Things Change....Life Changes!!

Well....I know this is a bit late...and most of you who read my xanga blog already know this...but I am an engaged woman now!!

On Friday, April 28th...Brack asked me to marry him and I said yes...of course!!

The whole story is on our new blog... www.xanga.com/brackandjulie

This means that my life will be changing in many different ways. The first thing is that I will be leaving my beloved Romania next month and heading back to my home state of Texas.

I will really miss the fun and friends I have made here and I hope they know that they will always hold a special place in my heart. To me...Romania will always be my second home and I will never forget it and the impact it has made on my life!! The friends I have made here...both while here with my family, on various summer trips back, and especially this last year...will always be remembered with love and I hope to never lose touch with them!!

The move back to the US in early June will be another change...as I will be finding a place to live and a job in the DFW area....and also begin to plan for a fall wedding!! Thank the Lord that I will be able to buy my car back from the family friends that bought it from me last year...that will be one less thing to worry about when I get back.

Another change is that I am an aunt again...little Luke Aidan was born to my brother John and his wife Dayana on May 4th...a big boy with a big smile and chubby cheeks!! I look forward to being able to spoil him a BUNCH...along with his cousins Lydia and Josiah!!

Another change is that my family and I are basically switching places and it will be another 4 years at least till we are living on the same continent once again!! My mom and dad and the three youngest arrived in Romania yesterday and are getting settled in. They will be working with another missionary family and their children's home.

I have no idea when the whole family will be once again on the same continent together...as my brother Steve and his wife Syrena will be in Korea till next fall and we are still waiting for my brother John's wife Dayana to get her visa so that she and little Luke Aidan can get to the States!!

As I sit here typing this in a net cafe halfway around the world from Brack I can't help missing him and hoping to see him...but I will spare you my gushiness this time...as Brack can be gushy enough for the both of us!! So I will just close this out before I do start gushing...or boring you all with wedding plans!!

