First of all, we greet you with Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We apologize for not updating the blog as often while our 5 month stay in the States. Now we are back in Romania and getting settled in after arriving just a few days ago. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts during this time.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the States with you, but felt we had stayed a little too long, although it was necessary in order to accomplish everything that needed to be done. Some highlights of our trip include reuniting with family and friends, the visits with the churches and updating them, Christmas caroling with friends and family, and of course, enjoying all that wonderful snow and cold in Indiana!

For some of you who may not know, the Lord worked in a miraculous way with the house that we own outside of Veedersburg. For the last 14 years, a relative had been living there and paying the house payment, but decided, rather abruptly, because of health issues, he could no longer live there. This was the house that we had just finished building ourselves, after moving over 20 years ago from Covington. We thought it was where we would always live, until God called us to Romania. Over the last 14 years, our relative was unable to keep the house up and needed a lot of work after raccoons inhabited the top floor. We had to postpone our plans to leave for Maryland early in February to spend time with our sons, and ended up staying another 10 days in order to move our relative out and prepare the house for sale or someone else to care for it. With the help of over 30 people from our home church, East Side, and other places, at different times, we were tremendously blessed to get the house in order, and also find another couple ready to move in and care for the house! Praise the Lord, and we thank the Lord for each of you that drove out to help paint, clean, scrub walls, tear out carpet, move furniture, and provide food! To be an encouragement to you all, whenever we don't understand why things happen when they do, God is busy at work to do something better for us than we can imagine!

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, "declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"

The Lord protected us in all our travels from the east coast, up to New Hampshire, Maryland, back to Indiana, to Chicago and northern Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky. There were several times that we even saw accidents occur right in front of us or heard about accidents that happened after we had passed. It is always important for us to recognize God's sovereign hand and be thankful in all matters! 

We will be posting more updates with pictures as events take place. We had a wonderful worship day on Sunday with our youth from Nocrich and also the kids from Ghijasa. An update with the events of last Sunday will be coming soon. 

Once again, thank you all for your outpouring of support, love and prayers. We will keep you in our prayers. May He bless you all and keep you in His loving care.