Round 2 is beginning

Yesterday was the county commission meeting and another 8 children are now officially in our care. Today is moving day for the children of Casa Ana, from one house to the other, that is not quite equipped. Tomorrow we will go to Ludus and get Kati (the 10th child to live in Casa Ana), Janos, Laura, Ibi, Margareta, Daniela (5 siblings), Adi, and Stefan (all for Casa Nadia). **Please pray for the protection of Madalin, Daniel and Sergiu who will still be at Ludus until their case is resolved in the court system. They were officially abandoned and there is no way of contacting their parents. **Continue to pray for peace in the houses and for endurance and patience and an overflow of love for those working with the children.

John 10:10

"The theif comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they might have life and have it abundantly."

I was reminded today that the reason things are so tough is that we are on the front lines. God desires great things for these children-abundant life actually. But Satan would like to steal it all and destroy any hope of healing and restoration and trust. I also remembered before I left the house this morning that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. I needed that reminder as this evening I struggled with 10 year old Zoro (with me in the picture above at camp).

Pray for God to rescue him from the trauma in his past.
Pray for him to learn how to deal with his anger appropriately.
Pray for him to learn how to accept discipline and correction gracefully (I think we all need to learn this).
Pray for us to continue to have a good relationship.

We are changing houses on Friday and we get 7 new children on Saturday. Pray for the transition to go smoothly for all the children.
Pray for Elena, Becky and I to have endurance and patience and grace to work with even more children.

Bruce and Catherine (our director and his wife) leave for the States on Thursday. Please pray for all to run smoothly while they are gone.

Teenagers

I don't remember having so much of an attitude when I was 14, though my parents would probably disagree with me. Today Elis came over to me and said, "I like to make you mad. I like how you react." And all this time I thought I was doing a pretty good job of hiding it when I was mad at the kids.
Overall though, I am so proud of our teenage girls. After the insanity of early this week and our meeting with Bruce, things have definitely changed. They still get upset about things, but they are not running away, they are not getting upset as often and are not staying in it as long. They have also been better about asking for forgiveness when they do mess up.
This is a hard group of kids to be working with because we want to give them freedom, but also protect them. We weren't there to protect the older ones earlier in life and to teach them how to be smart and protect themselves, and it's very scary to even let them stand at the gate and talk with neighboors and other teenagers.
Pray for us to find a good balance of protection and liberty for our three teenage girls Simona, Elis and Maria.
And please keep praying for peace and for the children to learn about respect and obedience.

Rollercoaster

The place I am in life right now is much like a rollercoaster. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. I have waited in line since January to board this particular ride of working with children in our group home. I had heard that it would be a scary ride, but worth it. And now that I am on it, I know it is exactly the right rollercoaster for me. However, there are moments when I want to scream, "Let me off!" Working with these children is having ups, downs, loops, and so on...and not just for me. The children, the moms, the after-school tutors, our administrator, and everyone else involved, in my personal opinion, are working in survival mode. Emotions swing from high to low. Some great highs include the 4 hour afternoon when everyone does their homework and plays calmly; when the children all spend the rest time in their rooms quietly; when we pray together before we start the afternoon routine; when no one runs away; when we're able to calmly discuss a problem with a child and resolve it (oh wait, that has not happened yet). Some of the lows include 4 children running away in one day; a two hour screaming tantrum by our 7 year old; fighting among brothers; screaming; disobedience and absolutely no respect for authority. And the loops-I guess that would be all the chaos of life plus the fact that we're dealing with post-institutionalized children with empty love tanks and a low level of trust.
Oh please pray for peace.
Pray for us to love these children unconditionally.
Pray for them to learn to respect authority.
Pray for small miracles of obedience.
Pray for endurance.
Pray for courage to do the right thing when it is so hard.
Pray for opportunities to speak the truth in love.
Pray for us to have fun together.
Pray that I would operate out of the truth and not out of my emotions (which seem to range from joy to despair to rage to fear to confusion to hope).
Pray for love tanks to be filled up.
Pray for trust to develop.
Pray for us to stick to decisions of discipline though it's easier not to do anything.
Pray for catch up educationally and that we would know how to help.
Keep praying for peace.

