Pictures 12/31

Here are a few pictures all mixed together from the trip so far (we apologize for sideways-ness but we cant turn them) - for you to enjoy :). There will probably be more on James before today is over! Today has been a very good day. I feel as though they get better and better as each day passes! God is good! Every day we think "it cant get any better than this" but sure enough - it does! Many stories to tell from today but no time. We will update in 2007!!!!



Emily's music debut. Her album will be out in the spring. Watch for it! Music video to come the end of january ;0)

Cutest girl i have seen. she LOVED the camera!

James & Doina - he was a fan of being pushed around.


emily & i went to a romanian church today - we borrowed some of viorica's clothing. needless to say - it was hilarious.


Emily, Jenn, James
we make quite the trio! You should see the quote board we are developing!


Here is Emily & Constansa talking about their favorite verses!



Mr. Randy - this one is for you ;) you want a cup of this?

some kids at pinochio!




... emily & i during the attack ;0) we loved it.


we were making christmas cards!

Thank you for checking on us! Pray that we would have the Gospel on our lips all the time!

Dec 30th 2006

on the last blog we started to share about our experiences from each orphanage...this is a sort of continuation...

Yesterday we got a chance to travel to all four orphanages, mostly because James needed to check the computer situation with each.

Here are the names of all the orphanages...

Iomc 'Institution for protection mother and child' is the name of the baby orphanage here. (these are where we took the pictures from a couple of blogs ago) --it was very emotional to be there, our hearts filled with joy and sadness...but there is not a word to explain the feeling we felt while holding those precious babies...

Bradut is the smaller orphanage with mostly handicapped children, about 12 in all. As we stepped one foot in the door the kids attacked! :) We loved having the chance to spin them around and give them many hugs!! I hope we will get to go back and spend more time there--simply showing them attention and love-- that they are cherished.

http://takingtheliberty.blogspot.com/
(James' blog has more info on this orphanage--go read--especially the story of Ionica)

Pinnochio is another orphanage that is filled with adolescent children, boys and girls. It was a very exciting place, full of energy! The kids there knew some english and memorized our names within minutes! We met a group from Italy there who comes a few times a year to spend time with the children and help with what they can. It was encouraging to see how the Lord is sending many to Romania.

Santa Maria was the last orphanage we stopped at. It is an all girls orphanage. It was not nearly as crazy as Pinnochio (no boys-makes big difference! haha) We had the privledge of meeting a few of the older girls--Donia, Isabella, and Constansa(sp?). Donia and Isabella are twins--they speak fluent english and Constanta speaks english pretty well. We really hit it off! I have no doubt in my mind that they are God appointed friendships. They showed us their rooms--it reminded me of church camp. About 5 beds in a pretty good size room. The girls are incredible. Isabella and Donia love to sing! We had a concert right in the middle of the hallway :) Doina has a mp3 player and headset--she wanted us to sing before they would. Well lets just say after hearing me belt out Shania Twain they believed me when I said "I can't sing!" But, they can sing beautifully!--they love and know the popular American songs more than me!

We have more information about each orphanage and stories from each to tell when we get home.

---

Today (Dec 30th...it is actually midnight aka 0:00 in Romania--they are on a 24 hr clock)

there is so much to say about today--it has only been two days and with the amount of things that have already happened it feels like it has been a week!

After breakfast Doina and Constanta came over. We worked on getting all the names of the children matched with the Christmas cards they have received so far and read what each child wanted for Christmas.

We wrote over 70 Christmas cards :) Constanta began teaching us some Romanian!

Viorica, Doina, Constanta, Jenn, and I all headed off to the store to buy presents! As we walked to the store Constansa told us of how she came to know God and love Jesus. It brought tears to my eyes and is a moment I will never forget...
Doina and Constanta were such blessings--they helped translate and picked out what the children would like. The store was almost exactly like Sams. I enjoyed the time getting to know the girls better and goofing around :)

Afterwards all the girls headed back to the house while Nikki and James went to computer land store to look for supplies. We made the packages for the children, full of gifts and cards!

Tonight I cannot begin to explain...

We sat in the living room putting gifts together and singing "Shout to the Lord", "Blessed be the Name of the Lord"! Constanta in romanian and Jenn and I in english--but the unity of the spirit was overwhelming.
We sang and danced! (jenn and I have many many videos from tonight--i can't wait to share)

Constanta shared with me her favorite verse. Revelation 21:1-4 "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."

she says it gives her hope.

this is her second favorite, Isaiah 61:1-3 "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn."

she says this is what she is called to do at Santa Maria (her orphanage).

