The Village

The WMF team in Chisinau is also working in a village one day a week. Bela and I made the 1 hour bus ride with Adriana and John last Thursday to a Youth for Christ day-center. Kids can come every day for a meal, play time, tutoring, and Bible study. As you can see, Moldova is beautiful...especially in the Spring!




We walked down to a field to play a little European football aka soccer. Chained up in the field was a mama goat and her kid feasting on all that yummy spring grass!!!



The kids decided to change up the game they were playing, when suddenly, a herd of sheep wanted a piece of the so-called and all-but-ellusive pie! Here they are edging closer and closer to the game...until they shepherd came and whipped them away. (Unfortunately, when I upload the pictures, the order was reversed...urg!)






Here's a couple more pictures we took in the village. The doors lead into the day-center and I just thought it was lovely how the wind was blowing the lace curtain. Bela took the one of the old truck...which he loves. And I can see why.





Again, I ask that you remember the kids in this village. They are the types who may be heading to an orphanage like I talked about yesterday. Two little girls were especially sweet, walking us back to our bus stop, playing a couple final games with us. My heart ached for them...for their sweetness and innocence and beauty. And in that ache, I found some hope. Because it was the ache of beauty, the kind that makes us long for a better day, the ache that reassures of a leading towards that very day of life after life after death (please read Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright...it'll make you hope again. Click on title of book to find it on Amazon.).

And, here's us. With someone in the background. Gotta love boys. They're about the same no matter where you are in the world.

A little bit of Chisinau

Last week Bela and I drove to the newest WMF field in Chisinau, Moldova. It's not far (only about 5 hours)and it was so good to see our friends again. Everyone on the team in Chisinau has spent time (some of them years) in Galati, so it was like visiting family.
This week I'll share some of the highlights of our trip and I'm going to start with a photo Bela took at the orphanage where the team is working.
As many of you know, 3 years ago when I packed up and sold my world, I thought I was heading to Moldova. I made a trip to Chisinau with John and David in 2007 and one of the places we visited was an orphanage where John had worked the previous year. In an amazing turn of events, the team is working in this same orphanage now! I say it's amazing because they didn't try and make that happen. In fact, John never even mentioned going back to this place...but, long story short, it's where they are and so evident it's where they are supposed to be.
300 kids from all over Moldova live in this place. Most have been abandoned by parents who have left to work in Italy or Spain. Some parents have died others are in jail. Most of the kids still have some sort of family living in villages that are becoming smaller and smaller as people migrate to big cities or out of the country.
The feeling I had when I entered the property was one of extreme heaviness. I know that those who work and run the orphanage really try to do their best, but it was easy to see the task they are up against. Kids getting high, kids quick to hit one another in frustration, and teens who seemed to be 'physically' involved.
Basically, in this place, there are children without parents. They have a lot of freedom. And, they've been abandoned. I can't imagine what is going on in their hearts and minds as they reach for other things and people to dull the pain they feel.
Bela took this picture of one of the stair wells at the orphanage. They are dark steps, worn through over the years. You can see the layers of paint that have been walked away as child after child wore their childhood away in those halls.
Please pray for the team working with these kids. It's a weary work, hard on the heart, hard on the hands, hard on the soul. Please pray for the kids they work with, that in the midst of so much abandonment and pain, true relationships would be forged and that these kids would come to know that God is good.

He is Risen!

For the 40 days after Easter in Romania, people greet one another with the words: Hristos a inviat! (Christ is Risen) One returns the greeting with: Adevarat a inviat! (Truly, He is risen)
I love that until Ascension Sunday, we're still greeting one another with the good news of Christ's Resurrection. I sort of wonder why we don't do it all year long...in the middle of an icy winter, when it seems all hope is lost and I'll never feel the warmth of the sun again: Christ is Risen!
Truly, Christ's resurrection is our hope.
We are on our way to Moldova and Cluj, so we'll be MIA all this week, but wanted to leave you with some spring photos of the center...Last week we had several warm sunny days in which to lounge around the yard. One day, several of us were sitting on the steps, pants hiked up, sleeves rolled up, trying to stay cool and catch a little vitamin D. We took a picture of our legs...
Hristos a inviat!

Civil Ceremony Celebration: Triple 'C' Day

Our legal marriage happened one year ago. While it wasn't the 'true' wedding or our covenanting before God, it was, still, a commitment we made to one another that day 'til death do us part. There was no turning back from that day forward. As such, it deserves a bit of celebrating and down at the ranch I call it "Triple 'C' Day". (Not really, we don't have a ranch).
Here's a photo from one year ago when Bela picked me up and we were walking to the car. And, a photo from the other day before we went out for pizza to celebrate (pizza is a theme around here).

La Multi Ani, Bela!

We celebrated Bela's birthday at his parent's house the night before the big event. We had chicken, pickled peppers and cauliflower, and cake. (Believe me, the pickled peppers and cauliflower are GOOD!)
Sadly, I've not one snap-shot (can you still call digital photos snap-shots?) of our own little celebration. Suffice it to say, Indian food was eaten, presents were opened, and fun was had by all.

Playing Catch Up: Liz Ivkovich

I met Liz when she was a mere 18 years old (or was it 17 about to be 18?)en route to Kolkata 5 years ago. I loved her immediately. She's super smart, thoughtful, caring, hilarious, and an all around amazing woman who you should know if you don't already.
Today, we both serve with WMF and in late January she and some others made a field visit to Galati. Here, we are enjoying a caffeinated drink after some pizza.
If you'd like, you can visit Liz at her blog, Life of Liz, reachable by clicking on the link right there to the right under my friends.

Good Friday

This week has been a hard one. Boys that I was bribing into coming to the center all this week decided not to cash in, and so we won't be going to the mountains with them tomorrow.

I found out that the twins I've been working with won't be returning to the center, either. Their mom believes they know how to read well enough now and don't need to come anymore.

And so, two hard disappointments for me. On top of others.

Then, there was this: by His wounds we are healed.

And as I sat in church, thinking about these words, I saw the faces of the kids I love. Boys struggling with street-life, who find the freedom it offers so attractive, but are unaware of the prison it can become. Kids abandoned by their parents. Kids who at 9 years old know how to read well enough. Children who have lost both their parents in the last 2 years. Others who soon may no longer have a home.

I saw these faces in the wounds of Christ, and then I saw my own face, too.

By His wounds we are healed.

I think for the first time I am understanding what these words mean. As my own heart breaks under the weight I carry for the kids I love, I also struggle with my own brokenness, recognizing how much I need healing.

I pray anew, that we would find healing in His wounds. That we would find ourselves in those spots left raw and bleeding on the body of Jesus. They are our healing.

And the resurrection, our hope.