The Wooden Bowl
A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year-old grandson.

The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered
The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and
failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor.
When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess.
'We must do something about father,' said the son.
'I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor..'

So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner.
There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner.
Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl.
When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone.

Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, 'What are you making?' Just as sweetly, the boy responded,
'Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up.
' The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.

The words so struck the parents so that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done..
That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.

For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family... And for some reason,neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

On a positive note, I've learned that, no matter what happens, how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles four things:a rainy day, the elderly, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same thing as making a 'life..'

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands.You need to be able to throw something back sometimes.

But, if you focus on God, your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.

I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.

I've learned that every day, you should reach out and touch someone.
People love that human touch -- holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

*Got this from my aunt in an e-mail.

Back in the States

What was awaiting me when I got home :) thanks mom and dad!







Pepene! Whenever I see a watermelon I will think of Tata!



So I have been back in the states for a week now. And it has been a little different to get use to again. I find myself answering my parents back in Romania :-) Or listening to a few select songs that whenever they are played will forever remind me of my summer spent in Romania. I have notice that I take a little longer to do things :-)

There have been a couple overwhelming experiences. For example the other day at church I was a little overwhelmed because for the past three months I had been attending a church where you were able to say Buna! to everyone if you liked and have a small conversation. Yesterday I felt there was just enough time for a hello and then a good bye. I was not a fan of that.

Driving again has been fine.

I went into Target the other day with Cherie and Joey. We went down the toy aisle that was a little overwhelming.

At my dad's work picnic, it was at Crag's cruisers and I pretty much inhaled four pieces of pizza. (not because I missed pizza, oh no I got my share of delicious pizza in Romania). It just tasted really good.

Pancakes were my first breakfast food upon arriving home. I took a picture of them because it reminded me of Romania and also because when I put the butter on it formed the shape of a heart. But unfortunately my camera decided it wanted to delete all the pictures I had on my camera at that time :-(

My mom asked me what I wanted for my first dinner home and I told her a huge salad with Feta cheese :-) She was expecting me to say pizza. So she was very shocked when I said a salad. But it tasted oh so good. I then also made a rap at Cherie's apartment with Feta cheese, it reminds me of some cheese in Romania. I also found out that we have Blood orange juice here in the states! At least someone said we did and that made me really excited because I tried it in Romania and fell in love with it.

It is fun to talk in Romanian every now and then I feel like I have my own secret language. And to have my mom try and pronounce some of the words is quite comical.

I'm thankful for the people God has placed in my life that are able to sit and listen for a moment about the life changing experience that God brought me on. I'm also thankful that Dorothy had Angie and I read the Cross Cultural learning book, because it prepared us for what to expect when we came back home.

I learned a lot about myself, about working with others and about how much work goes into starting a new program.

I will not forget those three months of my life spent in Romania. I can tell that it changed my life for the better and I will not forget the people I met on the Journey!

I will soon be closing that chapter of my life once all the little details of the program are worked out. And I have already started the new chapter in my life called "Looking for a Job, Meets Finishing My Last Year at University!"

Thank you to everyone who prayed for both Angie and I while we were in Romania. I could tell we were being lifted up in prayer. There was no way we could of done it on our own. I think we tried and failed :)

So thank you again for reading and going along with me on this journey!

C-A-M-P-I-N-G!!!

The program has been going well. Last week was one of our best weeks. On Monday we played with the bean bags we made the teens really enjoyed them. On Wednesday we made giant snowflakes. And on Thursday we put a cake together. The participates seemed to really enjoy it.

This wee has been a little harder but all in all it has been a learning experience.

Tomorrow after club Angie and I will meet up with the other 90 some people for Veritas Camp. Please pray for good weather (no rain but not to hot), wisdom among the leaders and spiritual growth among the campers.

With there only being three weeks or so left here in Romania Angie and myself are realizing how hard it will be to leave. We both would stay in a heart beat if it were not for school. Once you make friendships with the people here, the friendship is life long.


