Weekend Away

 A few of the staff, Jenny, Kirsteen, Mariana, and I were able to sneak away for a weekend.  We went to Prague to visit one of our co-workers, Lenuta, who is there finishing her Master's Degree in Special Education.  We happened to be there over Lenuta's birthday so we were able to celebrate with her and visit the sights of one of Europe's most beautiful cities!

March Musings

 

March is always a fun, full month.  It starts with Martisori, which is a Romanian holiday that signifies the beginning of Spring.  You celebrate by giving red and white striped ribbons on trinkets, and flowers.  March is also my birthday.  H2H tradition is that you have to wear the glasses and headband.  This year Jenny made an ice cream cake-yum!  March 8, is mother's day, so the celebration goes on and on!  The first of the March also means the kick off of spring teams with  a team from Mission Possible. 

 

The past few months we had 2 interns also join us.  Megan and Samantha.  Both of them have been with H2H on short-term teams and decided that they needed to come spend a longer period of time, so they joined us for 3 months.  They did a great job of joining our day to day ministry and partnering with our full-time staff.  

 

For the first time we had a team of students and two sponsors from Black Forrest Academy from Germany join us.  Black Forrest is an international school that has children of missionaries and business people.  It is unusual to have a team that is so culturally diverse and understands what it is like living in a different country.  We enjoyed giving them opportunity to jump into a different type of ministry and love on our kids--which of course means being loved back! 

Birthday Buddies

Fernando and I share a birthday!  You may remember him from similar posts from years past.  It has become tradition to celebrate by taking a picture together and me giving him a chocolate bar.  It is a fun way to march how much he changes and grows year to year! 

Love is in the H*air

Since my trip to the US in Dec., when I was asked to speak at Buhler MB about what H2H does in Romania connected to the advent theme of Love, Love has been a continual theme popping up.  It has appeared in sermons, personal devotionals, staff Bible study, and of course, with Valentine's Day being in February, it has appeared in many talks and lessons with the kids.  Love--True Love!  I've been on the mission field for quite awhile, and I thought that I had the idea of loving down--but apparently God thought that I needed a intense reminder.  Everything that I do is meaningless if not done with love.  In the reflection of that mirror, I've come to the conclusion that I have a ways to go on loving selflessly.  And as much as I wish that selfless love just came pouring out of me, I have to remind myself that love is actually a choice.
I've had countless opportunities to make the choice to love or not to love this month, but two that were pretty significant had to do with hair.  Yes, hair!  Do you realize how much time we spend with our hair?  Some more then others, but we wash it, dry it, style it, cut it, color it, put it up.  It is a daily factor in our lives.
At our last transition graduate Bible study, Robi and Alina arrived with Ruthie, our cutie pie 2 year-old grandchild.  She was bundled up, as is typical in the Romanian culture, and as I undressed her from all the layers, I untied her hat, and was shocked to see she had no hair.  They shaved all of her hair off!   I was speechless and felt like bursting into tears.  There is a Romanian wives tale that says that if you shave off a child's hair it will grow in thicker.  Not everyone does it, and since they had done it once when she was very little, I wasn't expecting it again.  Especially when her hair had gotten long enough to be really cute.  But here she sat, looking like a child with cancer or an orphan that had to have her head shaved because of lice.  I hated it!  I would like to say that I reacted with love, but honestly I had to go to my room and take a minute--or 10- to compose myself.  Ruthie and her parents look to me for my reaction and approval on their choices.  To support them as they try to do the best for Ruthie and make their family strong.  I mean it is just hair right--why did it matter so much?  The shock has worn off, and the hair is slowly growing back in, and she is still one of the cutest kids in the world!

