspective. The following two pictures are our view from our apartment.

We could think about how much less space we have, how we don't have a garden or a yard for that matter, how many people are around, OR we can be thankful for a nice place to stay, being close to a metro (subway) stop, having a little market just outside our building, and the opportunity to impact all the people around us. And have our eyes open for the gems amidst the concrete jungle. Like the school below for example, way cooler than my high school!

Below are some picture of the lake in the park. Which side do you prefer to look at?

And I had to include a picture of Mark's favorite friends, some of them are actually very pretty, just not the ones that poop on our window sill :)

Part of moving to a different culture is finding ways to join in the new culture while keeping part of who you are. Eating gogosi is an easy way to be a little Romanian! We are thankful to be here, to be learning the language, the culture, and getting to know the babies and our kids at the orphanage. It hasn't always been easy, but we know God has a great purpose here and we keep looking for the signs of new life...and sometimes the smell of gogosi.

Rolling Right Along

How refreshing! The weather has been wonderful this last week, even getting into the mid 60's today! We've seen more sunshine than we did the rest of the winter (it seems that way) in the last couple weeks and it is so nice. Now that it is nice out and we will be done with lessons in a week we will probably start more exploring around the city because there is lots to see here if you look past the block buildings. During a homework break last weekend I took a walk to a famous cemetery. I know, not the coolest sounding, but there is lots of really nice architecture there and many famous people buried there.

Some of the tombs are very interesting and there are lots of statues like this around.

We'll have to go back there sometime because I only saw a small part, it is a huge place, and it is not very far from our apartment.

We went to the baby hospital Monday with Corni, praise God that we will be able to go there regularly again! We so enjoy the babies, it is such a blessing to be able to hold them and love them, they are so much fun!

We also made it out to the orphanage again after not being there for a few weeks due to scheduling issues. The kids enjoyed making lion puppets to go along with the story of Daniel and the lions den. The team that is here now did a skit and I got to stand in for one of the evil guys who gets eaten by lions in the end, how fun!

Some of the kids are learning a dance to Leeland's "Tears of the Saints" and they are really enjoying it. I was really impressed by how into it Bebe was, as you can see in the picture of him getting ready for the beginning of the song where they start off as if they are praying.

Today we had a play day with the kids in the beautiful weather, everyone had a lot of fun.

Lorenzo is a really nice boy though unfortunately he is on heavy medication for some issues he has. Despite that he always runs to me and loves to spend time together. This week he told me that he is praying for us every night! How sweet is that? Let's pray for him that God will heal him so he can be free from the medication that really hinders him.

Vali was in heaven today because he got to play with the basketball. Every single time we go to the orphanage he asks if we brought the basketball, he just loves playing.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and encouragement!

Major Answered Prayer Requests

We have recently had the joy of some answered prayer requests! Rebecca is healthy again after battling a cough for over a month, it was a frustrating cough but now it is gone and we are really happy about that. Being healthy again also means that we can go to the baby hospital together again, which we did today. Our babies are growing so big and there are new ones coming in. Rebecca's little boy, Eric, was just placed into foster care which is wonderful, we pray that more will be placed so they don't have to grow up in the orphanage system.

We brought our friend Kristie to the hospital with us, she is a new missionary here who we met at our bible study. She is working with kids in churches so she wanted to help us care for the kids at the hospital. She really enjoyed it and will probably be back with us again.

Last week we made our first video of our time here so far. The kids at FairHaven Ministries, our home church, had a Romania night so we made the video to go along with that. The kids made gift bags for the orphans here and colored cards that say "Jesus loves all the children of the world" and the Romanian "Isus ii iubeste pe toti copiii din lume" We heard that the kids really enjoyed the night and that many of them recognized us since we worked with them for 2 years before we came here. As you watch the video, keep in mind that we made it for kids to understand what we're doing here in Romania and to see that these kids aren't that much different from them.

Link To Video Here

The other major answered prayer request is that the director of the orphanage that has been giving us so many problems has been removed and replaced! He crossed the line with lots of things he did but the final straw was beating up a kid badly. The teachers finally took action and notified the higher ups and he was immediately removed. The new director is very eager to work with us and is already trying to improve things at the orphanage. Praise God that the old director is finally gone and pray for our relationship with the new director. Also it would still be good to pray for the old director as he really needs Jesus in his life.

Thanks so much for your prayers and faithfulness! We know that prayer is important and it is great to see God's answers. The next big one is our language learning, we have just over 2 weeks left of lessons so we are getting excited to be done. Today our teacher told us she is going to cry when we are done because she enjoys teaching us so much. Coming from her this is a huge compliment. God has definitely been guiding us through this and we are so thankful for that.

Romanian

This past week I (Rebecca) was really frustrated with my lack of Romanian speaking ability. I can understand a lot (usually), but I struggle to be able to say what I want. I kind of freeze and my mind goes blank, forgetting the 100's (maybe 1,000's) of words I know. So, I am going to write the rest of this post in Romanian and translate it for you.

Sper ca toti cititori se bucur! I hope all the readers enjoy!

Este lectie de gatit. This is cooking class. Ei pregatit prajituri pentru o receptie pentru invatatori de la scoala lor. They made cakes for a reception for their teachers.

Delicios. Delicious.

Acest caine este Mila, si ea vrea sa intre in casa sa incerce prajiturii! This is Mila (the dog), and she wants to enter the house and try the cakes.

Mercuri a fost ziua lui Krista si Jen. Wednesday was Krista and Jen's birthday. Mark a pregatit mancarea chinezeasca. Mark made chinese food. A fost foarte bun. It was very good. Petrecere a fost foarte distractiv. The party was a lot of fun. Ii iubesc pe toti membri de la H2H familia! I love all the members (staff) of the H2H family!

In lectie de limba romana, noi vorbim despre apologetics. In Romanian class we are talking about apologetics. Este foarte dificile, dar dupa aceea, o sa avem o limba foarte buna! It is very hard, but afterwards, we will have a very good language.

Va rog, continuati sa va rugati pentru noi si limba romana. Please continue to pray for us and our romanian.

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.