Het voorjaar is begonnen in onze tuin!

Vandaag mijn vrije dag gebruikt om onze tuin op orde te krijgen....althans een stukje tuin dan want we hebben een flink lapje! In ieder geval kunnen we over een klein poosje genieten van verse radijs, veldsla, worteltjes, prei, peterselie, tuinkers, komkommers, sperziebonen en doperwten. Nu is het gewoon een kwestie van geduld hebben en nat houden de boel;-)

 En onze eerdere geplante aardbeienstekjes en rabarbar doen het ook prima tot nu toe;-)

A lot of excitement today!

Today we took the children from the village Huzum, who during the week attend the Day Centre, to Chisinau. Some of them had never been to the capital city and so to drive all the way (45 minutes;-) in the car to the Chisinau was already an adventure!

When we arrived we first visited the zoo.... well, maybe it is better to say that we ran through the zoo trying to see all the animals in 30 minutes;-)

After the zoo, we took the children to a small park with a playground and there we ate lunch with pizza and lemonade with bubbles! Again great excitement!

Pizza and lemonade for lunch;-)

The final stop was the circus!.... after two hours of show and all kind of acts with dogs, a bear, a clown and a lot of acrobatics, we drove the 45 minutes back and delivered all the children safe again in their village.

Praise God, all went well
and for all the 26 children this day will not be forgotten quickly!

Where is "sora Stefana"?

No clean clothes = no school!

As we were delivering some food parcels this week, we went to see a family we have visited many times before. The parents don't have work and are both alcoholics. Father often is not at home and mother Vera is often drunk at home and than she forgets to look after her two children. So often Olguta (8 years) and Gheorghe (7 years) are just by themselves, being hungry and dirty. This time we found the children at home, their mother was ill they said and their aunt had moved in with them together with her child Tania.
Looking at the 3 children, all of them had dirty unwashed hair, dirty clothes and when they saw the food parcels their eyes lightened up. We chatted a bit with the aunt and she told us that today the children didn't go to school because they didn't have clean clothes and their mother didn't have any washing powder or money to buy washing powder.
I felt sorry for the children because their whole life they only have seen and experienced daily how it is to live with a lack: a lack of food, a lack of clothes, a lack of school supplies, a lack of attention and love and interest.....these children lack many things.....

At the end of the visit we invited the aunt to come to church and to take the children with her too. Than we left....I felt sad but as I looked back I saw how the children were taking the food parcel inside and hardly could wait to look what was inside.... At least they would have food again in the house and I prayed that their mother or aunt would prepare them a good solid meal instead of selling the product for alcohol.

We came back to the car and there we saw the washing machine that we were supposed to give to a family but they weren't at home so the machine was still in our car. Spiridon and I looked at each other and said together: let's give the washing machine to this family: 3 dirty children  who don't go to school because they don't have clean clothes....a washing machine would be a big blessing!

The aunt Olga, Olguta, Tania and Gheorghe

So we took the machine and went back to the house. We called the family again outside and the kids looked again curious at us and at to this big box. Spiridon helped to open it and showed how the washing machine is working. While the aunt was filling out some documents with Spiridon, I played with the children and the big box. And slowly some smiles came on their faces;-)

Let us pray for mother Vera, her small daughter Olga and her son Gheorghe, the aunt Olga and her daughter Tania (who is blind on one eye and her mother does not have money for an operation). This family lives in horrible conditions and it is a very depressive situation but we keep praying that they will put their trust in God and will find hope in Him!

Alone at home

Today we brought a food parcel to Julia in Lozova. Julia was home-alone. Her mother and father were working on the fields and her mother had told her to stay at home, not to go to school and to watch the house. So there she was, just by herself....
The first time we met Julia was in November 2013. In that month we were able to bless many children with warm winter clothes. Also Julia, her mother Sorina and her father got blessed. (see blog post: November 2013). After this blessing the family started to attend the church and were very eager to learn the songs, read from the Bible etc. but now for many Sundays they have not been in church. And although we visited them at home several times with food parcels and firewood and every time of course we invited them to come again to church, but we do not yet see them back in church.

Maybe it is easy to think: well, if this family does not want to come or is not responding to your invitations, move on and in Lozova there are another 6000 people so don't waist your energy but we do keep praying for this family. We don't know why they don't come anymore and what is hindering them (maybe the grandfather who is nearly every time shouting at us when we visit the family at home or maybe the older sister of mother Sorina, who also lives in the same house and is like the boss of everybody in the family).... We don't know but every time we visit this family, we see how this family is looking for truth and peace. God has a plan for this family and we pray that Julia, mother Sorina and father will get to know God!

Julia is looking what is in the food parcel.
She is very happy to find tooth paste and informs me that every morning she brushes her teeth! Good job;-) 

Article about winter clothes project in Moldova

Just came across an article about the winter clothes project for children in need. The village Lozova is also mentioned and if you would like to read the article, see the below link:

Article: I needed clothes and you clothed me

De kinderen in Huzum

Heb je altijd al meer willen weten over de kinderen in Huzum? Wie zijn ze, wie zorgt voor ze, hoe gaat het op school met ze? Nu is er de kans om nader kennis te maken! De organisatie Mensenkinderen is een kinder-sponsor project begonnen en alle kinderen uit Huzum staan op de website met hun eigen profiel.

Dus voor de nieuwsgierigen:  Klik hier voor de website van Mensenkinderen

Groeten uit Huzum!

A sunny afternoon in Huzum

This afternoon we spend time with the children in Huzum. The girls enjoyed to play with Spiridon with their elastic band and the boys enjoyed the football match. It was a blessed afternoon with a lot of joy;-)

6 maanden later...

Vandaag was het dan zover! Spiridons moeder kwam na 6 maanden terug uit Amerika. Ze was op bezoek bij haar dochter om te helpen bij het passen op de twee kleinkinderen. Maar goed, nu is ze weer home, sweet home!

Terug van weggeweest! / Back home

Tis al een tijdje stil op ons blog want.... we waren met vakantie! Maar we zijn vandaag weer goed aangekomen in Moldavie en dus vanaf morgen begint het werken weer en het bloggen dan natuurlijk ook he?

It has been a while since we posted something on the blog because...we were on holiday! But today we arrived back in Moldova and tomorrow is the first day of work again so than also there will be again new posts on our blog!

Enjoying our  holiday!