Cars Movie

Joni was soon distracted from the movie by Caleb's garage!
Mihai was excited that Joni gave up his spot on the couch in front of the TV!
Daniela couldn't stop giggling over my hand weights!

Joni and Mihai are probably two of the most difficult children that we have at Casa Alba orphanage. It's not their fault...both were abandoned as babies and after some months in the hospital with little care were moved to Casa Alba. Where, they have lived up until now - they are both 7 years old. Behaving at school is really hard for both of them because their brains, due to lack of bonding to their birth moms or a new mom in their early years, don't function the same way as a 'normal' child would. Most people in their lives though just look at them and say "Why can't you be more good at school? Why? Why?" Not even they can answer really... God really burdened my heart for these 2 boys some months back. I meet with them once a week now and talk about God - and apply what we talked about in a hands on way. God has really shown Himself through these times. And, I've started having some authority in their lives as well. Which, I never thought could ever happen. So I told them almost 3 weeks ago that if they could each get 5 "good" days at school (the teacher at the end of the day lets them know if they were good or bad) then they could earn a trip to Kelsey's house, complete with popcorn and pop, to watch the movie "Cars." Joni had some "Cars" stickers in his wardrobe and I had noticed them...he couldn't believe there was a movie that went with them! After almost 3 weeks both of the boys earned 5 "good" days at school each. So today was the movie day! Daniela also goes to school with them and always is "good" so she came as well. The three of them are in the same class at school. Daniela came to Casa Alba a little over a year ago, along with her 3 sisters. You can see that she bonded to her birth mom and had the Mom presence in the home for the first 6 years of her life. There is such a difference between how she thinks and makes choices in comparison to Mihai and Joni. Anyway, the three of them came over. I snapped some pictures!
And, pray for the three of them. Joni and Mihai are told that they will never get a Mom or Dad because they are "so bad." This is SO UNTRUE. I believe that God has a family in mind for each of them. It is hard though with Romanian Christian culture to have families open to adopting. God has the power to heal those paralized (as we heard a testimony of 2 weeks ago in church), God can lead a Christian family to each of these boys!
And Daniela...she and her sisters want back with their Mom. I don't know if that would/could ever happen in regards to Child Protection/Police etc... Most people say it will be impossible for a family to want to take all 4 sisters, and our foundation wouldn't dream (thank goodness) of splitting them up. God is God of the impossible!