new adventures

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for following my Romania Adventures through the summer. I have been so excited to share these things with you. I am now beginning a new adventure though. I will be moving to Pittsburgh next week. I will be living with an amazing friend of mine who was my roommate last year, and hopefully working at the same place as her too. I have sent my application, I am just waiting for it to get there and get processed and stuff. But, even if I don't get that job I am still going. I feel like this is the place that God has opened a door and will continue to as long as I am following him. I am so excited about this. I understand why I God closed the doors in Michigan, on both the East and West sides of the state. Although parts of me are so connected to each of these places, I needed a new adventure to keep my relationship with God strong and centered. I know that if I stayed home, I would fall into a routine like everyone else in Peck. I would just be coming back into all of the same things that I left four years ago. People expect me to be the same person that I was when I left, but I am not. I have changed so much, and for the better. I am so much more confident in myself and when the people here knew me I was shy and and less self confidence than Eeyore. I was good at hiding it though, but I am so different now. That is why I can't stay here. And I can't go back to the west side, where my GBC family is because I know that even if I am doing other things, I will still be there and come back to my bubble of security. That whole side of the state to me is a bubble of security. It is comfort, it is healing, it is helpful, and no matter how much I long to be there, I know that if I was there I would not be stretched. I would not be pushed to my limit. I would be comfortable. So this is why I am moving. And I am totally at peace about moving. I am excited to be able to go and experience something new without having to be tied down to something. There are so many new adventures just waiting to be had in Pittsburgh. I can't wait.

I will not be writing on this blog anymore though, until my next Romania adventure. But I will continue to blog on my other blog. You will be able to find updates and little things about my life on this blog. I will be posting there as often as I can.

Thank you so much for your support, prayers, and love.

I will see you in Pittsburgh.

transition period.

the word transition is something that i have seen and been hearing a lot from friends and family lately. I feel like I am in this hardcore transition period. I have no idea what I am going to do now that I am officially a college graduate, but it doesn't matter. I can do anything. I know this is a time where things are going to change and where I am going to explore and experience God in some new ways that are going to be challenging yet great. I know that the world is at my fingertips, I just need to dive in and see where this crazy journey takes me. I know these things in my head, but it is hard to commit to letting go of that control. Before I left for Romania I had a plan. A big plan. It was going to be perfect, I knew where I would work and how much money I would save and when I would be able to come home. Then God shut that door, it didn't feel right and it was hard to withdraw from that decision, but it meant that God had something bigger in mind. So then I started another plan. Once again I knew where I was going to live and sort of what I would be doing. And if that plan followed through I could be close to my friends and close to the community that I have been a part of for the last four years. But once again that fell through. Since I got home I have been trying to figure things out, but it seems like every time I get close to a plan, something goes wrong and it falls through. Then a friend told me a about a job that she has. It would require me stepping out of my plans and into something really unknown. It is that dive, that step, that leap that everyone talks about but no one really knows how to do it. I have not been really worried about this job situation because I know that God has something big planned for me, and if this works out then great, but if it doesn't then God has something better.

People prepare you your whole life for what the next step is. In preschool the next step is elementary, in elementary the next step is middle school, in middle school the next step is high school, after high school the next step is college. You know what to expect with these things. You know there will be homework involved and there will be classes and teachers and it is predictable. And even though college is supposed to prepare you for the rest of your life, it is hard for them to prepare you to do something other than go to school which is what you have done for the last 16-20 years of your life. It is hard to know what it is like until you get to that place where "life" or "the real world" are staring you right in the face and you realize you have no idea what to do.

So this is my transition period. I need to figure out what I am going to do in this middle time. I know what I want to do... but there are a few factors contributing to my not being able to do that right away. So until that time... what do I do?

I have no clue. But I am okay with that... or getting more comfortable with it everyday I should say. God's got this.

I am transitioning into the rest of my life. Weird.

Now it's time to change the world... let's do this.

the pocket of a missionary

first of all "pocket" in this blog is going to be representing something that we can carry our things around in. It may not be a physical pocket, but a metaphorical pocket. As I was watching one of the Heart to Heart staff run around and play games with the kids today, she decided to empty the contents of her pocket to she wasn't running around with those things the whole time. As I watched this unfold I was wondering what she had that needed to be emptied. As she pulled things out, it made me smile and say to myself "only in the pocket of a missionary." Then I thought of my pockets. The place where I keep everything when I am there. I used my backpack or my purse generally to keep things. As I thought of the simplicity of the things in this pocket it made me smile to myself. Here are some things that you might find in the pocket of a H2H missionary at any given time during summer ministry:
- LANYARD (and lots of it)
- Friendship Bracelets/Friendship bracelet string
- Notes written in a different language, decorated specifically for you from "your kid"
- More bracelets
- Camera (which may or may not be or end up being broken at some point)
- Markers
- Beads
- A Pipe Cleaner mass which was once a crown or bracelet
- Popped Balloons

I love summer ministry.

Nicu

Oh my Nicu.
He is so great.
He is 19 years old. He has been at this orphanage for 10 years. He is so smart. When we talked he knew things that many of the kids don't know, or even really care about. He talked about government and policies and the U.S. and geography. He knew the different airports in Bucharest and which one I was probably flying out of and where it was. He is so special to me. We made bracelets together, we sat on the swings together, we laughed, and when we had to say goodbye, we were sad together. He made me a bracelet. He picked out the colors pink and this light blueish green color that we had. He picked those because he thought since I am a girl I like pink and he liked the other one. I started it for him and then he made it for me. When he put it on me he told me not to take it off because it was an "amintire" or something to remember him by. I still have it on.
One day when we were talking he asked me if I had a boyfriend. I told him no I don't. He said that was a good thing because that way I didn't have to worry about a boyfriend missing me or be missing him too much while I was working with them. He also told me that when I do get a boyfriend I am to bring him to Romania so that Nicu can meet him and approve. It was so funny when I was talking to him. He totally went into almost an older brother lecture mode about it.

When he had to leave the day he came to the carnival... the last day I saw him, he told me not to cry because he was sure that we would see each other again. He said that we only have to be apart for a little while before we will see each other. It was so sweet and only made me cry more.

boys. boys. boys.

