Most difficult thing ever....

So this is going to be the most difficult blog post I have ever written, or probably will ever write. We are going home. We leave a week from today. We are not leaving because we hate Romania, or because we are homesick or anything like that. We are leaving because I am having some health problems that can't be addressed here in Romania. And it breaks our hearts to leave.

I don't know if anyone besides Ray understands what this is like. To go from disliking some place to calling it home all in the span of 6 months and then you pack up to leave. We have grown to love it here and we have made some wonderful friends. It truly is a bitter sweet time. I never really understood what that meant until this situation. I am so excited to go home and see my family and my friends, but at the same time how do I leave people that I love that I will probably never see again?

I have cried about this lots of times and I will cry about it lots more times. Romanians are some of the warmest people you will ever meet. We have been welcomed and loved by these people and it is so hard to go. But in the end we both think it is what is the right thing to do.

18 carolers caroling!

Tonight we got to hear something special....we had carolers at our house! I guess in Romania, this is something that people do, and this is the night they go on. My language teacher told me some stuff about it, like it is mostly children and they sing for money! But traditionally what you would give is apples and oranges and nuts. But since I am not Romanian I gave something that i think is traditional to me....baked goods!

Our wonderful babysitter Angela who I talk about all the time was the one who asked me if she could carol at our house and I said yes of course! She told me she would be coming with her family and a few other people....here is who came to my house tonight....


This is more then I was expecting, but I was so happy to see all of them! Most of these people are people I have meet before. I don't remember everyone's name, but they all go to church with Angela. And yes, there were two guys playing guitars! The one with the black guitar is Marius, and Parker loves him! He speaks wonderful English and every time we are with him he always plays with Parker. The little girl in front is one of Angela's daughters, her name is Sara. And then the couple right in the middle is Dan and Ana, they just got married! Okay there are lots more people and lots of names I don't know!

Here are some pictures of them in action..

Here is my sweet friend Angela!

This so neat, and we really enjoyed these people coming to our house and singing for us! We only understood a little of what they sang, but I enjoyed every minute of it!

reflections....

It has been awhile since last blogged and I tonight I have been thinking about our time here in Romania. We have almost been here for 6 months, some times it seems like we have been here longer and sometimes the time seems to fly by. There are days that I am surprised we are still here! When we first got here I was in such a state of shock that I just knew we were not going to make it! I remember riding in the car after we left the airport and seeing Romania for the first time and thinking okay, this is nice but we won't be here for very long! In fact when I unpacked all our boxes I put them in the attic because I thought I would need them again to re-pack to go home!

But we have made it to the almost 6 month mark. This has been such a unique experience for our family. It has changed our family in so many ways and really pushed us to our limits. I have done stuff that I never thought I could do before, and that is sometimes surprising. We have become so close as a family here that it has made it all worth it. All the ups and downs here, all the tears and wanting to go home have been worth it to see where my family is today. There are not the regular distractions here like there would be at home. We are spending so much time together, the kids have really enjoyed having us home more, especially Ray. Speaking of Ray, I have enjoyed having him here too. We are not used to being around each other so much, and I was a little worried about it in the beginning, but it has turned out to be so much fun!

We have also made some super great friends. People I would have never met before and I have been affected and changed by each one, my new American friends and my new Romanian friends! My kids have made some great friends too, and that has been wonderful.

The last 6 months have been a roller coaster of ups and downs, super highs and super lows, but life our life has changed and our family has changed for the better!

New floors, new floors!!

Have you ever moved somewhere and it just didn't feel like your house? You moved all your stuff in and you decorate every thing and your kids colored on the wall, but it still just isn't home? That is what I was feeling in our new house in Romania. It just didn't feel like home.

Let me back track a bit. The IMB has provided us with a wonderful place to live. Most of the housing here is block apartments. They are really not bad, but for the size of our family it would have been difficult. So we live in a nice house that even has a yard for the kids to play in. But it just didn't feel like "my place".

