January is typically a rather static month. Both in trade and in everyday life looks like things get a rest.

          So it was for us at Casa Ray. From the bustle and agitation of December we jumped into a "calm and relaxing" month.

          We had four anniversaries this month. Denisa turned 8 years old, Doinita and Ciprian finally reached the long awaited age of 14 and Cristian who turned 17, made us realize how quickly time passes, considering that when stepped the threshold of the Casa Ray he had only 2½ years. We thank God for each of them and pray that He may guide them step by step in life! (1,2,3)

          The first month of winter, in December, was poor in terms of snow and children have yearned after a lump, but the large amount of snow we had in January offset any shortcomings. The children's joy! (4,5) It was also our joy, but we looked at things from other points of view, and we want to share with you some problems we face in winter:

          We can describe December in four words: work, competition, visits, presents.

          Because all the preparements for the holidays, the month of December had all kinds of WORKS: holidays rehersals, general cleaning in the house, killing 2 pigs and making all kinds of culinaries delights, decorating the house, and all kinds of chores. (1,2 )

          We also worked a lot for the handmade COMPETITION organized by the Child Protection Department where all the Centres in the County participated. The children together with Catalina started working in October and managed to finish 300 objects. You can admire them in the pictures and we are sure that you will also think they are excelent. They got a "congratulation diploma". (3-15)

            Without even realizing, the autumn is finished. Time goes so fast when you are in such a big house as Casa Ray, where all the activities succeed one by one since the early morning until the night.

            We thank God and to all the warm hearted people who donated to us this month, all kinds of vegetables and cereals for the animals. We want to underline again that all these aids are very useful to us because they cover a lot of our needs. Thank you again!! (1-5)

            Last month we were very glad to announce Denisa's coming to our home and this month we have other 2 new-comers: Dumitrita ( 13 years ) and Madalina ( 9 years ). Now we have 21 children.

           Preserving for the winter continues in October. Young and old, we all participated so we are ready when the winter comes. Beans, vegetables, pickles, they are all ready.(1-4)

           School started again so the volunteer Rebeka began the English Language lessons. Praise God for her!!(5)

           The children’s creation panel reflects the outside atmosphere. The children and their instructor, Catalina created a beautiful corner full of imagination.(6-10)

           Nature has the ability to always surprise us so we got the first snow.(11-12)

           We were also pleasantly surprised by the Romanian State (which is not very common for us). The children received some school supplies which they were very useful and it saves us some money.(13)

          We know that many of You have asked why You have not received any news from Casa Ray for some time, but ... as usual, there is an explanation JIt was vacation time, so now we come with new information for the months of July and August!

          We start with birthdays that we've had, because since the first days of July we had Andrea's anniversary, who turned 18, than, on 22^nd of July, Alexandru turned 20, then followed Vasile's birthday, who turned 12, Ionel in August turned 13 and last but not least, at the end of August we celebrated father Mihai, who turned 66 years with the Lord's help. Each anniversary is an occasion for celebration at Casa Ray, children enjoying every sweet they receive extra! (1-5)

          These celebrations were not the only joys of the month. 6 of our youth went to a camp at Voronet, along with other 70 young people. This camp was organized by the Baptist Church. You realize that our young people felt very well surrounded by so many new friends.(6, 7)

          June was important because of the Child’s National Day on the first of June .

          All the children from Casa Ray, together with their friends from Dobreni (about 40 children) went to a village called Izvoare to celebrate this event. 150 people in total, played games, sang songs, learned songs, studied Bible stories, received prizes , after answering  questions, they watched a play, took lunch together and finally eat a giant birthday cake made especially for them.

          You can imagine the joy and the happiness!! (1-12)

          Constantin got 2 birthday celebrations because he also turned 15 on the 19^th of June. (13)

          We made a trip to Bacau, on an invitation from a Christian church. The children really enjoy and cherish the traveling and seeing new places. (14)

              The month of May had 5 birthdays ! Mihaela ( 22 years ), Vlad ( 18 Years ), Antonio ( 15 years), Costi ( 15 years ) and Elena ( 11 years ). Of course,we had  the traditional birthday cakes but also the oldest ones received a cake made out of their favourite drink Coca Cola. ( 1-3 )

              Because the weather helped us a lot, we already gathered the first crop of hey. The hey That remain after the fire was just enough to feed our cows and when the hey was over, the new grass was grown so we could take them out to graze. So, we could see God watch over us also in this little aspect! ( 4 )

             We also managed to put some fire wood aside , for the winter. All the children helped. We still need 15 m cubs of wood in order to have enough fire wood for the winter.( 5 )

            Our farm gas gotten bigger with 80 chicks and 50 turkeys. We are very happy that we can provide healthy food for our children from chicken grown in our own yard. ( 6,7,8 )

          The middle of spring, month of April, a month full of beautiful events.

          At the beginning of the month we were pleasantly suprised by a group of youth and children from the state orfanage from Piatra Neamt - "Elena Doamna" that came to vist us. The children had a great time together eating something sweet and playing in the yard. It was easy to acommodate to the others, as part of them already knew eatchother from previous events. (photos 1-4)

          After this visit, another one followed. A group of three men, from the Ghedeon organisation, came to see the children, bringing the joy to them by giving them juice and fruits and last but not least by blessing them with a prayer for each one. (photo 5)

          God has created things so perfectly that when you take time to think about it, you can not help be overwhelmed by how wise the plan of God is  .

          The trees burst into a wonderful game of colors , the fields dress the green coat of spring, , the birds sing a joyful song baby -  sheep play around their mothers, the children leave their winter daily routine spending lots of time out. Everything comes back to life! A season that makes you keep fighting full speed ahead, gather forces and start new things, a season that won't let you laze, that screams: LIFE!

          This is how we feel things at Casa Ray. The house, the garden and the yard, have come to life. The children have filled the atmosphere with their laughings like a worm and thick spring rain. (photos 1-3)

             We could not finish the cleaning after the fire by the end of January and we continued all February: 8 big trucks full of dirt and ashes. But let's forget about the  past and look into the future!!(1-5)

             We donated all the iron left after the cleaning to a poor family in Targu Neamt who also had their  house on  fire two months ago and they had to repair the roof.(6)

             We also used as fuel the wood that was left unburned.(7,8)

             After we got rid of the dirt we tore down the walls that were still standing. Now everything is cleared and ready for the new construction.(9-13)