Go to this website
http://www.childrentolove.com/
if you scroll down click on 'interview with constanta'--it is powerful

I praise God for the friendships that are forming here. They have encouraged me so much and I pray Jenn and I can be an encouragement to them.

this pretty much sums up today...

"Dumnezeu e taria mea
Adapost pentru sufpetup meu
ajutor cand povara e grea
Dumnezeu le taria mea"

translation: "Our God is an Awesome God He reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power, and love--Our God is an Awesome God!"

God Bless,
Jenn and Emily

ps: for Andrei and anyone else who speaks Romanian we apologize for misspelled words and the lack of accent marks--we are just learning :)

Crazy day!

Jenn here - had a second and wanted to post a link to James' blog so you could read his take and see his pictures too!

Short update - yesterday after we posted - we went to ALL of the other orphanages! Pictures and stories from today to come soon when we have more time!

Yesterday we went to one orphanage, walked in and the kids went CRAZY haha. Emily & I were swinging them around and sweating like crazy! We are sore today!!!!!! haha.

oh but i did get a shower :)!!!!

Last night we also went out for pizza! Would you believe a coke costs 4$ here!!!!! Needless to say no coke for us!

Though are english is getting worse by the day - our romanian is getting better! We are learning lots of small words!

Well that is all for now. We are about to go shopping for Christmas presents that the kids requested. Pray it all works out. Emily & I are learning a LOT about communication. It's fun ;).


also. be thankful. take a second today and thank God for the small things. i know you hear all the time "you dont know what you guys have in america" but its true. crazy things you dont think about. be so so very thankful.


http://takingtheliberty.blogspot.com/


(this link is to james pictures)
http://picasaweb.google.com/williams.james

babies...ahhhh babies :)

Well we have a few minutes to update...

Last night we arrived here at 10:35 pm. Viorica and Nikki were waiting for us with a sign! :) we prayed they would have a sign because we were afraid we would not recognize them.

It took us a while to fit everything in their tiny car...we had lots and lots of bags...but it all fit!

Once we got to their house we unloaded everything. They live on the 3rd floor so that was quite a workout....and i have to admit Viorica is a beast! She was kicking our rear hauling the luggage up!

Once we started unloaded we smelt food...lots and lots of food...

At about 11:30 we had our first home cooked meal in Romania.
Viorica cooked cabbage soup with meatballs, fried chicken, fried pork, cheese(lots-they like cheese) and bread.

We stayed up talking to Nikki and Viorica and James till 2:30 a.m.! Although we were both about to pass out, it was so much fun! (Dad Crouse - Nikki reminds me of Grandpa - he has the same funny, yet quiet sense of humor!!! its so fun to be around him).

We have already fallen in love with this couple. They are absolutely hilarious...we will have many stories about them!

ok sorry to cut short we are headed to the bank...update in a few hrs about the babies we held this morning :)



okay. back from the bank!
So. this morning. Viorica asked us to be up and ready at 9 for breakfast. Emily was smart and showered last night. Jenn, however, did not. I woke up this morning only to look @ the clock and see "9:25". EMILY! i screamed! we are late! Emily goes "ohhh we needed to be humbled from the begining Jenn!"

Anyway, because RO time is so 'whatever' we made it to the table right in time - though I got no shower :).

Then we went to the first orphanage and played with babies all morning!!! Thankfully, only one out of the 9 didnt like us :). haha. We played and swung around and squeezed them as tight as our arms would let us! These words really do not explain our hearts though - we cant wait to show pictures and tell you stories of what we have experienced - and it hasnt even been 24 hrs!


pray that God would show us specific ways to serve viorica and nikki and give them hearts to receive it.

we love yall!

We made it !

Thank you all for your prayers. We had no trouble whatsoever with our travels.

We will update soon--there is already much to do!!!


--Jenn and Emily (in Romania!!!)

24 hours & counting .....

We are at a loss of words as we sit in the computer room in Sugar Land, Texas and ponder the days before us .....


okay. for real. after packing, repacking and packing again. oh - and weighing in our hallway with a scale, as emily's dad and jenn's mom master the bags with tape measures - we are packed. and ready. finally.

there's not much more we can say. however we look forward to friday when we can post all about the first of many experiences .... the flight there!

