This is an unusual email for me to write because this has never happened before. We should have sent the wire to our Romanian account several days ago for their monthly budget but there were not enough funds. In fact, we are short about $5,000 this month. Although many of you are sponsors for our children, there are many projects that we have that do not have sponsors such as our foster care program (which alone is about $3,000 per month) as well as the salaries for our social workers. I want to make this need known so you can pray about whether or not The Lord would have you help our ministry this month.

I explained a little about what is going on economically to make things harder for our ministry in my newsletter and I decided to include the same explanation here. Like many other ministries in Europe, our ministry is suffering terribly because of the economic situation with the USA dollar falling against the Euro. For those of you who don’t understand exactly how this works, I will explain it like this. Romania is now part of the European Union and their prices on everything are being raised to be the equivalent in Euro rather than their old currency, Romanian lei. They still only accept lei in the stores but the prices are clearly reflected in Euro. So, the USA dollar that at one time equaled 3.8 Romanian lei is now equal to 2.3 which is a drastic fall. Our Board Treasurer recently told us she must wire over $2,000 – $3,000 more each month to meet our monthly budget which has not increased. Coupled with this fact is the reality that our American economy is not doing well because of the increased cost of living for everyone due to the soaring fuel prices. So, needless to say, giving is way down from where it normally is. We are really thankful for those of you who give monthly because we depend on it. We want to make sure the children and families we are distributing food and services to do not suffer. We have always believed in The Lord as our Jehovah Jireh (God our Provider) and we stand on this more now than ever.

On a happier note, my nephew, Samuel, was released from Duke Children’s hospital yesterday!!! Yay!!! Cheryl and Russ still face many challenges with the port that is now in his chest for his nutrition supplement each night but we are believing for The Lord to provide them with the needed strength for the task. They will have some home health care nurses coming to assist but they are unsure for how long and to what extent. Cheryl went through an extensive training last night. And, Samuel’s life will be modified from what it was (no more swimming, playing in large sand piles, etc.) until that port comes out for fear of infection.

Here is a photo of Samuel celebrating his 4th birthday in the hospital last week with Russ and Cheryl. Thank you so much for your prayers.

And thank all of you individuals and churches that do sponsor us monthly. We couldn’t do what we do there without you doing what you do!

Basking in The Son,
Michelle

I woke up this morning to an email message this morning telling me that our oldest foster child, Claudia, had to have an appendectomy yesterday. Neli had written me two days ago to say she was suspected to have appendicitis but I did not hear from Neli yesterday so I thought everything must be okay. Georgy wrote me this morning to say that Claudia was doing well but very weak from not having anything to eat for two days. Then Georgy wrote, “Michelle, she asked if you were coming to see her in the hospital.” I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. I cry each time I think of her question. (Of course I could be a professional soap opera star right now because I cry so easily.) My consoling husband helped but it was one of those times when I desperately wanted to be back in Romania and he did as well. We have had Claudia in our ministry since she was 15 months old and severely anemic because she was abandoned in the hospital. She was not even able to lift her head nor did she have any muscle tone. Now, she is a bubbly, beautiful little girl that I have had the joy of watching to grow up in foster care. Daniel has wanted us to adopt her for years but, as you know, that was never possible because of the Romanian government.

I ask you to please pray for Claudia to heal quickly so she can go home. We never want an abandoned child to have to be admitted to the hospital because the sounds and smells bring back the memories of the trauma of being abandoned. Georgy told me the foster mother, Mia, has not left Claudia’s side for the entire time but today asked a friend to come and stay with Claudia so she could go home and take a shower and change. We also praise The Lord that NOT ONE BRIBE had to be given in order for Claudia to receive the necessary surgery! Truly a miracle in that system!

I just called Claudia on her foster mother’s mobile phone and got to talk to her so I feel a bit better now. I explained that Daniel and I were very far away and could not come and visit her but that I would call her again. She was quite excited to talk to me and tell me about her surgery. She sounded really well but her foster mother said she was weak because they would not allow her to have anything but liquid still. I will send an updated photo of Claudia on Monday when Neli has returned to Oradea from her home village.

