2011 Reflections

All in all, I'd say 2011 was a pretty amazing year...perhaps one of the most exciting of my life so far. I was very blessed this year. TONS happened, but here are the highlights:

got engaged and married

changed my name

added some great in-laws to my life

plus got niece and nephew

saw tons of family and friends I hadn't seen in years at showers and wedding festivities

got tons of new stuff via wedding gifts

quit my job that I had for almost 6 years

bought our first house

moved to a small town

made a lot of new friends

learned how to cook real meals (aka meat)

went to Romania

went to NYC

went to Colorado

went to California

went to Playa del Carmen for our honeymoon

AND got the most amazing husband in the world that at a little shy of 4 months of marriage, I still fall more in love with each day.

Last year, I was very content with my job, apartment, singleness, and just about everything else. God had other things in mind. Now that my life looks NOTHING like it did a little over a year ago, I have no idea what to expect in 2012, but looking forward to the unexpected!

Wedding Stationary - Door Hangers

Somehow in the midst of pre-wedding stress, I went crazy creating anything I could. Suddenly cute water bottles and snacks weren't enough for my hotel guests. I decided that they needed to be able to find each other in the hotel and it needed to be a cute creative way. I found ideas for door hangers and many of them were complicated! Instead, I created my own using the same linen paper I used for the programs and borrowed a circle cutter and round edge cutter from a craft friend. These are pretty basic tools, so if you don't have them, I'm sure any scrapbooking and/or craft making friend will let you borrow.

All I did was create two columns in a page. I lined up our wedding logo then typed the guests name below. Each column had one persons door hanger. I even made one for our bedroom as our honeymoon suite for the first night was our first night in our new house together.

1. Create 2 columns in your word document

2. Place logo toward the bottom of each column

3. Type guests name below logo (Mrs. & Mrs. So-and-So, or full names)

4. Either on word or by hand, mark an x a few inches below the top of the paper for the center of your hole.

5. Print on fancy paper - something with a decent weight like cardstock

6. Cut in half with paper cutter

7. Use a circle cutter to cut using the X as the center mark. You may want to test this on scrap paper first to be sure its the correct size. Mine cut a hole only about 1 inch in diameter

8. Cut an angle from the right edge to the circle (see picture above for an idea)

9. Trim corners with a curved edge trimmer if desired

10. Hang on door(s)

Sample of word document with names edited/smudged for privacy:

I used linen business paper. It has a heavier weight than regualr paper and is a little thinner than cardstock. Up close it looks like this:

Wedding Stationary - Water Bottles

For each of our out-of-town guests, we created a guest basket with some snacks, local maps and tourist info and a water bottle with our custom logo.

I really liked the pre-made waterbottle stickers I found at a craft store...but I was very disappointed! DO NOT BUY A WATER BOTTLE LABEL KIT. The labels were super-sticky and it was impossible to place them on a bottle without wrinkles, especially since almost all water bottles have some sort of ridges. I ended up using the FREE template they offered online and just printing them on regular printer paper. I cut them carefully to size and hid a piece of double stick tape at the end. For copyright sake, I'm not going to give you the company I got the template from b/c they want you to buy there sticky labels - but you can search for them online or even just set up your own template dividing a word document page into 4 equal parts. If you have more questions about how to do this, send me a comment.

1. Create an image in photoshop with your desired background (the purple for me) and wedding logo on top of it. Make sure to size it 8.25 inches wide and 2.5 inches tall - this may have to change a bit. Center the logo on the design.

2. Bring the picture into a word document and copy 4 of them (you can try to print 4 in photoshop, but that never works for me) Be sure to make the margins as small as your printer will allow you.

3. Print.

4. Trim each with a paper cutter. Keep in mind that depending on your printer may need to trim the top and bottom one a bit more to make sure the logo is still centered perfectly (only if your printer cut off some of the design)

5. Remove label from a bottle and replace with your label. Use double-stick tape to keep it in place.

The bottle label will last, even if in the fridge. It won't last if left in a hotel ice-bucket though...but I doubt the fancy labels would either :)

Here is what they turned out like. The picture is fuzzy, but they were perfect.

Wedding Stationary - Programs

The instructions for the wedding stationary programs has been moved to my new blog. Click here for the full instructions. Sorry for any confusion.

