Kindergarten

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!