Grandpa has bought a ticket!

My Dad is calling it "Caleb's Christmas Surprise." Only thing is that Dad already told Caleb that he's coming at Christmas. : ) I don't know how my Dad or Caleb is going to handle the waiting until December 26th, when he'll finally arrive in Marghita. Apparently a certain Grandpa woke up at 3:30am THIS morning full of excitement.

Also, our friend in Germany sent Caleb a kids' digital camera - of course covered in Lightening McQueen (Caleb's absolute favorite). Welcome to Caleb's picture taking world!

Bake Sale Day!

Money is low at Casa Alba orphanage. Low to the point where there isn't enough to last until the beginning of October. And, of course, this weekend just happens to be "Zilele Marghitei" (Marghita's Days).Marghita's Days is an annual fair that happens at the end of September.
They close down the roads in the center of town, have carnival rides and games, vendors, traditional foods made over grills and kettles hanging over fires, and even a stage set up for various musical and dance acts. It's a big deal. I personally love it. Marghita comes alive for these 3 days. Everyone is outside and stays outside pretty much for these 3 days straight. You get to 'see' Marghita.

The deal is this though. The rides : almost $2/ride. Expensive right?. (Minimum wage is about $300/month). If there's not even money for the essentials at Casa Alba to last the month then there definitely isn't money for the kids to be able to go on the rides this weekend.Caleb and I got to thinking about this and came to the conclusion that we needed to do some baking. That baking then would need to be sold for donations towards the kids at Casa Alba being able to go on rides at Marghita's Days this weekend. So what did Caleb and Mom do all morning - make cookies. I'm serious when I tell you that Caleb did his fair share. We made PB cookies and Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies. There are 21 kids at Casa Alba and I wanted to try and get 6 Lei per child. 6 Lei will pay for 1 ride or a small toy. So that came to a total of 126 Lei that we needed to raise. We prayed that Jesus would work through the cookie sales and get the money the Casa Alba kids needed for this weekend. Caleb and I made a sign, stuck the cookies in a huge tupperware box thing and headed to the Foundation. In the four years I have been here I have yet to see a bake sale. I think that's a pretty American thing to do. So, that being said, I really had no idea how this concept would work - especially with the Romanians. We headed to the office and all of the workers bought cookies! And, the coolest thing is, they gave donations that went way above and beyond what the price of the cookie should be. I was so proud of Caleb...carrying around the cookies and putting the money in the little bag. And, hilarious, he insisted on wearing his apron from the morning while we were selling the cookies. He wanted everyone to see that he had really made the cookies - not just Mom. May I add - he has such a sweet heart. When people were confused about the concept or didn't have the money, he just gave them the cookies instead. He was so eager to share!

Right. So we got home and I counted the money - 106. 50 RON! YAY! There were a couple of people who took cookies today and didn't have money but promised to pay tomorrow. Maybe that will bring us exactly to 126 RON? O sa vedem...we'll see.Regardless, Jesus DID provide a lot of money for the kids' enjoyment this weekend. I am so thankful for that.

Next Thursday morning will not be spent making cookies. Thursday mornings are 'school mornings' now for me. I will begin again the Bible classes I started online over a year ago. I am really excited about being able to have a morning per week to focus on this. I believe that investing time in this learning will have a huge impact on the ways that God is using me here in ministry.

This afternoon was spent at Casa Alba with program for the Green and Purple rooms. They are a lot of work! I am exhausted. : ) They are so cute though - even the more difficult kids. I was thinking today that I just wanted to grab them all and hug them for hours and hours!
They really need Moms and Dads...

Waiting for a translator...

