A New Fall

     The 2014 school year kicked off again the middle of September.  A new year always means new challenges and this year was no different.  In Aug. and Sept. we had two couples from the H2H staff return stateside, so we are down to just 10 full time staff members here in Romania.  That has meant that we've had to make a lot of decision to how to have the most effective program that we can with the staff that we have.  I think that we are off to a great start!  A smaller staff means a few less logistics and a need for me to be more hands on at the orphanage, which is a great thing in some ways.  I'm helping to lead a Jr. High group at one orphanage, a youth group at another, assisting in Character/Bible classes, teaching clarinet lessons, and whatever else I need to do.
     Another change this year is that we have a new director at one of the orphanages.  This is a great change and she is proving to be a great advocate for the kids and has vastly improved the environment at this orphanage.  One of the biggest changes is that she has been able to get some of the teens enrolled in a high school program.  This particular orphanage is characterized by the government as a special needs orphanage and therefore the kids only go through 10th grade.  They then, of course, have great difficulty in getting jobs because they only have a 10th grade education.  We have many kids from this orphanage that have been mislabled and do not have special needs.  This new director was able to convince a high school to take 9 of them that finished 10th grade last spring so that they could go on and get a 12th grade diploma.  We are EXTREMELY excited about this for this group and for the future potential that it gives to them.

     This high school is about 45 minutes away from the orphanage and so the kids are boarded there during the week.  We, the H2H staff, have made a commitment to check in on them and we have a weekly visit to see how they are doing, check their living conditions, verify homework and class attendance etc.  A month in we are down from 9 to 6 that have stuck with it.  We are proud of them and ask for your prayers for them in the coming months!

     One of the very fun parts of our ministry is celebrating life moments with our kids.  I've talked about this many times before but it is one of my favorites parts of what we do and I think that it is extremely important!  This past month I had 2 experiences that stuck out to me.  The first was celebrating birthdays.  Once a month we gather the kids together from each orphanage that have a birthday during that month.  When I was gathering the kids together for the small party for October, I called one little boy, Nicu, who turned 11 this month.  When I called him to come he asked why I was calling him.  I told him that we were celebrating his birthday.  His face lit up, his eyes became huge, and he said, "It's MY birthday?  When?  How old am I?"  My heart shattered in a million pieces and I was reminded once again the importance of loving these kids, helping to define moments in their lives, and how small things like a cupcake and a small gift can make such a huge impact!  

Another favorite moment in the past month was that I got to play tooth fairy.  One of my favorite little guys, Doro, had a really loose tooth and I helped give him confidence to pull it out.  After it was out I told him about the tooth fairy.  Knowing that I couldn't sneak into the orphanage to put anything under his pillow, I told him that it was something that happened in America and since I'm an American he should give me his tooth, I'd put it under my pillow, and we'd see what happened.  My next visit to that orphanage I took him a new toothbrush with cars on it and 5 lei (about $2).  When I gave it to him I said "look at what the tooth fairy left."  He gave me a huge hug and said very seriously, "I know that the tooth brush is from you."  Another boy walked in the room and Doro told him,  "look what I got!  The tooth brush is from Jen, but the money if from the Tooth Fairy!"  Making him happy made my whole week!