Smilia and Aurelia

Smilia and Aurelia were the ladies in the Widow's Mite program I wrote about in December. The mother is somewhere in her 80's and Aurelia was in her 60's and profoundly retarded. Aurelia has spent most of the last year curled up in her crib in a fetal position. The mother's one prayer was that the Lord would take Aurelia home to be with Him before she died. The conditions were deplorable and we broke up old fencing to heat their meager room and piled all our extra blankets we had on them both.

We have checked on them often and made sure that they were being cared for - at least a minimal amount. Vlad went down today and Aurelia, the daughter, has gone home to be with the Lord and now Smilia has lapsed in to a coma. The caretaker is sitting with Smilia to wait it out. This is wonderful news to me and I know that everyone that knew of their situation will join me in rejoicing! I look forward to seeing them, as I do many, in heaven.

What's New?

Gosh - a lot is new! I, along with many people worldwide, have been participating in a 21 day Daniel Fast for 2011. People are reporting some awesome things taking place. In my own life I have seen money literally multiplied in an envelope I was holding in my safe.

The vision for a program to care for abandoned babies has finally begun to materialize. This is the first step - it looks like Daniel's foundation, Humanitas, will partner with the hospital where these babies are kept. Once we establish our credibility and have funds for a building we can move the entire program to our own facility. We need volunteers! Since the facility will be to house babies we calculate it will be cheaper to obtain land soon and then build. I have no idea where the funds will come from yet - but the Lord does!

Also I wrote some time ago about being overwhelmed by a situation where I took in to my home 2 girls. In November I rented the girls and their mother a lovely apartment. The mother was to seek employment after the New year. The mother refused. She continues to self medicate and can not take care of her children. She has refused to let them be taken care of - she says "then who will take care of me?" The girls were no longer attending school regularly and the older girl had run away twice. Last week the older girl called me to pick her up off the street. When I arrived she had her younger sister with her - she was not about to be left behind! We were able to get them safely to a girl's home in Timisoara. We did not exactly do this legally but I gathered what documentation I could. I pleaded with Child Protection. The girls were cold and hungry and were in jeopardy, I had no choice, I could not leave them.

The church in Vinga is growing and we will have two more baptisms soon. I am training leaders and that is going well. We have a weekly prayer meeting that meets in a different home each week as well as a home group meeting. The teens still have a weekly meeting as well as learning English.

Mary Jill and I have another Women for Women meeting scheduled for March 12. The director of Elizabeth and Sarah's school had wanted to attend our last meeting but could not. She asked if we couldn't do a meeting here in Sofronea too. Yes we can! It is unclear whether it will be moms and other ladies in the village or is it the fathers too. We will do the extra meeting March 11. This next meeting on March 12 will be announced on the radio also.

I have hired Adina and Bogdan to help with all the projects. Adina has the heart for the abandoned babies so much of her time will be at the hospital. Bogdan is my Timothy and is in training to be a pastor. He is due to return to Ohio March 31 (if we get a visa in time)! with my pastor for 3 months of intense training.

Happy New Year!

OK, so I meant to do a really information packed Newsletter right after Christmas but in time for the New year. Oops. Instead of that I took the week off and the girls and I headed to Budapest to meet up with our friend, Mary Jill Callery - a long time missionary in Europe. We spent 3 days at the Ramada Aqua World. It was wonderful and I returned feeling stress free (well, as about stress free as I can get). I had a little difficulty in getting the girls back over the border in to Romania. I am going to have to go to court and get the documents straightened out. My attorney as well as the police say that Bucharest may have to write a new law for me as this situation has never come up before.

I will post a couple of more things on the blog later (I know, promises promises). I wanted to post pictures of all the Christmas activities for the widows, mentally ill, orphans and poor - ah, we didn't use my camera. I had pictures sent to me over e-mail and I am sure I saved them - somewhere. When I am involved in all these activities I am not usually thinking about taking pictures - sorry.

Irene and Wayne were here from Wales and together we gave out over 600 Christmas boxes. We had Christmas parties at Mocrea, at my school, at Maranatha Orphanage and the church.

