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!

Christmas is Finally Here!

The third and last real Thanksgiving has finally been celebrated so the Christmas season is officially here. 

By far my favorite time of the year. I feel like I have been waiting for it forever!

We finished our Thanksgiving by watching "The Grinch" and starting our black Friday by picking out our Christmas tree and watching Elf.

The perfect start for some Christmas cheer. 

Merry Christmas!

The Revolution Lives

It's not a secret, I am a huge Hunger Games Fan. So I was so excited when my roommates agreed to see it in the theaters with me and not just any theater, the IMAX theater.

It was amazing movie, it reminded me of how much I loved the book and seeing it on the big screen was awesome but what made it even more great was seeing it here in Romania. Throughout the movie people would start cheering and clapping, bringing out the true revolutionist in many. For Romanians this wasn't just a movie this was something they could relate with. As Lavi said the other day, "The best gift Romanians ever got was when Nicolae Ceasusescu was killed on Christmas". Romanians know what it feels like to live with someone controlling their lives. 

I can't wait till the third movie comes out, it will be my goal to make it back to Romania to watch the final movie here. 

While you live, the revolution lives.