Caroling in Budesti and Curcani

As I write this I am feeling a little sick. It could be from not getting more then six hours a sleep a night or the fact I was sick on vacation and haven't had time to recover or that I have been eating sugar and sausage since vacation or it might cause my heart hurts for all my people in the village. 

We woke up bright and early yesterday to carol at the village. It was great. Our village kids loved seeing us sing carols to them and we got to hand out Christmas shoe boxes in Curcani.

This girl was so excited to get her box.  She is smiling with her big "Romanian" smile. She was so happy Kim wanted to take of picture of her.

I wanted to share the picture below. I was secretly laughing to myself. All the ladies were handing out food bags to some of the families and they told Kim and I to stay behind to sing with the boys. So here is Kim and I in the middle of village, two white girls singing gypsy music. You might think me singing Romanian was a big deal but singing Romanian gypsy music is a whole new level of singing. 

One of the families they took a bag of food too was my little girl's family. Her grandma was so sweet. Like many of our people in the village. She only lives in a two room shack taking care of her six grand kids. They have a dirt floor covered with a tiny rug in the room they sleep in and the other room is used to cook and store wood. Jenny said when they arrived the grandma started to cry and said, "Today I prayed for bread because I had nothing for the kids to eat, and look how He responded. He not only provided us food, but a visit from my friends as well. What a wonderful God we have." 

Christmas is my favorite time of the year. But this year it's a little hard. Knowing I am blessed with so much but my little girl in the village might not have anything to eat on Christmas. It kinda makes my heart hurt a lot today. 

Merry Christmas!

Crăciun fericit!

As I write this I am still singing. Today I had a full out Romanian day. Starting with church, followed by the village Christmas service and ending with six hours of Christmas caroling in Romanian. 

Romanian Christmas Caroling 101

1) You are suppose to invite the carolers in verbally, you should never assume that they would know you have been waiting for them with cookies and hot chocolate. 

2) When you are the caroler and someone hands you money. You take it. It's rude not to.

3) You eat at every house you stop at whether it's five in the evening or going on midnight. 

4) Romanian Christmas Caroling is serious stuff. It can last up to three days. 

With that all being said I will share some of our pictures from the village. 

My favorite little girl hasn't been in awhile, her grandma says they have a new baby in the family and she has been staying home to visit it. I am sad I don't get to see her every Sunday. But I get to see this guy! He is definitively one of my favorites. Always trying to sneak a wink at me. This boy cracks me up. 

Mihaela is another regular who comes every week. She is so faithful in trying to learn my name. She is so close, "Shan-nee"

And with Christmas being right around the corner, I think every kid in the village was trying to come today. 

Now I am ready to head out to a different village in the morning and continuing my Christmas Caroling all day long.  

Tuesday's

Today's Tuesday so I get to see this little man.

Stefan and Brianna (Sarah's daughter)

Stefan has a special place in my heart even if he has gotten sick on me more then once. Right now we don't have many babies. Woody was put in a foster home, Ghe-ghe wants to move around so he got moved up to the toddlers room. Leaving me to take care Stefan and the twins. 

Rebecca and Samuel are the names of the twins, their mother is only 16. She told the nurses she would come pick them up in six months. She comes to visit them every week but the poor girl has no idea how to take care of babies and probably has no money to take care of either. Please keep this family in your prayers. This girl truly is a loving mother. 

Special Guest

I don't think I have mentioned this on my blog yet but Ana is back! She went home and her dad tried to marry her off but she told him no.... We didn't get many details but we are happy she is back. She came to church with Jenny and I today, followed by a visit to the village to see some of my favorite people. 

We only choose to eat the best for lunch. But it was a taste of home. Yum..

Christmas Cheer!

I just survived three hours at the baby hospital by myself with all Romanians who only speak Romanian. This is a big accomplishment in my life whether I actually understand what the nurses were saying to me or not. Nobody got hurt and everyone was happy. So I decided I will celebrate by spending some Christmas cheer with a picture of our Christmas tree. 

Merry Christmas!

O-H-I-O

I am sure a lot of you saw the game Saturday with most of our Romanian team split between Michigan and Ohio State, we had a party. Luckily Ohio State won, so of course being the good Ohio fans we are. Kristy and I got enough people to take an O-H-I-O picture. 

GO BUCKS!