At Vinga we had a wonderful Christmas Eve service including a baby dedication, a baptism, caroling and a candle light service.

H-e-r-e's-s-s-s the Duster

This is my brand spanking new right off the showroom floor (OK it was parked outside - this IS Romania) Duster. A Duster is sort of like a SUV - it has lots of bells and whistles (I got to buy it with not one but 2 upgrades!) This is a gift from God!

Last April Anita and Barb came to visit me. We took the girls to a mall and they were buying them some clothes. As we were exiting the mall there was a Duster on display - with a Win This Car sign and a desk. Elizabeth and I went to check it out - how do we win? You enter the drawing using receipts, for over $15, for things you have bought in the mall. Anita - Barb gimme the receipts! Elizabeth and I laboriously filled out the entries. I think the drawing was for May 20 or so. I explained to Elizabeth that I pretty much use up a car every 5 years. The Lord miraculously provided one for us in 2000 and then again in 2005 - we're due kiddo! The truck was getting iffy and I was putting more and more money in to it. Not to mention it is not easy to drive without power steering etc. Elizabeth asked if it was really going to be ours. I said it could be - the Lord has never provided with a drawing - but why not? Just start thanking Him for our new vehicle!

I was talking to several people about how I think that was the new vehicle for me and how God has always provided for me. It is financially really difficult for many missionaries here and I want to encourage as many as I can - God provides provision for His vision. Period. During one of these discussions someone said "Ah Jackie, the drawing was yesterday and you didn't win - doesn't that do something to your faith?" Ah - NO! The only thing that was clear was that the drawing was not God's provision for me. A church in Indiana bought this for me! That is God's provision - most often He uses the hands of man.

I just wanted to share our excitement and blessing with you!

Widows

There is no way this picture could portray the scene I encountered at Smila and Aurelia's house on Monday evening. Smilia must be at least 85 and her daughter Aurelia is in her 60's. Aurelia has been profoundly retarded her whole life and has been lovingly cared for by Smilia. When we added them to the program Smilia's one prayer was that her daughter go to be with the lord before her. Smilia was so fearful no one would care for her. In the right rear of the photo is Aurelia's crib. In front of that you can see the arms of the potty chair. On the left is Aurelia in her bed.

When we approached the house it was totally dark and the door was tied shut from the outside. I was used to the door being tied as it had been a long time since Smilia had been able to venture out. There is a woman who is paid to look after them. It usually is only in the morning and evening she comes. When I opened the second door in to their room there was no sound. I switched on the light and at first I thought they had both died. On the table at the head of Smilia's bed was half a cup of water and a metal bowl with a little pig fat that was strewn with rodent droppings. Mother and daughter were both still breathing we saw. I guess I wasn't quite sure that was a good thing.

Smilia had her head under a blanket so I couldn't see her face. I was unable to get her roused enough to speak but she did open her eyes. Aurelia was in her crib cramped in to her fetal position. I don't think anyone even tries to get her out any more. When she used to be taken out of her crib she was placed on a potty chair - all day she sat there. Aurelia is also blind. The room was cold. We went out back as we had purchased all the widows wood who needed it. There was a pile of old rotten gates and pieces of fence but no sign of the good wood. We gathered enough to start a fire. We got some blankets from the van and piled them on Smilia and Aurelia and built up the fire.

I called the Pastor I had contact with. A woman was given the money to buy Smilia and Aurelia the wood. I actually didn't care that the wood was not outside only that these women were kept warm. I thought maybe this woman was afraid it would be stolen and brought some over periodically. Certainly Smilia couldn't have gone outside and gotten wood to build a fire anyway. I thought maybe I could call an ambulance - but then what? These things are not so easy here. My Pastor friend promised to come the next day. There was fresh bread in the outside room so someone had been there - hopefully had brought food and fed them. There were some diapers and bed pads also.

I left with a heavy heart and in tears. We all did. Irene and Wayne are visiting here to help with all the work. They have a charity in Wales, Reaching Romania. They provide gift boxes every Christmas, not only for the widows but also for hundreds of poor children and for an entire hospital of people that are chronically mentally ill. Peter and Christine, along with Peter's granddaughter, are over from England to help. It was just so sad - and how many more are there just like Smilia and Aurelia? I also don't understand why the Lord, in His mercy, doesn't take them both home.


