Romania: Turning The Page

Hello my dear friends and readers! My apologies for not posting more while I was abroad. Writing is my passion, but it also requires a large investment of personal time and concentration for me to capture my thoughts and impressions and pin them to the page. Sometimes I chose to invest time in the people around me rather than write....and other times I was just plain lazy. So now I find myself a month past the end of my short sojourn in Romania, but I would like to share with you a bit more of what we did while I was there.

Since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, it is not traditionally celebrated in Romania, although I believe some Romanians have adopted a Thanksgiving Day of sorts....I'm not quite clear on that, though.  The missionaries who work together in this city have a big Thanksgiving meal and celebration with friends, but this year they were waiting for Scott and Carolyn to return from the States.  So we had no special plans for the day, but I wanted to do something to celebrate, since I couldn't be with my family.  I invited our friend Edith to join us for dinner.  It wasn't turkey with all the trimmings (I confess, I bought rotisserie chicken to make it easy on myself)....but we made a yummy meal, shared it with a friend, and enjoyed a game of Sequence....followed by dessert!  We enjoyed ourselves quite well.

One chilly Saturday, the girls started pulling out Christmas decorations and craft supplies.  They love getting creative with crafts!  The four of us ended up making hours of fun with glitter, glue, and foam cutouts.

By late November, Christmas had come to the city! I can handle living in the city for short periods of time, but it is definitely not my abode of choice. However, I do love the way cities get decked out for the holidays! One Sunday evening, the girls and I enjoyed a stroll through the light-decked center of Arad.  There was a rock concert going on, and let me tell you, the place was packed!

Then on the first of December, we hopped on a train to visit the nearby city of Timisoara for the day and see the festivities in honor of Romania's national Union Day! This is the celebration of three major regions becoming the country of Romania. That happened in 1918, if I remember correctly. Of course, you can always google it if you really want to know! We met a friend who lives in that city and spent the afternoon eating and hanging out at the lavish mall. In the evening, we all walked to the town center and participated in the countdown to officially light up the night! The display in Timisoara is bigger and more beautiful than Arad's. The center was packed with people and it started raining later in the evening, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

In front of the grand orthodox cathedral in Victory Square.

Two of the girls with our friend Andrea.

The Opera House through a veil of lights!

As you can see, we made a lot of fun memories!  Everyone loves sightseeing and celebrations, but I am also grateful for the many little daily opportunities God gave me to enter into the girls' lives. Things like attending Friday night youth church with them, working together to help clean the church and set up for a garage sale that raised money for a new church building, going to watch a basketball game, walks and photo shoots in the park and with the dogs, eating together, practicing Romanian words, playing basketball, going to the movies.  Ana and I were able to read all the way through the Jesus Storybook Bible by the time I left.  This was a special bonding time for the two of us, and it was great to watch her grow in her English reading skill and to talk about the Scriptures together.


I wish I had something really profound to wrap up my two months in Romania, but I don’t.  Maybe the profundity of life is hidden in the small things.  Like day by day, moment by moment, just being faithful in the things God puts before us.  Learning to be present for the people around us.  Smiles.  Laughter.  Making paper Christmas chains with mental patients.  Cuddling and playing with a baby in the hospital.  Reading Bible stories from a kids’ book.  Fitting puzzles together with a friend.  Glue and glitter and creativity around the table.  Playing a game.  Eating together.  Hugs.  Playing worship music.  Popcorn and a movie.

Like learning a new language, life often feels like it is made up of a lot of disjointed “words”….unrelated events, random encounters….making sounds but not making much sense.  It is hard to put full sentences together, let alone have an intelligible conversation!  Living intentionally doesn’t come easy….it takes long, hard practice.  Daily practice.  If we take the time to contemplate our life and make the effort to live well, day after day, I believe we will begin to see patterns and better recognize the hand of God.  God gives moments of clarity, but they may come years down the road.  

I don't know if God will call me back to Romania.  He may take me someplace altogether different. Maybe He will plug me into a place where He wants me to fully invest my heart for the long-term. Or maybe I'll always be a wanderer.  But I believe that my Sovereign God uses every situation, circumstance, opportunity, and person in my life to shape me according to His purpose....that I may be a vessel fit for His glory and a bold proclaimer of His story to the world.