The calm before the craziness

      So I realize that I'm a little behind on updating, but I guess not too much has seemed "new" in the past week and a half.  I'm sure it will all come back to me as I write this.  But it has been a "calmer" week, which can be boring at times, but I'm also thankful for it when I look at my schedule for next month!

      Starting at Valentine's day... I had a great Monday of working on visa stuff and then a special date with one of my Valentine's, Hannah, and Jess.  We went to a fancy authentic Romanian restaurant called Ruby Tuesdays! haha  And I couldn't help but order the cheese fries because I hadn't had cheddar cheese, bacon, or ranch since I'd been here!  I know right, how could I have survived this long?  Then I had a skype date with my Valentine in the States, Hadley of course, and our dance party via skype made my day. :]

The foods I miss the most about now: Cheddar cheese & ranch

Our fancy chocolate milkshakes fro McD for dessert

      We didn't have school on Thursday, thus no art pictures of the week, and I missed my kids!  But we got a good chunk of the visa stuff done after running around to exchange shops, the notary, the bank, and the translators!  I also got in 3 Romanian lessons and lots of studying and homework.  My binder is almost filled already and I actually know a lot of stuff in Romanian, now it's working on speaking, adding to my vocab, and a few more grammar things along the way.  This past Sunday I just listened to Soterius preach at church and I knew exactly what he was talking about the whole time!  No, I didn't catch every word or anything, but I knew what he was trying to say.  It also helped that it was on relationship and the family and I'd heard all that stuff before.  Oh, and we also had a Christian Romanian rapper rap for us at church.  Definitely interesting, and he was pretty good if you're into rap.  

     This past weekend, Tom and Gela were in Azuga where Tom put on a Homiletics retreat and taught 7 guys from our church how to preach.  From what I hear, it went very well, except for the fact that Tom cracked some ribs and punctured a lung after tubing into a bench... If you know Tom at all, this won't surprise you!  Us girls had a great bum weekend and enjoyed using their tv and oven in their absence.  On Saturday, me, Jess, Hannah, and Jess Capota hung out at the Graef's all day watching When in Rome (WE'RE GOING THERE!) and A Walk to Remember, and cooking cheesecake, snitzel, and garlic mashed potatoes.  Who doesn't love staying inside and eating good food and watching movies when it's cold and rainy outside?  

Chocolate chunk cookies we made... it's kinda like the cloud game...what shape does it look like?

      I got to go back to the baby hospital this week! On Monday, I decided for sure which baby I'm stealing.  Her name is Katia and she could seriously be the next Gerber baby she's that adorable.  She's got fair skin and hair and I think she could pass for mine.  She cried every time I put her down and it just breaks my heart to know that those babies don't get the personal attention they need.  I'm pretty sure she was the one Cornelia told me that her mom just dropped her off there because she had a boy and liked boys better and didn't want both children.  I honestly don't know how anyone could just abandon their child like that, and especially into a screwed up system like they have here.  I'm about to head over there again in about an hour and I can't wait to love on those babies since their parents chose not to. 

      Yesterday, we had a meeting at BCA for anyone interesting in playing or coaching basketball and volleyball.  And it looks like I'll get to coach a girls or possibly co-ed volleyball team this spring!  We won't be competing against any other schools or anything this semester, but I'm so excited to get to teach and play my favorite sport, and to build relationships with some of the high school girls!  

      So I haven't been extremely busy lately, but still have plenty to do!  And when I'm not out and about, I have plenty of studying to do.  It's all going to start getting crazy next week though.  I'm going with the Graef's, Postema's and Kristie to the Ukraine to put on a one day camp where they put on a week-long camp this past summer.  I'm really excited to be put to work, learn how they run camp to prepare for this summer, and get to visit a new country!  My parents are coming to visit on the 10th, and will be in Romania until the 20th when we got to PARIS for 3 days!  Then a week after Paris is our girls' trip to ROME!  It still hasn't hit me that this is all real and I actually have tickets in my name to all these places!  

      And here's just something I've been learning on this trip, and Oswald Chambers just puts it so much better than I could.  "We should quit asking ourselves, 'Am I of any use?'  and accept the truth that we are really not of much use to Him.  The issue is never being of use, but of being of value to God Himself.  Once we are totally surrendered to God, He will work through us all the time."  (My Utmost for His Highest, Feb. 21st)  I have found myself asking the question, "Am I of any use here?"  and I know that I am, but at the same time, I'm just one small person.  But the stuff I do for God isn't what it's all about.  It's about my life being a love offering to Him.  Because I love Him, the "good works"  I do for Him just flow naturally from the love I have for Him.  But without the relationship with God, it's just "stuff."  I've been learning that although I'm on a missions trip and the purpose of me being here is to serve, my personal walk with God is still the most important thing.