Buna ziua (good day)

PRAYER REQUEST: Tuesday, May 4 at 1:00 pm Romanian time (we're 7 hours ahead) will be the presentation in the Parliament building. That's the biggest one for today as we prepare our hearts (and Lisa's speech, and my playing fingers!) for this very momentous honor of launching the Committee on Human Rights and Dignity.

Hello! I'm so excited to be back online again....after my 45-minute flight to Charlotte.....on the airbus for a 7 1/2 hour flight to Munich. Lisa and I had seats together and talked for several hours before and during dinner.....discovered we were sitting next to 16-year old Jacob whose parents were missionaries near Constanta (there's a squiggly line under the second "t"). Jacob has lived all of his life (so far) in Romania, speaks fluently and also a little bit of Turkish. Of course we all had lots to talk about since his parents run a baby home that now has 11 kids. There is no more Romanian adoption and many babies are just left in hospitals by their young single mothers, so the Reed family takes them in.....they're with Charity Baptist Missions in Eastern Europe since 1992 and just come back to the States to raise money. What a pleasure to meet this lovely family....our only disappointment is that we probably won't be able to visit them and their "baby home" this trip.
God answered your prayers that we wouldn't be sitting near any screaming babies......but I forgot to ask that you'd pray for the tallest person on the plane, who sat behind me! When I tried to put my seat back, I met some resistance.....so checked that I was pressing the proper button, and tried again. The third time, I was hit on the head! Yeah, you heard me. This guy behind me just tapped me on the head and said something in German.....since I don't speak it well, I can only surmise that he was saying something like, "yeah, no, that's not gonna be happening!" So the sleep that I longed for did not even begin to come all night long. Great time for prayer and reading, though....sitting straight up in a cramped situation is really not my idea of fun, but then again, I could be wrong. We did manage to go through immigration in rainy Munich and get back on the proper plane for Bucharest....another uneventful trip, although Bucharest had the sun out to welcome us, along with Carla and Eugenia's bright smiles! They had just driven 12 hours from Timisoara (yes, we have a 12-hour drive ahead of us on Wed.) to Bucharest, the first time either of them had been here!
With the help of the GPS we arrived at the Baptist University where we are staying, dropped off our things and then walked to the mall. There were 4 levels, so it took us a while to get through it, after we ate our lunch at the Lebanese restaurant. I've been looking forward to having Shawarma, and theirs was good! After we walked back, it was still light out, so Carla said we had to stay outside and talk to keep ourselves awake! Lisa and I tried like crazy to get connected....even pacing in the street outside the gate to find some internet connection....without success, so, disappointed, we gave up. I managed to stay up till around 9:30pm.....Carla had left for a meeting and I thought I would read.....think I turned only one page before I gave up, and slept, not quite straight through, but very well - for me.
At around 7:30, I awoke for good to the sounds of kids running through the hall....there is a kindergarten that is run by this establishment and the children were coming in for their breakfast.
Ours was served at 9....typical Romanian breakfast of cheese, sausages, ham, olives, and a small amount of scrambled eggs. The coffee was good and hot and just what we all needed. After breakfast the 4 of us went outside to have our devotions and "play" a bit on the playground.....suddenly the area was alive with the happy screams of the children, the thud of a bumped head, a wailing child and the soothing sounds of his teacher comforting him. We enjoyed watching them for a while, and then came back to the mall where I'm sitting at Starbucks writing this.
So, thanks for all your prayers for safety and luggage on the trip.....grateful and appreciative. Ceau till next time