i left my <3 in romania

i’ve been to several places around the world. i am no world traveller by anyone’s standards, but i have set foot on a couple different continents. i’ve had the pleasure of visiting Mexico (twice), Panama, Costa Rica, and Romania. i travelled to these places with Teen Mania and Living Word. while i had amazing connections with people in all the countries, one of the places that really stuck with me was Romania.

we worked with a church called Salem in Oradea, Romania. we flew into Hungary and took a bus over the border into Romania. the pastoring family of the church is the Ciuciui Family… wonderful people. we instantly felt at home with them. i think that one of the reasons such a large part of my heart stayed behind in Oradea was because of the difficulties i had to get through to get there. raising the money to get there was one obstacle, but i had no idea it was going to be the easiest one! once i got to training in texas, i met my co-leader. he was an older man, literally the age of my father. at first i thought it would be a good match, because he had experience as a team leader on the field and he would be a good “grounding” element for me as a young “rookie”. what i failed to realize was that he would treat me like his daughter. we clashed so many times, with myself being the one that usually had to back down. to add to the frustration was a rule that the organization had about dating. my husband and i were dating at the time, but we had to “break up” for the trip, which meant that no one was to know we were together. this rule makes complete sense because we were dealing with teenagers who have a tendency to over romanticize things and see themselves in the “love story of the century”. so to keep them focused on the mission trip, we had to keep their focus off of “love”. i didn’t realize how hard it would be to pretend we weren’t together. it would have been easier to have one of us stay home. on top of that, i was so sick. once in country, i picked up some “thing” that had me bed-ridden for a whole day and very weak for days after ward. i have never gotten sick in another country, and no one else got what i had, so i still to this day have no idea what it was. but the show must go on, and the kids had to see us as their “fearless leaders” who could brave anything to lead them to the “lost and dying” of the world. so the morning after i finally could get out of bed, we got to hike 3 miles through the city streets to an orphanage… sigh. i had a girl on my team that refused to go to the orphanage. after talking and talking and almost demanding that she “suck it up”, the true story came out. 3 months before the trip, she had given birth to a baby boy and had placed him for adoption. she was only 16. so the thought of going to an orphanage and seeing children in a situation she potentially placed her child in was unbearable… so glad i didn’t tell her to “suck it up”. so she and i sat on a bench and watched the other teens play with the children (none of which were infants, thank God!). and don’t even get me started about the food… tripe, really??

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.” with all of those obstacles to overcome, it really made me appreciate the people and places i found in Romania.

What brought up all of this was seeing them again on youtube.com. Check it out …

Take Me To Your Leader!

On our way to a much needed vacation, our poor little “Silver Bullet” kicked the bucket. We were a measly 4 miles from the hotel when our 1991 Saturn died. The car had gone well over 260,000 miles, but couldn’t make it another 4?? I guess I cannot complain too much because we only paid $50 for it 2 years ago. So we had it towed to a mechanic that was down the street from the hotel. The mechanic said it was going to be several hundred dollars to fix whatever the thing was that was busted (when you look on Kelly Blue Book, the value is listed as N/A), so we didn’t bother fixing it. The mechanic gave us $50 for the car (for scrap metal I guess), and we left it there. So that meant we were in search of a new car.

Jamie searched and searched, scouring the internet for a car that would meet our needs and that we could afford, especially with Carl/Cletus on the way! And find one he did! We got a 2004 Saturn Vue for an amazing deal. It only had 42,000 miles on it, and it can fit the dogs and baby seat and us perfectly! YEAH, our first car made in this century!! We have a 1997 Chrysler, which I call the “Big Blue Boat” and since the Saturn is now bigger than that car, it needed a bigger name. It will be my vehicle for carting around the munchkins, so we are calling it the “Mother Ship”. I think its a fitting name since it is a Saturn (haha, get it?). Besides, Jamie didn’t think “Mommie Mobile” was masculine enough for an SUV. So yeah, I now have keys to the Mother Ship!

Nature Wins Again!

We had another ultrasound today. Everything looked good. It is still too early to tell what “IT” is, we’ll have to wait another 4 weeks!!! We didn’t get any video of this one, because it wasn’t going to reveal anything significant, just routine check-up. We did get pictures though. Despite the fact that nothing “major” was revealed, we did see something that supports the NATURE side of the “Nature vs Nurture” argument. We saw the baby rubbing its feet together. This may seem insignificant to most people, but it is what I do when I’m sleepy. (it really irritated Jamie when we first got married, cause it made the covers magically pull to my side) It was funny to see the little 3 inch fetus doing something that I do! It will be funny to see what other traits this “kid” gets from us!

Meesa Chickabee

If you have seen the movie Nell, you know what the title is… if you haven’t seen that movie, let me explain. The phrase was what Nell called her sister, even after she was gone. On Friday night, one of our sisters was taken from us. Judy Bell was an amazing woman, so giving, full of life and laughter.

Better than any words can express, is the legacy that a person leaves behind. Because of the life that Judy lived and the impact that she had on so many people … almost 120 people gave their lives back to God this weekend. They say you cannot see the wind, but you can see the effects of the wind. We may not be able to see Judy anymore, but we can always see the effect her life has had. Our hearts and prayers are with Willie and Jordan as they navigate this new stage in their lives.

To Judy, I have one thing left to say … TEEAAH IN THE WIIIN!!