Pray that we will get to witness to our fellow passengers of what God has been doing in our lives and share with them the love that has been lavished upon us - and how God is moving in RO!

Random business: please feel free to comment on our blog. We would love to hear from any of you who are reading our blog. All you have to do is press the comment button and enter in your message! You don't have to be a 'blog member.'

We hope all of you had a great Christmas and we can't wait to "type to you" again!!!! We'll let you know when we get there and have access to a computer!

Bags Are Packed!

Well. My bags are packed. After about fifteen "packings" and "unpackings" I think it all fits.



Praise God that of all that luggage - only 1/2 of one bag is mine! The other 3 1/2 bags are all to give away!!! I can't believe how many presents Emily & I have been blessed with to take.

The top picture is of just a few knitted items that the Threads of Love Knitting Club from A&M - have sent with us! How incredible they are to have been knitting all semester long for this specific purpose - before any of us knew Emily & I would be going!! God is so sovereign!

Five days. Pray for us! Pray that in these five days Emily & I would not neglect the Word. Pray that we would be supernaturally filled up with His love.

Pray that in these next five days God would grant peace in the hearts of our parents. Pray that He would give them comfort in knowing He has called us to RO and He will keep us safe.

Thank you! Thank you for reading this and being a part of this! Thank you for caring about and loving Emily & I.

Five days! Ekk!

Signing out in Sugar Land one last time!

Jenn

(this is about how I feel right now)

love

“Jesus promises a life in which we increasingly have to stretch our hands and be lead into places where we would rather not go.”
--Henre Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus

I received a DVD from a fellow missionary about Romania. This group ministers in a different part of Romania than we will be going and they mainly minister to the children’s Hospital.

I struggled watching the video. The pictures that I saw were similar to those we have all seen on TV. However, seeing those pictures flash before my eyes stuck a different cord with me….those are a picture of the precious Romanian children I am going to see in less than 7 days.

The orphanages we are going to have been described to us as ‘survival of the fittest.’ I honestly don’t know what to expect to see or hear or touch, but I know that it will be a life I have never seen firsthand before.

Jenn and I are both extremely excited about going to Romania—honestly we are both about to jump out of our skin. But at the same time I know that this is a place where I would ‘rather not go’. I would rather not see children hungry, homeless, without family, angry, sick, and scared from this world…but we ARE going to see this. I can’t wrap my mind around that right now but ask us when we get back and I’m sure we will have been enlightened…

My prayer is that the Lord will give us strength and most of all will shower us so much with his love that it will pour out of us onto the workers and the children. I am asking the Lord to strip away the preconceived thoughts and ideas I have---I want to stretch out my hand, I want to love sincerely.

For the past three days this scripture has been echoing over and over again in my head…

“Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy that is, readiness to help those in trouble and not sacrifice and sacrificial victims. For I came not to call and invite to repentance the righteous those who are upright and in right standing with God, but sinners the erring ones and all those not free from sin.”

I honestly don’t think I know what this means. But I pray God reveals it to me. And I desire to ‘go and learn’ what it means. I feel like this Romania trip is a step to my learning…

I want to be full of mercy, full of compassion.

That is our prayer, to not think like our carnal minds tend to, but to act in the spirit—letting the love of God infiltrate us and thus respond and act differently.

Thank you for your prayers!

New Man On Board!

We've added five posts today ... why not make it six :)


We have exciting news! We found out yesterday that James, a man who works with GOOGLE corp & has previously traveled to RO, is joining us on our venture! He will overlap our stay for a few days. He has a friend that is donating 10 laptops for the orphanages! James will hit up the technological side of everything and provide the kids with google talk! A while back this was a desire of our heart - but we sort of tucked it away knowing God would do what He wanted in due time.

And now... twelve days before our trip - we have another passenger who bears great gifts!!!

I also went to Wal-Mart today and was able to purchase lots of toothpaste, toothbrushes, lice shampoo, combs and regular shampoo.

This might seem dumb - but as I was packaging the items I thought of it - please pray that during the flight none of our liquids burst. Pray that the shampoo, toothpaste, lotion etc would arrive just as it is right now. May seem irrelevant but we don't want lice shampoo soaking up our suitecase :).

you are too high...

