Blogs

I read a blog this morning and it didn't really impact me until I began to think about my kids.  It was about how people complain about first world problems and don't even think beyond themselves.  For example I could write a blog about how our new fridge is five times larger than our old one (a first world concern).  Or I could write about the times I can't sleep at night because my heart is so broken for our kids.  

Look at these faces.  These are children who are growing up without parents.

The people that truly care about them in their lives are paid workers (sometimes) and H2H staff.

Many of them will fight their entire life trying to erase lies about their worth and value.

Yes, they are blessed, they have food, clothes, a roof over their head and the opportunity to go to school.  For many of them their future was made brighter when they were given up to the state, a fact that is hard to accept because family should be the best option.

I was thinking about my boy this morning and how he is going to be completely on his own soon.  His own place, working and providing for himself.  I am proud of him.  But at the same time I was thinking of how hard it must be.  He still has a long way to go to remove all the negativity and lies from his past.  And if something where to happen to him and he would loose his job...he has no one.  Okay, he will always have us, but that just feels...wrong.  Why does a Romanian have an American as a closest friend?  Is anyone besides H2H staying awake at night wondering when he will ever turn his life over to Jesus?  Why are we so blind to the injustices right in front of our eyes?  Don't misunderstand me, I feel overwhelmingly blessed to be here and to be a part of these kids lives.  But with that blessing comes a longing for things to be made right, for the struggle against evil to be over.  Right now I am called to bring glory to God's name by working with the kids most precious to his heart.  What is he calling you to?  And will you let him break your heart?  Or will first world problems blind you? 

Art Class with the Boys

This year we have been teaching an art class with the boys at the special school that we work at.  Knowing that these kids love to draw and color we decided to help them develop their creative art skills.  We have taught many of the basics like the color wheel, using shapes to draw different things, perspective and proportion. 

As an intro to how artists work, we did a lesson on making still life portraits, using a bowl of fruit as our subject.

We started off with the bowl covered up, then revealed the it slowly, the kids couldn't wait to see what it was!

The lesson went great and we got lots of different interpretations of the bowl of fruit.  The hardest part was protecting the fruit from hungry kids who apparently don't get much fresh fruit!

Some of the kids need a helping hand from time to time...

...and some do just great on their own.

Here is a proud class with their drawings, they did a great job!

Here we are having one of the students help us with the perspective/proportion lesson.

Rebecca kicked off the next phase of our class where we will focus on different artists and their techniques with Vincent van Gogh's "Vase with Twelve Sunflowers."

We helped the kids to copy the painting as best as they could.

This was one of the closest to the original, a great rendering.

We really enjoy teaching art to these kids because it allows them to use their hands and create something beautiful.  They need to be encouraged to use and increase their talents because this isn't something that they get very much of. 

Our Boys

Each week we enjoy being able to work with the boys in our transition programs.  We have a lot of fun interacting with the boys and we always have a good time with them.

The six boys staying at the transition house in Nenciulesti are (L to R) Adi, Florin, Sandel, Alex, Ciprian, and Marinel.  Doru is a Romanian man who stays with them and teaches them full time, he is such a great guy and he loves these boys like his own.

We teach an English class, we have focused on greetings and basic conversation skills.

Each week we practice what we've been going over the whole time, it is always fun to act out a first meeting and see how it goes.

From time to time we have an intern come with us for the week, here Samantha is practicing with Adi.

Megan, another intern, practiced with Marinel.

 We also cook with the boys to try and get them ready for living on their own after they graduate from the program.  Here we made individual pizzas and they got rave reviews.

Once a month H2H hosts a bible study for graduates and those in the transition programs.  We had a computer party with some of the boys, everyone is into technology!

We enjoy seeing the boys who are in the transition program in Bucharest too, they live in an apartment and take many of the same classes as the others.  They are also doing things like internships and going to hair cutting school and working.  Here are Berki and Marius, and not pictured are Gheorghe and Toader. 

Please pray for all these boys, for them to finish the program well and for them to be receptive to the gospel.

Fall - Winter 2012 Update

Last fall was the start of the school year for us, a time when we get back into regular ministry after a busy summer.  We began anew with all of our classes and tutoring of kids of all ages.  The director who had forbade us from teaching about God was replaced by one who said we can, praise God for answered prayer! We started youth group for high school aged kids by beginning a study through the book of 1 John.  These young people are growing up surrounded by temptations and wrong ideas of what love is, so we are studying what true love is.

