What God has done this week...

That's right people, it's about time I put up a post of praises. And, this week had a few so I definitely want to share them. Hopefully you are encouraged by reading what has happened this week.

Car Insurance. I did not have the finances to pay the monthly amount for this year. The first payment is due November 1st. Two friends of mine asked their fellow teachers at their school if they would be willing to give towards this need. (Wow!!) I got an e-mail a couple of days ago saying that they were ready to transfer the money. AAAGHGHGH! God is SO awesome. Seriously.

Caleb has had two very rough weeks. His discouragement over Grandpa not coming yet (Christmas is still a ways away) along with not having a Dad hit BIG TIME. He was waking up every morning in tears and his days were filled with not listening to Mom and anger. About every other sentence out of his mouth was "Mom, I am so sad that Grandpa is not here. I am just so so so sad. Mom I want a brother or sister. Mom I am so sad, so sad." This was followed by more and more tears. Not to mention that he wore himself out so much that he started taking a nap each afternoon as well. I have been praying so much for his broken little heart and that God would take care of this because I can't just "make it stop" or "fix it". Well, PRAISE GOD, this morning Caleb woke up wanting me to read to him - which we did - and we have had NO problems, only happiness, all morning long. He even prayed awhile with me after breakfast - yay! GO JESUS!

Chris Tomlin released a new album awhile back that I wasn't aware of. I got it on iTunes just this week and have been so thankful for the encouragement through the words and music!

I have often mentioned that I can manage 100 gypsy kids 100 times easier than 8 Casa Alba children. And I have felt this more and more these past couple of weeks. Sometimes I just cry out to God wanting to know why do the children become MORE rude, hurtful and disrespectful with each passing month. I look at them and their behaviors and it rips my heart. (Please remember to pray for those pictures of the kids that you received in June or September. Want a picture? Leave a comment on this post with your e-mail.) Anyway at the end of a difficult group time this week I looked over at Rocio and asked her if we could lay hands on each of the kids and pray for them instead of them praying for each other. She was all for it and it was one of the most powerful times of prayer I have ever had with these children. God, thank You so much...

(note, Click on "Rocio" above to read something amusing about their apartment!)

On Sunday night some women from my team get together at my apartment and we pray together. Usually I am exhausted and can barely concentrate on praying which is not how I want to be. Last night only 1 other person could come and I thought about whether or not we should pray or not since it was just the 2 of us. That was a bad thought to have, I admit it. Anyway I asked her if we could pray with just the two of us and focus in on our kids and stuff. It was amazing. God really was amongst her and I and spoke to each of us during the time. My suggestion for you this week - get together and pray with someone : )

Every morning for about two weeks I have been going to bed early and waking up feeling as if I hadn't slept at all. It has been horrible. I finally realized, hello Kelsey, on Saturday that I should just ask God to fix it. Sunday morning I woke up and actually wanted to get up and out of bed as soon as I woke up because I felt so rested. YAY! Praise God!

Jack O' Lanterns in Romania!

My little garden that I did with Mihai and Joni last spring and this summer only produced one, tiny little pumpkin. The many pumpkin blossoms got trampled by little feet wanting to get to the wild grapes in August : ) One little pumpkin survived though and, as you can see, Caleb and I carved it this afternoon!

The best jack o' lantern tip EVER :

Dry the inside of the pumpkin after carving it. Then rub cinnamon on the inside of the pumpkin. Once you light the tea light candle you will have the best smelling pumpkin ever! I personally just dumped about 1 TBSP of cinnamon inside this little pumpkin and then shook the pumpkin around, over the sink, until the entire inside was covered.

Some sights around Marghita!

I grabbed my camera as Caleb and I headed out the door to meet our team for lunch today. Now you can see what we saw on our way! Upper Left is a very common sight in town. People load down these pull carts with all sorts of items. I usually see these carts being pulled on Fridays as old women head to the market to sell their garden's produce. The carts don't look easy to pull empty, let alone weighed down by scrap metal above. And, this man and women are just at the base of a nice incline - I hope they made it up without too many problems! Upper Right is something I've wanted to take a picture of for awhile. This is a portion of a small construction store. They have painted the bricks outside of their store so that customers can know what the colors of paint for bricks actually look like once dry. And just to the left we have Caleb. He ran ahead of me when I was taking the picture of the people pulling the carts. I found him climbing up to the unused, outdoor patio of a local restaurant.

(And, Dad, just so you know we finally got his hair cut after lunch today!)

Snapshots from this past week!

Notice my son's hairstyle? He found the bag clip in our silverware drawer. He put it in his hair. He insisted on wearing it on our walk over the foundation (where we needed to deliver the bottles to.) Yes, I let him. Yes, every single person we passed on the 15 minute walk through town stared at my son's hair and the bottles we were carrying. It was hilarious! No, he didn't carry all of the bottles above himself. I asked him if he could please carry all of the bottles down the stairs because I had *cough* 6 *cough* bags of trash to carry downstairs as well. Once the trash was in the dumpster he was left with 2 bottles to carry and Mom with 4 : )

Fall's colors have come to Marghita! This is the view off from my kitchen balcony.

