our March

For the Grandparents:

Each month I am trying to post a blog of a few fun photos of our kids

and what they have been up to that month. 

Here is our March....

reading in the fort

look at her left arm....see the silly bands??

there were about 40 of them on her arm.

Her baby is under that blanket somewhere....suffocating...

first trip to McD's

Happy St. Patrick's Day....i love this kid!

Paige on her computer...flaunting her two bracelets she made

They saw March of the Penguins for the first time.

Now my kids are hooked on documentaries!  

Noah made his penguin on an iceberg with a predator about to eat it!

Paige's pengiun....she honestly will not smile normal...ever!

LOVE YOU TONS!!!!!!!!

Sumugiu Sweeties

Tuesday is Sumugiu day.

I, Cali, was still really sick and could not go.  I was SO disappointed!  This is probably my favorite time of the week.  We haven't been going long, so to not get to go today was saddening.

Steve and the kids still were able to go out.  Our kids LOVE going!  This morning Noah and I had this whole discussion about how it is such a privilege that we get to serve these kids and share Jesus' love with them.  He has such a servants heart!  He has been so helpful while I have been sick...helping Steve out.  He's getting so big....anyway....i digress.

Back to Sumugiu.

This Friday is Father's Day in Romania so today we made cards with the kids for their dads.

Steve had a neat opportunity to talk to two boys one on one who do not have a father in their life. He got to share with them how God has put other people in their lives to love them and care for them.

Today we brought paint and let them paint their hands to do a handprint on the card.  I don't think they had ever done this before and they were so excited!!

There is no running water in the school so we had to bring a bucket, water and a towel for them to wash their hands off. They were so relieved to know they could wash their hands afterwards!

Steve was encouraged today when the teachers told him that they were so glad we were coming because no one else does anything to help them out or to be with the kids and give them fun experiences.  We're so happy to do it!

Here are some fun pictures of the day!

Heads Up Seven Up....truly a classic!

special request

Hi friends and family!

We come to you to ask that you would please praise the Lord with us and pray to the Lord on our behalf as well.

Praise the Lord that our children are healthy and happy!!  They are doing fantastic and we know this is God's grace in our lives!!  Their health weighed on our hearts and minds before coming to Romania and though we know good health for them is not promised forever, we are SO thankful that they are healthy TODAY!

Please pray for their continued health!

Please pray for Steve who is basically running everything right now from taking care of the kids, to picking up groceries, doing school ministry stuff and taking our kids with him, etc.  He isn't feeling 100% healthy.

Please pray for Cali.  She started getting sick last Wednesday and had really high fevers.  Passed out on Thursday and started getting really bad stomach cramps.  On Friday we thought it may be kidney stones because she has had them before and the pain she is having is similar.  Saturday the pain got worse and she still maintained a fever.  Sunday morning Robin took Cali to the hospital here. There was only one doctor there--the urologist!  She got an x-ray right away and confirmed that the pain was not caused by a kidney stone or gall stones.

We now believe that she just has some kind of GI infection. Most likely from eating something that was not clean or cooked thoroughly.  She can't keep anything in.  She just really can't eat right now.   She is on an antibiotic to kill whatever is causing the infection, as well as a couple of other things.  Yesterday she was feeling better and could get out of bed and then this morning back to the same old severe pains and other things that are not good.

She has no energy right now and feels wiped out!

Please pray for our family's health.   We know things could be so much worse and we are thankful that this is all it is, but it is still hard for us.

"Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you."  Mark 11:24


"the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick..."   James 5:16


"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."    Phil. 4:16

"Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; GOD is a refuge for us!"  Psalm 62:8

One more thing......while your praying....will you please lift up some sweet friends of ours back in the states who are in the adoption process of a young girl.  They are praying about adopting one or two more and building a house for a group of orphans in India!  Yea, their pretty awesome to be so obedient!  They are in need of prayers!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!! We don't take it lightly that so many people around the world are praying for us, as we are for you!

much love from the vanhorn's

catching up....

I miss blogging about everything Romania!  Our internet has been on the fritz for the last week or so and sometimes we have it and sometimes we don't...uurrrggghhh!

I am going to try and back track and fill you in on what's been going on.

*The Maternity Center has been going well. There are a couple of new ladies there.  I just finished up a series of lessons on the Gospel.  It is so hard for them to understand it all it seems.  The Eastern Orthodox religious system is just SO different than Christianity and following Jesus.
They all tried convincing me last week that my belief in Jesus and living for Him is the same as what they believe in the Eastern Orthodox church!  I don't think so!  So, here I go learning all I can about Eastern Orthodox so I can defend the Gospel and hopefully make much of Jesus.  I want these women to just know Him and the freedom there is in Christ.
We have been doing some crafts together because they like it so much.  Next Monday we are just going to cook together and make Monster Cookies.  Should be fun!

