We would like to share with you an exciting interview that was done with our family- our adopted children and the children from our family center, “The House of Joy.”    The title of the program was, “Do you know how your child is doing?” based on a year-long campaign which was conducted to expose some of the many issues concerning Romania’s children.   The show was aired on national TV on December 1st which is a holiday for Romanians, the day they remember their unification as a country.

There were many sad stories told that day, we are privileged that ours was chosen as well….hopefully to inspire hope in Romania’s children and to give the adults a different perspective in how they view the orphans.   

The English translation of the show (the narration and dialogue) is below and to see the video, you can click here.      Enjoy !

Sometimes, a child who seems condemned is saved from where he leasts expects it.

Coming all the way from America, a young woman did what many Romanians, who are searching for a perfect child, avoid doing. She adopted, together with her husband, four children, either gypsy or with serious medical problems, who they treated with love and transformed into perfect children.

A lesson for all those who don’t understand that there is no greater treasure than the life of a child you have saved.

Rebekah is the one who saved all of those who are in the family picture. Each of them with a similar story, from the father to the smallest ones, were abandoned by their parents. So the young American came to Romania to save souls that she took by her side. And now they are happy.

George, who Rebekah met 8 years ago when she was a volunteer in placement centers in Hunedoara.

(George) “I lived in an orphanage where there were 110 children. Everything around us was dark, of course a lot of sadness, a lot of emptiness in our souls. We were treated like numbers.”

He was one of the children in the 90’s who shocked the whole world.

Images of them, begging for love, made thousands of foreigners want to adopt them. George wasn’t one of them because he had parents who didn’t visit him. His mother saw him again when he was 18 years old, when she found out he was in a foster home. She had with her a little girl, one and a half years old, George’s youngest sister. She asked him to take care of her because she was ready to give birth to her 11^th child.

(George) “She went home with the newborn baby, in two weeks, the baby died. My mom said that it was because of complications with the intestines, the neighbors said it was because of neglect.”

Then they decided not to let Mihaela go home anymore, to her parents, because she would be in danger, and Rebekah offered to take care of her.

George also became attached to Rebekah and later asked her to marry him. She left her quiet life in America, her parents and friends, to change destinies in Romania.. because she believed there was still a chance for some of the many children forgotten by their parents and authorities. She has no regrets because the family she has now offers her the greatest joy.

Looking at Daniel, the second adopted child, she feels like she saved a life. She met him in a hospital in a section for sick children. The doctors didn’t give him a chance. They (George and Rebekah) treated him with love and now Daniel is a child who is developing very well.

(Rebekah) “I visited him for a year and a half at the hospital and the orphanage. And after that I took him too in foster care. And after three years, I adopted him.”

(George) “this child touched her heart. She went day after day…you could see he didn’t even have a voice to cry anymore, you can die that way, then there was created a connection.”

They already had two children when life brought two more in their path.

They were at the orphanage Micul Print in Brasov, which was closing and the workers didn’t know what to do with the twins, Alin and Andreea, who nobody wanted to adopt.

Now, Mihaela is the artist of the house, Daniel the ‘sports guy’, registered at a judo club, his dad’s pride, Alin is a big lover of movies, and Andreea, a promising young voice in pop music.

Their children are lucky. Other children like them ended up in other centers, just as big and dark, or on the streets after the large orphanages were closed. And because they (George and Rebekah) wanted to help other kids, they opened a private home, in Sacele, where 8 children are raised like in a family.

Nicoleta is the oldest of the kids. She is 15 years old and you can see on her face that she has suffered a lot. In recent years, she has lived with different American families, who couldn’t adopt her. She doesn’t like to talk about herself. She prefers to express herself through drawing.

Ema is the youngest. She is smart and likes stories about princesses. She talks a lot

about the tooth fairy, about her perfectly clean room, about some earrings she wants. She is 6 years old and her mother left her at the center because she couldn’t raise her. Ema is one of the adoptable children, who are waiting for parents to come, to take her and to do a miracle in her life.

George and Rebekah do a miracle every day. For children, the warmth of a home means as much as 1,000 toys.

(George) “We are not trying to give people a lesson. We just want to show the world that these kids deserve a second chance. Their first chance was taken against their will. They are not guilty for being orphans.”

Rebekah doesn’t know now if other children will have a place in their lives because she is sure that they choose you. They transmit their need for help and ultimately, people shouldn’t look for the perfect child. Because every child is perfect. You just need to give them a chance at a normal life and you will receive in turn the smiles of happy children.

As the school year begins, we look forward to what the Lord has for us as a family and for the children at the “House of Joy.” August was a crazy month. Our social worker was off most of the month and our two 24 hour workers took turns taking two weeks off each. This left George and I extremely busy doing 24 hour shifts, bringing the kids to our house, etc. We had a big trial that month as the family center had no running water and we had to borrow water from the neighbors every day- for laundry, showers, and washing dishes. George went to the water company and after they didn’t do anything, he went to the governor and finally to the local news station. The news people were very helpful and because of their publicity, the water company felt pressure to give us running water again.

We had also been looking all summer for a camp for the kids to go to and found a state camp willing to take them, but it was an 8 hour drive from Brasov. George and I drove all 8 kids in two cars and when we got there, we discovered that the camp was like an orphanage. The kids were really discouraged and scared to be left there, so we drove all the way back that same day. The news station found out about this problem and helped the kids get into a nice camp in the mountains near Brasov for half price. We were so encouraged by this and the kids loved the camp.

