Thursday May 30th, 2019

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.”

Every place we have served we have seen a rainbow. If you believe in signs then you no doubt will recognize this one as the sign God gave to Noah following the end of the great flood. I always thought rainbows were beautiful but since taking on this journey and being blessed with them at every stop I have appreciated their significance that much more. It also isn’t so much that we have seen rainbows as much as when. They have typically come toward the end of our service time and while this may simply be coincidence I have long thrown such notions out the window. So it was that today, the last day of our service in Romania, we had a late afternoon storm which gave us a brief, not terribly vivid, but evident rainbow.

The day started out like just about every other we have had here. I did my last shift at the hospital while Sara did some sorting and baby bundles in the support center. We left the kids at home to enjoy their last day of playing with the Catos. My shift was rather uneventful, passing out diapers, snuggling with babies, the usual. I was particularly grateful though that Ann told me to pick whichever babies I wanted since today was my last day. It isn’t like you have favorites but it was still a nice gesture on her part.

As it turns out my babies were particularly sleepy apparently because both cuddled up and promptly slept when I had them. I felt really calm and peaceful about that. This whole time I have been working I have wanted those babies to know they are loved and cared for even when they have been alone and away from their parents. I felt like they felt comfortable in my arms and that is why they slept. We didn’t play but I knew they felt my love for them which is why they were okay to simply let go and get a power nap.

I said my goodbyes to the staff and to Ann and Joyce and then picked up Sara. We made a quick stop by the store for a few items to get us through our last evening and then headed home to pack up. I ambitiously thought we could get this knocked out in two hours or fewer. I was incorrect. On the positive side it was only four or five hours and we only had to panic slightly when we realized that we underestimated the number of bags we would need. But in the end we took a deep breath, recognized the challenge and overcame. We got the house more or less straightened away, made especially difficult after realizing the girls had managed to spill an entire tupperware of chutney on the kitchen floor and then used all of our paper towels to clean it up. We gave the house a good once over and then enjoyed a quick birthday celebration for Martin, our neighbors’ one year old. Sara and I had a final meal of Dodo’s pizza and then we headed off to enjoy a relaxing night of sleep, prepping for the next day’s travels.

All in all despite a few hiccups the day was very peaceful, calm, and reassuring. We knew that God had placed the path before us and we needed only follow it. We had made the most of our opportunities and we felt made a contribution to the mission of FFR. The rainbow I think was God’s way of reminding us that His covenant remains and is true. I hope that it was also His way of showing us that the path we have taken is consistent with His plan. I look forward to the next rainbow, wherever it may be.

Wednesday May 29, 2019

Hebrews 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

I didn’t sleep well last night because for whatever reason I ended up with a little one in my twin bed with me. I wasn’t too happy with the lack of sleep and how incredibly uncomfortable it is to have her in the bed with me, but when I woke up I couldn’t be angry any longer; she was so adorable and it melted my heart.

Lucia enjoying the comforts of “moms” bed.

Jeff has made sure that I enjoyed my last few days here in Brasov by reminding me not to start packing. I am a planner and once I knew that we were leaving on Friday, I instinctively went into planning mode. But thankfully I have Jeff to ground me, but it is very difficult for me to look around this apartment and see stuff everywhere. I very quickly get overwhelmed, but know that if I start packing things up now, I will just end up having to pull something out and repack, hence wasting time that could be spent enjoying Brasov.

Well, I kind of got to enjoy Brasov today. I had the hospital shift this morning and Jeff brought David and Lucia with him to the support center to make some baby bundles. I met back up with everyone at the apartment, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then went into town with Jeff and Lucia on a search for crutches and a thumb drive to back up our computer and pictures. As we got into town, we quickly found the thumb drive and decided that while we waited for the shop to open to get the crutches, we would enjoy some ice cream and cocktails. Lucia was on cloud nine and seemed so happy to be spending time with just mom and dad. We were on a bit of a time crunch because the girls from FFR were meeting us at the house at 4 for some drinks and by this time it was already 2:45. So we finished up our little snack, found some under the arm crutches and headed home. Thankfully we made it back by 3:30, which gave me a few minutes to clean up before everyone arrived.

We had a great time visiting with the FFR girls and I am so grateful that we were finally able to find a time for all of us to get together. This has been a very tricky thing because we have all been busy and our schedules just didn’t seem to connect, but they did today and it was wonderful. We enjoyed good conversation, laughter, stories, etc. and then had to say our final goodbyes.

We had a short turn-around to feed the kids some dinner and get them ready (and in bed) before Jeff and I headed out for some drinks on the square with Jeff’s Ultimate Frisbee team. We had a lot of fun and again had more laughs, stories, and wonderful conversation (and of course an Irish Car Bomb since we were at an Irish Pub). For those of you that don’t know that that is, you have a glass of Guiness with a side shot of Irish Whiskey and Baileys that you drop into the Guiness and drink! They are so tasty!