Something had to change. We talked about changing the wall colors and stuff like that but in the end we thought we would wait. And I don't think the paint would make me feel more at home. Our living room is pink and our kitchen is green. That may sound strange, but having those colors are better then having white...anyway!

Our kitchen floor was tile. It was actually tile that was for a wall, not for the floor. The tile was cracking and the grout was coming up. That was a huge problem because there were pieces if grout all over the floor and when I would try to sweep my floors food would get stuck in the places where the grout was supposed to be....so gross!

So we were told we could get new floors!! I didn't really want tile again so we started looking at the laminate wood floors and I fell in love! But I wasn't sure of the cost and if it would work in the kitchen and all that stuff.

I was so happy when I found out it would be okay. Ray went and bought all the stuff and he picked out the best color, I loved it as soon as I saw it....here is all the boxes of flooring for our kitchen and living room....

And here are some before and after pictures of the kitchen and living room...

Here is the kitchen with the sink and some cabinets taken out. See how gross the floor is? You probably can't tell by this picture, but the floor was pretty bad.



Now the living room floor wasn't coming up, and it wasn't bad at all. It was just ugly! But since we were not spending very much on the floors we were able to do both rooms. Here is the living room before...
Yes, that is pink tile on the floor!


Timothy and Benjamin were so excited to have the furniture in the middle of the room! I have to say our poor babysitter really worked hard trying to watch those little boys while the guys were here doing the floor. Benjamin and Timothy wanted to get into everything and be right in the way of the 2 guys working on the floor. Okay so now on to the good part, the after pictures...



How good does that look!!!




Isn't it wonderful! It really has changed the entire look of our house and it has changed my attitude as well! I think it feels warmer now, more like a home and less like a place we are just staying! Plus it is warmer, like heat warmer! Our tile floors were so cold and with winter here that was no fun. Now Angela our babysitter and Cristina my language teacher are no longer giving me a hard time for not wearing socks! It is almost a crime here to go barefoot, and I do not like to wear socks very much! Anyway, this is my new house and I love it!

small victories!

So today is a day all about small victories....big deal right....umm right! Let me start at the beginning so you all can understand why today was about victories! I hate Saturdays, kinda harsh I know, but I really do. I figured out why today when Ray I were talking about it, when we were in Oklahoma we always spent Saturday with our families. We always saw my parents, Rays grandparents, and sometimes his mom and one of his brothers.(The other brother doesn't live in the same town as we did!) That was the great thing about staying where we grew up, our families were there too. So being here on Saturdays sucks. We miss our families most on Saturdays. So I am counting all my small victories today and my first one was making it through today!

I also went to the store by our house and bought something, like I do most days. There is a nice young man there...I sound really old saying that, anyway, he speaks English but he only talks to me in Romanian unless I need help and I can't figure out what something is. Well he speaks super fast. I am super fast. Most of the time I have to ask him what he said because I can't understand him. Well today when he told me how much I owed him I gave him the right amount! When I handed it to him I looked at him and said..."That's right, right?" He smiled and said yes, and then he probably thought I was crazy. I kinda did this Napoleon Dynamite thing and said YES!

And then Ray and I went Christmas shopping with out the kids! The stores were so crowded. That is one thing Americans and Romanians have in common! People were everywhere grabbing toys and hitting me with their shopping carts. But I can't blame them for that one, because shopping carts here a nuts. All four wheels move and they can go sideways and all kinds of crazy things. So someone running into me wasn't a shocker. Anyway the victory in this was that Ray I went to two different places, Carrefour and a store kind of like Sams didn't fight about anything the entire time. Not that we fight a lot, but shopping for 4 kids on a busy Saturday night in the rain when we had no umbrella can be a little stressful, but we sailed through it with flying colors and we bought all the kids presents in one night....go team Foreman!