They are so much fun. The time that I got to spend at the special needs boys school this summer was amazing. It was only four days, but it felt like it was so much longer than that. During those four days that we went to the boys school I fell absolutely in love with the boys that I was working with. It was like as soon as we were introduced I suddenly had 40 new brothers. They were so kind to all of us and they treated us so well. They took care of us and made sure that we were okay. They brought us flowers from some of the trees nearby. They were so much more energetic and ready to do things with us than the girls. We didn’t have to try and win them over or almost be invited into their lives like with the girls. With the girls you have to almost wait for them to pick you and if they don’t pick you within the first few moments or hours it is really hard to be a part of their lives because they won’t accept you. With the boys it was totally different. They had their favorites, but any of us could talk to them. Any of us could love on them and they weren’t reserved about being loved. The first day that we were there, some things happened and we weren’t able to start our program until around 2:30 p.m. We were originally supposed to start at around 10. We ended up doing our whole day program that afternoon from 2:30 until 6 and we still had time leftover. They boys could only be occupied with certain things for so long, but other things kept them occupied for hours. Things like friendship bracelets, lanyard, and beads. They did this for HOURS. I am telling you I have made so many bracelets in the last month that I should have kept a tally. One day we totally cut our afternoon games because they were totally content just doing bracelets and talking to us. I spent the majority of my afternoons sitting on a swing set. Now this swing set is not how we picture a swing set in the states. This swing set was completely metal. The pieces that held the swings on, usually would be like chain links. These ones were just pieces of rebar that had been painted long ago, but the paint had faded and they were now rusty. The actual swing part was just a flat piece of metal, and it had a back on it making it more like a chair than a swing. But I spent my time sitting on this swing set getting to know “my boys.” Nicu, Ionut, and Aurel were my boys. They are three of the older boys who I became quite attached to. I am going to write a specific blog about Nicu, so I won’t really tell you much about him now. Ionut is almost 18 years old, he knows a little bit of English, and he likes to act like a car… a stick shift car. He makes the motion and the noise of changing gears. He makes a honking sound and when he pretends to turn he makes a blinker noise and winks with whichever eye is the way he is “turning.” I have heard many people make car sounds in my life, but no one has ever done as good of a job as Ionut. So I nicknamed him “Masina” because that is what a car is called in Romanian. Aurel who is 22, I nicknamed “Dog-boy” when I didn’t know his name because one day as we were coming back from lunch we saw him hiding something behind his back. He was hiding this thing with one had and waving so intensely with his other hand. As we were in the car Katie and I turned around because we wanted to see what he had. It turned out that he had a dead dog. He was trying to throw it over the wall so that we didn’t have to see it or anything. As we watched he was trying so hard to get it over the fence, but the dog didn’t quite make it so all that happened was it smacked the fence and fell down. He absolutely loves playing with hair, it doesn’t matter if it is in a ponytail or down, but multiple times I had it up in a bun and he took it out of the bun into just a ponytail so that he could play with it. These three boys were so fun to talk to and just get to know a little better. Sometimes we had a translator and sometimes we didn’t, but when we didn’t the conversation was simple enough for me to understand and attempt to respond. The answers were simple enough that they could understand what I was trying to say and correct me if I said something wrong. These three boys are like the big brothers that I gained. Although two of them are two and three years younger than me I still felt like they were my older brothers and would protect me like older brothers would. I love them and miss them very much. It was so sweet to see how they responded to us and how close we were able to get in such a short amount of time. I love them so very much and can’t wait to see them again. Ask me questions about my boys and I will tell you stories upon stories.


me with my boys Aurel, Ionut, and Nicu

The Super Team

The Super Team.

What makes those words so special when they are put together? Let me share with you a little insight into the words first:
*The word “super”— “a prefix occurring in loanwords from Latin, with the basic meaning “above, beyond.”
*The word “team”—“a group of people organized to work together”

When those words are put together literally meaning an organized group of people working together to go above and beyond, there is a very high expectation. That is the name we were given. The Super Team. For 15 days, we were the Super Team.

The words have a high expectation just standing alone, but when you put 9 women and between 1 and 3 men (depending on the day) together with the title of Super Team, just the name of the team can be a bit intimidating. We were not scared though. We were up to the challenges that were facing us in the south of Romania. We bonded, we loved, we shared life, we got to know each other, but most of all we prayed. We prayed so much that when we returned to Bucharest I had almost forgotten that not everyone on every team prays so much and it was a weird feeling. We prayed for everything we could imagine from weather, to vehicles, to homesickness, to broken hearts. We prayed for mountains in the hearts of kids and directors. We prayed for safety and health. We prayed for God’s love to overflow from each of our lives giving each of us more of ourselves to share and give away. We prayed for children by name. We had high expectations for God to move. When you get that many people together it can be hard to all be on the same page, it can be easy to respond with bitterness and anger as opposed to love and forgiveness. We prayed for unity. God was faithful, we were unified. During our whole time I can think of one time when our team was divided. It could have been a bad thing for us, but instead of siding with each other and holding grudges we talked through things and we prayed. It was not only for those 15 days that we were together though, the women on the team had been together for the girly camps that were for almost two weeks prior to this. Much of our time together was spent in laughter and joy.

Let me tell you what the Super Team physically did.

We started in Alexandria doing a program for the girls and continued the next week with the boy’s school in Rosiori. We did a points system so that at the end of the four days there would be a winning team. They got points for helping out, for winning games, for memorizing verses, for participation, and just random points. We started each day with music and a Bible skit that we had prepared for that day. Our theme for this summer was “When we act with courage, God responds with faithfulness.” We definitely not only taught this but also lived it out in our own lives. After our skits we would have a time of group discussion. We split into three teams (Red, Blue, and Yellow) and in our teams we would go through the story again, ask questions about the story, and do a memory verse. After that we would play a game until lunch time. During lunch we would have time to rest and regroup for the afternoon. In Alexandria we were very blessed to be able to use a room in the basement of the church there. It was a nice place to retreat to that was a nice cool place to get out of the heat. After lunch we would do crafts and play games and relay races and have some free time for the rest of the day. It really was a lot of fun to get to know the kids and talk to them After their four days of us going to their school, we had two days of carnivals at the boy’s transition house. We split them each into two groups so the first days the littler ones came and the second days the older ones came. The girls carnivals were really fun. In the morning we did music, carnival games, an obstacle course, and some group games, then lunch. After lunch we did a slip-n-slide and zipline. During those things towards the end of the day we took the girls and washed their hair. They all enjoyed it very much and it was so cute to see all of their faces as they were getting clean. With the boys it was a bit different, because it was raining and colder on both days. The first day we had to move everything inside, figure out how the day was going to run, and come up with skits that morning. But God was faithful and we got through that day without problems. We all crammed into the small dining room, I think there was about 34 of us that day. God was faithful in letting the rain stop just long enough for each boy to go down the zipline one time each before the rain started again. It was so much fun and just the kind of thing those boys needed. The second day of boys was amazing because even though it has stopped raining, we still couldn’t do a slip-n-slide, but they loved the zipline as well as just playing soccer out in the yard and making bracelets with us.

That is what we physically did as the summer ministry team, but what makes us the Super Team? Anyone could have done those things and had them go smoothly, but we were different, set apart. We blessed the older girls in Alexandria with groceries that they cannot afford and ice cream treats for the girls we worked with, we had pictures printed off so that each child could have something either to remember us or to give to someone else to remember them by, and I personally made more lanyards in one day at the boys school than I thought humanly possible. My team and I got along and we did not work as individuals from different states and walks of life but as brothers and sisters who came together, united in heart, in strength, in spirit, in joy, and in our goal. We are a family, a family that has different personalities and strengths and weaknesses, but where one lacks the others pick it up. We are a team of servants. We did not fight over things that would cause dissension, but we were so set on serving each other the only things we argued about was who was going to do dishes because too many people WANTED to. I could go on with my stories, but I won’t right now. God proved himself time and time again with our team and the way that we grew in love and in faith was leaps and bounds past anything I could have ever dreamed. I know that I can speak for my team members when I say that we were so blessed to be in each others lives and we are all thankful that God brought us here to be on this team, for this time with these people, working with these kids to bring himself glory this summer.

And they all praised God

Ask us our stories and we will tell you.
Pace (Peace).

Adriana.