Jeff and I enjoyed a nice walk back to the apartment and I became acutely aware of all the blessings God has bestowed upon us over the last 10 months. He has placed so many wonderful people in our lives, people that we would have never met without this journey, people that have changed our lives. God is absolutely the builder of all things, and He has built the foundation for these wonderful friendships that will forever remain in my heart, even when we are thousands of miles away!

As I look forward to our next stop in Sweden, I am reminded again of God’s hand in our lives. 17 years ago I left Arizona to participate in an Exchange Program with ASU and headed to Vancouver, BC Canada for six months. Once I arrived in my dorm, I met Hanne and Melissa (she is now living outside of Vancouver with her husband and kids). Hanne was our adopted roommate (she didn’t technically live with us, but may as well had). Hanne (and Melissa) were in our wedding, and though we rarely see each other (this is the 4th time in 17 years), I hold so much love for this person. She will always be a part of my life and I know that God brought us together 17 years ago, just as He is going to bring us together again on Friday in Sweden. I am beyond excited and I think the anticipation of seeing her is helping with the sadness of our year coming to an end.

Tuesday May 28th, 2019

Proverbs 24:3-4 By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

We had a very nice day, and a busy one to boot. Anjali’s foot was not looking any better since we saw the doctor last week so we decided to see about getting an x-ray done to rule out a break. Fortunately one of the therapists at the hospital was willing to help us out so Sara and Anjali awoke early and made the long walk to the hospital. I stayed back with David and Luci to get them somewhat ready for the day as well as myself since I was scheduled to work the morning baby shift. It is a great relief to know that I can leave my 10 and 6 year old at home to fend for themselves. I knew they would likely be glued to the screen while Sara and I were gone but at least they would be safe. As I headed out the door I got the text from Sara that Anjali was unbroken and that they would be staying at the support center to do some sorting until Anjali left for Budila for the after school program and Sara left for a massage.

The shift was fairly normal. We had four volunteers working so we quickly knocked out the diaper run and then moved on to snuggling. “Unfortunately” we only had three babies on each floor so we had to set up a baby snuggling rotation. With the volunteer saturation and limited baby resources I volunteered to end my shift a little early as my standing around and not holding a baby was pretty much useless. I ran into Anjali as she was heading off to Budila, helped move a few boxes, and then made my way home to check on the younger kids. As expected they had set up shop in our room with a makeshift bed on the floor and their faces pressed to the computer screen watching cartoons. I let them finish the episode and then kicked them off so they could interact with the real world again. They did a great job transitioning to lunch and outside play which can be a real feat sometimes. Sara and I later met up for grocery shopping for our dinner plans with our downstairs neighbors and then it was time to host the meal.

We have really enjoyed our neighbors and both Sara and I wished we could have spent more time with them. With busy schedules on both sides that always made it tough but we enjoyed the few times we all got together and today was no exception. The kids played outside after a good meal and the adults got to visit over some wine. All in all a very relaxing and pleasant evening which was capped off by some very loud and energetic overnight thunderstorms.

Tuesday March 5, 2019

Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but those who hate to be rebuked are stupid.

We all woke up rested today, though I expect we will need a couple days to fully recover from the long day of traveling from Sri Lanka to Romania. The city of Brasov makes a wonderful first impression. Folks have been very kind to us and I absolutely love that you can almost feel the long history within the walls. We decided to explore what will be our new home for the next two months, so we took a short walk down to the city center where we found a pedestrian street (what could be two lanes of cars) filled with cafes, restaurants, and more shops than you can imagine. It is a beautiful sight to see this old city with the Carpathian Mountains in the background and as we walked around today I found myself looking forward to the hiking trails to come as we explore the mountains shadowing this city.

Today I heard some great news from home, my grandmother seems to be making some improvements in her health. For the first time in weeks she was up and walking around the rehabilitation center and actually walked more today than she has combined over the last few months. This is good news and I am so happy that her health seems to be improving. Our God is a great God.

We enjoyed a nice pre-lunch snack of strudels, a pretzel, and a muffin, which we all devoured before we stopped in to an optometrist where I was able to order some new prescription sunglasses (I set mine down at the turtle sanctuary to retrieve something out of one of the tanks and they were stolen or they fell off my head in the ocean–I really can’t be sure!). After getting an eye exam for Anjali to be sure her prescription was accurate we had lunch in a Serbian inspired tavern. This also sparked our first attempt at a recording for the new YouTube series. There is nothing to show for it yet, but it at least gave us a starting point and some seriously silly kids who didn’t know what to do or how to act.

Once we got home our kids wanted to go straight to their tablets, but we were able to divert them outside to play with the kids that live below us. All we could hear from inside the apartment was the screams and laughter coming from 6 children happily playing together for the first time. The kids finally came in around 6, we ate dinner, showered the kids, and shooed them off to bed. It was a wonderful first day in Brasov.