Grandparents and.............

We are thoroughly enjoying having time at home with the family and getting to know our first grandson James who is now 2 weeks old. He is changing every day and developing a lovely character.

I was so pleased to be able to attend the Mosaic Women’s conference organised by Living Hope community Church www.livinghope.im . It was a superb time of teaching and fellowship and a good time to catch up with friends. 2012 conference is already fixed in my diary 9-10^th November.

We were able to have a stand at the conference showing the work of Hands of Hope and had some positive conversations. On Sunday Chris and I were leading the young people’s activity time. We were focusing on the work of Hands of Hope and around 60 (7-12 year old) children attended. They had some very interesting questions.

Last Friday we had a stand at the Charity Challenge event, a time for the year 12 students from the Isle of Man schools to come and see the work of local charities oversees and choose a charity to research and represent in this year’s challenge. We heard today that a group has chosen us and are looking forward working with them as they prepare their presentation.

We are in daily contact with contacts in Romania, it may only be a brief chat on Face Book or an email but it is great to keep in touch and know how people are getting on. The temperature in Dorohoi is already dropping and is on the whole colder than the island, first snowfalls were reported on the mountain roads at the weekend.

We have regular updates on the little boy Cosmin who lives in one of the Hands of Hope built homes at Cobila. He is making the 3 hour journey with his mother to Iasi for chemotherapy once a month. When he got there this week his red blood cell count was low, so tomorrow his mother will donate blood so that he can have a blood transfusion before he has the chemotherapy.

Over the next few weeks we are booked to speak at school assemblies and church groups; it is always a joy to talk about the work in Romania so please get in touch if you would like to see us before we go back.