I also ask you to pray for Alina Cioara, our social worker for Education Inspiration, Agape Home, and Good Beginnings Preschool. Her grandmother passed away last week and she was very close to her. Many of you have met Alina when you came to Romania so you know what a heart she has for the work she does. If you would like to write her, her email address is a_heavenlyplace@yahoo.com and here is a photo of her so you can put a name with a face.

We ask you to join with us in celebrating Neli Pirtea’s successful completion of her degree in Social Work and her licensing exam! Neli is our social worker for New Life Foster Care, Nurture Network, and Arms of Mercy. She finally finished with flying colors on Monday and is very happy to be done. When we talked on the phone, she told me the professors asked her questions about the field work that we do that keeps parents from abandoning their children. We were amazed at how little they know because no one ever actually goes to do direct work with the families. Neli said she explained that most of the families we work with chose not to get married because the mothers then get more money from the state for being a single parent. We were amazed that they did not know this! Neli has a technical degree in social work that she got after high school but the government refused to accept any of her work from then so she had to start all over a few years ago. If you would like to congratulate her on working full-time and going to school full-time successfully, her email address is p_neli@yahoo.com
Here is a photo of Neli taken a few days ago with a new baby that she has identified for us to take into our Nurture Network project.

While Alina was driving that day, they were trying to enter a village where one of our Education Inspiration children lives but could not because the cows were going home and not a bit concerned with our car in the middle of the road. (When I was a teenager, I saw a car that had been destroyed because it hit a cow in the middle of the road. The cow ALWAYS wins with a car!) Because they both have a sense of humor, they snapped this photo because they did not want our sponsors to miss out on the fun details of life they have to experience from time to time. So, here it is, a photo to put with the phrase “til the cows come home!” Enjoy!

Basking In The Son,

Yesterday was June 1st, National Children’s Day in Romania and the date that I moved to Romania ten years ago. It seemed odd being in the USA rather than in Romania for this day but it gave me lots of time to reflect on all that The Lord has done through our ministry in ten years and to give Him the glory for how He can use anyone to accomplish His purposes. It is hard to believe He developed my “six month plan” into a ministry with seven projects and completely run by Romanian nationals. Only The Lord could do so much with so little. He proves to us all the time He is still the same God who multiples the generosity of “fishes and loaves.” Never doubt this, no matter your situation.

Alina, one of our ministry social workers, wrote me today to share photos from Friday that they took when our Good Beginning Preschool students celebrated Children’s Day. Eight of our students attended the picnic and party our staff organized and they clearly had a great time. One of the sponsors of Good Beginnings sent gifts for all the children and they were very excited about receiving something new as you can see from the photo.

Here is another photo of our teacher, Lavi, with one of our students that she made a halo for out of fresh flowers. So sweet!

Prior to Friday, these precious children had never celebrated June 1st because they are simply too impoverished. We praise God for how He has provided for these children through the generosity of sponsors. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw how much they had grown and gained weight since we left at the end of January.

Also, we are excited to share with you that one of our sponsors in Vienna donated a used but very high quality laptop to our Good Beginnings Preschool this past weekend. Plus, one of our sponsors here in the USA also donated the funds for us to buy a laptop and educational software for the children so very soon we will have a better equipped preschool than any of the other ones in our area!

Our foster care children will celebrate with Neli sometime this week by all going to McDonalds together for a meal. Many of our foster children know each other from being in our orphanage together way back so they enjoy having a positive link to their past. I hope to have photos of that day to send as well.

Our Education Inspiration students had a big picnic and outdoor party on Saturday and Alina told me they had a very good time. Of course our boys are always excited about eating and I understand there was plenty of that!

The Lord bless your week!

We received food parcels from the government social services and we supplemented with food parcels that we purchased so the families would have enough. This is the food that Neli sent me of what we purchased for each family. Thank you to all of you who donated to make this happen!

Neli also sent me an outside photo of the house of the family that I told you last week we hope to help build a new house for this summer.

It is so very pitiful.

