Capture The Art Blog's

reachEurope Romania team 2011. jewelry making at Casa Agar. sweet Estera. love graffiti. me with baby Larissa. Bucharest. Touched Romania. the people's palace in Romania [2nd largest government building in the world]. exploring Romania. sweet little Catalina.

We finally arrived in our mission country! i'm not even sure where to begin, this trip was amazing. We spent most of our time in Casa Agar, a home that provides an alternative to child abandonment and opportunities for a better future for them and their children.  These women are given a room, bed, food, opportunities, and love. Our team helped out with taking care of the children, housework, laundry, cooking, and jewelry-making used for fundraising. We also visited the abandoned babies hospital. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the babies, so I will try my best to describe what we saw and the things we did...

As we walked up the stairs to the abandoned babies ward, we could hear the babies crying. There were babies from birth to two years all laying in their own cribs, where they remain hour after hour, day after day. We held the babies, fed them their bottles, changed their diapers, and prayed over them. There is no "play room" or "play time". These babies remain in their cribs constantly. Even when they are being fed, the bottle is propped up on a blanket. There just isn't enough hands to hold each child while it eats. Because of such lack of interaction and stimulation, some are developing special needs and many of their small bodies are not developing at a healthy rate.

We were able to take a few of the toddlers to the park to play which was their very first time outside. I watched as they felt the grass, looked at flowers, and gazed at the clouds. These children are two years old, and they had never been outside.

As of right now, Romanian adoption is completely closed--even to Romanians.

The trip was devastating, life-changing, and amazing. Through this trip, God has given me a heart for missions. I can't wait to go back to Romania. I know I will one day.

please pray for:

Romanian government [for compassion and love for the abandoned babies and to re-open adoption]

the abandoned babies

the missionaries in Romania

the people of Romania

stay tuned for scenes from Paris...an uplifting trip!...xoxo

tiny belgian flags. the waffles, oh the waffles. pretty gardens. royal palace. reachEurope team in front of gaasbeek castle. pretty ivy walls. continental theological seminary. the grand place.

The first country we visited was Belgium. It is so beautiful, the people are friendly, and the waffles are reason enough to go back! During our 4 days in Brussels, we stayed at a seminary where we had training and prayer before the team departed for our separate mission fields--Romania and Berlin. The students at the seminary were so wonderful and accommodating to our large group. The airline in which we flew lost our bags for two days and the seminary students lent us their pajamas, shampoo, hair dryers, etc. They were amazing!

My favorite memory from Belgium: The president of the seminary school, Joseph Dimitrov, spoke to us at one of our training sessions and wow...there are no words to describe this man. He only spoke for an hour, but he left in imprint on my heart. He would tell a story that would make us laugh and weep at the same time. The love of Christ almost literally radiates from him. I don't know how else to describe it. I wish you all could meet him.

reachEurope team 2011

i'm finally back after two weeks of traveling in europe. for all of the new readers, i took two weeks to travel to europe on a mission trip. first, we traveled to belgium for training at a seminary school. then we split up into two groups--one group went to germany to reach out to university students and the other half (my team) went to romania to love on abandoned babies, child cancer patients, and the mothers in a maternal center. After we spent a week there, the whole team reunited in paris to debrief about our trips, share stories, and sight-see.

once i can find my camera cord, i will be able to post pictures and tell you about my time in each of the three countries. let me just say, the trip was nothing like how i thought it would be. there were many twists and turns that should have upset all of us (like the airline that lost our bags for 2 days) but God spoke to us and taught us that the trip was about Him and we didn't need anything but Him. our faith in Him alone was enough.

stay posted for the photos!

oh, and thanks so much for the sweet messages and comments. each of them made me smile..xoxo

well, my dears, i am europe bound! by the time this entry posts (gotta love scheduled posting), i will be in belgium. i can't wait to share my experiences with you! i have one more scheduled post for you, so i'm not abandoning you completely. :) 

have a wonderful may...see you in june! xoxo

  1. Welcome to Ireland!

7.  Just a pretty red house in the countryside. love love love.8. The driver told us this sign was very famous for being confusing. ha.