I would not have thought the sad mood would lift for a long time. We had one more stop to make - to Elisabeta. She is new in the program and I have never met her. This woman got us laughing!

Her house was also dark and everything was locked. We stood outside and yelled and yelled - but most of them are fairly deaf. Sani jumped her fence and opened the corridor door. Danny went in and was shining a spotlight in to all the windows as we keep calling her. Finally in the last window a light came on inside. This poor bewildered woman sat up in bed and I guess she thought she was having a nightmare. She struggled, and I do mean struggled, out of bed and then we noticed that her legs were all bent and she was partially paralyzed. Elisabeta worked her way to her crutches and painstakingly inched her way to the door. The handle rattled...and then nothing. After a moment of silence Danny quipped - "she forgot the key" We all burst out laughing. When the poor thing finally got the door opened she was so bewildered - and her look said it all - it said "who the ---- are you people?" Now actually I couldn't translate what she said - because it was all in German! Ah, does anybody know German? Yeah, Danny spoke all of about 6 words of the language. I saw she wanted us to go in to the other room, where there was heat but I said let's just give her the stuff and let her close the door. We kept trying to use motions to show this was for her, she kept trying German, Danny kept saying we couldn't understand...I put the shippers down by her feet. draped the blanket over a chair and took the lid off her box to show her the goodies. I pointed to her and kissed her on both cheeks and we turned to leave. As we cleared the door she said in perfect Romanian - "How did you get in here?" We explained that we jumped the fence and would lock up behind us - we couldn't contain our mirth at her finally speaking to us in Romanian - while just a short time before we had tears pouring down our cheeks.

Overwhelmed...

In September I took in two girls to stay with us, age 10 and 13. Their mother has been helped since the 13 year old was born. The mother was taken to the hospital one night leaving the girls at home alone. I picked them up the next day when they called me to say they were hungry. The older girl says they have moved 33 times in the last couple of years and it seems each place was progressively worse. This last place was two thin moldy mattresses with a couple of blankets on the floor surrounded by their clothing - no furniture - no dishes - no stove...

The mother is now in the State mental hospital. She doesn't need to be there but she does not seem in the shape to work and she is homeless. The doctor at the other mental facility said this woman doesn't want to get better, to take care of herself or her children. She wants her children to help care for her. Now what???? I have known these girls since they were infants and they have had to stay with us before. I am not sure how this will be resolved. I do not want to dump these girls in to the center for minors but I know I can not continue indefinitely.

I got a call this afternoon - Sani's mother and 5 siblings are homeless. They came to this judet and built a squatters shack in a field. No one considered that the owner of the property might object. They were thrown off the land today - where can they go? They are in the field in the rain. I called the center for minors and they will take the children on an emergency basis tonight while the mother figures out what to do. The youngest is only 3, what is this child going to think when they get dropped off tonight? I can still picture in my mind the look in Sani's eyes at 8 when his mother gave him to me.

I received yet another call - couldn't I find a place for the mother? Not wanting to sound harsh but I bought her a house to raise her other children (Sani is the oldest of 10) and she had sold it. She had yet another place after the one I bought (not sure who helped with this one) and it too was sold.

The plight and future of these children breaks my heart. The State no longer has the personnel nor funds to take them. The private places have, by in large, downsized or closed. The costs due to all the requirements they had to meet, especially in staffing, got to be prohibitive. I am hearing about foster care children and adopted children where the families want to give them back to the State - they can't afford them or they didn't realize children that had been in care would be difficult.

It seems to me it is going to be a desperate winter for many children and not a lot I can do about it.

The widows have wood!!!

Just a quick praise report. I received a wonderful gift and was able to buy wood for all the widows that needed it! They were all so happy. Lena has a broken leg so I also took her crutches and arranged to have all her wood cut and chopped up stove size. I should have taken a picture of some of the wood - it is delivered as whole trees.