Please pray for The Lord to provide the funds and the manpower to get this family into a new home by the fall. They are doing an excellent job of caring for their children and we hope our intervention will assist.

Here is a photo of Florin helping distribute the bags of groceries to them. Florin is one of our boys living at Agape Home and I LOVE the fact that our social workers got the boys involved with giving back to the community!

Here is another photo of Neli distributing the food parcels to another needy family with their two beautiful children.

Below is part of Georgy’s update to me. We are very blessed to have employees with such great written English skills!

From Georgy, Administrator for our ministry

Ciao Michelle,

I talked with Alina about the preschool today and she told me that Lavinia would like to buy some books for children and it would be great if we would have a budget for these stuff for example $20-$30 per month.

A fairy tale book cost about $4 not to give them just to keep to the preschool. Lavinia saw very cute fairy tale books and I think if would be possible to include in the budget an amount for that it would be very helpful for the kids.

Also, we are thinking if is possible to buy a dvd player, this week Vio took the tv from Agape House to the preschool and Lavinia borrowed the dvd player from her mother. We are thinking it’s not so expensive here to buy one and to use for the preschool and for the boys from Agape too. Alina looked for a price and a regular dvd player is about $55 and a Philips is around $80.

I was to today with Neli and Vio to ASCO (social services) to receive the groceries parcels for Alina’s and Neli’s families (I asked for the foster children, for the boys from Agape, the girls from Ed. Insp., for the kids from the Good Beginnings and for all their families-not including the foster families, they are considered employees, so in total 71 parcels). I made a picture of it. (Note: This is the back of our van loaded down with packages!)

I think Neli told you that she received from the sugar company 100 Kg of sugar for her families. We are waiting for a response from the other companies, too. (Note:We also received a lot of pasta!)

I almost forgot to tell Vio bought the chickens, I send you a picture, I was today to Agape too, the boys were working in the little flower garden together with Rodi and Gabi was cooking in the kitchen. Next time I will take a picture of them too. Coco was happy, like it is every time when we go there.

From all of us at Children In The Son, may you bask in The Son this weekend!

Daniel and I have had a busy Christmas season distributing all the gifts for the children and all the food parcels for the families. The week before Christmas, we were gone all day and evening on Thursday and all day on Friday delivering all the wonderful items that so many of you helped provide. Here is a photo of Daniel and one of our Education Inspiration boys, Florin, as we delivered food and presents to his family for Christmas.

Their families were very touched that we thought of them for Christmas and, as a result, since Daniel was the man, he got invited to everyone’s house for coffee and fresh sausages (every family in the entire country seemed to be slaugthering a pig that day as is tradition here before Christmas) while Alina and I struggled with folks trying to steal the food and gifts from the car! Needless to say, our experiences that day and memories are quite different!! Daniel almost got simultaneously punched by Alina and me when he finally returned from his taste-testing visits. Alina and I recovered from our trauma and continued on to deliver more food parcels and gifts and here are some of wonderful families.

“Crina’s Mom from Education Inspiration receiving food for her family along with our social worker, Alina.”
(Don’t mind the apron. She was butchering a pig in their house when we arrived and needed the apron to keep all the blood off of her.)

“Father and six children. Father has a terminal lung disease but seems to be stable right now. Please pray for his healing.”

On Wednesday the 19th, we had our Christmas celebration at our “Good Beginnings” preschool and the children were just precious doing their play. I had an enormous lump form in my throat and tears in my eyes when one of the “angels” declared without being prompted for her lines, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news. Today is born the Son of God.”

After hearing so many times how “gypsy” children are genetically prone to being unable to learn, it was such powerful proof that The Lord will expand His word to all people. We thank the local Adventist church that provided the children with Christmas gifts and a day in the park in city. The park has an indoor part and the children absolutely loved every moment of it.We had a terrific Santa Claus this year and Daniel, Neli and I enjoyed being his elves as we visited all of our foster children. They were so cute and, as is tradition here, the children either recited a poem or sang a song for jolly ole’ Santa. They were all absolutely adorable as you will see yourself from these photos.

“Michelle and Flaviu”

“Neli with one of our foster children.”

