Caleb and his good friend, Dani, both got wooden swords (Sabia) for Christmas. Caleb is really into the Spiritual Armor (he still remembers everything from Casa Alba camp this summer) and immediately said "It's a sword for Jesus!" when he opened it up.
Awesome. Anyway, he spent Christmas afternoon jumping off Dani's bed with sword in hand. And then I grabbed Dani's sword and did a little one on one with Caleb myself....

End of December...

This is a really great time in Romania. "Great" can mean either bad or good. At the end of December all of us who work with the forgotten children of Romania all of a sudden remember that new laws will be coming out within the next week or so. Every January is the same. In 2003 the new law was that all international adoptions were closed. In 2005 it was that foreigners could not longer be foster parents and that all children were no longer truly an orphan until every single living family member had signed abandonment papers for them (it's called abandonment to the 4th degree).
So what will this January bring? Definitely hoping for some changes in all of the above. That adoptions would open up, that foster care would open up, that kids would be allowed out of the country on visits.

Christmas!

Alex, from Casa Alba, spent Christmas with us this year! He was great and Caleb enjoyed being "big brother" for a few days. True, Alex is older than Caleb...even though he seemed to develop normally as a baby, and was held all the time, he is showing signs of extreme developmental delays. Some of his behavior I would put at a 1 1/2 year old level... Him and Caleb arrived at Casa Alba the same week in June 2004. I wish I had a picture that I could post to show them in their cribs that week they arrived! Such little babies are now big boys!
Okay, this picture pretty much says it all when it comes to what Caleb *loves* most...Cars. Or, "fast cars" as he puts it. Not big cars, not tiny cars, the size car you see above. He could get 100 of them every single day and still jump with joy and act as if he was getting the first one ever. He's very protective over his "fast cars" and even more over the ones that Grandma and Grandpa gave him for Christmas (in his arms above). After we took Alex home tonight I said "Caleb, you were such a great brother to Alex. I"m so proud of you." He replied back, "I shared my cars mom!" (Said with a big smile on his face....)
One of my most favorite gifts that Caleb received was this shirt that he's holding above. It is so fun...with his name on the front. The letters are really cool and look kind of like they were cut out from magazines. I LOVE that style. Any time I make cards I always do that with letters - cut them out from magazines. So thanks Fannin Fam : ) He wore it to the Christmas Service on Tuesday morning.

More pics to come as my almost dead computer allows me to upload them : (

Christmas Party

So tonight was the foundation's Christmas party. everyone comes, I mean everyone. There are over 300 people each year and this year was no different. It started at 5:00pm and I left at 9:10pm...I think I was one of the first to leave. My boss had a congo line going on around the place when I snuck out with a very tired little boy. When we got home he told me he couldn't take his shirt off because "his hands were just too tired." I organized a Christmas play for the party this year. I would say it was probably a major flop BUT it was the first time that anything like this was attempted here at FCE. So, for that reason alone, it was a success. It was interesting why some people thought it went so well. We all notice different things, you know? One came up to me and said "The boys reading the scripture, that was incredible. They don't read the best but they did it in front of all of these people so boldly. No one laughed at them, they were able to do it as they were, and be accepted for that." Scripture reading, no big deal, right? Well, take a group of teenagers/early20's kids who grew up in an orphanage - who have been ridiculed their entire lives for an event when they were babies or young children which they had no control over...it was a big deal. So what do Romanians eat at a big party like this? Well, first you start off with a first course of soup. Tonight it was a pork and veggie deal. And, there's white bread. You HAVE to have white bread at all meals. I was with some Romanians in Scotland this summer. They could not believe that bread was not immediately put on the table to have throughout the meal. I don't say that to make fun of them, but rather to show how much of a part of the food culture it is here. Interesting, huh, to learn about other cultures? After the soup we were served plates of sliced pickles to eat while we waited for the main course to arrive. When it did come, we were served a piece of pork, a chicken drumstick, mashed potatoes and mixed veggies. What I have noticed most about cooking here is that bold flavors are not used. Which means, that the chicken tonight was cooked perfectly - wasn't dry at all, very tender. But, there was hardly any flavor to it at all. The most noticeable flavor was probably the taste of the sunflower oil it was cooked in. I don't eat pork, so I can't give you a description of that : ) Then, on the other hand, the cabbage rolls that are made here (Sarmale) are bursting with flavor.
I'm really excited about Christmas this year. I will have Alex from Casa Alba for 2 days. He arrived the same week Caleb did from the hospital in Marghita to Casa Alba when they were babies. He's about a month older than Caleb. We're going to have a birthday party for Jesus Christmas Day, complete with cake!, but we will do that after the Christmas service in the morning at church. That's what usually happens here, not Christmas Eve services. I'm hoping Alex and Caleb wake up a little earlier that morning because we'll have to leave around 8:30am to make it to Oradea (the city where we go to church) by 10am, when the service starts!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have a pretty nice dusting of snow everywhere which, has stayed put or turned to stay put ice because it's so cold outside. There's also a fairly decent array of Christmas lights up, not only in town but also in people's apartments. I sprung for a new item this year - an electric star for our window which faces the road. Pretty pricey at $4, but it's holding up well so I'm not complaining!

Our donation warehouse here at the foundation is finally filled with the shoeboxes from Scotland. They were supposed to arrive a couple of weeks ago but just arrived yesterday. The shoeboxes are filled with toys, clothing and candy for various ages. Sorting through them for all of our kids here at FCE, as well as for our poor families, always brings a lot of "Christmas" to our team!