Her name is Adriana.
When I knew her two years ago she was quiet and shy. A girl who looked like she was 12 when she was really 15. She used to make funny faces at me and laugh at the way I said my words. She never really talked much because she was so shy. Everything about her was timid and innocent.
When I arrived at Alexandria this year one of the first girls to see me was Adriana. When she saw me (as with many of the other girls) she recognized that I was back again. My team two years ago was the last real ministry team that the girls in Alexandria have had other than teams dropping off school supplies and Christmas presents. So Adriana remembered me. Her face lit up when she saw me. I recognized her a little, but she has grown so much. She is taller and bigger and her hair is a little different. She was still quiet, but her heart seems much harder. She makes faces at me and still really enjoys laughing at me trying to speak Romanian, but her heart is hard. It has been hardened by life in the orphanage. It has been hardened by the hierarchy within the orphanage that I talked about in my post about Mimoza. She is a servant to the girls who are older than her. She doesn’t have a voice, she doesn’t have a say, but she has to obey orders or she will get beat up. She didn’t say very much to me, but she has a game where she will tap me on the shoulder or call my name then point at someone else or just look away. She always thinks that it is funny. She enjoys hugging me and getting close to me, but on her terms. Usually right before we get in the car to leave she will hug me really tight. She will look me in the eyes and say something to me that I usually can’t understand. Then I will kiss her on the forehead or cheek and tell her I love her and that she is my sister. She will hug me or hold my hand until the last second when I get in the van, then she will run to whichever window is closest to me and smile, wave, and tell me she loves me and she will see me tomorrow.

When we went to see them on our way back to Bucharest for the final time she came out of the apartment and wouldn’t really talk to me. She didn’t want to have to admit that I was leaving. I could tell that she wanted to get close, but the hardness of her heart wouldn’t let her. There was a moment that I snuck up behind her to give her a hug and she relaxed into my arms a little bit, but then she realized what she was doing and wiggled away. She cried as I got into the van

She wrote me a few notes and each one was more and more about how much she loves me and doesn’t want me to leave, but she understands that I have to. At the same time she says that even though she understands she still wants me to come back and see her. She told me not to forget about her, as if I ever could. She is so sweet. I just wish she would open up more.

A day in the life.

Last Sunday I experienced what I like to call a day in the life of a Romanian. Well not so much in the morning but later in the day. In the morning we got to spend some time to ourselves. We got to sleep in and do breakfast whenever we woke up. Then we had a morning “night light” since our night before had been a late night. We had a super relaxing day. We got to spend some time just hanging out and watching movies. When 4 p.m. came around though, that is when things got really cool and very Romanian. We went to visit a lady from down the road. We met her on a walk and Shannon took her picture and ever since then she loves to see us and spend time with us. She invited us over for an afternoon visit. We didn’t have long to stay there, but we experienced real Romanian hospitality. She showed us into a room that I think was a bedroom, they brought us all chairs to sit even though we were perfectly fine sitting on the ground or on the bed. They had prepared a cake and a special type of bread for our visit. The bread takes like half a day to make. They kept asking us if we wanted anything to drink, and finally they brought us in some pears from the pear tree. It is a fond memory of mine, sitting in that room with this old Romanian lady who just started telling us some of her life. She talked a little about life during communism and how hard her life has been since her husband died. She has lived in the same house forever which I thought was amazing. It is so interesting to see the life of a Romanian, and the difference between the life of a Romanian in the city and the life of a Romanian in the country. We were able to meet some of her family as well. Her daughters were there as well as her granddaughter. We were only able to stay for probably about 30 minutes or so and we had to leave to go to church. We took her granddaughter with us to church. We arrived at church and some of the boys we had been working with that week, as well as some of the girls we worked with previously in the summer showed up so they could see us. Romanian churches (especially the ones in the small towns) are so different from American churches, but I love it so much. There is much more singing, there is a time or two during the service where we stand to pray and people in the congregation can pray. The intensity of the prayer during those times, from those people is enough to challenge me in how I pray. Then if there are visitors, the visitors should have prepared some special music (we had three songs) as well as someone to share a testimony, or if it is a man to share some scripture or a word from God. Also the men and the women sit on opposite sides of the church. After our church service we hung out with the kids for a bit and went back to the Heart to Heart apartment in Rosiori while we were waiting for the best shaorma I have had the whole time I have been here. We spent some time just hanging out with each other, enjoying our little time to relax. Then we went home and went to sleep. It was a fabulous day. If you have questions, ask me about it.

Mimoza

I don’t know why but this year I always seem to become attached to and to attract the girls who are kind of on the bottom of the hierarchy of orphanage life; the girls who cannot talk or really take care of themselves. In this hierarchy, at least where I am right now, there is one girl who is the oldest. She has the most control. Just her presence or the mention of her name is enough to make the girls straighten up. Then there are the older girls who are under her. They have a lot of control over the younger ones. They can boss them around, send them on errands, and do their dirty work for them. It doesn’t matter if the younger girls are in the middle of something, they have to drop whatever they are doing and cater to the needs of the higher rung on the ladder. After the girls who are like the slaves are the little ones. These girls are not old enough to get bossed around for errands yet, but they are bossed around to do the things that the girls that are just above them don’t want to do. Those things could include eating their leftover food, throwing away their trash, carrying their possessions, etc. Then after the little ones are the girls with major special needs. Of course, there are times when the girls above them on the ladder are nice to them, but those moments are few and far between. These are the girls who cannot speak (or cannot speak well), they cannot stand up for themselves, they need others to watch over them all the time. Most of the time these girls seem to be just kind of pushed to the side and not focused on at all. When we do a program we focus mostly on the girls who will be able to understand what we are talking about and just hope the others will see our love. One of these girls on this bottom step of the hierarchy has really touched my heart.

Her name is Mimoza. I met Mimoza two years ago. She has some disease that has infected her organs in her belly making them expand to far beyond the normal size that her stomach should be. She always seems quite anxious and when she gets excited she rocks back and forth so far forward and so far back that sometimes it seems like she will hit her head on the ground. She can talk, but it sounds like she is saying it almost as if she were underwater. You can hear the noise, the pitch of her voice but you have to listen very hard to try and understand what she is saying. When I knew Mimoza two years ago I loved her, but almost because I felt so bad for her. Now when I see her and spend time with her trying to see beyond the things that bind her, I can see the story in her eyes. She doesn’t look into your eyes often, but when she does it is so deep. They tell a story that I wish I could hear. I was privileged to be able to spend 5 days in the presence of this princess. During our time at the school, she remembered me. She recognized me and I feel like God had a plan to open my ears to be able to hear her; to understand her words. I was able to have small conversations with her and during these conversations I knew that she was hearing me and I knew that she understood what I was telling her. I feel like she can pay attention and does pay attention more than people give her credit for. She loves it when people rub her back and play with her hair. During the four days at their school, the entire time she had these three clumps of white stuff in her hair. With this white stuff, no one really wanted to touch her hair. After the weekend in Bucharest we had two days of carnival fun where the girls came to the boy’s transition house and we had so much fun here. During this carnival we had some carnival games, lunch, a zip line, a slip-n-slide, and we washed the girls’ hair. We found out that the white stuff in her hair was gum and had been there for over a week. One of the girls on my team had some oil that could get it out. The whole time she was getting her hair washed she was so excited. Afterwards she brought me a comb and I helped her brush her hair. She loves it when the back of her hair is played with and she looked so cute. She had a smile plastered on her face for the rest of the day. I love this sweet girl so much. I don’t know if I will ever get to see her again here in Romania, but I know that the time I did spend with her was so special. During the slip-n-slide she couldn’t really grasp the concept of running and sliding on it so after most of the people cleared off she and I just jumped in the puddles that were leftover. It was a precious moment that is written on my heart and I can’t forget about it. I am so thankful for my time with Mimoza. She taught me so many things that I can’t even begin to describe them to you. I don’t know what this disease will do to her, but I know they are surprised she has lived this long. I don’t know if I will ever see her again, but the only thing I can do is put her back in God’s hands. He has her safe and sound, right where she should be.


she is so precious.

i saw her!