“Doll holding a doll”

“Miniature Santa playing with his new toys”

“a not so trusting Gabi reciting poem for Santa”

On Christmas Day, Daniel invited our former Agape Home resident, Mona, and her child, Maria, over to eat with us along with our current Agape Home parents and their children. We had such a fun time with everyone and Maria was an absolute doll as she opened her gifts with such wonder! Mona was giddy about receiving a gift from under the Christmas tree and it was deeply touching to see this young woman with so such gratitude to The Lord for all she has. Here is a photo of both Mona and Maria opening their gifts and one of Maria trying to understand what a “Mrs. Potato Head” is!

We thank so many of you for how you have blessed our ministry in 2007 and we look forward to seeing what The Lord does through all of us in 2008! Please do not forget to write us personal updates about what is going on with you!

Basking In The Son,
Michelle

We had some really pretty snow here last week that was beautiful to watch coming down and I couldn’t help but think of the Charlie Brown Christmas special. I have always loved that Christmas special because they have such an evangelical message at the end. My sweet friend, Kelli, is sending us over a copy for Christmas and I am so excited to watch it! (I know that is a really strange thing to be homesick about.)

Daniel and I are so sad to hear the news about the shootings in Colorado. We have worked with the YWAM (Youth With a Mission) base in Romania in the past and know what a great organization they are. We join so many of you in praying for the families of the victims and the perpetrator of the crime. I know this organization will lean on The Lord for understanding and seek Him for strength. May The Lord comfort them far beyond what they could imagine.

Like many of you, we are busy bees trying to prepare for our upcoming Christmas celebrations. We would like to do something special by providing food for all our Education Inspiration children’s families so if you would like to help sponsor a family, please send a check for $30 or use PayPal to donate by entering my email address which is michelle@childrenintheson.com because our website link is currently being re-done. This money will be used to buy staple food as well as some meat for their Christmas celebration.

We will be taking Christmas gifts to all of our foster children and Education Inspiration children thanks to the wonderful folks at New Covenant Fellowship in Cameron, NC (my hometown). They have supplied all of our children with new clothing and toys and we are so excited to deliver them with our VERY jolly Santa Claus (one of our foster fathers) and I will be sure to send photos of the day!

I visited our Arms of Mercy worker, Ibi, yesterday at the Maternity Hospital and I was saddened to find her caring for 17 abandoned babies. We are in the process of hiring another worker now to help with all the babies and it can’t happen soon enough. Here is a photo of Ibi caring for one of the babies (We are not allowed to show the faces of the babies for photos posted to the internet.)

Please pray for her as she deals with so many babies and hospital workers that keep stealing things from the babies like clothing and diapers.

Our newest project, Good Beginnings Preschool, is going extremely well and the ten children we have in the project are all counting to ten in Romanian and most of them know all their colors. They are so precious and here is a photo of Daniel and just a few faces to share with you!

We will also do a Sponsor-A-Child program for these children that are some of the poorest in our area. One of them had only adult clothes to wear to school until we gave him a set of clothing. We have six girls and four boys and we need $75 per month to cover the cost of their food, school supplies, and the salary for a Christian teacher. Our house mother for Agape Home is currently the teacher but she really needs to be spending more time helping our boys with their homework. We have identified a fantastic young woman for the position but we need the funds to pay her so we have lumped that cost into the $75 as well. If you are interested in sponsoring any of this amount, please let me know.

We still have two boys in our Education Inspiration project that we house at Agape Home that are not sponsored. Marius (pictured here)

needs $75 more per month for his costs to be covered and Gabi (pictured here)

needs $80 more per month for his costs. We thank those of you that are already sponsoring and we want you to know how much you are blessing and changing their lives for the glory of God! They are starting to read the bible for themselves now and ask deeper questions about becoming Christians. Praise God for this awesome news!

We have had many unexpected expenses in our ministry recently such as the tickets we had to purchase to return for my Poppy’s death, the trip to Germany to get the car repaired, tires for our vehicles, and other such related overhead expenses. I know it isn’t as glamous sounding to give towards those things but they are real needs in our ministry. If any of you are considering doing extra giving to our ministry, we could really use it now. We thank your for however you can support our work here.

