Behind the Smile

Behind every smile is a story.  A story that often involves a lot of hurt and sadness.  

This week I was reminded again of how all the smiles can be deceiving.  Yes, the most of the kids are happy with us most of the time. But there is so much more...and I am going to share a bit of what life is really like for them.  Out of respect for the kids, the photos will not match the story.

I am abandoned.  I have living parents but I do not live with them.  Often when I call them they tell me that they will take me home for vacation but then they do not come.  Is it any wonder that I have emotional/behavior problems?

I have parents that I live with, but I go to the special needs school.  Well, I didn't go for several months because I didn't have any shoes.  The education that I receive is well below my ability level and gives me a very bleak outlook for my future.

I am in the 4th grade and still do not know all the letters.  I have not had the one on one attention I need to learn.  I bully the other kids and even punch them, it helps me not feel so bad about myself.

My mom took me home for the summer and then left me on the street to beg.  The authorities found me and put me back in the orphanage.  My sister is still out on the street, she is older and I wonder if she is selling her body to survive.

I am an adult now and have a job.  On the outside my life looks good.  On the inside, it depends on the day.  I do not regulate my emotions very well and often I choose to believe the lies.  I turn hard and push everyone out of my life.  I know I don't deserve to be loved and sometimes I don't let anyone in.

How can we deal with this?  Sometimes we simply don't and we end up on our knees crying and begging God to change things.  But I was reminded that God needs us to rely on him if he wants to use us.  If we are truly following after God, life will not be easy and we will go through many trials.  Deuteronomy 8:2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."  John 16:33

I am beginning to learn there is no better place to be than on my knees...

Easter Etc...

We had a change in our regular schedule because a dental team came.  The dentists and their families were hard workers and really blessed the kids!  We went with them to the orphanages in Bucuresti and had fun seeing kids we don't normally have the chance to see.

Face paint

Helping with the lamb crafts

The next week was spring break and we stayed in town to help with Steven, Haley, and Mariana's reading reward parties.  We had a lot of fun along with the kids!  We did an egg hunt, dyed eggs, played xbox games, made dinner and cookies, watched a movie, and hung out together.

Egg hunt (can you find the blue egg?)

Happy egg hunter

Got to love these kids!

Dying eggs

Here Ana is showing me her picture of us and Tyler from the dental team.  It was the first thing she did when she saw me, so sweet!

Mark and Florin boxing on the xbox, sore muscles ensued.

The traditional Easter Egg hunt with the graduates

The magnolia was blooming an egg!

We enjoyed the extra time we had to spend with our good friends Steven and Haley (and Talitha and Mariana).  Lets keep praying that the wonderful news of Easter comes alive and grows in these kids' hearts.

More Birthdays

We had the rest of the surprise birthday parties at the boys school.  It was fun to see their excitement for such a small celebration.  The kids enjoyed every part: the games, cupcakes, presents, and our presence.  The kids have also really grown attached to Tyler (intern)!

Getting turned around

Putting the candle on the cake

Trying to find Tyler

Success

Heads up 7 up

Cupcakes and presents

Gift bags

We also had our regular classes and I (Rebecca) made a book for reading class.

Looking at every letter

Tyler helping to sound out the word (in Romanian!)  Often time interns are more observers or need constant translating, but since Tyler learned some Romanian he could actually help the kids on his own.  He only has a few more days of his internship left, he will be missed!

Please remember to keep these kids and us in prayer.  The evil one wants nothing more than to destroy, and we see it in many ways.  In conflicts, in stubborn hearts, loosing focus of God and his will, the lack of justice, kids thinking they can never change, etc.  It is a battle and our precious kids are on the line and God is the only answer, the only hope.

Transition "Kids"

One thing we have not blogged about much is our work with the transition house young adults.  Every week we go to the boys transition house and teach english and some budgeting classes.  I thought it would be fun to play the price is right using prices from the grocery store.

Bogdan trying to find two items with the same price.

Florin deep in thought about the most expensive items.

