The period December 2023 - January 2024, also called the period of the winter holidays, made our hearts happy this time as well. A lot of work, shopping, cakes, rehearsals, celebrations, gifts, caroling, so that we can enjoy the Born of Jesus this year as well. (pictures 1-5)

          Thanks to the vacation that the children had, we were able to have more outings outside the house. On December 1st, the children celebrated Romanian Day at School, and we took them to see the military parade in the city center, then we served a meal at McDonald's and then we went with them to visit their relatives. We also went with them to the ice rink, for a walk and caroling in the park, to meet other young people, on a "tour" with the bobsleigh in the mountains and the older ones on the Cheahlau mountain. (pictures 6-13)

          The months of October and November were marked by activities specific to autumn (pictures 1-18), but besides these usual activities, we had other more important events.

          One of the events would be the fact that Laura, Mirabela and Ionela decided to publicly confess their faith in Jesus. May the covenant made in front of the seen and unseen witnesses keep it sacred all their lives. (pictures 19-21)

          In November, the Bethesda Maranatha Service Complex, with the Ray and Tatiana Houses, opened its arms to five more brothers. Alexandra (15 years old), Natalia (14 years old), Petronel (11 years old), Rares (9 years old) and Iulian (7 years old). We hope that their accommodation will be quick and that their years will heal quickly. (pictures 22,23)

          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!