May The Lord bless you and help you keep your focus on the miracle of Christ’s virgin birth and the fact that his birth and death gives us all life.

Basking In The Son,
Michelle

Dear Family and Friends,

I am very tardy in reporting back to you after our trip to Germany because I am disappointed to tell you that they worked on our car for five entire days and did not fix the problem. The automatic transmission was totally rebuilt but we told them in the beginning that was not the problem. Because they did not repair the problem, we did not have to pay the $2,200 for rebuilding the automatic transmission so that was a blessing. They even sent the car to a large VW dealership service center to be put on the computer and they still could not find the problem. I said to the mechanic, “If I am in the motherland of Volkswagen and they can’t find the problem, I am not sure I have hope left that it can be fixed.” He replied, “Sure we can. You just have to leave it for at least ten days until we can take all the electrical components out.” Daniel informed them that we were leaving that very afternoon and that they needed to put the car back together. They did so and we drove that night through hail, rain, sleet, and snow. I am not joking a bit! We did find out that there is possibility it can be repaired for free by VW if it is determined that our car has a manufacturer’s defect. Our mechanic in Oradea is trying to work all of this out for us now but we still have no definite answers.

We did have some fun stopping along the way to get our car fixed. We spent a night in Mondsee, Austria, the sight of the beautiful church in the “Sound of Music” where they had the staircase seen. We also spent one night in Salzburg seeing the sights. In the end, Daniel refused to do the “official tour” of the “Sound of Music” sights because he thought it was too pricey for us. So, we took a map and set off along with our friend, Lauren Peckman, who we picked up in Vienna after she flew to meet us from Greece. Lauren kindly took this photo of Daniel pretending to sing to me in front of the mansion where they fell in the lake in the movie. We had fun posing for her!

The next stop was in Fussen, Germany to see the world famous Neuschwanstien castle in the state of Bavaria, Germany. We were not disappointed by the beautiful interior of the castle but the extremely dense fog because of the weather made it impossible to take a photo of the entire thing so I have included one from their official site along with one that we took of the entrance. It was so beautiful done and I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to finally see the original “Cinderella’s castle.”

We are thankful to The Lord for all the safe travel and for protecting me when I took a bad fall in Salzburg. (Long story that I am too embarrassed to share!) We prayed for His presence to guard and protect us and we know others were praying as well so we thank you so much!

We were happy to get back home to Romania and see our employees. Here is a great photo taken of our family at Agape Home and all five boys.

The house father, Viorel, is pictured far left and his wife, Rodica, is pictured on the bottom with their two children. The rest are our boys and if you go back and look at the first photo I sent out of them, you will notice that they have all gained weight in the last six weeks!

I had no idea that teenage boys could possibly use as much hair gel as they do. Oh my! George has now been converted to a hair gel user as well as you can see from the photo. (He is the one standing directly behind Rodica.) Our social worker, Alina, informed me that she thought she would loose it with them the day she took three of them to buy new sport shoes for school. I had warned her that boys were far more difficult to shop with than girls and she informed me I was right. It took them hours to decide on shoes!

Our truck donation total is now up to $19,704 so we still have some left to go before we can buy a truck. We are getting very close and we thank all the people that have so generously given.

We are so excited about the speaker system we were allowed to put in the Maternity hospital to play classical and instrumental worship music through a MP3 player for the abandoned babies in our Arms of Mercy project! All of the speakers are mounted now and the wiring is done and I downloaded some music yesterday to see how it will work. There are currently 11 abandoned babies in the section where we have our workers. I would love to be able to send you photos but I am not allowed to take photos. I will, however, ask permission to take a photo of our workers holding a baby with only the back of the baby’s head showing.

Okay, I think I will end for now as this has turned out to be much longer than I anticipated.

We hope everyone in the USA has a blessed Thanksgiving celebration. May The Lord bless your families abundantly and may your heart truly be thankful to The Lord for all He has done.