Today was the best day I have had during this whole trip and probably in the last two years. I saw Elena today. It was like we had never been apart. She has grown up so much; she is 16 years old instead of 14. She has had a baby. But inside she is still the same old Elena. Earlier the older girls told me they saw her in the Piazza during lunch and they told her that I was at the school, but that she had said she probably wasn't coming. So I didn't get my hopes up. I was hoping to see her, but I knew that there was only a slight chance that I actually would get to see her. We were starting to play our water games and all of a sudden Flori came over and grabbed my hand, running and yelling in Romanian. I wasn’t sure where she was taking me or what she wanted. Then I saw her. I screamed. This was the moment I have been waiting for. The moment when I saw my Elena. I gave her two years worth of hugs in one big hug. It was just her and I. We were surrounded by a crowd of girls. I almost started to cry but I knew that I couldn’t. I didn’t want the other girls to think that I didn’t want to be with them, because I did. But Elena was there. We walked over to where everyone was playing the games, I didn’t want to leave my team, but I wanted to be with Elena so much. So I played one game with my team. After the game was over (and I was soaked because I got lots of water dumped on me) I went to Elena and gave her a big hug. She just smiled and laughed. Then she said something to me very quietly, as if I would be disappointed with her, as if she was ashamed. She said it so quietly at first that I didn’t know what she said, and then she said it again. She told me herself that she had a baby. I was glad that she didn’t just assume that I already knew. Then I took her to where we always used to sit on the stage next to the school. I gave her a bracelet I made for her just in case we were to meet. When I opened my purse she saw a letter that I had written for her. I hadn’t gotten it translated yet so I was going to wait until a translator was around. But, she saw it and she wanted me to read it to her. So I was able to translate my own letter to her. It was really cool because we were able to talk as if we spoke the same language. I know that God has bound us together in our hearts because I am not able to understand when other girls talk to me, but when Elena talks to me I can understand. Again today just like two years ago, Georgiana said something to me and I had no idea what she said, but I looked at Elena and she was able to say it to me again and I could understand. I don’t know how it works, but I love it. It was nice to spend time with her and I am so glad, even though I would have liked to see her more, God heard my prayer and I was able to see her. I made sure she knew that I love her and that I missed her and that I still think of her as my sister. I love her so much and although I don’t know when I will see her again, but I know that God will be faithful for me to see her again.



The day that we left Alexandria, just as we were getting ready to leave Elena showed up with her precious little baby girl. I got to hold her and spend some time with her before I needed to leave to say goodbye to the other girls.

bucharest has a story, romania has a story.

Bucharest has a story, Romania has a story.

So the other day as we were driving through Bucharest I was noticing the many people on the streets just walking or riding the tram. I was careful to see the different block buildings and the people watching out the windows of them. I saw older men and women walking around in attire that comes from a different era, an era where the streets are dirt and not bustling with traffic of all variations. I saw young men and women in the latest fashions, dressed for weddings or just for a day out on the town. I thought of what life would have been like 20 years ago. Twenty years and seven months ago was when the revolution happened. The people had just been released from communism. Walking the streets would have seemed so freeing, yet so scary. I am sure some people were still afraid. It would have been hard and I know that it was a very dark time for this country. Bucharest has a story. A story that you can see by just watching out the window of a van. Just looking down the street where the People’s Palace is located you can sense the hurt of the country caused by a man who had no right to be in power over a country.

Through the past weeks we have been driving around the country from Bucharest to the Black Sea to Sinaia to Zimnicea. Driving around shows what this country was put through under communism and you can see why certain things are the way that they are. It is sad. Driving in the countryside and living in the countryside when I go to the boys transition house makes me feel like I am stepping back in time. Back to a time where electricity is rare, the work that people do is around their home and in their own fields, not with many machines but with their own two hands. It takes me back to a place in time where the best form of transportation for them is a horse or donkey with a tiny trailer pulling behind it. It is a place of early mornings, and evenings spent on a bench outside conversing with neighbors and just watching the country life. It is so simple, but so intriguing. Internet is rare there and the way of life is not about making it to their next meeting or driving here and there and everywhere. It is about simple. It is about learning to do the best with what you have been provided with. Sharing and loving and caring. It is a community. A willing community.

There are so many people here. They have a story. It burdens my heart to tell their story. Experiencing this country in so many different ways this trip has helped me to understand more of the culture, the language, and the history.

If the actual country of Romania could talk, I wonder what it would say…

Her name is Estera

She is silly, adorable, fun, kind, loving, lovable, and one of the girls who has touched my heart the very most.
She is a precious princess.
She is smart and hysterical.

The past four days I have been able to spend time with Estera. She was in my small group at camp and it was very cool to see how she responded to our material. From the moment she walked through the door she was making jokes, but she knew when to be serious. She was always a joy to be around and even though we did not have any serious and deep conversations with just us, she touched my heart in a way that I cannot even describe in words. As I sit here trying to describe this girl to you it brings tears to my eyes. My heart breaks for her and for what she had to go back to today. I saw a girl who came in as more of a tomboy, whose favorite thing to do is play soccer, and whose favorite color is blue put on a princess crown, get her hair and makeup done, get a manicure and pedicure, and walk down our makeshift catwalk in a shirt dress.

She made me smile multiple times every day.
And beneath her tough exterior is a girl who loved being pampered and loved and cherished and told how much she is worth.

She is worth so much. I wish you could meet her.
I love her so much.

Today as she was leaving, she was crying. She gave me a hug and told me that she loved me.
I embraced her and my tears fell. I told her I loved her too and told her I would miss her. She kissed me on the cheek and I kissed hers back.

Then they drove out of the driveway. I dont know when I will see her again. I hope it is soon. I love her so much.

Estera and I after our princess scavenger hunt.

Thoughts on the end of our first camp.

So today was amazing.

I wish every day could be like today, not for me, but for the girls.
We had a spa day, we pampered the twelve girls and made them feel like princesses. We did hair, makeup, nails, facials (including cucumbers), and pedicures. I did a foot scrub and foot massage for the girls. Even though some were ticklish, they all loved it.

We had a tea party, complete with sailboat sandwich 4ths, fruit salad, vegetables, and scones.

After our tea party, the girls put on their new clothes and had a fashion runway show for the team. They were so beautiful, and so precious. Then it was time for them to leave. I wish this was the part that didn't have to happen.

They were already packed up and it was like as soon as the fashion show was over, they were gone. All of those beautiful young women were gone. And I was left wondering these questions for the rest of the day... Did I say enough? Did I do enough? Did I love enough? Did I hold that hug just a little longer? Did I try to understand a little bit more? Was I patient enough? Was I strong enough? At the end of the day, did those girls know they were loved and beautiful and worth so much?

My answer is no, I didn't, I couldn't, I was not enough. But God was. When I was exhausted, God gave me the strength to push a little longer, stay up a little later, understand a little better, hold them a little longer, love them much more than I ever could myself.

Tonight my heart is breaking for these precious ones. My heart just hurts, aches for them. I love them with every fiber of my being... That is all I can do.

