Chicken salad and soccer!

Hello everyone!

These past few days have been super busy so I apologize for not blogging as much as I once was. Since the arrival of Callom and Lakey we have been having club (VBS) with the children in the mornings and street ministry in the afternoons and more activities in the evenings. In the midst of all of this, I have been cooking each meal for the five of us (let me just say each of the three boys should count as five people :) ). So when I am not busy in the kitchen area, I am at least thinking about what to cook next.

Food is a big part of any culture and I have been adjusting to that here, yet not in the way you may think. I am plenty use to chicken snitzel, peasant potatoes, lots of soup, etc but what I am having to adjust to is the frequency of purchasing food. In order to get to a large grocery store about the size of a Wal-Mart food center, I have to take public transportation about 8 bus stops which isn't a huge deal at all until... I remember in the check out line that I have to carry everything I have purchased back on the bus. After a few heavy trips, I have begun recruiting at least one of the boys, most often Zach, to go with me to be my pack mule. There is a grocery store right down the road from my apartment that is about a 1/3 of the size of Food Lion in Gordonsville that I will frequent more when I am not shopping for six and can pay the slightly higher prices.

On Saturday, the boys hosted an all day soccer marathon on the sports court at the Ruth School. This resulted in lots of hunger little boys and big boys. So I introduced them to chicken salad. It was a huge hit. I put lots of apples in it to make it sweet and get the kids eating fruit. One boy, Nicu, ate 7 sandwiches which was good because normally he is a picky eater and his family was recently evicted from their home because of unabilitiy to pay rent so his belly probably needed those sandwiches. After lunch the soccer match resumed. As I was cleaning up the discarded pieces of bread crust, I noticed Nicu sitting off the side of the field looking rather down. You see, Nicu has a leg problem that prevents him from playing soccer with the big boys all of the time. Normally, he runs well with them and plays but on this day he had fallen just too many times. So Nicu and I headed off to the store because I always need groceries and it makes him feel important when he can help carry bags. On our short walk to the small store, Robert who had been playing soccer ran to catch up with us. Robert and Nicu are the best of friends and have missed each other greatly since Nicu's family moved. In the store, the boys began picking out groceries for me. They told me the oranges were good and that Zach would like them so they carefully selected them. Then potatoesand carrots. In Romania, you have to weigh your own produce and print out the sticker for the cashier to scan. After we finished weighing ours, an elderly lady asked me how to do it. Knowing that I speak only a little Romanian, the two young boys both about the age of 7 took over. They explained it to the lady and then proceed to bag and weigh all her produce. I was so proud of those boys who are normally viewed as problem children in the store. After we arrived back at the Ruth School, our fruit was quickly shared with all the others who were famished because of the tiring second half of the soccer game. Within about ten minutes, I had peeled and divided 5 oranges among hungry little hands and passed out a plethora of apples. Who could ever say no to children asking for fruit?

I wish I had time to share more with you but it is time to head out to evening church here in Bucharest. Have a great day!

And then there were seven.

On Monday our crew of five (Dad, Zach, Mom, Ali and I) were joined by Csllom and Lakey. They will be helping do vacation bible school in four different locations. The morning before we got them from the airport, we had our first official day of bible school. Earlier in the week, we found several bible story cartoon movies in Romanian so we popped one of them in. No, we aren't incredibly lazy teachers we just feel like a video in their language may be a little more interesting and memorable for them. Plus, many of them rarely see movies much less a giant projection on the wall of Joseph and the multicolor coat! Our morning with them went amazingly well.

After picking up the guys in the afternoon, we prepared dinner in my apartment and then sent them off to bed. On Tuesday, we went touring in the mountains of Romania. This was a busy day!

Today, we had vacation bible school once again with almost thirty children in attendance which is quite good for it being the first week of summer vacation here. Tomorrow my dad is heading back to Virginia. He has accomplished all his dad tasks and has left Zach with the responsibility of assembling any purchases from Ikea in the next week. Luckily for Zach, I don't plan on buying anything else that requires assembling at this point.

Well I am off to make fruit salad and other things for dinner!

We found the toys!

