Howerton Family

God is good.

2011-11-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that the time we have spent in the states so far is usually the total amount of time we spend in the states. Previously we have only spent 3 months here and 3 months is already up! I wanted to share some blessings of this past week. We were part of a missions conference in Fort Scott, KS. We stayed on a 150 acre farm with a family. I want to share with you what a blessing this family and this church were. These people are true examples of people living out the gospel. Humble and sweet spirits. Never afraid to quietly share their testimony and faith in their community. The family we stayed with had no t.v. They were a true example of what it means to write the Word of God on their hearts and the hearts of their children. They do chores on the farm together, learn how to care for animals and provide things they need for their family. They lead a simple life, not caught up with the things of this world. Their father has his own buisness and he is not concerned with making money, the first thing he does even if he looses busines is share his faith with potential customers and give them a track. These peoples mission is to live a life with a passion for Christ that is above all else. It was really refreshing and convicting and I'm so thankful for the time we had with them. They memorize Scripture together, they pray together, they have missionaries stay in their home often (and it is not at all a large home, the kids were kicked out of their rooms as we invaded them). They shared their food with us from Saturday night until Wed night. The kids LOVED the farm. Spencer has decided to become a farmer. The drove "Mater" around (a small off road vehicle for driving around the farm), the did chores, fed the animals, played tag on the hay bales, made boats and raced them in the water running off from the pond after it rained all day, and they made new friends. It was difficult to leave. Our oldest son especially took it hard. If you think about it pray for him especially. He is almost 13, the oldest child, an mk and this is the first time he has made friends really his age. The last time we were here he was still too young to understand what it means to say goodbye, now he understands and it isn't easy. He really enjoyed this family and their children, especially their 15 month old daughter. My kids just love babies and continue to ask when we are "getting another one." He understands now that he either won't ever see these new friends again or by the time he does, they will all be 3 or 4 years older. He is enjoying things here and meeting people but he struggles with good byes and he is missing his home in Romania. It is hard to explain but really our hearts or in two. We love being here and seeing friends and family but our hearts also miss home!

On a lighter note, we are going Christmas shopping tomorrow for the cousins. We will be busy next week with two missions conferences and won't have time before we celebrate with them on Thanksgiving week. We bought our first bags of Christmas M & M's. But I noticed that people are already saying Merry Christmas and playing Christmas music...have they forgotten that Thanksgiving is next and not Christmas?

We took the family to IHOP this morning since we got back late last night we didn't have anything here at the house for breakfast. We sat down and ordered. Then the waitress surprised us by telling us the 3 men (veterens) sitting at the table next to us wanted to pay our check...wow, God's kindness in meeting our physical needs while here has just really been overhwelming!

I hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving. Thanks be to God from whom ALL blessings flow! We have been overwhelmed with the gifts He has lavished upon us!

The Twins

2011-09-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

The twins speak English really well without much of an accent BUT, you can tell sometimes they haven't completely grasped the English language. Joey takes everything literally. For instance, I said we were going to "run over to the church office." We got in the van and headed over there and he said, "but I thought you said we were running over there." I had to explain to him that "running somewhere" meant we were going to make a quick trip!
Another Joey moment. My sister told him to , "talk to the hand" and he put his lips near her hand and began to speak to her hand...soo funny! So, she explained to him what that meant. She said it again a couple days later and I looked at Joey and said, "you better talk to her hand, that's what she told you to do." (I wanted to have a little fun with him) I could see his wheels turning, my sister reminded him of what it meant and I taunted him a bit and said, "come on Joey, talk to the hand" so he kind of got a funny look on his face, bent over and said (to her hand), "ok, I'm talking to your hand." It was so funny!!

Scripture memory with the twins is always fun. We use the NKJV just because most of the verses I have memorized are in the KJV and it is hard for me to learn another version BUT I may have to re think that because the twins really struggle with the words like, therefore, whosoever, etc. We have to repeat, repeat, repeat those words before they can even say them let alone memorize them. We are learning Psalm 1 and I just have to re phrase some parts so they can understand and so they can actually say the words!! They really struggle with words where a letter is said quickly and not heard.

Another example of a language blunder. We were at the zoo yesterday and we heard the Gibbons before we saw them. We discussed going to see the gibbons and Gina commented, "I'm ready to go see the bigots." She was referring to the gibbons!

We struggle a bit with phonics and reading so if anyone has any brilliant ideas with how I can help the twins with this let me know!!

Baron is stateside and will join us Friday...I think I need a month long vacation to recover from taking care of the kids for 6 weeks without him :)

God's Kindness

2011-08-11T02:17:00.000-07:00

I would like to share with you of God's kindness to me and my family. He is so kind to give us the love and support of many friends and family and of many people we have never even met! I have a dear friend who worked so hard to grocery shop and fill the mission house kitchen with a weeks worth of groceries, ah delicious American food! Another family spoke with Shepherding Groups at North Hills and arranged for people to leave gift cards and games and puzzles at the house for the kids. We were greeted with envelopes with money for grocery shopping and we were ushered into a beautiful mission house! Sometimes after a really dry spell and a really hard time God says, ok enough for awhile let me show you my love through your fellow believers pouring out love on you. My God is so good and I am so thankful to all those who showered us with your love through these gifts and well wishes!

The Journey!

2011-08-10T03:42:00.000-07:00

I would like to say first that, I will not be doing that again alone :-)!! There were some moments I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry so I did both. God kept reminding me the whole trip that his grace is sufficient and he never puts us through anything we can't handle with his help. I guess you would have to ask my kids to get their perspective but I feel I remained fairly calm and stable through out the trip. I cried a little but nothing out of control :-)! (My sister enjoys it when I cry because I am not a cryer).

Well, our trip started off Sunday afternoon. We had said goodbye to our church family that morning. We left for Budapest and met the Tyler's for KFC lunch in Timisoara. They had just returned from the states the week before so we wanted to see them again before takin off. We arrived in a town near the Budapest airport and attempted to go to bed early. It was difficult to sleep in the little twin beds and with the heat of the rooms, the rooms cooled off finally after the sun went down. I believe the kids got in about 8 hours of sleep that night so I was pleased with that.

Our day started Monday morning at 5:00 a.m. We were heading to the airport at 6:00 a.m. The adventure that seems like we have been waiting for forever was finally here! Baron got us to the airport got us checked in then we were on our own, through the first security check of many. I tried to organize us throuh this but it seemed through every security check I had to be delving out commands to the children, put your back pack in this box, go through the check one at a time, wait on the other side etc... We didn't have to take our shoes off though and we didn't wear belts or anything else that we had to take on and off. Our flight to London was uneventful.

We arrived in London and went through security again, they had a family line and were very helpful in calling the kids through one at a time, two of the kids "beeped" and had to be searched. Made it through to our flight to London and we were on what I thought would be the hardest part of the trip...little did I know! The flight was 8 hours and 30 minutes long. The kids were entertained almost the whole time with the movies and kids shows, they watched Kung Fu Panda 2, Rio, and some other cartoons and animal shows. Since my kids don't watch tv much they were enraptured for almost 6 hours of movie and tv watching!! Everything was great until the last hour of the flight when Spencer got motion sickness and started to vomit. He gave me warning though and we made it to the bathroom everytime. The trouble came when it was time to land...I moved Nate across the aisle next to Gina and sat next to Spencer and Joey. We were landing and not allowed to get up and Spencer started to violently throw up, we had a barf bag when all of the sudden with no warning, Joey vomits all over himself (and no I didn't not have a change of clothes with us!!) arms with barf bags were coming at me in all directions...at that point I think I almost chuckled because it was just to funny to be true! I don't think the people around us or the flight attendent will ever forget the family with 6 kids in their red shirts and all the vomiting!! So, now the fun begins, you would think that the vomiting would stop since we had landed but poor Spencer just kept on, by this point it became dry heaves though because he had nothing left in his stomach. We had about 8 barf bags on us. So, I'm trying to be excited about landing in America with the twins but poor Spencer was so miserable and Joey had puke all over him! He cleaned up as best he could with wet wipes (thanks Rebekah for telling me to bring wet wipes). In Chicago we had to go through customs and immigration. We had to get all our luggage which meant 3 carts and poor Spencer had to push one as he is literally vomiting ever 10 minutes as we are walking through the airport. We first went through the first agent and he stamped our passports and then sent us to the immigration agent. First we had to get our luggage. Big challenge, then we went to the agent and it only actually took about 10 minutes. He opened their big envelopes and told me, they are citizens, just go to the social security office to get their numbers issued and you can get them passports anytime! It was hard to be excited with little Spencer still vomiting. We then had to put all our luggage through a security check, it all had to go on the conveyer belt and through the xray, then we had to load it back up on the carts and go get rid of it again. We realized that at the security check we had swapped one bag with someone else, so we had to stand around and wait as Spencer continues to vomit for someone to find our bag and bring it to us...I almost just abandoned that bag (Kendra's car seat) but we waited and it came. Then we come out into the Chicago airport and there are people everywhere and reporters everywhere, I have no idea who was coming but it must have been someone important and they must have been a little bored waiting because one reporter hollered out to me, "hey, m'am, we would like to interview you on what it's like to travel with so many kids!" And then he started laughing! We transfer over to domestic flights and look on the screen and low and behold our flight to Charlotte says cancelled! I didn't panic yet, surely I thought there would be another flight out. We had to go wait in a very long line to talk to a ticketing agent, had to leave the line with the whole family as Spencer was just so violently ill. Came back and asked the people to let us back in line where we were. We get up to the agent and she tells me there are no more flights out tonight and that is when the tears started to flow, Spencer at this poing was laying on the floor sleeping, the other kids were sitting on the place where they weigh the bags. The agent tells me there is a flight out tomorrow but we have to go through New York and get to Charlotte at almost 4 the next afternoon and that she can get me a discount on a hotel and I started crying and told her I couldn't afford a hotel! Then she told me that maybe we could sleep in cots in the airport and I really started crying, and then Zach started crying. She then went to talk to her supervisor, and I decided I would use the cash I had changed into dollars that the boys had saved up and just re pay them later when the agent came back and said her supervisor authorized her to give us a hotel vouture and food vouture. It literally took over an hour with the ticket agent to get everything worked out. The hotel was the Renaissance Hotel and she told me my food vouture would go farther at the airport then at the hotel but I didn't want to go back into the airport and the vouture was for $84 and I knew my kids wouldn't eat that much food. The agent asked me to just wait a few moments more and she went to the vending machine with her own money and bought us some bags of big pretzals and gave us some granola bars she had. We walk again to find the hotel shuttle and wait for a while when we finally spot the shuttle for the hotel. Spencer is still vomiting. We got to the hotel and my kids are in awe..."wow, this is like a palace!" They put us in a room with 2 double beds and a pull out couch. I order some food we eat, and are in bed by 8p.m. and as soon as the kids heads hit the pillows, they are out like a light. I slept from 8 until midnight when Spencer got up to vomit again and then I couldn't go back to sleep due to the jet lag. I was so thankful though that all the kids slept through until about 4:30 a.m.

So, our day Tuesday started at 4:30. We split some breakfast from Starbucks and take the 7 a.m. airport shuttle. We arrived early enough that there wasn't a long line at the ticket agent and got our tickets and once again, went through security, taking off our shoes this time and putting all our back packs through the x ray. They also had a family line for us to go through. I forgot to mention a couple funny things. Zachary on the London flight told me, "mom, I like what they say when they ask to take my trash, 'may I collect your rubbish'" he thought that was so funny. He also at one point said, "mom, I get the feeling we are being watched." And sure enough we were watched and approached many times with the question, "are they all yours?" I was very thankful for their behavior and thankful for the comments on how well behaved my children were :-). Airport food is soo expensive, so I bought a few bananas and we split those. Made our flight to NY, and had a short lay over in NY where we only ate a box of Ritz crackers due to the prices again of airport food! We finally arrived in Charlotte where our bags were already waiting for us in the luggage office. We went out and found Papa Mac and breathed a sigh of relief!
There were several nice people along the way of our journey who stopped and just were so kind when we were in distress Monday late afternoon and evening. I can't tell you how kind God was to us along the way, I am just unable to put it into words. I did want to share this story as much as possible and thank those who were praying for us because your prayers are what kept me sane the whole trip!

Long Time No Post

2011-07-27T02:43:00.000-07:00

We are counting down the days until our big trip to America! We leave 12 days! We have mixed emotions about this trip. It has been long anticipated, we have not been home on furlough for 5 years. Nate has spent all but 3 months of his life in Romania. Drew has spent all but 6 months of his 8 years in Romania. The twins, well they have never been to the states. Spencer has spent 9 1/2 of his 11 years in Romania and Zach has spent 9 1/2 of his 12 years of life in Romania. In the past 10 years we have been in the states for a total of 7 months. I'm excited but also realize it will be quite an adjustment! For one thing there will be sensory overload, lots of sights and sounds and way too many choices! We are excited to see family. Some of Baron's side of the family we haven't seen in 5 years. We haven't seen his parents in 3 years and my parents haven't seen the grandkids in 2 years.

The down side of leaving, is leaving behind a family that is sad to see you go and worried of how they will cope without you and worried you won't come back! We keep assuring them that God is their Rock and He holds all things together!

We have seen God working in the lives of people. I'll share one story about a boy who I will call John. We have known him since he was a toddler. He is almost 10 now. He lives in a two bedroom apartment with his grandparents, his mom and dad and sister and uncle. His grandma is raising him. Grandma has 3 grown children who are all in some capacity mentally unstable. The youngest of the sons married a lady who was of a limited mental capacity and they have two children whom I will call John and Sarah. John is a little slow but he has come such a long way. He is passive and quiet but is learning to think for himself. We always wonder how much the kids at church are really soaking in well, after camp we were excited to see that John is soaking in a lot! He was being made fun of at camp and our son reported to us that John stuck up for himself, he told the boy making fun of him, "It doesn't really matter what we look like or if we are good at sports, God cares about our hearts." Our Sunday school teacher, Cristina has really been teaching the kids to accept each other not based on appearance or wealth but to accept each other as Christ does. John also has talked a lot with his grandma since camp and told her how he has invited Christ into his heart of sin to make it clean. He told her he doesn't like playing outside anymore with the kids who are mean and only talk ugly (he lives in a rougher side of town). He reads his Bible alot. When you think of him pray for him. He also told his grandma he was really sad to see our boys leave because they are his only friends. We are so thankful to see God working in this young boy's life and pray that John will always stay open to the working of God in his life!

Kindergarten

2011-05-19T05:38:00.000-07:00

This year we were blessed to have a recent graduate of Northland Bible College in Wisconsin come stay with us and help with teaching our 3 children in K-5 and she also played the piano at church. The twins were 6 years old and they needed a full time Kindergarten program to get them ready for first grade and with homeschooling 3 other boys I didn't think I could prepare them properly so we sought out a teacher. She had her hands full with the twins. I am so thankful for all the work she did with them. We sent Nate over just because I thought maybe it would entertain him and give him something to do. He had just turned 4 and I told Sarah if he was a problem to let me know and I wouldn't send him anymore. I had no idea that before he even turned 5 he would actually graduate from K-5 and be ready for first grade in the fall!
I am finishing up the last week and a half of K-5 since Sarah has gone back to the states and I am so thankful that she took this off of my shoulders this year.

I am also thankful for the close friendship she made with a young lady in our church, Cristina. Cristina has such a servants heart and helps us immensly with the children's program at church and with after school tutoring. Cristina and Sarah became close friends and it was a blessing to see this. I don't think Cristina has ever had a close Christian friend before and it was a real answer to prayer.

Please continue to pray for Sarah, she will spend the summer with her mom and sister and then they will move to Guam and Sarah will come back to another part of Romania for the next school year. After next year Sarah is unsure of what God has for her so pray that God will give her clear direction.

Bucuresti

2011-05-18T01:08:00.000-07:00

Last week we took our long anticipated final trip to the U.S. embassy in Bucuresti, Romania. We were told that we would spend much time at the doctor waiting for test results so we planned on the doctor one day and the embassy the next day. After much thought we decided to fly instead of drive and cut out one night motel stay and cut out much stress and exhaustion on Baron's part, and much stress of two chattery twins for a 8 hour car ride each way! We got up at 4:30 a.m. Wenesday morning for our 6 a.m. flight. We arrived at the doctor to find out that what we thought was going to be about a $400 visit was only $80. They didn't have to get any immunizations or have any blood work done!That also meant we were done in just an hour and we could have had our visa appointment the same day and flew back the same day without staying the night, but we couldn't change the appointment or the flight so we just roamed around Bucuresti! We found a mall that we thought had Ruby Tuesday and found out we were wrong so we had dessert first at Cinnibon...oh so good. It was our 15 wedding anniversary and so we figured we deserved to have dessert first :-).

We then rode the subway back to the other mall that has the Ruby Tuesday. I enjoyed my all time favorite American food, chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce. We enjoyed a nice quiet anniversary dinner...ok minus the quiet part since the two chatter boxes were with us!

Thursday we went to the embassy and it only took an hour and the twins had visas in their passports. Pretty simple just a little costly! Our flight out wasn't until 9:40 in the evening since we just weren't sure how long it would take at the embassy. A certain girl was very tired and became very cranky and we had no place to go so she just got crankier and crankier and we got quite a few stares because of her behavior but thankfully she snapped out of it after a few hours! We hung out at a mall (it was rainy so we couldn't enjoy a park). Then made our way to the airport. We caught the bus to the airport right at the Arc of Triumph so we snapped a couple of photos.

Adoption News

2011-04-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

We are very close to all being American citizens! On April 28, Baron goes to Bucharest to file the twins I 130. We are thankful to announce we have the money needed for that appointment. It will take a couple weeks to process that and then we can go for our second appointment. The twins have to be present for that interview and we need $1,100 for that appointment. Please pray with us. The rate of the dollar has been dropping recently and that makes it even harder for us to save for the adoption needs!

April

2011-04-05T00:37:00.000-07:00

I always hate tagging a blog as one of my favorites only to visit it over and over and find there are no new blog entries...I am guilty of having a blog and not keeping up with the entries! Maybe not too many people come to my blog and are disappointed because, well, not too many people come to my blog :). If you are one of my huge number of followers I aplogize for not keeping it up!!

I haven't had much to say, not much going on so I haven't written. I don't like to put up an entry if I have nothing to say. There has been a lul in life, the winter is turning into spring for that I am thankful. I have planted some flower seeds and bulbs and hope they take off. The kids and I know we are coming to the states on August 8, we have our tickets. We are plugging away with school with hopes of being done the last week of May.

The twins are Howertons, that is old news. They will be American citizens by this fall. The first step is April 21 after our two year custody date we can go to Bucharest and file the first papers for $420 per child. Then after they are approved we have to take the twins to Bucharest and fill out more papers and pay another $550 per child. Then they get a green card and when they step foot into the states, it will actually be at the Chicago airport, they will officially be American citizens.

