Heat Wave

Okay I am use to seeing kids playing in the fountains to stay cool, and this year it is no different. However, the heat is so bad that in some cities, the public pools stay open 24 hours to help provide some relief to the heat.
This past week we have had temperatures around 115 F. To date about 18 people have died because of the heat. Right now parts of the country are under Code Red, which basically means that it the temperature is going to at least 106, that jobs that are done outside can only be done at certain hours, and that the public is highly encouraged to stay indoors. Other parts of the country are at Code Orange, which means it will be about 99.
Now, I am from SA and I grew up in 100 plus weather. But in SA we have AC; in Romania, most homes don't have AC. Imagine trying to survive 100 plus weather without AC. It is not fun. I am lucky that my home has AC in the living room, but at church and school we don't AC. Now imagine sitting in class for 2 hours in the middle of the afternoon, trying to stay awake and stay focus in the heat. Not easy to do. But PTL that is week I have some early classes.
We still have one more month of summer, and August is usually the hottest month of the year. Please keep us in your prayers while we are in this heat wave. Please pray for rain, but not too much, cause we don't need floods. Pray that we get cooler weather.

South Texas Girls' Ministries Team

Well my first official team has come and gone! It was a blast to see some familiar faces (and to hear a familiar accent). I had 10 young ladies( Yes, Pam, Debbie, Pat and Vicki, you are young) come and visit me this past week. They were a blessing to our ministries.

The first 2 days they were able to go into the hospitals and visit some of the kids there. I know for some it was hard to go into the hospital, but I also know that they were able to touch lives there. On the second day we had a fourth of July Bar-b-que for our foster kids. The kids has so much fun having water balloon fights, blowing bubbles, and getting to eat lots of Bar-b-que. And Debbie Burnett and Pam Milbrath did a awesome job at the grill (they even cooked a Romania favorite, Mici, even though they didn't know how it was suppose to be cooked. It was wonderful! Our foster moms were also blessed by the team.

Throughout the week, one of the girls on the team cut just about everyone's hair. Whenever there was free time, there was Stacy cutting hair. She even stayed up to like 2 am one night to cut hair! (Thanks Stacy) The team even made breakfast one morning for the staff and moms. They made breakfast tacos. It was so funny cause the Romanians were asking, "what is this?, Oh it is like a soarma!" (when Americans eat soarma they say the opposite, it is like a burrito).

For the next few days, the team, our staff, and Casa Agar mothers/babies travelled to the Black Sea for our Summer Retreat. They team did an awesome job at hosting out retreat. They presented sessions for both moms and staff, they babysat, helped make jewelry (we sell it to help support Casa Agar and the moms) and most importantly, they built relationships with our moms and staff. Romania is a Latin country, and everything is built around relationships.

On Sunday we went to the international church in Bucharest (my home church) and Debbie shared in the English service, and we stayed for the Bilingual service (which was truly a multi-lingual service since it was done in Romania, English and Spanish (we had a guest speaker from Spain and at one point the translator was translating the Spanish into Romania and English at the same time). After Church we took them on a history tour of the city and of course they had a chance to buy jewelry from Casa Agar. At the end of the trip we had one last dinner together and had a chance to just fellowship and relax.

It was a fast week, but I know that they have made a lasting impact on our staff and moms. My prayer is that they were blessed by Romania. I pray that they will always remember Romania and the people that they met!

P.S. I'll add more pictures to my album on my website.

Driving in Bucharest

Okay I have been driving in Bucharest for almost 2 weeks now and I thought I would give you an update on things were going.

To be honest with you all, after the first day of driving here, I wanted to give up, but I stuck with it and it is getting better. I just keep telling myself, it like driving in Houston, only Houston make sense! But it is getting better each day! I don't get lost as often as I did when I first started. But when I do get lost, I can usually find my way home, even though it is the long way.

I am getting more and more comfortable driving down my street. My street is very narrow, and there are cars parked on both sides of the street (usually on the sidewalks, but some times they don't park on the sidewalks and it makes it harder to drive thru.) I still hold my breath every time I drive between to parked cars.

In the States, parking spaces, garages, lanes, really everything are bigger, her they are smaller, so I panic sometimes when I have to get to small spaces, but the one fact that keeps me sane is, I have full coverage here in Romania and it will take of everything, including any scratches, bumps, etc. But, I am still careful when I am out on the streets.

Thanks for the prayers and the encouragement! Love ya all!