Our family was also interviewed by Pro TV because we have adopted children and are in the process of adopting our twins, Alin and Andrea. The station interviewed a few other friends (foreigners) who are trying to adopt because they believe that international adoptions should be allowed and are going to do a special report on TV. Again, we felt like God really blessed us by using Pro TV to plead the cause of the orphans in this country and we pray that our stories will be taken seriously.

We want to thank you so much for your prayers for Meda. We were so busy this last month, but the investigation continued to move forward and a policeman even came from Simeria (5 hours from here) to our house to interview Meda and get another declaration from her. About a week later, she was ‘summoned’ to the train station in Simeria. George took her and they interviewed her again and wrote more statements about the events, etc. Since then, we haven’t heard anything but we continue to pray that the men who molested Meda will be found, tried, and convicted.

Meda is doing better. She was so encouraged by the many emails we received for her. She really felt loved and comforted. Please keep praying for healing and also that she won’t believe the lies that Satan puts in her head about herself. Meda has nightmares and cries a lot. We are just trying to love her and of course help her see God’s deep love for her.

Praises:

1. The House of Joy has running water again! The kids got to go to a nice camp.
2. The Lord used our time working with the kids to understand their needs better and get closer to them.
3. Our own children all have tutors for homeschool this year. A big answer to prayer!
4. God is using the media to bring to light the orphan problem and present a solution.

Prayer Needs:

1. We still need a van and it may happen soon. We praise the Lord for answering this prayer!
2. Healing for Meda and justice.
3. We are still looking for counselors for the kids at the family center.
4. For unity between us and our workers and between the workers and the kids. For God’s unconditional love to flow through us.

Thank you for your prayers, loving support, emails, and friendship. We love hearing from you!

May God bless you abundantly, George`, Rebekah, Meda, Mihaela, Daniel, Alin, and Andrea

“But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”1 Corinthians 13:13

Dear Friends,

Hello! We are so excited to be back in Romania, though we had a wonderful time in the States. We were able to see so many people and it was very special to spend a lot of quality time with my family. It was really hard to leave them, but after two months of traveling and living out of suitcases, it is good to be back in our home in Brasov.

We want to thank you so much for your love and support as we had the opportunity to see so many of you and felt blessed beyond words to see you and receive encouragement and inspiration. We felt really humbled by the love and generosity that was just heaped on us while we were there. THANK YOU! There is no love like the agape love that is shared between brothers and sisters in the Lord.

It was very exciting to share about the work that God is doing in our lives and in the lives of the children in our family center. Now, more than ever, we realize how heavily we rely on your prayers and involvement in our ministry here.

We are happy to announce that we have 8 children now at the family center, “House of Joy.” Nicoletta came to us in June. She is 15 years old and also grew up in the same orphanage where six of the other kids came from. Nico was taken out of the orphanage several years ago into foster care by an American family . About a year ago, a missionary friend of ours asked Nico to live with her, but since our friend, Jo, doesn’t have residency in Romania, she was unable to keep her. We offered to take Nico into our center and she has been with us now for almost two months. It is always hard for a new child with the adjustments, but she is doing ok and we are all trying to reach out to her and help her feel accepted, loved, and wanted.

Since our return to Brasov, we are really enjoying spending a lot of time with the kids at the family center. The weather has been extremely hot, often in the 90′s, and for several days, the temperature has been over 100 degrees F. We took the kids to a nice pool, and George` also put sprinklers in the yard so they could play and cool off. One day after church, we brought them all to our house, had spaghetti, took them to the park, and out to a movie. Another night, some of the older kids came over with a couple of volunteers and watched a movie and had popcorn. We are also starting to take them one at a time for a couple of days to give them more individual attention.

George` and Julia, our social worker, are working hard to find a camp for the kids to go to. We want to give all of our workers at least a week off and take the kids on a vacation or send them to a camp.

We praise the Lord for:

1. Keeping our family safe while we were in the States. For blessing us in so many ways during our visit.

2. For renewing our vision and refreshing our hearts to do His work here. We thank God for the love He gives us to share with the children under our care.

3. For providing some of the money needed to buy a van for the family center.

Please pray with us for:

1. The American dollar to stabilize and stop decreasing in value. For the past couple of years, the value has dropped drastically. Here is a prayer request from a fellow missionary in Romania:

From Dan Mercado, Project Romanian Rescue: Your urgent, fervent prayers are critically needed now, and continually, for ministries in Romania like PRR in Constanta, the Bates’, Kelly’s and many others – our ability to serve and possibly even stay open to minister is endangered due the 30% fall of the U.S. dollar there (at PRR, and probably at the other ministries as well). Net spending power loss, including inflation, since 2004: at least 50%! PRAY for these ministries to increase in financial support, for the floodgates of heaven to open and release greater monthly income so they can STAY OPEN and continue in the ministries of saving street children and youth, girls from prostitution, teenage mothers, abandoned babies, to effectively evangelize and disciple…. And as you plant the seed of prayer for this need, may God meet YOUR own needs more and more richly and abundantly!”

Pray especially for the monthly support needed for the family center to stay open and running.

2. For a van. With 8 children now, it is getting very difficult to take them anywhere, even to church. Our family, which includes 7 people, has a 5 passenger car. We need to use this car for our needs as well as for the needs of the center.

3. For Nico and her adjustment to “The House of Joy”, that she will feel welcome and that we can meet her needs.

4. For Bianca, who seems to be suffering the most from the abuse in her past. We need a lot of wisdom and prayer for her.

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and love. In His Grace, George` and Rebekah

If you are interested in sponsoring one of the children, please contact Amanda Towle : amandatowle@yahoo.com