Step by Step

We miss our kids back in Romania but at the same time we have been blessed by reconnecting with our friends and family here at home.  It has been great to be able to do this at a slower pace than when were were only home for one month each year.

 Another new thing is that Rebecca has been trying out many new gluten free recipes.

Here are some doughnut holes and apple cider.

Japanese milk bread

Macarons

Dinner rolls

We have been enjoying the nice fall here and had a visit from some deer in the yard.

The colors this fall were spectacular, in Romania we missed all the maples (also the syrup).

We know that God has brought us back here to start our family through foster care adoption.  There are many steps that we need to take in order to get there and that is what we have been trying to figure out lately.  I have felt God calling me to stay in ministry and have been trying to figure out what that will look like.  God has been guiding us to meet new people at an urban church in downtown Grand Rapids through an outreach and then a Dunamis prayer conference.  We are now talking with the pastors there about the possibility of building up a children's ministry.  We are praying and ask for your prayers that God would clearly lead us and all those involved and that he will open the right doors for us.  There is so much to figure out but we know that it is all in God's hands and that where he guides he provides.

Keeping Busy in GR

Since we have been back we haven't experienced a shortage of things to do.  One of our first tasks was picking out cell phones and plans, a much more daunting experience than in Romania.  There are also some things that we can do here that we couldn't do in Romania.  We always saw pictures of ArtPrize but never were able to make it until this year.  

We visited the beautiful city of Grand Rapids on a very nice warm and sunny fall day.

There were really cool sculptures all over town.

If you look really closely you can see here that this dragon is facing off against an army of tin soldiers.

We really enjoyed the color of this one and the encouraging scripture passages written on it.

This awesome mural was a work in progress when we came to see it.

This was the overall winner of the competition.  We got to visit the museum of contemporary art for free and even ate some artesian gelato!

We have also enjoyed seeing some very beautiful color in the trees.

We spent a lot of time looking around for a car, and we were blessed to be able to find one on our 11 year anniversary!  We found this 2007 Honda Fit Sport on Craigslist, it was a bit high priced for us but we thought we would go and check it out anyway.  When we got there we saw this immaculate, one owner car that has been taken care of amazingly.  We talked a little about Romania and the person selling it recognized us from church!  We didn't even have to negotiate down the price because they offered it to us at a lower price than they were willing to take from anyone else.  We are thankful to God for setting it all up and are very happy with our new ride.

We have also been keeping busy visiting family and friends and getting settled in here.  We are already involved with the children's program at church and we will surely find other serving opportunities.  Our next step is to discern what God has in store for us as far as jobs go.  Please pray for clarity, guidance and providence as we search.  Please also continue to pray for us and our kids in Romania as we are missing each other.

Trip to Finland

Just before we returned to America from Romania we took a wonderful trip to visit some friends in Finland.  We were friends with the Lorenz family way back in our college days. The last time we saw them before they moved was shortly after our wedding.  We kept in touch through the years and wanted to visit and we finally had our chance.

Here we are with Rainer, Katri, Lea, Mia, Lasse, Kalle, and Silas.

The Lorenz property is very beautiful with large rocks all over and they also have a garden.

The house is really nice too, it was built in the 1800's.

We went to a huge meteorite crater to see the migrating Cranes.  There were thousands of them and they were very skittish so you couldn't get very close.

The boys found some antique farm equipment to play on.

The girls hung out with Rebecca by one of the barns we sat next to.

While there checking out the birds there was a nice wind so we thought we would try flying some kites. It was our first time flying this type of kite that you can steer; we all had so much fun.

Here is Rebecca flying her kite.

Rainer and I looking like twins.

Katri introspectively looking into the distance...

We got to spend a lot of time with the kids while they were doing their school work.  Here they were showing Rebecca their animal habitat project.  I helped with some math problems and Rebecca helped with biology.  We also shared a lot about Romania and what it is like there.

The family took us out to eat at a cafe in town where Lea works.  We had a wonderful salad and then had some wonderful desserts! The two in front of us were gluten free and they were all delicious!

We went on a hike in the Kvarken Archipelago, a beautiful area on the sea where the land is rising out of the sea.  New islands are being created over time as the pressure left from glaciers is relieved.

The natural beauty here is stunning, and you can see that we also had wonderful weather.

We roasted hot dogs and then made some s'mores.

We had such a wonderful time with the Lorenz's, we truly felt like we were part of the family.  It was hard to say goodbye but we know we will be thinking about and praying for one another.

Saying Goodbye

It has been a while since our last post and we have been very busy.  We moved out of our apartment, out of Snagov (where we stayed on the weekends), spent time with the kids and had a vacation.  Through out this past month we have been saying a lot of goodbyes.  Three different locations of kids to say goodbye, graduates, church, and other friends.  It has been an emotional time.

Many of the kids wanted one last photo with us, so we can remember them and of course they want a copy too.

Dani was very heartbroken that we are leaving.  The kids have a range of emotional responses due to abandonment, but his was the most extreme.  He sat in front of my car door bawling and saying he was not going to let me leave.

Group photos are not complete without a dog :)

We also gave away some of our clothes.  Packing was a good time to sort through our possessions and share our abundance.  The kids were very excited to find something new to them.

Daniel's new style

Marius looking good!  He was one of the kids I wondered about; he tends to avoid emotional situations.  He stayed strong and kept telling me that he understood it was hard.

Alina asked for an early birthday present

Checking out each others pictures from us.

One last group photo before we drove away.  They already have been asking when we will come and visit them and send them more pictures.

The Guess kids got attached to us when we had spent some time staying with them and were also sad that we were leaving.  They will miss us and all of Mark's jokes.

Friday morning is almost here and before we know it we will be back in Michigan.  Please keep us and all our kids in your prayers.  It is very hard for them and us.  But we know that God will true to his promises and will not abandon his children.  Pray for our adjustment, to find where God is leading us as far as jobs, for the car we will need to buy, and for patience.  We know that this is God's plan for us, but that doesn't mean it will be easy.  We leave with heavy but full hearts, and look forward to being able to come back and visit some day.