This year has been slipping by so quickly. Some of you may wonder what is happening at Casa Shalom. We are getting ready for some changes. There are always new laws relating to working with children here in Romania. The government wants to close down orphanages and children's homes and have the children stay in foster families. We have been working many months trying to find the parents of some of the abandoned children we have in our home. This has been so time consuming but we are so thrilled that we have found the parents of several of our children. The gov't said they couldn't find them but we didn't take no for an answer.

Now we have been extra busy with our garden and working outside. I love flowers and have planted them everywhere. It will be beautiful this summer. The end of  June we start our first Kids Camp.  So many want to come but we will try to keep the limit at 50 kids for the first camp. We have Paul Gallina coming back from Tennesse with a team to help teach the kids and of course to have lots of fun and fellowship with some real energic Romanian kids. David and Kathy Walker will be bringing a team by for a few days and also minister at the Kids Camp. We want to speak into the lives of these precious young people.

It's going to be down to the wire before we get our house ready for all our campers.  We have spent hundreds of hours
working in the attic to make this a super nice dorm for the girls or the guys. We just painted the room and now need the carpet and light fixtures.  Yes, this will be a little costly but by faith we will have the carpet in and the lights on by the end of June.

I have some exciting stories to write about our kids. I just found the father of one of our little abandoned boys. You talk about being happy. This little boy, Marius is like a light bulb glowing from ear to ear. He is nine yrs. old has been here for  seven yrs.  The father heard he had died in the hospital and never  looked for him.  This was  such a beautiful reunion. Marius will finish his school year and then we make preparations for him to be re-united with his family. We will continue to make monthly visits and see what he has need of and that he is doing well in school. This is what we do for all the children that leave us. It's a new part of the ministry.

I will share more in our new Casa Shalom newsletter.
If you would like to be on our mailing list just send us your name and address.

Have a great day, be thankful for all your blessings.
God is still in control even when  it seems like all is going wrong.  You will see light at the end of the tunnel.  We have been there so we can tell you this from experience.

Shalom,
Becky
Casa Shalom, Romania

Bob Christian is a Navy Chaplain for a military ship with 350 people on board.  I think that is having your hands full. No Bob, he is always looking for places to help people and glorify God in practical ways along the way. Bob heard about us through a friend in Arkansas. The contact was made and immediately when Bob's, ship came into the dock at he port at Constanta he along with four sailors came on a six  hr. train ride to Bucharest.  We picked them up and they  spend  two days with us. They helped us accomplished so much work in such a short time. We were so surprised and greatly encouraged. We had just enough time to meet them, learn their names , have a little fellowship and then it was time to leave.  Their ship would be going to another country and they would have another project. We thank God for these fine dedicated men that are a part of the U.S. navy and wish them smooth sailing on the rest of their tour. 

This past month I took a little time to go on a missions retreat in Switzerland. I really needed the break and it was wonderful to meet other missionaries working all over Europe. Sometimes you feel that you are the only one going through problems and then you find out that there are a lot of people having the same challenges. It was a real time of encouragement and fellowship for American missionaries. The only down side was my van broke down driving up the mountain. Now let me tell you that was a scary experience when you are driving up a 9,000 ft. mountain. I finally got my van up the mountain and then had it repaired enough to get back down. A few hours later it broke down again on the highway. I had to just leave it set there and wait to have it taken back to Germany. Then I went for a short two week vacation with my husband, Joseph to visit beautiful Hawaii. This was our anniversary gift. It was absolutely beautiful. We even got to visit several churches while we were there. The coasts were beautiful. We saw a lot in eight days. Then we went back to Phoenix,Az. and drove up to the Grand Canyon. This was a place I always wanted to visit. It was mind bottling to see this canyon. Just wish we had a little more time to enjoy a sunset there. We picked up tapes and books for our Casa Shalom kids and headed by to Phoenix, Az. to catch a flight after visiting another friendly church. Now I am back in Bucharest and what a surprise to see all my kids. They seem to have grown so much while I was away. I am so glad to be back. The only negative thing was the service station called and told us that it's going to cost quite a bit of money to fix my van. Now we have to decide if we are going to keep it or just sell it. This makes us so sad as we just invested several thousand dollars in repairs last yr. Now we have to make a decision to tell the Ford Company tomorrow. Pray for us to know what to do.

 

 

 

Volunteers  have come from the U.S., England, Scotland and Ireland to  help at Casa Shalom this summer.  We have met so many wonderful compassionate and hard working people. First there were 14 Americans here to lay the block for our bakery in July. Some of our children helped them working side by side. It was a sight to see.

 Then we had a group of young people from London here helping us to organize things here at Casa Shalom, to visit some poor families and to have a great time playing socer with our kids. 

In August 65  volunteers poured in from Ireland and Scotland to help renovate our present house, painting inside and outside  and paint our out buildings. They helped to pour a nice cement entrance  and sidewalks for the new house. Then they helped to repair our house and put cement down to keep us out of the mud when we hang up our laundry. We are absolutely amazed at all the work that has been accomplished.  It is tremendous to see how much can be accomplished when people have a common goal and work together. The team leaders were excellent. We were all busy just keeping up getting all the needed materials and food. The weather was very hot and the Irish were not used to the over 100 degree temperatures.   

