have moved
my office to my home. Well this seems to work ok. Still I miss my
main office so I try to go at Smiles as often as I can. I’m
thankful to God that I can still work each day and be active and
reasonably full of energy, even if the baby can come anytime now.
But how was the past month in practical
terms?
Busy …..and let me tell you why.
Rapa being on my top list took a lot
of "planning time". I’m soooo happy to tell you that all the 10
houses that Smiles committed to do are nearly complete. I had to
do a lot of shopping but this was not something hard for me. I
always enjoy doing it. Another, I say, miracle in Rapa is the
progress made at the building of the church. With God’s grace the
place is nearly done and ready for the opening on 9th
October. And let me tell you a little secret. On the same day we
will have our second baptisms there when 9 people will dedicate
their life to God and make a public statement. Isn’t that
GREAT???? GOD IS GOOD all the time!
On September 12th we started
the new academic year in Tileagd. I really wanted to be
there and even if the doctor told me "no travel at all" I asked
the big doctor (GOD) to be with me and protect me! I was sooooooo
happy that I could experience that! Very emotional time as always
when you see new generation coming in. Old generation moving on
and so on.
We had the opening at the nursery first
and then at the complex for the school. More excited than me were
the kids that could not wait to be back! Some of them moved on and
are no longer in the complex. They are at the state school and
come to us for the afterschool program. But they are ALL OUR
KIDS!!!
Please pray for each of them. It is not
an easy going project. We have a lot of needs and less money! But
education is important and if Smiles is not there to help they
will turn back
to
where they were 15 years ago!
I’m thankful to each person that gave me
money for wood. We
have manage now to
get all we need for the winter thanks to a very special and
generous supporter in England.
Now all our money needs to go on food,
cause we feed the kids twice a day. Then money needs to go on
books cause we still have to buy all of them and on
transport!!! The last one, transport is a big one for us. When
we finished the school year in June the van needed major repairs.
To repair it was a big cost for us, just over £1,000 ($1,300), so
because of the budget we never did the repair. Now we do not have
a bus. BUT we trust that God will find a way for us to get this
one repaired very soon. It’s costing each month £600 ($780) to
cover the cost of the bus which is such a support for the
children, especially as winter approaches. This includes all the
transport costs that is needed for the kids in nursery, grade
school and even high school, which of course is in the City, not
in Tileagd. Please pray that God will provide this for us!
quarters
in Cihei. Every time when I open a lorry I feel like a kid on
Christmas morning!
I’m so THANKFUL to all the people that
made this work out. Thankful to Barbara and Adrian and all the
guys that coordinate this container. Thankful to ALL THE
VOLUNTEERS that help packing it and makes sure there was nothing
left, as in "no empty space". Thankful to McBurney transport for
allowing Alan and Richard to drive all the way here and for their
commitment to covering all the transport cost! THANK YOU ALL!! And
may God bless you in everything you do!!!
Once the container was unloaded, in
90 minutes and the drivers left, we started to share the goodies
with the projects!!
But not all at once, because I had to
wait for my colleagues to come back to Romania! And they did!
Thank you for sending them back and not keeping them in UK! I’m
sure that they can do a good job in UK but here
they
can do it even better.
On September 25th we
had a group of Clowns coming to visit Smiles projects. 4 special
people made a lot of kids, elderly, smile every day. It is sooooo
nice to see that in life at times you do not need "posh" things to
make you happy! But the small things!! Thank you clowns of the
World Wide Smiles – Ben, Conk, Clown
Bluey & Masjolie.
Also
another special visit was the CEO of Viridian Housing in UK.
I’m so happy and proud to have met Nick Apetroaie.
Yes, he is an important person but what is more than that, is that
he is a Romanian! Rarely do you find people these days that are
going such a long way in life and are very successful, but they
stay humble and very human. A real encouragement for me. Viridian
Association helped Smiles to do very important work in Rapa, JFL2
and Emergency Housing Unit! Without their support we would not
have had these projects finished. I pray that they will not stop
here and we will still partner in the future……..because we do have
big dreams!!! And one of them is to see people, staff from their
company coming to see their legacy here in Romania!!!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH Viridian for all your help!!
Now, while I’m writing my report
updates, I’m waiting for one more thing to come!! Yes, I’m waiting
for my baby Hava to come. And is not long. It can happen any time.
So PLEASE pray for us!! I’m nervous but in the same time I’m very
curious. I’m curious of how it looks? How will be? How we will
accommodate with each other……..a lot of how!! BUT I’m sure that
God has it all sorted and is just a matter of me ‘WAITING’………and
WAITING IN SILENCE!!! So please pray for that.
And YES dear friend, WAITING IN SILENCE
is not always easy, but it has the best outcome.
I pray for each of us that no matter
what we go through, to wait for God’s answers because they are the
best.
Thank you for everything you do for us
month by month!
In His service
Maria
Maria Hava ,
Director of Operations, Romania
maria@thesmilesfoundation.org
p.s. next month when I do my update I
will be mummy Maria!!! And I can’t wait to show you picture with
my baby!!! See you soon.
What
do you do when you have to wait? For example waiting in a queue
while you do your shopping, or waiting for an answer from someone.
Waiting for a result from a hard exam or surgery that you just
went through or waiting for someone dear to come home! It’s all
about waiting!! 
So,
on September 20th we had a truck full of goodies
from UK arriving in Romania. Two very special drivers from Ireland
arrived at 1 am at our head 