Sunt Fericit Isus Mi-e Liberat

Getting to know these girls has been amazing and I am so glad that I am privileged enough to get to do this. Sometimes I stop and wonder... how or why did God choose me for this. But then there is that one moment when you realize why you are there. That one moment when you know EXACTLY why God picked you and not someone else. Each day I have those moments. Sometimes it is just one moment and sometimes it is more. Today there were a few moments.

First let me tell you about one of the girls. Her name is Roxana. I met her in Alexandria two years ago, and I called her Roxi. Now she doesn't like to be called Roxi. There is something about her that I just can't put my finger on. She is very quiet, VERY quiet. I feel like she would have a lot to say, if she were to trust you enough to open up. When you look in her eyes you can tell she has a history, she has lived a life that I can't even imagine. But she stays silent. She has one of the longest, hardest, deepest stares of anyone I have ever met. When she stares into your eyes it is like she is reading your soul. She will rarely smile about something with it being a real smile that goes all the way through her, but there are those special occasions when that does happen.

So today, at one point I was sitting on one of the couches kind of just by myself, waiting for the girls to get done journaling. I was just kind of looking around and I saw Roxana sitting on the stairs. There was plenty of room on the couches, but she was on the stairs.
So I smiled at her.
My smile was met with a blank stare.
Then I winked with each eye a few times.
My winks were met with a half smile.
I made some silly faces at her and continued to smile.
Then she cracked.
I got her to laugh at me, not for long... but long enough.

Later during small groups, our translator was talking to one of the other girls, answering a question she had. Roxana hasn't said more than two words ever in small groups. I was sitting across the table from her, and since she was not interested in the conversation and I couldn't understand, I just held my gaze in her general direction. Her eyes would meet mine every so often and she would smile.

At the end of the day, we sang worship songs before it was time for us to leave. It was really cool because there were people worshiping in both Romanian and English, it didn't matter if you could or couldnt sing; it didnt matter if you were on key or not; it didnt matter if it was half English and half Romanian. It was a mixture of the languages that made it a beautiful sound.

At these moments today, I felt so blessed to be here. I felt so blessed to be able to share in this experience. I can't believe I am here. I can't believe God picked me to do this ministry, but I am so thankful that he did. I wish I wasn't going home in August.

I have many more of these moments.
I just wish I knew more Romanian so that I could respond. I can generally understand what the girls are saying... sometimes... but figuring out how to respond is the hard part.

Tabara de Fetele

Oh Camp.

First of all, let me say...I love girly camp.
When I last wrote a blog, I was not really sure what to expect at camp, since it is not camp like how Americans think of camp. At this camp we have twelve girls and seven staff staying the house and nine staff that commute each day to the house. We sit on the couches to do our discussions and we use a small backyard bonfire pit on the ground as our campfire. We are split into four teams and each team helps out with doing the dishes, cleaning the kitchen, and doing chores around the house.
If you have never done dishes three times a day for 28 people, with a language barrier you should try it sometime. We have done so many cool things with these girls. We have talked to them about things that can be hard to talk about, but it has been good. Slowly they have been opening up, I just wish we had more time with them. Yesterday we had a pool party at the team house. Then after dinner we had a scavenger hunt in Bucharest. The scavenger hunt was looking for three princesses in the rain all at different landmarks. I was with Corny (one of the translators on H2H staff) in the woods by the historic houses and stuff. Then we had a campfire with smores. yum yum. Today we went to Sinaia. The girls went on a tour and we had lunch at a park. When we got back to the house we spent some time doing crafts before group discussion. During group discussion it was awesome, one of the girls shared about her life story. My heart was crying out for her. Then I got to share a little of what was on my heart. The topic I picked didn't have very much extra information in the discussion packets we got, which was good because that meant I didn't really need to follow something that was already set. So I shared some of my testimony and what was on my heart. During small group time we had a good conversation and I feel like we were able to talk about truth with them, and what is (or isn't) true about different religions. Camp has been so fun though, I am going to be so sad to see them go tomorrow. But I am also excited for the girls who will be coming on Tuesday. A new group of girls to share the love of Jesus with.

black sea, baby kisses, and some randoms

So this week it has been nice to kind of relax a little bit and see what life is like around here without a short term team around. We have mostly spent time this week preparing for the "GIRLY CAMPS" that will be starting on July 2nd. We are doing two of these camps for the older girls from the different orphanages that H2H works with. At each camp there will be 12 girls. We are going to be discussing things like self worth, self image, etc. I am really excited about it. So we have been painting and doing crafts to get ready for that, as well as for the rest of the camps that will be held at the girls transition house later this summer, after the girly camps. The other camps are for the younger kids, so we spent time making pinatas with balloons and paper mache. Then we painted them yesterday.

It has been a fun week. On Monday we went to the baby hospital in the afternoon. It was my first time back at the baby hospital since two years ago. I was not very excited to go, in fact I was a little nervous, and didn't really want to. I remembered the hospital being this awful place. I remember it being hot and disgusting, leaving with a terrible headache, and not ever wanting to go back. So I needed a new baby hospital experience. One of the best things about this week is that it has been really nice outside, so inside the baby hospital it wasn't too bad. It was a little warm, but not like I was melting. I fell in love with this precious little one named Maria. She has curly, crazy dark brown hair, a smile to die for, and a giggle that reminds me of a toy baby doll. She is just around 6 months old and she is sooooo cute. I was so glad that I got to meet her. There are so many other precious little ones there too.

Tuesday we went to the Girl's house to do some more cleaning and prepping for camps that are going to be there throughout the summer. I got to weed and hoe the garden. It was raining, not too hard, but it was a good things because it made the weeds easier to pull out. We got to spend that evening just kind of relaxing a little bit.

Wednesday we went to the Black Sea to see the kids from Peris. The kids are there all this week, it is a nice break for them, but it has been kind of rainy and gross all week so the majority of their trip has been spent indoors. But when we were there even though it was raining for some of the time, we were able to play outside and go walk to the beach, and hang out with them. I got to put my feet in the Black Sea and got some sea shells. Here are some pictures.

Monica and I walking on the beach

Monica and I on the beach

Me at the Black Sea!!

Krysten (the other intern) and I have been able to spend some time with the married couple on staff, Mark and Rebecca. They have been on staff since last september. They are super fun and it has been nice getting to know them over the past few weeks. Thursday night Krysten and I went to Mark and Rebecca's apartment in Bucharest to have dinner with them and just hang out. Mark made us a very yummy dinner. It was my first time in a block building and in the elevator I was super nervous. But this elevator is so small. When people told me that you can fit 4 people into it i thought they were just kidding. On the sign outside of it, it says 4 people is the MAX number you can put into one of those things. There were 4 of us in it, and we might have been able to fit two more people... if we were all squished together. You close the doors yourself and the whole thing clunks a lot, but you have to wait for the right clunk to open the door when you get to the bottom. Here is a picture of Krysten and I in the elevator.


After dinner, since it was kind of a nice night out we didn't want to stay inside so we went for a walk in search of Gogosi. Gogosi (pronounced-Go-go-sh)is like a donut with sugar on the outside. Although we did not find Gogosi, we did find a sweet park. In this park was a playground... and not just any playground. This was a playground for adults. So like any children at heart... the four of us played on many of the things at this park. We had lots of fun there!! After we'd had our fun on the playground we continued our walk around the park where we went around a lake. We ended up going back towards Mark and Rebecca's apartment -- still Gogosi-less -- but instead found this other delicious dessert type thing. I don't remember what it was called, but it was dough, flattened into one long strip and then wound around to make a cylinder shape. The four of us split it and it was actually pretty good. When we got back to their apartment we had some really good conversation while we were waiting for Jenny to come pick us up. It was a really fun night and hopefully we will be able to do it one more time before I leave to go home.. at the end of the summer of course.

