I realize you haven’t heard from me in a while but I think once you read through this update, you’ll understand why. We have hardly been at home for several months!
One of our foster children, Cristi, is being transitioned to a new foster/adoptive home. His current foster mother is pregnant and decided to end her contract with us for being a foster parent. Through much pray, The Lord has now provided Cristi with a permanent home. We began the transition at the beginning of August and it is going well but the new family lives 45 minutes from his current foster home so we have been doing LOTS of driving so he could transition slowly and smoothly. All is going well but the first week I made the trip back and forth 3 times on these awful Romanian roads. At least they filled in the pot holes so my entire wheel no longer disappears into one! Here is a photo that my missionary friend, Cheryl, took yesterday while we were on the way back from his visit.
Cheryl and I chatted away in the beginning and Cristi fell fast asleep. (I didn’t know that even 4 year old males would rather sleep than hear two women talk!) J We praise God this transition is going so well and Cristi will soon be with permanent parents.
During the month of August, our Agape Home parents, Nicu and Flori, went on vacation to the Black Sea where Nicu is originally from. This vacation, however, meant that Daniel and I had to take on all of their responsibilities plus our normal work load. The day they left, one of our babies at Agape Home came down with a high fever and began lots of vomiting which lead to her being hospitalized the next day with her mother for a week. It was frightening for all of us and we praise God for my friend, Dr. Eniko Bereki, that took such excellent care of them and monitored her closely each day. Both mother and baby are fine now and eating like goats!
Daniel has worked like mad trying to get everything prepared and finished for the winter here. He still has several more projects to go and what feels like limited time since the high will be in the mid 50’s tomorrow. Yikes!!!! It has never gotten this cool here this quick in my eight years here.
While Nicu and Flori were away, I found myself back doing some tasks that were brand new for me. In this photo, myself, our social worker, Neli, and our nurse, Mihaela, are roasting eggplant on a large piece of metal. (That would be me in the large, straw southern style cowboy hat. My employees get a great big laugh out of the hat!
Why are we doing this? Because Romanians make something called “zacusca” which is what I refer to as Romanian salsa. It includes LOTS of roasted eggplant! So we roast it, skin it, let it ooze, and then smash it up and freeze it until the red peppers are also roasted. The result is yummy if you like eggplant, peppers, and lots of onion.
Nicu and Flori had a great time at the beach with their son, Nicolas, and then she badly sprained her foot the week after. She is now in a cast and needs your prayers to deal with the pain.
Also during August, Daniel and I were invited to a part of the country we have never been for the baby dedication of the baby that was adopted from Agape Home. It is a BREATHTAKING part of the country shouting the majesty of God’s artistic hand. Here is a photo of Daniel and I taken by the road side by our Romanian photographer friend, Daniel Pazmany.
He and his wife were also in the same part of the country vacationing so we got to spend a few nights together. He is an unbelievably talented photographer and we will soon have some of their amazing photos to share with you on our website. Another shot he took was in the “Cheerful Cemetery” which is, from what I understand, one of the kind in the world. All of the headstones are carved out of wood and painted brightly to tell the story of the person’s life or how they died. Even if it is a tragic death, the headstone celebrates the life of the person. It was great interesting and I am glad we took the time to tackle the winding roads to see it. Here is another photo they took of us with one of the headstones in the background. It tells the story of a 20 year old woman who was tragically killed in a car accident and how she should have listened to her parents about speeding. (Mama, please do not comment on this.)
Here are also Daniel and his wife, Nicole, in the cemetery. They are always the ones behind the camera but I wanted you to see their faces
!
Our last photo is of Daniel and me at the baby dedication of the baby we had at Agape Home that was lovingly released by the mother to be adopted by wonderful Christian parents. The adoption process should be final by the end of the year. It was such a sweet, touching ceremony for the baby and family. We were honored to be able to attend.
Daniel and I have booked our tickets to return to the USA on October 10th. My father will possibly be having neurosurgery on his neck and we want to make sure to be there for his care afterwards. Please pray that they will soon find what is causing his pain and extreme headaches.
I am so excited that my Mama, my Granny, and one of our board member, Shawn Hickman, will be coming to visit us in mid-September. My Granny has never flown before so I ask you to please remember her in your prayers. They will fly from Raleigh, NC to New York and then directly to Budapest, Hungary where we will pick them up. I am thrilled to bits to be able to see some of my family and thankful they are willing to make the long journey.
I have other things to update you on as well but I will have that for an upcoming email. Lots of awesome things happening here! We would like to hear about the awesome things happening in your life so please write us. We miss hearing from you!
Basking in the Son,
Michelle
Posted on August 30th, 2006 by Michelle
Filed under: Michelle's Journal