Makin' hay while the sun shines

The Hagiu's have about an acre of land on the property/house they rent, and Feri asked if he could have the grass when it was cut for a horse he wants to buy this fall. We agreed, but after it was cut it rained for a day and a half. The next sunny day was Sunday. Four Gypsy men came Sunday morning and asked Nicu to drive them to a village an hour away to see if a runaway horse was at it's previous owners. So while they were out looking, Silvana and I went out to turn the grass over so it wouldn't rot.

I started laughing at one point, and when Silvana asked what was funny I told her that my great-great Grandfather left Germany to escape Serfdom to live in America and have a better life for himself and his children. I wondered what he would think if he saw his great-great-Grandaughter going BACK to Europe to do peasant's work with Missionaries who worked with Gypsies! We had a good laugh about that.

Feri came over today with Danot(s) to stack they hay and this is the result of their work. Interestingly, making hay made me think of Christianity. Silvana said if Feri hadn't asked for the grass, she would have just thrown it into the river. We had to turn it over on Sunday, which is NOT the thing to do in a small village (several old people found reasons to walk down the road to 'get something' to see what we were doing and why, and didn't we know that it was SUNDAY?) and we had to work alongside Gypsies to get the work done. I think Christianity is the same in that God brings situations that we wouldn't have chosen or wouldn't have thought of, like Feri asking for the grass. We have to go against culture and tradition to accomplish the goal God has put before us, like Silvana, Nicu and me working on a Sunday morning, and we have to work with people that we usually wouldn't have thought of or chosen, like the Hagiu's working alongside Fery and Danot(s) to accomplish His goal.

In other news, Naomi and I tried making Chocolate-Chip cookies on Saturday. If you put the emphasis on CHIP in chocolate chip, that would describe our creations. :-) They were good, but I don't know if I added too much baking soda or what. Anyway we had fun. We asked Leo if he wanted to help and he said, "No. Dats work for girls." But apparently tasting the dough was work for boys. Naomi grabbed a dishtowel and chased him out of the kitchen and then took upon herself the job of taste-testing. Mmmm!
Yesterday evening we drove to Calatele to pick up Bubba, Bubba Maria and Bubba's grandson before going to church in Sacuieu. The church service was good, and Silvana and I sang ourselves hoarse trying to sing ON KEY as loudly as the Gypsies were singing the praise and worship songs heartfeltedly off-key. :-) The picture below is of Nicu right before the service started. I took this picture with my back against the other wall. As you can see, the church is TEENY TINY!!

On the drive back we discovered that Bubba (lady on the left holding her grandson) was Bubba Maria's (lady on the right) step-mother, but Bubba Maria is four years older. Hmmm... :-) The two ladies used to hate each other, but since becoming Christians, they have found themselves hanging out a lot together, cooking each other food and becoming good friends. Its amazing what happens with Jesus in your life!!!

Please pray for Silvana as she has been struggling with her health. She recieved some results from the Doctor today and Praise the Lord nothing is wrong with her liver. She has to have an ultrasound to see if she has any kidney stones because that may be the problem. Otherwise her health issues may just be stress-related. The last time this happened she was the house-parent of an orphanage and had to quit, so please pray that the Doctor will find another solution, as she and Nicu really have an awesome ministry here, and I don't think Silvana will stop even if she goes against Dr.'s orders. But if she does that, it could really be bad for her health.
God bless!
~Princess Ouch~