La Multi Ani!

We celebrated New Year's Eve with a cooking competition and a party at the houses...then near midnight the kids went into town to watch a concert and see the beautiful fireworks. They had a ball! We weren't able to get pics of the time on the town, but they were thrilled and loved the party!

Jack and Sergui...after a hard day of dancing!
Rebecca singing away with the kids. She is one of the stint missionaries and the new house Director. We love Aunt Bex!

Dancing the night away...

Some of Casa Rebecca kids showing off their homemade meal - it was delicious, especially the fried mushrooms!

Casa Ana Nadia kids proud of their work:)

Jack loving the park!

Jack absolutely LOVES the park...to run, play and of course get in the mud! The snowed cleared up a bit and God gave us a beautiful day at the park. Jack managed to find every mud puddle in the park...and then hated his wet dirty pants! It was quite fun to watch.

"Ewwwwww!"

Following Daddy

Loving the swing!

And the slide...can't wait for spring!

Sleding

Right after Christmas we took the Casa Ana Nadia kids sleding with their new sleds. They loved it! We were are frozen popcicles by the end of the day, but we had a blast! Jack loved watching the kids come down the hill...even me as I crashed and burned and nearly took out more fo the kids.... I think Jeff put the video on facebook;)

Fanel
Daniel and Janos

Daniel the snow angel

trecking up the hill...

Laura loved it!

Sergui hiding his snow balls so he could get Jeff

Jack's Christmas morning

Since we weren't able to have a Christmas morning just as a family, we celebrated with a Christmas night and a day after Christmas morning! Jack got to enjoy a "harse" given to him by Santa and then we read the Night Before Christmas with my dad and family via skype using the same book...how special that was! Then we opened gifts from our family that were sent in boxes back in November.

Later, when Jeff dad and step mom arrived, we celebrated Christmas again with presents we bought on behalf of the family. Our typical traditions were not able to be celebrated, but we are making our own versions while here in Romania. Thankfully, our little man doesn't know the difference this year! It was special to spend lots of time on skype with our families all afternoon, after spending that morning with the LOC kids. What a treat!

Playing with the cow and the horse...Jack loves farm animals!
Laughing at family!

Wearing daddy's new scarf from Aunt Amy and Uncle Chad

Reading the Night Before Christmas together with family and new cousin Elle! This is a family tradition with my family. ..even if it is on Christmas Day!

Watching Granddaddy read to me...with the same book! Thanks Yaya for sending us our own copy...we love to look at it:)

Loving riding my horse!

Holding a spoon at all times...when you push the horse's ear he sings Old MacDonald Has a Farm

Yeah daddy!

Here comes Santa Claus!

A LOC Christmas! This is actually in reverse order of how it happened...but, we gave the Mentor kids their gifts at their parties...then Christmas morning...after a long night of caroling, we woke up Casa Rebecca to share what "Santa" brought them...then we walked over to Casa AnaNadia to share with them. The kids all got a "goodie" bag, a sled from one of the sponsors, a bathing suit and new flip flops along with a Beach ball that they had to blow up in order to find out the big gift...that this summer we will return to the Black Sea for a family vacation as a gift from their sponsors. Although they didn't have a ton to open...they were excited as they anticipate the coming trip!

Casa AnaNadia with Jack
Sleds!

Yeah...many asked if they could go swimming right then! In -4 degrees C!

Blowing up the beach ball

Here they come!

Casa Rebecca showing off their sleds

Swimsuits and flipflops! Thank you sponsors!

Checking out their goodie bags of fun!

So fun anticipating what Santa brought!

Good morning!

The Mentor kids with their gifts

Thanks for the sleds:)

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve it is tradition to go caroling to friends houses throughout the town until the wee hours of the morning...like 4 or 5am! Jeff went with Casa AnaNadia and Rebecca went along with Casa Rebecca. They practiced all in the car and as they came up to the door of the educators house, they sang their carols and then were welcomed in to eat goodies, share fun stories, play games and talk. Jeff and the kids had a wonderful time and everyone got along well....a good thing when you have 10 kids!

They stopped in town to take pics at the Mayor's office for fun!

Enjoying company at Traian's home. He is one of our drivers and fix-it guys!

Jack's "Santa" picture...Santa didn't show up! He must have been really busy, after all it was Christmas Eve!

Our family pic at the houses just before we left to go home so Jack could sleep...sweet dreams little one! Having a son, especially on Christmas, brings the true meaning of Christmas to your heart so much more closely than ever before. The birth of our Savior was a miracle. How blessed we are to have a gracious God who loves us enough to send his son to save us, those who don't deserve to be saved!

Christmas Parties

The week before Christmas was full of parties...for the staff, the mentor apartment kids and the group home kids. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go to most of them due to being in the hospital and recovering from a bacteria infection. No fun! But, the kids all enjoyed their time together and made great memories. This is the first pic we had as a family in a while...and we weren't sick! Jack is wearing a special vest sent by our friends at church as an early Christmas gift! Thank you Rachel, Jason and buddy Brayden!

Gabi, Dan, Marius, Jeff, Jack, Marian and Simona watching some of them team up to wrap gifts in a competition

Elis and Maria wrapping a gift with one hand each...not so easy!

Marian showing off his hat he got from the white elephant gift exchange...hilarious!

Jack helping Adi and Cornel win the competition!

The group home kids watching their Christmas movie on the "big screen!"

Some of the girls making a list and checking it twice...they had to come up with a word for each letter in "Craciun Fericit" Merry Christmas!

Daniela showing off her double double cheeseburgers as her white elephant gift!

All the pretty lights!

Right before Christmas we took the kids into the center to look at the lights on the tree and enjoy a treat at McDonald's. It was very, very cold but the snow was beautiful! We took lots and lots of pictures by the snowmen, the tree and of course we took a ride on Santa's sleigh! It was a wonderful winter night!

Levi - this is one of my favorites...see the resemblance:)
Jack, Sarah, Zorro and I on Santa's sleigh. Jack loved saying "harse" as we jingled all the way!

Julie, Fanel, Ibi, Daniela, Paul, Sergiu, Jack and I with Santa Claus! HO, HO HO! This is Jack's yearly Santa picture. Another night we tried to take Jack to see Santa, but he must have had to take a last minute trip to the North Pole because he didn't show up!

Bunches of us!

All of us together. It was a sweet time to have Angela (she was a stint here a few years ago), Sarah (a stint who just moved back to the states a few weeks ago), Rebecca and us together with the kids and educators. Wonderful memories!