Hope everyone is well back home!
May God Bless you!

52 days in Romania and a Lifetime of Knowledge=Priceless!!!

This is a picture of the name tags that the volunteers and the teens made during our first meetings, two weeks ago.

The completion of this past week marks the completion of the first full week of our program being completed!

This week brought many ups and downs, challenges and joys. This whole experience has been such a learning experience in so many ways.

Two weeks ago we first began meeting with the teens. We met with two on Monday, two on Tuesday and finally two on Thursday. We did not want to meet with them all at once because we felt this would be to overwhelming for them.

This past week was the first week that we had all of the participants meet together for three days. Our program meets three days a week for two hours each time plus two days of therapy (equestrian and aquatic). During this time we try to have the teens participate in different social settings, physical activities and cognitive exercises.

There have been different hurdles to jump over to finally arrive at the place we are at now. With working with such a diverse group of disabilities it has been challenging but rewarding to try and plan out what the week will look like for the program.

A typical day in the program might look something like this. The day would begin with some reality orientation, which would include asking the teens what day of the week it is, what the date is, what the weather is like outside and so on. We would then move on to the letter that we were going to work on for that day. We are working through the Romanian alphabet (Little tid bit of knowledge the English alphabet has names for our letters and sounds, the Romanian alphabet just has sounds). During the letter exercise we may split the group up because the participants are not all at the same writing level.

So Angie would take a couple of the participants and work on tracing the letter to get a feel for how to write the letter correctly. I have the other group and on the first day we did the letter A. And we tried to come up with as many Romanian words that began with the letter A. This did not exclude me :) Then we tried to make up a store with those words, it was quite a funny story.

We usually do some stretches, starting at the head and working our way all the way down the body.

We might play a variety of games, one of their favorites is beat master.

Around 11 o' clock we do snack and during this time we work on table manners and serving others. For one of the days this past week we allowed the teens to make the snack. We made pudding. And it was so great to see the teens being independent and doing different tasks on their own.

We try to end everyday with asking the teens what was one thing they felt they did well today (so we all leave on a positive note).

We are trying to do equestrian therapy on Wednesdays and on Fridays (starting next Friday we will do some aquatic therapy/swimming lessons)!!!

The fact that we will be starting aquatic therapy next Friday is a blessing in it's self. The story below will explain.

So since the beginning of the summer we had the thought to do aquatic therapy. We were not sure where this might happen but we knew it needed to happen. There are a few pools in Sigh. a couple public pools and a couple hotels have them. Angie and I wanted to have an hour or so by our selfs with the volunteers in the pool with no one else. Dorothy seemed to think this was possible, we just needed to find the pool that was going to allow this to happen. The first pool that came to mind was at Hotel Corona. We mentioned this idea to one of the locals and they did not feel like it would be possible to use their pool because it is a very fancy hotel and they probally would not be interested in helping out a special needs club.

When we mentioned the idea to Petra she thought we were crazy as well but she also said 'why not, your participants should have just as much right to use the pool as anyone else'. She wanted to see if he would let us use the pool for free and to be ready with a price if he said no. We had a couple other pools in mind if this one did not work out. So Angie, Petra and I went to the Hotel on Thursday to talk with the owner. Angie and I allowed Petra to do all of the talking and much to our surprise the owner was not only very, very agreeable but he said we could use the pool for FREE for one hour in the morning on Friday. At first he said we could not use it on the weekend and then by the end of the conversation he even mentioned that we could use it on weekends!!! It was truely and answer to prayer and my hope it that even after Angie and I leave Veritas will still be able to keep this agreement going. Petra could not believe it herself. So we will begin on Friday with some aquatic therapy and see how it goes.