Krysten and I playing on the spinning see-saw
Krysten and I in front of the waterfall at the park

Yesterday was a staff meeting in the morning, basically laying out our whole summer and who will be where and how we will be getting there from now until august 6th. Our summer is going to be crazy busy, but crazy fun. Starting tomorrow I will be staying at either the staff apartment near the girls transition house, or at the girls transition house for about the next two weeks. We will be there doing our two girly camps while the boys are up in the mountains with the older boys from three orphanages. After that I will be heading down to the boys transition house for another two weeks doing camps down there. After that it is back to the girls transition house for more camps with the younger kids. When that is done we will finally be able to relax a little bit and take a breath before I come home on August 14th. It is going to go so fast.

In the afternoon yesterday, again we went to the baby hospital. This time I was really looking forward to it, I went in the same room that I was in on Monday, but yesterday more of the kids from that room went to play upstairs for a while (including Maria). So there were only two babies left and Rebecca and I were both in that room, so we each got a baby. For almost 2 hours I held one little girl without a name, that we call Missy. She is 5 1/2 months old and I don't think she sat still the whole time that I was holding her. But when the other kids came back I wanted to hold and play with some of the other kids too, and since Missy had been spoiled for most of the time, by being held every time I laid her down she would cry. Eventually it was time for them to eat so she was fine after that. After I changed Maria, I had to say goodbye to her, knowing that she could be gone by the next time I get to the baby hospital since it will probably be at least a month before I go there again. I was tickling her to hear her precious giggle and giving her kisses and she started giving kisses back. Big, Sloppy, Wet, open-mouthed baby kisses. But I didn't care. I would have stayed there all day doing that.

Today has been nice, we cleaned and refreshed the entire team house today. This place is glistening from being so clean. It also smells very strongly of Pine Sol since we washed ALL of the floors (minus the rugs) with the stuff. We also cleaned the cars inside and out. At least the house and the cars are all ready for summer!!! It has also been a great evening for Krysten and myself. We got the house to ourselves while the staff is gone to a wedding. We went to the store to pick up some things, we made dinner together, had a great time of sharing, and now we are getting ready to watch a movie. I am excited to hang out with her and get to know her more this summer, as well as get to know the rest of the staff.

Some things to pray for:
-- That the teams that will be arriving soon (tomorrow and later this week) will arrive safely with their luggage and the supplies they are bringing over
-- For all of the H2H vehicles that will be traveling hundreds and hundreds of miles this summer, that they will all be safe with their oh so precious cargo of children and team and staff.
-- That our teams will do well together.
-- That the girly camps will be able to minister well to the girls coming and that we will be able to help them see that they are all precious and worth so much more than they are told.

Monica

So there is a girl at the orphanage. Her name is Monica. She is 17 years old. She is precious. Some people wouldn't say so, but I know for a fact that she is a precious child of God and that she is beautiful in his sight. For this reason, among others I love her to pieces.

We met a few days ago. She came up to me and called me Blonda and asked me what was up. I told her nothing, and since I can only speak a little Romanian, we sat there in silence. She held my hand.

We have hung out a few times since then, using a translator for the things that I cannot understand. But today, we hung out and took lots of silly pictures together, played jump rope, talked to the teachers, and just walked around a bit. She continued to hold my hand. As I was leaving today, this was our conversation:

Monica: "Ma iubeste?" (Do you love me?)
Me: "DA! Te iubesc!" (YES! I love you!)
Monica: "sa nu minti" (Don't lie)
Me: "Serios, Te iubesc." (Serious, I love you)
Monica: "Sigur?" (You sure?)
Me: "DA!!!" (YES!!)

I could not say that and mean it in my own strength, but only with God's love can I love this precious girl. Even if hers is the only life I touch this trip, it is worth it. It is worth every second I spend with her. It is worth every giggle and every tear that may or may not fall. She is precious. Love is so easy for me. I feel like because I have been loved so much in my life by so many people who are important to me, that I have truly been shown how to just pour out that love. And today Monica needed that love. And today, I had it to give to her.

1 John 4:18-19 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us

Here is a picture of Monica and I from today.

graduation, two sweet days, and a castle visit.

So Sunday was graduation. We went to church in the morning, then came back to the team house to finish preparing for graduation. It was fun to see some of the previous transition grads. Some of the girls who I met before and have talked to on Skype a few times, as well as some of the boys who were in the boys house when I was there. Graduation was awesome. It was so cool to see the girls (especially Silvia and Catalina) graduate. I was so proud of Silvia. I cried when she got her diploma. After the actual ceremony it was craziness... there were many, many young adults here on a super hot day with a pool in the backyard. So we went swimming. It was fun, but the pool ended up soooooo dirty by the end of the day. It is still trying to get back to normal after almost 5 days. But that doesnt matter. It was fun and it was cool to see the family and community that has formed between these graduates. I was hanging out with 5 girls at one point and at the time I didn't know, but they were all girls from Alexandria, only two of them I knew were from there. They had all come from there and through the program. The other three had been at Alexandria before me. I enjoyed getting to know them a little bit. So here are some pictures from that day.




My last three days have been really, really cool. On Tuesday the team was going to visit the boys transition house, which was where I stayed the last time I was here, for the most part. It is also very close to Alexandria. There was also an errand that needed to be run for some of the girls who graduated from the transition program. They needed to head down to the southern part of Romania to pick up their bulletins. Their bulletins are their id, how they get a job, and basically just saying that they exist. So while the team went to the boys house, I got to go with Jenny, Silvia and Catalina to a place called Zimnicea to get the girls bulletins. This was very exciting and Catalina kept saying, I exist now. They liked their pictures and were very happy.


On our way back from Zimnicea, we were going to the boys house but we had to go through Alexandria. We needed to stop at the school/apartments to hand out the invitations to seven of the girls for the girly camp we are doing in a few weeks. So seven of the girls were invited from Alexandria. We pulled into the parking lot and as I was getting out of the van one of the girls was across the street and she recognized me immediately. After Elena, I think she was the girl I connected with the most there. Her name is Lavinia. She ran across the street shouting "AMANDAAAA, you came back!!!" She ran up to me and hugged me and held my hand just like she used to. After her, a bunch of the other girls came out and remembered me as well. I was so excited for that. I cant wait to go be with them this summer. I wish I had taken pictures there.

Then yesterday (Wednesday) was a super packed awesome day again. We were able to go to an orphanage with the really little kids. Not babies, but the kids who are like ages 3-7 with some of their older siblings there as well. There were not too many kids there, but they were so fun and SOOOOO cute!!! We had bubbles and balls and balloons and chalk and coloring books... and the best thing of all-- a parachute!! A very colorful parachute. These kids were not only cute, but they were polite also. They answer in proper sentence form when asked a question, and they call women and men by the proper title (Doamne/Domnul which basically just means Ms/Mrs/Mr). I have never been called Doamne so many times in my life. I got to hang out with two precious little girls. One was 3 years old and one was 5 years old. They stole my heart for sure. I hope I will get to go back to that orphanage before I leave.



That afternoon we got to spend some time at Peris where I played probably at least 20 games of "Go Fish" where I only won one game. It was a fun but hot day.