We look forward to visiting with family and friends and getting re aquainted with what life in America is like, I guess it will be me getting re aquainted, the kids have never really known what life in America is like so it will be fun for them! We will enjoy the library, going to Walmart and seeing "where poptarts come from". I will have to really work with Joey on keeping quiet, he sees something strange to him and he will open his mouth and say very loudly what he is thinking. So, far it hasn't been a problem here because he usually says it in English and they don't understand but when we go to the states, we may be embarrassed and have some explaining to do! I was thinking of putting a sign around his neck that says, "do not listen to anything he says, if he said something to offend you, please forgive him for he knows not what he says is offensive!"

Jehovah Jirah

2011-02-21T06:25:00.000-08:00

We have asked our friends and family to pray for the details of our upcoming trip to the States and I wanted to share with you how our Great God has provided. In just two months time individuals have sent us enough extra money that we have been able to set aside $2,000 for our plane tickets. We just found out today that a supporting church of ours is sending us another $2,000 for plane tickets. So far, the one way tickets we have found for the kids and I in August total $4,000 so we are almost there! We have also been praying for a translator who also knows how to play the piano and today we received a phone call from a Romanian pastor that his son is interested in fulfilling this role and he plays the guitar and piano! He is our great provider and when we trust Him and wait for His timing He always comes through.

February

2011-02-03T04:22:00.001-08:00

We made it through January. This really is the hardest time of year for me, from about the second week of January through the end of February. It is so cold, my kitchen is very cold and I get unmotivated to do any sort of cooking. My husband has been so kind to get up at 5:30 a.m. this week to start fires so the house can be semi warm by 7 a.m.

Good news, we have the twins birth certificates. This spring we can file for them to become American citizens, we just have to figure out which way is easiest and cheapest. They are officially Howertons...still no "blue passaport" as Joey says, but we are closer.

More good news, we are really looking forward to a trip to the states later on this summer/fall. In the almost 10 years we have been here we have only been in the states for a total of 7 1/2 months. This will be our longest time away, we plan on staying the whole school year. I am really looking foward to being part of a Co-op and the fellowship for myself and my kids. I am focusing though on not letting us get so caught up in all there is to do that we run ourselves to death. Life in Romania is so laid back I need to try and keep it that way for my kids. I am thankful though that they are very flexible for the most part and seem to adapt well, I worry most about the twins. Please pray with us about all the details of this trip, there are still alot of things to work out, translator, replacement, finances, etc. Also, be in prayer for the people that we minister too, it will not be easy for them, it will be big adjustments for everyone involved. I do think though, that if we all have a positive attitude it can be a learning experience for us all, learning to depend on God and not ourselves! Please also be in prayer especially for Gina still. She has a very strong will and for about two months now has had more screaming fits then in the whole time she has been with us. Pray that we will have wisdom, love, and patience to deal with her and that God will get a hold of her little heart. I can't believe the twins will be turning 7 in just two short months. They grew especially fast I think because we never knew them in their babyhood. The year they turned 4 was their only "baby" year that we knew them and only through visits. That is really hard for me.

The twins and Nate are enjoying kindergarten this year with their teacher Miss Sarah. Please remember to pray for her also.

Bucharesti, Romania

2011-01-13T03:36:00.000-08:00

We took a trip to Bucharest on Monday and Tuesday of this week. We had an appointment at the embassy and we took a couple from our church so she could see a cardiologist there. Let me start by saying, I'm glad I don't live in or near Bucharest. It is not really a pleasant city. They do have lots of stores and "things" that we can't get on our side of the country but I would much rather drive across the border to Budapest, Hungary for a shopping trip (4 1/2 hours on decent roads) then to Bucharest (7 hours and terrible roads). There are so many street dogs in Bucharest. The people drive crazy, for example, we were in a long line at a traffic light, maybe half a mile long, and an SUV decided he didn't want to wait in that long line so he just jumped up on the sidewalk and drove all the way up to the light so he wouldn't have to wait any longer. The drive to and from Bucharest was so foggy we really couldn't see any of the country side. We drove along the border of Serbia and were stopped by border police. On the way back we were also stopped by police but no tickets. I thought it was funny, about 45 minutes out of Bucharest begins a 4 lane highway. You would think that with cars speeding along that road the police would pull people over the regular way, by turning on their lights and chasing them down with their car but they don't, they still clock you, then stand out in the road waving their arms for you to pull over...kind of dangerous when doing 150 km/hr! So, I guess I have said all the negative let me mention the nice things about the trip.
We knew there was a Ruby Tuesday restaurant there but didn't even bother to look it up on the internet because we decided it would be too expensive (TGI Friday's in Budapest is very expensive) and that we couldn't afford to also pay for our traveling companions food and they couldn't afford it. I put it out of my mind. Tuesday after we had seen the American doctor he sent us to a mall that had a pharmacy where we might find a heating pad. We decided to just go up and check out the food works and eat lunch there before leaving town and low and behold in a city of one million people we stumbled upon Ruby Tuesdays and our friends said they wanted Chinese so they went to eat lunch and we ate at Ruby Tuesday's AND it wasn't that expensive, we ate lunch for around $25! I love how God says I love you and here is a little something for you to show I care. I had my favorite meal, chicken fingers, and Baron had a big American hamburger! We also were able to find a heating pad. We have been looking for one since I started having neck and back pain and they didn't seem to exist in Romania but we found one in Bucharest for which I am thankful.
We also went to the embassy to get pages added to my passport. The last time I had to do this it was free and now it cost $85. I can understand them charging something but when something used to be free and then it cost $85 you have to wonder what in the world all that money is for...surely 26 extra passport pages don't cost that much?? We also found out a little bit about the complicated and expensive process of the twins becoming American citizens. We could really use your prayers if we are to ever get to America!

Christmas

2010-12-29T05:59:00.000-08:00

Counting our blessings. This is what we did for Christmas.

Enjoyed a visit from Uncle Gogo and Aunt Pam.

Took a walk in the snow!

Sang Happy Birthday to Jesus!

Ate Christmas M & M's!

Celebrated Zach's 12th birthday on Christmas Eve.

Opened stockings

We watched Chritmas movies.

We made gingerbread houses or I should say Pam (my sister in law) did all the work and we just joined in the fun and decorated them.

Life As It Happens in Romania.

2010-12-17T01:45:00.000-08:00

It started snowing last week, just a little not much. Then starting Monday night it started peppering down as my dad says! I planned to go get some packages in Timisoara on Tuesday and grocery shop with Sarah and Zach. It was snowing pretty good but we decided to go anyway. It was snowing pretty good and I grew up in S.C. so I drove slowly and fortunately so did everyone else on the road. I was amazed that I did not see one fender bender or one car off in a ditch. So, we get there, get our packages and get to the mall where the grocery store is and I went to get money out of the bankomat and it told me my bank in America would not allow me to get out money. I tried 4 machines to no avail so, after a long drive in the snow to Timisoara I drove home without groceries :-(. We got the bank problem fixed. They had changed something in their computers that tagged our cards as being used in a foreign country even though we have been doing it for 9 1/2 years, they thought it was questionable activity. So, now they tagged us as living in Romania so it shouldn't happen again. Last night was our Christmas concert. Baron went out to start his van since it was cold and found it wouldn't start. He went and asked a neighbor for jumper cables and he brought his home made ones over :). We got the van pushed out and realized that the car parked on the sidewalk was blocking us from getting my car hooked up to Baron's van and we couldn't find the owner of the car. We decided that we were running out of time and pushed it back in (which is difficult b/c your feet are slipping on the ice while trying to push a big van) and just squeeze in the small van. We decided we can't always know the reasons why things like this happen but we pray that the reason for this one is that we can get to know these neighbors better and share Christ with them. Fortunately two American families come to the concert with their vans and they helped us pick up all the people for the concert. We had a lot of visitors and were excited that 5 kids from the center for handicapped kids came with a worker.

Funeral

2010-12-04T11:48:00.001-08:00

As many of you know a lady in our church died last Thursday. This was the first funeral that Baron had to completely lead. God in His sovereignty allowed Baron to preach one night of a funeral a couple weeks ago. Having that experience was a huge help to Baron. Funerals are a tough thing, when you live in a different culture you make lots of mistakes but you hate to make a mistake at a funeral, and you can't just stop and chuckle at a funeral when you make a mistake either. Baron really was nervous about saying/doing the wrong thing but I thought it went very smoothly and the family was pleased. Thankfully instead of the normal two nights of "preveghi" or a wake, they only had one Friday night and then the funeral on Saturday afternoon.

In Romania, each church has their own cemetery and you don't mix Orthodox bodies with Baptist bodies etc. So, we had always told our people not to worry (some of the old ladies often wonder where they will be buried), that they will be happy in heaven and we will worry about where to bury them. So, God opened up this door, led us to the right funeral home where the lady was a Christian and her son was the manager of an Orthodox cemetery right near our church and we were able to buy a plot there for Sora Parsida Nicola to be buried. We were also still able to conduct the whole service with no problems given by the Orthodox church.

The body is set in a very, very small "chapel" (I put it in quotations because it is not a chapel as you are envisioning it, it is a small, cold, concrete room). The casket is in the middle of the room with a bench on either side. Friday night was in the 40's. We left the kids home with Sarah. Baron preached a salvation message and one couple we specifically know that are not saved, listened to the whole message. I played the violin, we sang a few songs.

The funeral today was held outside the little chapel because there were more people today. It was much colder today, in the upper 30's. Very cold for an outside service. We dropped only Drew off at Maria's since he had a sore throat and Maria wasn't coming because she was having dizzy spells we brought the rest of the kids with us. I tried to explain to the little ones about the funeral. Nate was worried we were all going there to die. I re assured him that was not going to happen. Then I told the twins if they had any questions we would discuss them after the funeral (they tend to talk loud and say inappropriate things in public). I kept them all close to me during the service. So, we stood outside around the body while Baron spoke again, encouraging the family (some saved, some not) that Sora Parsida was happy, not suffering anymore, and in much better place. The family all stands right next to the body looking at her and crying quietly. Our church choir sang Psalm 23 and I sang, Still, My Soul, Be Still. We brought the electric keyboard for these two songs. I have never sang at a funeral before and was wondering how I would do singing outside in the cold next to a body but I just sang it to her daughter (also a church member) and God gave me strength to sing it to encourage her. Then, we follow the body (they put the lid on) to the hole. Baron says a few more words and tells the family to say their final good bye. That is when the son and daughter start waling and saying things like "oh momma, why did you have to leave me, mamma, mamma, what will I do without you..." They did this for just a few minutes (which is actually short, sometimes it can go on and on). Then right there on the spot they shovel the dirt onto the casket.

The family wanted to have a dinner after this. A dinner here for Orthodox is a good work where you put on a big dinner and allow in beggers and poor people as a good work to win brownie points for your lost loved one. We explained that Sora Parsida didn't need any "help" getting to heaven, she had accepted the finished work of Christ before she died and was assured a place in heaven already. The family understood this and it was a dinner in honor of her for her family and friends only so we approved. When we got there, Joey (whom I had kept telling to be quiet because he speaks loudly and you don't want him to say anything inappropriate) says quietly to me, "mom I need to tell you something, let me whisper it to you..." Then he comes up and whispers in my ear, "Mom, I don't want to die!" He was truly fearful, the whole thing of seeing her in the coffin and put in the ground did not set well with him. I assured him, he didn't need to worry about it right now, I explained as best I could that her earthly body was dead but she was happy in heaven with a new body.
That night after he was in bed he started crying, and saying over and over, "I don't want to die, I don't want to die." I just reassured him as best I could and told him to dream about his Christmas presents. It is really something we don't like to think about and when you go to a funeral and see the body put in the ground it does give you a sad, scared feeling. We as Christians just have to remember, that the ones who are suffering are the ones left behind.

I have been to funerals in Romania of unsaved people and they are far more depressing, this one seemed much lighter knowing she was in heaven celebrating Christmas with Jesus this year! God is good in all His ways, He was merciful and did not let her suffer long. His Spirit was with us today and kept Baron calm and focused on the task. I believe her family was truly comforted today with the service and the words spoken.

December Arrives

2010-12-02T00:47:00.000-08:00

We have so much to be thankful for. God is good, His mercy is evelasting, His love endures forever, He never leaves us, He always forgives, He is patient and kind with us, and the list could go on and on! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with fellow missionary friends. The kids all behaved (another thing to be thankful for) and we had a wonderful day.

This year for the first time ever, we the Howertons put up our tree before Thanksgiving. I know the Romanians think we are crazy. They put theirs up the week of Christmas most wait until Christmas Eve. Some people who can't afford a tree just buy a branch to hand candy on for their kids. I have most of my Christmas shopping done. We have received many glorious packages with goodies from American and are playing Christmas music. We are blessed to have many friends and family who think of us and send us things to bring us Christmas cheer even though we are far from home! We are thankful to have many gifts to share with the needy children that we work with, many do not get a gift other then the gifts we give them.

Christmas always comes and goes so quickly. I just hope to enjoy each moment, not get impatient, not have a to do list a thousand miles long, and enjoy the true reason we celebrate, the King of kings was born. He left his throne in heaven and lived among us. I love how John puts it, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." That is pretty amazing to think that the Word put on skin and came down to show us how much He loves us. It is mind boggling to think of how much our Creator loves us. Lets return that love by obeying Him and pouring out that same love we have received to others!

November 16

2010-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Today was the big day. I didn't think I was nervous but I didn't sleep at all last night. I think it has to do with the cold I have and the tea plus medicine I took last night that made me not sleep. We arrived at the court house at 8:30 and found the room. We had no lawyer and the jurist from child protection wasn't even there (he did show up later though). There were quite a few adoption cases but we had to listen to custody cases first. There were about 12 or more custody cases where children were being removed from a home and only two parnets showed up, the rest didn't even show up to contest it. Then we watched as one young mother signed over the rights of her 8 year old child to be adopted. She probably has never had custody of him before but it was still hard for her to sign him over to be adopted by someone else. Then the judge cleared the room of everyone but adoption cases. We were number 13 on the list and she called the first 9 and none of them even were there! I was so amazed that people didn't show up for their adoption court date. When she got to case number 9 the official from child protection finally showed up. We did not pay to obtain a lawyer because it was an open and shut case and we felt we would just be wasting money. We were called up and our case was unusual in that we were the ones declaring them adoptable and adopting them (this is something that the child protection in the county the twins came from told us we were not allowed to do but they were wrong). She asked us why we were changing their names and we told her and she was pleased with our answer and even gave a pleasant smile. Not many people walk around in Romania with smiles on their faces. I try to smile and say hello to people but I get little response so I was happy to see a smile on the judges face. Then we signed a paper and that was it!
We should receive the official paper declaring them ours within 30 days. Then there is a 15 day waiting period when someone from the family can come attest it if they want to. After those 15 days, we go to the courthouse in Timisoara again and get a stamp on the paper that says irrivocable then go to the city hall in Lugoj and request new birth certificates. This could be done before Christmas if we get our paper before 30 days is up.
Our next big hurdle is figuring out the American side of things. We heard from someone today that to acquire a visa for them to enter America it will cost $400 a piece!! We have to go to Bucharest the first of January so we will make an appointment at the embassy and ask all our questions then.
On a lighter note, the court secretary I guess you would call her, she is the one who types all the papers out, well, she can't type. She just pecks it all out with her fingers and really takes quite a while. It would save the court on time if they would provide a typing class for all their court secretaries.
On another lighter night, we were behind a drivers ed car today and it said on the back: "I make abrupt and unnecessary stops." I thought that was funny.
Time for the pizza party and cookies now!

November

2010-11-11T04:54:00.001-08:00

I know that everyone says this but, wow, this year has really flown by! I can't believe we are coming upon Thanksgiving in just two weeks! It really is one of my most favorite times of the year. It took a while getting used to being away from family and friends in America but this is our 10th Thanksgiving/Christmas being in Romania and for quite a few of those we have had family visiting. We are blessed beyond measure! Lord willing we will be in the states celebrating with our family next fall/winter! Please pray for us as we have a lot of details to work out and a lot of money to raise for 8 plane tickets! Also, please pray as we look for someone to fill in and translate for us while we are gone. Please also continue to pray that our co workers, the Louks, support comes in soon!

We are just days away from our much anticipated court date. We know that God is in control and most of the time at the final court date everything is done and there are no kinks to work out so we are just hoping and praying that this is the case for us!

We are excited to announce that some new people are coming to church. Some who are already saved and some who aren't saved yet. Some new children also. Please intercede on behalf of the people of Romania. It is such a religious country and many people "believe" that Jesus is the Savior but they also add to what they need to do to be saved and so they are blinded to the fact that they need to trust in Jesus ALONE to be their Savior!

God is good, He is our provider. He is with us in the day to day tasks that seem menial. We are called to live a holy life set apart from the world. Pray for us as we strive to do that and bring glory to God. We pray that you also, will live a holy life set apart unto God for His service wherever you are!

Happy Thanksgiving!

October

2010-10-30T12:19:00.000-07:00

I am finally writing an entry for October and the month is over! The weeks are flashing by before my eyes! The weather has been beautiful and we are enjoying our school schedule of 4 weeks on and 1 week off. Our week off this time took us on a one day trip to Bear Cave. It was a beautiful drive and a nice chilly day. If you want to see pictures I posted them on Facebook.
The two oldest boys are studying the eastern hemisphere this year and we have signed up for this short program called my passport to India. Our oldest desires to be a missionary there someday. Each week we watch two short videos about what life is like in India. If you are ever tempted to complain you really should find information about life in a third world country. It will stop you in your tracks and make you sing a song of praise to God for all the wonderful blessings you have! Take for example the bathroom situation. Just today as one child was taking forever using the bathroom and another was waiting in line to use it, I was tempted to complain...I actually said, "brother, we really need to get that other bathroom fixed, this is ridiculous." Almost immediately the Lord brought to my mind something I just learned, that in Mumbai, India there are 17 toilets for every 1 million people. I quickly realized my mistake and thanked God for the working bathroom we have for the kids. Most of the things I complain about are so trivial. People all over the world live in such filth and poverty. Even a lot of people that I know here in Romania use an outhouse, don't have indoor plumbing, have only cold water, etc.
The next time you are tempted to complain about one of life's little inconveniences, do a search about India or some other poor country and you will quickly be reminded of how rich even the poorest Americans are in comparison to the rest of the world!