*Sumugiu & Meirleu are finally taking off.  These are the villages where we work in the schools.  We have been to Sumugiu a couple of times and LOVE IT!  They are so excited when we get there.  We cannot wait to get to know them more.  Today we took them snacks and juice bottles ( a huge treat for them!).  Next week we are watching Finding Nemo and talking about some important lessons we can learn from the movie, such as obedience, consequences of disobedience and courage.  The teachers asked us to bring a movie for the kids so this is what we will do next week.
~This Thursday will actually be our first day at the school in Meirleu!  Our paperwork is finally done!!  We are going to be meeting with the kids at the Community Center in the village in the afternoon once a week to share Bible with them, play games, do crafts, give them attention and love, etc.
~Home visits have been something that we really enjoy doing.  We have visited some families in poor conditions in these villages. Praise the Lord that we have a sponsor for one family in the village of Sumugiu.  They have four children and needed help.  

*Steve is starting up a Men's Fellowship the first week of April at government housing (think something kind of like the projects).  Some of the people here are being sponsored with monthly food packages by families back in the states.  We pray some of these men will come too.  Please pray for the men who will come and that they would know and feel that they are free to share openly and will not be judged.

*Several families in several villages are sponsored with monthly food packages by families back in the U.S. We have been typing up quarterly newsletters for some of those sponsors so that they can get updates on the families they support.

*We have been struggling with contentment at times and the Lord has been so gracious to remind us of Paul who had learned contentment in all circumstances.  Praying that we are learning and will live out our life as Paul did. Knowing we have everything we need and more in Jesus!

*Seeing so much poverty, abuse, hunger, etc. is pretty depressing.  We have had many days where we go visit families who only have rice in their home or pig fat to spread on bread to eat.  I don't understand why God chose them to be in those circumstances and not me, but I'm thankful. Every night we thank God for our life and for our good.  We know full well that everything we have has come from Him! His provision! We are hopeful that God will draw these people to Himself and that they would know Jesus!  There is always HOPE!

*It has been neat doing ministry with our entire family.  It has brought about some changes in other families. Namely, other men seeing what a godly husband and father should be doing with their family (thanks Stevo) and them making small changes for the good.  Praying that this continues so that God will be glorified in their families!

*Language learning is coming slowly and surely.  We have weekly lessons (thank Lanie & Ana!) and are learning a lot.

*We have a car now which has made life much more convenient and easier for ministry.

*It has been very cold and wet here lately, but today was sunny and cold, which I will take sunny over rainy any day!  Ready for spring!!

*Lots of other great stuff going on, but I will have to give more details later.  Off to bed!

Prayer for Japan

Our hearts are broken for the people of Japan.  We are speechless. We know it could be our land and our people in the same situation.  It is by God's grace and mercy that today we are alive and healthy and know HIM!  

Right now please stop and cry out to God on behalf of the people in Japan.  

Below is a prayer written by John Piper from www.desiringgod.org

Pray.

The power of moving water is greater than most of us can imagine. Nothing stands before it. We are driven to our knees:

Father in heaven, you are the absolute Sovereign over the shaking of the earth, the rising of the sea, and the raging of the waves. We tremble at your power and bow before your unsearchable judgments and inscrutable ways. We cover our faces and kiss your omnipotent hand. We fall helpless to the floor in prayer and feel how fragile the very ground is beneath our knees.

O God, we humble ourselves under your holy majesty and repent. In a moment—in the twinkling of an eye—we too could be swept away. We are not more deserving of firm ground than our fellowmen in Japan. We too are flesh. We have bodies and homes and cars and family and precious places. We know that if we were treated according to our sins, who could stand? All of it would be gone in a moment. So in this dark hour we turn against our sins, not against you.

And we cry for mercy for Japan. Mercy, Father. Not for what they or we deserve. But mercy.

Have you not encouraged us in this? Have we not heard a hundred times in your Word the riches of your kindness, forbearance, and patience? Do you not a thousand times withhold your judgments, leading your rebellious world toward repentance? Yes, Lord. For your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts.

Grant, O God, that the wicked will forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Grant us, your sinful creatures, to return to you, that you may have compassion. For surely you will abundantly pardon. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, your beloved Son, will be saved.

May every heart-breaking loss—millions upon millions of losses—be healed by the wounded hands of the risen Christ. You are not unacquainted with your creatures' pain. You did not spare your own Son, but gave him up for us all.

