Fall Happenings 2012

Enjoy a few pictures from fall happenings...

I got my hair cut by Ioana.  She is from Peris and now in our girl's program and working at the best salon in Bucharest!

Visit to Mariana and Emi out in the country

Ruthie came along for the visit

Ruthie helped me make pizza

We decorated a princess pumpkin!

Trip to the mountains to see the beautiful colors of fall!

Having a little fun throwing leaves!

Interns, Audrey and Sarah, with H2H staff

Halloween 2012

We don't usually make a big deal out of Halloween because Romanians don't really celebrate it.  However, some of our kids sometimes know about Halloween and ask if we are going to have a party. Since we have such a large group of kids this year, we decided to have a party.  Seems like all we do is have parties sometimes!!  It was fun!  We dressed up so that the kids could visit some of our staff homes to "trick or treat" and then had dinner together, complete with Halloween food!

Domnul Jim was in the house!

Sarah and I made this graveyard cake!

Ice hands in the punch

Two "Jenny's" in the house??  How can that be? 

Ruthie Turns Two!

Somebody had the brilliant idea to have a birthday party for Princess Ruthie!  I think it was her parents...

And then, someone went overboard on the Mickey Mouse/Minnie Mouse theme!  Couldn't have been me!!  She loves anything to do with Mickey or Minnie so it was a perfect theme for her party and was fairly easy to decorate for thanks to Pinterest!!  We had a lot of fun, as you can see!

Introducing the Kids of GTH, ATH, and BTH

We accepted 17 new kids into our transition program this fall!  Eleven of these are kids that I work with on a daily basis.  So, I thought I'd introduce them to you starting with GTH.  We started in October with seven girls.  By November, we were down to six girls and by the end of December we were down to five girls.  I'll introduce you to five of the girls and explain why two of the girls left.  So without further adieu...the players of the transition programs 2012/2013!

This is Alina and she is from Voluntari.  She is attending her final year of college and doing a manicure/pedicure course/hair cutting course.  She would like to work as a manicurist/pedicurist!

This is Ioana and she is from Peris.  She is Alina's sister.  She is working in a salon as an apprentice doing hair.

This is Ionela and she is from Rosiori.  She is full of life.  She is taking the manicure/pedicure/hair cutting course and working as an apprentice in the hair salon!

This is Elena and she is from Rosiori.  She is very timid, but, very sweet.  She is taking a cooking course and is hoping to work in a restaurant!

This is Claudia and she is from Peris.  She is happy-go-lucky and very agreeable!  She took a waitress course before she came to our house and has taken a computer course since being in our house.  We are hoping for her to get a job.

This is Ionut and he is from Voluntari.  He has just finished college and his thesis.  He is looking for a job! 

This is Toader and he is from Voluntari.  He is taking the manicure/pedicure/hair cutting course and will be looking for a job very soon!

This is Marius and he is from Rosiori.  He works part-time at Starbuck's, is taking the manicure/pedicure/hair cutting course and is studying to take his end of high school exam.  He would possibly like to go to college.

This is Berki and he is from Peris.  He took the hair cutting course last spring before coming to our program.  He is currently working as an apprentice at the salon.

BTH boys at Nenciulesti-October 2012
front: Sandel, Florin back: Adi, Marinel, Ciprian, Alex

These are the boys that live in Nenciulesti at the boy's transition home.  I don't have direct contact with them, but they come to stay at the team house about once a month.

So, there were two other girls that started in October with us.  One of them, Maria left by the beginning of November because she just wasn't happy.  The other girl, Flori, was with us through December.  She took and finished a waitressing course.  The place where she was doing her practicum offered her a job, so she decided to move out of the house and move in with her sister.  

GTH, BTH, and ATH

Girl's Transition House, Boy's Transition House, and ATH!  ATH?  Some of you might be asking yourself what is ATH.  Well, we decided to start a new program this fall called ATH or Alternative Transition House.  We had four boys that are city boys (as opposed to country boys) and needed to live in Bucharest where they had more opportunities.  We decided that we would be able to do classes with the boys in Bucharest and the girls from Snagov together.  One of the apartments that Heart to Heart rents was delegated for these boys which we cleaned, repaired and arranged for the boys.

We have not had girls in the house at Snagov since 2010, so we had a lot of preparations to get ready for our Opening Day at the beginning of October.  We cleaned, painted, did yard work, and repaired the things that needed repairing.  We moved the ATH boys in on Friday, October 5th and the GTH and BTH girls and boys on Saturday, October 6th.

 This was the day that we picked up all the girls.  I picked up three girls from Rosiori, one girl from Voluntari, and one girl in Bucharest that is from Rosiori.  The two girls from Peris were picked up by one of our other staff members.  By the time I had all the girls from Rosiori and the Bucharest area, my van was pretty loaded down.  You don't realize what it's like to pack up your whole life and move until you pick up these girls.  They had a bundle of emotions in the car from nervous to happy to scared to sadness.

ATH boys at Snagov-October 2012

 We gathered the GTH girls and the BTH boys together at Snagov on opening weekend for a meal, introductions and of course some pictures!!

GTH girls at Snagov-October 2012

Mini Vacation with Mirela to the Black Sea

This is Mirela!  She's my girl...

She saved her money to go on vacation and then asked Jen and me to go with her.  I found a pretty cheap but nice hotel over at the Black Sea and we stayed for a couple of nights.  We had fun in the water, took walks, went to the mall and even played in a fountain!