 

I also got to take a leap of faith  with my own hair this month.  This year, in our Transition Program, we have 3 young people that are doing an apprenticeship at a hair salon.  This is a really amazing opportunity for them to learn a trade that they really like to do.  Berki,  is one of the 3 in this position. This picture below is of he and I on Valentine's Day.   Berki has done a great job with learning the basics at the salon, but he needs to develop his hair cutting skills.  He has cut men's hair but has resisted cutting women's hair.  So, finally, we convinced Berki that he was ready to cut my hair.  He said that he barely slept the night before, because he was so nervous and excited.  I went to the salon and spent 3 1/2 hours getting the full experience--wash, cut, and style.  But he did a good job and it turned out well!  I saw his excitement and confidence grow.  He also was so excited and proud when so many of you commented and liked the picture that I'd put on facebook. 

  

I guess, the reminder really was, even through little things like hair, you can show people you love.  

Holiday Team

 It is Holiday Team time again!  I arrived back in Romania with this team, so I got to jump back in with both feet!  Our Boys Transition Director took a much deserved, needed, break so the 6 boys came to spend some time at the Team House as well.  So 13 team members, 2 interns, 6 boys, and 3 staff made a fun, filled house. The team thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the boys, and vice versa.   The girls from our program and the boys from the Alternative Transition Program, plus more staff joined us daily--so it was a great time.

The Holiday Team gets to hand out lots of presents! It is always fun seeing the kids open the presents and seeing how God works out that they get something that they really need or want.

 You might recognize some of these gifts, because they all come from donations from you!  Thanks again to all of you that packed presents or donated items or funds so that we can make each of our kids' Christmas special!

 The kids are on their vacation from school during this time as well, so we get to spend a lot of free time together.  The game of choice, for some of the kids, was mancala.  I played many, many games! Cosmin, the boy in this picture, was determined to beat me, and succeeded a few times!

It was fun to see our transition young men and women interact with the kids.  They did a great job helping out, carrying boxes of gifts, and giving attention to the kids.  Teaching to give back is one of the most fun things that we get to do!

 We also visited and handed out gifts, as a special project, a special needs orphanage that is close by.  The young man in the center, I've known for many years, and it is fun, if not a bit terrifying, as he sees us arrive, comes running at full steam and picks me up to give me a hug.  Visiting this orphanage is always a touching, and humbling experience.  I was so proud to see our Transition young men and women interact with these special people.  A very proud Mom moment! 

I always love the Holiday Team!  Thanks for those of you that came to participate!  If you couldn't come this year--start planning to join us next year!

Moving Day!

 I remember the day when I moved out of my childhood home to start college.  How it felt when I loaded up the last box, shut the door to my room, and drove away.  That feeling hit me afresh as I was contemplating what it is like for our kids to leave the orphanage and move into our Transition Houses.  As much as most of us can't understand, the orphanage has been their home, all that they've known.  And just like going to college was a new chapter for me, entering the transition program is a brand new chapter for each of them.  They are excited, apprehensive, sad, and scared all at the same time.  The big difference for them is that they can't go back.  I knew that my parents were always there, and even if I failed dismally, my parents would always love and support me.  I always had a safety net.  That is the goal of our transition program-to teach the kids that they also have a safety net.  Christ will always be there to pick them up and support them throughout life.  H2H also will back them up--be a family for them.  It is an amazing opportunity and gift to get to fill that role for each of these kids. 

Get Ready, Get Set......

September is a month of preparation for us as we shift from summer ministry to fall ministry.  We scheduled, planned curriculum for the classes we will be teaching, met with directors and filed official documents to the state.  Then we adjusted the schedule and met with the directors again.  And then we adjusted the schedule and met with the directors again.  And then we.....you get the picture!  It is a lot of planning and waiting and replanning.  But, once again my staff did a terrific job and the program we have in place for this fall is one of the best ever!
The other huge part of this month is interviewing and selecting candidates for the transition programs.  Tons of time was spent on this-interviewing and praying and making decisions of who is the right fit. We selected 7 girls for the GTH, and 7 boys for the BTH.  We also opened a new program, the ATH (Alternative Transition House), for 4 boys that need a transition program, but have unique needs that keep them in Bucuresti.  We opened an apartment that will house these boys as we teach them along with the girls at the GTH.  So as we prepare the houses and the apartment, curriculum, and the hearts and minds of the staff that will be working with them, we are excited for one of the biggest years in transition ministry history!  GO!