OUR DECEMBER, CHRISTMAS & NEW YEAR

IT was a very full month of celebrations for us.  The Christmas Outreach to the orphanage is in the posting after this one.
We started the month by attending our neighbors' daughters baptism and dinner after.  It was a joyous time as we watched her transformation and celebrated with her and her family.

The teens in our church have now formed a small Youth Group - they had fun with some of the photos below.  Pray for them as they grow in the Lord and encourage one another.

Romania celebrated 25 years since their revolution for freedom from communism; and we are excited that our FIRST EVER PROTESTANT PRESIDENT has been elected and will be sworn into office early February.

We celebrated JeJe's birthday (the 20th); then Christmas Eve, is when we have an "open house" to all our friends here in RO.  Christmas Eve is as big as Christmas day here in Romania.  It is traditionally spent being up through midnight; with visits from carolers and friends.
JeJe's aunt and uncle came from Petrila this year to join us for the week.  We had an especially blessed time in sharing with them, what Christmas means to us.  They also received their "first ever" Christmas stocking on Christmas morning. Remember, JeJe never received a Christmas present until he married this American girl (he grew up under communism until age 17).

We "rang in" the New Year with a "BANG" as friends came to celebrate and brought fireworks for the kids; the whole neighborhood was celebrating the same way, up until about 2am.

Wishing you a Blessed New Year!

Keeping the "New" Pajama tradition

She is the apple of his eye;
she adores him...

CHRISTMAS ORPHANAGE OUTREACH

Where to begin?
This started back in September, with a stirring in our hearts after leaving one of our visits to the children.
We stopped on the country roadside to pray; outside of the small the city where the orphanage is located. Coleen mentioned her heart was stirring to be able to do something for the children for Christmas.  As we prayed, we grew concerned over being able to provide what was in our hearts:  a gift for each child (there are 24, ages 4 to 19) and possible having a pizza party for them (they love pizza).  We gave our concerns over to the Lord, and He spoke to our hearts: "I love these children more than you; step in faith and I will take care of everything."  And did He.
 Coleen put together a "Samaritans Purse" kind of program - but with "Christmas Angels" that people could sign up to sponsor each child with a gift. We continued to pray, as we did not want to go to America for sponsorship; we felt the Lord wanted to use the Romanian people.
Another woman (Teo) in the church, who has a big heart for the children as well (she lost her mother at age 12), took the remaining "angels" (that werent signed up for) to her workplace (an American IT company) - and all the children were spoken for the very first day !  We gave some guidelines on the gifts, but Teo reminded me that "we are in Romania" and we cant expect them to follow the guidelines; so we will check the gifts and make sure all the kids "have".
A week later, Teo took her youngest son to his 1st grade class and shared with the teacher about what we were doing.  The teacher wanted her to send an email to all the parents of the students and give them an opportunity to participate as well.
The gifts came rolling in, and in the end - each child had at least 2 packages filled with gifts (some had 3).
The results were beyond description.  The children and staff were amazed at how each gift was "perfect" for each individual child.  They all told us that they had never received such nice gifts (they are signed up for the Christmas package program with the local SP office but they cant guarantee you a package; its done by request and based on "need" as too many have "abused" the program).
In addition, we were able to purchase pizza, drinks and make cakes for the children and staff - and there was enough pizza for the next day; AND, we received over 30 large trash bags filled with second hand clothing and shoes.  Those that are not good for the children, will be divided between two churches near them that minister to the Roma gypsies (high poverty villages).
Prior to our departure for the day of the Christmas outreach, several more of Teo's co-workers donated finances so that we could purchase food for the orphanage's pantry (sugar, flour, dry cereal, oil, several whole chickens, etc.) - we carried two car loads of presents and two car loads of food.
The Christmas outreach was a day spent with the children.  Elli lead the crafts with Teo helping (and JeJe stepped in for one I just couldnt figure out); James and JeJe lead the "Minute to Win It" games for the older children, with help from those who volunteered to come on the outreach; and the older girls like when we just spend "one on one" time talking and visiting with them.
The Lord truly is amazing in all He does.
Teo and her family came to know Jesus through meeting us at the baseball program; their entire family then started coming to church.  All of them have made commitments to Jesus; watching her faith grow thru being used in this outreach, and the blessings that have come into her family are worth more than words can express!
Teo and her family watched "God's Not Dead" with us, prior to the outreach; as we saw the continued blessings come for the orphanage, we kept telling each other "God is Good"  "All the time".
LOTS OF PHOTOS, because we just couldnt narrow down enough which ones to put and "not" put.
***Follow up - this outreach opened doors for us into the community around us and to be "lights for Jesus" into this large company Teo works for; they are already talking with us about doing something for Easter for the children.

So much JOY in spending time with these great kids

Greeting our Friends