Our Story

Narrator: So, you guys have a pretty interesting story... let's hear it... how did you two meet?
Brack: Well, that's a story all on its own, really. I've been a moderator on an interactive website for former and current ATI students for about 2 years now...
Julie: And I only joined the site about 3 months ago.
Brack: Yeah, she joined the site, then made some comments that caught my attention, so I checked out her bio and asked some of my south Texas friends if they knew her... Nobody did, so I just had to wait until I got a chance to respond to one of her posts...
Julie: Little did I know he was doing all this "detective work" on me...
Brack: Haha... yeah...
Narrator: Wow... so when did all of this take place? When was the first contact made?
Brack: Well...I was actually keeping an eye out on Julie's posts, and noticed a comment that she made on a thread about how the moderators were out there watching... I commented that we were indeed, and that was pretty much the start of our relationship.
Julie: Well, I didn't really consider it the start of the relationship, but it definitely got my attention... WOW! I had drawn the attention of one of the moderators to my little thread... and I'd only been on the site for a month!
Brack: Except that it wasn't the comments I was watching...it was her...
Narrator: HAHAHA! That's awesome. So when was that?
Brack: That was the evening of March 5th. After that, we just started going back and forth quite a bit on that thread and the song thread. After some decent flirting, I went to bed, and when I got up the next morning, I found out that she'd added me to her contact list on Yahoo and MSN Messengers.
Julie: But actually, it was the morning of March 5th that we had "first contact", when Brack guessed a song that I had posted lyrics to. It was the song "1985" by Bowling for Soup, which got us in the 80s mood... and we went back and forth on that. Of course, Brack was giving me a hard time about having to Google some of the lyrics. My excuse was having been an ATI student or out of the country during the eighties, and that I am only now starting to catch up!!
Narrator: OK, so you had some clever banter going on in the Name The Song thread, with some interaction on a few other threads... So that's how all that was!! So then how did you guys transition from going back and forth on threads to deciding that the conversation, or, rather, the relationship, was going further?
Julie: The RELATIONSHIP? All I know is that, after staying up all night bantering with Brack (and remember: I was eight time zones ahead of him) and then teaching English and doing a follow-up program with orphans all day the next day...I REALLY had to crash that next night. But I did get up early the following morning to get on Messenger and the Crossings to see what people were up to. I didn't have to be at work until 11:30 that morning, so I thought I'd get a few good hours in before people Stateside headed off to bed. First thing that pops up on my screen, though, is a message from "tehSaint" asking me, "So, did ya sleep?"!! And that was the beginning of that, although I certainly wasn't looking at it as a relationship yet...but I think Brack already was...hehehehe
Brack: Ok..yeah...from the get-go, I was pretty interested in Julie, and if it took asking cheesy questions and answering song lyrics to get her to talk to me, I was fine with it.
Narrator: But, still...we want to know how the transition occurred.
Brack: Well, a few days after we began to talk on messenger, Julie asked me where I thought all this talking was going. Of course, the ultimate end isn't something you typically want to bring out in conversation with a girl you've only flirted with for a week or so, but, regardless of my former inhibitions and total lack of desire to commit to anything - I decided to mention the possibility of marriage.
Julie: Of course, it took him a while to get the "M" word out!!
Brack: I say it now with relative ease...hehehehe
Narrator: WHOA! One week into chatting over instant messenger, and the word "marriage" comes out?!?! Isn't that just a little premature?
Brack: I don't think so. Honestly, I wasn't interested in forming some vague idea of a relationship with someone that never went anywhere and never matured. There were never any games between me and Julie - we were just ourselves. That translated into a lot of trust and comraderie that you would otherwise miss out on in the beginnings of the relationship.
Julie: And I certainly think that the fact that we chatted for two months, well, almost, before meeting face to face, really helped in the forming of the relationship. I know it sounds weird, but all that talking...
Brack: A little over 160 hours in the first three weeks, by the way...
Julie: Yup. All that talking, without the physical stuff getting in the way definitely helped us get to know each other better, I think. A lot of couples who have that "face time", going out on dates, smooching (hehe), etc. kind of miss out on really getting to know so much about each other when they let that physical side of the relationship get started so soon. With Brack and I, well, we really learned a lot of things about each other. You know how they say that opposites attract and all that stuff? Brack and I are just so much alike it's crazy.
Brack: And it was the similarities that allowed us to discover more about each other, because we were able to bounce off those similarities onto other subjects, giving us a pretty wide variety of things to discuss.
Narrator: What similarities? Just what is it that makes you guys "click" together so well?
Julie: Well, let's see...we're both the oldest in our family...
Brack: Both left-handed...
Julie: Both casual people...we live in our Docs...hehe...
Brack: Both of us have the same spiritual gift and the same love language.
Julie: Wanna know something funny?
Narrator: What's that?
Julie: Well, I saw a picture the other day of Brack...from WAY back...your typical ATI picture.
Brack: Except the bright shining eyes part.
Julie: The suit, the ATI pin, the serious expression...
