This post is in memory of my dog, Starfire.
She has been sick for a while but seemed to be getting better and then
she got worse so dad had to put her down while I was in Romania. I had
prayed that she wouldn’t die while I was there but I guess God said no.
Due to her symptoms, the vet thought it was probably cancer. I had
noticed some weight loss when I was here on break last summer but it
has only been in the last two months that her health went downhill
fairly rapidly.
I miss having her on the porch to greet us. I went to swim my laps in
the pond yesterday and cried because she wasn’t there to have me throw
a
stick in between sets. This morning I didn’t have to tell her to stay
home when I went biking. I think I will miss her most when I’m running,
we have run hundreds of miles together. I have been running for about
four years and she’s been there at my side every time. I wish she could
have made it to the triathlon because it is sort of a culmination of
all my training. I miss her.
12-Apr-2006
7-Apr-2006
I know this isn’t the Romanian update you’re expecting but the time has
been a little rushed (not to mention last night I could hardly keep my
eyes open!) But we made it back to the States with very little trouble.
I watched Narnia on the plane 
We had a
wonderful reunion with everybody back here at the RCI. The Schraders
took us to Banana Boat (a wonderful ice cream place) that evening and I
got moose tracks – a flavor that hasn’t made it to the south yet.
Today I didn’t really sleep in although Stacie did. Mostly it was
because I had to get up and go to the doctors office. Remember that I
jammed my thumb playing volleyball? Well about 3/4 of my hand is
bruised on both sides and it was hurting a little so I thought I should
get it x-rayed. Everything is okay, they just put me in an ace bandage
and told me not to use it for a while (yeah right). 
In less than an hour I’m headed further north to go visit some really
good friends. There’s a possibility of cross country skiing (which is
another reason I wanted to get my hand checked) and I’m sure there will
be some Starbucks and pizza involved (this is what we all craved coming
home). Mostly though I’m looking forward to the fellowship. Hopefully a
picture post will come once I’m there.
5-Apr-2006
It’s 10:30pm, Romanian time – we leave in just one and a half hours. I don’t know what to say. Two lives have already been given to Christ that we know of and we are praying for many others. We will be keeping up the contact that we have begun during our time here; already several of our team have received emails from our Romanian friends.
We came to bless others but are leaving blessed ourselves. We are living out what Senator Radu hoped: We did not come as tourists to leave as friends, but we came as friends and are leaving as brothers. God bless Romania!
2-Apr-2006
Well here I am again – I can’t believe I’m back on, less than 12 hours later. I went to play volleyball yesterday after writing but now I think it would have been a better use of time if I had stayed to post more pictures. On the last serve of the game I jammed my thumb so now its a little hard to type. I’m thinking I won’t be doing any volleyball for a few weeks. I didn’t get the worst of it though – Zach really took one for the team on our first night.
He made an awesome save but apparently there was a slick spot on the floor and he fell, hitting his head and fracturing his wrist. His experience in a foreign hospital was helped out by the fact that he was accompanied by our interpreter, the mayor and the chief of police. He is really a trooper and might have even skied yesterday if anyone would have let him. Speaking of skiing, here we are in the Carpathian mountains, you can kind of see the ski slope behind us.
Another interesting thing is that the girls here ask me if I have a boyfriend – not like we think of them in the States, but meaning a more permanent relationship maybe leading to marriage. (many of them have had the same boyfriend for several years – none of that two week/month stuff for them) When I say that I don’t they are very surprised and ask why not. It has been interesting to try and answer their question. Yesterday one girl wanted to know more about the whole thing of dating and why so few of us had boyfriends. She sat with me on the bus and I was able to share scriptural principles and eventually the gospel with her. We are different – and not just because we are Americans and they want to know why. Praise God that we are a peculiar people.
1-Apr-2006
Hi everyone! I’m sacrificing a volleyball game to post this but I promised some of my Romanian friends that I would post their picture on my blog before Monday. These girls are from a high school in Marghita where we spent an awesome four days.
Okay, that’s all the pictures for now, they take a while to download and I can’t figure out how to make them any smaller (half the commands are in Romanian). Today was awesome! We had breakfast, visited two different Mayors and took about 15 Romanian friends to the mountains with us where we had an incredible lunch and then went skiing and had a snowball fight (I got R.J. really good 
). I have been a little sick and had to rest yesterday afternoon but I’m feeling better today (if wearing wet clothes in the snow doesn’t set me back). The weather has been good, the conversations and friendships made have all been totally worth it. The Romanian food and hospitality are incredible – we are constantly amazed and overwhelmed. I thank God for the fact that we are here and I look forward to each new day and the things it will bring, even though it means we are one day closer to leaving.
