Christmas decorations

This makes a really special decoration in our Dorohoi home. The heart frame I bought with birthday gift money from Chris's parents. The decorations are hand crafted by Chris's mother (except the Hope & Peace words" & the pink cross which a gift from another friend. The centre piece is a beautiful piece of Handanger embroidery which was our christmas card from Mum & Dad for this year. It is all much too pretty to put away when the rest of the decorations come down

Christmas Holidays

We have had a great few days over Christmas, attended Church services at Varfu & Dorohoi, meals out at various friends, watched some of our Christmas gift DVD's and visited many of the families we help. Chris has been back at work yesterday & today compiling a stability book for a pilot vessel. Another work day tomorrow hitching up the trailer and off to buy some firewood.

It is still a real struggle for many families here, social support is almost non existant, and even those with casual labouring jobs are laid off for 2-3 weeks over Christmas. It is normal for us to visit families with little or no food in the house & meagre supplies of wood to burn. We have had a good few inches of snow, the main roads are kept clear but most of the side roads and lanes are packed ice.

Astaz un copi ni s-a nascut

Today a child to us is born!

Christmas Eve and we went carol singing with the younger members of Varfu Campului church. We started at 1600hrs and ended at 0230hrs the next day. We visited an old peoples home, lots of small houses in the villages, friends and the pastor. You can see some of the time at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qko-Y-lZQ_o
A late brunch and opening of Christmas presents then a childrens service at Dorohoi Baptist Church. Wishing you all very happy Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.

3.50am Chris is home

Chris is back I had a smooth drive through the snow to collect him from Suceava, and his coach drive form Bacau was good too, A careful coach driver:). Minus 11 as we drove home. going to get few hours sleep then down to Botosani in a few hours, putting up a Christmas tree in the childrens hospital and giving out gifts.

Midnight -7C and Snowing

Tonight Chris is due back from a business trip. he should have landed at Suceava airport at 22.15. but due to the heavy snow fall his flight was diverted to Bacau and he is now in a coach on the way to Suceava. due to arrive around 2.30 am. so I am about to leave Dorohoi to meet him. So pleased Pajero has nice chunky winter tyres on. check list- snow shovel, torch, warm clothes, flask & blanket.

Getting colder

The days seem to be flying past. over past few days it has got a lot colder and temperature has not got above minus 2 for a few days and minus 25 forecast for Thursday night. Our apartment is nice and snug with heating on but many we see here are a lot worse off, even if they have electric supply, wood burning soba or calor gas hob, they cannot afford the fuel to burn.
The Pajero and trailer has been used to full capacity, it is such a Blessing to us here. Moving firewood (7 trailer loads) Moving a family and their possessions into one of the Hands of Hope houses, delivering Christmas shoe boxes to schools and kindergardens, giving folks a lift.

Baby Gabriel

Today Iuliana and baby Gabriel came home he is now 2.2k and 6 weeks old. Dad Mihae was with us to bring their 7th child home. i think all the blankets he was swaddled in probably weighed more than the baby.

another busy week

We are having a wonderful week, extremely busy. Today we visited 3 village schools distributing Christmas shoe boxes. We had loaded the Pajero and top box with 211 boxes, it was full to capacity. see report on the News page of the Hands of Hope site. http://www.handsofhope.org.im/

Maria

Maria's heart operation was cancelled again on Monday as she had a cold. she has been sent home to Dorohoi and not likely to be scheduled again until January as the specialist surgeon is now back in Bucharest.

Prayers Please

Update on baby Maria. The operation which was set for Friday was delayed again. It is now scheduled for tomorrow Monday. please pray for her and her Mum & family. the operation is due to last 7 hours.

A busy week

Time here is flying past as usual. Carl a visiting fire officer from UK, is with us for a week on a scoping mission to see if they are able to provide any help with equipment & training. Yesterday we drove around the north of the county, taking notice of what (or should i say what NOT) was available. Today we had a very productive & interesting 3 hour long meeting with the County fire chief.