Jenn and I are done with finals...:)

and my heart is about to burst with excitement about Romania. Every morning when I wake up I stand in awe of how our God has orchestrated this outrageous opportunity before us. I had lunch with a dear friend a few days ago and after talking with her and sharing with her how this trip came about and all the crazy things God has taught me, blessed me, and shown me---i was overwhelmed with the love of our Father...

Our "romanian" story is a hard one to explain. Sometimes when I sit down with people and talk with them about it I honestly don't have the words to describe or somehow relay to them what the trip is all about. I suppose it is because Jenn and I honestly don't know…

It sounds crazy...doesn't really make sense...I mean I tell people about our trip to Romania over Christmas break and sometimes I just want to settle for simply telling them that..."we are going to Romania for two weeks to visit orphanages and pass out presents"---but that does not suffice.

No, that does not even touch the surface of what the Lord is doing. However, I can’t explain all that he is doing. I know, I am beginning to sound like a broken record or that I keep going around and around in a circle. Let me try to explain…I feel like the Lord has shown me only what is inches away from me…and the rest…well, my only choice is to trust him, to have faith that He is in control-- that his thoughts are so much higher than mine. Psalm 139:6 --“such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.”

This is a trip full of purpose in both mine and Jenn’s hearts. We don’t know what the future holds for us. We do know the desires the Lord has put in our hearts and through this trip he is beginning to show us how these desires might be met.

We both want to travel. We both want to work with people, love on them, communicate to them, reach them with the love of Christ. We don’t know if that means missionaries, or if it means working in a business/corporation making money in order to give to the cause of missions or influence others. Maybe working for non-profits..? and funny how God has allowed us to go to Romania working along side a non-profit organization. (His Little Ones)

So its ok that we “cannot attain it”. That we don’t know exactly what the Lord is doing—we are just trying to follow him not knowing the destination
…

This trip has taught me a lot about humility. I am left on my knees. I can’t count the amount of times I have had to throw my hands up and realize that my finite mind, my stupid agenda, my selfish desire—it all crumbles when compared to Him.

His plan.

His glory.

How dare I throw at Him these things, whining that I don’t grasp what He is doing and then demand He show me exactly what he is doing--before I take the step he has already asked me to take…

Faith is hard. Not understanding is hard. Not seeing the big picture is hard. Trusting that the
Lord knows what he is doing, regardless of how I feel--- is hard.

But it is beautiful.

It is beautiful to see how the Lord gently pursues me, disciplines me, and refines me. He knows I get frustrated when I don’t “see” what is going on, He knows that makes me uncomfortable—
yet He has asked me to jump in every facet of my life.
.
.
.
Without knowing what is at the bottom

Without knowing when he is going to catch me

But having faith that in his timing-- He will.

So, here we are. Jenn and I are boarding a plan on December 27th at 10:30 p.m. God has handed us this amazing opportunity to go for two weeks, to immerse ourselves in a world so unlike ours, to see children who have nothing, to encourage the believers there who love them every day, to rip off the lenses that we have always looked at the world through and attempt to see it a different way.

We are carrying so many presents with us—this is going to be the best Christmas ever for these precious children! And I praise the Lord! He has chosen us to go and we are going to be the hands of Jesus. I pray that He fills us so much with His love. I pray it pours out of everything we do, and everywhere we go—so that whoever we are with will know Christ, that every time we hand a child a gift or give them a hug that the Lord will use it to show His love.

In the beginning I had such an internal struggle. Asking myself—why? You know when the devil whispers all those questions in your mind...I mean really, we are only going to be there for two weeks and what are we going to do? Hand out some presents…hold babies…say “Jesus loves you”. I just wrestled with seeing a suitable purpose…when I don’t see that 1+1=2 or in other words when I don’t see that what we are doing is going to produce something tangible, then I find myself thinking-- “we are kidding ourselves if we think we will make a difference.”

I hate feeling the pressures of this American Christianity—that if what I am “doing” doesn’t produce something visible/obvious then it doesn’t really mean anything. I hate that I feel compelled to come back and have a pretty wrapped up box of all the things God did that fits perfectly into “religion”.

Jenn and I read James 1:27 yesterday..."Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."

..I have to get quiet..I have to get alone with Him, and then the voice of my Father is so much stronger, so steady. And I realize…my purpose is to know Him.

"You are My witnesses, says the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know Me, believe Me and remain steadfast to Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior"--Isaiah 43:10-11

That’s what we are striving for.

To know him, to believe in him, to remain steadfast in Him, and to understand that He is the one and only God.

