Raising Romania

SPRING’S BLESSINGS

What a joy it is to know that Spring is right around the corner. In Romania there is a custom of giving special trinkets with red and white strings on them to the women in your life on the first of March. So starting the last week of February there will be vendors all over the town selling these small inexpensive items. I don’t know how the custom originated but I suspect men used to give women that they admired the first flowers that appeared after the snow had gone, which may have been around the first of March. Now it has turned into a business for many people.
As you may be able to tell from the picture at the top of the page there are other signs of the coming of Spring here as well. The field behind the care home (used as a landing strip during aviation camps) is now populated by many ewes with their lambs. It is so much fun to watch the way they play and run after each other. Then there may be one little one roaming back and forth crying out for it’s mother and when he finally finds her what joy there is in him as he snuggles against her and nurses. But that is just one of the advantages to being in this village.
The coming of Spring also means more visitors to the care home. Already we have had a visit from our good friend Bob who drives down from England with a trailer load of medical equipment every few months. Bob is with an association called Lifeline Romania and has been doing this for several years. He is always a wonderful help and inspiration whenever he comes. Bob was gracious in helping to finance one of the buildings here to be used as a storage area for the equipment he brings until it can be distributed to those in need. He has brought canes, beds, special wheel chairs, and special bath tubs for the handicapped as well as everything in between. Many of the items go to people Bob has met through various organizations here but much of it is intended for use in the elderly care home once it is completed.
This time during Bob’s visit I (Terry) had the opportunity to go with him to visit a family he has been helping. It is a family of four women, the husband died several years ago so mom and grandma raised the two daughters on their own. Both the daughters, ages 20 and 25, are now teachers. The oldest daughter was in an accident several years ago and lost her right leg above the knee. Bob learned about this from a friend and helped the young lady get an artificial limb. But it is now very uncomfortable for her as she has to do a lot of walking and standing for her job. So Bob and I were there to visit, encourage and help her plan for a replacement socket, the part of the prosthetic that engages the stub of her leg, that Bob hopes to bring from the UK. It is so wonderful to see how God is able to use people to bless others.
But Spring is also a time for cleaning and preparing so that when teams do arrive they will have a nice place to stay. The women of the home have tackled the garden area with enthusiasm. They have been working well together to turn and break up the soil, rake up the dead leaves, sticks and weeds, and get it ready for planting. Even the kids have had fun helping the moms by raking and pulling weeds—any good reason to play in the dirt I suppose. But they have been looking like a real family as they pull together to turn the care home into a more inviting place. Praise God for His work in them.

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. Isaiah 61:11

Sometimes in America you might hear the expression “she has a bun in the oven” when referring to someone who is pregnant. You could have said that about or star cook Rodica up until February 3rd when she gave birth to a healthy 3 kilo (6.6 lb.) 50 cm (19 1/2”) long baby boy. There was some controversy in the house as to what to name him but his 5 year old sister Denisa had the final honors in naming him Dennis (after herself I suspect).
Rodica brought him over to the care home to meet everyone and it was quite an experience for the little guy; flashes going off repeatedly in his eyes and being passed around to every woman in the home. But he was a real trooper. I didn’t hear a peep out of him as he went from Dana to Lavinia to Codruta and on with each mom saying “I want a picture.” That is how babies are introduced in the care home and everyone loves a newborn, especially his mom and dad. Even when he wakes up for that 2AM feeding each morning.

SPRING’S BLESSINGS

No More Bun In The Oven

A Teenager In The House