Well today we went to church as normal and had lunch in between. But after church something wonderful happened!!! I found our recreation supplies from the pile of a mess that is our supply closet. We promptly took these newly found toys outside to play with the kids. Tonight playing went especially well because we had mainly younger children about eight of them, all who still respect us when we say no. :)

I'm pretty tired from running up and down the street playing soccer so will post more tomorrow. We are looking forward to Callom and Lakey Harkrader's arrival tomorrow evening and our first day of formal vacation bible school in the morning starring Zach telling the story of Joesph and the coat of many colors.

Our Saturday

We love Saturdays because they are our day to play catch up on everything that we have been putting off. For me this day meant grocery shopping and cleaning... This morning I took the whole crew on then public bus to Carrefour( like wal-mart) to get groceries for the next few days especially since Callom and Lakey will be joining us on Monday which means I have six mouths to feed.

After a long shopping trip and hauling heavy bags back on the bus, we had everything unpacked. This is when I set to work cleaning. The floors had been mopped all week which may not seem like a big deal but the city wind coming in my windows is dusty so cleaning has to occur more frerquently. Once the mopping was done, I sent Zach to the vegetable market to get some fresh cherries for about 75 cents a pound!!! When he arrived back at the apartment, we all gathered around the kitchen table to pit the cherries. The pitted cherries were then cooked in a light syrup and canned. We canned four pints of cherries which I think will make about two pies this winter:)

Today is also my mother's birthday so we celebrated! While at the store, Dad, Zach and I worked together on the secret mission of ice cream cake for Mom. We ended buying ice cream powder and then making it in the apartment. It worked out rather nicely. I topped it off with chocolate whipped cream, coconut, sprinkles and of course candles. We opted not to light the candles because they might have melted the ice cake.

Tomorrow is church day! So church in the morning and evening. I am hoping for a nap in between :)

My new home :) :) :)

At last, we can post pictures :)

Locking my apartment for the first time!

First meal in the apartment: Ramen Noodles!

Dad and Zach assembling furniture

Even the pots have to be assembled!

Zach taking a quick rest after a long day of work on my new couch! 

My bed

Geani & I hanging out after playing some futbol

Robert's first pull up of the summer. He is so glad Zach is back so he can work on his muscles!

Assembling the microwave cart!

Our gang with Robert

Our gang with Andrei and Mario. Robert was the photographer so that is why it is a little blurry.

Dad is here!

My dad, Chuck, arrived in Romania this afternoon. He will be here for just over a week to assemble my furniture and get all the dad type things done. We spent the evening eat shaormas (Romanian fast food) and playing with the boys on our street. At one point, Dad and I had a race with Robert and Andrei on our backs... It was quite the work-out.

Will write more tomorrow. Sorry for the short posting but it almost my bedtime here and we have a full day tomorrow.

Church, church and more church!!

Today is Sunday which is the day of rest here in Romania no work, no cooking, just church and family time. This day has been no different except for the fact that my brain has been in overdrive as I try to decipher more and more Romanian because it has occured to me that sermons in English here are going to be few and far between... I do plan on subscribing to some podcasts and watching sermons online in English (I believe Todd Freeman's are going to be at the top of my list) but I still will be attending church here so I need to learn the basics. In years past, I have discovered that hymns are a great way for me to learn the language because I can see it written and hear it multiple times especially if is part of the refrain. Henceforth, I will have google translate ready to go when I get home to look up words that I have scrawled in my sermon notes. :)

After morning church, we went to Oti, Cami and David's house for lunch and an afternoon of fellowship. Lunch was my personal favorite: pizza with chicken, corn, mushrooms and green peppers. For those of you who make think this is gross it is delicious and I must say is better than Denny's bacon ice cream sundaes even though Lydia, Emily and I love them quite a bit. 

These evening we were again at church. After which we dined with our brothers and sisters in Christ from Austria who were visiting Romania. We are now heading off to bed because we have had a busy day!

Screwdriver, please?

These past few days have been filled with activity and heavy lifting. Yesterday, the men from DOMO (like a Sears) delivered the appliances that we had selected on Wednesday. These appliances were delivered to the bottom door of the school which is on the first floor, my lovely apartment is on the third. Luckily, Aurel was working late on the Project Ruth newsletter and helped Zach carry the microwave, frig, stove, oven and washing machine up the steps.

