For my entire life, I have never lived more than 45 minutes away from my family (or more than 15 minutes from the beach for that matter, but that is another story!)  So moving to a different continent was a huge change and sacrifice for me and for my family.  THANKFULLY, some amazing genius created Skype and that has allowed me to feel close to my family for the last 6 months.  But, even better than that, and thanks to the sale of my 1966 Mustang (RIP Duke, you were a great car) my family was able to come visit us and see what we do all the way over here!

sightseeing near the river Spree- dad, me, steven, mom, bryan

4 generations of my german family all together- so cool!

with my cousins and their ADORABLE baby girl who looks like a little doll!

After a quick trip seeing all the sights one can see in only 3 days, my mom, dad and brother flew back to Bucharest with us.  We were so excited to show them our new city, but mostly, we couldn't wait for them to meet all of our kids.

the church where dracula is buried...

cool guy

my brother Bryan leading the dance party

sightseeing in the beautiful old city of Brașov

dinner in a cool restaurant that used to be a wine cellar

helping with crafts

hanging with the guys

sweethearts

such a ham

bros

she called her "mommy" right away

he had so much fun with my dad!

such cuties

lots of love

If you know Steven and I, you know we are happiest when we are super busy doing something that we love. And we've been busy.

I have been helping with a dance class- which is really fun! I am teaching 10 middle/high schoolers a hip-hoppyish dance that they will perform for a local school in the community.

Steven and his 3 guitar students have been working really hard an improving quite a lot! They are excited to learn new chords and the ultimate goal is that they can learn an worship song and help Steven lead worship at youth group! Here's a video of them playing!

Three seniors at one of our orphanages have the unique opportunity to go to cosmetology school and auto mechanic school. They have a wonderful teacher who found a way to get them into these classes. Steven and I got to drop them off in the city for their first day of class. We felt like parents dropping our kids of at school- we were so exited for them and proud! They were very excited and nervous. After class we got to take the train with them back to the orphanage and got to spend time just talking and hanging out. It was truly a blessing to be beside them as they got to begin a new and exciting chapter in their lives.

me with ioana, berki and ștefan

We've had fun play days at the orphanage that houses lots of younger kids. Some of the kids call Steven and I "daddy and mommy." This really melts our hearts and humbles us. All we do is play with them and love them, and they love us wholeheartedly. We love spending time with the little ones during art classes and preschool classes.

Kirsteen and I with little cuties

tickle fight!

steven with his little brother :)

me and one of my daughters

coloring under a table

his little cave

love

We have been in Romania for 6 months now, and it's flown by! We are nearing the end of our language lessons and have learned so much from our professor. This spring and summer we will have lots of short-term teams here to help with summer camps. This will be a great time and we will continue to use our language skills as translators and group leaders. Once the fall arrives we will have more responsibility as leaders/teachers. This is an area of needed prayer as we hope God will open doors to enable us to tutor many of the kids with disabilities. This requires us to continue to study hard and absorb the language so that we are able to help them improve their learning skills. Please pray that the Lord goes ahead of us and prepares all the little puzzle pieces that need to fall into place, and that he uses us exactly where he needs us!

Your prayers and support mean the world to us, and we are blessed to have such amazing family and friends at home!

I can't be the only person who struggles with this, right?  Ever since I was a kid, I could not stand any sort of injustice.  I was VERY black and white, good/bad, yes/no.  That is all part of growing up, and I have learned a lot about life since then- but I still struggle with accepting and understanding things that aren't fair.  Especially when terrible things happend to innocent people, and especially, kids.  I literally have physical reactions of stress when I experience people's pain as they deal with something unfair or hurtful.  So, of course, God led me to a place where injustice is all around me!  I mean it is everywhere on earth, but I am face-to-face with it each day here.

Because of all my thoughts and questions, Steven and I have been doing a personal bible study of justice.  Really, it is the basic question of why do bad things happen to good/innocent people.  People, pastors, and authors give all kinds of answers to this, and I always think, "yeah ok but I still don't like it."  I have never "found" and answer I am satisfied with- and really, none of us ever will, right?  I am never going to like injustice.

BUT... (phew! that was seeming kind of hopeless for a moment.)  I have decided that I will never understand all of God's infinite wisdom and why things do or don't happen.  (Not really a new or profound thought, but I have to rediscover it from time to time.)  So, for a while, I am suspending the "why?"  I have to decide if my faith in the almighty, loving, and grace-filled God of the universe is strong enough to believe that His love and justice will always prevail.  And I do.

