Romania's Neighbors...

aren't really being friendly right now. (To put it in Caleb's language.)
Russia says Ukraine is stealing gas, Ukraine says that what they are taking is allowed under their contract. News can't really find the absolute truth - only those dealing directly with this situation in both those countries really know what's going on. What the rest of us know is he said - she said and the effects of the decisions they have made. Which, this time round, is hitting pretty hard in a very real way in Europe. Russia decided to cut us all off from importing their natural gas because of their issues with Ukraine. Nice. Bulgaria and Poland are pretty much without any gas at this point. Romania's temperatures have been at about 10 F, before windchill, steady so you can only imagine what no heat in weather like this is for the people of Bulgaria and Poland.
Now, onto how this affects Romania. I actually hadn't heard about it at all (yikes) until a friend brought it up at lunch today. Then I came home and found an e-mail from some friends wanting to know if there was any heat in Marghita. I figured I'd better go read what was happening : )
I found out some really interesting facts about Romania's natural gas industry and importing on some Romanian news sites. All which helped explain why there really isn't anyone talking about a gas crisis here (and why it hasn't hit us in Marghita.)

Here's the deal :

Conflictul dintre Gazprom si Naftogaz incepe sa afecteze si Romania, ieri compania ruseasca sistand furnizarea de gaze naturale prin statia Isaccea. O treime din gazul consumat in Romania vine din Rusia. Daca situatia persista, Romania poate compensa deficitul de gaz din depozitele subterane, aflate in cea mai mare parte in proprietatea Romgaz, companie de stat. In prezent, capacitatea Romgaz este de 2,8 miliarde metri cubi, iar oficialii societatii spun ca depozitele sunt pline. In lipsa importurilor, aceasta cantitate acopera consumul normal pentru cel putin patru luni. Intr-un scenariu optimist, potrivit ministrului Economiei, Adriean Videanu, cantitatea de gaze stocata poate asigura consumul Romaniei chiar si pentru sase luni.

Okay, so what does that say?
The conflict is beginning to affect Romania as well because yesterday the Russians shut down the station from which Romania gets their imported gas (The Isaccea Station...located on the Black Sea.) A third of all consumed gas in Romania is imported and comes from Russia. If the situation persists, Romania can compensate for the gas deficit from subterranean deposits. These deposits are found mainly on the property of Romgaz, a national Romanian company. Presently the Romgaz capacity is 2.8 billion metric cubes but officials say that the deposits are full. If having to make up for the missing imported gas, this quantity can cover the normal gas consumption (for Romanians) for at least 4 months. In an optimistic scenario the Minister of Economy, Adriean Videanu, says that the stocked gas could assure Romania's consumption for even 6 months.

To sum it all up.
Kelsey's apartment, and the rest of Romania, has heat for at least another 4 months, maybe 6, despite being cut off by Russia and the possibility of still being cut off for awhile.

Sure wish I could share some with Bulgaria...oh gosh those people are really suffering right now.

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!