Brack: Wow!! She didn't even list the GLASSES in the first three things...
Julie: I was getting to that. That wasn't typical ATI, though. He had these geeky glasses. Anyway, come to find out, we had actually both been at the same homeschool conference way back in '92 at Knoxville!! Of course, I probably wouldn't have hung out with him then...he was kinda geeky!! hehehe
Brack: And it's taken ALL this time for me to find her. hehehe
Julie: Yeah, yeah...
Narrator: So, we've established that you guys waited a week of talking before discussing marriage. And you put off getting engaged until you actually saw each other in person?
Brack: Actually....at one point, Julie had to ask me if I was on a knee...LOL!
Narrator: That was before you guys met?
Brack: Yeah - we were just chatting over messenger, so she couldn't actually see me...it was pretty funny!!
Narrator: So you met in person when?
Julie: On Wednesday, April 26th, and I didn't even say "I love you" until later that night...couldn't believe his reaction!! Come to find out, he'd decided to not propose until I'd said that.
Brack: There was a lot hanging on those three seemingly small words!! I was stressing pretty heavy...haha!! Of course, I already had the ring. We had discussed promise rings, styles on engagement rings, things like that, so I knew exactly what I was after, and Thursday, April 20th, I went and got the ring.
Julie: My guy is a sneaky guy!! He told me to bring some dressy clothes and be ready for a night on the town on the Monday before I headed back to Romania, so I figured if anything was going to happen, it'd be then. I knew he was going to talk to my dad that first weekend, so that was no surprise...
Brack: It was something of a surprise for me, though!! I knew I wanted to talk to Mr. Seale, but how that came about was rather interesting. We made it out to Julie's family's old farmhouse out in East Texas on Thursday, April 27th, and everybody is just kind of chatting in the living room, when, all of a sudden, and pretty much out of the blue, Mr. Seale looks at me and asks, "So, have you asked her yet?" Julie turned beet red, and buried her face in my shoulder, as I very calmy replied, "No, sir. Figured I'd talk to you about that first." Then he replied, "So, would you like to go grab some coffee or something tomorrow?" To have it put so bluntly actually was a lot less nerve-wracking than I'd expected it to be.
Narrator: So that pretty much put aside any nervousness on your part, then? Just knowing that he was already thinking about it?
Brack: It SHOULD have!! But the scope of what I was doing really hit home, and I was pretty nervous until after I'd proposed.
Julie: So yeah...he went on into town with my dad the next morning. I knew that he was asking my dad's blessing and such....but still I was thinking that if he proposed on this trip that it would be when we dressed up and went out a couple days before I left, so I thought nothing of it when Brack asked me if I wanted to go on a walk whenever they got back. We had gone on a walk the day before...it is just something you do when you are in the country...you go for walks!!
Brack: Well, before we get to that. I'd had in my mind that today would be the day, so early in the morning, I'd gone out to get the ring out of my backpack. I didn't want it just loose in my pocket, though, and I didn't want to carry the box with me, so I took the battery out of my cell phone, wrapped the ring in a tissue, and put it in the back of the phone. It was pretty secure in there.
Narrator: So you had the ring the whole time, even when you were talking to her dad?
Brack: Yup. I wasn't sure if I'd have time to just nonchalantly wander out to the car without anybody wondering what was going on.
Julie: Me being as clueless as I was, I wouldn't have noticed anything!!
Brack: Yeah, but the guy isn't really thinking logically at that point, I've discovered!! hehehe
Narrator: Ok, so you guys went on a "walk". Please, continue...
Julie: We walked across the meadow and back into the old pine orchard...
Brack: Well, before we got that far, her mom told her little brother Andrew to not follow us out there...
Julie: Which he took as a challenge to change into his camos, put dirt on his face, and grab his camera and follow us...
Brack: Yeah, there were a few "pre-engagement" photos that he managed to snap...
Julie: But we confiscated his film!!
Brack: So during this time, I'm trying to get the ring out of the cell phone. I get the ring out just fine, I just can't get it away from the tissue!! In fact, at one point, I get the ring and tissue in my hands, and I'm trying to hug her, but not let her know that I've got anything in my hands. Then she reaches back and grabs one of my hands, fortunately not the hand that had the ring in it, and leads me on further into the pine orchard. Finally, I get the tissue separated from the ring, and hooked over my finger, and I just started shaking...
Julie: I had my arms wrapped around his waist, and just felt him shaking, and mentioned something about it...
Brack: I figured at that point it was now or never...besides, we were in this spot that had no visible cow patties and a nice floor of pine needles...so I answered and said, "Well, that's probably because I've still got to..."
Julie: Then he dropped to BOTH knees, I guess he was begging...
Brack: I was...
Julie: And said...
Brack: "Will you marry me?"
Julie: I was speechless, which is not a common occurence!!
Brack: She did manage to get a "yes" out...
Julie: I gasped it out...
Brack: And that's when I brought the ring out and asked her if she'd wear it. I never actually got anything more than a tear-filled head nod (which I prudently decided to interpret as a "yes")!!
Julie: Then I really started crying...
Brack: It probably wasn't more than a minute or two...but it really felt like it was at least five minutes. All the nervousness and trepidation was gone...life was awesome, and I know that the memory of that moment will last forever in my mind.
Julie: My sentimental guy...you gotta love it!!
Narrator: Wow. So that's the story, huh?
Brack: That's the story.
Narrator: Sap.

