About Me

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We have lived in Romania for 16 years now. We have 6 kids. The top photo of our family is the day we met the twins, just before their 4th birthday. We were granted custody of them on their 5th birthday.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Praise Him all the time!

I have been learning lately that to praise God in our grief is very pleasing to God. It is easy to praise Him when everything goes our way but it is important to praise Him even when things go wrong. It is important to remember that He is good and He loves us even when my day goes bad. He is in control of me and my life. I am His and nothing can separate me from Him and His love. I stand before Him no longer condemned because my life is in Christ! How amazing! I once was blind but now I see, I was once lost but now I am found, I once was dead but now I am alive!

Habakkuk 3:17-19 "Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls-
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills."

I am learning to be still and trust God...if I am anxious then I am not trusting God. I can't be anxious and trust God at the same time..."Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation...My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvaton; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvaton and my glory; The rock of my strength, And my refuge, is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; Pour out yoru heart before Him; God is a refuge for us." Psalm 62:1, 5-8
I am learning to make a conscious effor to cast my cares on Him and find peace...when my mind is fixed on Him and His ways and His thoughts...then He gives perfect peace (Is. 26:3-4). That peace is so wonderful to have I don't want to trade it for an anxious heart!

The Lord is good: "Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods." Psalm 95

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Howerton Happenings

So, here is the latest scoop of what is going on. Today we put in all our paperwork to form a religious association here in Romania. To give us the legal rights to do what we do here and also the right to open a children's home etc. We will take it to court in 3 more weeks and then it will be official.

On September 28 we are official permanent residence and we will go directly to the social worker to see if Ioana is still in the system.I have complete peace about the process we are going to start and know that God is in charge no matter how frustrating it will be and look forward to seeing what children God places with us.

Drew is loving kindergarten. He is just a cutie! I love dropping him off and picking him up and seeing him in his classroom. The classrooms have been redone and are really nice and clean and modern. I have a parents meeting this afternoon. I hope to take crafts for his class to do and other things and help out if they will let me. His teachers are Doamna Dora and Doamna Ramona, please pray for them. We change his shoes when we get to school to "house shoes" kind of like slippers. The slippers we bought him don't stay on his feet though so I need to get him a different pair.

Our weather is shifting from summer to fall. We have cool crisp mornings and warm afternoons. We have picked our apples and have apple sauce for the winter. I love the cooler weather.

We are excited and praying about the Louk family coming to help us out in church and to start a ministry to orphans with the help of our church here in Lugoj. They have just completed a 3 week trip to Romania and then spent another week in Poland with friends.

We are looking forward to having my sister and bother in law...oh I mean brother in law (just kidding Al) here for Christmas. Better known as Uncle Al and Aunt Gigi. Nate won't know what attacked his cheeks!

Nate is 15 months old. He is loud and stubborn and always wants to eat. He loves to talk and carry on a conversation with others. It will be interesting to see what language he starts to speak first.

So, that is a little update in family news. Church news...we have had a lot of visitors pop in and out lately. Pray that we will make time to visit them. Also pray for us and some big decisions we have to make.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Picking Apples


































It was finally a nice day for picking our apples. We have 3 apple trees in our back yard and apples were falling every where and making quite a mess. The boys were big helpers...well at least they tried. Zach and Spence did pretty good with some pushing of a reward for working hard without complaining. Nate enjoyed being out for a while until he got too tired. He even enjoyed sitting in the tree for a few minutes. Drew starts Romanian kindergarten tomorrow. I think I am more nervous then he. I'll let you know how it goes and I will try to remember not to be so nervous that I forget to take pictures!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Family pictures











These were taken under the grape vines that are behind our church.

Friday, September 7, 2007