May Happenings.

We have had a lot going on the past few weeks. My parents left and 5 days later Baron's parents arrived. Baron's dad had just fallen 2 weeks earlier and broken 2 ribs but he was able to make it to Romania in spite of the pain. Now he has a cold and is coughing and that makes for more pain. Remember to pray for him. We are so glad they could come though. We are picking up the twins tomorrow and they will be with us until Friday. So now they will have met both their sets of grandparents. I just hate the thought of taking them back to the orphanage again. I remember how hard it was last time. Gina Grace was sick with a stomach bug last week. Last Monday, Baron put in our request to be their legal guardian. We pray by some miracle it is accepted and that we don't have to go any farther. They have to respond to our request within 30 days so we have 3 weeks left to wait.
We just finished up our 6th year at the Bible college. There were 3 graduates this year. We will now take a pause from the college to focus on our church and the big adjustment of adding 2 more to the family.
I found out this past week that my little Drew who is almost 5 can read! I have worked with him very little and very inconsistantly on reading. My mother in law at dinner one night said, "Drew was reading me a story." I looked at her surprised and informed her that he doesn't know how to read yet. Well, did he prove me wrong. He was reading from these little easy reader books and sounding out the words. I had thought maybe he had just memorized a story but no, book after book he read to me! Now I have 2 little boys that are too smart for their own britches! My oldest Zach pretty much was self taught. I just guided him along. He also taught himself to read Romanian before he was 6. I wonder if Drew will do that! Nate is becoming quite the entertainer. He has a personality all his own. He sings loud in church now and claps and says Amin really loud. He has learned to sit pretty quietly during the actual preaching now. Spencer continues to amuse us all with his little jokes and quirkiness. He will be in 3rd grade next year. He turns 8 on June 5 and Nate turns 2 on June 12.
We had a special song service and testimony time tonight. We let the people pick out songs they wanted to sing and it was fun to hear them sing out praises to God when they picked their favorite songs. One of our young adults shared her testimony which was an encouragement to me. Cristina works as a nurse in the afternoon at a doctor office. She has also been working mornings at a laboratory. She shared tonight that she had been making good money with these 2 jobs but she wasn't happy, that something was missing. She quit her job at the lab so she could go back to spending her mornings with God. Isn't it wonderful to see the Holy Spirit working in people's lives!
We seem to have started a weekly tradition with Angelo our Italian friend. Three weeks ago he came over and grilled out for my parents. We have been doing it every Saturday since then. I wish we had more Angelo's in our church. He is a light wherever he goes and is constantly sharing his faith with people he meets. Each Saturday we try to have someone over who doesn't know the Lord. Someone that we have a relationship with or Angelo has met and shared the gospel with. Pray for Angelo to continue to shine brightly for Jesus and that he will see fruit for his labor. He is also friends with 2 men my dad met at the market while he was here. One of them came to church last week and came to our house Saturday for the cook out. Pray for these 2 men that the Holy Spirit will work in their lives and change their hearts.
This week is our last week of school with the boys. Their school teacher, Miss Erin has been with us for 2 years. She has been a great blessing to me and taken a load off of me these past 2 years. I really enjoyed having the time to spend with my last baby and many quiet times with God. She will be moving out of her apartment this week and then leaving to teach possibly in Mexico next year. After this next week and a half we may have a little quietness for a couple of weeks. I pray the summer isn't too quiet, I am hoping to have 6 kids in our home this summer instead of just 4! I know some of you are thinking I am crazy...and you know what...you have to be a little crazy to want so many kids! You know, I am just trying to keep up with my sister in law...she's got 7 :) Looks like if you want to see us you will have to come to Romania because with so many kids I don't think we'll be coming to American any time soon! I tried to get Baron to let me take a trip to America this summer so I could go to Charleston with my sister but he didn't agree that it was a good idea :).
So, that is what has been happening in our lives. I'll keep you updated on the adoption as soon as I know more.