BIG, WONDERFUL, EXCITING, MIRACULOUS NEWS

2010-09-29T01:01:00.000-07:00

If you can't tell by the title of this blog entry...I'm a little excited! Why you ask....let me share it with you...WE RECEIVED OUR FINAL ADOPTION COURT DATE! Our experience with the court system in Oradea was s...l...o...w... so I assumed it would be the same here in Timis county. Baron finally received our adoption file completed just a little under two weeks ago. We hoped to hear something within 30 days but it took about 4 or 5 months to get a court date in Oradea. I expected when we did get our court date it wouldn't be until sometime early next year. When we received our custody court date in October of 2008, it wasn't until Jan, 2009. But, in less then two weeks after putting our file in at the court house we received a court date for NOVEMBER 16...2010!!!! Yes, that is just under two months away! We are excited. The twins don't understand the bigness of it because they feel they are already part of our family. Joey asked..."do I get my blue passport now?"
We called our social worker to give her the news and asked if we could bring all the kids to the courthouse...no just Baron and I should come. The judge will ask us a few questions and hopefully that will be that. They will be official Howertons!
What a wonderful Thanksgiving we will have celebrating the newest additions to the Howerton family! God is good.

Kids Club

2010-09-21T10:01:00.001-07:00

This is Ana, Andrea, Adina, and Claudia.

This is Alin. I believe he is 12 years old.

Gabi is to the far left. He is 11. Sebi is 14. He told Baron that he accepted Christ and that he wants to be a preacher!

Nicu is in the blue sweat suit. He is 10 and has had a rough life. He is a very needy boy. Alin is on the otherside of Zach. He is Zach's buddy, they went to camp together. He told Baron after camp that he received Christ in his heart. Costica is the other boy in the picture. He also told Baron that he received Christ. Please pray that these 3 boys will continue to come to kids club and grow in their relationship with Christ.

Religious Freedom in Romania

2010-09-08T01:06:00.000-07:00

What does religious freedom mean to you? To me it means being able to choose your religion and go to church where you want and get batpized where you want. In Romania, if a child is in the system the law states that they can not choose to "change their religion" until they are 16. That means any orphan or abandoned child, or child that has been abused and removed from their home cannot choose to be baptized at any church because they were baptized as babies in the Orthodox Church. Now, as babies did they have a choice, no, they were forced to become an Orthodox. It doesn't matter that most people who claim to be Orthodox don't go to church. The Orthodox church is not going into to try to minister to these kids but they do not have the freedom to choose a different religion until they are 16.
Baron went to talk to the director at the state run home today about a club for the kids who went to camp this summer and he got a lecture from the director. The director pointed out the law and said these kids came back from camp wanting to "change their religion" and be baptized. He told Baron, that he was breaking the law if he let these kids come to a place where they were pushed into "changing their religion". Baron at that point thought our ministry to these kids was over but praise God that wasn't the end. It is exciting to know that these kids came back from camp excited about what they learned and sharing that they had made decisions to follow Christ.
We are happy that we will be allowed to pick up these 13 kids ages 10-14 and have a club with them each Saturday. We will teach them English, do a Bible study, feed them, and play games with them. We will stress to them that they need to learn how to follow God from the Bible but not go back to the orphanage saying they wanted to get baptized or they will not be allowed to come anymore. We will tell them that we can teach them about God's way and baptism and they can make the choice of baptism when they are 16. We will let them know that no one can stop them from making a decisison to follow Christ and live for Him.
We praise God that these young people will know that true freedom comes in Christ. Please pray that they will understand what it truly means to repend and turn from a life of sin to Christ. Please pray that the Bible/English Club will train these children to follow after Christ no matter what obstacles lie in their way.

Encouraging Words

2010-08-26T21:54:00.000-07:00

I have had the little devotional book Streams in the Desert for quite a few years now and it continues to encourage me. Yesterday's reading was just what I needed.
From the beginning of the summer I have been restless. Four years is a long time without a furlough and knowing we have to wait another year for a furlough was really pulling me down. I was thinking that I didn't know how I would make it another year without a break and really discouraged and having a pity party. Then through the Lord's Word I started to realize that I was living in defeat and started claiming His promises that are mine, I CAN do all things through Christ, His grace IS sufficient for me, those who wait on the Lord SHALL renew their strength. Little by little I came out of the pity party and yesterday's reading just reminded me its not about where I am but it's about the proper perspective. The verse was Job 28:14, "It is not in me."

I reworded the first part of the reading to fit my situtation:
I think if I could just get away, take a vacation, have a break, go to America, everything would be better. It would calm my restless heart. But no matter where I would go, be it the Smokey Mountains of N.C. or the beautiful beaches of S.C., the sea and the mountain would say, "It is not in me!"

"What I really need is the deep ocean of God's love and the high mountains of His truth within me. His wisdom has depths and heights that neither the ocean nor the mountains could contain and that couldnot be compared with jewels, gold, or precious stones. Christ is wisdom and He is our deepest need. Our inner restlesness can only be pacified by the revelation of His eternal friendship and love for us.

...my Home is God, and sheltered there, God meets the trials of my earthly life, God compasses me round from storm and strife, God takes the burden of my daily care. O Wondrous Place. O Home divinely fair!"

So, as you can see, it is not a break or vacation that I need. It's not even American soil or a rest. What I need is to realize that everything I need is in Christ. He is my hope, my strength, my joy, my all and I need nothing else! If you are restless or homesick today look to God, he is your home!

Camp Update

2010-08-14T12:48:00.000-07:00

Baron just brought the last group of campers back home today! There were two teen boys from a private orphanage and six from a state run facility. He also brought back our new school teacher, Sarah Trahan. She will be teaching the three youngest this year.
Several of the kids made decisions at camp this past week. We took a total of 18 kids from the state run facility to camp this summer. Our prayer now is to be able to bring some of them to church. We can't bring them all, our vehicle only holds 10. It's hardnot being able to have to pick and choose which kids you minister to because you don't have enough help, enough space, or enough transportation. Our biggest prayer request is that the director will allow them to come to church. If this is not a possibility we will consider doing a Bible club for these kids on Saturday but we would love to get them in church. Pray that god would give us wisdom and that He would send more laboreres into the harvest field of Lugoj, Romania!

Reasons to Praise God.

2010-08-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

1. The first and most obvious reason...His free gift of salvation He provided through His son Jesus for me.
2. My husband.
3. My sweet children, all so different.
4. My family (parents, in laws, siblings, this also includes dearest Rebekah)
5. His Word, it gives truth, encouragement, guidance, light, strength, courage etc.
6. He left the Comforter to convict us, to encourage us, to walk along with us in this life and guide us.
7. Prayer, I have the most precious gift of being able to call upon the God who created the universe at any time and He is available to me!
8. My house. God provided this gift for a measly $28,000 and it is paid for and worth much more just 9 years later! It is a true blessing (I could go on and on about this one but I won't)
9. Prayer time with a handful of sweet and faithful Christians every Wednesday.
10. Our family has been to visit us many times, even my grandma has been twice. She got her passport for the first time at the ripe young age of 84.
11. The changing of seasons. I enjoy the new life of spring, the fun of summer, the beauty and coolness of fall, the holiday season that comes with winter.
12. The internet :-), it is a blessing keeping in touch with family and friends who are so far away!
13. People who pray and give so that we can be here.
14. Tabara Bucuria...Camp Joy
15. How God provided a new van for us.
16. How He provided the money for my plane ticket in February to be with my mom during her open heart surgery.
17. I praise God because His grace IS sufficient for me.
18. I praise Him because I CAN do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me...even when those things seem impossible!
19. He provided a teacher for the twins this year.
20. The two newest additions to our family...Lord willing will be official Howertons by the end of this year!

August

2010-08-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

This week the last group of kids are at camp. Ages 13-16. Last week we had VBS with over 50 in attendance. I know that I have not posted updates on the second week of camp or on VBS but I hope to...sometime...in the future! If not, we will for sure send out a prayer letter with updates. This entry is to post a poem written by our 11 year old son, Zachary.

"The GREATEST NEWS EVER"
One very cold spring night,
Was a baby in a bed of corn,
And in a shepherds field came a light so bright;
And an angel saying, "Jesus Christ is born!"

One very bright spring day,
Jesus teached and taught,
He healed the sick and those in dismay;
Loving and compassionate, Jesus never fought.

One very cold spring night,
Was our Lord locked in chains;
And on Calvary was a mournful light;
And our Lord was whipped with canes.

One very cold spring night,
our Lord was stripped and cursed,
And was nailed upon a cross but without fright,
And Mary Magdelene on watching into tears was burst.

One very bright spring day,
Three women saw Christ's empty tomb;
An angel said, "Please do not dismay,
For Christ is risen, not in this dark room."

When the news of Jesus spread,
God's secret was unveiled;
Jesus Christ loves all, put it in your head.
I hope the Good News is fully revealed!

Camp Pictures

2010-07-21T03:10:00.000-07:00

The girls!

This is Bogdan, he is 7 and has lived in the same private children's home as Marius since he was a baby.

This is Flavius. He is 7. He was taken from his home two years ago and lives in a state run facility.

Gianina, Spencer, and Ema. Ema comes to church with his grandma who cares for him. He lives in a two room apartment with his grandma, grandpa, sister, mom, dad, and uncle. His parents are both mentally handicapped. Ema starts 3rd grade this fall. He has improved much in reading and math. His sister, Loredana, will start 1st grade this fall.

This is Gianina. She is 10 and lives just up the street from us. She and her 5 year old sister come to church. They live in one room with their mom and 4 dogs. She comes to our house for help with school work.

Here are all 12 of the kids that went to the first week of camp.

This is Marius. He comes from a private children's home in a village not too far from us. He is 7. We met him first when he was almost 4. This is his first year of going to camp. He is a sweet, energetic, stinker! When he was born, his birth mom did not even name him. She put down a false name for herself so when she left the hospital without him they couldn't track her down. The mayor of the town he was born in gave him a name. Please pray for Marius, that he would know his Heavenly Father loves him and that he would some day receive a family.

First Week of Camp Ages 7-9

2010-07-21T02:57:00.000-07:00

The first week of camp went smoothly. Baron took 12 kids and an educator from the state run home. I will try to make a long story short. When we first went to the director about taking these kids to camp it was no problem, he was happy to have some kids be able to go to camp. Baron was upfront about the program and let him know there were teaching times from God's word...he said no problem, we like our kids to learn morals. A month later we find out that they want to send an educator each week with the kids because the kids can't go anywhere without an authorized person. The camp was not thrilled with this as it is a Christian camp and they didn't want an educator coming up there and smoking or causing problems or telling the kids they didn't have to participate in certain activities. So, the first week a lady that we know well said she would go and then if she came back and gave a good report to the director the rest of the kids could go without an educator. We finally were told the truth about why they wanted an educator to go, one of the workers is the daughter of an Orthodox priest and she found out the kids were going to go to a Christian camp and she raised stink and said we aren't allowed proselytize. They don't want kids making decisions to "join another religion" through baptism until they are 18 (it is that way for most religions here including the Baptist Union and a lot of Penticostals...kids are "saved" under their parents religion until they can decide for themselves at the age of 18). Baron explained to him that we would not be forcing anyone to be baptized in our church, especially these very little children. So, the first week went without any problems, the educator was very pleased with the program and came back with a good report so the kids all got to go with Baron this week. The kids this week are ages 10-13, some of these kids have come from very bad backgrounds and in return they put forth a toughness that is hard to break through. Please pray for these kids that after camp we will still be able to minister to them through Bible studies and activities for them.

Adoption Update.

2010-06-23T05:49:00.001-07:00

We just got the phone call from our social worker that we received Joey's paper that says the adoption is open! Woo Hoo!! We go and turn in our file with all our paper work in it Friday. Please Pray that we get assigned a court date in a timely manner! We would love to have all of this done and have them be official Howertons! The last time we waited for a court date it was months and months and months before we got one...let's hope and pray that Timis county judges give out court dates quicker then Bihor county! Miracles can happen. This will be such a huge sigh of relief to have this behind us!

Flowers

2010-06-22T06:26:00.000-07:00

I just love flowers and gardens. I have always looked longingly at garden magazines. I have potted plants and flowers and hanging flowers in my courtyard under my grapvines but have always found that sitting in a beautiful rose garden brings such pleasure and beauty.

These are a few of the recent pictures that have inspired me lately. I began to realize I have the space for this garden. It was full of junk, old windows, glass, and old roof tile from when we tore down an old building in our yard. I kept pestering Baron asking him to find someone to haul away all this junk. Then I kept talking of my dream of some day having a rose garden and showing him pictures. Then he decided this was a good thing to do with this space and tore down the old fence on one side and took measurements and went to a man in a village that is a carpenter. He went with his measurments of what we need for a picket fence, gate, and arbor so now I will save up through the winter and Lord willing next spring we will paint and put up our fence!

This is the site of my future cottage garden. It will have a white picket fence around it with an arbor and a gate to keep the animals and children out and it will have climbing roses growing up the arbor. There are lots of beautiful climbing roses to be found here. A lady from our church loves to grow roses and she will get me some starts from people so I won't have to buy so many unless they just don't take! I already have about 4 rose bushes. My first years here I had no idea about flowers (still don't know a lot) and my rose bushes were under the grape vines so they were really weak. We finally wised up and moved them to a sunny spot last year and they are doing much better now.

I am so thankful for the house and yard God gave us. It is such a peaceful haven to have a private courtyard to come home after being out and about in a different culture.

When we were in Barcelona we visited an old monestary that was so quiet and peaceful. I really look forward in the next few years to working on this project and having a quiet peaceful place to spend time meditating on God's Word...of course it will only be quiet as long as the kids are still sleeping!

Children

2010-06-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

A child is a curly dimpled lunatic. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

A little girl is sugar and spice and everything nice - especially when she's taking a nap. ~Author Unknown

Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children, and no theories. ~John Wilmot

I love to play hide and seek with my kid, but some days my goal is to find a hiding place where he can't find me until after high school. ~Author Unknown

My mom used to say it doesn't matter how many kids you have... because one kid'll take up 100% of your time so more kids can't possibly take up more than 100% of your time. ~Karen Brown

Handicapped Kids

2010-06-15T06:10:00.000-07:00

The Romanian government has reduced the salaries of all government employees, hospital workers, children's home workers, teachers, they have even cut funds to state run facilities. Normally orphans get to go on some sort of summer excursion be it the ocean or camp or whatever. We go once a week to a center for handicapped kids and do a craft and sing with them. This summer they have no prospect of doing anything special, there are no funds for them. Now, I should tell you that the parlament did vote to increase their own pay but all others received pay cuts...they cut the pensions of already very poor elderly people, they cut the funding of children's homes and so on. We really desire to help these handicapped kids be able to have 10 days of camp at the end of August. It would cost $5 a day per child. They want to take 25 kids...if anyone out there has some extra money that they don't know what to do with these kids sure would appreciate being able to have something to look forward to this summer rather then just sitting around in their hot building with nothing to do. Please let us know if you would like to help sponser this excursion for handicapped kids.

Streams In The Desert

2010-06-15T01:20:00.000-07:00

I have a little devotional book called Streams in the Desert that my sister gave me years ago. I have read it through several times and continue to be blessed and encouraged by the daily readings. This poem is from the June 2nd reading:

Take heart, O weary, burdened one, bowed down
Beneath your cross;
Remember that your greatest gain may come
Through greatest loss.
Your life is nobler for a sacrifice,
And more divine.
Acres of blooms are crushed to make a drop
Of perfume fine.

Because of storms that lash the ocean waves,
the waters there
Keep purer than if the heavens o'erhead
Were always fair.
The brightest banner of the skies floats not
At noonday warm;
The rainbow follows after thuderclouds,
And after storm.

June

2010-06-14T11:30:00.001-07:00

It's June! Summer is here! Just last week I was drinking hot chocolate at Starbucks to try and get warm and now the second week of June I am sitting in front of a fan and drinking ice cold water. There is only one way to survive this heat without an air conditioner...eat lots of ice cream!
We had two birthdays this month, Spencer turned 10 and Nate, our baby, turned 4. We are officially out of the baby stage in our house and that phase comes with mixed emotions for me!

Nate is still very much the "baby" of the family and I am trying very hard not to baby him too much and to not let him be a brat :).

The past four years in many ways has seem to go by very slow. It's hard to believe it's been four years since we were home for a furlough. We do hope to be able to take one next year. Even though I was home for a short visit last summer and an even shorter one in February it isn't the same as a long term trip with your family. We are all looking forward to being in the states again and Joey and Gina are greatly looking forward to their first trip ever!

We will be taking kids to camp starting next month. Baron went today to visit a lady and get her permission to take her 10 year old daughter to camp. She comes to church on a regular basis and she comes to our house for tutoring. Gianina's mom gave permission for her to go but then asked Baron, "What will I do with Patricia while she is gone, she will just cry all week and I will have to take her to the hospital because she will be so sick from crying." (Patricia is Gianina's 4 year old sister) I don't think Baron quite knew what to say :-).

Camp

2010-05-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

It's time to start raising money for camp again! We have about 35 kids we want to take this year. Some from our church but mostly kids who have been abandoned or taken from their home for various reasons and have very little hope of ever going back. The cost of a week at Camp Joy is $50. If you would like to send a child to camp please contact us.

What Adoption Means to the Twins

2010-05-19T05:46:00.000-07:00

We had a visit from our social worker and the child psychologist last Thursday. We have all this paper work to put together again and turn in to receive a final court date. So, the twins new the ladies were here concerning them and they kept asking, "Is it almost done then?" I would say yes but then at the end of the visit I realized they thought when these ladies leave our house they would be Howertons! When they left Joey hollered out, "Is that it, are we Howertons, do we have blue passaports" (no I didn't misspell passports, that is how Joey says it). He asks almost daily if he is a Howerton yet. It's hard to explain to a 6 year old that we consider you a Howerton but that is not your offical name yet and it is also very important to him to have a blue passport but that won't come until our visit to the states, Lord willing next year. Gina is more independent and hard to read. She doesn't really ask questions about it, maybe to her she already is part of the family but Joey seems to realize that all of this is very important. It is also very important to him to have a blue passport like the rest of the family. He desires to be an American so badly! When we first got the twins Romanian passports last year so we could go to Vienna, Austria with them they were estatic! Joey always request to see his passport and always wants to show it to people. It was such a huge deal for him especially. But now he wants a blue one, his red one isn't good enough anymore :-). He wants to be like us.
We are close to having our paper work completed and then we turn in our file and wait some more. You would think by now I would be good at waiting but I'm not.

