Papaw Joe

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

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

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

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

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!

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.