Can be really frustrating at times. (Why the heck is my neighbor using a drill through cement at 10:18pm???)
Back on topic now. Sorry. Tonight we had majority Swedish at our team's worship and Bible Study. My boss, Lars, spoke SO MUCH tonight about all the cool ways God had shown Himself to him over the past 10 days. I have to be honest, Lars doesn't really open up that often. He almost couldn't be stopped tonight he had so much to share. This is an answer to prayer, really it is.
Anyway he kept saying things and all of the Swedish people (about 20 of them) would ooo and ahh and ohhh about what he was saying. There were 4 of us there who weren't born in Sweden. 1 of them is married to a Swede so she understands. That left 3 of us to have to wait for the translator to figure out how to translate, and for us to also (HELLO PUT THE DRILL AWAY NEIGHBOR MAN) hear him through the ooo's, ahhh's and ohhhh's.
I think I need to learn Swedish. You wouldn't think so seeing as how I live in Romania. When 90% of your team is Swedish and 90% of all visitors are Swedes wellll...you start rethinking why you ever learned Romanian first!
I should share one huge thing that Lars spoke about tonight.
TODAY he met with the HEAD OF CHILD PROTECTION in a private meeting.
She invited him to this meeting - can you believe it? Child Protection in this county is known to be the worst of the counties in Romania. Most people kind of say things like this "Oh in Bihor county they are really messed up there with Child Protection." This county is known, at least when it comes to abandoned children, to make it SO SO difficult to do anything on behalf of the kids. Well Lars says that he has this meeting today and that he didn't know how it would go. He said that the Foundation's relationship with Child Protection has been very rough for about 6 months now (I had no clue.) He had never met the head head honcho lady before and she actually invited him to a meeting with her. He said that it was AWESOME and that he considers her a "friend to the Foundation" now. OH MY GOODNESS.
Maybe it's selfish but I am praying that God uses this relationship to open up a door for Caleb and me. Is that wrong to admit that? I mean it's not all I hope for with this incredible miracle from today...it's just that I almost started crying hearing Lars speak tonight knowing that it could maybe make a breakthrough from the dead end I'm at right now.

And they're married!

My little brudder is now a married man! He was fighting back tears the entire time - about made me lose it a few times watching him... They had a really cool ceremony that reflected them...that included walking down the aisle together! (That's what the Swedes do as well, in case you were curious. Oh yes, there is no limit to my knowledge of Swedes!)
And, very fun, his wife is all Greek. That meant very warm and welcoming people all weekend, as well as incredible food! I am very thankful I got to go.
Still not sure how I got roped into sitting in the front row with Mom while all my other siblings sat a row behind....

The best part of flying is...

GETTING OFF THE PLANE.

I am back in Marghita. Praise God...whew, it is good to be back home. A really difficult trip coming back - I don't think I've ever had such a jacked up time travelling. Anyway, doesn't matter now, because I am home.
I have a very happy little son here who is throughly enjoying the Lightening McQueen racing track that Grandpa and I found together. We haven't run into any major meltdowns but have talked a lot about how much Mama missed him and how much he missed Mama. He was able to tell me how much he cried for me and how glad he was that I was back. I am grateful that he is able to use words more now than screams to tell me how it is when I have to leave for some time. Yay!
I am really thankful for the time I had with family and with old friends - many who I hadn't seen since the 10th grade! And, as usual, all goodbyes were met with "This just wasn't enough time!" My answer "I know. I know. I know." Caleb said to me this morning "Why couldn't I go with you?"
Both of the questions really come back to the same thing : Romania.
When Romania lets Caleb out of the country then we can finally spend proper time with friends and family. Who knows when that will be? I don't know. What I do know is that it is good to be here. Good to be Mom and Caleb. Good to be working at Casa Alba orphanage. Good to be worshipping with my teammates. Good to have a great apartment that truly is home for me and Caleb. Good to be living here. Good to know that I am used here. Good to know that this is God's spot for me at this time.
So, when will the next trip to America be? Will Caleb be able to come?
I can't answer either of those. What I can say is that it is GOOD to be back home in Marghita : )

From Philly to Denver

Last night I arrived in Denver from Philly. I am throughly enjoying still being in my PJ's at noon! Just spoke with Caleb on the phone and he was so confused how I had just woke up and he was just going to bed. Very fun!
Today I will go and get a new pair of glasses - I can't wait. I have a pair from 6 years ago but the prescription isn't even close to correct.
I am really thankful for God providing the money last month in a surprise gift for me to be able to do this!

Kelsey has landed!

Just wanted to let you all know that I made it safely to the States. It was a little crazy this trip so I am thankful for all of your prayers! More to come...

Here's the more (a couple of hours later now...)