Wedding Stationary - Mad Libs

The tutorial for the wedding stationary mad libs has been moved to my new blog at this website.
Sorry for any confusion- the new site was just much easier to organize for a high-traffic post!

Wedding Stationary -Logo and Thank You Cards

One of the best decisions I made in my wedding planning was to create my own wedding stationary. It was easy to do, but took some planning. So I thought I'd share a little about how it was done so others may not have to struggle as much in the future.

I decided all paper stuff other than the invites would be produced by myself...not because I'm crazy crafty (I'm not good with crafts at all) but because it would save money and ensure that things matched. I also realized very early on that this was the only way we could get programs in time since we made final decisions on music and scripture a week before the wedding. I'm going to break this into a few posts just for ease of searching, but we created the following with a computer, paper, a printer and in some cases paper cutting stuff and tape.

Logo

Thank You Cards

Programs

Door Hangers for Hotel Guests

Water Bottle Labels

Gift Tags for wedding party gifts

Mad Libs for reception entertainment

and more that I may or may not include :)

First up, the logo. We ordered invites from a company online as sim

ple as we could find, but one unique thing we did was put an ~N~ at the top instead of both

our initials (eNc). We decided to carry this out through the wedding stationary. So, I opened up photoshop and found the shape I wanted, added a border using wedding colors for both (light pink and dark gray-ish purple). Then I added the wedding date on the bottom. It took a while to line it all up perfectly, but we had a logo. All the wedding day stuff had this logo.

We also used it to create thank you cards. We bought blank printable greeting cards at our local office store and used word to place the logo on the front of the cards only. We changed the wedding date to a simple "Thank You" and we had custom thank you cards at very little cost. They were very simple, but people loved them and they matched the rest of our wedding perfectly.

The best of small town living

So I was all ready to blog every single day...or close to it. I already have the next blog or two half written.But the holidays distracted me. And then I got sick. It was a nice reminder of how much my life has changed. I had text messages pouring in from family and friends asking if I was pregnant. It seems from now on, instead of compassion, any sickness I feel will now be met with excitement. (For the record, it was food poisoning, not a baby)

Married life has lead to many changes. Most have been easy to adjust to. The most difficult has been moving to a small town. But here are my favorite things about small town life.

5. High School Football - We only managed to go to one game this year, but the entire town seemed to be there. It's not just football too. We can go to any game, concert, play, etc and see tons of people we know. The kids are treated like celebrities in our small town paper.

4. Parades - My first weekend here was the 4th of July parade. I was actually in the parade! Since then, we have had many events. The school homecoming parade drew out a huge chunk of the town. The most recent, Christmas Stroll and Parade featured floats and shops with free hot chocolate and cookies. I can definitely get used to this. Each parade we head to the square just us and then run into tons of people we know. It's a great time to say hi to everyone and just enjoy a change in activities.

3. Quiet - The first night I lived in the house by myself, I just laid in bed amazed at the sound of...NOTHING. Literally, I could hear nothing. It was so strange. It was hard to sleep. I lived by the train tracks in the city for 10 years and no longer even noticed the train whistles. Car alarms constantly went off in my apartment complex parking lot. How on earth can one sleep in silence? Luckily, our ceiling fan makes a low ticking sound that helps for now. But I've now become accustomed to the quiet. We live in a cul-de-sac and hear no cars other than the neighbors. No headlights shine in our windows ever. We live close enough to the small airport that we actually hear more small airplanes overhead than we ever hear cars in a day.

2. Traffic - I have hit a few traffic jams since moving here in July (aka 4 cars in a line at a stop sign during "rush hour"). It is amazing how I used to be able to only travel from my apartment to the mall only a mile away in 30 minutes during the Christmas holiday. Here in my small town life, I can travel across town in 10 minutes even during "rush hour". The nearest mall may be an hour away, but that's only 30 minutes more than traffic in the city was.