Barcelona

2010-05-13T05:01:00.000-07:00

Thursday in Barcelona was sunny and cool. We went to a very quiet and peaceful monestary that was founded in 1326. We enjoyed riding the tour bus that you can hop on and off around town and visit different places. We enjoyed eating without 6 children. We are used to cutting up their food and telling them to be quiet and chew with your mouth closed so it was quite nice just sitting down and eating!
Friday, we walked a lot and looked in shops and just relaxed. Went and sat on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea. It was so relaxing. Then on our last day, Saturday, we took a boat ride on the Mediterranean Sea which was so lovely. We then went back to the apartment we stayed at, got our luggage, walked through the crowds to the subway and got on...if you remember our last anniversary trip to Rome, Baron got pick pocketed on the subway so we were so careful this time but on our way to the airport with all our luggage we were prime target and Baron let his guard down and put his wallet in his back pocket. We were crowded by a group getting on the subway and they got his wallet. Our instinct when he knew his wallet was gone was to jump of the subway because the guy that stole it in Rome ran off so we thought we could catch him that way but we realized too late it was the group of people that had been acting really strange and they actually stayed on the subway. Right there in the subway station Baron called the bank and thankfully we cancelled all our cards before they had a chance to use any of them. They did get away with 90 Euro and Baron's DL, and permanent residency card but we are trying to be thankful because it could have been much worse. We actually believe they may have gotten in my purse too because my makeup bag was missing from my purse. We are so thankful they got that instead because that left me with a bank card so we could access our bank account still. We decided to go to the police station at the airport to fill out the report so we headed to the airport bus and to our surprise when we got there the driver told us the airport was "clos-ed"...we thought he was joking with us but we didn't think it was very funny seeing as how we had just had our wallet stolen! There were a lot of other people standing around though and when we found someone who spoke English sure enough, the airport was clos-ed due to the volcanic ash from Iceland! The airport closed around 4 p.m. Saturday and opened back up early Sunday morning but we missed our flight. We flew Wizz Air which is a discount company so there is no Wizz Air office at the airport and no one there can help you...that is the price you pay flying discount...if there is a problem you are in trouble! So, we were fortunate enough to be able to go back to the same apartment we stayed in and she let us have it for half price because she felt sorry for us! Baron called Ionita back in Romania and asked him to call all our church people and to go to church to wait for anyone who might come to let them know why there was no service. The Tylers fortunatley agreed to just keep the kids a while longer :-). We got up early Sunday morning and decided just to head to the airport in hopes we could get a flight. We then found out there is no Wizz Air office there and tried in vane to get ahold of the airline and put about 20 euro into the phone and kept being put on hold. We did find out there were two options, flying out Sunday night to a city in Romania but we would arrive in the middle of the night and there was no train to Lugoj until the next day or flying to Budapest, Hungary on Monday morning. Thankfully our good friends the Tylers said they would be willing to pick us up in Budapest. After 6 hours in the airport we realized we weren't getting out that day and we got a hotel close to the airport for the night. Then from the hotel we finally got a hold of Wizz Air and were put on the Budapest flight for the next morning. We enjoyed dinner at a Pizzarea that Sunday night ( it was a really weird Sunday for us). We got up and the airport shuttle took us at 7:15 to the airport. The flight was scheduled to take off at 8:55 a.m. When we arrived at the gate it said estimated take off was 11:30 a.m. So we sat at the gate and around noon someone came to the gate and gave us all free snack voutures and told us they had no idea when the plane was actually coming. The plane finally did come around 1:30 and we got out around 2 p.m. We arrived in Budapest at 4:30 p.m. and then had a 4 1/2 hour drive home. We stopped to pick up the kids and finally at 11 p.m. Monday night we arrived home! What a memorable ending to a wonderful anniversary trip!

Day #1 in Barelona.

2010-05-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

Day One in Barelona. Right away we could see the beauty of Barcelona. We stopped and had a donut and coffee/hot chocolate for breakfast...yes it was chilly enough that hot chocolate was yummy. Then we walked a little further and spotted...

So we had breakfast number two which was even better then the first one! It was a little overcast and drizzling rain but by noon it cleared up and was just chilly. We took the tour bus around town and even made it to Toys R Us and got the summer birthday boys a gift (toys in Romania are soo expensive).

Barcelona, we found was a quiet city. We stayed right near the beach in the Barceloneta area and it was very quiet. We loved it and thought it was a beautiful city.

God Is Trustworthy

2010-04-21T05:40:00.000-07:00

I am reading and doing the Bible study that goes along with the book, Trusting God by Jerry Bridges. The last assignment to do for the first day was to journal about God's hand in your life so you could look back during hard times and be encouraged when you see how God has worked in the past. So, I journaled about three things from our past.

Several years ago we were still paying off the new church building. We had received money for half of it and borrowed the other half. Just before the rate of the dollar drop, an annonymous donor paid off the $20,000 debt that we owed. Just a few short months after that the rate of the dollar dropped drastically and we lost about 30% of our income and would not have been able to keep up with the payments on the church property. God is trustworthy and looks after His children!

Last December our old white van burned up. We transported people to and from church with it and took kids to camp every summer. It was a very old van. Our family vehicle only had seats for 4 kids so we were always either taking the old van with no seat belts or the new van and putting two kids to a seat. Baron had been pondering lately which vehicle to get rid of but he really didn't want to get rid of the old van. We just kept discussing it but never made a decision. God made the decision for us! The white van burned up and was beyond repair. In just three months enough money was donated to buy a much newer van that also seats our whole family and has seat belts. The van is much better then what we imagined or dreamed. God always blesses His children even when they aren't looking for it!

When we were moving to Romania almost 9 years ago now, I asked God to give us a house. We had two boys at the time and I struggled with the thought of living in an apartment. Little did I know that just 8 years later we would have six kids! Baron's parents came to Romania to house hunt for us. They found a house near the center of town for $28,000 with a nice big courtyard and plenty of space for a growing family. Just a year after we bought the house, housing prices went through the roof and we could have not afforded to buy a house. Our house now could sell for many times more than we bought it for. We saw our house for the first time the day we moved in! I didn't get to pick out my dream house but God picked out a dream house for me...much better than I could have ever dreamed!! God is trustworthy and brings about things more wonderful then we could ever hope for!

The most recent story is this: We have known all along we wanted to work with abandoned children but our first priority was starting a church. Our partners that are coming to Romania (Lord willing this year) will be a big part in this ministry to children. We have sought out many different opportunities but it seemd doors always closed on us. It is much harder now to minister in state run homes, they do not seem to welcome foreigners in any more. Baron was out visiting this past Saturday and he ran into a family we have known for years. In fact, the dad used to come to our church and then quit coming. They are a friendly family and always enjoyed when we visited them. Well, the daughter is now working at a state run home in a village very near us and she said they would love for us to come and help them out. We met with the director of the place just last Monday and he welcomed any help we could give them. They are individual apartments that house about 14 kids each with educators who work shifts. There are a total of 72 kids that live here and a majority of them will never be adoptable but they will also never go back to their families. Then Tuesday we received 10 boxes of children's clothing from a ministry in the states. Saturday, we get to go out and personally hand out all the toys and clothes to these children. God always has a plan for His children and brings it about in His timing!

Another Police story...plus an adoption update!

2010-04-16T12:29:00.000-07:00

Where to start...I guess at the beginning of the day. We started out for Timisoara. We were taking Gina to Timisoara for some special time together for her birthday which is next Thursday. We were on a two lane side road and in our lane cars are always parked...we are used to this, the no parking signs are ignored and the police never ticket so people continue to park in the street. We have always been able to still fit down the street though but today a car was parked several feet away from the curb so their wasn't a lot of room and Baron was zipping through (he thinks he is invinsible when he drives) and he is talking to me when ping...we crash mirrors with the passing car...not just any car but a jandarmeria car...what is that you ask, well that is what you would call the police better known as the "brute squad." So, Baron stops and goes back, our sideview mirrow is cracked but still attached and still works. The police guys are a bit ticked at first because Baron didn't stop right away and they thought he was driving off. Anyway, Baron asks them if they are going to write a ticket for the car parked in the no parking lane and he says that's not his department. Baron then asks well, lets file this and my insurance will pay for the damage to your car...the police man proceeds to say if we demand to call the traffic police and go to court that they will take Baron's liscence (this is the second time Baron has had an accident and the romanian police threaten to take his liscense if he files his insurance!). So, they finally agreed that it would cost around 100 Ron to fix the mirror (about $30) so Baron gives it to him and that is the end of that. This whole time I thought Baron was getting a steep ticket and who knows what else so I was very relieved to find out we were only put out $30! Baron just can't seem to stay away from the Romanian police :).
Well, we finally get to Timisoara and we decide to stop by the child protective services and see how the adoption was going and the social worker there looked very happy as she conveyed the news that our file was awaiting a final stamp from the judge to show the twins were ours and it is irrivocale and they are adoptable. Then we will take all our paper work to the court and they will be ours...just one court date!! Other Americans have experienced so many court dates and call backs we just assumed that would happen to us too but it looks as if in just a few short months we could be having our final court date and officially introduce you to two new Howertons!!! Isn't that exciting??

Finally, little fun encouragements...Today as we were grocery shopping, my little eye spotted:

That's right, Oreos have arrived in Romania!!!

The Many Faces of Nate!

2010-04-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Nate is always talking about the fact that he is "cute and chubby" then he proceeds to show us his happy face, his mad face, his brat face, his sad face, his sleepy face, his baby face and whatever else kind of face he can make...so here I have posted the many faces of Nate, enjoy!

Neighbors

2010-04-10T03:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't been keeping up with blogging like I used to. Maybe it's because I don't think that many people read this blog or maybe it's because we are winding down on the first year of having two more children and having two more children that you didn't raise from infancy is a HUGE challenge, let me say that again a HUGE challenge! We have spent this last year trying to teach a set of 5 year olds, the basics of being in a family, listening skills, taking responsibility for your actions, not "forgetting" all the time, table manners, and we still spend a lot of time teaching that just because a new person enters our home doesn't mean you start using your manipulation skills all over again! We have also had to remind them that you don't just walk up and start hugging people you never met and sit in their laps and act as though you have known them forever. We have seen many improvements and the kids English skills have grown by leaps and bounds but we still have our struggles.

I actually started this entry to tell you what I think is an interesting story. It is typical of our life here in Romania. If someone here thinks you are doing something wrong or need to change the way you are doing something, they don't hesitate to tell you and then they keep telling you if you don't do what they "strongly suggested" that you should do. For instance, we have a dog, Buster. He likes to go back in the yard and sit at our neighbor's fence. Our neighbor who keeps his dogs chained all day has taking a liking to Buster and puts his hand through the fence to pet Buster and he feels that the collar we have on Buster is too tight. So, a while ago he let us know it was too tight and we being good neighbors loosened the collar. Well, that didn't satisfy him, once again the other day he sent Zach in to tell us that Buster was getting fatter and the collar we have on him is just too tight. We felt his collar and could slip two fingers between the collar and Buster so we left it as it was. He noticed that we left the collar on so he came by and rang the bell and told me personally..."Now I have told you this before but I am telling you again because I feel sorry for your dog, please take off that collar it is too tight, if you don't have another collar I'll give you one but please take it off." I wanted to tell him to go home and mind his own business but I didn't, I just said thank you. (this is the same man who keeps his dogs chained up all day long) So, I told Baron what he said and again we checked and there is plenty of room between the collar and Buster but my husband being the good man that he is decided instead of making a mountain out of a mole hill and loosing a chance to be a good testimony and witness to our neighbor that we should just take the collar off...at first I didn't agree and thought why in the world should we give in and take it off. Baron lovingly told me it is just as easy to take the collar off as it is to leave it on. So, he won and the collar is off. We live in an intrusive society. Everyone is always telling us to put more clothes on our kids, give them more food, don't let them walk around the house bare foot in the winter... and so on. People don't hesitate to ask us how much we paid for our house or our car. We could get defensive and get offended and tell them off but then part of being a missionary is integrating into their society. We didn't come here to make them into mini Americans, we came here to share Jesus love with them and what good would it do to tell them that Jesus loves them if we are always yelling at them to mind their own business? Don't get me wrong, I still get annoyed at times having people think I can't take care of my own family but I don't give in to the desire to tell them off. It is very tempting to do but our purpose for being here is to live like Christ and keep the peace as much as it is in our power to do so. It is interesting living in a different country with a different culture and a set of different rules. There are days when I wish I could just live an easy life in a country that is comfortable to me but most days I realize that I prefer the life in Romania to the rat race life of America.

March 17

2010-03-17T04:05:00.001-07:00

This selection is taken from Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman

Stay there until I tell you. (Matthew 2:13)

I'll stay where You've put me; I will, dear Lord,
Though I wanted so badly to go;
I was eager to march with the 'rank and file,'
Yes, I wanted to lead them, You know.
I planned to keep step to the music loud,
To cheer when the banner unfurled,
To cheer when the banner unfurled,
To stand in the midst of the fight straight and proud,
But I'll stay where You've put me.

I'll stay where You've put me; I'll work, dear Lord,
Though the field be narrow and small,
And the ground be neglected, and stones lie thick,
And there seems to be no life at all.
The field is Your won, only give me the seed,
I'll sow it with never a fear;
I'll till the dry soil while I wait for the rain,
And rejoice when the green blades appear;
I'll work where You've put me.

I'll stay where You've put me; I will, dear Lord;
I'll bear the day's burden and heat,
Always trusting You fully; when sunset has com
I'll lay stalks of grain at Your feet.
And then, when my earth work is ended and done,
In the light of eternity's glow;
Life's record all closed, I surely will find
It was better to stay than to go;
I'll stay where You've put me.

O restless heart-beating against the prison bars of your circumstances and longing for a wider realm of usefulness-allow God to direct all your days. Patience and trust, even in the midst of the monotony of your daily routine, will be the best preparation to courageously handle the stress and strain of a greater opportunity, which God may someday send.

Putting Old Things Behind us...

2010-03-11T06:17:00.000-08:00

I want to share the whole van story. Back before December we knew we needed a new vehicle but we also new we couldn't take out a loan on a car and were wondering what to do...Baron thought of selling our newer, nicer van the Sharon. It is very nice but only has seats for 4 kids so we always pack the kids in there. The white van was good for transporting people to and from church because Baron could really pack people in there but it was an 87 and really was on its last leg. Baron couldn't decide, he really didn't want to get rid of the Ford and was indecisive about what to do. Then, its as if God decided for us, it was time for the white van to go. The first of December Baron was at Bible study and the white van went up in smoke. It total loss. It was not an anxiety causing event because it was a sign to us that God was making the decision for us as to which car to get rid of! The only problem was replacing it. We didn't have the money and we could not borrow. We sent out a prayer request and within one week one church had given $10,000 towards a new vehicle. By January we knew that two other churches and were going to give and an individual gave $1,000. Baron looked and looked but was not finding anything. We decided that even though vehicles outside the country are better kept and drive on better roads the taxes to bring one in would just be too expensive so we decided to stay in Romania. Baron found 4 vans to go look at about two weeks ago he called his mechanic to ask him to go with him.

Jon told Baron he would go with him but he also just found out a friend of his is selling his 2006 Opal and it is well cared for. Baron went to see it and new that God had brought us this van. It is in beautiful condition and well cared for. The vans he was going to look at were all older and had more miles on them. We had the money wired and now as of yesterday, we are the proud owners of a van that is much better then anything we imagined we would get.
We realize it isn't really our van, it belongs to God as does everything else. The Lord takes away and sometimes after taking something away He replaces it with something even better!

February

2010-02-24T04:44:00.000-08:00

Winter normally kind of goes by like a snail but this winter has passed quickly. I am thankful for that, after Christmas can be rather depressing, with no sun and bad weather and the kids cooped up inside all the time. We are thankful for a new and rather big and modern play place at the mall in Timisoara. We have made weekly trips there on Friday and dropped the kids off to play for two hours while we go down stairs to the Auchen and grocery shop. Whoever knew grocery shopping could be considered a nice break!
I found out on Thursday, February 4th that my mom needed a triple bypass. The thought never even entered my head that I would go to the states until Saturday when I talked to my brother. I got off the phone with him and told Baron that my brother was thinking he might try to go be an encouragement to mom. So, Baron being the wonderful husband that he is told me to check on ticket prices. So, Saturday evening the 6th about an hour later I had booked a ticket to the states. I was to leave on Wednesday the 10th. My head was kind of swirling! Wednesday came and we got to the Timisoara airport only to find out my flight to Munich had been canceled due to bad weather in Munich. They booked me on a flight the next day but my connection was so tight I was sure I wouldn't make it so we went back and asked if they thought any other flights to Munich would go out on Wed. They told us there was one more schedule flight to Munich and that if it did there was plenty of room on it so we hung out in Timisoara and went back to the airport a few hours later and I caught a flight out and stayed with a friend there. She had noticed on FB that I was going to be flying through Munich and sent me a message telling me she lived only about 10 minutes from the aiport and to call her if I got stuck there. There was a lot of snow there and it continued to snow all night and into Thursday. I arrived and stood in the ticket line for about two hours. I kept looking at the flight board and over half the flights were saying cancelled or delayed. I was one of the lucky few that day that got out of Munich. We got on the plane and sat there for 3 hours waiting for the machine to come de-ice us. The piolet told us we were one of the last flights out that day before the airport shut down. After 12 hours on the plane I finally arrived in Charlotte Thursday evening. that evening mom did her preop stuff and took her pills, I went to bed at 7 pm and around 9 p.m. I heard a commotion...mom's surgeon had called and had to cancel her surgery due to an emergency. He would do it Monday morning instead of Friday. That was tough news for my mom, the waiting was the worse part. I did enjoy having the weekend to spend with my family.
Another blessing was, Baron sent me an email telling me that one of our supporting churches was paying for my trip to America! God continues to shower down his blessings on us!
We woke up at 4 a.m. Monday morning which wasn't hard for me b/c I was still jetlagged. We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 A.M. and they finally took her to surgery around 9. Now I must let it be known that our experience at St. Francis hospital was a wonderful one. Every step of the way there was a wonderful staff member to answer questions and just give encouraging words. The operating waiting room receptionest, the nurse who was with mom in surgery, the ICU nurses, and the step down nurses were all so kind. We really do appreciate the care she received at St. Francis and her surgeon did a wonderful job and is a very kind man. Mom spent Monday night in the ICU on the ventilator and by the time we saw her Tuesday morning she was breathing on her own and sitting up in a chair and had a lot more color to her. She moved to a room on the step down cardiac floor at noon on Tuesday. She went home on Saturday. I had to leave before she went home but I was so thankful that I could be with her and stay with her at the hospital a few days before I had to leave. I am so thankful that my wonderful husband didn't bat an eyelash but told me to go and that he would hold the fort down. He continued homeschooling the kids, nursed them through chicken pox, wrote his sermons in the evenings after the kids were in bed, and did some laundry. He didn't have to do much cooking thanks to Maria who came from church to do a lot of cooking for him and the kids.
So, that is a run down of my whirlwind trip to the states. It hardly even feels like I was there now! My mom continues to improve and I'm thankful for that.