I believe it so much that I am trying to understand, at least, my role in it all.  What does God say about justice?  How does he deliver it to His people?  These are all big questions and I am just a little person, so rather than philosophizing about it all, I usually try to understand how it relates to me and the people in my life.  Several verses that have been catching my attention are like this one:
     "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 22:23
Really, this is about our role in delivering justice on earth.  If we love God with our hearts, then we serve him through our life.  Two things about this verse caught my attention. God asks us to share what we have.  Not to earn more first and then share.  Just share what we were given in the first place.  Somehow, this easy thing is always hard and we put conditions on it, "when I have more time/money/resources I will give more time/money/resources."  The second thing I liked was when it says to help the poor residing among you.  Meaning, we are very near people who need help.  Meaning we should be helping and loving them.  Meaning, that justice does not always just happen, we are called to be a part of delivering God's justice. We are called to be IN justice.

So- I will end these thoughts with a happy picture that describes my heart for doing justice

two smiles, a fish kiss and a winky face.  good times :)

It's been an amazing holiday season celebrating the birth of our Lord, the new year, Steven's birthday, and hanging out with the holiday teams.  There have been some wonderful moments with the kids that really have melted our hearts.  Sometimes it is hard to even put into words what our hearts feel here when we spend time with the kids.  I think pictures help...

{simple play days.}  They are the best.  There is nothing like having a kid ask you to watch them go down the slide 50 times.  Or asking you to go down the tube slide with them even though you are practically the width of said slide.  Or teeter-tottering with a big-kid.  Just playing is a blessing.  And when they chose to play with us, we feel the happiest we've ever felt.




Sometimes there aren't enough words to describe the joy in our hearts when we spend time with our kids.  It's something only God could do and we are thankful just to be here.

In the last week we have participated in 7 parties, made 600 cookies, and had tons of fun!!! We divided the kids up into different age groups so we could spend lots of time with each kid.

Our first party was at Voluntari with the preschool and elementary kids. We watched A Disney Christmas Carol (in Romanian) and te kids got to eat popcorn, cookies and hot cocoa. The kids are actually really great at sharing, and they always offer their treats to us!

steven with one of the cuties!

showing her cookies and cocoa

my lil guy <3

sugar-high!

steven's bff

We had 4 parties at Periș; littlest kids, little kids, middle schoolers and high schoolers. As a staff, we sang traditional Romanian Christmas carols to them. Then, we surprised them by doing a silly dance/rap to Jingle Bells at the end. They all cracked up, probably laughing at our dancing ;) We played lots of games with them too.

waiting for the party to start!

a hula hoop game that the kids loved!

each kid got to decorate some sugar cookies- they LOVED the frosting!

had to eat a piece of bread covered in honey without using hands- very messy!

this game was so fun!

pass the parcel- we had to try to open a snickers bar that was wrapped 20 times with mittens on!

more cookies!

human snowman!

I find that God keeps surprising me with blessings daily.  I love spending time with each of them and getting to know more of their personalities and hearts.

I spent some time decorating cookies with Nicu.  He is pretty reserved and was putting the tiniest amount of frosting on his cookies.  I told him he was allowed to put more frosting on if he wanted because it is really good! He tasted it, and started putting gobs of it on, his smile growing bigger as he did! It always surprises me and makes me a little sad when I have to remind a kid that its ok to be a kid! These kids don't get to experience the typical joys of childhood, so it is a blessing to watch when they get a little taste of that joy!  At the end of the party, he took a CUP of frosting home with him!

This week I had a bit of a heavy heart. I keep seeing things that just physically hurt my heart to think about. I met a girl my age who could barely walk because her feet were so swollen and frostbitten- she had nowhere to live and had been sleeping outside for weeks. I see teenagers who can't read or write. And everywhere I see kids who deserve a family- and I can't do anything about that.

One day this week I sat with a 20 year old girl, who is attending university while still living at the orphanage. She is learning English and she wanted to read bible passages with me. We went back and forth sharing verses that we liked in both Romanian and English. She shared with me this verse out of Isaiah 49:15-16  "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands" ... Hearing her read that was intense.  She was forgotten by her mother, she was orphaned and left alone as a vulnerable baby.  But she knows she is loved by her heavenly Father.  I was so amazed at how she drew comfort from this verse.  A girl who has every right in the world to be angry that she was abandoned by her family, finds comfort in the Lord through his Word. It blew me away.

In this season of Christmas, I am amazed at the blessings God continues to pour out. I am missing home very much, but very thankful to be here with my kids.  Just to spend time with them is a gift!  We are preparing for Christmas parties and gift-giving at all of the orphanages, and there is excitement in the air!

the cuteness is just ridiculous

steven with some of the boys during character education class

art time at preschool!

the cuteness continues

We also have been out and about in the city!  We went to dinner and a movie this weekend and had a great time.  We helped pick out a Christmas tree and got to see Santa Claus (Mos Craciun.)

We also visited this beautiful church where the head and heart of Dracula is said to be buried.

We are loving our time here so far.  We are learning a lot, about the language, culture, history and people of Romania.  We are blessed to be here living our dream and thank you for your prayers and support!