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.

Trying to be a Light

I was very encouraged by P.C.'s message that I watched on Wednesday. It reminded me to be a light while I am here in Romania.

We went on our fourth home visit yesterday. It went well. We have been able to meet two of the potential teens that will be coming to the program this summer. Please pray that things work out with this program. I have been having not uplifting feelings from the beginning, only because I found out this is what I would be doing the first day I was here. So I've just been going along with it. I have not been able to as involved as I would like with the other programs and that has been hard. The other group that was here with us will be leaving tomm. So we will see how things change. I'm hoping to be able to work with the elderly club for the next couple of weeks before our program begins. I will also be able to work with the special needs club. I'm just really missing being involved in people's life's. So I would ask that you pray I have a good attitude.

I was given the opportunity this past Thursday to go on a day trip with the special needs club and I think after going on that is what has made me have the above feelings. When I was with them I was doing things that I love and having fun. I just want to be able to pour myself into the people's lives here and not have the worry in the back of my mind of all the things I need to get done. I do not want any regrets with this summer.

So back to the day outing it was a long drive (3 hours one way)to where we were going but when we got there it was well worth it. It was a lake that use to be a volcano. I told Dorothy that I wanted to build a house just up the road from the lake. And I believe my home in heaven might be quite similar to how this place looked. Pictures would not do it justice so I took video and have attached it so you could see. It wasn't that busy but all the noise you hear is from a school group that was there for a little while but for the most part it was just our group. We had lunch there and just stayed for a while. Thursday was also a pretty big day because it was the first day I was able to put my hair in little pig tails!!! One of the adults that went on the trip kept playing with them and told Eva they looked like paint brushes, that made me smile :oD Right before we were about to leave we took a group photo and one of the adults decided he would put his arm around me (not knowing any better) well my host father did not agree with this and told him to take is arm off and said something about me being his daughter :) Then there was another guy Alex who was kind of teasing my dad by pretending to put his arm around me to see what my dad's reaction would be. It was a wonderful trip. And again I wish I could speak more of their language.

I still have anxiety with going to language class. I dread going. There is seriously something wrong with my brain when it comes to trying to remember sounds and how to read words. I pray before I go that I will get better but I don't feel like I am and I get very frustrated with myself.

Dorothy is having us read this cross cultural book and it is very enlightening. Has some great points that open up my eyes to certain things.

We had dinner with the girls tonight that will be leaving tomm. it was hard to say goodbye to them. I will miss them greatly. When I look at my clock counter I do not feel like I have been here for 18 days, it has gone way to fast and will continue to go fast, which I'm not a fan of.

This past week I got a glimpse of what it would feel like to live with six other sisters and one bathroom. Lets just say it equals craziness :) Our youngest sister had to other friends spend the night and in the morning it was everyone for themselves when it came to bathroom time.

We had some great sister bonding time last night with our host sisters we were all in the kitchen doing the dishes and singing along to Michael Buble's "Just haven't met you yet." One of the fondest memories I will have and it was pretty appropriate seeing how we are all single. :) And then one of my sisters borrowed an article of my clothing and I borrowed a pair of another sisters jeans, because today was the first day we did laundry since leaving home (amazing I know) so I think that makes us officially sisters :)

Mom, the package arrived on Thursday but I was not able to get it yet, hopefully Monday. Thanks again for sending the extra things!

I hope all is well at home and that you enjoy the video.

Much Love and prayers from Romania :)

Nopte Buna

Sunshine how I love thee...

What has happened in the past few days...

We went to a near by village to teach a Sunday school lesson. Our story we chose was the conversion of Saul. We asked the story out first and then did a little game where one child was blind folded and the other had to lead him/her to try and find and object. It was again difficult because of the language barrier. As a craft we had the children think of what would be something that they would miss if they were blind and then draw it on a piece of paper. Many children decided to draw their house. It went very well. The kids were adorable :) But it was also heartbreaking to see the living conditions that they had to live in. It was here that I finally got the chance to kick around a football(soccer ball) with some kids. It felt great! As a snack we gave the children bananas and we told them to put the peels in the trash but as we were leaving we joked about following the banana peels to find the way out and sure enough there was a trail. :)

We went for a three hour hike yesterday in the rain to a Monastery. It was very much worth the walk because it was very beautiful. Their were preparing for people to come today to celebrate Pentecost. Dorothy told us about different historical parts and about the Orthodox religion. When we were inside I was overwhelmed with the beauty of all the paintings on the walls and ceilings. Dorothy said if someone wanted to paint the inside of an Monastery they needed to go to seminary, be a great painter and the priest had to approve you. And inside there were not a lot of sits and Dorothy said it was because people were expected to stand during the whole three hour service. And the few seats that were in there were meant for elderly and the sick. That was part of their discipline.

We took communion today at church and it was different from any other way I have ever taken it. Because today was the celebration of Pentecost we did communion. Up front was one glass with some juice in it and a loaf of unbroken bread. Roberta (the pastor) took the bread and broke it while reciting the scripture "this is my body..." I like the visualization of how they did it. My first thought when I only saw the one cup was 'are we all going to drink out of the same cup?' me being a germ a fobe when it comes to sharing drinks was not so kine on that idea :) but we went up in a line one by one, each breaking off a piece of bread dipping it in the glass and then eating it. It was different from any other way I had ever taken communion. But I liked how they had a real loaf of bread and they were able to break it in front of the congregation. I know it would take our church a while to do it that way. I was able to watch P.C.'s message on Lettuce Not on Friday. I would make one small suggest, to add the worship portion to the videos If anyone out there reading this has the power to make that happen I would be one happy camper :)

We have one more week with the other girls who are here. They only came for three weeks. Once they are gone it will be interesting to see how things change. Next week Angie and myself will be going on a few different home visits of teens who may potentially be in the program we will be starting this summer. We will also be checking out a couple other organizations who are already have different programs for teens with disabilities.

Our host sister made us Cheesecake today! It was delicious!

Today was the first day of sunshine with out any rain! It has been cloudy and rainy the past 4 or 5 days. The days have began to blend together. Angie, Rachael and I went for a Sunday stroll and photo date. Or as Rachael likes to say lets go pose. :)



As I'm writing this I think of everyone back at home and of my church family. It is about 11am your time so it makes me miss you all and church. I hope all is well!