Some other events that have taken place:

This past Monday Angie and I lead staff devotions. We talk about the book of Ruth and the difference between Ruth and Noami's Character and how we can choose to be like one or the other when having to make a decision. It is always amazing how God gives you things in your own life that you can apply to a message you need to present to others. There were a few decisions that I needed to make this week and I thought about our devotion and who I would react like. My hope is that we have now fulfilled our devotions duties for the summer until the end of the summer when we will present what we have done as far as our program went.


Sighisara had their second annual film festival last week and Angie and I were able to attend two of the movies. It was definitely a cultural experience because the Romanians would laugh at a part and Angie and I could not understand what might of been funny. There were English subtitles for all of the movies. The last few days were rained out. The locals say it is very unusual how much rain Sigh. has been getting this summer. One person recalled how last summer was so hot with very little rain and then this summer has been nothing but rain and a few very hot sunny days.

It is hard to believe that Angie and myself will only be here for one more month exactly today. And it seems like there is so much that needs/could be done. Please pray for wisdom, guidance, strength, compassion and energy.

Time will really fly by from here on out because next week there will be a huge craft show which both Angie and I are looking forward to and hoping to get most of our gifts bought during this time :)

And then the week after that Veritas has their camp for the summer, which Angie and I have been helping to plan. And then after that there will only be two more weeks of the summer left.

Not enough time at all!!!

Happy 4th of July weekend!

Thank you for taking the time to read.

Happy Father's Day

Dear Dad,
Thank you for being YOU!
I love you and am grateful to have a father like you.
Thank you for always providing for us and waking up before the sun to go to work.
I hope one day I can find a man who works as hard as you but still has time to spend with family. I hope you have a wonderful father's day and even though we are far apart I hope you know how much I love you.

Love,
Your middle Child :)



What Makes a Dad

God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities,
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete,
And so,

He called it ... Dad

~~Author Unknown.~~



"A Man's children and his garden both reflect the
amount of weeding done during the growing season."
~~Author Unknown.~~

Disclaimer: *Some parts of this post may not be suited for those with queasy stomachs.

So at elderly club on Tuesday I was able to play doctor and take the blood pressure of the people who were there one lady even asked me if I was a doctor. And another day I was doing pretty good I asked one of the ladies if she would like chai (tea) or Coffee, she said tea so then I brought the sugars over to see which one she would like. And she pointed to the one she wanted and I asked her uni (one) or Duo (two) and she said duo. Well then she wanted to take her medicine and I figured she would want water, but in her sentence I never heard the word for water which is apa. So I asked her if she wanted apa plata, and she said nu (no), nu (no). So I went to ask David and Mia what she might be wanting and they said water and I said no she said no to water when I asked if that was what she wanted. Then they asked if she maybe wanted chai and I said no she already has some. So they came to talk to her and sure enough it was cold water that she wanted. We all had a good laugh over it. And I thanked Mia for allowing me to still come even though I mess things up. Another example was with another lady earlier in the week. Mia told me that this one lady likes half coffee, half chai. So I was thinking in the same cup (weird but everyone their own). I brought it to her and she took a drink and made a face that I will never forget. That told me I did something wrong. Turns out she wanted one cup half full of chai and a separate one half full of coffee. Needless to say I will not make that mistake again :) I felt a little like the Amilea Bedilea Books :)

So Angie and myself lead special needs club on Monday. We had a great time with the participants. I got out some play dough and worked on some fine motor skills with Alex. He tends to favor one hand so I kept encouraging him to use his other one. They all said that they had a really good time with us. We also played some sequence.

I was given the opportunity to go on another amazing day trip. This time it was with the support group of the parents who have teens and adults with special needs. I had a wonderful time. And was able to see more of God's wonderful creation. We went to one of the highest points in Romanian and I saw my first waterfall! I was also able to experience every type of weather from sunshine to snow to getting soaked to the bone on my walk home in the thunderstorm. Never before have I experienced that much variety in weather in one day.

