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 :)