And my last victory is that my family is excited about going to church tomorrow. I guess this is a family victory but I write the blog so I am calling it mine! Most of you know that church here has been a huge source of stress for me. But about a month ago we found a church that we love and the kids love. They have Sunday school for all the kids. Parker wasn't so happy about it the first few times we went, but then tonight he said to me, Mom, are we going to go to church tomorrow. I said yes. And he said...good, because I if we are planning on going there from now on, then I want to go every Sunday so I can make friends! And when I was tucking Timothy into bed he asked me if we were going to church because he loved it and he needed to play with his teachers!

So today ended up being a good day. Sometimes it was hard and I missed home, but in the end I am still sitting here in Romania, so I guess it was a good day!

you say its your birthday....

My birthday was yesterday, and it was a day was dreading....sad huh? This last weekend had been kinda hard on me, being away from home for the first time on Thanksgiving, and then my birthday. The day started out as kind of a bummer, it was raining and I felt like poop on a stick. And yes that is really a medical term....I asked a doctor and its official.

The kids went to school and Ray went to his office to do so work and I waited for our babysitter and my language teacher to get here, so it was like any other day. Until my babysitter came in carrying roses and a gift for me! She remembered it was my birthday! I couldn't believe it! We hugged and I opened my gift...it was sweater which I loved! So then Cristina and I went up stairs to start language. I sat down and she said close your eyes....

When I opened them, she had a princess crown for me...because that's how I roll, and a beautifully wrapped gift for me!! This was a huge surprise! I opened my gifts and she got me a coffee mug...she knows I love coffee, and a super cute angle candle.

We had a shorter then normal language class because I wasn't feeling well, but she had gone out of her way to prepare a lesson all about my birthday, and then Angela my babysitter cleaned my kitchen for me!

I received so many happy birthdays, I just couldn't believe it. The kids made a cake, and my sister emailed me videos of my family saying happy birthday! So even thought I couldn't be with them I still got to see them! I celebrated my birthday in way I never had before, it was so special, and I'm sure a birthday I will remember for a long time.

Our first Thanksgiving....

Well I survived Thanksgiving! Big deal right....ummm it is! This was my first Thanksgiving that I didn't spend with my parents and my sisters...seriously! But I am lucky to be somewhere with some great people who are just like family, and my own wonderful family that I am ever so thankful for! We spent the day with several other mission families who made our day special. Lots of good food and I only had to make green bean casserole and rolls....

The only glitch for my Thanksgiving was the rolls I was making. My mom makes the most wonderful rolls, she make them only for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I thought I would try to make them here....well that didn't go as planned. I'm not sure what happened, but they didn't look anything like my moms. After a small cry and a little feeling sorry for my self we went and bought some new ones at the store. Speaking of going to the store, that is the one good thing about living in a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, the stores are open and there are no lines, so that is more thing tho be thankful for!

So today I was ready to put Thanksgiving behind us and get on with Christmas. The kids helped me by making paper chains for the trees...yes, I meant to type trees, we have two...





This is something the kids love doing! Plus I love having home made things at Christmas. We also made some more ornaments out of pipe cleaners and we strung popcorn which is something I always did growing up. This was my kids first time to do it.



Look its a picture of me!! I hardly ever make it into my blogs....what a big day for me! And now here is a picture of our mostly home made trees!

This picture really doesn't show how cute the trees really look, but they do! There isn't to much popcorn on the tree, even though they were so excited to do it, about half way through they wanted to stop because they kept sticking theie fingers with the needle...I said no, take one for the team kids and string your popcorn!

I got writers block while trying to title this blog...

Okay...I have been wanting to blog about this for awhile, but every time I thought about it I never had my camera with me...on a side note did you know that the word camera (spelled the same except there is a smiley over the last a, and when I say smiley I mean a smiley mouth) in Romanian means room?