Revealing the correct prices

The boys helping Mark sort out camping supplies.

Here we are with Elena.  If you remember back to 2008, we met her then and God used her to move forward his plan for us to come to Romania.  Elena has just had the opportunity to go to America to study at a University.  She left Wednesday and is staying with an awesome family.  Lets keep her in our prayers because this will be a time of adjustment!

Berki is a graduate from last year and works at a top salon in Bucharest.  He is still learning the tricks of the trade. 

 

The finished product, Berki did a great job!

Another thing we have been doing is a Bible study with Marius and the guys in his apartment (when they are home).  We are going through the book of John and have had some really good discussions.  You can join is in praying the God's word will enter his heart and that he will have true faith.

Surprise!

This year H2H wanted to make sure that every child we work with has their birthday celebrated.  So we decided to have surprise birthday parties for our kids at the boys school.  Tyler, an intern, was with us and we did three surprise birthday parties.

No party is complete without put the candle on the cake!

Here Mark is explaining the rules of heads up.

Can you find any of us with our heads down?  Pick me, pick me!

After singing happy birthday in english, playing some games, it was cupcake and gift time!

Yummy!

Watch out for the frosting...

Opening gifts

This happy face says it all!  The kids absolutely loved the parties, the cupcakes, and the gifts!  In a couple of weeks we will do more parties with the rest of the kids.  It is a blessing to be able to be a part of special days in their lives and to bless them how we have been blessed.

School Classes and Italian Night

We have been enjoying continuing with our classes at the special needs school we work in.  One thing that we love about going to the school is that the kids are so loving and excited!  When they see us coming they wave and get ready to welcome us.  They run up to us, hug us, ask if we have class with them, ask when is camp, how many points they have, when they will win a prize, and even say they love us.

We are always doing new art projects, this one being a painted forrest scene.  We put tape on the paper first and had the kids paint the ground and sky over it...

...then we took the tape off and the white space was for the trees.

Alin went above and beyond our expectations, he is quite an artist.

Most of the kids earned enough points to get a prize, so we had lots of choices for them.  They were so excited, the big problem was which one to choose.

We continue to really enjoy our reading classes with the younger kids.  We are going through the alphabet with grades one and two since they don't know all of their letters.

Each time we have our class the kids color a page with the letter.  They have space to practice writing the letter and some pictures of things that begin with that letter.

We also occasionally read stories to them to and they really enjoy it.  With the older kids we are focusing on how to get from reading every letter to forming whole words, and it is proving to be quite a challenge.  We use flash cards, games and worksheets and it looks like the key will be repetition and patience.

One thing that we don't enjoy about working at this school is that we see how poorly the education system is there.  Special education is so far behind here that it is often little more than babysitting rather than teaching.  The teachers aren't prepared or equipped and often aren't even in the classrooms.  This is why we are focusing so much time and energy here this year, because we want these kids to have a chance, and they need to learn how to read and write.  We just pray and ask you to pray too for them and that God will open up their minds and also motivate the teachers.

We got to hang out with our friends Steven, Haley and Talitha Saturday night and we had an Italian themed night.  Steven and Haley have been to Italy so they are already experts.  We are going to Rome with Talitha in a little under two months for a long weekend, so we thought we'd celebrate!  We started with an Apertif, a drink which is supposed to stimulate the appetite.

For the appetizer I made Bruschetta, with the bread fried in butter it just melted in our mouths!  Thankfully we can get gluten free bread here so Rebecca was able to enjoy some too.

For the main course Haley made oven roasted potatoes and pesto chicken with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese.  It was a wonderfully light and tasty course.

For dessert I made Tiramisu which is one of my favorite desserts, right up there with creme brulee.  I used macaroons instead of lady fingers so it would be gluten free, and it turned out great!  We love having themed meals like this with our friends, it is great to hang out and have fellowship like that amidst a busy schedule.  Praise God for good friends and good food!

Once again we thank you for keeping up with us on our blog and for praying for us and the kids!