1. The Sky - "The stars at night are big and bright..." deep in not-really-the-heart of Texas. Not even sure where the heart of Texas is, but I do know where I am the sky is amazing. We received a pair of binoculars for a wedding gift and learned that we are actually able to see Jupiter and its moons clearly almost every night. Thanks to star-guide apps for our phones, we have been able to see the Andromeda galaxy and other great things as well. With the help of our neighbors telescope, we have been able to see all the clear details on the moon (and even take this photo through the telescope). It's been a while since we ventured out with the telescope, but even with the naked eye we see amazing things in the sky each night - it is simply beautiful.

Marsala Cream Sauce for PKU

This is a recipe for those with PKU...but if you have no clue what I'm talking about, see the previous post for the real recipe.

For those fellow PKU-ers out there, this makes a great sauce variety for pasta. I don't know about you, but I have eaten my fair share of low-protein pasta with tomato based sauce. If you need a little variety, try this. I estimated the PHE, but you probably want to measure it out yourself based on what you actually use. From what I could tell, it would come out to about 250mg PHE. Feel free to correct on comments if you know better...my food list is a bit out of date! Thanks, and enjoy.

2 servings of your favorite low pro pasta*
1 1/2 tablespoons margarine
100g white mushrooms, sliced
40g onions, diced
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 teaspoons fresh parsley, chopped
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions.

2 Melt the margarine over medium heat in a skillet. Saute the mushrooms, then set aside.

3. Add more margarine to the same skillet, if needed, and turn the heat down to medium-low. Add the onions, cover, and cook for 5 minutes.

4. Add the Marsala wine, thyme, parsley, and pepper. Stir until the liquid is reduced to 2-3 tablespoons.

5 Add the cream and stir constantly until reduced by half.

6. Pour sauce over strained pasta.

*For an even better taste, use Cambrooke Food's Low Protein Portabella Spinach Ravioli or Cheese Ravioli and/or top with Mozerella Shreds

Chicken Marsala with Mushroom Ravioli

This recipe has moved to my new blog...click here for the recipe! Sorry for the confusion.

Teaser

After a teaser about blogging again, I followed with nothing. This was not because I had no thoughts to share- I have so many. It was because I was trying to decide what of my life to blog about - spiritual stuff like I did in the past blogs, new cooking adventures, home projects, wedding planning ideas, small town life or PKU. I realize none if these will be interesting to all people- but they are all part of my life. So expect some super short blogs with links to recipes, some long blogs of spiritual thoughts, and some random commentary about PKU and small town life. Enjoy or skip as you please. Oh and I just learned I can update from my phone app, so no excuses now.

testing 1...2...3...

So this is my first blog in a really long time, and life has changed so much that topics will look different. Mostly, I am just testing to make sure this DOES NOT upload to facebook. I don't need/want my 694 "friends" all reading every thought I type. So if this does upload, and you see it and want to read it, wonderful. But be sure to bookmark the real link because I'll delete it from FB. If you have been reading in the past, I still will update on mission trips here and on Facebook notes, but on here only I also want to share stuff from life in my small town adventures - learning how to cook, remodeling some of our house, shopping when there is NOTHING but Walmart near by - I really have no idea what I will write, I just know with no job and a lot more time, I want to write.

Update on my life

It has been a while since I last updated.Things have changed a bit:

Wedding Tickers
Story coming soon...

Romania trip part two

Thursday Dec 30
The day started out shopping after a bit of sleeping in. I went to bed earlier than past nights, but the sleep was needed because I was woken up in the middle of the night by some sort of whining creature, most likely a mouse. He had found his way between the wall and roof and was crying, perhaps because he was cold and stuck. A few times I heard him walking and sliding down the sloped roof. I’m not really sure what happened to him but he stopped making sounds after a while. Perhaps he gave up, or worse, perhaps he got inside the warm house. Either way, I was up for almost an hour dreading meeting my new friend. I never did see him, but there still are a few nights left.
In the morning we met Rebecca, Kiki and Dita to go shopping in town. As always, TM offered very little options for souvenirs, but the shopping was still enjoyable. Then we went back to the LOC houses for lunch and some hang out time. We played board games, chatted, watched a movie, took a walk to the local store and even skyped some people. I was able to give the kids the gifts some of their sponsors sent with me and it was great to see them open them (pictures and videos will follow for those that sent gifts). Sergiu even got to Skype Taryn to thank her personally for the gift, which was fun to observe. The time went by really fast and it was great to just hang out with the kids with no schedule at all. We followed it all with a nice dinner at The Atlantic with Jenny and then back to the house. I stayed up too late to work on the computer and write this blog, dreading a visit from my new pet creature living in the walls.