Let me tell you this trip here to the States sure was interesting! It started off with my reserving a seat in the overnight bus from Marghita to Budapest, Hungary (where we have to fly from.) Instead of the nice kind of bus/van deal showing up this very old 15 passenger van pulls up. The driver started yelling at me out the window telling me to "get over here to the other side of the road" so I could get in. I couldn't even tell if it was a legitimate company or not. The van was so dirty inside and smelled awful. I was not a happy camper. Then a lady yells at me because I was in her seat. (When I got on she got off to run to the store to buy something to eat.) I looked at her and said "Ma'am, we are all paying the same so does it matter?" She, in not so many choice words, told me that it did matter because she had set her water near that seat. My patience ran out and I said pretty sarcastically as I moved "Are all of the seats reserved or is there one I can actually sit in?" I know, I should have been more kind. Late at night, awful van and really hot outside all helped to add to the sarcasm. Then we drove around to tiny villages EVERYWHERE picking up gypsies. Now, it's not that I'm against gypsies. It's just that they all had been drinking and they usually don't bathe so so often. So the smell of the van was really bad with the combination of body odor and alcohol. And, I knew then that I couldn't let myself go to sleep because in my purse was the money I needed to get new glasses. Which, to a gypsy, is a lot of money. (A lot of money to me too!) So being squashed in with all of those people I knew I needed to keep eyes open. The driver then set up folding chairs in the back of the van that he stuck into holes on the floor. Four of the people in the van sat in these chairs the entire way holding onto the back seat to not fall. The driver took us to a border very far away because, after I questioned his decision, as he told me "I know the border guards here and they let me get away with the chairs in the back seat etc..." Which means, he bribes them. Because we had to go to so many small villages and to the border far away, the ride took SEVEN HOURS.
It was not worth the $27.62 (70 Romanian Lei).
Got to the airport at 3am Hungarian time and I knew check in would start around 5amish for my flight. I get in line and begin the check-in process when the lady tells me that my FLIGHT IS BOOKED FOR THE NEXT DAY.
What?
Yup, there on the e-ticket it said for Tuesday, September 9th.
No. Impossible.
See Alitalia had really messed up my ticket from the beginning.
1. They didn't let me purchase the ticket at the price that was listed on their website.
2. They refused to let it originally be a an e-ticket so made it a paper ticket.
3. The paper ticket, after 2months, never arrived. "We're waiting on the New York offices to issue it, Ma'am."
4. My little sister did some work with their customer service and 1 1/2 weeks before I arrived they finally agreed to switch it to an e-ticket.
5. The e-ticket they issued was for the wrong date.
6. "Smart" Kelsey didn't realize this until she was standing at the counter checking in.

Here's where GOD'S GOODNESS kicks in. The flight I needed to Rome left at 7am. It was 5:20am when I realized the date was wrong. The Alitalia office opened at 5:30am but the lady was there at 5:22am. She immediately took care of the problem and only charged me $135 to switch all of my flights to Monday. If I can prove that Alitalia messed up I'll get a refund of that.
And, the cool thing is this, I handed her my debit card to pay for it and she said she was really sorry but the system wouldn't let her use Mastercard - the system was too old. I got some one-time cash gifts in June that I had just left in my wallet so that when I came to the States for this trip I could use it for needs now. It was awesome, she said I could use American Dollars to pay for the charge - even though we were in Hungary. Thanks to God's provision with those one time cash gifts I was able to pay for the ticket change.
I made it on time for the flight. And, another blessing, the 9 1/2 hour flight from Rome to New Jersey, I had 2 seats all to myself. The flight was only about 1/2 full. It was great!

It was fun to see NYC out of the plane window on the landing...and to see the Statue of Liberty. All of the Italian on the plane were so excited - it was fun to watch them. It's been a really long time since I have been to NYC. I know that I wasn't going there but still neat to see it!

The Newark airport staff wasn't exactly so friendly in explaining to me where I could catch the shuttle train to the NJ Transit station (where I was catching a train to meet up with my friends picking me up.) Because of this I missed my train by TWO MINUTES. I know. Lame. I had to wait an hour for the next one.
It was cool though because I got to talk to so many people about Romania while waiting there! At the same time though my brain was going "48 hours since you went to bed, 48 hours since you went to bed..."
I got on the train and met a really nice guy who helped me figure out the whole how to get off the train deal. Let me tell you - it's not what you think it should be like. Basically they announce just before your stop which train doors they'll open to let you out. So you have to run through the cars trying to find those doors and get out before the train goes on. I was really thankful for his help, and I successfully got off!