We went to special needs club again on Thursday we played with play dough again for a little while. Then Angie taught them some English words and then we played pictionary. It was a grand old time. On Thursday Angie and I also went to Aerobics class with Anita and lets just say we got our butts kicked. It was a lot of fun and we got what we payed for. We did some moves that I had never done before in an exercise class and used the exercise balls and with some of the movements I felt like a seal :)

*On Friday Angie and I were hungry, so we decided to have a little afternoon snack so we had some cereal and cherries. I had a handful of the cherries and enjoyed them very much. Later that night we were finishing up our dinner when Timmy joined us and brought some more cherries out. I had noticed that Timmy was opening her cherries before eating them and all I thought was why is she doing that, she is going to get cherry juice all over her hands. Well, I found out why she was doing that and it was because she was checking for worms. By this point I had consumed a good handful or so. I definitely felt like throwing up after realizing what had just happened. After that we were trying to drawn them in water. I could not believe I had just consumed worms. Our conversation then turned to other types of insects such as leaches, ticks tape worm, meal worms and so on. Great dinner conversation :) I'm sure I will not eat another cherry for a while. Our mama told us that she went to buy some cherries from a guy and she asked him why they were so expensive and he said because there is no meat (worms) in them. :-P


The day has finally arrived. After much anticipation, planning and hard work we will officially begin the new program on Monday, please pray for guidance, energy and strength. We have a great group of volunteers and teens, it will be great to see them grow and learn new things. Three months is not nearly enough time, the time has gone so fast and I wish I could slow it down. I have been trying to take it all in and just live in the moment. My host sister Timmy tells me not to think about it which I try not to. But then when I spend time with the people and begin to see relationships forming I can't help but think about how hard it will be to say goodbye. But I will try not to think about that and make the rest of this month and next month the most that I can make it. Live all out and leave nothing on the table to have regrets about later.

I pray that the Jr. High mission trip went well! And that relationships were build and lives changed.


Much Love from Romania!

Hope you enjoy the pictures and video. Sorry that the video is on it's side, if you turn your computer side ways you will get the idea :)

Bucharest, Skype and Guest Groups

First off Happy Birthday to my dear friend Amber! I hope you have a wonderful day today on your birthday and may God bless you with many more.


This past weekend Angie and myself were able to attend a conference in Bucharest. The topic was how does God view people with disabilities and how can the church and its members reach out to this population.

We left Thursday after noon from Sigh. by train. It was a six hour ride which included beautiful scenery and time to catch up on reading.

Arriving in Bucharest was definitely a little culture shock for both Angie and I. For the past month or so we have been in a slower pace of life and then to arrive in the busy metropolis of Bucharest sent our heads spinning. I do not mind big cities but when you through in a different language that puts a new twist on things. We had the pleasure of staying with Magda and Hannah (her sweet, lovable fury companion). The fellowship with Magda was very encouraging and uplifting. The conference was great but both Angie and myself were happy to see the familiar scenes of Sigh. And to be greeted by hugs from our host family.

This past Sunday was also a new experience for both my (usa :) ) family and I, as we were able to use skype for the first time. Everyone was there but Jake. I think Joey was taking his place. Whoever invented skype is a genius and it just blows my mind how much we can do with technology now a days. It was good to talk to them and to see their faces. And be able to introduce y host family to them and the beautiful view from my bedroom window.

We had/have two guest groups here. One group was only here for two day and then they were off to another place in Romania. Angie and I were able to put our servant skills to use which we really enjoyed. The other group is a group of medical students who have been helping with the elderly club by checking their blood pressure, making sure they are on the right medication and so forth.

Today was hard for me and a little overwhelming. We had not had language class for about a week because of different things coming up and with being busy with many things I was not able to practice as much as I would of liked to. Things were not sticking. I ended up asking my teacher if she had anything that I could listen to audio-ably. We will talk more about it tomm.