Anyway back to my blog...it is about driving! I think I have pretty much gotten used to driving in Bucharest. But for those of you that have never been here, it is super crazy to drive here. My babysitter Angela is surprised I am already driving because she won't drive here because she is to scared...and she is Romanian!

There are lots of things that I love about driving here, for starters people honk all the time. This might drive some people crazy, but I love it! If you are frustrated, just honk, no one will care, and no one will know where the honk came from because everyone else is honking. I also love that you can pretty much drive how ever you want. There are days I feel like a professional stunt driver. Another good thing is that if traffic is bad and you need to get across the intersection cars just kind of keep sneaking out until the cars coming toward them have to stop...so it makes getting across a busy intersection pretty easy.

But there are things that I just can't seem to get used to, and it is people parking really and truly in a lane that other people are driving in! People just put their flasher lights on and then just stop and get out and park there....


This sad car only had one blinking light, but sometimes there is no need at all the use your lights, just go on ahead and park....


In the picture above, the car on the left is driving in their lane, but the two cars in the right hand lane are just parked there, hanging out with in drivers in them! And then there are all the cars that park on the side walk....

This street is lined with cars just parked on the sidewalk!

This guy is on the sidewalk and the street....that's talent!

This is by far my all time favorite picture of a car parked on a sidewalk. This is a church that the car is park in front of! Now granted most churches here don't have parking lots, but really?? Okay so another funny thing about this picture is that I took it on my way home from getting the kids from school, and Parker was in the front seat, so I made him roll his window down so I could stick my camera out of the window and take the picture....well I think he could have just died. He kept telling me how embarrassed he was! But I embarrass my kids on a pretty regular basis, so I didn't really care.

Now you might be wondering how I got all these pictures....I took them while I was driving! Some may think that is dangerous, but I told you in the beginning of this blog that 1. people really don't care how you drive, so no one minded my slow driving in order to take pictures, and 2. I told you I kinda felt like stunt driver, it took some fancy driving to get some of these pictures!

drop that funky techno beat...

So today has been a really good day. Most of you all know that I have a new language teacher, and I really like her, she is lots of fun to have as a teacher....are you reading this Cristina....that is what we call kissing up in engish! But I really do like her and I am learning lots of things! And a bonus is that I am now at the top of my class for the first time ever... and so what if I am her only student!

Also I love picking the kids up from school everyday. It takes me anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. But I really love this time. I get in the car and listen to the radio. You would never believe the amount of radio stations that are in English. I never know what is going to be playing. Sometimes I hear classic rock, and today I was surprised to hear country on the Romantic radio station! There is also Eminen, and Katy Perry, and Shakira...who I love, Sharkira that is, not necessary Eminem! And I have also grown to love all things techno! It seems like lots of the music here has a techno beat. I couldn't stand it when we first moved here, and I didn't understand why...but I have had a change of heart...I can rock that funky techno beat!

So other then that, what else happened today...oh yeah! We got packages from home! That's right I said packages!! I can never describe to people how I feel when we get something in the mail. It really and truly is a huge blessing to us, especially this week with Thanksgiving coming up and my birthday is on Monday. I was missing home! Among all the wonderful things we got were coffee that is out of this world, wonderful craft things for the kids, and my birthday present from my sister....which made me cry! She got me a shutterfly book with twin pictures...I'm a twin if some of you didn't know. The book has pictures from the day we were born until the day I left for Romania...that is why I cried! Okay, here is a picture of some of the things we got today, its a mess and not organized, but we get a little crazy up in here when we get packages....


That is Lizzies little hand in the picture showing some boggie wipes we got! So I am thankful for packages and thankful for music in English....especially music with a techno beat....word!

Making ornaments...

Christmas is approaching fast....hello the title of my last blog was Time Marches on...anyway, and I am not prepared! I didn't bring any of my Christmas stuff with me to Romania, a decision I am totally regretting, but it it what it is! My mom did bring me some stuff when she came to visit, and I have some stuff I bought from another missionary family who moved back to the States. But I don't have a lot, and I don't have any ornaments...well I didn't until today that is! Today my sweet kids made ornaments for our tree!

