Ruthie Turns 1!!!

Where did the past year go! Ruthie turned 1 on the 19th.
She's turned into quiet the young princess. Always in some form of pink-thanks to her Mom and Jenny!
Family photo! Robi and Alina, and Ruthie
Ruthie did not like the idea of cake. At first she cried and refused to try it. I think it was more the big crowd and cameras that were trying to document the moment. But after everyone was off eating their own cake, Robi got Ruthie in the spirit. "How old is Ruthie?" One finger in the air, which is Ruthie's trademark, whether she is showing her age or not.
She held on for a long time but the excitement finally caught up to her. Mom and Dad had to open her presents, while Ruthie had a nap!

FALL TRAINING

After returning to Romania from a vacation in the US, in which we attended the wedding of JohnThomas Sorrels and Marinela Moldoveanu it was time to get back into the swing of ministry!

The fall for us at H2H means starting a new school year. We like to start out by getting refocused and prepared for the school year, so we like to do staff training. This year we set the theme to be The Amazing Race with H2H. We split the staff into 3 teams and they had different tasks to do together. It was a fun way to bond together, get to know our 2 new couples, and have some fun together. Sooooo...... meet our 3 teams!
The Best Team (they picked the name themselves): Mark, Ghita, Ramona, Haley, and Kirsteen (Jenny, in the middle, acted as the host and was welcomming them onto the mat after a competition).
Dinamo (named after a Romanian Soccer Team): Steven, Sanda, Corni, and Missy
The Champions: Josh, Mariana, Lenuta, and Rebecca
This was an activity where different members of the team had different obstacles and they had to complete a word find together.
Josh (who was deaf) helping Rebecca (who was blind) to the finish line.
This was a drinking challenge. Each team picked 1 member who had to drink cups of juice until they found the cup with the mark on the bottom. I think that Haley drank about 50 cups full!
In this challenge each team member had to slurp jello through a straw, until their cup was empty.
more jello slurping!
In this challenge, the teams had to recreate a design of different shapes to duplicate the picture.
All in all, it was a lot of fun! And a great kick off to the 2011-2012 school year. I'm really excited about my growing staff and excited about another year set before us!

The Wedding!

Fanel and Andreea were married on August 6th. Fanel is a graduate from our Boys Transition House. He has been living independently working and living in Bucuresti since then. I'm very proud of him and think that Andreea is a wonderful match for him!In Romania there are usually two ceremonies. The first is a civil ceremony that takes place at the mayor's house. Usually the bride and groom each have a member from their family stand up with them as witnesses. I was honored when Fanel asked me to stand up with him.
At the civil ceremony.
The traditional flower exit after the ceremony.

Jenny, Kirsteen and I with the happy couple!

The Wedding Day! Staff before the wedding.

Making sure he looks perfect!

Ruthie, in her wedding finery!

A Romanian ceremony is usually long. This one was 2 hours. So the bride and groom sit down!

The Heart to Heart Staff with the couple at the reception.

So Much Summer Fun

The end of June and the month of July were super summer fun. We had a tenderfoot team, Day Camps with kids from 6 orphanages, 4 girls camps, 4 boys camps, a music camp, and a boys backpacking trip. It is impossible to show you everything from the summer, but I wanted to show you some of my favorite moments!The July TF brought a parachutte. It was fun, and.....

It doubled as a superman camp. Once one of the kids figured this out, I had to give them a time limit so they all got turns to be a super hero!

I got alot of hug time!

The boys camp did some kayaking on a local river.

Peris got a new playground! The kids were thrilled and so were we because it took the place of the large trash heap. A much prettier use of space!

You never know what kids are going to copy you doing. My "assistant" helping me teach a lesson!

No, I didn't make them cry. We are doing a taste test. Our theme was God's Amazing Creation--You! We talked about the 5 senses. I taught about the sense of taste. I had different things for them to taste and identify. Their faces were priceless!


The 5 sense self-portrait.
Sabrina was our youngest team member this summer at 11. As you can see she did great and made some great friends!

The final summer team. We had a great summer full of teams. We needed each of you to make it work! Thanks!

Pool Time

This summer we had our first baby swim class! Three of the four babies did great and love the water. Emi--well maybe by next year!Jenny and I with David and Ruthie.

Swimming wears them out!

Krista and I with Rebeca and David catching some rays.



The older kids loved the pool as well and was the most sought after activity of the summer!

Boys Graduation

This summer we graduated 5 boys from the Boys Transition House. We had a ceremony at the Team house to hand out diplomas. Cezar, Aurel, Adrian, and Catalin with Ghita making a presentation.

Catalin receiving his diploma from Costel.

Costel, the master of Master of Ceremonies, with me as his translator.

Four of these boys I've known since my 2nd summer in Romania-- 13 years ago. They were 7 and 8 then, now they are young men starting out on their own. Another proud mom moment!

Buhler Meets Romania

Towards the end of June a group from my home church came to lend a hand. Anytime I have people from home come over and experience Romania, it is a special blessing for me.

John, Parker, Layne, Tara, Carley, and Sarah, Thanks so much for stepping out in faith and taking this journey. I loved having you here and see God work in and through you!

The team brought with them a few goodies from home including.......2 of my Mom's homemade cherry pies. Yes, they were made in America, packed in suitcases and arrived all in 1 piece. How? My Mom is amazing and my parents have learned a few tricks over the years!

Part of the group worked at the orphanages and the baby hospital. John made a good human jungle gym!
Sarah getting in cuddle time! See no running involved =)
The girls toting around some of their favorites!
Parker and Layne went off on the boys backpacking trip with some of the older orphan boys up into the Carpathian Mountains.
We picked the boys up from their adventure and visited the Peles Castle. Thanks again for being a great team!