In Jesus you tasted loss. In Jesus you shared the overwhelming flood of our sorrows and suffering. In Jesus you are a sympathetic Priest in the midst of our pain.

Deal tenderly now, Father, with this fragile people. Woo them. Win them. Save them.

And may the floods they so much dread make blessings break upon their head.

O let them not judge you with feeble sense, but trust you for your grace. And so behind this providence, soon find a smiling face.

In Jesus’ merciful name, Amen.

Titus 3:3-7

"For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

BUT, when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, HE saved us,


not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness,


but according to HIS MERCY,

by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

~Titus 3:3-7

This is GOOD NEWS!

dare to cast the first stone...

The other day our family went for a walk to get bread.

Without fail, every time we go for a walk we see a gypsy or gypsies digging in the dumpster for food.

This particular day we saw a mother and her young son...probably about nine.  He had a pair of shoes on his hands to keep them warm instead of gloves.

They were on one side of the street digging for food in the dumpster.  On the other side of the street were a group of children about the same age as the gypsy boy.  They were laughing and we could tell them were talking badly to this boy.

Then, they started throwing rocks at him.  Not just small rocks, but pretty big ones. Put your hand in a fist and that is about the size of the rocks they were throwing at him.

Steve saw and yelled to them, "Nu mai....Nu mai!"  No more! No more!

They laughed and rode off on their bikes.

"The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?"


"...But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up and said to them, 'He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her'.....when they heard it they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones and He was left alone, and the women, where she was, in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?' She said, 'No one Lord.' And Jesus said, 'I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."


John 8:1-11


That group of kids felt like they were better than that gypsy boy.  They felt like scribes and Pharisees!

Until Steve came to his defense and told them to stop.

I was that adulterous woman!  Deserving to be stoned because of my depraved nature. Full of sin.

Until Jesus came to my defense!

Seeing that gypsy boy having rocks thrown at him reminded me of what I have been saved from and who saved me!  That Jesus took my place!  And now there is "no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus!" ~Romans 8:1

Ziua Mamei

March 8th is Mother's Day in Romania!

Here are my two precious gifts! 

SO thankful to be Noah's & Paige's Momma!  

"Behold, children are a gift of the Lord,

the fruit of the womb is a reward."

Today our whole family got to go to the school in Sumugiu to do activities with the students. 

The school is K-4th grade and combined there are about 45-50 students. 

Our translator, Andrea, lives in Meirleu, which is on the way so we picked her and her son up first and they went with us to the school.  

We had so much fun!!

I took my camera and a small printer and we printed out a picture of each student and made Mother's Day cards.  Cameras are expensive and a lot of people here are not able to have pictures to keep as a memory so they all love pictures!!  And I love to take them!  

The teachers were so sweet and cute. They all wanted pictures printed out of them working with their students....helping them glue and write....because they never had pictures of this before. 

This is the Kindergarten class 

(K is actually preschool in RO)

Here are grades 1-4th all together with their finished cards.

Steve talked with them about the importance of honoring their mothers 

and how they can do that at home everyday.

We played games.  

It was fun for everybody!  

Can't wait for more.....

Ziua Mamei!

this one is for the grandparents....

Our February

Valentine's Day!!

Paige's monkey face

Opening a Valentine package from

GiGi & Pop

Playing Doctor

Rubby the bear and monkey were sick!

I found this and thought it was hilarious!

They put their sound machine on the bear

as a heart monitor b/c he was sick!!!

He also had cataracts so he needed eye surgery

and there is something on his nose for sinuses.  

Pretty genius!

President's Day

This is Noah's "George Washington" wig....he got tired of gluing

cotton balls....

Hibernation

They learned about different animals that hibernate in the winter.

They made snow covered bear caves.

Tea Party!

Noah, Paige & Simi

***************************

We Love You All

&

Miss You SOOO Much!!!

Good Housekeeping

I have always thought that I kept a clean house....until today!

Our cute little terribly insulated house was being taken over by mold spores and mildew was spreading all over the walls!!  I could smell it!!  Now, this happened, not because I am not clean, but because this house is not insulated. It is cold outside....warm inside....lots of moisture and condensation....thus the mildew.

I went over and got my landlord and we begin to play charades trying to explain to each other about our mold situation and what to do with it.

She came in and we tore this place apart! We moved every piece of furniture, sprayed every wall, swept, vacuumed and mopped every piece of flooring!  She was amazingly helpful!  But, I couldn't help wondering what she thought of me as she told me to clean my mirrors and saw my trash can overflowing!

She was a cleaning maniac!  These Romanian women know how to keep you humble.