Karla Turns 1!!!

I returned to Romania and jumped right back into life! I made it just in time for Karla's first birthday! Princess Karla, had a princess party. It was a great day!

We love you Karla!

Kansas Time!

I spent mid-January through mid-February in Kansas on furlough. It is always great to see my family and friends. My nieces and nephews continue to grow up. My second oldest niece, Shelby, is a senior this year! They wait for me to come home to celebrate Christmas. Bless my parents-they kept the tree up until January 23rd!

These are three of my best friends from college.  We get together every time I'm home for furlough for a girls weekend!

The Holidays are Here!

A few days before Christmas the young men that are in the Boys Transition Program came to spend the Holidays up at the Team House. The staff all pitched in to help host them and prepare for the team. I would not have made it without my amazing staff! Sandel, a BTH grad who is currently going to seminary, volunteered to come stay at the house to help out with the boys. Having him here was an amazing blessing. He was great with the boys, plus it was great to be reminded, through watching Sandel, how God is working among our kids. He is a great example of the Hope that our kids have, only through Christ!  This picture is Sandel, Mihai, Ionut, Jim (a Team member), Alex, and Vali.

Christmas Morning was, as always, a treat!  It never ceases to thrill me, to be a part of experiencing life with kids who have had so little.  For the first time, for most of our Transition Kids, they woke to stockings, full of gifts, gifts under the tree with their name on them, a special Christmas breakfast, etc.  One of the comments that we've heard is "this is what is is like to have a family." 

                                                      The Team arrived on December 27th!  One of the fun parts of the Holiday Team is that we get to pass out gifts to this kids.  

The Team, with our honorary friend!

2015 Came to a Close!  It was time to say goodbye to another year, and welcome in 2016!

Getting ready..........

The month of December, my housemate and assistant, Jenny, was in the US on furlough. That, along with preparing for Christmas had me hopping! Ioana returned to work, after maternity leave, so Daria began to come stay at the team house around 3 days a week. It was a rough adjustment for her, leaving Mommy, but we made it. Though we were all occasionally exhausted!

Decorating the Team house is has become a tradition.  We get a tree and Ruthie puts the star up.  Then we decorate, watch a Christmas movie, and have a slumber party.  Our tree, this year, was an interesting shape!  But it grew on me!

We did a lot of baking, assembling, and packing presents.  With all of our kids, plus the directors and staff in the locations we work in, there is PLENTY to do!

Melissa and Ruthie are baking.  Everyone gets to help out to get everything done!

We also attend Christmas programs at the orphanages.  Romanians love their poems!

Parties, Parties, Parties!

 

Ready or Not Christmas is here!

Time of Thankfulness!

As Most of you know, the H2H Thanksgiving Feast is a huge annual event here at the Team House. I knew, when I moved here, so many years ago, that celebrating Thanksgiving was something that I'd bring with me. What started out 5 people in my apartment living room, has grown to be between 60-80 people here at the team house. I LOVE Thanksgiving. It is a time to reflect and what we have to be thankful for while celebrating the people that make up our lives. I've added some of my favorite pictures of the day, so that you can celebrate with us!
 

We had 4 of the grandkids in one place at one time so we tried to get a picture of them all together, smiling....We were close!

The feast!



Costel, Doro and some of the kids--They always love to be together.

Emi turned 5, and since we were all together we took advantage of the time to celebrate.  

Growing Grandkids!

 I believe one of the best parts of our ministry is that we know the only way to truly disciple our kids is by living life alongside of them.  How else will they ever understand the love of Christ and the importance of trust and family unless it is lived out with them.  Most of you know that one of the most amazing facets of this is the H2H grandbabies that have come along.  August 30th we added baby 8, Abygail, and 9, Daria to our family.  Yes, they were both born on the same day!  We have 3 that live close by and are around often.  We help babysit Ruthie and Karla several times a week and will also help provide child care for Daria when Ioana returns to work.  I'm going to pull the "grandma" card and brag a bit about these 3 in this blog.