Here are the kids working on the ornaments my mom sent. They painted these, well all the kids painted except Benjamin, see all the markers in front of him!! I thought this would be easier to clean up!
Here is Lizzie totally rocking my hat, or really its my sisters hat...but considering that it is here in Romania with me, we will just call it mine!

This was taken before Timothy started wiping paint on himself and on the table, I guess he too should have been using the markers!

Then I looked online for some kind of dough ornaments the kids can make, and I found a recipe for something called salt dough. It is kind of like play dough, the kids make shapes and then you bake them, and then you can paint them! I thought this would be fun....


Here are Parker and Lizzie shaping their dough. I made the little kids do hand prints in their dough. They weren't to happy about it, but I didn't really care. I thought their hand prints would be so cute! So after they baked in the oven it was time to paint them...


Now, the first set of pictures of the kids painting look very similar to the second set, except for on huge difference. My little boys have no hair in the second set! In between the kids making their ornament shapes and painting them Ray shaved their heads! Timothy I can handle, but I loved Benjamin soft little red head! He looks kinda strange with no hair. And its okay if I say he looks strange, and there are 2 reasons why it is okay....1st. I gave birth to him and I love him no matter what he looks like, and 2nd. Because he can't read and has no access to the computer so he will never know that I think he looks strange!

Time Marches On....

My kids are having a problem figuring out how long we have been here. Today in the car on the way home from school Parker and Lizzie started to discuss the amount of time we have been living in Bucharest. For some reason Lizzie thought we had been here a year already to which Parker told her there is no way we have been here that long, but we have been here at least over 300 days!

I'm not sure where they are getting there facts on time, because its not coming from me. If they were to have asked me how long we have been here I could have told them we have been here for 139 days, or 200,160 minutes, or 3,336 hours, or more simply 20 weeks! But no one asked me!

Our time here has flown by so far. I can't believe it is almost Thanksgiving and really more importantly my birthday is coming up. And its not just my birthday, I share that super day with my twin sister Beth and her daughter Emmy! Here is a picture of all of us last year on our birthday....
Yep, we are wearing princess crowns...because that's how we roll!

road trip...

Today was a super fun day. We went to the mountains, with some friends of ours. It is about a 2 hour drive form where we live and it is totally worth it. We just went for the day, but I still packed things like we were going to be gone overnight. It takes a lot to go anywhere with 4 kids, who knows what could happen. So here is what went with us...5 diapers, a package of wipes, 15 snack sized zip-lock baggies with snacks in them, 5 bottles if water, plus one big bottle to refill little bottles, 1 sippy cup, a change of clothes for everyone...well everyone but Ray and I, we don't usually wet our pants, paper, crayons, a few small toys, a stroller, 2 blankies, and a first aid kit...for obvious reason...hello...Benjamin!

So after a couple of hours and a couple of bathroom stops later we arrive at our first town, Brasov. It is just beautiful. Wonderful old buildings, and architecture. There is a cute little town square there that is full of pigeons, and the kids loved them! There is also a wonderful old church there.
The kids with the pigeons!

This is the town square.

I couldn't get a good picture of the church, but here it is, its the big building in the background.

This town was cute, it was like something out of a fairy tail.

Our next stop was a town called Sinaia. We went to Peles Castle here. It was beautiful...


And if you needed to buy souvenirs...




So we had a great day, we got to spend time with some great friends, and see some cool stuff. I will leave you with one last picture, its my favorite...

What a cute couple!

yes please...

