Winter Update - 2010

We’re on the other side of winter now and I’m reflecting back over all the things that have happened in the past three months. I just have to say that it’s good to be on the other side of things…we’ve been through tough situations and can now look back and see how God intervened and brought us through. It’s humbling and amazing to see all that he’s done and it’s so good to see new signs of life….both outside in nature and in the lives of people as well.



The After-School Program for Underprivileged Children

This program continues to be a challenge for us in so many ways, but we keep pressing on and although we have certainly had our struggles, there have been some great things happening as well.
Clare was here for a week in January and brought us some new tools to help keep the children motivated and engaged while they are at the center. The resources have really helped! We put the ideas to work and have been blown away at how successful they’ve been. For example, in our first activity with the children they worked together in teams to plan a new country…write the laws, draw a flag, etc. and you could have heard a pin drop in the room as they diligently worked on the activity. The workers and I just stared at each other with our mouths open in amazement. It was so much fun for all of us!

Our biggest worry/challenge began in January and has continued until now. We discovered that our neighbor was diligently working to get us kicked out of our apartment. We rent an apartment in a building that was owned by a woman who divorced her husband for infidelity. In the divorce, she got half the building and he got the other half. He lives in his half with his new family and she rents her half out. We are currently the only renters on her side of the building and her ex-husband hates us. He wants the building all to himself and he's decided to complain about the noise level to the police. He has called so many times now that the police felt obliged to give us a ticket!! The kids are only there from 12:30-5:00 M-F so it is completely quiet in the mornings and evenings and all weekend long. Apparently, that isn’t enough. In his defense, the construction of the homes in Romania is extremely poor...so he can hear everything as if we're in the room with him. So, we had to go down to the police station and talk to them and it looked like we needed to find a new place by the end of February. The police, half-teasingly, told us we should find a house in the forest - ha! With this news we immediately began looking for a new place to rent. It looked as if God answered our prayers when the very next week we found an amazing apartment…nearby, cheaper, with sound proofing added to the walls and all completely remodeled inside. There were new doors and windows, new flooring and paint on the walls. It was amazing! We met with the agent and decided it was the answer to our problems. Then came the day we were to sign the lease agreement with the owner…and things changed! The owner turned out to be a very sneaky man who announced that the rent was only that low if we could pay a whole year in advance for it. If we elected to pay monthly, we would also have to pay a 19% tax each month and also revealed some other hidden charges (similar to home association dues). We decided to back off and pray about it before moving forward. In the meantime, some interesting things happened. Turns out our neighbor isn’t Romanian and had to return to Germany to sort through some immigration issues. He’s actually been in the country illegally and may not be returning at all! During his absence we have been working on obtaining some legal papers that will allow us to stay in the apartment even if our neighbor complains again to the police. God is so good!! I’ll keep you updated as things progress, but for now we are staying where we are.


In this new year I started a program to encourage good behavior from the children. The two children with the highest number of points (earned through attendance, completing their homework, good behavior, doing chores, etc.) get to spend an afternoon with me doing some sort of charity work. Initially, I wasn’t sure how excited the children would react to the idea, but I was overwhelmed by their positive response. In fact, after two months it is still the main topic of discussion throughout each week. We have gone to the orphanage and visited sick people (both in their homes and at the hospital). As the weather warms up we will be doing more outdoor work for elderly neighbors as well. We also take time to enjoy a treat…something sweet from the bakery, a hot chocolate, etc. and just spend time talking about whatever comes up. It’s been great spending time with the kids, doing something for others. We have bonded even more and it is another tangible way I can show them how much I love and care for them.

I have something really exciting to share! Our children have terrible teeth…even though we make them brush their teeth every day, they have so many cavities and visible evidence of their teeth rotting right out of their mouths! It’s so sad and after hearing them complain about toothaches on a daily basis, I decided that I would take one of the kids with the worst teeth and just pay for him to have his teeth fixed. Then, as I could afford it, I would do the same for all the children. Raluca took him to the best dentist she knew…who just so happened to be a close friend of her family. The dentist agreed to fix Francis’ teeth for a fraction of the cost and I was so grateful that Francis would have his teeth fixed without having to spend a fortune for it. Then, another blessing…the dentist told us he had thought about it and would like to sponsor our program by donating his time and materials to fix ALL of the children’s teeth for FREE!! We warned him that all of the kids have multiple problems, but he said it didn’t matter. What a great blessing!! God is so good!!!

Although we still struggle with behavioral issues, we know that these kids need a safe place where they know they are loved. A place where they don’t have to be afraid of being beaten or emotionally wounded and where they can have their basic needs met. It is amazing what the power of love can do. We love them and they know it and they are responding to it. Each day brings new challenges, but by God’s grace we are pressing on.