Wow...

As the time gets shorter till I head off to the States I get so wound up!! The biggest thing of course is that I will be seeing my Someone for the first time...and all that that entails. However, just the whole thought of being back in the States...even just for two weeks...is making me think about how much I have missed being there.

You get used to things in a new place after a while...things that seemed so weird to me last summer aren't that big of a deal now. For example, how many of you eat corn on YOUR burgers? How many of you think you are a total pig cause you ate a whole bag of Ollas and two Dots and washed it down with a Cappy...or even know what I am talking about? How many of you think it's no big deal to hike up five flights of stairs to your apartment? Yeah, like I said...you get used to stuff after a while.

Still and all...I HAVE missed the States and am really looking forward to some of the things that can be enjoyed there. I am looking forward to eating tex-mex, listening to country music on the radio, and going shopping in a place where the employees don't hover over you!! I am hoping that my sis can convince my bro-in-law to bring the kiddoes up to my parents at the farm so I can meet my new little niece and love on my little nephew who turns two tomorrow. I am looking forward to sitting in church and singing in English!! There are many things that make me excited to be going back to the States....

Not the least of which...of course...is Brack!! We have logged a TON of hours on Yahoo Messenger and Skype...and have talked about just about every subject under the sun...I really feel like I know him better than I think I have ever known any guy!! Yet...there is just something to be said about seeing each other face-to-face...to spend some time just doing "date" things. Yes, we ARE already talking about the future and he IS planning on having that all important talk with my dad...but I still will really enjoy just spending some face time with my guy. Of course, that will make it all the harder to say goodbye when the time comes for me to come back for the summer!! Ah, well...we will work that out when the time comes!!

Currently Listening To: Take My Breath Away by Jessica Simpson

One More Week!!

Well....here it is...April 17th!! In just a week and a day I will be boarding a train to head down to Bucharest....and from there fly out the next day (April 26th)...for the great state of Texas!!

I am going to see my Someone...and we will be heading off to see my family for a couple days in east Texas....then the next weekend going to see his family in west Texas!! In a way, I am a little nervous...so much has happened so quickly in this relationship...but yet I really feel a peace about this. That still does not stop me from randomly pinching myself to see if this is real or a dream....or just squealing out when I realize just how much my Brack cares for me!!

Please keep us in your prayers...especially since he will probably be having that all-important talk with my dad by the end of next week!! WOW!! I can hardly believe this!! Who would have thought that by me being way off halfway around the world that God would bring such an awesome person into my life...and all via that still fairly new thing we know as the internet!!

Well, that is my entry for today...sorry for being so gushy!!

Currently Listening To: These Words by Natasha Bedingfield

Wow!! It's been a while!!

Well....so much has happened lately in my life!! This past month and a half has been pretty full!! I have moved into an efficiency apartment, my roommate Meg has headed back to the States, and I have kept busy teaching English and continuing in the follow-up programs with Livada Orphan Care. If you want a slightly more detailed accounting of what has been going on in my life...check out my xanga...

First big new piece of news...my fam is moving back to Romania...11 years after leaving it last!! They will be working with Bro. Brian Crossley in his ministry to orphans. This time around it will be just Mom and Dad with Beka and Andrew...as Suz will be graduating high school this year and plans to start college this fall. I am excited to hear that Dad is feeling well enough to continue on with missionary work...he had me worried for a while with his heart condition, but he seems to have been doing better these days.

Second BIG piece of news...I have a special Someone now!! His name is Brack and he is a fellow Texan. I actually met him online on a website for current and former members of ATI (the homeschool program that my family is in)...but it has come out since that we do have some acquaintances in common. He is 31 years old, lives just north of Fort Worth, works for his church, and is a moderator on that website mentioned previously. He has already met my family, has spent COUNTLESS hours chatting and voice-chatting with me, and has already indicated that he would like our relationship to progress to a permanent status!! I will be heading to the States next week for a two week visit--during which we will visit both sets of parents!! Please keep us in your prayers---that God will lead in every aspect of this relationship!!

Well, I have now finally updated this page...sorry it has taken me so long...but I will try to keep up with this blog better...at least as much as with my Xanga!!

Kittens, my Someone, and my trip to the US!!

Well....the weather here has not been cooperating...first we get a nice sunny day...then a grey and wet day...and back and forth it goes!! At least I can say that I successfully got moved into my new place!! I am still trying to get organized and such...but at least I am moved and working on the settling part!!

The kittens don't seem to care for the new place much...not sure if it is the smaller amount of space...or the fact that since Meg left they are getting less attention, but truthfully...I can't spend as much time with them as Meg and I could combined!! I really think they will love moving in with my fam out in the country in May!! Meanwhile they are still begging for the popcorn, pizza, and pudding whenever they get the chance!!

I have been keeping busy. Besides my English class and the work with the orphans in Zau and Petelea...this last week a group from Georgia came in to do some stuff with orphan kids and disadvantaged kids as well. I was able to go with them to a day center for poor children two times and help as a translator....such fun!! Of course, there was the settling in to do in my apartment as well as starting to tutor two teens in English...one of whom is getting ready to take the BAC...which is the Romanian equivalent to the SAT.

Now for my ongoing saga...for those of you interested in this part!! I leave two weeks from today for a two week visit to the States!! I am going to see my Someone!! We will visit both sets of parents during this time...as well as have some time for some real "dates"...and I am really getting excited about the trip!! This trip will help be an indicator as to what the next step of the relationship will be...as a long-distance one via instant messenger and email can only go so far. Please keep both me and my Someone in your prayers!!

