Special Events!

There were so many special events over the summer that I decided to do a blog just to highlight a few of them! One of the greatest privileges in our ministry is to celebrate milestone moments with our kids, no matter what stage of life they are at! Here are a few of the special moments that the summer held.

The Meeting of My Worlds

My 22 year old niece, Megan, was three years old when I moved to Romania. She doesn't remember me not living in Romania. After Megan, I had 6 more nieces and nephews born. Romania has always been a part of their lives, through their connection with me. I remember spending the night with my older brother's family. As we were going to sleep Shelby, who was probably 3 or 4 at the time told me she was going to come with me to Romania and help me. Years past and they grew up. Many times there were conversations about when and how a trip might work. Finally, it happened! My older brother, Darrel, his two daughters, Megan and Shelby and my younger brothers' daughter Makayla were able to come visit between May 25-June 3. I was very excited to have my US family meet my RO family. Both sides, having had heard about the other, to actually meet and get to know each other. I also really wanted my nieces to understand why I've made the choice to leave my family to live across the world. I wanted them to catch a glimpse of the calling that I believe God has placed on my life. Here is a bit of an entry that Makayla wrote about her time here. "For as long as I can remember I was either going to fly back with Jen in her suitcase or actually come visit to see what our (crazy) aunt was always talking about and dedicating her life to. I don't believe it really hit me that we were actually here in Romania until we walked into the team house. Even now, as we pack to go home, it seems unreal that we finally made this dream come true. The last 8 days have been everything we have heard about and more. Growing up, we never heard Jen get called "mom" and now I couldn't imagine her being anything less. Watching Jen and the rest of the H2H staff touch the lives of children through the Lord's Word has been heartwarming and astonishing in every way possible! In the last 8 days, I've seen the Lord work in so many ways. It has rekindled my faith and pushed me to strive for a greater relationship with not only God but my family as well. As I think about leaving tomorrow morning I think about how soon I can come back for even more!" I'm so thankful that this was able to happen and that the time was blessed! Thanks to so many of you who helped and prayed for this experience to come to fruition!

Here are some of my favorite pictures and moments from this spring!

A Special Visit

In Mid-April I was honored to have 3 men from my home church stop in for a visit, Bob Pankratz, Ken Pauls, and Phil Neufeld. They were on their way to the Ukraine and were able to stop in on their way. It was less then two full days, but we packed in as much as possible, and they were great sports! All three of these men have known me for most of, if not all of my life and have walked alongside of me through so many chapters. Bob and his wife Kel, were youth sponsors of mine in high school and then I spent a summer interning with them in Denver during college. God used that summer in Denver in so many ways in my life, but one of the biggest was to give me a passion for missions. So it was so amazing to get to host Bob here and show him a bit of my life and ministry. I enjoyed the weekend tremendously, There is just something very special about getting to share what I love here with people that love me. I was very encouraged and blessed! I'm looking forward to continuing this special colliding of my two worlds in May when one of my brothers and three of my nieces come to visit. I can't wait!