Friday, Dec30
Today was by far the longest and most emotional. The day started with the most fun I’ve had in a very long time. We went sledding at a place near the zoo with a ramp built for tubing…which meant amazing speeds. It was so much fun. I’m pretty sure I have not been sledding in almost 20 years, so it was great. The time with the kids was wonderful as well. After sledding, we had lunch at TipTop with the three youngest boys: Levi, Sergiu and Fanel. They were hilarious and seem to enjoy the special attention. We went back to the houses for some hang out time which quickly transitioned into our new years party. The kids had a cooking contest and then just hung out after dinner. During this time, I was able to have some really good chats with some of the girls and my father had some great times with the guys. The stories I was reminded of and the current struggles I was told about were hard to hear. It reminds me so much that even though by world’s standards these kids with their backgrounds of neglect and abuse have very little chance at success, God is fully capable of healing them and allowing them to live successful adult lives. I learned so many specific ways to pray for the kids. The party had some issues as some kids had attitude issues and did not want to participate. After all was said and done, only a few ventured out to the Center for music and fireworks. Only two girls came, Kati and Marga, both girls I had very little conversation time with the past years. We had some short but good chats on the van rides, which was great. Once in the center, somehow I ended up with Bela on my arm keeping me warm, and Levi by my side quietly enjoying the show. It was extremely cold, but a great experience to see a “traditional” (I assume) new years celebration. As I finish this blog at 1:40am Romanian time, I am still not tired (perhaps too much caffeine in preparation)

Romania Trip - first few days

Sunday and Monday Dec 26-27
The flights started out eventful already- a 1hr 10 min delay for the flight to Chicago to Germany. Those of you who know me, this is no surprise. Somehow with the help of some encouraging prayers and text messages, I was able to not stress. The long flight was the same as always, filled with movies and not a wink of sleep, as I can never sleep during flight. I did, however, have an amazing view of the moon, a first. It was a half moon with the light reflecting off the wings…relaxing to gaze at while the rest of the cabin slept. When we arrived in Germany, we were late as planned, but should still of had an hour and a half to make our connection. We stood up, eager to stretch. We gathered our bags in the isles, and we stood some more…and kept standing. The “Cherry Picker” for the door was frozen and would not work. No worries, we would use steps out the back. We stood waiting somewhat patiently. The stairs needed to be de-iced first. We waited, and finally the back door opened…only to be closed again. The stairs were attached but were not yet deiced. Finally, somehow the original exit plan succeeded after at least a 30 minute delay. We made it to our gate on time and quickly loaded the bus to board the plane. Boarding went quickly and we sat and waited for them to load our bags…and waited…and waited. I said I cannot sleep during a flight, but apparently I can sleep on a plane- I took about a 45 minute nap while someone took forever loading the plane. I was awoken by the engines as soon as the plane began to move, my only sleep during all the travel. We were now delayed over an hour on what was a little over a 2 hour layover. When we arrived, we had to walk all the way out of the security and back in again at the ticket gate. Somehow, this also meant paying for our extra checked bag fee…again? Annoying. Only after paying were our boarding passes printed and we proceeded on a long walk to our gate at the other end of the airport. We went straight to the bus to board the plane. At this point, I was starving from all the travel. My brilliant father decided that the best way to make my medicine cold was to scoop up a quart size bag full of snow while we waited on the bus…and the ziplock bag was carried on the plane to act as my very own portable fridge. We had a long wait on the plane once again, and I was able to drink some of the coldest medicine I’ve ever had while traveling. Finally we arrived in Cluj, only a little late, and of course, missing one bag- my checked bag. This was no surprise to Emil, an expert at dealing with the Wedgwood team and our various travel issues. It was taken care of quickly and we were off to TM. A warm shower later, I was ready to crawl in to bed, stretching my legs as much as I wanted without the pain of airplane noise.