Basking In The Son,

Michelle

Mark 10:45 “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

- Fall Newsletter -

Matthew 25:36 – I needed clothes and you clothed me…

Dear Family and Friends,

This past week has presented quite a few challenges and many sad cases for us to consider in our ministry.

Last week, Neli, Alina and I had a day “in the field” as social workers to do some follow-up work for cases and to do a home study for a new Education Inspiration case. One of my friends (who takes the above verse to heart in a major way as her ministry in life) sent some beautiful clothing for an eight year old Roma girl that is sponsored through our ministry and we had the fun job of taking the clothing to her and watching her delight in the gifts. Here is a photo of our precious little Mihaela posing in one of our brand new outfits looking very pretty in pink! She was so thrilled about this new Puma outfit and it fit her perfectly!

She was so proud to have all the new clothes and new shoes for school. We all laughed that she has more nice clothing than we do!

We were notified last week by the high school of one of our Roma boys at Agape Home that there was a student is urgent need of assistance to continue his education. It so happened that this child lives in Mihaela’s same village. In fact, they are next door neighbors! We made a visit to the child’s home and were stunned to see the level of poverty they were living in. Alina and Neli entered the house by ducking through the doorway. As you can see from the photo, the house is falling to the ground.

Alina and Neli went inside (while I stayed in the car to keep in running so it would turn off!) and the poverty this Romanian family is living in is far worse than any of our Roma children. The father of the children physically abuses the mother and drinks heavily everyday. He is not able to keep a job because of his alcoholism. The mother has asked for her son to come and live with our other boys at Agape Home so he can continue his education and we have agreed knowing that The Lord will touch the right people to sponsor this child. He also has a sister in high school (pictured below with their 8 year old brother) that is in desperate need of the money for transportation and other needs so we agreed to take her into our Education Inspiration project as well. When the mother came to the office yesterday with all three children, we were all so amazed at how clean and well dressed they were, especially since they have no bathroom. The mother admitted she borrowed a pair of shoes from her neighbor so her children wouldn’t be ashamed of her. It broke my heart when this mother told us her age – 38 years old – one year younger than me and she looks so much older than her years.

Her hard life has definitely taken a toll on her mind and body but we intent on ministering to her soul. As Alina prayed for the family in the office yesterday, the mother softly started to cry and wipe tears away (as did the teenage daughter). We ask you specifically pray for the gospel message of Jesus to touch their hearts and give them the hope they have never known. As with all families, we want them to come to know Jesus personally.

As you can see from his broad smile, George has a resilient spirit and I believe he has the determination necessary to finish his vocational school to be a mechanic. We are blessed to be able to put him in a Christian environment and teach him have much Jesus loves him. Daniel and I both love getting to be mouth piece to these people of the Good News and hope of Jesus. A million thanks to all of you who support us to give us this opportunity.

We begin our LONG road trip to Germany tomorrow to get our car repaired. Although I dread the drive, I do look forward to some of the places on the way that we may stop if we have time. I’ll be sure to take photos to share with you. Our plans are to stop in Salzburg on the way. Without a doubt, Daniel will be singing the songs from The Sound of Music (if he can remember the words!) as we do the tour of where the Sound of Music was filmed. He is very excited about this while I feel sure I will likely sleep through it. We thank you in advance for your prayers for our safety and for the car to be FINALLY fixed!

We may not have email access until we return so if you write and don’t hear from us, we will write as soon as we get back to Romania.

May The Lord bless you as you serve Him!

Basking In The Son,
Michelle

After what seemed like a whirlwind ten days in the USA, Daniel and I are now back in Romania. I got a good dose of reality when we left on Monday when our flight was cancelled (again) and they re-routed us through Paris against my wishes. As expected, when we arrive in Budapest, two pieces of our luggage was missing. One arrived today and they do not know where the other one is. Oh the joys of international travel!

I was so emotional when I made the tickets to get back that I totally forgot about our fishing tournament this coming weekend or I would have made the return for after the fishing tournament. If you are thinking about entering the fishing tournament, please do so now. We do not have very many people registered at the moment. The cost is $150 per boat before the day of the event which is this coming Saturday. The main prize is a boat slip for six months, 2nd prize is the cost of the entry fee back, and 3rd prize is a new deep sea rod and reel.