Well, now I can say that my Xanga is updated...and it's about time, I know!! I'll try to keep ya'll posted on any new developments as they happen...but please be patient!! I am such a bad one with keeping up with journaling...whether online or on paper!!

Currently Listening To: I Don't Want To Miss A Thing by Aerosmith

My New Apartment And Other News...

Well, I said in my last entry that I planned on moving right away into my new efficiency apartment...but that hasn't happened yet!! First of all we had a couple of really rainy days...then when there WAS sunshine I couldn't get any guys to come help me move. Even though my roomie and I are not completely helpless females the fact that I am moving from the second floor of a walk-up to the fifth floor of another walk-up...well, there is only so much that we could do ourselves!! I am SO hoping that tomorrow will be sunshiny AND that I can get some help rounded up!!

I did manage to do a little walk-through of the place to see what things might need to be done as far as fixing it up or arranging of furniture to make it look nice AND fit all the necessary stuff into the place. I will most likely need to ask around with some of the families from church to see if there is someone who wouldn't mind letting me store my huge rubbermaid storage containers in their attic or basement...cause even if I can fit all the STUFF into the place...I have nowhere to put the empty containers!!

But anyway, it looks as if this little place will really work out well. Even though it is on the edge of the city and therefore a longer distance for friends to come...it is right around the corner from the bus stop...so it will still work. And after discussing the sitch with the parental units and my someone I am thinking I may just stay on in the efficiency till future plans are known. It will definately save in the finances department...as the efficiency is less than half of what the other apartment would be!!

In other news...my family is moving back to Romania!! Yes...Mom, Dad, Beka, and Andrew will be here by the end of the second week in May. It is still up in the air as to whether Suz will be joining the fam this time around...as she is finishing school and wanting to head off to college in Cali this fall...but I think I may have convinced her to at least come for an awesome summer adventure of camps and so forth!! Since the fam is coming and Beka will have to leave her beloved Cinders and Zoe behind with a good home...I will have someone to pass Starbucks and Hayley on to fairly soon after moving to the efficiency...which is good. I have no idea how it would be for a very long time with TWO cats in that place with me...much as I love em!!

Well, there is more news forthcoming...but I will leave that for another time...as things are still not completely settled in that respect!! Stay tuned to my saga!!

Currently Listening To: It's Not Just Me by Rascal Flatts

New Stuff

Wow!! Has it really been two weeks since I last updated? Lots of things have transpired in that time, however!!

Hmmm.....where to start, where to start? Well, first of all I found a new place to move to when my roommate heads back to the States. It is just an efficiency, but it is cute and fully furnished...which is awesome!! I start today to move some of my stuff over, but seeing as how the current place is paid up thru the end of the month, the moving process does not have to be hurried...which is great!! Should be quite interesting to squash myself, two half-grown cats, and the contents of my crate into that place, but it is all in how it gets arranged. Besides, in three months I am hoping to move to the apartment of another friend who is also heading back to the States in June...and that is a nice two-room apartment...fully furnished with an eat-in kitchen and large balcony (perfect for hanging my hammock out on)!!

In other news...one of my English classes at the foundation has been cancelled...waahh!! But this may be a good thing in the end, as I will begin private tutoring and an English class at home...as well as the girls group and the Friday Fellowships, too!!

As far as other things in my life...well, I did get my next blue box on tehC..for my now over 750 posts...for those of you who know what I am talking about!! I also have begun to talk to someone...if you know what I mean by that also!! This will be a bit difficult too...as the distance is so much...but if God is in it...it will all work out in the end!! Please keep me in prayer about that.

Well, that is my life at the moment...I am hoping to do a better job at this whole blogging thing...but seeing as how I was never that great at a diary or journaling, this could be a challenge!! We shall see!!

Currently Listening To: Beautiful Mess by Diamond Rio

I Dare You!!

Have you ever been dared to do something? Nothing dangerous or anything...just silly?

About a week ago I was dared by a friend on messenger to post this photo as my avatar on Crossings...the website for former and current ATI students...which I have recently spent a LOT of time on. At first I wasn't about to...what kind of idea would the average post reader get about me...it IS a bit of a bold picture. But, I succumbed to the dare and posted it...planning on changing the avatar back fairly quickly.

It didn't quite happen like that!! Okay, so besides the compliments I recieved from guys...always an ego booster...even some girls said it was cute. Several people said it suited my personality..something that was kinda news to me!! So anyway...after a few days I decided I liked it enough to hang onto it for a while...as well as use it on my instant messengers!!