 Daria was born on Aug. 30th to Alex and Ioana Oprea.  Romania hospitals are very strict about allowing visitors to see the baby in the hospital, so although we visited Ioana before we left on vacation, we didn't get to meet Daria until we returned.  In the picture above I'm introducing myself to precious Daria!

 

 In mid-September Daria was dedicated at our church.  It was another great milestone for Alex and Ioana and for the H2H family!

 

 Karla is getting big!  She is now 8 month old.  She "talks" alot, smiles often, loves to be on her stomach, but more so standing on her legs.  She dislikes sitting up.  She loves to be sung to.  Her favorite song is The Wheels on the Bus.  When someone she knows comes into the room she moves her arms and legs in excitement.  She is a very sweet baby and is good natured. 

This is our attempt to get that adorable fall picture of a baby sitting in the leaf pile!


She liked being a cute pumpkin much better!

                                                             At Ruthie's Birthday party!

Ruthie has turned 5!  We can hardly believe that she is that big.  The little boy in the picture is Emi, another of our grandkids.  Ruthie is a princess and a frozen party was a must this year.  We had fun helping her parents plan and throw it.  I think that Ruthie smiled the whole day!

Ruthie loves pumpkins and being outside.  She understands English but speaks half Romania half English with Jenny and I. (She of course, speaks fluent Romanian).    We are really working on her saying full English sentences.  She loves going on walks and going to the mall.  She is pretty athletic and will run with me for quite long distances for her age.   She paints, cooks, does nails, writes her name, sings, and dances.  She loves mac and cheese, popcorn, and spicy chips, and is more comfortable on an ipad then most adults!  She is smart and confident and says I love you often.  I'm so proud of the little person that she is!

I hope that you can tell from this blog how much I love these little ones and how blessed we are to have them part of our legacy here in Romania!

Summer Fun!

Summer Ministry is my favorite time of the year!  It is a time when we don't have to worry about school schedules and interuptions, but can focus on providing fun, memory-making experiences with the kids.  This summer was no exception.  We did day camps for the kids under the age of 14.  They were able to come to the team house and have pool time, games, crafts, great food and good lessons.  We also did a tween camp this year for kids 12-14 and a teen camp.  The theme for the year was Perseverance and we focused on different parts of this; faith, hope, purity, purpose and discipline. 

There were so many great moments that I can't tell you about all of them, so I'll let the pictures tell most of the story.

The pool was a favorite activity, as usual!  The month of June for us, was pretty cool and rainy, so many of the swimming days with the little ones were was a bit cold.  But if you only get to swim 2 days a summer, you swim, no matter how cold you are!

 Our new addition to the pool this summer was basketball hoops.  James Lynch, from Buhler along with Steven came up with and built (with some helpers), 2 hoops.  We had a lot of fun playing basketball!

There were some intense games--but I was able to hold my own!

 I always pray a lot for protection over the summer.  With all of the driving that we do, activities with the kids, and pool time, there are tons of opportunity for injury.  But God was faithful again this summer and it was a very safe summer!  The biggest injury....when one of the kids' head connected with my ribcage in the pool.  His head was fine, I had a bruised rib all summer, but all is good!

Part of the fun of summer camps is good food.  The kids look forward and argue about what they are going to eat each year! A typical conversation in the van on the way to came is, "what are we having for lunch?"  "I bet pizza, because we had pizza last year, or maybe soarma, or maybe hot dogs, or maybe...."

 I was blessed to have "Buhlerites" (people from my home town), here ministering with me this summer!  Parker Wedel, Elisa and Josh Brikerhoff, and James Lynch.  They were great, and once again proved me proud!  They were hard working, flexible, and ready to jump into wherever the need was, including cleaning up from the Flood of 2015!

Craft Time!

The kids love skits!  This was an amazing rendition of Daniel and the Lion's Den!

Putting on their Armor of God!

 For the Tween and Teen camps we had obstacle courses to encourage the idea of persevering.  They were FUN!

 This is the new favorite treat of the summer.  A new ice cream store that opened down in the old city center.  Want to know how good it is......come to help out with summer ministry and we'll take you!