Today was a little more relaxed. First we went to a glass factory where they make their own hand blown glass. That was really cool to watch, I didn't buy anything though. After that we stopped for lunch at McDonalds where I got my favorite thing. The Royal Deluxe Burger. IT WAS SO YUMMY!!! Then we drove up to Sinaia today to see the summer castle of the first Romanian king. It was really cool, we took a tour and everything. It was a little cloudy and rainy, but the temperature was nice... not too hot, not too cold. After the castle we went to the orthodox monastery in Sinaia and just looked around for a few mins. On the way back I fell asleep for almost the whole way.

Now it is definitely bedtime. We are going back to Peris tomorrow to hang out with the kids there again. As well as doing some shopping in the morning tomorrow. I will try and keep this updated as often as I can.

I also started a photobucket account to post my pictures on since my facebook is being ridiculous. The link for that is:
here

It is taking a while for all of my pictures tonight, but I will post more as I have time to. Enjoy them and I will post again soon.

superheroes, princesses, and preparations

So the last few days have been a lot of fun as well as packed. It has been disgustingly hot, but a good last few days. The day after my last post was the last day of school for the kids in the orphanage. They got to have a celebration program which included dancing, skits, and awards for the top kids in each class.


One of my favorite things of that day was being able to see Silvia. I met Silvia in Alexandria when I was here. She is now about to graduate from the transition program tomorrow and she has grown up so much in the last two years. She is still as beautiful as ever and I was so happy to see her. She remembered who I was, and she remembered laughing with me in the forest in Alexandria. That made my heart smile a lot. This is her and I from the other day.


The program lasted until about 1:00, then we were invited in to each lunch with the kids in the orphanage. This is apparently a special honor. It was amazing to see how the kids were making sure that we had room to sit, that we had enough food, that we got drinks and silverware, etc. They can be so caring and giving. Many times with orphans we feel like we are the only ones that can give or care in the situation but, some of the time we need to be taken care of too. When an orphan is taking care of you it is a very humbling experience indeed.

After lunch that day we had a "carnival" for the kids.The ones who had participated in the Heart to Heart program throughout the school year were able to dress up as princesses and superheroes. We gave them a tunnel entrance to superhero music while we were blowing bubbles at them. Then there were just a bunch of games to go with the lessons they have learned throughout their year. Here are some pictures from that:



The next day we went to the Girls Transition House to do some cleaning inside and outside getting the house ready for the summer ministries that will be happening there soon. Today while the team went on the revolution tour with Jim, Kyrsten and I stayed at the team house and helped prepare it and clean it for the party tomorrow. Tomorrow is the graduation and party of the kids in the transition programs who have made it through this year. We will be going to church at 1 p.m. then coming back here and getting ready to party. Then we will have the celebration with this year's graduates as well as past graduates of the program who are invited back. I am really excited about this and will hopefully see some of the people I know.

Hopefully I will blog again soon.

Prayer Requests: The team that is here-- that they will continue to bond and daily remember why they are here. That all will stay healthy on this trip.
Myself: That I will be open to doing whatever God has planned for me here. That I can stay healthy. That I will be able to bond with the team here now, the other intern, the staff, and the future teams i will be on eventually this summer. Also just in general for what I will be doing when I get back from Romania.

Thanks guys. I love you all. Thank you for your support of my trip and for everything!!!

delays, luggage, and new friends.

Buna Ziua friends!
I have made it to Bucharest in one piece. The trip here seemed very, very long but it was definitely worth it because I am back here!! My flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was originally supposed to leave at 9:50 p.m. well... of course there was some problem with the computer on the plane and it was a problem that took 2 hours to fix and we ended up leaving shortly after midnight. So we originally boarded the plane an hour before we were supposed to take off, then ended up being on the plane for 2 more hours before we could actually take off, making my time sitting on the plane at the gate 3 hours. This made my original 7 1/2 hours on a plane, 10 hours on a plane... Not so much fun. When my plane landed in Amsterdam (2 hours late) I had only 35 minutes from when my flight landed to when my other plane to Bucharest was leaving. In Amsterdam it takes usually about 10 minutes to taxi from the runway to the gate, and our flight was not an exception. So this gave me only 25 more minutes. I was pretty far back in the plane so it took at least 10 minutes for me to get off the plane, now I only had 15 minutes before my other plane was LEAVING... not boarding. When I looked to see where I had to go, my gate was totally on another side of the airport. So I had to run (on the moving sidewalks) to get to where I needed to be. When I got to the gate I still needed to check in and go through security again (in Amsterdam you go through security right before you board the plane at your gate). The lady at the counter told me that my luggage was not going to make my flight if and if I wanted to stay with my luggage I would have had to wait to get on another flight was was leaving 7 hours later. The last thing I wanted to do was stay in a foreign airport, by myself, for seven hours... so I told her I didn't care about my luggage and I wanted to get on the plane. So finally I made it onto that plane, with just minutes to spare. When I got to Bucharest I had to go file a missing luggage report which was interesting and made me use the little bit of Romanian that I know in order to tell the lady where to send my bag, what color it was, etc.

After that little adventure I was able to meet up with my team. There are six from a church in Clarksville, California, two from Minnesota, and then another intern Krysten (I am sure you will hear lots about her in my blog) and myself. Krysten actually didn't get in until 1:50 a.m. this morning (Wednesday) and I actually went with Jen to go get her from the airport. Krysten and I are going to be on this Tenderfoot team until they leave next Sunday. Today (Wednesday) my luggage came this morning during orientation!!!! I was so excited!! Then after lunch our team split up into two mini teams. One part of the team went to the Baby Hospital, the other went to Peris (one of the orphanages that Heart to Heart works with). I was in the group that went to Peris. I have heard and seen so much about this orphanage just from other friends who have been here, or staff, or whatever. I finally got to meet the kids that I feel like I already knew from the pictures and the stories. It was nice to finally meet them. I was so excited to use some of my Romanian again. It was interesting how fast things came back to me when I was around the kids. I still don't know very much, but the little I do know was very helpful.

It was interesting to experience a co-ed orphanage. It was a very unique experience as opposed to the all girls school that I was at in Alexandria. It is really cool though. It is so different, but not in a bad way. I am excited to go there tomorrow and at other times during the next few weeks and throughout my trip. We have a big day at Peris tomorrow. It is the kids last day of school so there is a ceremony that promotes the kids on to the next grade, a program of things prepared by some of the students (things like dance routines and stuff). Then after lunch there is a "carnival" complete with superheroes and games. But I will maybe post a blog about that tomorrow night.

Right now I am super tired, so I think that is enough for now. I will leave a list of prayer requests when I post my next blog. Until then la revedere si noapte buna (goodbye and goodnight).

five days.

this feeling is so surreal. i cannot believe i am going back... and in five days. it still seems so far away. maybe that is because i have been so busy and need to slow down, or maybe it is because it feels like i have been counting down for so long that it never seemed like it would get here. today i bought some stuff that i needed to get for our super team crafts. i bought 8 rolls of plastic lanyard string!!!!!!!! it is quite possibly my favorite craft item EVERRRRRR. i dont know if the kids will be excited about it or if my team will be excited about it, but i sure am excited about it. haha that sounds silly... i am excited about plastic lanyard string to make friendship bracelets. i will be buying beads within the next couple of days. i need to start my laundry and begin packing. this is going to be a great summer... i can just feel it!!!!!!! five days!!!!

two weeks!!

I am leaving two weeks from today!! I got my flight information the other day and I am so excited!!!!