So this is just a life trip for us, a different phase in my relationship with the Lord…getting to know Him better

I don't want to be "stained" by this world, the American way of doing things, or the religion we have created... ..I have to get quiet..I have to get alone with Him, and then the voice of my Father is so much stronger, so steady.

This is echoed in Matthew’s gospel.."Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."—Matt. 22:36-4

My mom said everyday to me, "Love God and Love people, thats my calling"--she has inspired me

Please pray for me—that I will daily fall on my knees before our creator and realize that it is NOT about me—that even the desires he has placed in my heart are not about me. We live for a greater purpose…and ultimately I am to love Him and sacrifice to serve others.

I will cling to the words of Isaiah as we travel in only 12 days…knowing that whatever happens my love for Him has grown, my understanding of Him has grown, my faith in Him has grown and I am learning to love on other people—and regardless of what Jenn and I DO, that’s all that matters—we want to Be like Christ.

--emily

OVERWHELMED

"Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. 7I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first. 8I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. 9And this city shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it."

Jeremiah 33:6-9.
13 days. In 13 days Emily & I leave to go on this journey we have been waiting for! We just found out James, a man who works for google corp in WA, will be joining us for a few days. We are excited to see how God uses this team!

Yet, I'm overwhelmed. Now that finals are over -I have more time to process that I am actually going to RO !! Mom called today to tell me that more support had come in at the house. I'm overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed at how the Lord has blessed this trip. I'm overwhelmed at the number of people that love me, love Emily and love Him enough to sacrifice for this trip.
Pray. Pray that Emily and I may be a name of joy in RO! Pray that we would bring praise and glory not to ourselves but to the One who orchestrates our lives! Pray that literally all the nations of the earth would come to know Him! Pray that through this trip not only would people in RO come to know God's grace & mercy but pray that people in America would too!
Thank you. Thank you for your support. Thank you for the gifts that enabled this trip to happen. Thank you for trusting God to give me wisdom as I seek to be a wise steward of what is not mine but yours!

Update #3

!!Hola mis amigos y mi familia!!

I just finished a spanish oral examination so I'm still thinking inthat "lingo" :)

Can you believe that the trip is less than a month away! Ha - a few daysago, I was wearing shorts and today I am bundled up under three layers ofsweaters & jackets! Emily and I joke that God is starting to prep us forthe cold weather we will experience over there! We are getting excited!As far as updates go - I have a few cool stories to share with you!

Thelast email I think I asked you guys to be praying for a way to capture thefaces & emotions of all the kids we will be seeing over there - - - well,Emily and I have been praying for a camera for a while now - - She wenthome for thanksgiving and while she was there a married couple in her churchpulled her aside and said, "Emily - do you have a digital camera for yourtrip?" Emily had not yet told them of our desire to take lots of picturesand they just felt led to provide us with a camera!Emily & I also have a close friend who receives a monthly "income" from herdad - she said that this month she didn't need all that he had given her &wanted to give us any extra she did not used. Later she gave Emily 100$ toput toward our trip! What a huge blessing that is!

Today, Emily and I had "RO day." We met with a woman named Traci who wentto RO last summer & stayed with our professor's parents. She was able toshow us tons of pictures and give even more stories about what to expect/how to deal with cultural barriers etc. We received so much valuableinformation from her and definitley feel like we have a better grasp on whatit will be like.We also had lunch today with our professor and six students who took hisother COMM class. They did a project over His Little Ones and had createdtons of lesson plans, bible lessons and more for us to deliver! It was neatto see how many people truly are a part of this trip!The knitting club also has a few more things for us to get and we will bepicking those up soon!As far as prayers go - we NEED them.

Emily and I left today feeling a bitoverwhelemed. We realized that this trip is going to put our degrees (wellpotential degrees) to the test! Everything we have been learning abouthigh/low context cultures is completley 100% applicable! So:Pray that we will be able to be flexible, to be adaptable and to appreciatetheir "slower paced" culture. Pray we will have no ethnocentric bone in our body and that we will seek toUNDERSTAND where they are coming from instead of assuming our way isbetter.