So anyway...sometimes it's kinda fun to go ahead and take a dare!! How's that for a silly post just so I can say I updated my blog!!

Currently Listening To: Kiss Me by Sixpence None The Richer

Addiction

It's funny what different people call addictions. Of course, there are the obvious ones like drugs, smoking, and alcohol. Others that are more secret such as bulimia or cutting. There are the hush-hush ones we don't talk about and which I'm not really gonna get into on here.


But then there are the ones that people don't really think about as addictions...such as a morning latte from Starbucks, or that donut you just can't go without at Sunday morning fellowship time, the regular daily or weekly phone call from a family member or close friend....stuff that while you don't really think about it...is also an addiction...and you would miss it if you couldn't have it.


I think I have got an addiction now...one that may cure itself soon from sheer busyness!! About a month ago I was able to join a site on the internet that is just for those who grew up using the same homeschool program as I did. It is pretty cool because we kinda know where everyone on there is coming from and I've already made a few friends from there. (Hi to any of you Crossings peeps reading this)!!


Anyway, this site has forums where people can post messages on just about any topic under the sun...and if there isn't one on the topic you want...you can start a new one!! I will admit to feeling an urgency to check this site at least a couple times a day to see what new stuff has been posted, posting multiple posts at one sitting, and even staying up most all night a couple times to keep up with the posting...since most of the people posting are in the US!!!


This addiction will probably begin to cure itself soon, as not only will I be starting some new ministries soon, but the place I will be moving to may not have internet connections right away…and it will definitely be mostly cured come summer...when I will be away from internet connections for long periods of time!! Meanwhile I have been coming up with creative ways to catch friends on there without losing out on precious sleep…such as going to bed a bit earlier and getting up earlier…which is actually a good habit anyway!!


Anyway, these were just my thoughts on the subject…now I gotta go see what has been posted since I started writing this blog entry!! JK!!

Spring

I want to apologize for not being a bit more faithful to keeping this blog up to date...that being said, at least I am trying!!

As you can see, the title for this entry does not match with the picture. The picture was taken last week when it snowed a LOT!! Fortunately, the very next day it began to melt off. Spring is on its way...but with some days warmer with a blue sky and sun, and other days with grey skies and more of a nip in the air. Today is one of the grey days!!

Please keep me in your prayers as I have been having headaches and migraines more frequently. I bought some homeopathic stuff the other day..hoping it will help. I'm also gonna see about having my parents send me some more Excedrine migraine medicine. If they continue I may need to go to the doctor here. Please pray that the headaches clear up soon.

I am keeping busy with English classes. I now have a regular schedule...requiring me to be at the English school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9am to 1pm and on Tuesdays from around 11am to 1pm. We will be having a bowling night with all the students this Saturday...a chance for us to get to know our students better and open up opportunities to share Christ in a non-threatening environment. Many of our students are white-collar workers, mostly middle-aged, who have been raised as nominal Orthodox, so we have to tread carefully as we share our beliefs.

I also have been continuing with the two programs for orphans with Livada Orphan Care...Saturdays at the girls home in Zau and Mondays at the boys home in Petelea. These children are so fun and sweet!! Last Saturday at Zau when some of the older girls were playing a game I was able to take 3-4 younger ones off to the side and color with them and had so much fun talking and laughing with them. Monday we played "hot balloon" at the boys home in Petelea...hilarious!!

I haven't had a youth night in a while, but hope to really get started with things once I move at the end of March. My roommate Meg is heading back home to the US, so I am taking this opportunity to search for a better apartment. I am willing to pay what we are paying now for a two bedroom apartment and pay that for a one bedroom...as long as it is a better apartment and better furnished. Going six months with no refrigerator, no stove except a gas hotplate, and no way to wash clothes is a long time!! I really want to find a place a little more centrally located that's furnished at least with a stove, fridge, couch bed, carpets, and a wardrobe...and hopefully a washer too!! If the apartment doesn't have a washer, then I may have to buy one...but I at least want the apartment to have a stove and fridge!!

Once the apartment situation is resolved then I will be having the youth nights once a week, and will be starting a girls club and a beginning English class...both to meet once a week. I have some materials for the girls club and the English class and am really looking forward to getting them started.

Well, I'm gonna close this entry out...my head is hurting and I think I will take a nap...thank the Lord for days off!! God bless!!