A Teacher/Assistant

2010-01-24T23:34:00.000-08:00

I decided to just write it out once here to make things easier. We are looking for someone to come short term (for a year) or longer to help out with homeschooling. If you wanted to stay longer than a year we could set you up with Romanian classes and you could become even more involved with the children's ministry with the Romanian children. We have six children ages 11 to 3 1/2...next year they will be in 6th grade, 5th grade, 2nd grade, and 3 in Kindergarten. Whoever came would be mostly doing the 3 in Kindergarten. I plan on ordering my curriculum from Starfall. There would be plenty of room for adding to this program. The twins will be 6 and Nate 4. The twins still don't know English perfectly so that is why we are doing K5 another year with them. Joey is a very loving boy, loves to snuggle and love on people. Gina is very outspoken and creative. Nate is the baby of the family and is a big stinker (all my fault) but cute none the less :). I am only able to do school with them about an hour right now and they really need a full morning schedule to help them catch up. If you are interested in coming I would share more details with you about their learning styles etc.
Other ministries to be involved in: crafts with handicapped kids, crafts for church kids, possibly teaching/tutoring Romanian kids in English. It would be a big plus if you were musically talented but not a requirement.
If you came short term you could stay in our guest house which is in our court yard not attached to our house. Bedroom/sitting room/bathroom. You would eat meals with us. You would need to go home for Christmas b/c we are HOPING that a lot of family are coming for Christmas and we would need the space. You would eat all your meals with us. If you were coming longer term you would need to raise some support and live in an apartment.
You need to be a flexible person who isn't easily upset when plans go arry (b/c they go arry often here). You need to be a person who can adapt in another country and accept some things just b/c that is the way it is and not try to change everyone to be like Americans (very tempting to do at times). You need to be able to communicate your feelings so we know how to better help you (a hard one for me too). You need to love the Lord and desire to serve Him by serving others!

Feelings about adopting out of birth order.

2010-01-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

When we decided that God would have us adopt we had never researched adoption or talked with others and didn't know that to some, adopting out of birth order is a big no no. I think God had us remain ignorant of it because the children he had for us didn't fit in our birth order as they should :). There are challenges to adopting children who have been raised in a children's home...even if they were loved and well cared for there. Our twins never had consistancy, they would love someone and then that person would leave and someone else would come. Their life involved adapting with different people and attaching to whoever would look at them.

I think our biggest problem with the birth order thing would be this: Our youngest, Nate, is like the baby of the family and still at 3 1/2 gets treated like the baby. The twins see this baby/mom relationship and I think they struggle with this...especially Joey. He will often ask me, "mom, how come I wasn't your baby? I want to be your baby." All I can do is hug him and tell him I love him and that I am glad he is mine now. That is our biggest challenge with adopting out of birth order.

Considering our twins were raised in a children's home for the first 5 years of their lives they are quite spoiled. I am always amazed here in Romania to find how spoiled even the poor kids are. I think part of the problem is when you have a children's home you want to give all you can to these kids including material possessions. The twins always expect us to buy them something when we are out in a store. We would love to buy them things but we don't always indulge in their desires. We don't want them to think just because they want something means they should receive it. Here is a funny story. We took a trip to Timisoara, took the kids out to eat and to play at the play place and Joey started complaining about wanting something else. We told him he needed to have a thankful heart and he came back with this: "oh, I am thankful, I'm thankful I have a family." It was difficult to continue reprimanding him after that!

They have been with us permanently for about 9 months. We have a lot of good days and some bad days. They have settled into family life nicely and are trying really hard to obey and follow the house rules. They are doing better at accepting no for an answer then they did in the beginning. We love them and look forward to them receiving our last name. Please pray that the adoption moves in a timely manner. We hope to be home for a furlough the fall/winter of 2011.

Christmas Time is Here!

2009-12-18T03:28:00.000-08:00

We have had a white Christmas before but it has never snowed this much a week before Christmas! It has been snowing since Monday night. It makes it hard to complete the last week of school before Christmas break when all the kids want to do is go out and play! We are enjoying it though.

Poof...it's gone!

2009-12-03T11:56:00.001-08:00

One minute you have a old van that works just fine transporting people to and from church then the next minute...POOF, it's gone! Ole Bessie, we bought her from another missionary a little over 8 years ago. I think we were the third or fourth missionary family to own it. It was an 87 Ford Transit that served us well until that fateful Wednesday evening when it went up in smoke...poof. Baron drove it to men's Bible study and a lady comes into the church and told him his van was on fire. He went running out and sure enough it was in flames, all the way into the front seat. The fire department was called by someone but Baron dove into action, grabbing a bucket of water, he began dousing the flames. In Romania the law requires you have a fire extinguisher in your vehicle but he couldn't get to his...his vehicle was on fire :). Two other cars stopped though and jumped out with their fire extinguishers plus several neighbors of the church came out with hoses and buckets. I really wish we had a video of it, Baron said it was quite a sight! The fire department came after the fire was out but gave it a good dousing for good measure.
Thankfully even though it has caused a bit of a dilema for church transportation, no one was hurt and Baron came home chuckling about the scene instead of fuming about it and worrying. We think that Bessie is pretty much toast and not worth saving.
Baron is pricing 97 Ford transits. Please pray that God will provide the funds needed for a new vehicle for our church needs. We are so thankful no one was in the van when it caught fire and no one was injured.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T14:05:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is here. I love this time of year. It comes and goes so fast. I hope to just slow down and enjoy the gift of Jesus this next month! We are in Vienna, Austria for a nice little break from the normal routine. This is the twins first time out of Romania and they are loving it. Everything is so great. We were just sitting at the Hungarian border in the fog and Joey thought Hungary was such a cool place. We went to Toys R Us today with 6 kids. They each drew a siblings name and bought a gift for that person. We had to keep reminding the twins that they were picking out a gift for someone else but they did really well! I had Joey, Nate, and Spencer with me. We'll see if Joey and Gina can keep a secret what they got for the person they shopped for! This is their first year to celebrate Thanksigiving with us. I don't remember why but we didn't have them last year. We are so THANKFUL to have our whole family together this year! So, glad after the holiday's we don't have to make the drive back to the children's home with them. So glad the sentence on the paper says it's irrivocable, they are ours. Praying for an final adoption court date soon after the holidays.
We have so much to be thankful for. God's amazing grace to us. We get a gift we don't deserve! How marvelous, how wonderful is our Savior's love for us! We have a network of family and friends who pray for us and support us and love us! Through all the economic difficulties in America people have continued to give and our support level has not dropped at all. We have seen many people suffer in Romania through this crisis and thanks to you and your faithful giving we have been able to pass on the blessing of helping them with their needs.
We have God's peace that he gives to us when our hearts are fixed on Him. Through all the pain and trials we can know He cares for us and the trying of our faith produces patience. Pray for us this holiday season as we reach out to those in need. This time of year seems to open more doors for ministry. We pray that we will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading. Everything we do in Lugoj, Romania is His work. Anything accomplished is because of Him alone. He alone is worthy of our love and praise. We are so thankful and pray that you all have a blessed time with your family and friends. We pray mostly that each of you will experience a closer walk with our Lord and allow Him to control and guide you!

Christmas Again.

2009-11-15T09:39:00.000-08:00

So, I was sitting in church this morning looking at all my needy kids wondering how in the world can I just do something special for 6 of them. So, I posted a message on facebook about wanting to get 25 kids books for Christmas and already have gotten a great response! I'm so excited to see God move hearts to help those in need. Our kids will be so excited. Most of these kids don't get gifts at Christmas. They are poor kids in difficult situations. We are so thrilled to bring a little joy to them all. God bless you all. We serve a great God who meets our needs always!

Christmas

2009-11-13T03:58:00.000-08:00

So Christmas will be here before we know it. I have 6 kids in particular I want to bring Christmas too. We have about 25 kids in Sunday School and we will get them all a little something but there are 6 kids I want to do something special for. Two of them have just started coming to church with their foster mom. The boys are 8 and 5. They are in their third foster home. This lady that has them now seems to really care for them. Their previous foster moms were disasterous. The two girls are 9 and
4, they live down the street from us. Their dad left and their mom doesn't have a job so they are living off of about $100 a month. The other two come to our church. The brother is 8 and the sister is almost 6. If anyone is interested in helping me do this I would love to get some color wonders from the states (I brought back a bunch this summer and the kids here were mesmorized by them and loved them) and Christmas Candy. We are helping all the older siblings with homework and noticed reading is a real problem. They have no books to read at home and so they don't get much practice. I buy a book every couple of weeks to build up my Romanian book library so they have something to read when they come here. Obviously you can't buy Romanian books and send but if any book lovers out there wanted to buy these kids some books they could donate the money and we could buy them some over here.
If you are interested in helping and want more information please contact me. Remember, for the stuff to get here in time you should send it by the end of November at the latest. God bless you this holiday season.

Sunday

2009-11-08T12:58:00.000-08:00

We had another packed out Sunday. I brought my camera to take some pictures but was too busy to take any pictures :). The challenge is teaching parents how to keep their little ones quiet in church and if they get too loud to take them out. We know that little ones will make some noise but letting your little one run up and down the aisle and talk just is a bit too much of a distraction. Parents seem to have a hands off approach. Tonight went pretty well though after Baron made an announcement. We are thankful for all the little ones and pray their parents continue coming so they can learn about God's love and their little ones can get an early start on learning about God. We continue to pray that God's Spirit will work. We are not capable of so great a task as shepherding so many hurting and needy people but He is capable...with God all things are possible!

Sunday School

2009-11-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

A quick note about Sunday School. My little class is packed out. The piture is when the weather was still nice and we could all take our chairs outside but we can't do that anymore! Pray that God will provide the funds needed to make a run down room into our new Sunday school room and connect it to the church.

.

Papaw Joe

2009-10-22T05:08:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write about Baron's Papaw Joe who passed away at the age of 95 yesterday morning. I hope that I have all my facts correct but if I don't Mom Howie you can correct me. Papaw Joe was Baron's great-great uncle on his dad's side. Dad H's parents were separated when he was born and his mom went to look for work so he and his older sister went to live with his grandparents. When Dad H was 3 and his sister 4 their grandma died and their grandpa's brother, Papaw Joe, who was much younger told his brother to let him take care of the kids. Papaw Joe was not saved at the time and his brother said he just couldn't in good conscious let him have the kids because he wasn't living for the Lord. As the story goes, Papaw Joe went to church and accepted Christ and this new love for Christ deepend his desire to help the hurting kids around him. He and his girlfriend, Granny Bill, got married and they gained custody of Ken and his sister Carolyn. He had compassion on those who were down and out and always was willing to give people a chance. Most people would have shut the door in the face of people that he ministered too. He was always more then willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt and give them a job and try to help them out.
They went on to take in two sisters from a local orphanage. Their father had passed away and their mother was unable to care for them. They raised them and actually raised 3 children of one of those girls. He also temporarily housed many people who needed a place to stay.
Papaw Joe was more like Baron's grandpa then great great uncle. He raised his father and because of this Baron's dad, Dad H. had a heart for orphans. He always had a desire in his heart to work with orphans and needy kids in some way but it just never happened. His heart was passed on to his son though. When we moved to Romania we received an opportunity that Dad H. never had, we were surrounded by abandoned kids. God gave us the desire to adopt and when we finally met our kids, we knew we wanted them to feel part of the family and have family names. So, we kept the first name just making it American...George Joseph will be on his birth certificate when the adoption is final and we call him Joey for Papaw Joe. The transition to calling him Joey came quickly and was not difficult although I know people at Casa Alba will always consider him Gheorghe, he is Joey Howerton to us and the name fits him so well. He is full of spunk and joy and we hope and pray he lives up to his name and grows to be a kind and compassionate man who loves the Lord with all his heart.
In loving memory of Joe Riddle 1914-2009.

A Trip to Budapest

2009-10-07T09:54:00.001-07:00

We took a quick trip to Budapest yesterday and today. We took the two older boys and left the 4 younger kids with some missionary friends. We are moving the two older boys into their own room (they get their dad's office) and needed a bunk bed. The bunk beds we checked out in Romania were very expensive and we found one at IKEA in Budapest that was sturdier and much much cheaper so we decided to go there and get it plus we always enjoy eating at TGIFriday's while there. We also got Baron a much needed filing cabinet which is hard to come by in Romania too. So, we literally stuffed our boxes in the van and headed home today. Everything was fine and dandy until we noticed at the Hungarian border it was taking quite a long time for the customs man to give us our passports back. The Romanian customs man asked us to move our car out of the way and park, finally he came and asked about a ticket I had recieved when in Hungary way back in March. Yes, I said I got a ticket for not having my lights on (law says lights on at all times and I forget to do that in the day). So, in the police officers best Romanian he told me 3 ways I could pay for the ticket and me being without Baron didn't really want to try to figure out where a post office was to pay my ticket at and I didn't have money on me to pay the officer so I chose option 3...pay at a bank in Romania. Baron paid the $50 ticket for me plus a $20 wiring fee way back in March. But since we paid it at a bank in Romania it wasn't showing up as paid in their computers. So, the customs officer asked for the receipt...um Mr. custom's officer I don't know about you but we don't keep receipts in our wallets for 8 months! No one had bothered to tell us that the next time I tried to exit their country (entering wasn't a problem) I would need proof that I had paid it b/c since it wasn't paid in country it doesn't show up and the money just goes to one big account in Budapest and so they had no record of what the $50 was for that was sent to them. So, the only way they were going to let us out of the country was if I sat at the border while Baron went to the first village in Hungary and found a post office and paid the bill AGAIN!! So, he left the boys with me for safety reasons (I felt so safe having my 9 and 10 year there with me :)) and he took off for the village to pay it. Two hours later and after paying my ticket for the SECOND time we finally were allowed to leave Hungary. We had to pick up our little ones at the Tyler's church since we were running late they had to take them to church with them. We stuffed 4 more children in the already stuffed van and drove one more hour home...yes I still love going to Budapest and enjoyed myself (except for those two hours). I even understand them not letting us out with an unpaid ticket. What I don't understand is why not tell the police officers to #1 have mercy on a foreign women alone in a different country and #2 when you give option 3 to pay in your own country why not let the foreigner know that you must bring back proof you paid the ticket even if it is 8 months later!!

Passports

2009-09-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

We were happy at how easy it was to apply for the twins Romanian passports. They should be ready in 20 days. We are planning on going to Vienna, Austria for Thanksgiving. It's always nice to be able to get away for a few days and Vienna is such a beautiful place and we have friends there that we enjoy getting together with.
Our long term houseguest is leaving. She has been helping me greatly. I have been able to get school done before noon with the three older boys thanks to her doing pre school with my three younger ones. She is now leaving so I am in the process of making a detailed schedule so we can get in everything that we need to. It will be a challenge but we will just take it one day at a time and go from there.
Just wanted to put a little up date on here. Nothing worse then someone who has a blog but never blogs :).

VBS

2009-08-25T04:23:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful week of VBS! We are so thankful for all the church volunteers and the team from America who helped make it a success. We decided this year to go big and have a carnival on Friday since we knew we would have 8 Americans here to help out. On Thursday we had 62 children at VBS and that is quite a high number for us. It feels a little overwhelming with that many kids.

We were praying that God would send just the right amount on Friday for the carnival so it could be a success without becoming a disaster because of too many kids. We had right at 60 kids and we had 10 stations so we broke the kids up into groups of 6.

We had clowns from Timisoara. We had face painting, balloon animals, games, snacks, and lots of prizes. I thought the children did rather well at turning in their tickets for prizes. I was a little worried there would be a lot of yelling and complaining about "hey , he got something I didn't, that's not fair" but there was very little of that.

Our team of 8 Americans must take credit for the success of the carnival. Baron and I would have never attempted something like that on our own. The director and regional director of Biblical Ministries Worldwide, Paul and his wife Joan, and Dale and his wife Avril were with us for a few days. They jumped in and helped us with the carnival. The other team members were Joshua Louk, he and his wife are making plans to move over here next summer and be part of our team. He brought with him 3 others, Brittney, Hailey, and Paul Michael. We are so thankful they came and helped us with VBS.

There were many new kids this year and many moms came and stayed during the week. We pray that the Word that was preached even to these young hearts will not return void.
We look forward to seeing what team God puts together to work in our community through Berea Baptist Church.

During the team's visit, Baron has taken them to a day center for street kids, the children's hospital, the day center for gypsy kids, an after school center in Timisoara to help with school work, a crisis pregnancy center in Timisoara, and another large childrens ministry about 4 hours from us. We would appreciate your prayers as God directs us and gives wisdom to what ministries he has for us in the future.

Blog

2009-08-19T03:26:00.000-07:00

So, why have a blog if you aren't going to post on it? Well, I haven't been posting as often because there just isn't much to say. I am not a creative writer that can just make up something to write about. The purpose of my blog is to write about what is going on in my family here in Romania. The big news is we have a new trampoline...yes see how boring, not even worth writing about! We are having VBS this week every evening. Last night was our first night and we had 42 kids. Lots of moms came with them. I thought it went really well. We were strict with the age limit of 12 and it went very smooth without any 13 and 14 year olds there. We anticipate maybe 15 more tonight. They earn tickets for the prize box on Friday for bringing visitors so we'll see if that motivates them!
We start school next week, at least that is the plan. I may be blogging even less then!
Please continue to pray for the ministry over here. Pray especially for wisdom for Baron and pray that God will help us to be patient and loving yet confront when necessary. Pray that God will lead a Romanian family to our church who desires to serve God full time.
We should find out the first of September the next step in the adoption. We are happy at this point to have them in our home all the time. The adjustment period is interesting but mostly smooth with only a few bumps along the way so far. Pray for all our kids to see Jesus in Baron and I and that they will desire a personal relationship with Him.

Good Bye Children's Home...Hello Family!

2009-08-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

We received the phone call this week...the papers are finished, the final proclamation is done...come Friday to get the papers and for a good bye part at Casa Alba. I wondered after being in our home for 2 1/2 months how the twins would do going back there. CA has been their home for their whole lives...they have been waiting for a whole year to move in with their family. They have been loved and well cared for but they have never known what it was like to have a family. I wondered if they would jump back into feeling "at home" at CA and if they would run wild and cling to others or stay close to us. We discussed with them ahead of time how they were to act but still you wonder what will happen. I am pleased to say they did very well. Gina in times past when back at CA after a visit with us would run up to the workers and hang with them but today she would give out a hug then come back and sit in her daddy's lap content. Joey would run around a bit but come back to us...he didn't fight or show aggression with his old buddies. The twins had told us they wanted to say good bye to Cera and Alex, I think they were the four youngest and spent a lot of time together. Alex and the twins were with each other from babyhood. It was an emotional day. I was so touched to see kids having pictures made with their new families...it really brought tears to my eyes seeing kids receive a family...all children deserve a family to love and nuture them.
Over all it was a very happy day for us. We have their birth certificates and medical records and they are ours. Hopefully in three months we can open the adoption file for them.

2009-08-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

Adoption

2009-07-21T06:34:00.000-07:00

Adoption is a long and bumpy road and you never know what is going to happen. It took over a year to just get the twins into our custody. We are waiting to find out when to go up for their good bye part at their former children's home and to receive all their files and paperwork we need.