We also had our meeting with our volunteers who will be helping us with the program. It went well. On Friday Angie and myself will lead staff devotions by sharing with the staff what we learned at the conference. You will see a summary of it below. On Friday we will also go to visit the place where they do the equestrian training, I'm really looking forward to that!

The conference was great. There was a group of people from the organization Joni and Friends. Some of the key topics included: barriers and obstacles in Romania for persons with disabilities, causes of different disabilities, how other religions view disabilities, how God views those with disabilities, demon position, healing, practical ways that the church can become involved.

When asked what the barriers are for people with disabilities in Romania are some of the things that people mentioned included buildings not being assessable, lack of programs, fear of rejection sometimes even in the family, shame, no documentation of disability.

One girl mentioned how the hardest thing was how she was rejected by her own mother when she left her at the hospital. She was always rejected and she really wondered why she was ever born.

Someone mentioned how people would keep their children isolated so they could not socialize with others and not develop completely.

What does it mean to have a disability? One definition is normality in a different dimension.

Some causes of disabilities here in Romania include accidents, birth defects, infections, immunization or lack of, effects of radiation, at birth when the child is pulled out of the mother by forceps, alcohol and neglect.

Some people still believe that persons with disabilities are cursed or have a disability because of their sin or their parents sin. The staff of Joni and friends made it perfectly clear that because of the new confident of Christ coming to die on the cross for our sin and became the curse for us there is no reason why persons with disabilities could be under a curse. Therefore no curse can come upon us if we are in Christ.

Disabilities are a result of the fall of man not because of one person's sin.

How does God view those with disabilities? Gen. 1:26-27 Everyone was created in God's image. We bare the image of God not only in our physical manner but more importantly in our inner person. People with disabilities are fearfully and wonderfully.

If disabilities were the result of one's sin we would all have disabilities. "For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God."

Many of the people at the conference were parents of children with disabilities or someone with a disability and they wondered if it was wrong to pray for healing. The bible clearly says to pray for the sick, and lay hands on the sick. The main point that Joni and Friends wanted to get across was not to become obsessed with praying over healing but to focus on the inner person and what the person can do in the here and now because God might not choose to heal the person on their time here on earth. So do not let the the focus of them not being healed stop them from doing great things for God's kingdom. When our priorities are not right we miss God's plan for our life.

A huge misconceptions: If people with disabilities had enough faith they would be healed.

The way you love someone with a disability is the same way you love anyone.

A short story...
One of the speakers of Joni and Friends was visiting this church with his wife. And during worship time this girl with down syndrome came over to him during the service several time and gave him and his wife a big bear hug. He went on to say that even though he may be able to think more quickly then her, her capacity to love far out weighted his. And he went on to say how that is his disability in life. So ask yourself what is your disability? And what do you have that you can give to persons with disabilities? We all have Jesus to give, do we not? The lies that we believe about ourselves begin to isolate us. It is required of you to be the person to reach out to the least.

A lot of times we want to get people straight before we bring them to Christ but he does not care how they come.



Here are a few practical ways the church and community can reach out to person's with disabilities.


Disability awareness Sunday: this would give the opportunity to prepare the hearts of the people of the community and educate them on different disabilities and how to interact with persons with disabilities.

Build a ramp day: just what it says find a place in your community that is not assessable and build a ramp.

Luke 14 Banquet: Luke 14:12-14- Then Jesus said to his host, " When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." So you would invite person's with disabilities and those without to join you for dinner and then allow a couple people with disabilities to share their testimonies.

Sports and Recreation Day: just what it sounds like but doing some adaptive sports ex:wheelchair basketball, goal ball, soccer and so forth.

Love gift distribution Day: find out the needs in your community and then meeting those needs.


Advocacy is the biggest. Help strengthen the voice for those who have disabilities.

If you are interested in learning more about the organization Joni and Friends their website is down below.
http://www.joniandfriends.org/


Love and Prayers to back home.