Tuesday, Dec 28
In the morning we went to a Gypsy village for a short kids program. I was so tired and really just observed more than anything. Dragos led and was great with the kids. It was good to see the village, but a hard start after so little sleep. From there we went to lunch at the LOC houses. The kids were coming in from sledding and were so excited. They chatted about random stuff and met my dad. Gabi took us from there to the baby hospital via bus. Somehow, I was able to fall asleep on the way there and back. It was nice, but now as I sit up writing this, I regret it a bit. The babies were sweet and as always it was heartbreaking to see them stuck in their cribs. Gabi knew each one by name and knew their personalities as well, which was encouraging to see how God was using her there.
She dropped us off at McDonald’s afterward for some fancy fast food. We then changed into warmer clothes to take the LOC kids down to the Center to look at Christmas lights. We saw two Santas (a bit confusing for young kids when there are two right next to each other) and took tons of photos. It was very cold, but a great time to just bond with the kids. We were anxious to get home to warmth and hopefully a good nights sleep before the next long but amazing day began.

Wednesday Dec. 29
Today we ventured out to a village a few hours away to see Maria, the LOC teenager I used to sponsor. She moved away with her boyfriend’s family and her sister and brothers had not seen her in a long time. Two of the staff members, Gabi and Dan, were able to take all of them for a short reunion. We had no idea what to expect from this family she lived with. They were so welcoming. As soon as we walked in, the served us a plate full of cakes and other treats, complete with Coke. We chatted for only a few minutes before her boyfriend offered for my dad to go hunting with him. He was in no way dressed for this (nor a hunter) so he declined but was then asked if he would like to see the guns. The next hour was filled with excitement as the guys posed for pictures with the shotguns and pistol. Apparently, guns are rare in Romania, so it was a treat for them to even see one. During this time, the siblings were each able to spend some time with Maria and hopefully have some quality conversation. Then the family fed us all a great Romanian meal..sarmalis and some pork (probably from the severed pig head hanging in the yard) plus some French fries added for my benefit ☺
Overall, it was a great experience and my first time as guest in a Romanian home. The family was obviously financially stable and treated Maria great, which is a huge answer to prayer.
After the trip back, we hung out with the LOC kids at the houses and watched videos and played with PhotoBooth on my laptop. Then Jeff took us in to town to an “authentic Romanian Italian” restaurant…aka some pizza and pasta. We finished the day with one of my favorite things, raiding the local grocery store for some Milka bars. We got in early in time to relax and even get to sleep in a little tomorrow.

Romania week 1

A week in Romania has come and gone. Some of you kept updated via e-mail or facebook. I can not even begin to explain the spiritual struggles that the team and I have been through. I can't speak for my team, but this was the most difficult mission trip week I have ever experienced. In it all, God was so faithful. I have never before felt so clearly the prayer support of my church family and friends back home.

We lost bags, which meant lost meds for me and learned to share almost everything...and currently our team is continuing to be unified and patient while they wait in a nearby city, Cluj, hoping to get home after a canceled flight. There are so many other things that happened that are not for the blogging world to know...God worked through them all though.

In it all, I still had an amazing week. The morning group of kids was my Camp Week 1 group two years ago. The two I knew best and prayed for so often were not there...they moved back in with parents. But so many others remembered me as well. And new relationships were formed. The third day I shared a little about being adopted and my story and the kids on my team began to open up and share their stories as well. Two of the kids shared how God gave them the ability to forgive despite circumstances. The others in the group listened well, but it was evident that they did not understand. It was amazing to see two teenage boys take my story to the next level and share what it meant to surrender their pain and past to Christ.

The evening group was the LOC kids, a group I have now known for 4 years now. The time with them was fun but not nearly as deep. The first day I spent with the kids (before camp started) I was able to have some meaningful conversations. As soon as camp began, they seemed distracted. My prayer this week is that God will give me a chance to be bold and finish some conversations I need to have with them.

Monday brings another group of kids and new challenges. I have so much to sort through, but more than anything, I pray that I am aware and obedient to what God calls me to this week...each conversation and appointment I make will glorify Him.

p.s. sorry for any grammar/spelling errors. tried to spellcheck and its set to Romanian somehow...almost every word showed up as a misspelling.

Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Today was a reality check for me. February is Domestic Violence Awareness month and we had a guest speaker from the police department come speak to the students. Normally when guest speakers visit, the students try to be polite, but nod off in boredom. Today was different. They listened intently. And they were vocal. They were sure of their opinions and shared willingly. Male and female both argued the same points. Overall, most the students said and agreed on the following:

1. Sometimes in a relationship, you deserve to get hit (Even girls deserve to get hit by guys sometimes).

2. Girls should know better to stay out of certain things and keep their place (one of the GIRLS said this, and many agreed)

3. It is ok to be jealous and keep tabs on someone you are in a relationship with because it shows love

4. It is ok to control things like cell phone use or who each hangs out with as long as you mutually agree to be controlling.

I don't even know what to say to this. I want to pull aside the girls who readily admitted they are in a relationship where they have been hit, about 10 girls whom I am close to and many others. They don't see any other way. No matter what was said by the speaker or us, they see abuse as a part of life. I can't imagine. It breaks my heart for them, and for many of their children that they will teach the same too. It never occurred to me that the same students who we see fighting in the school hallways as a means of problem solving take the same approach in their dating lives.

Throughout the month of "awareness" and today, it was said that if you are with an abuser you need to get out of that relationship. The cycle of abuse is hard to break and people do not change unless they want to. I realize now that for many males AND females in the room, they were actually the abusers and they did not see anything wrong. They have no desire to change.

Today was just another day when teaching grammar and literature seemed so pointless in perspective. Who cares if they can pass TAKS if this is the life the life they look forward to? So many more important lessons are needed. How does one even begin to make a lasting impact?

The Green Pen Self

I haven't blogged in forever. So long, in fact, that my own blog is not even bookmarked on my browser. There are multiple reasons for why, one reason that I have realized the past months how many people from different areas of my life have access to my blog. I never blog about things I'm ashamed about, but for some reason the reality of it gave me writers block. The second being that I am "working" on a big blog. I have been "working" on it for a year now. Or shall I say God has been working on it. I'm waiting for the end of the story and it will hopefully arrive soon. Patience is difficult.

Since I'd rather not just blog about my not blogging (boring), I finally decided on a topic to blog on...The Green Pen Self...

The past years (post-college) have stretched my faith like no other. I journal every night and occasionally go back and read past entries. Sometimes it even amazes me how little has changed over the years. But the past few weeks I have had a slightly different experience.

For the new year, I decided to go back and finish a Beth Moore study on David that I never completed. I knew it was from years ago, but it wasn't until a couple lessons in that I figured out when. As I do the study each day, I use a notecard to cover up the green pen answers scribbled years ago and write in my new answers neatly in black. Then I compare.

The factual questions still produce the same answers, of course. But the questions about struggles-not so much. I am learning more from past answers than current. The study is from my very first year out of college- that first year in seminary. Each green answer is a perfect Sunday school answer. As the study examines Saul's jealousy and pride, it asks questions about my own. The "green" self says she doesn't really struggle with pride and is rarely jealous. The "green " self didn't even bother to finish the book that year because quiet times became non-existant in the seminary world. The "green" self became so jealous of friends moving on with life while she was still in school that she almost lost all friendships. The "green" self ignored all the probing questions about pride and jealousy...too prideful to even notice. And pride comes before the fall- the book remained incomplete as well as almost every other attempted quiet time material for a few years after that.

If only I could have seen that what so clearly leads up to the years of struggle I allowed myself to have. Those who know me well or knew me then no the huge trials through seminary and trying to figure out my call to teach and work with youth. God had to use such extremes to humble me- things that to this day people cannot ever believe happened. Every night as I "redo'" my study, I think back- how I wish the "black pen" self could have been there to tell the "green" pen self a thing or to.

This may not mean much nor make sense to those who have met me after this time period. But for those who knew me in the "green" years, I could not be more sorry for the way I treated others...so many great friendships were lost at my own pride . And for those who still are there, I am amazed and thankful that somehow our friendship survived...obviously through God's power and not my own attempts at friendship. More than anything, I am thankful for God's grace as He constantly draws me back to Him. I can't wait to see what else He has to teach me through my "green" self.