For the remainder of the evening, Zach used a variety of screwdrivers to assembly my kitchen table and microwave stand. Mom and I pushed stuff around and pondered the arrangment of the kitchen. Oven and stove tops here are sold separately therefore I have to have a cabinet built to house them and measurements for this must be taken soon so decisions had to be made :)

Today, we tried to take Ali (summer intern from Kentucky) to a monastery on an island in a lake but after riding the metro for awhile it went in the opposite direction of where it said it was going to go so we decided to head back to the apartment for more furniture assembly. Mom and I will be heading out soon to the large grocery store in an effort to begin to stock the new frig with lots of tomatoes, diet coke and nutella!

Side note--- I have lots of pictures to post but am having technical difficulties posting them sorry.

Ikea!

Good evening all!

Today, Zach, Mom, Ali and I went to Ikea to purchase furniture for the apartment. I think Mishi thought it was going to be a short trip but it took us about four hours to pick eveerything out, find the boxes in the warehouse, check out and load up the van. We got everything we could think of.... Bed, wardrobe, sofa, tables, chairs, et cetera. All but thirteen boxed fit in the van :) They will be delivered to my apartment door tomorrow. The delivery fee was less than 35 US dollars total. Unfortunately, quite a few boxes fit in the van which we drove there. These will not be delievered with carrying included so we had to carry them up the 2.5 flights for stairs to my apartment. It was like a stair master but better because we had these huge weights!

This evening, we visited with Oti who is the founder of Project Ruth. After our visit with him, we cooked dinner for the children that down the street and ate outside. It was so great to see their little faces again and heartwarming as they asked and then piled bowls high for their mothers and fathers at home.

Tomorrow, we are going to go appliance shopping for the apartment and then who knows what else :)

I'll try to take some pictures of the apartment tomorrow. Everything has been so crazy I keep forgetting my camera.

Who needs a tire when we have wings?

Yesterday, we left Gordonsville at around 3:30 after a wonderful time of fellowship at church. Our travel to the airport went smoothly. All our bags were checked and nothing was said about the suitcase that was slightly overweight. Yay for being the first people to check in so the check in people are nice. :) 

Our first flight from DC to London went very well. I had a window seat next to Zach who had an aisle so I was able to stretch out and pretend like I was in a recliner. This worked fairly well until I would be asleep and Zach's leg would also fall asleep. Ginger was able to get some sleep on the flight but only Zachs leg got sleep... I believe he watched a lot of movies. And apparently, I woke up and repreimnaded him for laughing at me which was of course not happening because i was dreaming. 

We arrived in London all safe and sound. We did not love all carry on bags though going security. Brittany got the full body pat down and Zachs bible was swapped.

After we boarded our second flight bound for Bucharest, we wewre informed that one of the tires on the plane was flat. This took about two hours of just sitting on the plane go fix.

We finally arrived in Romania at 6 local time and so did all our luggage. Mishi picked us up and we went out to dinner. After dinner we went to visit what will be my home and unloaded some bags there :) the apartment is much bigger than expected. Zach got to see most of the boys before we turned in for the night and played a few brief games. We are headed out first thing in the morning to order apartment furniture.

Thanks for all the prayers! We love you all!

Are the clothes dry?

Well folks, I have officially done my last load of laundry in the States for a while. Zach arrived at my house yesterday evening. He had done a very nice job of packing his suitcase which I had to promptly unpack because I need more suitcase space. He does get to take all the clothes he needs but not every t shirt he owns :).

Last evening, we went to my last family dinner at Grandma and Nandaddy Hoffman's house. After a wonderful meal, we said very quick goodbyes because I don't like saying goodbye much and headed home for more packing.

Today,we attended our last church service in English for a while. After church, Zachary and I visited Annie and Griffin for a little while before he headed out for a birthday celebration.

Tomorrow morning, Dad will be getting in early but in time to drive the church bus to the airport. We will be gathering for fellowship and prayer at Gordonsville Baptist in the Adult Assembly room around 2:30. Our plane leaves at 8:40pm from Dulles International.

I will update either tomorrow or Tuesday once we land :)