My day today has been spent planning and planning things for our ministry in Romania.

Here is a quick look at what things are going to look like, a rough outline of my schedule and some exciting stuff about them.

June 7th- 9:50 p.m. Depart from Detroit Metro Airport leaving for Bucharest, Romania. Layover in Amsterdam.

June 8th- Arrive in Romania, Begin ministry with the Tenderfoot Team

June 29th- Start ministry with the Girls Camp Team, men depart for Backpacking trip in the mountains with the boys.

June 30th-July 10th- Two, four-day camps with older orphan girls. Held at the Girls Transition House in Snagov. We will be discussing with them things like self esteem and self worth, going through some lies that we as women believe and how to respond to the lies with the truth. I will probably be giving my testimony to these groups of girls. =]

July 11th-30th- Combining Forces to create the SUPER TEAM. We will be going to Teleorman County to do ministry there. Staying at the Boys Transition House. We will be spending a week with each the girls orphanage from Alexandria (where I went in summer 2008) and the boys orphanage in Rosiori. Each week we will be spending 4 days doing VBS type ministry, and the last three days doing a carnival at the Boys Transition House (also where I stayed last time).

July 30th-August 6th- Join another camp team that will be doing camps for the other kids at the Girls Transition House.

August 14- Depart Bucharest for home. Layover in Amsterdam, arrive at Detroit Metro Airport at around 3 p.m.

It will be a very packed summer. Planning is coming nicely, I am in charge of games for when the Super Team goes to Alexandria and Rosiori. I am super excited about that. I hope you will all follow along as I take this journey. I don't know how often I will be able to update, but I will as much as I can.

Two Weeks Away.

Oh and by the way... my family is having a going away party for me on Saturday June 5th, starting at 3:00 p.m. all are welcome. It is at their house in Peck. Let me know if you need directions or would like to come.

eighteen days.

so im freaking out. money has been a huge issue for me this time and i am really scared about it. i need more in my account, but i dont really need THAT much more... if everything came through like it should. i hate this waiting part. in all honesty i am scared about it. i am trying to be calm, but its not always working for me. i just wish i didn't need to worry about this so much.

i have 18 days left.
i am excited.


i just wish i could have this paid off.

less than a month

so wow i got lots of details about a week ago. i am excited about the team i am going to be on. the first ever SUPER TEAM. the interns (all 5 of us) are going to be so busy and it is going to be amazing. im so excited!!!! we are starting to plan for the summer right now. and it is going to be some great stuff. i am looking forward to meeting my team(s) and doing all of this ministry in romania. we are going to be doing so much stuff, it is going to be ridiculous but ridiculously amazing. i cant wait. i leave in less than a month. =] GLEEEEE

i still am going to need just over $500 so if you know any ways to help out that would be awesome... let me know... or if you would still like to give that works too. contact me and i will share with you how you can do that.

prayers are much needed and greatly appreciated.

much love. i will tell you more soon... im just so excited right now that i cant explain it. =]

blessed.

so this has been a really cool week. the other day, on wednesday i got a letter in the mail from a friend. it was a really encouraging letter about my trip to Romania. she said so many encouraging things that it made my heart miss her so much. you see, this friend moved somewhere far away to go teach. she is doing great things but i haven't seen her in almost a year and it is sad... but alone with this letter was a check for my trip to Romania. when i saw it almost cried. it was for $500. yes i typed that right. $500. WOW. that is so amazing. i am still speechless about it.

then on thursday and friday we had three of our kids from youth group in Newaygo here at GBC. they were here for Expedition which is a fun time where high schoolers come stay at the college for two nights and they hang out and do all kinds of fun stuff. So one night for dinner we took our kids out and just got a chance to hang out with them outside of church and outside of Grace. it was so fun. i am so glad that they came.

i also heard from Jodi about why my trip was delayed. it makes sense. i am actually glad because now i have a little more time to spend with my family. i also have the chance to go interview for a job outside of michigan, which i wouldn't have had time to do if i had left on my original date. things are really falling into place. i am so excited and i am so blessed.

i have 13 days until i graduate from college. and i have 43 days until i leave for romania. i am so excited.

deeeeeeeelayed

sooo originally i thought that i would be leaving for Romania on May 25. I just heard yesterday that I won't be leaving until June 7 and for the first two weeks I will be on a Tenderfoot team (two week teams) with a church group from Pennsylvania. After that team is gone then I will begin helping with preparations for the summer ministry. There really aren't many details yet, but the lady in charge (Jodi) told me that she is working on getting me more details soon. So, now instead of 38 days until i leave I have 51. This will be good because I will have more time to spend with my family. I also have an opportunity to go visit the location of my dream job in Vermont so this gives me a little bit longer to go take advantage of that opportunity and see if that is what I am going to do when I get back from Romania. Please continue to pray for funds for my trip. I still need a lot. Hope you are all doing well.

Also, if you remember from my previous trip I talked a TON about a girl named Elena. She was like my little sister. She is 15 years old and she had a baby like a week or so ago. so if you could be praying for her and her baby through this time that would be awesome as well. Please pray that I will be able to see her again... this is her and i during my time in Alexandria in 2008

bubbling excitement!!!

so, when the water starts to boil for mac and cheese it starts out just sitting in the pan. [side note- i have much experience in the mac and cheese department. being a poor college student will do that to you] but anyways... as the pan and the water heat up little bubbles start to form. slowly they begin to float to the top. as the water gets hotter, the bubbles start flowing more rapidly and it is actually quite and exciting process. i am sure some of you are asking what in the world that has to do with my trip to Romania... let me enlighten you.

i feel like for a while i have been at this place where i am excited about going, but not like ecstatic. well maybe that isnt the right way to put it. i have been really excited, but i have been excited and almost sidetracked by other things. not bad things, just different things. but there are 75 days until i leave. so close. yet so far away. i love it and im starting to get those little bubbles of excitement. like when the water is starting to heat up. and im so excited. things continue to happen. my passport got paid for!! by the time the money that i am expecting to come into my account finally does come in, i will only need about $1500 more. that is VERY exciting, but it is taking a lot of patience and i don't like to wait sometimes. Please continue to keep me in your prayers as i finish up this semester, focusing on this ministry and what i need to do in Romania.

i can't wait to get there. 75 days is going to go by soooo quickly. and i only have 59 days until graduation. that is so scary!! but exciting at the same time!!! i can't wait for this adventure. i almost wish i could start packing right now!!!

my bubbles of excitement are bubbling!!!

eighty six days

oh glee!!!
86 days until i am scheduled to leave.
i am so very, very excited!!
i just checked my online account and i have just over $1000. I have some more to send in tomorrow and will have more later this week that should put me at like $1500... i still need lots more but this progress is good...
It just reminds me of God's faithfulness.

earlier this week put out on my twitter, which updated my facebook status that i need a new passport, but that i dont really have the money for one. and so basically i said if anyone would like to help with getting me a passport i would be open to the help. the next day in my mailbox was an anonymous letter with $40 in it. the letter said that they weren't sure how much a new passport was but they wanted to help. i am so thankful for that!! then someone else gave me $5 to help with my passport. i also got paid today, much more than i thought i would...so that was good and i can use about $30 of that money to go towards my passport. so now i only need $25 more for my new passport. i know that God will provide that and much more.

i am so excited.

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight."

new blog!!

hey guys!!

so i am turning this blog into strictly my Romania blog. so here is where i will talk about all things Romania... i will still do other blogging on a different personal blog which you can find here