Well, it's been a tough week so far. For some reason, I'm still dealing with jet lag. It usually doesn't take me this long to get over it. I didn't have any jet lag at all on the way over so I guess I'm getting a double dose now. I feel really great in the morning, but as soon as the afternoon hits, I get so tired and very cranky. I don't like being this way but I just can't seem to kick it.

Working two jobs sucks! I am really not enjoying my 2nd job right now. I love my job at CAIRD, but the other job is really tough to take right now. Maybe because I go in the afternoon.

Well, I have been working on downloading and viewing and organizing all my photos and man, it's a big job! They all have to be resized too because they're all huge files since I had my camera on highest resolution. I will be posting a lot of them on my Flickr account. But for now I will post a few here. Here ya go:






ANTICIPATION

waiting in the Montreal
airport

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MEDIAS

(pronounced "Mediash)
This is the town where Father's House
and the Center of Hope are located -
this is where we spent most of our time






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WELCOME!

This lovely bouquet and welcome note
awaited us the night we arrived.

Talk about a nice welcome!

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First Romanian Breakfast

This was our little eating area - next to a
nice little kitchen. There was also a couch
in this room so we hung out here a lot.

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FIRST IMPRESSIONS

This is the very first place we went the first morning -
The market. There were stands of vegetables,
fruit, flowers, knicknacks, etc.

I was still too shy to take photos of people so
this is all I got.
By the way, those flowers:
They're FAKE!

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The Center of Hope

After the shopping trip, we headed to the
CAIRD Center of Hope. This facility
will have it's grand opening this fall. It will be a
Center for many people to use for many various
functions. The vision of C of H is:
"To Identify, Equip and Empower
Romanians to reach Romanians for Christ"

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CAN IT BE TRUE?

"Am I really here?"
Is all I could think that
first day.

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Getting ready to feed the 5,000!
NOW WE JUST NEED SOME FISH!

We spent some time at the Center of Hope - which has a great, newly renovated kitchen - preparing for the next day's long-awaited annual outing in which all who are connected with CAIRD were going to go on a fishing trip and then a picnic together. It was exciting to be able to be part of the preparations for the big day.

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Potaytah / Potahtah

My friend, Doris, who accompanied me on the trip,
was getting right into the whole potato peelin thing.
She was very warmly embraced and welcomed by all,
and felt very comfortable right away.

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Domna Gombar

Mrs. Gombar is the cook and custodian for the C of H.
She is the sweetest, most loving lady and
she always spoiled us with yummy sandwiches

whenever she got the chance.

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DREAM COME TRUE!

How many people get to meet
their sponsor child?
A. is the most sweet, humble, quiet, lovely girl
and I loved her from the first moment.

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Evening Stroll

The first evening, my friend and I went on a walk.
There were already so many impressions.
The air had a perfumed scent as a lot of the
trees were still blooming. It was a beautiful evening.

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Catholic Church

This church is at the end of the street where we
stayed. We were so thankful because
it's steeple helped us find our way home many times
during our time in Medias.

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LONG DAY

This cute little couple drove by us during our walk.
Most likely they were coming back from a
long day hoeing the fields. This was quite a
common site in Romania. Many people still
drive horses and carts there.

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Bedtime Snack

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Heading home

Can you see all the potholes? The
roads all through town are in such bad
shape. Potholes everywhere - you have to
drive in a zig-zag pattern to avoid them.

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Feast for the artist's eyes

a photo taken also for Jill

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Aint he sweet?

B. is the boss's little guy - he was
abandoned by his bio. mother so
Peter and his family have taken him in
as one of their own. We saw a lot of him
as his home and our place shared a courtyard.

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What every little boy needs:

A LOVING DADDY!!!

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And that, my friends, was THE FIRST DAY!!!