Pray that communication between us and my professors' parents is clear,concise and not frustrating.Pray that the children would be calm and that they woudl respect us from dayone. Pray that discipline would not be an issue so that we can love themand have fun with them. Pray that God would ordain which children we get tospend time with.Pray that we get to go to the orphange often and that we would havediscernment on when to take breaks. Pray that we would take breaks and nottry to over do it because we "only" have 14 days.Pray that the support money we take over there would go a long way. Praythat we would be wise stewards of that money and would be able to blesseveryone and anyone who is in need!Pray that now as finals are ending we would be able to really focus and getready for this trip. Pray for a supernatural peace for our hearts and mindsand patience --- ohhh pray for patience :).

Thank you so much for all that you are doing. Know that we appreciate allof the emails, letters, support, and more!

Update #2

Friends & Family
Time is flying and Emily & I will be leaving in but a few weeks! I have had a few BIG things happen recently and I wanted to share them with all ofyou!

A few ladies from Andrei’s church have a knitting club that meets on> Wednesdays. All semester they have been laboring to knit scarves, hats,> mittens, teddy bears and more for the children in RO. I went over there a> few weeks ago and walked in amazed. All over the chairs (pictureattached) were hand-crafted items for the children. I was overwhelmed at how I was> soon going to see the children rejoicing with these items on! However,not> only had they knitted the items – they had written personalized messagesto> every kid in one of the orphanages! Pray that as I am there – I maysomehow> someway capture their excitement in photographs to bring back to those> blessed women. I do not deserve to see the fruit/excitement of theirlabor –> but I am going to do my best to bring it back in photographs and written> memories!>> Also – you all have been so gracious to provide fresh ideas, provide> e-mail addresses of contacts in RO and people affiliated with it, etc. > Below is part of an e-mail I received this morning:> “The orphanages themselves were a unique experience I cannot describe. I> can> only suggest to you that you prepare the best you can for an emotional> response. How to do that, I am not really sure. ~wry smile~>> The best gift you can give the children is as much love, holding and> nurturing as possible. The lack of consistent care and touch in infancyhas> profound effects on the development of the children as they get older. If> you have time before you go, I recommend that you read about attachment> theory, and the conditions that result when a child does not have proper> nurturing, such as Reactive Attachment Disorder.”>>> That is our purpose. Many people have asked “What are you doing> Jenn?” “What is your purpose?” “What project are you accomplishing?” Our> purpose is that the children may be encouraged in heart and united inlove. > That they may see the love that Emily & I have for one another as sistersin> Christ and for them as children and that this love may turn their eyes to> Jesus – the Source of our love. This e-mail was a huge encouragement. Ido> not feel it is any coincidence that one of Emily & I’s professors adopteda> daughter who has Reactive Attachment Disorder. Before we even knew wewere> going to RO, I spent a while in his office asking questions about his> daughter. God’s incredible, isn’t He?>> Thank you for your support and prayers! As far as prayers go right> now – pray that we will be filled up with love in the coming days. Pray> that we will make wise, safe decisions while in RO. Pray that all of our> luggage will pass the weight limit and we won’t have to pay extra. Pray> that our parents would rest in God’s faithfulness to protect us. Pray for> boldness for us. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I love you all!

Update #1

Friends & Family,
Hi! I just wanted to send you an update on thehappenings with Romania! With tickets purchased and our lodging in place, we are ready to head off to Romania in a little over a month!!!

I wanted to “introduce” you to my traveling buddy! I met Emily this fall in Andrei’s class; however, we soon realized thatwe had not one, not two – but FOUR of the same classes! Needless to say, until now, our friendship has consisted mostly of 8am Starbucks study sessions and late night snacks while practicing Spanish!!

Emily & I are both extremely excited about what the Lord has instore for this trip. We both feel that our venture to Romania will not onlybe used to change the lives of orphan’s, but our lives as well. We areexcited to be stretched, grown, challenged, matured and molded!

A few weeks ago, Emily & I had the privilege of meeting with Addie, an aggie who went to Romania last summer with one of her close friends! She was able to give us priceless advice, answer questions, calm our nerves, suggest packing lists, give warnings, share her experiences and much more!

As the trip nears, I ask you to be in prayer over a few things. We are trying to come up with creative ideas to make/purchase for thechildren in Romania. If you have any ideas please let us know! Addie told usthe children love to color & write because in the orphanage they do not get mentally stimulated very often. We are planning to make a store run and purchase lots of Sketch books, crayons, markers and the like! The Lord has been so faithful to provide in every aspect and we are confident He has already gone before us & prepared the way! Thank you for taking time to read this update!

I will write again soon! -Jenn Crouse :)