Orphanage

I am just so pleased with how loving and affectionate our children are in the orphanage, especially Marius, Mario, and Nicoleta who are three of the older children in the baby room at the orphanage. They will be turning 5 soon and we are still working on potty training, but they are feeding themselves, putting on their own shoes, and cooperating completely with the tooth-brushing and other grooming activities. In addition, they all know their animal sounds and Marius and Nicoleta also know their colors. They also know several children's songs by heart and sing along with the CD or break out in song when the mood strikes them…usually when they are sitting on the potty! They are happy and playful and affectionate and talking up a storm. It's so exciting to see!

We speak to the children on a daily basis using kind words and this modeling is rubbing off on the workers. Where they used to speak harshly to the children, we are noticing them speaking sweeter to the children. The children copy everything of course, so they are also speaking kindly. The whole atmosphere is changing slowly, but surely.

We added several more children during the past few months…3 babies and a 5 year old boy with epilepsy. His foster family was no longer able to adequately care for him so he was returned to the orphanage. One of the babies was born with severe deformities and breathing problems and sadly, she passed away a few weeks ago. The other two babies have physical challenges as well, but we are working with them daily to help them improve. Ildiko and I work diligently each day to spend quality time with each child, but it is so difficult to meet all of their needs.
I’m happy to report that Georgel still has not returned to his self-abusive behavior. He expresses his frustration vocally rather than hitting himself. We have found that most of his anger outbursts can be calmed with pure affection. We hold him and tell him we love him and he smiles and hugs us back. We continue hugging him until he is ready to move onto something else…usually tickling and playing games we’ve invented between ourselves. Once he has had his “affection cup” filled, so to speak, he’s ready to play with other toys and entertain himself. It’s amazing to experience this process on a daily basis.


These children are so adorable; I wish they would let me take more pictures to show you. Sometimes the children are just so cute that they let me snap their picture. One day I found the cutest poncho in the dulap and when Vasilica saw me with it, she threw such a fit I had to put it on her. Anytime a coat comes out, she tries to put it on because she wants to go outside. She’s only two and not talking, but you know exactly what she wants! She got herself all dressed up and grabbed Ildiko’s purse and was waving goodbye before we could turn around. She was so cute we had to take her on a quick walk after I snapped some pictures. In March the weather started to warm up a little, so we are once again taking the kids into town. They are doing so great! They aren’t afraid to enter a store or home anymore and they even ENJOY riding in cars now. If you could have heard their crying and seen their fits when we first starting taking them out, you would understand better how much progress they’ve made over the past year. I sure sound like a bragging proud mother don’t I? Ha!!

There are some personal challenges with working in the orphanage, specifically sickness. The children in the baby room were sick for weeks this winter and although we fought it off for several weeks, Ildiko and I ended up in bed with flu symptoms that turned into a nasty cold. It knocked us down pretty good and took us a while to recuperate, but we're doing fine now. It really makes you appreciate being healthy!!!

Overall, things are going really well at the orphanage and I am so excited that the director has given her permission for me to bring the children from the after-school program there as often as I want. Initially, I wasn’t sure how the workers there would react to me bringing in gypsy kids to volunteer, but they saw how good they were with the kids and how much they enjoyed it that they let us stay as long as we want and even answered all of their questions of curiosity. It just warms my heart to be able to merge these programs together so they both benefit. The gypsy children are so poor and discriminated against and are often abused and neglected at home, but they came face to face with children who have even less than they do. It affected them in a positive way and helped them to realize how much they had to be thankful for. A lesson we all need to remember!

English Class

In February, a team from an International High School in England came to volunteer at the orphanage. They also spent some time at our after-school program and while they were in town, and I saw a great opportunity for them to come and meet my English class. I invited a group of the students to join my English class while they were in town. They came and were put on the ‘hotseat’ by the class where they answered any questions the class wanted to ask. It made for some very interesting discussions because the visiting students were from all over the US as well as other countries. A young student from Nigeria was on the hotseat for quite a while. She had a fascinating life story and my Romanian students were very interested to know about her. The class ended with a general discussion about life in Romania, both past and present, in comparison to life in other countries that were represented by the students. We had so much fun that my Romanian students began to ask how long the visiting students would be in town. Unfortunately, they were leaving the next day, so there wouldn’t be time for them to hang out as they wished. So, we came up with a last minute plan…. a get-together that evening with anyone who could come. We met at a restaurant in the visiting students’ hotel and we had the place to ourselves. We had a great time visiting and playing games and taking photos. Some new friendships were made that day and it was one of my favorite experiences.
I have really enjoyed getting to know the students and have had to opportunity to get to know some of them outside class as well. For example, Vlad was preparing to take the Cambridge Exam and asked if we could get together to help him prepare. He stayed after class and we worked through some of the types of exercises that would be on the test and then I asked him how I could best help him prepare. He said, “Just talking will help me the best”. So, I began interviewing him with some questions that might be asked by the examiner. His answers to the first couple of standard questions made me think of other questions and then next thing you know we had spent 3 hours talking…non-stop!! I’m not sure exactly what it was that made it so easy to carry on a conversation that long…but it was a lot of fun. I’m happy to say that he did extremely well on the exam, so all that hard work really paid off!

