Hello, dear ones!

               Autumn has come to an end, and winter has rushed to make its presence felt both through its specific cold and through a few happy snowflakes. However, we want to go back two months and tell you what we did at Ray House in October and November.

               We started by harvesting the last apples and the fodder beet. Thank God that this year too the orchard was fruitful and so was the garden. (pictures 1,2) From the fallen apples on the ground, we made jars of jam, only good for spreading on bread or for use in tarts.(pictures 3,4,5) We also received a donation of apples (and a pumpkin J) from Rotaru family from Bacau, to whom we thank, with the help of whom we made apple juice and put it for the winter. (pictures 6,7,8)

               The autumn activities also included cleaning the garden and the solarium (picture 9), preparing the pickles (picture 10), again pickles but assorted (picture 11), grape juice (picture 12) and many others. We supplied the dry wood warehouses (picture 13) and refilled the stock with the purchase of 2 more cars, in order to dry well until next winter. (picture 14) NordArin company also helped us with very dry wood, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We really need dry wood with high calorific value to cope with the large capacity of the trunk. Thank you! (picture 15)

               We also thank those who donated various foods and animal feed to us, which are very important for the smooth running of the home. Two thousand or so meals a month, served at Casa Ray, are not so easy to prepare if we don't have what. Thanks to all the donors involved! (pictures 16-21)

               We also thank those who took care of the children's clothing during this period and sent them clothes. Donors from Romania this time. May God reward everyone! (pictures 22,23)

               We want to thank those who helped us with an industrial stove, which is perfect for the "industrial" use we practice at Casa Ray. The old stove broke, only two of the four stove “eyes” were running, and on top of that it had started to run, so we abandoned it. (picture 24)

               Last but not least, we would like to thank AMRO and especially Michael Schmidt for the enormous gift he made to our home, namely a 22-seater minibus that will now accommodate all children. Our words are poor and we cannot express our gratitude, but our hearts pray to God that He will reward you tenfold! (pictures 25,26)

               One of the problems we faced during this period was that Ionela Matei had to be hospitalized with acute abdominal pain, proving to be an ovarian cyst. (picture 27) She's fine now, she's home. I also had other children, who had a pretty bad cold, fever and other symptoms, had treatment at home and are also well. God saved us from COVID and we had no cases in children, only two of the volunteers went through this disease in October, overcoming this problem well.

               The water supply at the animal farm also gave us headaches, but the problem was fixed, being an electrical problem. (picture 28)

               Another problem that we have faced and that we have not solved yet is the fact that we had to make ID cards for 3 girls who recently turned 14, and two 18-year-old boys had to change their identity cards, but the process of obtaining the documents was blocked due to the lack of a green certificate. We hope that this problem will also be solved. (picture 29)

               We finish by introducing you to the celebrations we had. Madalin turned 18 in October (picture 30) and Ana turned 15 in November, on which occasion she was visited by her mother.(pictures 31,32) The children were very receptive and nice, preparing surprises and small attentions (or even big ones) for the staff celebrated during this period. They were very dear – (picture 33)

               We truly thank all of you who are involved with us in raising these children, whether through donations, prayer, counseling, or physical labor. etc. Thank you for being with us and for helping us make these children smile. (picture 34)