Mark began tutoring high schoolers in math for their college entrance exam and many interested students came to the classes.  Unfortunately, due to poor schooling and lack of motivation, most of them have very poor math skills and study habits.  We started at grade school level and made very slow progress, but thankfully most of them have at least one more year before they need to take the test.  With younger kids Mark and his partner Mariana teach character classes using animals with desirable traits to have.

Rebecca continued to teach about different countries with her partner Sanda.  She makes a presentation on her iPad and shows pictures to the kids of the food, landscape, buildings, animals, people, and anything else interesting about that country.  She also tutors some students in biology for the big test and some english as well. Together we teach an art class at the special needs school.  The kids there love to draw and color so it has been fun to teach them about the color wheel, shapes, perspective, and proportion.

The boys transition program started up with six boys that we have known for a long time.  We taught English greetings and cooking with the boys and always enjoyed our time together.  After a two year absence the girls transition program started back up, with our friends Josh and Missy being the house parents.  We welcomed six girls into the program who we’ve also worked with for a long time.  The boys started a construction course while many of the girls started taking cooking or waitressing classes, and some got internships at restaurants.  A new program was started for four boys who didn’t really fit into the BTH, so they came to stay in an apartment in Bucharest, taking classes and finding jobs.  They also participate in many of the independent living classes that staff gave to the girls.

Toward the end of the year we enjoyed going to many Christmas programs, celebrations, and parties.  We then spent a month at home visiting our family and friends and speaking in our supporting churches.  We really enjoyed seeing everyone and were very encouraged by everyone’s love and support.  After serving here for over three years it is awesome to experience the continued prayers and support from so many faithful people!

Thanks as always for your prayers and support, we can’t do this without you!

Please Continue To Pray:

- Praise God for watching over and blessing us. Pray for our health and especially for Rebecca as she tries to figure out what kind of food she may be alergic to or intolerant of

- Pray for the kids that we work with, especially many of the older ones who seem to be close to making decisions for Christ but just can’t seem to take the step.  Pray against the work of the evil one

- Pray for the young people in the transition programs to finish well and for them to find jobs when the time comes

- Pray for planning for upcoming teams and for clarity on what to do for summer ministry

- Pray for people to come on trips here, especially this summer.  Pray for those already planning on it

- Pray for our friend Talitha who is raising support to come work here full time.  Please let us know if you would be interested in supporting her monthly or with a one time gift (having her come here will be a great help to the kids and us too!)

- Praise God for all of our support partners and pray that God will bless them and continue to provide for us.

Please click on this picture of our newsletter to download and print it so that you can share it with your friends and family!

Vacation/Furlough in Michigan

We have arrived safely back in Romania after a month at home in Michigan.  We arrived there just before Christmas so we were able to celebrate Christmas with our family and friends.

  We love giving gifts from the glass factory that we found up north, they make such beautiful things.

We celebrated Christmas many times with all of our family.

We spent lots of time with friends too, sometimes staying at their places when it worked out.

We're always amazed at how fast our friend's kids are growing!

We visited with family or friends just about every evening and also for some breakfasts and lunches.  We really enjoyed getting to see everyone and had a good time spending time with them.  Here we are eating sushi, yum!

Our friend Dori came and visited from Denver...

...So we took her to see some Michigan sights, like all the ice on the pier in Grand Haven.

Michigan really is a beautiful place!

We had great weather with very little snow right until the end which is pretty unusual for January in Michigan.  It was very nice for traveling all around like we did.

We were able to speak about what we're doing in Romania at all four of our supporting churches.  We were very encouraged by all of the people who said that they are praying for us and our ministry.  We know that this would not be possible without all of you so thank you very much!

We really enjoyed our time home and wanted to say thank you to everyone for your hospitality and kindness.  We did miss our kids in Romania though so it was time to come back and see them.  Now we're trying to get back into the swing of things and beat this jet-lag   We are looking forward to what this year has in store for us and our kids!

Christmas Parties and Celebrations in Romania Part 2

Celebrating Christmas in Romania is always a fun time where we get to sit back and watch our kids sing, dance, and recite poetry.  Before we arrived in the USA for our month long vacation/furlough we were able to take part in many of these programs and we really enjoyed it.

At the girls school in Alexandria we saw many of the girls that we don't get to work with normally during the year.

They performed many funny skits.

We also handed out Christmas presents there and it was really fun to see the girls react to their wonderful gifts.

Then we went to another celebration put on by the kids in the other orphanages that we work in.

We always love being there for the kids that we love so much, like Georgiana who still calls Rebecca Mommy.

Christmas time is always such a fun time to be with the kids and to be able to remind them about the real reason that we celebrate Christmas, the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.