Baptisms

This spring, two of our boys that were in our ATH (Alternate Transition House) apartment two years, decided to get baptized.  First, came Toader.  He has been a part of our programs from Buftea to Peris to Voluntari and finally in our transition program.  He has grown leaps and bounds and I am so pleased with his decision to follow Christ!  It has been neat to watch him get involved at our church and to grow spiritually and make his faith his own!

Next came Marius!  Marius and Toader were actually in the same apartment, same year of the transition program.  Marius always had a lot of questions, but, always doubted himself and none of us were sure that he would make a commitment to Christ!  But, he did!  He has been an amazing blessing to us this year, volunteering with us on his days off.  He has even decided that he would like to go to Bible College to learn more about the Bible!

Cuteness Overload - Karla is Born!

A new H2H grandchild entered the world on February 26th!  Karla Vaduva was born healthy and weighing in just at about 7 pounds!  She is a very good baby and her big sister Ruthie loves her and can't wait for her to get bigger so they can play together.  I picked Alina and Karla up from the hospital with big sister Ruthie and she wanted to carry Karla out of the hospital.  We compromised and she "helped" me carry her out!

Notice, Ruthie is "feeding" a baby too!!  :)

Furlough Time in the U.S.

It's always a great time to reflect and refresh in the U.S. once a year.  This year was no exception!  I had fun taking care of my brother's kids for a whole week while they were in Israel, attending all the H2H 20-year anniversary festivities (see here), hanging out with my friends and family, celebrating my birthday and going to the beach with my family (complete with photo shoot)!  Enjoy these pictures!

Pump It Up with Jill and her kids!

It's always a lot of fun to ice skate....although 4-year olds have a hard time....

Making pizza with Jett and Tanner!  Jett was an expert cheese grater!

Hart Park with Corny and the kids!  Too bad we didn't have any bread to feed the ducks!

It was fun showing Corny around Bakersfield and taking her to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Loma Linda!

Flux Fun Run with the girls, mom and Sean

My Birthday at The Cheesecake Factory!  I had a lot of help blowing out my candles!

Jett and I went to Build-A-Bear for his Christmas present!  Meet Batmany!

Family Photo Shoot at Pismo!

Aren't they cute?  I just can't get enough of them while I'm home!

My dear friend, Cathy was so kind to take me LAX!!  I treasure our friendship!!

These are the highlights!!  I could have posted so many more pictures!!  :)

H2H 20-Year Anniversary Celebration

In November 2014, H2H celebrated 20 years of existence in Romania!  For a while, Jim and Jodi's dream was to bring all the current H2H staff to the U.S. for a big celebration.  So, they began to raise money and two very important visas had to be gotten: Costel and Doru's!  God was faithful and provided both the money and the visas (even when Doru shouldn't have received this visa since the last time he was in the U.S. he extended his stay just a little too long)!  

Plans came together and the staff would basically be in the U.S. for a 2 1/2 week time period.  The first part of the trip for everyone was either visiting their home church or supporting churches throughout the U.S.  This trip coincided with my furlough time at home, so, I made plans to speak in my church and have an Open House.  One of our Romanian staff, Corny, came also to Bakersfield and helped at my church presentation and then helped me cook come Romanian treats for a "Taste of Romania" Open House.  All of my family, friends and supporters just adored Corny and loved hearing her story.

Eating Chinese Food with Corny...her favorite!! 

Some friends of mine brought flowers for Corny and me!  Unfortunately, Corny had already left to come back to Romania!

Making Clatite (crepes) with Nutella for "A Taste of Romania"

Making salata de vinete (eggplant salad) for "A Taste of Romania"

Sharing about Romania with friend and supporters

From Bakersfield, Corny and I traveled to Disneyland to meet up with the rest of the staff.  Thanks, Lance O'Nesky, from Heritage Bible Church, for letting me borrow your truck!  What fun we all had spending time together and having fun!  Some highlights of the day were: riding Space Mountain with Costel, leading a group of about 15 people through the park and spending time with other H2H friends that have come over on teams!

H2H and friends of H2H 

We took this picture special for Ruthie!

Three Romanian brothers in Disneyland!

After Disneyland, all the staff traveled to Ramona, CA to have a week of staff meetings, sight seeing, and meetings with different churches, friends and supporters of H2H!  We culminated the week with an evening event celebrating God's faithfulness of 20 years of work in Romania!  It was a great for all the current staff from Romania to be together in the U.S. with friends, family, former staff, former team members and supporters of H2H!