Welcome, dear ones!

          The summer has passed by and we are already close to the middle of autumn. The events at Casa Ray and Casa Tatiana are taking place with such speed and "flow" that with long delays the information reaches you.

          At the beginning of July in Romania, some very unpleasant situations were discovered in some nursing homes, so strict controls were imposed throughout the country for all institutions that offer social services to the elderly and children, so we were also "visited" by 12 people from 6 institutions, who asked us for hundreds of documents and imposed dozens of measures to implement. This explains the super crowded period that followed and is still not over.

          In addition to the controls, we are still in the process of obtaining the license at Casa Tatiana, as well as a lot of documents for building expansion, ISU authorizations, sanitary reauthorizations etc.

          We are looking forward to the day when we say: "Today we have no document to prepare", but that day is probably part of a fairy tale :)

          So, briefly, schematically, I will present to you what happened "At home"”.

           Hello!

           We hope that the news from Casa Ray and Casa Tatiana will make you happy, even if they are sent late. The multitude of documents, responsibilities, controls, activities often prevent us from being up to date with the information, but we thank you for your permission.

          The month of May started with gardening. The cold lasted quite a long time, so it was only in the middle of May that we could plant in the garden and in the solarium, cleaning the yard and planting ornamental flowers was also done around that time. (pictures 1,2,3,4).

          In May we had two unfortunate events. Mirabela and Cosmina received the sad news that their mother was found dead. She had been missing since Christmas and only now was she found floating on a lake near their house. From her disappearance until finding out the news, the girls often talked about it and kept saying that they hoped not to receive bad news, unfortunately it was not as they hoped. May God comfort their fragile hearts. (picture 5)

          Good to see you, dear friends!

          After the long winter we had, the long-awaited spring finally came, only....in the calendars we saw it until the middle of April, because the low temperatures were present and were even accompanied by a snow like in stories. (pictures 1,2)

          The snowdrifts in Neamt County, as big as in the middle of winter, were rather detached from the horror stories for drivers stuck on the roads, but…with God’s help, we managed to admire the spring flowers until the end of April. (pictures 3 – 5)

          Due to the low temperatures, gardening was also postponed. We pulled the garlic out of the weeds and dug up the trees at the root. (pictures 6,7)

          Unfortunately, we cannot use the solar at the moment as it needs to be repaired because a strong storm destroyed part of the "roof". (picture 8)

          After the winter holidays, with the hustle and bustle of those days, with rich meals, we felt the need to escape into nature, to breathe fresh air into our lungs, to contemplate the new year that lies ahead,so together, young and old, on the second day of the year we climbed Mount Cozla, where we enjoyed a beautiful time. (pictures 1-6)

          The festive atmosphere continued because of the days off, the vacation, the guests who visited us, the children who went to visit other families, because of going to the skating rink and to McDonald's, because of sledding, the Dodita brothers got together and climbed Mount Ceahlau, the Matei brothers visited their mother whom they had not seen for 3 years etc.(pictures 7-18)

          Also from the category of relaxation activities, we can mention the outing that the children made to Margineni, the realization of manual work activities and "working" with snow :) (pictures 19-25)

          We wish you all a new year full of blessings!

          We are overdue from last year with information about two months, November and December 2022.

          Autumn is over, but not before taking advantage of its wonderful colors and taking some photos, now that we have a passionate photographer among us, Vasile Dodita. (picture 1) He has perfected his hobby more and more and has more and more successful photos. (pictures 2-5)

          Household chores began to slow down with the arrival of the cold, most of the activities taking place around the house, in the kitchen and on the farm. Especially with the approach of the holidays, the kitchen has become the center of the house.    

          September and October, beautiful autumn months, full of wealth and contentment.

          We want to start by thanking God that in these months He protected our children and they are all well, healthy and happy. (pictures 1 and 2).All the 20 children we care for started school in September, 9 of them at elementary school and 11 of them at high school or vocational school.(picture 3)

          We have MadalinBaroi who turned 18 in September and at the same time managed to pass his driving test. We congratulate him from the bottom of our hearts! (picture 4) Laura and Gabriela turned 12, respectively 15 years old. Two serious and decent girls, as are (mostly) all our girls.(picture 5)

          Our dear Doinita has not forgotten where she left from and already has several good visits at home (picture 6), also Ionut came from Iasi on vacation,but...he doesn't allow himself to be photographed, and still, I managed to get a picture:) (picture 7)

          July and August, two blessed months! Moments of joy, moments of trying, but definitely the moments of joy took precedence.

          At the end of June, we had the great joy of seeing our old friends from America, Greg and Anne Heisey, whom we hadn't seen since 2019. At the same time as them, our friend from Germany, Michaela Khulman, also visited us. (pictures 1 – 4)

          Besides the great desire to see each other again, our reunion had Doinita's wedding as its focal point. Our oldest girl got married!

          Cristi Prelipceanu is the chosen one of her heart, a faithful young man from the north of the country, from Radauti. They had their wedding on July 3rd, but before this date we were all involved, children, family, employees, guests, in great preparations. (pictures 5 – 11) We wish them God's blessing to accompany them at every step on the new path they have taken. We love you, our dears!

           Greetings, dear friends!

          Ever since we heard each other, things have evolved at Ray House.

          The garden and the solarium were filled with vegetables that grew seeing with the eyes, but unfortunately the weeds competed with the vegetables, so in several stages we had to go clean the garden of unwanted weeds, mow the grass in the yard, water the flowers and gather hay for the animals. The children were involved, each according to their abilities, in all these household activities. (pictures 1-5)

          Regarding the farm, we have in these past 2 months also entrances and exits, as follows: we bought 60 turkeys, slaughtered 2 pigs, we sent the goats to the sheepfold and we have already received a slice of curd from them, egg hens have entered production, and the meat chickens have reached maturity and we started sacrificing them. Glory to God for our daily food, He cares for us at every step. (pictures 6-11)

          We all want the hope that came into the world with the resurrection of Christ fills your hearts and homes. Christ is risen!!

          We celebrated Easter in peace and quiet, even though the house was full of bustle in the days leading up to the holiday. Visits from children who grew up at Ray House, visits from friends at home, visits from relatives, visits to relatives, cleaning, food, relaxation, songs about the death and resurrection of Jesus all created a festive atmosphere. We leave you to feel a crunchy moment of these, looking at the following photos. (pictures 1 - 22)

          At the beginning of the month, more precisely on April 11, we had another occasion of celebration, when Doinita and Cristi got engaged. We say again that God will fully bless them and give them wisdom at every step on this new path they have set out on. (picturea 23-27)

          And two more reasons to celebrate, Vasilica who turned 10 and Ionela who turned 13. Blessed are you, dear ones! (pictures 28,29)

          March for us continued with the hosting of the group from Ukraine. We had pleasant moments together, in which we told each other small fragments of life, tense moments when with our mouths open we waited for news from their family left in Ukraine, sad moments together when we saw them with tears in their eyes when they received news that other objectives were bombed, moments of relaxation when we went on a trip to Red Lake, moments of strengthening the relationship when we worked together etc.

          In other words, we believe that the time we spend together and the situation they are in has given us some lifelong friends.

          After this group of 22 people left, we kept waiting for other groups, but no one came. In the north of the country, the Suceava area is full of refugees, who stay for a night or two and then go to other countries, but below, to the south, they rarely host.

          Anyway, we have the door and arms open for such people and we look forward to them whenever they need a bed and a warm meal. (pictures 1-12)