“You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.” - Acts 2:28
Dear Family and Friends,
This month has been monumental in about 243 different ways. (Okay, maybe not THAT many but I think you will understand my need for embellishment after you read the whole thing!) Since I last wrote, we completely closed down New Life House and put the remaining four children in families. We had a big celebration to begin our kickoff of the new project and the end of New Life House. Here are some photos for you to enjoy:
This is group shot some of the foster mothers with our children:
Here is a photo of one our little boys with his foster mother who is already madly in love with him after two weeks!
Here is a photo of me and our oldest girl, “Deborah” who is getting so big! I am told she will be leaving for Spain before Christmas. The foster mother informed us she is too smart for her own good! As many of you know, she holds a very special place in my heart.
We praise God for bringing so many wonderful families into our path to love His children. In time, we hope to be able to employ more foster families and another social worker to manage their cases. I strongly believe no social worker should have more than ten cases to manage.
Daniel spent MANY long days moving everything out of New Life House and organizing what we will take into Agape Home. He made lots of trips trying to get all the contents out by the 15th. We also distributed clothing and supplies to each of our foster families. We had much furniture donated to New Life House which will now bless Agape Home.
Within a couple of days after I wrote the email about Baby Nathan, I had to make a decision based on what the doctors were telling me about his fragile medical condition. The doctors told me they needed someone to love and feed him during the day. I prayed about it and decided to hire one of our maternal assistants from New Life House to start going into the hospital as part of our Arms of Mercy project. So, the day after New Life House closed, Alina started working in the hospital with Baby Nathan! Three days after she had been working with him, his mother showed up to take him back. The doctor told her she had to leave the hospital and Alina called me to go and visit the mother. My social workers and I made a visit to the address she gave to the hospital. We were horrified at the conditions we found. I had to stay in the car so the mother wouldn’t think I wanted to “buy” her baby since I am a foreigner (my accent gives me away when I speak Romanian) but my social workers said they could not go in the house because of the stench. The mother stated she intended to come and take her baby that day and she did. There was nothing anyone could do to stop her because children do not yet have rights here; only parents. Alina was devastated but understands Baby Nathan is in God’s hands. We ask you to join us in praying for Baby Nathan.
Since then, Alina has begun working in the premature ward of the hospital with my friend, Dr. Eniko Berechi. Alina already has about five “favorite” children and is wasting no time developing attachments with them. Here is a precious photo of her with one of her favorite tiny people! It is a shame you can’t hear her…she was singing to the baby while I was taking this photo and she has a BEAUTIFUL voice!
We are so excited to tell you the electricity is being installed in Agape Home this week!! If the Lord provides the funds for the septic tank and installing the piped propane gas, (about $7,000 total) we could possibly begin operating the facility in a month. Of course this depends on many factors such as the fire department giving us approval, the department of sanitation giving us the approval, and other funds for buying furniture, etc. We know the Lord is controlling Lord has the timing of beginning this project.
Daniel and I are now moving out of our apartment. Poor Daniel is having to move tons of stuff AGAIN! I moved into this gorgeous apartment four years ago and it has been such a huge oasis for me and then for Daniel after we married. Due to the tremendous increase in utilities in Romania, we can no longer afford to live here so we decided to move out before returning to the USA for three months. We will miss this place but we know God is able to provide another nice home for us in the future. I am a bit rattled by all of this because it means we will have no “home” of our own in Romania or in the USA. ( I know this is more of a female issue to want “roots” and to nest. Daniel would be perfectly content living in a tent as long as he could occasionally watch American football and baseball.) I ask you to please pray for us during this time of transition and change.
We will be leaving for the United States in a couple of weeks and we will stay through the middle of February. We look forward to seeing many of you during our furlough. If you want to contact us while we are there, you can call the voice mail number 843.577.5216 and leave a message. We will have a mobile phone with us but we do not know the number yet but we will call you back.
We thank so many of you for your support of our ministry. We couldn’t do what the Lord asks us to do here without those of you in other places supporting us.
Basking in the Son,
Michelle
Posted on October 29th, 2003 by Michelle
Filed under: Michelle's Journal