Happy Birthday CJ!

It's CJ's Birthday! 

He turned 6 today! It's his first step to manhood or so I have heard. The evening was spent celebrating with tacos, cupcakes, and caramel ice cream. And this weekend there will be more celebrating with the rest of the team :)

Busy Schedule

I know you all have been waiting in great anticipation to hear what I am up to in my life. And I am trying to stay pretty busy. This is what an average week will look like for me. 

Monday: Language Lesson

Tuesday: Jenny's Orphanage

Wednesday: Free Day 

Thursday: Jenny's Orphanage

Friday: Language Lesson

Saturday: Baby Hospital

Sunday: Church & the Gypsy Village

Please Pray that God will grant me with the gift of language. Sometimes it is so hard to communicate but the hardest part is more often then not I can get away with speaking English but then I am not building great relationships with the kids. When I was in France I prayed for a friend and God gave me the best friend I could ever ask for so now I am praying for the gift of language cause Lord knows I need to learn to communicate better. 

With my roommates being out of town this week on vacation. I have almost two whole weeks at the apartment by myself. Luckily the Guess Family has adopted me and I will be going to the Black Sea with them this weekend. Yay! And I got in contact with Sarah who runs a non-profit organization called the Anchor of Hope, since my roommates are gone I will be spending sometime at Sarah's orphanage volunteering and the baby hospital. Tomorrow is my first day at the baby hospital by myself, wish me luck! This is one of those instance when speaking Romanian would be helpful but God knows. 

Roommates

I got to say having roommates has been fun. With late night movies, funny quotes through out the day... It's like having a sister(s) except with less fights. 

Jenny and I have become so much a like we pretty much wore the same outfit to church today. We didn't realize till we were running 5 minutes late to church so we just decided to accept the fact and be twins. But nobody seemed to notice. .. But I still thought it was blog worthy. 

O Saptamana buna! Have a good week!

I will blog later about all the activities I have been getting involved with this week. A little something to look forward to on my blog :)

How Plans Change so Quickly.

Just last month I was thinking I was going to leave Europe behind and head back home. Well funny thing is God sorta had a different plan. After talking to the Romanian team and to the Stoner's a little more. I decided to try to extend my visa. I am still in the process but it looks like a done deal considering the Pastor in charge of the Baptist Union for Romania is the one writing my recommendation. The only way it wouldn't go through at this point is if the secret police decide to throw me out of the country. Which I am pretty sure I am no real threat. 

The rest of my time in Romania will be spent helping my roommates with the orphanage and village out reach. I am hoping to learn some Romanian so I can maybe venture out to a baby hospital by myself. We will see if that happens but I did start my first Romanian lesson today. I think it went well. I guess I will know  now in a couple weeks if I am learning anything by whether people can understand me or not. 

I feel really good about staying here. Kim and Jenny's church has already welcomed me and it helps a lot to know your welcomed and they are willing to let me serve with them. A lot of them are already trying to convince me to stay forever. And I just keep on smiling at them... haha. 

My time in Europe..

My time in Europe is slowly coming to an end. I got a message from the Stoner's yesterday informing me that they are leaving for the states tomorrow due to medical problems Dan is having. So I am going to enjoy the rest of the time I have here in Romania then start heading my way back home. I am hoping I will be able to stop in Amsterdam to visit my dearest and best-est friend, Rachel. I know God has a plan for all of this. We might not be able to see it now but it will all work out in the end. 

Through this information I have learned to reflect and enjoy the moments and memories I have had here in Europe even more. My awesome roommates took me to go see Dracula's house on the way to camp. It was pretty awesome. I sorta want to read the book now. 

I have spent the last two weeks in the beautiful Transylvania mountains for camp. It is so refreshing to be here in Romania. Not that Romania has a lot to offer but it's the little things. Like people speaking English to me or being able to stop at Pizza Hut, KFC, or Mickey D's to eat. Who would have guessed fast food would be a blessing?!

It was pirate week at camp. Arg! It was so much fun.

This blog post like my train of thought right now is sorta random so please think of me and keep

 the Stoner's and the Guess family in your prayers as they are both in the states for medical reasons. 

My Week in Bucharest

As I wait going on midnight to put my last load of laundry in the washer. (That what happens when five girls are living together getting ready for camp.) I thought I would put a blog post up considering I don't know when the next time my internet connection will be good enough that I can blog.

This past week has been fun. Learning how to live in the city was an adventure. I rode the tram (public transportation) not once but a few times by myself. Woah. It might have only been down the street to the Guess'house but it was a start. 

The first few days consisted of me hanging out by myself. I ventured out to the grocery store. Went on a few runs. Started watching the "Office" recommended by Jenny.

But Tuesday I went to the new water park with Jenny and Christina. It was pretty cool. 

Wednesday is when I learned how to ride the tram. Thursday I got to go to the baby hospital with Christina. Christina use to be a short term missionary herself so it was neat to see all the things she use to help out with. I was so happy I got to go to the baby hospital. Most of these kids are abandoned by their parents. It's a really sad situation and the nurses just do the bare minimum to take care of them. 

Then Thursday night we headed out to the movie theaters to see "Despicable Me 2" with the Postemas Kids. Highly recommended movie, it was hilarious! 

Friday consisted of babysitting the Guess kids, eating my first Shaorma, resting up for camp, and packing. Which is what I am still doing right now early Saturday morning. Only a few more hours till we leave for camp. Woo. I also got to skype my family and friends (A little shout out to my mom, sister, Andrea, and the Stoner's.) It was so nice to see the kids today over skype and them telling me what they have been up too. My heart is happy they haven't forgotten me yet. 

p.s. Please keep the Guess Family in your prayers. Mihi is having to fly back to the states this week for a surgery. She just found out this morning. They are an amazing family, who have been through a lot these past two months. 

Pictures From Ukraine

23 hours  total in the car. Yah... It was a long trip. 

Anca is one of my roommates. At camp and in Bucharest, she is stuck with me all the time. I don't know if she was ready for that ;)

We went into town the one night while in Ukraine. Downtown was actually really cute but not many of my pictures turned out very well cause it was pretty dark. But in the picture of above is of me downtown with the Romanian camp counselors. 

The kids are pretty silly. 

And I got to meet some amazing people!