Another bite of the apple...

Yesterday, I went out to Peris to visit the kids.  I had not been out there in about 3 months due to the girl's house opening!  Needless to say, I was a little excited to see all of my kids!  I was greeted at the gate by Florin and Alin (who have gotten so big...they were in 2nd grade when I first started working at Peris and now their voices are changing!), Claudiu, and Gaj.  They all expressed their happiness to see me.  Then I went upstairs to the area where the girls stay.  I was given so many hugs but the best was Oana.  When she saw me, she hugged me and wouldn't leave my side.  We hung out for awhile and then they got their afternoon snack....an apple.  She wanted to give it to me, but I didn't want to take it.  So, she compromised with me...she took a bite, then I took a bite.  I tried my hardest to take small bites so that she would get more, but she caught on to my trick and started checking my mouth and watching the bites I would take.  We went back and forth like that until the apple was gone.  Oana has been like this ever since I've known her....very giving.  If she has something, she always wants to share it with you.  It's times like this that I pray and say, "God, protect me!"  And I take another bite of her apple.

Baby Rebeca

Seven months ago, the first heart to heart baby was born...the product of Adriana (2nd generation of girls) and Marian (1st generation of boys).  She has been growing, growing, growing.  She came to church a couple of Sundays ago with her mom and dad.  She is such a happy little girl and soon she is going to be moving all around the place!

Hi ho, hi ho it's off to school they go!

Last Monday, the girls started manicure/pedicure school.  They were so nervous and excited at the same time.  The first day they wrote 12 pages of notes!  When they got home, they were so tired.  I'm sure the tiredness had nothing to do with the fact that they had to get up at 6:15 so they would be on time.  By Wednesday they were practicing what they had learned and did their first manicure.  They are learning lots and have begun to do pedicures as well.  Of course I don't mind being a guinea pig...Tomorrow is my pedicure day...oh the life of a missionary!

Here are the girls in front of their school...all ready to go!

Ready to write and learn all about manicures and pedicures!

Trip to Sinaia

As a reward for finishing the probation period, the girls at GTH got to come along with the staff and Maggy and Leslie to Sinaia.  First stop was the glass factory in Ploiesti.  Everyone enjoyed shopping and we sure did enhance the economy for this factory.  The girls were allowed to each pick out one glass Christmas tree bulb as a rememberance from the trip.  From there we headed up to Sinaia.  We stopped for lunch at the little pizzeria that we like and then drove up to the monastary.  We walked up to the castle and the girls went on a tour of the beautiful Peles castle while the rest of us sat around and talked and had coffee.  We did a little bit more shopping up by the castle, looked at the monastary and then headed home.  For this trip the girls received an early Christmas present.  They didn't really have any warm jackets so I decided to give them the gift now as opposed to at Christmastime.  After I had all the jackets out and they had all four picked out the one they wanted they thanked me for the jackets and Catalina asked me, "Jenny, who else do we need to thank?" This took me a lttle bit by surprise because sometimes in the past the girls have kind of always thought they should be handed things on a silver platter.  I was very appreciative of their thankfulness and told them that the jackets were a gift from God!

Costume Party!

Saturday was Halloween and some of the staff decided that it would be fun to have a Halloween/Fall Party.  The girls at GTH had also been asking if we could do something for Halloween, so we decided to have our first, probably to become annual, Halloween party at the girl's house in Snagov.  Everyone was very excited and scurried around trying to find a perfect costume.  I decided that I would be a princess, of course.  We had lots of fun finding costumes and dressing up, playing games, eating "gross" foods, and carving pumpkins.

Princess Jenny

Sanda and I with the girls of the GTH

The new girls!!

On October 5th, the fourth generation of girls moved into the girl's transition house.  There are four girls, two from Alexandria and two from Galati.  They are lovely girls....very obedient and so excited to learn new things.  During the first week, they learned all about our house and how things work.  They also had their first recorder lesson, which they were so excited about!  They will hopefully be performing a song for our Thanksgiving celebration.  So, without further adieu, may I introduce you to the 2009/2010 transition house girls! 

Catalina is from the girl's orphanage in Alexandria.  She turned 26 years old last Sunday.  We celebrated her birthday by coming in to Bucharest for church and then had a cake and presents out at Snagov when we returned from church.  She finished school a couple years back and had been living in the school in Alexandria (not a very good situation). She is very docile and sweet, yet at the same time very boyish in the way she has her hair cut and in the way she dresses.  She is very helpful around the house and is always the last one to help finish a task.

Silvia is also from the girl's orphanage in Alexandria.  She finished school last February.  She is a girl in every sense of the word.  She loves to dress like a girl and spends at least a half an hour in the bathroom every evening.  The other day when I told the girls we were going to have guests, she and two of the other girls went up to their room and made themselves up complete with makeup and cute clothes.  

Mihaela is fromGalati and comes not from the orphanage but from a family.  She gave birth to her son about 8 months ago and heard about our program from a missionary friend in Galati.  She heard that we were going to be offering classes to learn haircutting and wants to make a better life for her and her son.  So, she applied to our program.  Her mom is taking care of her son during this year while she lives at our house.  She is a believer and is so excited to share Jesus with others.  She also loves to speak English and can't wait to learn all of the secrets from Sanda in the kitchen.

Andreea is also from Galati.  She is a delight and joy to always be around.  She always has a smile on her face, a song coming from her mouth, and a super attitude.  She is yearns to learn new things and is accepting of everyone.  Andreea has three sisters in Galati and has spent a lot of time with a missionary family in her hometown.  She is excited to learn to play the piano.  She speaks English quite well, loves Jesus and is eager to share her faith with others. 

A Baptism...

Marieta, one of the graduates from the third generation, was baptized at the end of September by the pastor at a little chapel in Bucharest.  She was surprised and shocked that I would come to this special event in her life.  I was so glad that I took the time from my busy days to go to her baptism.  It was neat to see her dedicate herself fully to God!