My Visit To Sibiu

Ani used to live with us…but she moved to Sibiu, a city about 4 hours from Bistrita, to attend college. She is a talented fashion designer who has won numerous awards and contests, beginning in high school. While she was in college, she met a wonderful young man named Dani and they were married almost two years ago. They come to visit when they can and have been asking me to visit for two years. In March, I was finally able to get away for the weekend for a visit and had a marvelous time! They showed me around Sibiu, a fortress city that, despite repeated sieges, was never conquered and is now known as a Cultural Capital in Europe. We visited some of the town’s landmarks, did a little shopping at 2nd hand stores, visited a famous museum, attended a church whose pastor visited my parent’s church in Texas, and had a wonderful time catching up and laughing together.


The Village Museum was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. It is approximately 250 acres featuring more than 300 building, watermills, windmills, gigantic presses for wine, fruit, and oil, etc. These structures were brought to the museum from villages all over Romania and represent the village architectural styles and technology legacy of the Romanian people. It is an open air museum with a large lake in the middle of it and over 6 miles of walking paths meandering through the forest trees. Tour guides take you inside the buildings and tell you how they were used and when and what life was like for the people living/working there. I saw work tools that dated back to Roman times 2,000 years ago. Oil was (and still is) very important to Romanians and we saw how it was made in the “old days”…let’s just say they didn’t need to go to the gym after work in these days! Interestingly, some of the equipment used back then looks an awful lot like equipment found in gyms today. It was hard work; 10 kilograms of sunflowers seeds produced only 800 grams of oil back then (1,000 grams is one kilogram). Many of their buildings were made

with thatched roofs and we were told the roofs were made by layering pine branches with grass and straw and measured about a meter in thickness. We were also told that these roofs were very sturdy and lasted for 60 years!! They figured out how to prevent sparks from their indoor fires from setting the place on fire, but I can’t tell you how – my Romanian isn’t that good! Ha! One of the houses we saw had the chicken coup right under the house…one entry for the chickens, another for the humans! Very interesting stuff! It was a lot of fun and fortunately, it was a beautiful day to stroll along the paths and take it all in.

The church we visited was in a gypsy village about an hour outside of town…it wasn’t really that far, but the road was horrible! It was a gravel road filled with holes and washboards and pretty rough on the car. The pastor, Sorin, was so excited to have us visit that he asked me to share my story of how I came to Romania with the congregation. They were a very friendly and loving group of people and we enjoyed the service very much. In fact, Ani and Dani have been attending the church ever since! One of the things I liked about the church was how much the people just enjoyed being there. They took their time and enjoyed every part of the service. For example, when it was time for church to start, the pastor welcomed everyone and then told us to greet those around us and visit with each while they finished preparing the tea. After we spent some time meeting the people seated around us, he passed out cups of hot fruit tea (already sweetened just right) for all of us. They then had a time of worship led by a worship team comprised of adults, teens, and children…many of whom were playing percussion instruments to accompany the guitar the leader played. They had a special speaker from Canada who spoke, which was great for me since he spoke in English and Sorin translated for the congregation. They ended the service with a baby dedication and a time of prayer for those who would be beginning a bible school being offered via CD’s at the church. We stayed and talked with many people after the service…again, the people lingered not wanting to leave. Overall, it was definitely another highlight of my visit to Sibiu and I am so glad I was able to experience another part of Romania and meet more wonderful people.

Thank you!

Thank you again to everyone for their prayers and financial support. There is much work to do here and I pray that God will continue to use me and lead me in the work that he has prepared for me to do.

Prayer Requests:

• Continuing to learn the Romanian language – my classes are going well, but it is still quite a challenge!
• Spiritual growth for Oana & Raluca
• Wisdom in working with the older children and new workers in the orphanage
• For God to continue to help me prepare good lessons for my English class
• Wisdom to handle the behavioral challenges of the children in the afterschool program

With much love,
Natalie Bridges
natalie926@hotmail.com


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