Our social worker came today with the psychologist for a visit. Our "atestare" for adoption ran out in April so they had to re do some of the papers and make a couple more visits. I think they were impressed with the twins. So, I asked them could they give me a round about figure of how long now it would take. It depends on the judge here in our county. This county goes with the new law and does placement then adoption...like foster to adopt. The county the twins came from said we had to apply for "tutela" or custody/guardianship is the best word. So, if the judge here accepts our guardianship and lets us declare them adoptable and adopt them we can start the process in 3 months. We have to wait until we have had them in our custody for 3 months plus had all their papers. If that happens we should start the 3 month count down in a few weeks. If the judge doesn't accept that then we would have to apply to be their foster parents and then wait another 3 months and then start the adoption process...either way the social worker told us the court houses are busy but she thinks we could be done with it all in under a year.

It will be interesting to see how the kids react when they go back to Casa Alba for a party. Continue to pray for their transition into our family. They are precious children and we are privileged to be chosen as their parents.

Adjustments

2009-07-19T05:51:00.000-07:00

I have been telling myself it is time to write an entry on my blog for sometime now and just couldn't bring myself to do so. When I get back from a trip to America I am always a little depressed and it takes a couple of weeks to work my way out of that and get back to normal. I am almost back to normal. I meditate on God's Word, specifically: "you will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Isaiah 26:3-4.
I am thankful I could be at my Grandma's 90th birthday. She still lives on her own and drives. Her name is Marvelous Marv.

The twins have been with us for about 6 weeks now. The longest they had ever stayed with us was 2 weeks. The 2 week visits usually went well and we didn't have any major issues. I anticipated these visits were kind of like the honeymoon period. Once they moved in and stayed with us long term I was sure the rules would become an issue and they have, but only for one of them really. I thought for sure that Joey would be the difficult one because he is aggressive. But he longs to please and is quick to receive correction. He is speaking short phrases in English and asks me everything in English. I really didn't think he would be the one speaking so much English this early on! He still gets angry and lashes out in the heat of the moment but is always sorry and receives correction. Gina on the other hand still wants to rule the roost. She does not comply with the rules very often and pouts and stomps her feet when told to do something. We remind them of certain rules everyday so they realize they are the same today as they were yesterday. Every day you can be sure if no one is in the room Gina will touch or do whatever it is she isn't supposed to, she hasn't learned yet that moms have eyes in the back of their heads and see and know all :). Hopefully she will learn that soon so her life will be much easier. She craves attention and will act like a baby if she thinks it will bring her the attention she wants. She is a tough little princess but we love her and hope and pray we can guide her strong will to be a strong will for the things of God! She is actually speaking very little English and seems to be struggling a bit more then Joey with this time of transition.

We hope to receive all the final papers soon for custody so we can proceed to have them declared adoptable. We will go in the next few weeks for a final trip to Casa Alba for a goodbye party and to get what paper work we need.

America

2009-06-23T16:36:00.000-07:00

I am finally in America! It's good to be here. As we were leaving for the airport yesterday it hadn't dawned on me that me leaving might be difficult on anyone other then Baron. Well, all the way to the airport Georgie was very loud about the fact that mommy should not be going to get Zach, daddy needs to go and mommy needs to stay. I didn't realize how much this change of primary care givers would throw him off. He kept clinging to me, I told him I would bring them back surprises and I would be back in a week. Gina on the other hand was very excited, with mom gone she thought she would be ruling the roost...Baron had to quickly put her in her proper place of little daughter instead of little mother :). I have already purchased several little dresses for Gina (I told her I would bring her back 2 dresses but the OshKosh outlet was having such great sales I got a few more...she'll be thriled). I have to figure out how to get all my stuff back...I have lots of heavy school books to bring back.

Little Things

2009-06-18T06:10:00.000-07:00

We recently celebrated two birthdays. Spencer turned 9 on June 6 and Nate turned 3 on June 12th! It felt weird celebrating their birthday's without Zach. It feels weird that I don't have a baby anymore (although don't tell him he's not the baby anymore). We really need to work on getting rid of the pacifier (for those of you who are appalled that we still have a paci, he only uses it at night).

We are now starting our third week of having the twins. The longest we have ever had them was 2 weeks so we hope that things start to settle into a routine and we get the court paper we need next week and we don't have to take them back in July!

I am taking my first ever overseas trip all alone. I wonder if I'll sleep. Usually I can't sleep because I have to keep checking to make sure my kids aren't falling out of the seat or that their had hasn't fallen into some strangers lap. I did take one trip 3 years ago when I was pregnant with Nate to Amman Jordan for my brother's wedding. I wondered if I could possibly have fun without my husband and kids...I learned very quickly, I could have a lot of fun without them :) so I anticipate I will miss them terribly and be ready to get back to Romania but I also anticipate I will greatly enjoy a little quiet R & R in America.

Good News!!!!!!!!!!

2009-06-04T02:45:00.000-07:00

Something in our favor happened, finally!!! Praise God! Ok, so if you read the last entry you know we were supposed to pick them up for a two week visit and it was looking like we were going to have to take them back again...we were hoping the paper work would be finished and we souldn't have to take them back but paper work is moving slow! Well, the good news is, that the director of the children's home decided it was close enough to the end and it was far better for the twins not to return to Casa Alba that she let us sign them out for 4 weeks, until the 4th of July and then we SHOULD just have to go back for a good bye part! So PLEASE pray that in the next 4 weeks it is resolved! So, it looks like for now, that the twins are moving in with us!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO. I'm making cookies!!!!

Twins Saga

2009-06-03T23:50:00.000-07:00

Our court date was April 21 and by May 21 we should have received the official paper and then the 15 day waiting period begins before we bring them home...so techinically we should be nearing the end of the 15 day waiting period but we haven't received the paper yet!! So, the twins social worker went to the court house today and the man told her the judges assistant should have sent that out within 30 days...well, it has now been like 47 days. So, he called her and she said she was waiting for the final proclamation from the judge still before she could send it out...come on, how long does it take to write a proclamation to put two kids into a home!!! Supposedly by the end of next week we should receive it BUT I am not sure who is going to make the judge write that proclamation. Our hope was, today we are picking them up for a two week visit and we were hoping not to have to take them back...but it looks like we will probably have to take them back just 4 days before I go to the states which means we won't get them until July...nothing makes sense...I know I have said this before but I never dreamed that it would take over a year for two children living in a children's home to be placed with a family...that should be a priority.
Pray for this frustrated mom...she just wants her family to be all together once and for all!

Twins Update

2009-05-29T04:40:00.000-07:00

So, as you know we had our court date on April 21 and were awarded custody of our twins (this is only custody we still have to go through the adoption process). This did not mean we could just take the twins home, end of story. We did take them home that day for two weeks but had to take them back. By law the court has 30 days to send out the official paper of the order given to give us custody...it has now been 38 days and we still have not received our paper. After 30 days there is a 15 day waiting period where anyone can come contest the decision...what we don't know is if the 15 days begins right after it has been 30 days since the court decision or if starts when the official court paper is sent. We called someone today to check on things for us. He called the court house and basically couldn't get any information over the phone. He said if we haven't gotten the paper by Monday he will drive from Oradea to the Marghita court house and check on it. They said they only gave out information to people who came in person.
The other development (maybe this really isn't a development...we hope not anyway) is a couple came to Casa Alba last week inquiring about the twins. No one knows who they were. They only know it wasn't the aunt who came last year expressing interest in them. I don't understand why no one there questioned them and tried to find out who they were...just another factor I have to throw out to God and trust Him and not mull over and worry about.
So, that is where we are at. We are picking the twins up this Thursday for two weeks but are hoping that the only reason we have to go back to Marghita is for a going away party. Keep Praying.

Zachary.

2009-05-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, all you mothers, every now and then we just can't keep silent and we have to mention our kids :-).My oldest, Zachary, who is 10 is in the states with grandma and grandpa right now and I have gotten a few emails and things about his trip.
My mom wrote this:
"last evening Pastor Peter had all the people stand whose jobs were in jepardy or who were out of work. Wow! I was surprised at how many people stood So then Peter had people go and suround the different people and pray for them. Dad went and Zack follow him and went and put his hand on their shoulder as they prayed. I thought it was so sweet. "
That one brought tears to my eyes.

Next is a list of funny things that my sister, Aunt Gigi, sent me.
1. On Zach's first trip to Red Robin I was showing him all the cool drinks he could order. He asks the waitress, "Do you have pear juice?"
1a. During trip to Red Robin, asked Zach what he thought of having a sister.
Response: "It is okay. She is a little bossy."
Aunt Gigi told him he should give in to her every once in a while.
Response: "No. We tried that, and it just made it worse."
2. When meeting Fluffy for the first time, "She is so cute. You should get a male dog and mate them and they could have puppies."
3. When running through my house for the first time, "Why do you have three toilets when there are only two of you?"
4. When he saw Al's car collection, "Who plays with all the cars?"
5. When Uncle Al took him to McDonald's this morning for breakfast and Al asks him what he wants, Zach says, "What can I have?" Al says, "Anything." Zach: "Anything?" Al says yes. Zach: "I'd like two sausages and a medium milkshake. I love sausage." Yes, that's plain sausage.
6. When I took him to Old Navy to get needed items and Nana calls and says that he needs two pairs of shorts as well Zach says, "Does that mean we have to go back to the fitting room?" Aunt Gigi: "Yes." Zach: "Oh, I'm getting bored with the fitting room. Do we get charged every time we go into the fitting room?"
7. Still at Old Navy Zach says, "I don't like these jeans, they stink. I want the jeans I have in Romania." I told him they just smell new and that smell will go away once we wash them.

Kids make us laugh, keep our hearts light, and sometimes they even show us what it truly means to follow Christ!

When things seem impossible!

2009-05-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

I am not sure where to start on this story. I'll do my best to make it concise but not leave out any details because God needs to be praised for all the details that were accomplished today! We needed to leave for the airport at 11:30 a.m. My parents and Zach's plane was to leave at 1:55. Around 10:30 a.m. my mom said, "oh, don't forget to give me Zach's passport." So, I stopped to go and get it right away. I looked in Baron's desk drawer and found 3 boys' passports...but not Zach's, I looked in our other hiding place for passports, no passport for Zach. I went and asked Baron if he knew where Zach's passport was...he asked me if it wasn't in his desk with all the kids passports. No one was panicking at this point...we had an hour before we needed to leave and we have never lost a passport before so we were sure we would find it before 11:30. We thought back to the last time we used his passport, it was to make a copy of his and Spencer's passport for fighting class. We took Baron's office apart. He knew he had made the copies on his printer and we had Spencer's passport. He was sure it was in his office but after tearing his office apart (and realizing we need to invest in filing cabinets which we will do right away) and it wasn't there our fear was that he had accidentally picked it up and put it in his pocket and lost it. We called the embassy, our only option they said was to bring Zach to Bucharest (a very long trip on the train all night) and get him a new passport, that is the only way he can get out of the country. So, we start looking at train tickets and thinking we could change the plane tickets until Wednesday. Baron also called the boys fighting teacher to see if we accidentally gave him the passport instead of the copy...he came right over and took Baron over to the gym to hunt for it and he felt so bad but there was nothing he could do....of course in the midst of all this we are all praying for a miracle. It is 11:30 now and we should be leaving. Zach is calm through it all, he says: "mom, maybe this is God's way of showing us that I am not supposed to go to America this summer." I wanted to cry at his level of thinking. We really started taking the house apart at this time...no passport. I get on the phone to see about changing plane tickets...just for my parents to change it is going to be $250 per ticket then she says but there are no seats in business class on Wed. or Thurs and the only way to switch is to do an upgrade and she put me on hold to figure out the price. While I am on hold I told my dad to go put their luggage in the car that I think they are going to have to go without Zach because it is going to be too expensive to change their tickets. I am sitting at Baron's desk and realize at this point that Zach is not going to America and we are going to loose all this money on his ticket and I started to cry. We were at the end of our rope and exasperated. It is around 12:15 or so and I told Baron you just need to get my parents to the airport (I kept telling myself during all this that I would praise God even if my plans didn't work out, that God has a reason and this is His plan). I was still on hold with the airline and Baron sees me crying and in his exasperation starts pulling out boxes from behind his desk, behind where the printer is and he yells: "I FOUND IT!!" We all go tearing out of the house, grabbing boys and shoes, and suitcases and praising God...shouting and crying. My dad couldn't believe it...when he was loading up the luggage he thought for sure that was it, there was no way Zach was coming with them. It was 12:30 when we left. There are two ways to Timisoara, the road directly to the airport is full of construction and stop lights b/c of the construction so we dared not go that way. We went the other way and had to drive all the way through Timisoara to get to the airport. We were praying and my dad was holding on to the dashboard the whole way and Baron was literally flying! It usually takes about an hour to get to Timisoara and depending on traffic through Timisoara can take quite a while...we made it to the airport in 50 minutes...record time! After several scary passes on the road and everyones heart rate really high, we get them checked in, hug them, breath a sigh of relief. We put them in the passport line, their flight is boarding. The passport man then asks my parents who Zach is and they say he's our grandson, Baron goes over and the man asks when Zach was out of the country last and we say in December and then Baron shows him his permanent residency card and says he is my son and I live in Romania. The man proceeds to tell him that if Zach leaves the country without one of these cards he will not be allowed back in the country! When we went and got our cards for permanent residency we asked at the police station about our kids and they told us for now not to worry about our kids they were fine under us. We explained this to him but he said, no he must have a card. Baron pleaded with them and explained to them we will get him a card but we can't get one now. By this time someone from the plane came looking for the last three passengers for the plane. Baron and the passport control man are speaking Romanian so my poor parents have no idea what is going on...FINALLY the Lord had mercy and about 5 minutes before the plane was supposed to take off, they got on the plane!!
We went straight to the police station to see what we needed to do to get him a card and the man there rolled his eyes and told Baron they had no right to do what they did. He said, yes you should have a card for your kids but it is not a big deal and that they should not have given us a hastle...oh the inconsistancies, that is what drives me nuts! This man at the police station gave Baron his name and number and told him if they give us any problems getting back in the country to call him. He told us to come get the cards for the kids when Zach comes back in the country!
We felt emotionally drained by the time we walked away from the airport. We were so happy and tired and flabbergasted (is that a word??)...we have never lost a passport before, why now. God has a reason...we may never now that reason but we praise Him that he chose to allow Zach to go to America!

Updates

2009-05-13T23:58:00.001-07:00

It has been 3 1/2 weeks since we were granted custody of the twins and we still haven't gotten our official declaration in the mail. They supposedly have 30 days from the court date to send it so Lord willing maybe we will receive it sometime next week. After that there is the 15 day waiting period and as as far as I know after that they are free to come home with us. Please continue to pray for them and us as we wait to bring them home then all the fun of the adoption process begins!

It is almost time for summer camp again. We are excited to be taking about 40 kids to camp this summer and 16 of them or orphans from a private children's home near by. We pray that once again we will receive gifts to sponser these 40 kids to go to camp. The cost is about $40 per camper for one week of camp. If you are interested in helping send a child to camp you can send a check to Tri City Ministries, 4500 Little Blue Parkway, Independence, MO 64057 and mark it specifically for Howerton campers in Romania.

My parents have been here for almost 3 weeks now. The time always goes by so fast! They leave on Monday and take our oldest son with them. I am glad he gets to go but am kind of regretting sending him now :). It will be a good time for him. He is going to the Wilds for a week. He will also get to spend a week in Kansas City with Grandma and Grandpa Howie and his cousins.

I am so grateful to have a space problem in Sunday School. My little class has grown from 9 kids to well over 16 kids. Many of these kids are needy, several of them are foster kids, and some are learning disabled. Please pray for us as we love these kids and minister to them. We hope to have them come two days a week this summer to our home to play games and do crafts with them. They enoy the stimulation. Many of these kids just sit in front of the television for fun.

We have finished up our year of school. It was a challenging year as it was my first year in two years to have to teach the boys. I learned a lot this year. We are switching to a new curriculum, Sonlight. It is a literature based curriculum and I think it will be a good switch for us. Zach will be in 5th grade next year, Spencer in 3rd grade, and Drew in 1st grade. The twins will be learning English and doing K5 work.

Good News!

2009-04-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

I want to share the good news with everyone...we were granted custody of the twins today! We are so excited. We brought them home with us today and tomorrow is their
5th birthday. We still have to take them back in a couple of weeks for them to stay for a waiting period where any family member has the right to come in and protest the decision. We don't expect any protest since no family member has been in their lives for all 5 years but be in prayer that everything goes through smoothly.
We are so thankful. The picture was taken at McDonalds after we picked them up today. We met an American family there and they took a picture for us. Thank you all for praying.

Easter

2009-04-20T01:40:00.001-07:00

These pictures were taken by our neighbors. Each year for Easter they borrow some bunnies from a friend of theirs for the day so the boys went to pet them and visit with the cute little bunnies.

We celebrated Easter yesterday. It was a wonderful day. I love the resurrection songs and really want to incoporate them into our times of worship more often then just Easter! We had a full house, 19 kids...that is a lot for my little Sunday School room. Quite a few of those kids are from a tough backgrounds, they have been known to beg on the streets and several of them go to a special school because they have some form of mental handicapped although not severe. We fought hard to keep things under control...as it got closer to the Easter hunt though it got harder and harder. I got a group shot of the kids and will post it after I down load it.
After church Sunday evening, we invited those in attendance to our house for food and fellowship. It was a relaxing and fun time. I always feel I get to fellowship with the people when we are at our house in a more relaxed setting. Sunday's are so busy for me I feel like I barely say hello to people. Most everyone left around 9 p.m. but several stayed on for a round of Settlers.

Today is a relaxed day. Everything is closed so we are just hanging out and relaxing too. The boys are currently on a treasure hunt. We will leave this afternoon for Marghita. The boys will stay with some friends of ours. We will go to the court house first thing tomorrow morning. We have no idea what kind of a wait we will have. It is a small town so hopefully there won't be a long wait.
I'll be updating you all as soon as I can on the result. Keep praying!

Court Date

2009-04-06T07:03:00.000-07:00

Our Court Date is April 21!!!

Modesty

2009-04-06T03:51:00.000-07:00

I know I normally just write about what is going on in my family life but this topic has been on my heart lately...modesty in the 21st century...does it exist? I have no idea really who reads this blog or if this entry will turn you off but I am struck lately by just how immodest women dress...including women who call themselves followers of Christ. My sons turn away in embarassement when they see a women in revealing clothes...I pray this heart remains in them as they get older. I notice that many people either harp on womens dress and give a specific list of what they can and can't wear or they steer completely clear of this subject.

I just wonder, as the mother of boys, will they be able to find a women of character who cares enough about them and other Christian brothers who is willing to not dress in a way that provokes sensual thoughts...I sure hope so! So, what exactly does modesty mean? I found a good definition by C.J. Mahaney in his 7 part series called, "God, My Heart, and Clothes." He says, "Modesty means propriety. It means avoiding clothes and adornment that are extravagant or sexually enticing. Modesty is humility expressed in dress. It’s a desire to serve others, particularly men, by not promoting or provoking sensuality.