Secret Santa has also started...us "foreigners" : ) pull names for each other and have to leave 3 items secretly for them over this week. Then, on Christmas Eve, when we have our Christmas Dinner together - we will give a nice gift to that person. They have to guess first who has been their Santa, and that's the fun part! It's been pretty sneaky this year so far - let me tell you. One of the guys on our team had to follow a piece of string around our team's house that started in the entryway, and went to our shoe rack - hooks for the coats - a big safe in the next room - then into the tv room - then back into our eating room to the medicine cabinet on the wall. It ended somewhere around our supply of toilet paper and had a carton of Swedish "Glogg" waiting for him. Pretty good, eh?

I was thinking today how nice it would be to live in a small house with a small yard. Or, maybe even to have that small house have an extra room in it! But then, I started realizing that living in a house means hardly any contact with neighbors...living in this apartment I have verbal conversation with at least 3 or 4 neighbors every single day. More opportunities for me to get to know them, more opportunities for them to ask me what I'm doing...and, then, I always have the chance to talk about Jesus! So, for now at least, apartment it is.

The Christmas play that I'm trying to pull together is just that - pulling, pulling, pulling. : ) Ha! Pray, please, that somehow this will actually come together into something! What an incredible way for the entire foundation to work on something together - to focus on something together ...never has something like this been attempted so I think it could have a pretty big impact on how we see ourselves as the Body of Christ, and how we are working together because of Christ's birth.

Last Week Part 1

Here's the update from last week....
1. My friend found some wigs in our donation warehouse...she had her son, Dani, and Caleb with her at the time.
They came home with a "supriza" for me...when I walked out of the kitchen to see their suprise, this picture above is what I saw!

2. We got a freshly cut tree from a friend of Lars and Barbro's (my bosses) up in the foothills. It may be small but it is perfect for us! Just the right height for Caleb to hang all of the "Bomboane de Pom" (Tree Candy) on, as well as the other decorations. Finally, it came time for the star...as you can see, he was so happy to stick it on top!

Rainy Tuesday

Rain, rain and more rain. That defines our fall and beginning of winter to a 't'. Not such a fan of it, I have to be honest.
Today at Casa Alba we continued with Esther, Estera in Romanian. I blew up huge photocopies of an Esther picture a book of mine had. Then we talked about how Esther had to put a lot of perfume on to be queen. We took powdered juice mix and made each packet up with 1/2 C of water. Then we let each kid paint their Esther picture. When it was dry, the kids found that it had left a scent. Again, trying to help them remember who Esther is and how God teaches us about prayer through her. We retold her story over and over again while they were doing this activity. My guitar is re-strung now so I was able to bring that as well. It was awesome, it has been a few weeks since we've worshipped with the kids so they were so excited to sing to Jesus!
I really wish the Lord would give me some more songs for them...the last one written is totally learned with them now!
This afternoon it's off to the office to try and get my December update done. It will be sent out on paper, as well as by e-mail, but I need to get it finished. I never realized how much of a blessing Microsoft Word is - until I haven't had it for almost 4 months!!

Highlights from the Past Week!

Yikes...it's been over a week since my last post.

Okay, here are some highlights from the past week.

*Caleb's knowledge and relationship with Jesus is so awesome to see develop. One day last week he woke up and immediately began giving me hugs. This continued through breakfast, about every minute. I've never received so many hugs within such a short period of time before. I said, "Caleb, do you have a lot of hugs in your heart today?" "Yeah, a lot of hugs Mom, Jesus put a lot of hugs in my heart today to give away." And give away he did! To me and to anyone else he came in contact with that day. A few days later he noticed a friend of ours was very sad. He approached them and said "Can I give you a kiss? Jesus has put a lot of kisses in my heart today." I love this little boy - I love even more his Creator.

*Great week with ministry at Casa Alba! No last minute anythings to cut in or take away time at Casa Alba. The kids responded well to learning about Samuel. And, my one on one time with some of the kids was "scream free!" That is quite a praise, if I can be honest. God also opened up many on the spot opportunities to minister to my fellow team members. When I looked back over the week I was filled with so much joy over what God had done.

*I dropped the ball with Ciutelec. I was asked to teach at the worship service and although I had a certain scripture on my heart, I completely ran out of time to pray about it and the people at Ciutelec. I was definitely "rusine" when I had to admit this. (Rusine = embarrassed). The great thing is that God brought two missionaries from Holland, who live near Ciutelec, to come join our team last week. They had a message to share so I was very grateful!

*I was able to talk with the worship pastor at church and the children's pastor about serving opportunities. When you have a community and body that you are a part of, a desire grows to serve there as well. After speaking with them, I think that within the next few months some every now and then opportunities will be available. Since I live in Marghita, and don't feel at all called to live in Oradea, it would be too difficult to serve on a regular basis...the drive is too long.
But, I'm really excited about how God can use my gifts there when He desires to, when they are needed!

*Every year at advent God really clearly lays out teachings for our team. And, this year was no exception. Yesterday as I began writing out my notes for worship this evening, the Holy Spirit's presence was so present.
I am so excited about what God is desiring to grow and mature throughout our community of missionaries here in Marghita! And, the fruit that will be brought about in our lives and ministry areas!

*I wrote a Christmas Musical of sorts for the Foundation's Christmas Party on December 21st.
Pulling this together has/is been a bit stressful. There are SO MANY kids who are involved, and trying to find practice times and light people and costume people. It's a lot. Add this responsibility on top of full time ministry and single mom...yeah, okay I admit - maybe too much. The cool thing is that God is pulling things together and has given me a peace about it just being meaningful - rather than perfect. I think I felt pressure over it having to be "perfect" but now I don't care. I want the 300 plus people who come to this party to see Jesus' birth honestly...I think that will happen. Please pray for this though!