We are in the midst of Christmas shoe box deliveries, and over the next few weeks will be delivering over 600 boxes.These are going to many of the remote villages and poorer areas.

Tomorrow we are visiting the day centre for children with special needs. It is their Christmas celebration, a bit early in the month but all schools are finishing a week early and for economical reasons all teachers will be on unpaid leave for the week.

Please pray for baby Maria, she is 19 months old and due to have an 7 hour heart operation on Friday. The op has been delayed many times as they needed the right surgeon to be available and also for Maria to be bigger and stonger. The op will take place in Iasi hosptial 2 1/2 hours drive from here. Brindusa her mother is with her and though medical care is good, the hospital has no heating and no food. Please keep them both in your prayers, Brindusa is trusting in the Lord and very thankful for all your prayers.

Thanks for your interest, prayers and support, Noapte Buna from Dorohoi

Spent much of the past couple of days catching up with families and folk we know. I think all of the families are being affected by the financial and political situation in Romania and many are finding life even harder. Despite all of this it is amazing how tough and resiliant the children are, pictured above is Chris and Peter with Georgi a 3 year old with hydrocephalus who was looking better than we have seen him for many months. We will be visiting all of these families again over the next couple of weeks as we have the great job of distributing 400 Christmas shoe boxes and other donated presents and supplies.

Photo on the journey! It was just amazing to see this horse in the back of a pickup leaning into the corners as they wound their way down the mountain roads.... Caption competition??
Was it a Hyundai Pony?..

We have arrived

arrived safely in Dorohoi late Monday afternoon. Tried out Chrs's alternative route on one of the last legs, which was rural and interesting!
called in to see one of the families in a HoH house at Cobila on the way to Dorohoi, it was lovely to have such a warm welcome back and we look forward to seeing everyone else tomorrow. our apartment was all spick and span and our friend Helen had pt fresh flowers and fruit on the table to welcome us.
Chris & Peter did numerous trips up and down the stairs to unload the pajero while i cooked tea. the apartment is now full of bags and boxes and the Pajero is sighing with relief. we reckon we came out with well over half a ton of aid etc. Now looking forward to distributing it all.

Family time

Smooth journey off island and down to Dorset. Enjoying a few days with Chris's parents. Leaving UK from Dover on Saturday. See you soon Romania

53 hours

Pajero has new tyres-Chris eventually tracked down some more "grand trek", think we got the last 4 in the UK. they are chunky and good for general use but brilliant off road. the old ones served us very well, but had seen about 100,000km service.
off now to pack the car and very thankful that we have a dry and sunny afternoon, so will get it all sorted and just leave personal bags to put in on Tuesday. and oh yes MUST remember, leave some space for Peter who we collecting on the way through UK.

7 days

A sure sign we are leaving soon, the house is full of bags and boxes and the list of jobs to do before we leave is getting longer.
in 172 hours time we will be on the ferry, looking forward to a few days with family in England then ferry from Dover on 21st.

A sad week

On Wednesday we were devastated to hear that our good friend Dru had been killed in a road accident. Dru was a fantastic person and huge support and encouragement, she touched the hearts and lives of many people.
Thank you Lord for giving us the privilege of knowing Dru, and we lift her family and friends to you, praying that you will give you them your comfort and peace.

14 days and counting

14 days until Chris and I leave the Isle of Man. We are so thankful for all the donations.
we already have bags and boxes ready to be loaded in the Pajero.
Ramsey Baptist Church have been a great support to us personally & the charity. Next week at the family service folks are being asked to bring items for us to use in the Christmas family parcels that we will be distributing through December.
Chris's brother Peter is driving out with us to Romania and will be with us for a few days, we are looking forward to showing him our Home in Romania and introducin him to the work of Hands of Hope.

Busy on the Isle of Man today. collected 5 bags of clothes yesterday, so need to sort them out either to go with us in November or be put in store for next year. also looking forward to being with our IOM home group for the first time in 6 months.

Our First Entry

We hope to keep you up to date with some of the stuff we get up to day to day as we work in Romania, travel backwards and forwards. share our ups and not so ups!

Lets see how it goes!