Oh mono...

      So my roommate has mono... And I've probably been exposed too.  She's had the sore throat part of it really bad, and after pretty much being quarantined to the apartment for the past 2 weeks, it's almost over.  She's a little more tired, but still has a lot more energy than anyone I've seen with mono, so hopefully it's a lighter case.  Annd I've been pretty tired lately...like needed an afternoon nap after getting a full 8 hours of sleep at night.  I'm not sick, but I could still have the virus and the full-blown sickness part of it just hasn't shown up yet.  I'm praying I don't have it, and I'm taking every precaution like washing my hands, bleaching the apartment, gargling hydrogen peroxide, and downing the Vitamin C.  But until I either get a blood test or get the symptoms, I don't know if I have it or if I can pass it on to other, and thus my life kind of has to go on hold.  I can't go to the baby hospital or the orphanage for a while, and we can't have the BCA girls over to our infected apartment, but I'm still going to teach art unless I get some symptoms.  I can still go to church and Bible study and Romanian lessons, but that's about it.  
      
      One good thing I guess is that I can get a lot of studying and homework in while I'm stuck at the apartment.  Tutoring is still going well and I can literally understand more and more that I read and hear everyday.  I know a good chunk of the grammar now, and I'm only really missing the past tense and a couple other smaller things, which I've kind of already figured out from reading my Bible in Romanian.  I can say a whole lot now, I just need to practice listening and speaking a lot, which is the hardest part.  At church on Sunday, I didn't have anyone translate for me and I made myself focus on listening.  It was really exciting for me that although Lau preached and his spoke really fast and kind of quietly, I could pick out most all of the words and phrases I've been learning and could somewhat follow along!  I couldn't get every word or what he specifically was saying, but I got the general idea at least!  It's really just training my brain to listen and comprehend what I'm hearing, instead of automatically shutting off and thinking "Foreign language that I can't understand."


       And here's the weekly update from art class!  I had them draw an emotion from a bag, then look in a mirror and draw their facial expressions while acting out that emotion.  It was quite entertaining to watch them making faces to themselves in a mirror!  

      Today also marks 1 year of singleness for me!  It has definitely been the most difficult year of my life, not only with being single and working through a breakup, but many other situations with friends and family too.  It's been trying, but the Lord has used everything I've had to deal with to draw me closer to Himself and teach me to fully rely on Him.  He's reminded me (for the millionth time!) that He is all I need and the only One who can ever complete me and satisfy me.  I'm so thankful that God chose me to have a relationship with Him, and I truly don't understand how people can make it through life without Him and the hope He offers!  This Valentine's Day won't be as difficult as the last, but I still want to make sure I'm focusing on falling more and more in love with God, and not the fact that I'm very single and all my friends are married already! 

The Bucuresti mall all decked out for Valentine's Day!