Immodesty, then, is much more than wearing a short skirt or low-cut top; it’s the act of drawing undue attention to yourself. It’s pride, on display by what you wear.

Self-control is, in a word, restraint. Restraint for the purpose of purity; restraint for the purpose of exalting God and not ourselves. Together, these attitudes of modesty and self-control should be the hallmark of the godly woman’s dress."

I guess what disturbs me most is that Christian women don't even seem to want to discuss modesty or hear any type of teaching on this. When they hear someone start to speak on this they yell, "Legalist! Don't you know I am free from a list of rules!" I was one of these women when I first finished college. My parents had never been overly strict with me but when I got married and left home and left the Christian college I attended I was shouting, "hey no rules, I can wear what I want!" I think what started me thinking about this modesty subject again is the fact that I am trying to raise 5 sons to be lovers of God and to keep their minds pure. We live in a day where a man must choose where to turn his eyes for fear of seeing pornography right on the street. When all we can do is think about our freedom to dress as we want instead of realizing that how I dress is an outward expression of what is in my heart then that is when Christian women stop thinking about their Christian brothers and start dressing because we are "free".

"A woman who focuses on worshiping God will consider carefully how she is dressed, because her heart will dictate her wardrobe and appearance."(John MaCarthur)

I'll close with this quote from C.J. Mahaney's article on modesty and hope that you prayerfully consider whether this is an area you as a women need to work on or you as a man need to be more attentive to when it comes to your wife and daughters:

"There’s an inseparable link between your heart and your clothes. Your clothes say something about your attitude. If they don’t express a heart that is humble, that desires to please God, that longs to serve others, that’s modest, that exercises self-control, then change must begin in the heart.

For modesty is humility expressed in dress."

Finally.

2009-03-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

Here is our new school room.

I know it has been a while since I blogged. I've been busy getting my house out of a chaotic state. To try and make a long story short. We put stairs inside the house so we could utilize our space in the attic. The stairs are in our old bedroom and we moved upstairs. Then we moved all the family room stuff into our old bedroom and had the ceiling lowered in our family room and put in new windows and re plastered the walls (they are cement and we never did them right so they were cracking and the paint was peeling off). Then we painted in there and moved our stuff back in then painted the school room and moved that stuff in and now the boys dorm room has more space. We had orignally separated their room with a big wardrobe or dulop as we call them and had school on one side and the boys slept in two bunk beds on the other side. I am very thankful for a school room.
In the middle of all this, Kendra left. She left last Wednesday...sigh. She WILL BE BACK though in July. She left me with a craft notebook all planned out for the next three months at the center for handicapped children.

I have a project for the handicapped kids we work with and I need some sponsers. I have found what is called a "band in a box". It has different little instruments the kids could bang on. They love music and love to strum on my guitar and sing. I thought they would enjoy banging the tamborines and other instruments while we are singing. I would like 3 of them. If anyone wants to get one to send for these kids let me know and I can tell you where I found them or you can find your own. I can also give you the info of where to send it.

I am quite discouraged with the whole adoption process. It seems as everyone here is too busy to take the time to put two children in a home. I will give you more news when I have it but it looks like we may not have a court date until the end of May...one year after we put in our request to be their guardians...unreasonable, unthinkable, and un, well I can't think of another word but I never imagined we would be facing the twins 5th birthday and they would still be at the orphanage. The orphanage by the way is closing down in six months and our twins were expected to be the first to go. Looks like now they will be the last to go. It just seems that every time we get news it is a little bit of bad news, never any good and each time it knocks a little more hope and spirit out of me. I feel like the twins are going to quit believing that we are ever going to bring them home forever.

My wonderful blessed husband is allowing me a reprieve this summer for 9 days. For nine glorious days I get to be with my family in the states. I am looking forward to the break. I am going to pick up our son Zach. He is leaving in May with my parents. We are excited that he will get to see his cousins in Kansas City and he will spend a week at the Wilds. I will be in Greenville for my grandma's 90th birthday!

Snow, snow, snow...

2009-02-17T01:39:00.000-08:00

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....it has been snowing almost daily since last Thursday. We haven't had this much snow in many years, I think since our first winter here. We have about a foot of snow on the ground and it is snowing again today!

The kids have loved playing in the snow. We actually had 60 degree weather last week so when the wood stock was low we weren't too worried. When it got colder and started snowing we became a little worried we were going to run out of wood before our next load came yesterday but we cut out one fire and shut the room off and saved wood. We have been living with 8 people in two rooms. It is a challenge and I admire many Romanian families who live in a room all winter to save on heat! In such cramped quarters I feel like the old woman in the shoe who had so many children she didn't know what to do!! We will plan a little better for next winter. We have already ordered our wood to all be here by July so we don't run out!

I am thankful for all those who are praying for our situation to be resolved. We trust and are confident in God's love and protection for us and our family. He holds the twins future in His hands and we are confident that future is with our family, we just don't know when exactly that will be.
We are happy to know that our file has been sent to Marghita and we are awaiting word on our new court date.

On a lighter note. I hear the most interesting conversations in my house. All six kids are mixing their languages. So, I hear things like: "esti done", "eu am slept aici", "Iubesc pe dog", now if you don't know Romanian I know these sayings will not be so amusing to you but it is very amusing to hear.
My next favorite thing is to hear Nate whine in Romanian. He is usually whining at Georgie. Nate thinks that all 54 Hot Wheels cars should be his alone and he always chases after Georgie saying "vreau aia", I have to remember that even though it sounds funny to hear him whining in Romanian that I must discipline him when I hear it.
My oven has been broken for two months now. Thank the Lord for Kendra who makes lots of good soups! I really don't want to buy a new oven here because it will be a down grade...meaning I would get a much smaller oven and I think I would really regret that so I am trying to be patient while waiting to find the alusive part we need.
Meanwhile I received a counter top mini oven from a friend. I have made mini pizza's in it and mini cookies and Kendra is trying muffins tonight!
I will be driving the twins back to Marghita tomorrow. Yes, I know scary thinking of a girl from South Carolina driving in the snow but our van is really good in the snow so I am not worried. Then on Thursday I will go visit a day center that ministers to 7 children. I'll tell you all about it when I return...just pray I don't get lost and I don't get a flat tire (I did on Sunday) and that I don't run into really bad roads...yes mom I will drive slowly :).

Life

2009-02-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

We have lots of different things going on so this will be a conglomeration of different stories.
First of all, the twins saga continues. I found out the other day that whenever we do get our court date...could be up to two months, that even if we are granted custody we will have to wait 45 more days to bring them home. So, we quite possibly are looking at not until after their 5th birthday! For those of you who wonder why we told them so soon that we wanted to be their parents, this was supposed to be a quick and easy case but the child protective services in Oradea turned it into something complicated. If we had known it would be this long of a wait just to get them in our home we would have never told them so soon! Baron has no doubts that we will get them but the waiting is hard. These are such important moments of their life. We wanted to get them before scars were too deep routed to heal but God can heal all hearts and wounds and we have faith that He will guide us in helping our twins heal as we show them that God loves them unconditionally and that we love them too!
One of the hardest things was the day we went to court I got a phone call from my friend who was staying with the boys. She told me Zach was leaping and dancing through the house shouting out, "this is the day the twins become ours!" She wasn't sure what to tell him so I gave him the news over the phone. This is hard on our kids too. Even Nate asks where they are from time to time.

Those of you who homeschool your kids know how I feel...I feel like the boys need someone besides me in their lives to teach them something, to influence them. I don't want them to be "momma boys". So, I had been wondering what in the world we could do for them. We went to a gym to check on gymnastics for JaneBatson, Kendra's little girl. It turns out there are no gymnastics teachers for girls but they do have Greco-Roman fighting for boys. So, we signed Zach and Spence up for lessons! They went Friday for the first time and loved it. The teacher, Avraam (Abraham), is so nice and friendly. I felt so comfortable leaving them there. They will go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings. I am trying to feed them lots of protein. He was a little worried about how skinny Zach is. It will be a good outlet for them to meet other Romanian boys their age and beef up on their language skills.

We have a mess on our hands! Our attic has been finished for 5 years now but the stairs are outside the house. Now that we will have 5 boys in one room we felt we needed to expand a little. The boys room now is used partly for school so we are putting stairs inside the house so that Baron and I can move upstairs and our room can become the school room and the boys can have a bigger room. They should complete the job on Monday. The stairs will look a little abnormal, we bought a pre-fabricated spiral staircase but it wasn't tall enough to reach so they had to build a platform with two steps going up to it and then the spiral stairs.

I am excited that we get to send our oldest, Zach, to America this summer for about a month. We decided it would be good for him to get away from home for a little while and go to camp. He will go back with my parents the end of May. He will go to camp at the Wilds the second week of June and then hopefully out to Missouri for a week to see his other grandparents. We will miss him terribly but we pray it will be a good thing for him.

Last but definately not least...the angels are rejoicing in heaven due to a new believer! A friend of Dorina's has come on and off over the past few years but everytime we talked with her something was keeping her from a real relationship with God. She, just like many others here, had alot of religious baggage she was carrying and was having a hard time releasing it and accepting the truth. The past few months she has been coming to church faithfully and we visited her again recently and we could sense a change in her. We noticed she was singing so happily and loudly at church, and she told us she had been reading her Bible and studying and that she wanted to be baptized. So, Baron gave her a Bible study to do and she came over last week and shared just a wonderful testimony of the grace of God. It was so clear she was believing in Christ alone now! I wish I could share the whole conversation with you all, it was such a blessing for me to just hear her talk about the religious baggage she released and that the truth had set her free. She told me that the book of John really opened her eyes...it is all about faith she told me. It is always so encouraging to see someone changed by Christ. She is telling everyone she knows about the change Christ as made in her! Praise God!

A Grateful Heart

2009-01-29T22:11:00.000-08:00

I have a grateful heart this morning. I am encouraged by your words and prayers. I am encouraged that God does care about me. I am encouraged by all the music of praise I have been listening to. O, Lord, you give and you take away, blessed be your name. How dare I say to God when everything is going well, "I Praise you God, you are good." Then when the storms come along we are always tempted to First say to God, "what in the world are you doing...this isn't right, you aren't doing what I wanted." Instead of, First praising Him and being anxious for NOTHING, but in everything by prayer and supplication WITH thanksgiving let my request be made known to God and then the peace of God will overwhelm me. It doesn't mean I have to understand or like what is going on but it does mean I can't dwell on it and let my thoughts revolve around it and sit around sad and depressed. I will rest in Him. He does work everything out for good for those who love God and we love God so we have faith that this will work out for good.
My prayer is that someone one who loves the Lord will raise up in this country and really fight for all of these children. When the laws of adoption were written by the lawmakers none of them went and asked the children what they wanted. They just did what the EU wanted them to do because they so desperately wanted in the EU and thought the EU was the answer to all their problems, which of course it isn't.
Thank you all for caring about our twins enough to pray for them!

Waiting...Again

2009-01-29T10:09:00.002-08:00

I don't really know where to start with this story. Today was our court date to receive custody of the twins. We put in our first request for this last May and just now got our court date. The twins have been waiting and waiting to come to their new family for all this time. We were finally assigned our court date last October and as we got closer to this day I didn't allow myself to think about the bad things that may happen. I really tried to remain hopeful and think that there was nothing to stop this from going through today but I think somewhere in me also said, this is Romania ANYTHING can happen.
We showed up at court and our case was #39 so we thought we were in for a long long wait. The social worker that works for the private foundation the twins are under was there. She went into the little court room and came out and called us in. she told us they were on case #29. Then we realized that they weren't going in order. As a lawyer walked in the room he or she would call out the case number they were there for and then the judge would call that case number. Well, the twins social worker was expecting a guy she knows from child protection to show up to present the case when all of the sudden our case is called and some lawyer stands up and says that our twins are from Marghita and therefore the case should be sent to the small court in Marghita and decided there. The judge said ok and that was that and we walked out of the room! The twins social worker was just as shocked as us. Quite frankly I didn't have feelings of love toward the whole system of people in Romania who don't seem to think about the children...I reacted with ranting and raving and tears (just being honest). I had actually told God before all this, "God no matter what I WILL still praise you." So, in the car on the way home we kept music playing and I kept saying the words over in my head and telling myself that God is good and He does care about our case. He has his reasons for allowing this and He can see the end of the story!
We went and spoke with a jurist about all this and told him we understood that it was going to be in Marghita now and didn't want to try and change that but we were interested in our file getting sent to Marghita as soon as possible so we can get a new court date as soon as possible. He is going to press them to get our file out as quick as possible. Our last file sat in Oradea for 6 months before we were given a court date.
So, what did we hear in the court room while waiting...a case of "My neighbor's dog killed my cow and 10 goats." yes, I'm telling the truth.
So, how am I feeling right now...I am just a little numb right now. Feeling especially bad for our twins who were so estatic about this possibly being the last time we had to drive them back to Casa Alba. I will continue to tell myself that God cares and that He is Sovereign and in control even though it doesn't feel like it. I will praise because He IS GOOD. He gave His life for mine..I have no right to complain.
Please pray specifically for the twins, for our file to move quickly to Marghita and for us to be assigned a new court date quickly.

Life

2009-01-16T00:35:00.000-08:00

It's January...winter blahs therefore I don't write much because there is little to write about and I don't want to complain. Thankfully, it has warmed up a little tiny bit. When it is right at freezing and above it feels like a heat wave to me...remember I'm from South Carolina so me and cold don't mix well! When the temperature is below freezing the house never quite warms up but at freezing and above we can keep it toasty warm. Today it is about 32 degrees and snowing so the house is fairly warm.
Baron and I have been talking for many months about sending our eldest son, Zach to the states this summer for a month. He is 10 years old and I think it would be good for him to be away from home a little bit and under the influence of other godly people. I am his Bible teacher, his music teacher, his Sunday School teacher and sometimes a boy needs to get away from mom and be taught by someone else. So, when my parents come in May he will fly back with them. We have registered him to go to the first week of jr. camp at the Wilds and he will be back in time to go to Romanian camp. We still aren't 100% sure how we will get him back but we have a little idea up our sleeve that makes me very happy. We just informed Zach today of his little trip he will be taking and there was a lot of jumping and he pretty much danced a jig! I think he is a little excited. The other boys took it well too. There didn't seem to be any jealousy. I have told them often that just because one brother experiences something doesn't mean that all the brothers have to do the exact same thing. I have tried to teach them to be happy for one another when something good happens instead of being jealous.

We are getting closer to our court date. The day that felt like it would never arrive is close at hand. The aunt has not been back again. We anticipate being granted custody of the twins in two more weeks. I don't know that we will be able to bring them home that day but pray for a miracle. I'm clinging to my little mustard seed of faith that we can bring them home. If we can't bring them home that day it will be around the end of February. We will have a big party at Casa Alba to bring closer for all the kids who have grown up with the twins. It will be a day of joyous tears for many and some sad tears as the other kids are happy for their friends to get a family but also wishing for a family of their own. Pray for all the kids.

Pray for us. We have several things that we are looking into and we will keep you informed. We are hoping to start a Saturday club for foster kids. We are hoping to reach out to the kids of an orphanage near by here. Someday we want to start a Crisis Pregnancy Center. It will take a lot of planning and wisdom. We were encouraged when we talked to an official at the city hall about a pregnancy center he seemed very enthusiatic about it and thought it was greatly needed. Pray for our co-workers the Louks. They need to raise the rest of the needed money so they can come help us. We really need their help with all these projects!

As the winter blahs hit us, let's try to wake up each morning with this verse in our hearts, "this is the day the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it!" I want to be thankful for each day the Lord gives me to live and breathe and serve Him instead of complaining about circumstances and weather and whatever else I find to complain about. Living here I realize every day how blessed and spoiled I am as an American. If you are ever in such a pit that you are having a pity party for yourself, go visit a poor country and it will quickly help you get out of your pit! We are so blessed. Use all that God has given you to help someone else see the greatness and goodness of God.

An opportunity for someone!

2009-01-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to put the word out for some people we met here in Romania a few years ago. They have a children's home about 20 minutes from where we live in a village called Jdoara. I believe they have about 19 kids in their home with very little help. I think a few of them are teenagers now and gone off to high school and I believe the youngest children are around 5. They have recently lost a lot of their paid workers and are in desperate need of help. There is also a 5 year old autistic girl who needs to go to a special school here in town every day and needs someone to care for her here in town so she can go to school, right now she is staying out at the home and not going to school because there isn't anyone who can do it. If anyone reads this and is interested in this opportunity, long term or short term please contact me and I will put you in touch with them.

Hard good bye's.

2009-01-01T12:54:00.000-08:00

We have had a wonderful time with the twins here. Today was entertainment day. The kids stayed in their pajamas all day and played games, watched movies, and ate junk. This evening the twins began to realize they were going back to Casa Alba tomorrow. We try not to discuss it too much but as I was putting them to bed tonight Georgie started crying...not crying, bawling and saying, "I don't want to go back to Casa Alba, I want to stay here." How do you comfort a four year old and explain to him why he can't stay at home. I know I ask that question all the time but I am at a loss for words. I just hold him and cry with him and wish it weren't so and pray God's peace and love and protection over him. He is just broken hearted...so am I. He responds at Casa Alba with sadness and tears, Gina responds with outbursts and temper tantrums. Please pray for them. Please pray that our court date by some miracle someone will say on that day that there is no reason to wait for the paperwork, these kids just need to go home! If that doesn't happen it will still be another month before we can bring them home around the end of February...pray for a miracle. I am starting to believe that miracles don't happen in Romania but holding out for one still!

Christmas Time!

2008-12-30T06:06:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Christmas. My brother and his wife arrived Saturday night. They found out when they arrived in Budapest that the train workers were on strike and the trains weren't running. Fortunately, there are 22 million Romanians in the country and about that many outside the country working and so many of those 22 million come home for Christmas. Go and Pam couldn't find a bus they could get on, they were all full so my brother started looking for cars with Romanian tags and found a bunch so they hithced a ride into Romania and caught a train from Arad to Lugoj and arrived at midnight. It was bumper to bumper traffic from Budapest to the Romanian border.

Sunday night, 12/21, we had our Christmas banquet at church. Tuesday we had Zach's 10th birthday and that night we went caroling. We went to about 12 or so houses and each houses pours you a cup of soda and forces you to eat sweets. By the time you arrive at the 4th house you are full of sweets but people get upset and don't understand why you can't eat the sweets they set out before you. It started snowing a little while we were caroling.

