Singing Off Key...

As we do every Wednesday, chapel service was held at the Ruth School for grades 1-8. This past week we had to met upstairs in the library rather than the larger cafeteria. The library was jam packed full of kids as we told the story of the Lost Sheep and how God celebrates them specifically. Because of our packed quarters, I was sitting closer than normal to the first graders as I operated the PowerPoint. I don't think a single one of these students was singing on key but they were singing "Our God is an Awesome God," in Romanian of course, as loud as they possibly could. I am blessed daily by these children and the reminder that God doesn't need us to be what we think is perfect because He made us to perfect in His eyes so if we are tone deaf then He made us that way so we should praise Him unashamed of our pitch.

Will the snow ever end?

January 20th was the last time that I saw the concrete surface of the road that runs out in front of the Ruth School. Since then we have had snow, snow and more snow. It has been very cold some nights getting down to -7F. This past Monday was our most recent big snow. The weather forecast said we could get up to 11 inches in 24 hours. I'm not sure how much we actually got on top of the 18 or so inches we already had.

While this snow is certainly beautiful, it can be hard for the families in our community. Please keep the families and children of the Ruth School in your prayers as they endure this especially harsh winter.

Here are some pictures of the snow in Ferentari!

It's February!

Well, it is officially February. And I haven't blogged in what seems like forever.... My lovely mother keeps reminding me that it has been over a month but things just keep happening that keep me away from writing it all out and I will be posting more over the next week to avoid this being a terribly long blog.

Over the Christmas holiday, I was blessed to have two of my favorite people in the whole word visit me: Susan and Zach. Susan arrived in time for my birthday on the 23rd which we celebrated American style with lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, shopping at the mall and Domino's pizza delivery for dinner (Domino's just opened about 3 miles from my apartment which is very exciting for my American stomach!).

Susan and I spent Christmas Day with Ralph & Tammy and the Bunaciu family. We had a traditional Romanian lunch with Cabbages Rolls and Salata de Beouf (Beef Salad but it really doesn't have beef - it might need to be renamed). In the evening, Susan and I retreated to my apartment for some fried chicken  and Stove Top along with countless phone calls to family and friends in the States.

Two days, after Christmas Zach arrived with a suitcase packed entirely by my mother. As I opened it, it was like Wal-mart exploded in my apartment and I LOVED it.

Zach stayed in Bucharest until January 19th while Susan had to leave before the New Year. It was great to have both of them around and hanging out in my new town. The kids certainly enjoyed having them around. The boys down the street enjoyed playing with the new deck of UNO cards from Zach on the sidewalk.

The Ruth School is back in full swing again. We held English club for the first time in the new year this week. The most popular game this week was word searches. The students had never done them before and were quiet for nearly 15 minutes while racing to complete them with their eyes set on the chocolate bar of a prize.

Filip - the word search champion :)