I am still grieving the loss of my Poppy and I suspect I will be for quite some time. I had loads of good crying time with my Grandma before I left and a really hard day on Monday when we flew back. I feel The Lord’s strength and comfort so close to my heart along with the knowledge that my Poppy is certainly singing all his favorite hymns to his Savior. That thought alone brings a smile to my face.

We have many details to attend to now that it is turning cold in Romania. Daniel and I found out the day we left on the 5th that we will need to drive my car to Germany to have the automatic transmission repaired. Can you believe there is not one person in all of Romania to repair an automatic transmission!?! We are not sure when we will leave but it will be sooner rather than later since the problem has to do with the car being warmed up. I’ll let you know when we are going so you can pray for the 17 hour trip that we will have to make to get there. UGH!!!

It appears that I am going to have to do separate fundraising just to feed the four teenage boys we are housing at Agape Home. All four eat like they have hollow legs! They are very well behaved and doing well with school work and their apprenticeship so I can’t complain but they certainly eat as much as pregnant women!

Thank you for the words of encouragement you have sent and for the prayers. I have felt the peace that surpasses all understanding because of how you have beseeched The Lord on my behalf and Daniel’s. We were so keenly aware of this the day of the funeral when The Lord gave me the words to say with minimal tears and when Daniel sang a flawless version of the Mercy Me song, “I Can Only Imagine.” I am not sure how my incredibly talented husband did it except by the grace of Almighty God.

I will send some photos soon to catch you up on what has happened while we were gone. We hope to venture out later today or tomorrow morning once we are more back on track with the time change.

May The Lord strengthen you today as He has me!

Basking In The Son,
Michelle
P.S. – Daniel says, “Go Indians!!!” He was devastated that he didn’t watch them win on Monday night but when the Captain saw him proudly wearing his Indians ball cap, t-shirt, AND jacket, he informed Daniel his beloved Indians did win and Daniel cheered all the way down the stairs of the airplane!

Basking in the Son,
Michelle

Daniel and I arrived at the Raliegh airport at 5 p.m. on Friday and my Daddy picked us up and drove us directly to the hospital. We arrived there at almost 7 p.m. When I entered the ICU room, my Poppy Frank was aware and could hear everything I was saying. There were at least ten other family members in the room as well. I got to tell him how much I loved him and thank him for the wonderful lessons he taught us. I got to kiss his hands as he gasped for every breath. He asked my Mama earlier in the day if he was “going home today” and my Mama asked him, “Which home are you talking about?” and he said, “the home where the Old Rugged Cross is.”

My brother then arrived as did some other cousins and the ICU staff graciously allowed us to sing all his favorite hymns. Of course we did “When The Roll is Called Up Yonder” the most. They moved him to a regular room after my Grandma said her final, very emotional good-bye to him. After they moved him, those of us that remained continued to sing. Finally, I began praying and begged God to have mercy on my Poppy Frank and take him home. The others did the same as well. After those prayers, I realized I just couldn’t be in the room to watch him die and asked Daniel to please take me to the house at 8:50 p.m. Just a couple of minutes after we left the room, with my brother, Russ, and my cousin singing, “Victory in Jesus,” Poppybreathed his last breath and went home to be with Jesus. It was such a sweet experience to see him go be with His Savior.

I will be forever grateful to The Lord for allowing me to say good-bye to my Poppy and get closure on a life he lived well. I heard so many funny stories about him at the funeral home last night. I have cried more than I thought possible during the last few days and I even cry as I write this.

Thank you to so many of you who have written with encouraging words and to say you are praying. It has been a very emotional but peaceful experience. I am so thankful Poppy is “Up Yonder” and I look forward to the day when we’ll have a reunion in heaven and talk about all about Jesus.

For those of you who asked, our mailing address:
Daniel and Michelle Sims
561 Blakely Rd.
Sanford, NC 27332
mobile: 919-721-3833

Basking in the Son,
Michelle