Wow! I just don’t even know where to start! We have been quite busy since my last blog post.

Last Saturday we were able to go visit a private orphanage home where about 20 kids are staying. We stayed pretty much the entire day. There were children there from the age range of 7 to about 15 years old. Most of the children were able to communicate with us in English, so that was very helpful! We had a great time playing and just being with the kids. I also put my nursing skills into use and took care of some severe wounds some of the kids had. The kids at this home are not well cared for at all. Even though it is a private orphanage we noticed that things were very dirty and the kids seemed a bit neglected. Several of the boys had shaved heads or the girls had extremely short hair due to lice. We were so glad we had the opportunity to be with these kids all day and be able to spend time showing them God’s love.

Monday, we went to a center that opens up 5 days a week during the afternoon for street children. They open at 12 noon and they play a game with the kids who show up. Then they have a time of singing followed by a devotional. After all of this they eat lunch then they shower and wash their clothes. The center then closes at 5:00. We were expecting little street kids to come, but these were teenagers and young adults. It was a pretty rough group and I understood why the directors of the center said it was such a difficult ministry. Seeing these young people really made me so grateful for all that I have. I have a mom and dad who love and care for me, I have a home to live in, I have food and clothing, and so much more.

Tuesday morning we left to travel to Tiagu Mures. It was suppose to be about a 4 hour drive but it turned into about 6 hours! You never know what kind of traffic you’re going to run into here in Romania! The scenery was beautiful though. I felt like I was back in Guatemala again with all of the mountains. We arrived in Tiagu Mures about 3:30. Kelly, one of the directors of Livada Orphan Care met us and we went to the 2 children’s homes. We had so much fun with these kids! The houses were very clean and so were the kids. They have staff members who cook, home “moms”, and educators. These children are very well taken care of. They even teach the older teenagers to live on their own by putting them in apartments with mentors who teach them to cook and pay bills. We really enjoyed seeing the great work Livada is doing.

Wednesday morning we went back to the homes for about an hour then we left to go visit another Baby Hospital on our way back to Lugoj. We were able to see several babies and toddlers at this location. It was just heartbreaking to hear some of those little one’s stories. I held a little boy who is 2 years old but cannot even sit up on his own. Sometimes I would have to hold his head like an infant because it would just flop around. We will be posting pictures when we get home of the Baby Hospital so you can see the other children we held. It is truly heartbreaking to see these babies neglected by their parents. Adoption is so difficult in Romania so it makes the Romanian people not even want to go through the process. This explains why there are so many orphans here.

Well, today is our last full day in Romania. Hailey and I are very excited about getting back home. Please pray for our trip home. We leave Romania at 5:30 tomorrow afternoon. We’ll spend the night in Munich, Germany and continue on our way home Saturday. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us throughout this entire trip. We really appreciate it!