Pumpkin Season!

We had David and Lovi over this weekend. We go to church with them and their parents. Their Dad is actually one of the people in charge of the Baptist Union here in Bucharest which is good to know when you are going through your visa process at the last minute. 

Well anyway the kids were over last night with the Postema's, it was movie and pizza night. David and Lovi got to spent the night. So we headed out to Obor this morning to pick out some pumpkins at the market. I love going to the market. It reminds me of the market in France with the fresh smell of produce. But here in Bucharest, the market isn't ideal for someone like me. With all the people there I and my not so good Romanian skills I would be asking for someone to rob me. So knowing that I took in the smell of the market and thought of all the friendly people at the market in France and how I would go there every Thursday and cherished those memories. 

We bought six pumpkins. Four to paint. Two to carve. Pumpkin carving isn't real popular here. So it's a good thing we only got two pumpkins to carve because David and Lovi, being true Romanians, could have cared less about carving the pumpkins after we had just painted some. So they left that up to Jenny and I. 

As I write this blog post, I have pumpkin baking in the oven just waiting to become pumpkin creamer for my coffee this week and just thinking about it makes me so happy. 

p.s. On a side note, I got to discuss God with the personal trainer at the gym. He is an Orthodox christian. I gave him a Bible today and told him to start reading the book of John. He was really open to what I have to say but he also is pretty firm in his belief. So pray that his eyes are open and that God works in his heart. And that when he ask me questions, God would grant me all the right answers to give him.

That Moment When Your Heart Breaks.

All our orphan kids are back from the gara (train station). Praise the Lord. These kids are so cute and they just want affection. Everyone who knows me, knows I don't like to be hugged or kissed. But with these orphan kids I really don't mind their hugs and kisses they crave the affection. And knowing no one is giving them the proper affection kids need breaks my heart. 

I am pretty sure we all have had that feeling of pain in our hearts. I had that pain a few times here in Romania. But I got it again today when Jenny said that our kids that had came back from the gara had to be detox from drugs. Which is so sad most these boys are under 12... These kids are having to face some horrible things. All we can do is show them the love of God and continually pray for them. 

Sweetest Day!

Since I have gotten a few compliments on my new blog outline. I decided I need to step up my game in blogging. Just to let you all know I designed that blog heading while watching The Voice with my roommates. I guess you can say that's where I find my true inspiration?

Anyway so a friend posted the origin of Sweetest Day on facebook. And it really touched me probably cause it began in Cleveland (woot woot, go Ohio!) and second because it was started by a man who wanted to bring happiness to the orphans which makes my heart happy.

This past week has been good in so many ways. I have gotten to volunteer at the orphanage partnered with Anchor of Hope. Which has been lots of fun. The kids are starting to recognize me even though they are so young. It's makes me miss the Stoner boys sometimes but I remember God put me with these orphan kids right now for a reason.

I also got to see my babies this week. They had a few more newborns come in from a couple different hospital so we have a lot kids right now. Sadly I didn't get to see my orphans kids at the Pinocchio orphanage. Kim's Pastor and his wife are visiting us this week. And stories of the kids have seem to come out more and more. All the horrible things these kids have went through breaks my heart. And of course it makes me want to be able to adopt them all even more. But since I can't, I am excited to see them and share the little love I can. 

Today we went to a different gypsy village. I am not going to lie at first I was disappointed because I have grown close to the kids at our normal village that I didn't want to leave them. But this new village was also great to visit, the kids were awesome so well behaved and polite with me as I was struggling to understand. I am really happy for this opportunity to have another village to serve.

After I shared with you how my week went, I will go back to why I started writing this original post. Because of Sweetest Day! A lot of friends have been arguing about whether it's only an Ohio holiday or not. Sadly it is (or was?) and many Ohioans think of it as a second Valentine's Day. But that is not the reason it was started. It was started to bring happiness into the lives of the orphans, shut-ins, and others who were often forgotten.

So with the discussion of Sweetest Day on my mind. I decided to share it with my roommates and we have decided that this week we will celebrate the kids. We do this every week but since we missed this past week with everybody being sick ( I forgot to tell you everyone has been sick, some stomach bug going around.), we are going to try extra hard to put more happiness into the lives of our kids. To think most of these kids have faced more horrible things then I could ever imagine, I like to think that for 4 hours a week I can see them with smiles on their faces. 

Romanian.

This past week has been pretty busy between homeschooling the Postema kids, going to the orphanages, and getting all my visa paper work done. I am very happy to admit I was fully exposed to Romanian almost all week but I am not going to lie that it was also a bit frustrating at times to try to talk to the kids in Romanian all the time. It's a lot mentally trying to speak in a foreign language let alone in a crazy setting whether it's orphan kids screaming or arguments breaking out at the immigration office. But by the end of the week I felt like I was slowly getting the hang of things. 

After much searching through facebook, I finally found some pictures of the kids I work with. Yay! Up above is a picture of the orphan kids I work with through Anchor of Hope. And the picture down below is of the gypsy kids we work with. The gypsy kids are awesome always starting up conversations with me correcting my Romanian. 

After telling you a little about my week, I will post a new blog post this week about the gypsy kids and give you more of the details of some of the kids. 

Hope you all have a great week!

Week-end by the Sea

Last week-end I went to the Black Sea with the Guess'. To enjoy a little get away while the girls were gone. 

It was beautiful. 

We ran across a 630 BC City of Ruins outside of Constansta. 

We ate a few times and visit a navy museum. For it to be a rainy week-end it was rather wonderful.