Caleb + Phone Call to Grandpa + Candy Corns : Pure Delight!

I must note though that even without Candy Corns his eyes light up just as much when on the phone with Grandpa!

Walking down the stairs...

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God is good!

So many of you read my post on my recent visit with the authorities for the foreigners. That day, in itself, was an amazing day. God showed Himself big time. I was so encouraged and so humbled by his Sovereignty.

Today almost blew last week out of the water.

The same woman who God used so much on my behalf last week came to make a personal visit to all of us in Marghita today. We got a call 45 minutes before and were told to show up with our documents. I was so confused as to why she was coming when we just met with her and renewed all of our papers through her last week in Oradea. I still don't know why but what I do know is that God wanted to do some crazy things again. It was awesome!

She came with her partner from the office. Now, this guy has been "our contact" since I've come. FCE has most connections with him so we always deal with him when we go for Visas and stuff. He is also the man who took my file to "send" to Bucuresti almost 2 years ago. (The file was never sent - sat at that office for 9 months if you remember). Anyway they came and we sat down with them and they explained that they needed to just double check that where we said we lived we actually did live. Then this woman goes off - it was GREAT! We started asking her questions about what the European residency papers allowed Europeans to do. She said that she sees NO PROBLEM WHATSOEVER if those people want to apply for foster care. Adoption is another story. But still, no problem with foster care. Oh man you should've seen the guy who was with her. He has said this was impossible, that the residency didn't mean this. This woman says that she will tell Child Protection whatever they need to hear, and she will prepare whatever papers need to be prepared in order for this to happen. She said to the Europeans on my team today (many of them want to adopt/foster care - volunteers who have been here for years or came here for this purpose), that it is their right with this European residency to try for this. Oh my word was the guy sitting next to her NOT happy about her council. At the end of her conversation she finally said "He doesn't care about anyone." He just looked at her and didn't say anything.

God is moving on behalf of the abandoned children in Romania and on behalf our cases as well. I know I'm not European but I still can't help but be so overjoyed for how He will move through this for these people on my team - and all over Romania really.
For so long we have prayed and prayed and sought God's JUSTICE for these kids. I believe this is part of His response to that.

I told the woman last week and I told her again today that what she is doing for us and explaining to us is God's working. I'm not sure if she agrees or not but what I do know for sure is that God is using her!

Amin.

(Arwen, sorry there were no pictures with this post : ))

New Kitchen!

So for some time now a new volunteer house has been in the works. As certain parts were finished we would start using them. Today which one was that? Why, THE KITCHEN! The kitchen is the size of the old kitchen and the old dining room. And, yes Erik and Simon, it didn't seem as large seeing as how the mess I made in today tripled in size...looked just like how I cooked in the old house. Heck, if you've got the room you might as well use it - right? Anyway, I was the first one to be able to use the kitchen to cook for our team. How fun! Erik and his wife were signed up to cook and clean with me so I asked Erik to snap a picture. Washing spinach for 43 people means a lot of spinach and a lot of time!

I made a really good salad that I hadn't made in awhile. You curry some peanuts or cashews and then make a sesame honey dressing for the spinach. Mix it all together - YUM! We also had not fried, fried chicken : ), Butternut Squash Souffle, Erik made bread - he is the bread king by the way, Baked Potato Soup (minus the bacon) and Italian Tomatoes. It got a little out of hand - I'll have to admit. I didn't mean to make all of the food it's just that once I got to the big outdoor market and found all of these great veggies and stuff...I couldn't help myself.

Check out those big, brown eyes...so beautiful. Anyway, the reason for this picture is as follows. I asked Caleb to go and wash his hands, a minute later I hear a blood curdling scream. I run to the bathroom and see my son with blood all over his mouth and in his mouth. He didn't even know what happened but once I got enough toilet paper wadded in there to soak up the blood I noticed 2 pretty good sized indents from teeth on tongue. This picture is from the morning after, you can see it slightly on the right hand side of his tongue. He said it hurt so bad he needed something cold - hence the Icee! Once the bleeding stopped he was able to tell me that while reaching for the soap he banged his chin on the sink. And, in addition, that the sink was "very bad and we need buy a new one Mommy."

Olimpia, Mihai, Joni and Dani. Yesterday at Casa Alba we sent them on a shopping spree with some coins. The coins were worth hardly anything yet they were able to buy some gum, candy and a very cheap snack. If you knew how much these boys loved "buying things" you would enjoy this picture even more. Olimpia went along 'for the ride' so to speak although I think she enjoyed as well getting some money to buy something with. Mihai and Joni though, they are crazy about money!

Meeting the "Big Big Boss"

Today I went to the police in Oradea to get another Visa for this year. A new woman working there, so kind - so helpful, actually seemed excited about helping us with our Visa processes. This just doesn't happen in Romania - you are usually an inconvenience to whatever business, store or governement building you walk into. She was different. Immediately she begins looking at my documents wondering why I haven't been given early residency yet. WHAT? I immediately had a few words with God - "Uhhh Lord, see You and I have been working on that for 2 years and in March I got a "final no" to get it early. Where is this coming from?"
She listened to my whole story and was upset with how my case was handled, and extremely confused that everyone else got early residency for adoption EXCEPT me. What does she do? She gets me a meeting an hour later with the head of the police!