Romania...the rest of the trip

There was no more time to write on the trip, but I wanted to finish the story for those of you wondering what happened the last few days. This is going to be long...it's a lot of days.
Wednesday was a great day of camp for most, but the green team presented a challenge. The older kids were not setting the best example, and the entire team was not allowed to go with us to our outing at The Weekend, a public pool. It was sad not to take the entire group with us, but I think it was a good lesson for the kids. That evening, we took a trip to The Center, which just like it sounds is the center of town. Not much was open, but we stopped for ice cream at my old favorite place, The Gallery Cafe (my fav last year only b/c of the free Internet). While we were sitting there, another American group passed by. The team leader noticed Emily’s Texas shirt and came back to talk to us. Turns out he is from Lubbock and just moved to Romania to teach English a few months ago. He gave me information on their program, which was pretty exciting. (Perhaps that’s why I randomly became certified ESL last month?)
Thursday was a much better day at camp for all teams. We had an afternoon of messy games followed by a water balloon fight that hardly seemed fair. Basically all the kids had balloons and none of the adults! I’m pretty sure Krisztina attacked me with at least 20 balloons. That evening we went to The Weekend for dinner with the mentor apartment group. It was great to see Gabi and the girls, especially Maria whom I sponsor. My mom and I had a bag of clothes for her but she was most excited about the Twilight themed bag. Apparently she is a huge Edward fan. But then again, who isn’t. ☺
Friday was a long day at a much nicer pool, The Apollo. The kids all had fun and we were worn out. My favorite part was at the end. We were given a chance to share with the kids and I shared a little bit about my testimony and tied it in to being adopted. During that time, Krisztina also finally admitted that she had fun all week, even though she had tried so hard to look bored all week. Friday night we convinced our translators Andrei and Violeta to hang out with us and walked all around TM, and of course they were tons of fun.
Saturday was by far the most difficult day. We woke up early to visit the Gyspy village and I had no clue what to expect. When we arrived, we learned that another group was actually there doing a camp with the kids. It seemed pointless to be there at first. But we walked around anyhow. Somehow, a few kids decided that Amanda and I were great for catching them as they ran full speed down a hill. It was pretty funny. The kids ran and jumped into our arms, then we spun them around and set them down just in time to catch the next child approaching. Definitely wore us out quickly but was great!
After the village, we headed to lunch and prepared gift bags, then to the Casas. Because of some of the craziness earlier in the week, the kids decided they wanted to throw us a “Thank You” party. It was the sweetest thing ever. As soon as I got out of the van, Krisztina brought me a card and told me not to read it until later. The kids sang songs for everyone and gave us treats. They even made us a slide show saying thanks. As I was eating my snacks, one of the kids came to me telling me that Krisztina was off by the fence crying for me. I went and sat with her and said goodbye. It was probably one of the hardest goodbyes I’ve said in Romania.
As if that wasn’t enough emotion for the day, we went straight from there to Sincrai group homes. I was greeted almost instantly with Ileana. It was so great to see her again, even if it was just for a few minutes. I would love to be able to sit down and really get to talk to her (with a translator of course…can’t get very deep with my limited Romanian).
From there we headed to the cookout and shared stories. After that, my mom and I went to Gabi’s to see where the mentor girls lived. It was so great to be invited and wonderful to be able to picture what life was like there. Gabi made us amazing cake made from scratch and the girls played on the iPhones. After, I stopped by my translator, Paul’s, house. It was only for a few minutes, but well worth it. I was able to see so many people from last summer I hadn’t seen yet and even found out Paul was my friend Laura’s brother. It’s a small world, or at least in TM it is ☺
The next day we had a lot of free time while waiting to leave. I was able to catch up with two of my favorite translators Ioana and Amy (ok, they're all my fav). Then we went shopping with the mentor girls for a few hours. At last it was time to board the bus.
Leaving did not feel real. It was so hard to leave not knowing when I will be back, but the trip was amazing and I know that no matter when I return, the relationships I built will continue.

