One of the highlights of the week was attending church on Sunday night with Cristina and Ioana (Buckner in country staff). There were about 150 in attendance and they were all very excited to be at church. It was neat to hear songs that I recognized even though the words were not the same. We do not speak the same language, yet, we are all able to worship the same God together.
The children are such a huge blessing and encouragement. They are so much fun to hang out with and they are well behaved for the most part. It is great to hear them sing “Father Abraham” in English and know that they have no idea what they are singing; they sure are enthusiastic about it though! As soon as we walk into the classroom the children get these huge smiles on their faces and run up and give us big hugs and the little girls want to be held the whole time. They are precious.
It is heart breaking to know that most of these children will probably only get to attend school for two years and then they will go back to be at home. The uniforms and books are too expensive for many of the families to have the children continue their education. Thus, this cycle of poverty is repeated.
I am greatly blessed by the caretakers in the group home. I am blessed by how they love these children and care for them unconditionally. How they patiently rebuke them and do not yell and scream at the children until they obey. They lovingly care for them, hold them, kiss them and laugh with them.
I am reminded of a conversation en route to Romania. I was sitting with LeAllison and she said that sometimes we get too comfortable with our lives and we take things for granted. We get to go to Romania! What a huge blessing! We need to soak it all in and not get frustrated when things do not go how we had planned because we have been given this great opportunity and we want to get everything out of it that we can.
I hope that we never take this for granted. We are blessed to be here and to serve these children. May we not worry how many times they pull our hair out or pick our noses or push us over; may we be ridiculously goofy as though there were no one to criticize; and may we open our hearts to love them just as Christ loves them.
