Clown Car Unloads at the Children's Hospital!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Papa Vogel (Father of Vice President Steffi Vogel) for donating our new, amazing clown costumes! There really isn't a better way to make a child smile then with a clown, face paint and balloon animals.

Alisha with honorary clowns Dee & Jim, also from Michigan.

We first had to decide who would be the clown; that was easy. There is one long term volunteer (Alisha Sidebottom), who is completely afraid of clowns, so this proved as a great opportunity to for her to face her fears. And plus, if you ARE the clown, you don't have to look at the clown...unless there's a mirror near by. We're teasing you a bit here Alisha :)

But really, as Hospital Head Supervisor, she was happy to take on the task of transforming into a clown to make the children smile and laugh, and it was for sure a success.

We are excited that we have these costumes that volunteers now can regularly entertain the children visiting the hospital

Sometimes just a clown hug is enough.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

We have been so blessed this past week to welcome a team from Kingwood Texas to Brasov! They brought so much fun and joy to the children in Budila as they presented a week long Vacation Bible School for our After School Program children in the morning, and snuggled and loved on babies at the Brasov Children's Hospital in the afternoons. Throughout the week you would hear resounding YEE-HAW's coming from our Foundation Center, witness the wearing of fuzzy coloured mustachios, and bandanas but also hear songs and teachings centered around the story of Moses with the message, no matter where you come from God can use you to do great things. Here are few pictures from all the fun times that were had, thank you TEXAS!

                       

The team taught our kids a new version of "The Lords Army" that had some very...Texan, moves. You've gotta know how to swing a rope and holster a side arm if you're in the Lords Texan Army :)

Each day the children learned a new verse that was recorded in their journal. Here, Claudia holds John 11:25 for the children to copy down. 

Three of the teens from our program, Marcu, Petru (Mark and Peter) and Andreea came all week to help as camp counsellors to the children. It was absolutely inspiring to see these young adults now take a leadership role with children whom they were once like. 

Some of the girls from Texas commented on how they were worried about the communication barrier. How would they be able to really reach the kids if they couldn't understand what each other was saying? The answer is simple. Love is a universal language, we all know it, we can all recognize it when it's given to us, and we can all show it in numerous ways. 

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

The Berchtold Family Singers Lift Spirits and Share Love Through Music.

What an aweome visit we had this Spring from Sarah's family! For those of you who don't know, Sarah is the youngest of seven girls! And yes, they can all sing! Whenever the Berchtold family is in town there is a lot of love, a lot of laughs and beautiful music. For the Children's Hospitals "Day of the Child" celebrations, the Berchtold's toured the hospital and sang, visited with the children and the staff. When the hospital project first began in 2005 and Sarah and Steffi began fundraising for diapers, this family headed up a lot of the efforts in the U.S. This project is very dear to their hearts, as they are dear to ours. 

While here they also had the opportunity to tour the new Foundation Center in Budila and sing for the kids in the After School Program also. It was such a treat to have a visit from them. Thank you for your beautiful music and your heart for Romania. Come back soon!