Seeing my friends, pretty much family actually, thankfulness overwhelmed me.
There are few people who have known me since I was younger through now.
This family has known me since middle school and they were our closest friends when my family lived here. Their kids and us Winters' hung out a lot. The Mom was such a good friend to me and my Bible Study leader back then.
Seeing them just made me want to cry. I was telling the Lord this morning "I'm just so happy!" I really couldn't think of any other words...

Well tonight I head to the church that my Dad pastored when we lived here. I'm so excited to see what God will do through this time! Just need to find an acoustic guitar...I forgot to ask for one awhile back...I will teach them one of the Casa Alba songs so Lord, could you please get me a guitar for tonight? : )

Ouch!

My foot really hurts. Something happened at church today. I can't pin point when it happened but I'm thinking that when I was jumping or dancing during worship that I must have done something to it. Anyway I am now limping around everywhere...ay yai yai!
Hours before I leave on a super long journey to get to the States I can barely walk.
Nice one Kelsey. I asked God to heal it and He hasn't yet. So for now I have my foot on a block of ice.

I'm so thankful to be able to head back to Pottstown and then on to my brother's wedding. It tears me to pieces inside that Caleb, yet again, cannot come with me.
Every time I go I swear it's the last time I'll have to leave him here but I never seem to be able to make it work otherwise. Good friends of mine will be filling in for me while I'm gone this time.
Please pray for his little heart that he won't be too angry that Mom is gone again. Now that he understands more I know it's difficult on him that I'm going to see Grandpa, Grandma and all of the aunts and uncles without him. He loves them so much and doesn't understand why "Romania said no."

I snapped this picture at the market this past week when we were watching our friend's son, Adi. We bought a bunch of fruits and veggies for Casa Alba with money left by the team from England! And, just to explain the other picture. What you are looking at is celery root.
Connected to that is immature celery stalks. They use celery root here all the time but not the celery stalks. So when you go to the market you can find celery root all over the place with very not good tasting celery stalks attached to them. I would love it if one of the vendors would be willing to let the stalks grow and bring them in for me to buy...hmmmm, now that's an idea!

One Away! Wow!

God's ways of provision rock my face off, seriously. I have really seen this especially with finances as I am only ONE AWAY from reaching the goal of 10 people giving $30/month.

So, is that you? (Smile on my face...)

Click Here :
www.cten.org/giving

Click on 'Missionary Support' and then search for me, Kelsey Winters, Romania.

And, can I just share a pretty big financial praise in addition to the one just stated?

Due to some donors giving some special gifts in the month of August (which I received now for the month of September) ALL ALL ALL of my financial needs and obligations were 100% covered for this month! I don't regularly get special gifts, as I did in August. So, I am very thankful that during this time of trying to raise more monthly support that I was - for this month - able to pay the bills. That is a huge praise - huge. It's been quite a few months in a row now where I have been at about 30% of what I need. To have a month where everything was covered - wow! Thank You Jesus!

I am grateful...

for my new washing machine. And, my car. Very grateful for both.
Yesterday a friend from Sweden and I were discussing differences in how long it takes to travel between our home countries and Romania. For Swedes, it's about a 7 hour trip total. That includes time driving to Budapest, Hungary all the way until landing in Sweden. The flight is usually just about 2 hours long. I told her that if I lived that close to my family that, most likely, every month there would be visits. Plus, for $100 round trip for a ticket...seriously, you can't beat that. An average ticket to the States is about $1000 bucks for me. My travel time next Monday to get to the States (in comparison with just 7 hours to Sweden and only a 1 hour time difference) will be about 22 hours straight (that includes a 7 hour time difference).
My trip back from the States a week after that will be about 30 hours straight...the longest I've ever had to travel in one straight shot.
Anyway I was just thinking that we become so much more grateful for convenience when we haven't had it. I don't think I've ever had so much thankfulness in doing laundry as I do now having my own machine in my home. I've never ever said a prayer of thanksgiving every time I've gotten into my car, as I do now having my own vehicle to use here.
The same would be true of visiting family and being with them I think. That is, if we ever lived near each other again.
Washing Machines
Cars
Plane Tickets
Kind of an odd mixture for a post!