Romania Update 1

Two days into camp and I’m already not wanting to leave.
Our trip started out a bit crazy. We had an hour connection from Germany to Romania and I spent the last hour of that flight praying we make it. The answer to prayer came through the man in the yellow vest…seriously. There were many others on our flight with tight connections and our plane was a little late. When I walked off the plane, I saw a man holding a sign that said “Bucharest”. He was there to escort us through security passageways to our gate. He used his key card to get us to our plane on time- a definite answer to prayer, especially because no other flight seemed to have that luxury. When we arrived in Bucharest, we found out that we made our flight, but 11 of our bags did not. After a 6-hour drive to Targu Mures, we settled into the hotel, shuffling to find things to sleep in and borrowing toiletries as best we could.
Saturday morning we headed to the baby hospital. There were so many more babies then the times before. I ended up left alone in a room full of toddlers. One was wearing my flip-flops walking around the room. Two were pulling out my hair clips and “doing” my hair. While a fourth tried to crawl on me to be held. It was heartbreaking how little attention they received. It is always so hard to leave them.
We did not get to go to Zau as we had planned- which was sad. Instead we spend Saturday sorting through our 11 bags as they finally arrived. We met the departing Irish “Edge” team for a cookout then walked around TM.
Sunday was of course church. I was excited to see old friends. My friend Gabi greeted me right away and I spend the entire service talking to Ani about silly things…I was one of the many with no translator. Don’t worry; we did not disturb anyone else…too much.
Sunday afternoon the team met the Casa kids for the first time. They made connections instantly. Then we headed to the office for some time with the Campnita girls. These state care girls were my first group at camp last summer. I was amazed to find that Rodica not only remembered my face but also ran to me saying my name as soon as she saw me. She listed every team member as well. She attached herself to me right away and told me stories of herself and her siblings, Bobby and Ileana. These three were the family that I connected with the most last year. God put each one of them in my path and we connected in separate ways. I was so blessed to see her again and hope to see her sister next Saturday.
Monday and Tuesday were spent with the Casa kids at camp. The team stepped right up into leadership and the kids love them. The first day we had our all-girls cupcake decorating. Some of the cupcakes were not so pretty, but everyone had fun. One of the girls even said it was the best day of camp she ever had. Tuesday we took the kids to a nursing home to hand out flowers. Some of the kids were really scared, but a few were amazing. Catalina was playing games with one; Daniel was walking around with an old woman who could not have been happier. They truly brought smiles to faces.
The rest of the days will be continued in future blogs…this one is long enough. Please keep praying!

Romania 2009

It's late and I should be in bed. In fact, I was reaching for my "real" journal but instead decided I needed to blog. On Thursday, I leave for my third trip to Romania.
Many of you reading followed my last trip via blog. I doubt I will have time to blog on the trip as its only 10 days long. But it is already full of emotion. It is almost a year exactly since I was last there. I am so excited to go back, but so many other things are on my mind as well.
One of my favorite parts about Livada, the ministry in Romania, is that I get to see the same kids year after year. I am starting to see some of them grow up. It's amazing. Last year, I didn't want to leave. I knew it was time to, but I was feeling called to come back and possibly even more long-term. As a prayed through the fall, I was surprised (and I must confess a bit disappointed) to hear from God that I needed to lead a team this summer. Don't get me wrong - leading a team is great. But leading a team meant I could not spend the entire summer there and I of course could not spend even longer there. It didn't seem to make sense, but I reluctantly obeyed.
Now, I am leaving for Romania with a team of eight ...some youth, some peers/adults, and my mom. I can't tell you how fun it is to hear my youth speaking Romanian. Not only are those eight a part of Romania, but countless people in the church and a few in the community have become involved. Even my students helped (by helped, I mean bought my overpriced candy bars for a fundraiser, but it still counts). Now, so many people in my life are a part of Romania. I would not trade that for anything.
As I leave, obviously there are many prayer concerns for the trip, a few being travel, safety, unity, and to expect great things from God. But my biggest personal prayer is that God shows me how Romania fits in my future. I don't need all the details, just a peace about what to do next. This coming week, I will have to face some Romanian friends who are disappointed I did not move there. I don't even know what to say some of them, nor do I know what the future holds. As I wrestled with dreading those conversations, God used a bible study tonight to remind me of the way He works. The main point: Balancing Passion with Patience. I know I am passionate about Romania and I was ready to dive in fully a few years ago. Patience did not come easy; I'm not even sure it came at all- I waited, but not always patiently. But the little patience I had allowed me to invite many others to be a part my passion. Who knows what else patience can bring as I wait on His timing.