Some of you may not know of my love of all things free. I'm not as crazy about it as some people are...you know how you are! But I have been known to go to the grocery store with coupons and get free things, like the time I went a little crazy and got, oh I don't know maybe 15 boxes of Kebler Elf cookies. And when I got all of those I had every intention of sharing them, and I did. I shared with Ray and I let the kids have one or two cookies. Anyway I love free anything, I mean anything. If its a sample of something I will take it, if its food from my Moms house I'll help myself. Just so you know taking food from a parents house when they are not home and have no idea that you are there taking food is not stealing. Here is why...because at one point you probably lived in the house you are taking food from, and at one point your parents were paying for the food you ate. I just feel like it is still you getting your share of what already belongs to you. Can I get an amen?

So tonight when I was grocery shopping I was very excited to see this....

That my friends is milk with oreos attached...ummm yes please, I will take 10!

Keeping it real...

If you know me very well then you know I am far from being a "grown up". There are times I can't believe I have kids, let alone four of them! When Ray and I bought our second house I was so excited and I told people it was my grown up house, like the ones real adults live in! So it seems like it has hit me here in Romania that yep, I'm an adult! Tonight I was taking the metro to meet a friend by myself, something I don't do very often and I had to call Ray and tell him how adult I felt! But I guess that defeats the entire thing if I have to call someone and tell them I really feel grown up...

Anyway I have starting doing more baking and things now as well. I never really baked bread or did any of that type of stuff before. That was always something my mom did. (She makes really good french bread). So I guess I just thought I couldn't do it. Well I was wrong...I can! I have started making all kinds of things from scratch and I am having so much fun doing and I guess you could say feeling very grown up about it too!

Today I made bagels and I think they turned out pretty good and they weren't to much work.
Here is a picture of my bagels before I put them in the oven. I had to boil them first and then they go in the oven...


And here they are after I took them out of the oven. Parker was very impressed with my stacking abilities, but then again I am a grown up and I have been stacking things way longer then he has....

I may have realized I am an adult, but I still can't believe I will be 32 in a few weeks. I know that isn't very old, but I remember when I thought it was sooo old. But I do have one comforting thought. No matter how old I get, I have several wonderful friends who will always be older then me....shout out to you Leslie and to you Mrs. T...you guys are oldies but goodies!

My confession....

I have a confession to make....I made sugar cookies today. But my confession is not that I made the cookies, it is the reason I had to make the cookies. I have a can of frosting that has been taunting me from inside the cabinet every time I opened it. So I lost my battle with the frosting and I opened it. And I ate maybe half the container. I keep it in the fridge, kinda hidden and I would go by, open the fridge and scoop some out...with my finger. I did this for a few days and then today I started to feel bad about it. I felt bad that I wasn't sharing it. No one knew about it, not even Ray. In fact Ray won't know about it until he reads this!

So I thought I should make cookies and ice them with the left over frosting. even though I had my fingers stuck in it several times! But I think its okay, we are a family and they share my germs all the time. In fact I am notorious for drinking out of containers at my moms house. She will be standing there and I will drink out of the orange juice container. So I have no problem sharing my germs with my family. Just so every one knows, if I am cooking for other people I don't do this, I do have some standards. But I wonder if mentioning this will get me out of making anything for our team worship every month.....hmmmm!

Okay anyway I made cookies to rid myself of the guilt, here are the cookies...

These are not cute cookies. But they are cookies. I have a super great friend who makes wonderful sugar cookies, and this is not anywhere close to what she can do! But you should look at her blog and see how talented she is....

So know I don't feel bad about the frosting and my family has cookies...it a good day.

And on a completely unrelated thing my wonderful babysitter came over the other day to help me with my Romanian and help me clean at the same time...how great is that. But we had to go shopping for cleaning supplies first because she thought I needed some new things. This is one of the things she said I needed....

This is Mr. Proper! He looks like someone else I might know, maybe they are related....




So there is Mr. Proper, Mr. Clean, and there is also a Mr. Wonderful....



The other two are okay, but Mr. Wonderful is fantastic...Happy Veterans Day honey!!!