Before I walked in she told me to "be really tough - I mean it, do not let this guy off this case - it is your right to have this meeting and to be treated fairly." (If you only knew how UN Romanian this woman is - she must be a Christian.)
I sat down and laid out my situation - after some time he finally sort of apologized for his office's part in messing with my case. He also sort of admitted that it was due to corruption. He also told me that I can apply for residency as often as I want until I can formally do it at the 5 year mark (one year from now). He told me to personally call him and he will take my request in hand and be the one to send it to the police in Bucuresti (who makes the decisions about residency.) I was in shock.

Heck YES I will try again before the 5 year mark!

Unfortunately you need to have NOT left Romania 6 straight months before doing so. Since I was out of Romania in late September I will need to wait 6 months from then. By the time I put in my file I will be at the 4 1/2 year mark - God can move the hearts of Kings, why not Immigration in Bucuresti? If they say no again at that point (which I have to wait 6 months for their answer) then it doesn't matter because I will be at the official 5 year mark and can just apply then, as I have been planning on doing anyhow.

Still though - perhaps God will give me the residency at the 4 1/2 year mark?

Regardless - with the visit to the birth mom this week I believe God wanted to show me that He is still here and He is still working on my behalf with the adoption process. What a great day to see Him show Himself in such a CLEAR way - the same week that the social worker will be asking the birth mom to resign abandonment papers.

It was such a crazy day - you could speak with my team members who were there witnessing everything if you want proof : ) I was like 'Pray! Pray! I'm talking to the Big Big Boss! AAGHGH'

Oreo Fun!

A supposedly lost package arrived at the post office this week! What was inside? Some very much appreciated American goodies which included Peanut Butter Cream Double Stuf Oreos!
Caleb went to town on them...well, with the 4 that I let him have for snack.

And we begin with "the dip."

Hmmm, I'm thinkin' this first bite wasn't so bad.

Check out what they look like in my mouth, Mom!

They're all gone now. I want more. My hand is dirty - look.

Mom just pointed out that I could "go fishing" for the pieces that fell into the milk. Yahoo!

Yesterday it was winter, today it's summer.

And let me tell you - I am not complaining one bit about the weather today. The thing that's hilarious is that my apartment is so cold that I put on a winter jacket when heading out this morning. I dressed Caleb in a really heavy jacket as well.
As soon as we got outside I realized that it was in the 70's and how ridiculous we must look in our winter jackets. These cement apartments are really good at retaining whichever temperature they are most exposed to. Since it's been so cold this September that means the apartments are freezing cold as well!

Rocio and I had a really good time at Casa Alba today doing program with the Purple and Green rooms. Well, sort of Purple and Green Rooms. We took out Renata (Reni) and Dorin who are Green room because they are in a group now on Wednesday afternoon. Dorin is probably the most difficult child for me at Casa Alba. On top of that, he is even more difficult in groups. So we put him into a smaller group on Wednesdays to help this, and to not have so many "difficult" children piled together on Thursdays...there are quite a few between even the Purple and Green rooms. Anyway, the group went fantastic today. We are using Romanian material that my friend, Rachel, found at the Christian bookstore in the nearby city of Oradea. She surprised me with the books as a gift- so fun! I am not so impressed with the activities but I like the way they condense the Bible stories so the kids can understand. I wanted to give the material a try and have promised myself to run with it until the end of the book. It is more work in a way because you need to come up with the activities yourself. We actually did the Christmas story today. We sang a Christmas carol and talked about what a manger was like, along with what it meant when Jesus was "swaddled." Kind of a hard word if you think about it! What better way to learn than to actually experience it, right? To do this I brought in a huge piece of fabric and proceeded to swaddle each child in, I'm assuming, a not very accurate but good enough for 5-7 yr olds way of how Jesus was swaddled. To finish off the lesson we made yogurt carton and egg carton little puppets of Joseph and Mary. As always, we ended our time together praying. The kids thank Jesus for something and then they pray for the child next to them to get a Mom and a Dad. When they come to me it's for "un sot" (a husband). Lots of giggling when it comes time to pray that for Kelsey. : )

I am super lame - sorry. I left my camera in the car downstairs or else I would post pictures of the swaddling! Why not go and get the camera? Easy. It's 4 flights down the stairs and up again in the pitch black because there are no lights in my building. You'll just have to wait until tomorrow!

Oh, can I just say one more thing. Mihai. I love this boy. I didn't used to love this boy. Last year though I started praying that God would give me love for him and now I can definitely say he's "my kid" there now. He's also one of the most difficult children there, I know that too. The thing is that today during group he knew ALL of the answers to the questions I asked about our last 2 times of group. It rocked my face off. I was so proud of him! And, this boy who was told he was never allowed back in school again because he was "so bad" last year...this same boy is doing SO WELL in school this year. Thank YOU JESUS!