Back to school

Well, I never knew how handy teaching pre-k would be, but when it comes to teaching procedures and social skills, I'm glad to have that in my bag of tricks. So far the kids are great! We are having a super time and though they complain a bit with the new rules and starting back to school, I think they are enjoying so much love. The days have been long and full, and I am glad to be home a little earlier tonight so I can rest and go to sleep. Last night I think I was probably more nervous than the kids about today being the first day of school, but we survived and each child had someone to go with them to their class to meet their teachers. I went with Claudia and I had a wonderful impression of her first grade teacher, and it is a small class so I think it will be great (plus maybe when the next group of kids come, some can be with her). This afternoon after school we spent time playing some games like Sorry, Go Fish and Old Maid. We spent lots of time talking about taking turns and how to play nicely.
Pray for the kids to adjust well to a new home, new rules, new life, new school, new friends...what a change. Pray for us to "train up each child in the way he should go so that when he is older he will not turn from it" (proverbs 22:6). Pray for the 3 teenage girls, Elis, Simona and Maria and how we can best accommodate them, nurture them, and discipline them. Pray for their attitudes to change towards school. Keep praying for sponsorships, for the rest of our kids to be protected until they come into our care and for that process, and for both houses to be finished soon.

A new beginning

Oh what a day! It started pretty early with cleaning, buying kitchen lights, putting tables together, directing as the couches were delivered, and so on. Then at 1:00 it was time to go get kids. Bruce and Trian (our sofer...driver...I for some reason only know how to spell that word in Romanian) went to Ludus to get Zoro (11) and Claudiu (12) and to explain to the rest of the kids who are supposed to be coming what is going on and why they can't come now. Nicu and Tina went to get Elis (14) from her house here in town.
Elena (our house administrator), Ella and I (along with 2 american men who are helping with construction right now) went to get the Kalanyos children from their home in a village. We pulled up and they all walked out onto the little dirt road to watch us walk up to the house. It was a fun hour as we waited for Ella and Simona (15 and the oldest sibling in our care) to go find Daniel (8) who was with his older brother tending sheep. We took pictures, and they whole family loved seeing the immediate digital picture. We played and joked and just talked about life. Claudia (7) was attached to me as we are good friends from the preschool program from Ludus. Maria (13) and Cornel (11) seemed ready to go. It was bittersweet when we finally left, waving until they were out of sight.
On our way back into town we stopped at Selgros to buy clothes for these 5 kids. How fun (and expensive) to get everything from underwear to tennis shoes. We just got enough to wear for the next couple days and will go elsewhere tomorrow and this week. After our shopping spree we went to the office to take showers...Ella said she had to scrub the dirt off of Claudia. We arrived "home" at 7:00, greeted by Bruce and all the other kids, as well as all the moms and tutors. We ate pizza, prajitura (dessert) and partied until 8:30. After people started clearing out, we sat down to have a meeting with all the kids and to pray. Kelly and I stayed to help the 2 night moms get kids ready for bed and in bed. I am praying right now that they are staying in bed.
Phew! It's just beginning and I am already tired. School starts Monday and we still have a house to finish and 12 children to bring home sometime soon after that.

It's been a fun and crazy couple of days. Yesterday I was able to spend some time at Ludus and it was good. I got to see so many of the kids and teenagers that I love dearly. And I am finally to a place in my language development that I can understand most and get by without translation. I continue to laugh at myself a lot, but that's okay. I will still be taking language lessons, but not as often.

The houses are still being worked on all day. The carpet is being worked on today and tomorrow and then the furniture that is ready will go in. Possibly tomorrow afternoon we will go buy food for the house and other last minute things. Then men are saying they will be out of the house.

At this point Bruce says we're taking the kids on Saturday. We have permission to take 8 of them so that's what we will do. They are registered for school which will start on Monday. When we pick them up on Saturday we will go clothes shopping.

I can definitely say that God knows what He is doing. He knew that we couldn't dare have all the kids at once. I continue to pray that God will protect those that are still at the Ludus orphanage, and that He would bring them to us in his perfect timing.

Bruce will be having a meeting with the new director of the county commission (which makes decisions about the activities we do). Please pray that his favor will be towards us. He will also be meeting with others in the next couple weeks to particularly talk about our programs at Ludus. Pray for the Lord's will to be done, and that His light would be able to continue to shine in that dark place.