Christmas Eve we woke up and had french toast and bacon for breakfast. Go and Pam fixed it for us. Then we had our Christmas dinner that evening. That morning my oven decided not to turn on but after lots of prayer and a couple hours later it came on so we could cook Christmas dinner. Oh, by the way, we were eagerly awaiting a box from my mom with some Christmas goodies in it and my gift for Go and Pam. We got the package slip in the mail on Christmas Eve morning and Go and Baron went to the post office in Timisoara to get the box...we had our Christmas M & M's just in time for a Christmas Eve movie!

We woke up Christmas morning to a pretty snow! The kids opened their stockings and then they longingly looked at all the gifts under the tree but we had to get ready for church. In Romania everyone goes to church on Christmas morning. So, they pain stakingly sat through a service and then had to come home and change their clothes and go out and bring up some wood before digging into the presents. They really had a great time though looking at what each other got and they were very patient while waiting for their turn to open a gift...well they were kind of patient. We had left overs that day and just relaxed and enjoyed the day. That evening we had a birthday cake for Jesus and each person lit a candle and said what Jesus had done for them this year. It was a special time and we really enjoyed it.

Today Go and Pam left. Her mom's package still hadn't arrived but we will send it on to them and it will be a nice surprise. The only disappointment was that the stuff didn't come in time to make gingerbread houses but that's ok...we'll make them next year!

Christmas Week!

2008-12-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas always comes and goes so fast. I thought that this year I would really relax and enjoy and think about the season more. My brother and his wife arrived on Saturday. I got an email from them Saturday afternoon telling me they couldn't come by train as originally planned due to a train workers strike in Hungary. Unfortunately all the busses were full too. Fortunatley this time of year many of the 20 million Romanians that live and work outside of the country are making their way back home for Christmas so my brother went looking for cars with Romanian tags and found a ride in :-). They arrived at midnight on the 20th of December.
The 20th of December was the 19th anniversary of the revolution that took place here in Romania. I watched a little documentary about it and was amazed at the "court room" that Ceaucescu and his wife were tried in. It seemed so primitive. The trial lasted 2 hours and they were condemned to death and taken out with their hands tied behind their backs and shot to death. It just amazes me the changes that have taken place in the last 20 years in this country but also how many things really remained the same.
Something I am doing that I don't normally do...staying up late. The house is so quiet I just can't help but sit here and enjoy the tree lights. I enjoyed adult conversation with my brother and his wife this evening. It is good to get to know my sister in law. The only time I met her was at their wedding so I really didn't get to know her because it was a busy time. It is fun to see my brother so happy.

Today Baron and I went and picked up the twins and brought them home. We left at 8:30 this morning and got back home at 6:30 this evening. The twins kept asking, "When are we going to get there? OH, we are never going to get there!!" They were so excited to get home and see their brothers and meet Uncle Gogo and Aunt Pam. It was fun to walk into the kitchen and see all 4 boys come running out to greet them and hug them. It's always good to have the family all together. We are just a few weeks away from our court date. Pray for my nerves!

I look forward to celebrating Zach's 10th birthday tomorrow. It is so hard to believe it has been 10 years since we had our first baby! He actually wasn't born until the 24th but we decided to have our big Christmas dinner on the 24th and celebrate his day on the 23rd. He doesn't mind opening his presents a day early. I still remember spending Christmas in the hospital 10 years ago! What a special gift Zach has been to us.

We are still awaiting several Christmas packages in the mail. I can't usually send my brother a gift because of where he lives so this year I went all out and got a nice gift...but it hasn't arrived. I am so sad they will not have it to open on Christmas...I just pray it arrives before they leave!

Well, I really must get to bed...I have lots of baking to do tomorrow and tomorrow night we go caroling with our church...not my favorite thing to do...I'll explain later :). Good night!

A Baking Story

2008-12-17T05:42:00.001-08:00

So, I decided to publish my baking story. I had seen this wonderful looking recipe at ThePioneerWoman.com and decided I was going to do this for our neighbors for Christmas. On her website it comes complete with pictures of the process. So, if you want to see how the Cinnamon Rolls are SUPPOSED to look each step of the process you can go to her website. Mine started out ok. See how pretty the pot looks on the stove?

When I got to the rolling part my butter mixtures started oozing out eveywhere, dripping on the floor and all over the counter...she had said it may ooze a little! I even put on less butter then she said too!

Well, as I always say appearance isn't everything...they may not look that delectable but they really are delicious! I made a huge mess in the process but pray that our neighbors enjoy them.

Baron and the boys delivered the hot pans along with a book about seeking God to five of our neighbors. I made a big mess in the process and actually as I sit here and type the mess remains...maybe I can get the boys to go clean it up for me. Where is the cleaning fairy when you need her?

Guarding Your Heart.

2008-12-11T04:01:00.000-08:00

It has been a busy and fun season so far. In all that is going on it is easy to let my quiet time with God slip away undone. But I have made an effort to have that time even if it is cut a little shorter then normal. So, yesterday as I was reading I was hit by something so simple and so well known that I wanted to share it. I think that by now in my Christian life this idea or concept should be well in practice but I will admit it isn't always. What touched me was a chapter in a book called, Just Like Jesus, by Max Lucado and I want to share this excerpt:

" Everyone knows you harvest what you sow. Galations 6:7, 'People harvest only what they plant.'
'Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life.' Some of our hearts are trashed out. Let any riffraff knock at the door, and we throw it open. Anger shows up, and we let him in. Revenge needs a place to stay, so we have him pull up a chair. Pity wants to have a party, so we show him the kitchen. Lust rings the bell, and we change the sheets on the bed. Don't we know how to say no?

For most of us, thought management is, well, unthought of. We think about time management, weight management, personnel management, even scalp management. But what about thought management? Shouldn't we be as concerned about managing our thoughts as we are managing anything else?

We need to deny entry to many thoughts. The Holy Spirit is ready to help you manage and filter the thoughts that try to enter. He can help you guard your heart. A thought approaches, a questionable thought. Do you throw the door open and let it enter? Of course not. You 'fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ' (2 Cor. 10:5). you don't leave the door unguarded. You stand equipped with handcuffs and leg irons, ready to capture any thought not fit to enter."

I needed this simple reminder. Why do I find myself in a bad mood so often or angry...is it because life is hard? No, it is because my thoughts were not captured and brought under the authority of Christ. So many times we think life revolves around our circumstances when really as Chuck Swindoll said, "The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it. This may shock you. But I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day to day basis is my choice of attitude."

So, my prayer is that I can fill my mind with Christ like thoughts so I can have a Christ like response when things go wrong...rarely does life go the way we plan it but we can make the best of a situation with our attitude!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-02T00:33:00.000-08:00

I just refuse to let that baa humbug spirit in...even though I live in Romania where nothing goes as planned! I won't let it get the best of me...I won't!! I have to keep telling that to myself otherwise I will get the baa humbug spirit. My husband, the dear man that he is, gave me some money and told me to buy myself some clothes for Christmas (I've been complaining that my closet is full of $1 gypsy market finds and that just isn't good enough :). So, I find that LandsEnd has good quality clothes and they send it directly to me. I didn't want my mom or Baron's mom paying postage on a gift for me. So, I place my order and low and behold it was here via UPS in like 7 days...that was just amazing. The problem was it was sitting in the UPS office in Timisoara for 2 days. So, I called to find out what was up. Well, she tells me I have to pay a tariff! What? A tariff, I have never in 7 years here paid a tariff on things I bought or boxes I received with new stuff in it. I asked if it was just a UPS thing she said no, its because you bought something on line from America. I explained to her that didn't make sense because I have bought stuff on line before from America but never used UPS before and never paid a tariff before. We will actually stop by the office today to pick up the box on our way out of town and argue a little more about it but I think we will end up paying the tariff...$50! Yes, it kind of put a damper on my Christmas present, but Baron told me not to worry about it, it was a gift from him and he would pay the tariff. He is so calm about things like that. I want to shout out, "It's not fair!!" Well, life isn't fair so get over it! Go with the flow. Do what you can to fight injustice but know that you can't save the world. It doesn't do any good to get all uptight about something you can't do anything about so don't waste your time (I'm talking to myself now, trying to convince myself I shouldn't get up tight).
So, as you are waiting in lines with grumpy people this season, do what you can to smile and spread some Christmas cheer and share the love and joy that Jesus gives us. Just think about the grumpy person this way, you have no idea what news they got this morning or what trials they are going through that made them that way.

Precious Moments

2008-11-23T05:44:00.000-08:00

I have wanted to write more lately but have a hard time putting into words things I experience here. Let me start by saying it is wonderful to have my friend Kendra here. She actually has gone by the nickname "Corky" ever since she moved away from Greenville after our 16th birthday. Her little girl, JaneBatson, and Nate love to play and fight and apologize to each other and then hug and start all over again. I love it!
The twins are here for a visit. I had a precious moment this morning with Gina. I was fixing her hair and she looks at me and says, "mommy, you used to live in heaven until God saw that we needed a family and so then you came down from heaven to live here and be our family." Can you say "oh my word that is the sweetest thing I have ever heard" ? Well, its the sweetest thing I have ever heard. I just love them so much and can't wait to end the chaos of visiting and get settled into real life with them. It is so chaotic to me when they are just here for a visit because they never get settled into family life. I believe they will settle in beautifully when the time comes. We await our day in court anxiously and await to see the outcome of whether or not the aunt decides to pursue them. Please pray that she decides over Christmas that she will just release them to be with the only family they have ever knonw! She has only visited them twice and she has grown children and she said she would speak to them when they come for Christmas about what they think she should do.
We will be putting up the tree tomorrow and the kids are so excited about that except Georgie isn't excited that there will not be presents tomorrow :-). Pray for Georgie that he will learn how to play with his siblings without being aggressive and combative. He has had some struggles this visit because he is just so used to being rough all the time. He is such a sweet little boy and I love the twinkle in his eye when he smiles. I need to figure out how to channel all that energy into something good!
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. The Lord is good and worthy of our thanks and praise. He saved us and made us His children and that is something to sing and dance about! So, sing happy songs and leap for joy because of the inheritance you have received! He pulled us from the pit and the miserable existence we would have had trying to do it on our own and set us on the Rock! Sing, sing praises to His name.

Visit with the lawyer.

2008-11-13T03:23:00.000-08:00

We went to Oradea and met with a lawyer. He looked at our file and listened to our story. He seems to think if she really is the aunt that she has a good chance of getting them...if she really and truly wants them. He did say it was suspicious that she showed up after never meeting them before. He said he would investigate for us. We also talked with the director of the children's home and were encouraged a little by that conversation. She seems to think the aunt isn't being really aggressive. She has only visited twice in two months and didn't show up for a visit on Saturday like she said she would. She has filed no papers as of yet and she knows another family is puruing them. We will proceed with our court date and more than likely receive custody of the twins. We will wait for about 30 days for papers to go through and then they can move in with us. We will have to call all of the family for the adoption court date and that is when it may be a problem. She or anyone else could show up and say they want them. The good thing is they would have to meet a certain standard of living before they could actually be approved to take them.
We are waiting on God who is our help and who is always good. We will trust that He will do whatever is best. We will have the twins for a visit next week.
Please continue to pray as this will likely drag out for many months to come.

What I am learning.

2008-11-05T01:26:00.000-08:00

I will be honest and tell you I am sick to my stomach with thoughts of loosing our twins. I am trusting and claiming God's peace. These are the passages I read this morning:
Psalm 52:9 I will praise You forever, Because You have done it; And in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name, for it is good.
Psalm 62: Truly my soul waits for God because my expectations are in Him alone.
Psalm 71:14 I will hope continually.
Psalm 28:7 My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.
Psalm 50:15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.
Psalm 42 Why should my sould be disquieted in me, my hope is in God. He is my hope and the one who lifts up my countenance with his love.
Isaiah 40 Those who wait on the Lord: shall renew their strength, shall mount up with wings as eagles, shall run and not be weary, shall run and not faint.

Please pray that God will grant the peace to not fret and worry about the what ifs. Pray for us as we meet with a lawyer on Monday that he will be an honest one and one who will fight.

Need More Prayer.

2008-11-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

Obviously we need prayer today because it is election day in American. We need prayer as a family here in Romania. We were hit with the news a few days ago that the county where our case is got in trouble for not giving more rapid court dates. So, we had a lawyer go check on the possibility of getting us a court date sooner. This was good news and we were excited about the possibility of getting our date moved up.
Today we received bad news, the twins aunt has showed up again. This time she met the twins and told the director she has bought a place to live in their town and her husband has a job and she wants to take the twins home with her.
Please be in prayer for the twins and for us. I am leaving out a lot of information but just know we need your prayers. We will fight for them and pray and believe God wants them in our family. We feel like they are our kids and no one has the right to waltz in and take them. We just pray the law seeks out what is best for the kids.
We appreciate your prayers.

Homeschoolers

2008-11-02T06:20:00.000-08:00

I am thinking of making a curriculum switch. Any homeschoolers out there feel free to give me some input. I am using a mixture right now simply because I received a lot of free stuff but I am not happy with what I am doing. It takes a lot of planning and work. I have been looking at a Sonlight catalog and so far am impressed with what they have to offer. They have a lot of reading which I like and it is all planned out for you which I like. I think the biggest draw back is the price but education is expensive. So, I guess I would just like to hear from someone who uses Sonlight or has heard about it and can recommend it. I always start planning for next school year around this time because I have to get it ordered so it gets to my parents before they come in the spring. I would greatly appreciate any input.

My Favorite Clothing Store

2008-10-18T06:04:00.000-07:00

I finally took a few pictures of the market where I buy clothes from. They call it "Târk". I actually look through these piles of clothes laying on the ground as do many other people. This is my favorite place in Romania to get good quality clothes from at a decent price.

The quality of clothing I buy new at full price here is very poor and can't be passed down to the next boy. Then every once in a while I shop on line and have it sent here but that gets expensive too. So, this is where I do my shopping. If you ever come visit I will take you on this once in a lifetime shopping exursion!

The official notice.

2008-10-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

Our court date is set for 8:30 a.m., Janugary 29, 2009. This court date is to just get custody of the twins then we can start the adoption process. So, I thought you would be interested to see the "official" notice that we got in the mail yesterday.

Here it is. Our whole file, the twins whole fil folded in half and tied with a string. The torn in half paper on top is the court date notice and it was in our mail box just like this, no envelope. Isn't that very official?

We will have the twins a week in November, for Christmas then Lord willing when we go in January we can bring them home quickly. We have looked through the file and it is pretty clear that all family has signed off and no family is capable of caring for them and that we are suitable to be their guardians. So, I am cautiously optomistic that this will go smoothly. But then, I remember which country I am living in and realize nothing here goes as planned or as it should so just be in prayer.

Court Date News.

2008-10-16T04:26:00.000-07:00

We have finally gotten the long awaited court date...the bad news is, it isn't until January 29, 2009! I had so hoped to have this resolved before the holidays. Pray for us and the twins.

What's Up

2008-10-06T23:29:00.000-07:00

So, what is up in the Howerton household. Well, we are in our 7th week of school. We have picked our apples. I have made 40 jars of applesauce. The church's grapes were harvested last Saturday so I am in the process of preserving the juice and making jelly.
Our file was turned into the court about 2 weeks ago and I hear it can take up to a month to actually get a court date. So, pray that we receive a court date within the next two weeks and pray that we are granted custody of the twins. It is so hard taking them back and forth we are ready to be a complete family.
My friend Kendra is preparing to come October 24th. I have known her a really long time. We were in Sunday School and youth group together and went to high school together until she moved to N.C. after our 10th grade year. Needless to say, I am excited about her coming. She will be staying with us until next summer while her husband is working in the Middle East.
We are anticipating the arrival of the Holiday Season!! My brother and his wife will be here for Christmas this year. We can't wait to start listening to Christmas music and pull out the Christmas tree. We will be patient though and not pull it out until Thanksgiving.
We will have a house full for Thanksgiving this year. Kendra's husband will be here and another couple who is coming to visit will be with us over Thanksgiving. He is an evangelist that is a member of one of our supporting churches, Calvary of Simpsonville. He is traveling to Europe and including us in his visit.
We look forward with the hope of having the twins here with us permanently for the holiday's. We not only will celebrate the birth of our Savior but the addition of the twins to our family! What a celebration we will have!

A Typical School Day

2008-09-24T08:53:00.001-07:00

Ok, so this first picture really has nothing to do with a typical school day but I thought I would throw it in for my grandma, Marvelous Marv :) Our new little dog, Buster, is not usually tolerant of the cats, but now that it is chilly outside he is allowing them to snuggle with him in his basket to keep himself warm.

Nate goes around and visits the boys as they are in school seeing if he can get them to come and do puzzles with him or entertain him. Spencer is easily distracted and doesn't like school so he is all to eager to have Nate come and join him at his desk.

I usually have one boy taking a break while 2 or working so that Nate always has someone to play with. Some boys do better then others at entertaining him.

This is Zach doing his typing class on the computer. He loves school but he hates typing.

This face pretty much sums up Spencer's feeling of school...he says it is useless and he thinks school should be outlawed. He prefers to play all day.

If only every year were as fun as kindergarten. Drew is enjoying his "work". He still has trouble pronouncing "r" but is flying through school. He is in first grade reading books and will be in first grade math by next sememster. I asked him what makes a school day fun and he said, "lots of paper work."

Waiting

2008-09-24T04:05:00.000-07:00

The good news is our file has been placed in court. The bad news is they did not give us a court date yet. So, I choose to remain calm, cool, and collected why...because He who promised is faithful. That doesn't mean we are happy only when we get what we want. His way IS perfect and unless we trust in that fact then we will be miserable unless we are always getting our way, which of course doesn't always happen. Here is the prayer from Psalm that we must pray over and over again, especially in times of waiting: Psalm 62

Truly, my soul silently waits for you Oh God; my salvation comes from You. You only are my rock and my salvation; You are my defense; I will not be greatly moved. My soul, wait silently for You alone, Oh God, for my expectation is from You. You only are my rock and my salvation; You are my defense; I will not be moved. My salvation and my glory are in you God. You are the rock of my strength, and You are my refuge. I will trust in You at all times, Lord. I will pour out my heart before you, God for you are my refuge. Thank You, Lord, that power belongs to You. I choose to trust in You and look to You.

So, if you are in a waiting period, choose to look to God, choose to trust Him. Trusting Him means not fretting and worrying. We can throw the what ifs and if onlys out the window when we trust in God. I know that He is in control and that takes away my worries. It doesn't mean I understand everything or like everything but it does mean my heart is at peace with what God brings to me.

Adoption

2008-09-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

We were really expecting to hear something the end of last week...but we didn't. We have been calling and calling for information with no answers. Finally on Thursday we called the director of the children's home to see if she knew what was up. She did, she said the person that was supposed to take our folder to court last week is on vacation and it was passed on to someone else who just hasn't gotten around to taking it yet...
There's the latest. I guess working in the child protective services doesn't necessarily mean that the children are your priority!
Frustrated but still trusting and Knowing that GOD IS IN CONTROL even when it doesn't feel like it!