The Many Faces of Nate!

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

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

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...

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

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

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.

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.