I've been working closely with the administrator of both Casa Nadia and Casa Ana, Elena Suciu. We've been going to the school to get things taken care of, running errands, interviewing candidates for an open tutor position, etc. She's a get-it-done kind of lady. Pray for her to have grace and wisdom as she deals with 10 moms, 2 cooks, 6 tutors, a driver, the budget, a social worker, a psychologist, me...and oh yeah, 20 kids.

Grace and peace to you all from God our Father and our Lord Jesus.

another sleepless night

I have got to get back on a normal sleeping schedule. My body would like to be a night owl, but with early morning schedules, that just doesn't work for me. However, I am not yet adjusted to "non-vacation sleeping hours" and thus am wide awake.

We had a meeting with all the moms and tutors today and it was LONG. Thankfully I understood most of it otherwise it would have been longer. Then we got the kids registered for school. The 8 that are approved to be in our care already will be coming on Saturday and will start school on Monday. Actually Zoro and Claudiu will be home-schooled for a while because they are 11 and 12 and have never been to school (except for 2 months last spring). They are great boys though and I look forward to spending some time with them, though I will not been working with them full-time. They do not require kindergarten in Romania, so the 3 youngest from Casa Nadia will also be staying home once they eventually move in. We may consider kindergarten during the spring semester.

Please continue to pray with us about all the details to be worked out over the next few days.

Sunday Night Fever

Went to my first Romanian wedding and reception today...an 8+ hour event and the party was still going when I left around 10 pm. It was fun and a new cultural experience. Their was lots of eating and between the 5 courses there was dancing. It was great watching people do something a little like the jitterbug to traditional Romanian folk music. I chuckled a few times watching middle-aged men getting into it...they were unstoppable!

Tomorrow starts the beginning of official back to work. We have a meeting with all the new staff of both houses and then possibly will try to get the kids registered in school. We also need for our friends at Child Protective Services to turn in the paperwork to the courts tomorrow morning.

self-pity

I had a thought this morning, as I was just a little bit, sitting in self-pity about something. First of all I already knew it was selfish and a sort of pride, thus sin; but sadly that was not enough to get me out. But then I realized it had the word "pit" in it. And really, who wants to live in a pit? It's dark and lonely and there are probably creepy-crawly things down there. So I thought, "How do I get out of this pit of self-pity?" Thank God for the concordance in the back of my Bible because I easily found a passage in scripture: "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God." Psalm 40:1-3 Actually it goes on to say, "Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord." Praying you would trust Him and let Him take you out of whatever pit you might be in.

Philippians 4:4-7

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7

Hello friends,
I think I shared the above verses with you more for myself than for you all. There is definitely reason to rejoice. Lord willing, in a matter of days (maybe next Friday) our 20 children will be moving into our 2 group homes. I have never noticed before that it says, “The Lord is near,” but I’m glad to see it now because I so need Him to be near. These are the prayers and petitions that we are presenting to God concerning the next few days:

*we still need $50000 for furnishings and for the driveway to be paved (it’s a mud pit right now from all the rain we’ve had this summer)
*continued construction, especially on Casa Ana
*the septic tank put in
*the carpet delivered and laid
*the furniture moved in
*12 of our 20 kids still have not been Okayed by the courts
*we still need sponsorships for 5 kids at $550 a month for each child
*inventory what we already have for the houses and what we need to buy
*decisions about education (this is causing me, personally, the most anxiety, though I’m working on the DO NOT be anxious part)

That’s just off the top of my head. We have several meetings over the next few days and lots of work to do. All of the sudden I’m feeling very unqualified to be the mother/educator/disciplinarian/etc. of 10, but really 20 kids for the time being. I know that I am not in this alone. There are lots of great people that are working with us and God is the greatest helper. He has already answered one of my great prayers. With there being 6 boys in Casa Nadia, I was wanting for there to be lots of great male influence and Bruce shared with me tonight that we can make that work.

There are so many gaps to be filled in, as these kids have missed out on so much in life. Pray that we would have priorities and that relationships and trust would build quickly. Pray for their love tanks to be filled up and kept full, and that they will be able to respond soon to the positive discipline and new boundaries on their lives. Pray for us to make wise decisions about education placements, as we may be keeping some of the kids home for the semester or year.