The last week of August we had another team from the U.S. and they came to just share with the children and see how they can be of help. Sometimes it's just nice to have someone to talk to. This was a great week for the kids and the staff.

Now we are getting ready for our yearly visit from Bible Missions and only God knows where we will be going. The schedule is to visit some prisons, a nursing home, to have a ladies tea, to reach out and visit the poor and visit some churches.  Yes, once again a very busy schedule. Keep us in your prayers.

So that is the lastest from the Casa Shalom family.

 Be back next month,

Becky

 

It sure has been a while since I got a chance to write on this blog. I wish you all the best in this New Year.  I am learning alot as I work on this website.  It's takes hours of time but I hope that it will give you all some valuable information.

We are looking forward to this new year and all that God has in store for Casa Shalom.

 

 

We just had a wonderful Sunday afternoon. I called our little widow lady that we just met in the gocery store a couple weeks ago. We have visited her twice and she loved every minute of it. I asked her if she would like to visit us. Her little face just just began to shine.  I told her I would bring her to Casa Shalom.  Yesterday we went to pick her up. As usual we were running behind schedule and she was standing at the door waiting for us.  She was so excited that we would take her to see where we lived at.

Now she was so happy that we would take her out for a little drive.  When she saw Casa Shalom she was so impressed. Even though she was a little widow of 86 she was so bright and didn't miss anything. Some commented on our driveway, the garden, the fruit trees and the flowers around the house. Actually they weren't pretty but for her everything was absolutely marvelous. When she entered into the house she was so impressed by the beds, the shoe rack for the kids shoes, and most of all how clean the house was. She must have told us ten times how clean the house is and my what a blessing that she could come and visit us. She said you just simply brought me to heaven.  Now, in  opinion that was going a little too far. Nevertheless the little widow woman just simply enjoyed herself.  All the kids were so happy to see how she enjoyed her short stay with us.  It brought all of us so much joy to see how simply things can be such a blessing to some people.

 

Sept 11th is a day the all of us will remember as long as we live. The day the twin towers in New York were hit by the terrorists using our planes to destroy so many innocent lives.

This year we will also remember Sept. 11th. I guess it was one of the greatest shocks in my life also.  We had just finished three wonderful  Anniversary days at Casa Shalom. It was like a big reunion seeing so many of my friends at one time. Just like a little bit of heaven on earth!

Well, it was like we were on the mountain and nothing could go wrong. To my surprise one of my sponsors came into my office on Sept. 11th and said, "I am stopping all my support."  It really took me off guard, especially at this time.  I had no idea what was in the heart of this person. He never shared with me or even let me share. My mind went to the kids.  In four days school would be starting and it costs a lot of money to put 25 children in school. It costs a lot to feed them and to have warm clothing for winter.

Then I remembered that God started this ministry and that he would not fail us.  Men change and disappoint us but God never changes. I was so relieved when I knew I could trust God and he would not let us down. 

At first I was angry because I didn't know what I did wrong that made this person so angry and he didn't want to talk about it.  The Bible tells us, to stand still and see the salavation of God. This is what we did and what we are still doing. A few weeks have passed and we are seeing God provide. It is like one miracle happening after another.  A few weeks after this incident a businessman called us and wanted to bring food to us for lunch. We never told anyone about our situation. The food was so much it was enough for two meals.  Then other people came and helped us. They didn't even know why they were but God was providing for us. Some of our friends in churches just came to our aid. Then there were some special friends here who just listened as I got to pour out my heart for hours and hours. That met so much to me.  We live in a society where we are all so busy. Time is something that we never have enough of.  So when someone gives me their time, it's a precious gift.  So if it's our money or our time, if we give it to God it will be blessed.

 So I recommend to you, if you are going through a battle and you don't understand it.  Just trust God, you can stand still, and see the salvation of God. Let God fight your battles.  You will always come out on top!

We had some special friends here from Germany, Romania, Canada and the U.S.  Then we even had a former volunteer with us from New Zealand. We had three wonderful days together with meetings most of the day. There was singing, preaching, great food, and fellowship. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves so much. Becky thanked the teachers, the mayor and many of our supporters for helping Casa Shalom.  Our kids were dressed up in their Casa Shalom festive clothes. They did some folk dancing for us, sang and shared some of their testimonies. It was a times so touching to see them on stage. I remember how they were when they first came. They were so sad and afraid to even look at people. Now they are standing up front, smiling and singing with all their heart. I could hardly believe they were the same children that we took in, some nine yrs. ago and others only four yrs. ago. They had all changed and become confident in what they were doing. We know they still have a lot to learn but they have come a long way. For this I am so thankful to God and to all our sponsors that have helped us over the last 10 years.

 

We were still working hard when our first guests arrived.  We had people coming on Mon, Tues, and then on Wed. the big team arrived from Va. traveling with Kathy Walker.  We found places for everyone to stay, some in homes and others at hotels.