wheel chairs this Christmas

This Christmas I had the pleasure helping some friends measure disabled children for wheel chairs in surrounding villages near Cahul. A group of Moldovans living in London raised money through their church and network of friends and will be coming back here with wheel chairs and supplies for these beloved kids at the beginning of February.

Watch the video and keep these little ones and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

A kindly old man

Here's a nice moment Will captured when Trina, Will and Jess and I were visiting Suceava Romania:

Travels with Friends and Family - Turkey

So far during our time in Moldova,

we have had some amazing visits with family and friends.

The first was with Jess's mom, Mary, in December 20009/January 2010.

Christmas masa in Bardar, Moldova.

Another masa in Vasieni, Moldova.

Overlooking the village of Vasieni. Look for the blue steeples of the village church.

Istanbul, Turkey: atop our favorite restaurant (the Doy Doy) with a view of the Blue Mosque.

The Blue Mosque during the day.

The three of us outside the Topkapi Palace.

The Egyptian Spice Bazaar - spiiiicy.

Outside the Haggia Sophia at night

Vin near the high ruins of ancient Pergamum.

Looking down into the excavated city of Ancient Ephesus.

The Great Theater at Ephesus.

Sitting on the beach of the
Agean Sea, looking out at some of the Greek Isles.

Setting up the photo shoot.

What an amazing trip!!! There are many more pictures - just ask Mary if you want to see them.

Paşte (Easter) in Moldova

Moldova has rich traditions for celebrating Easter. The women (at least those with the time or hardiness of heart) spend hours making Cozonac and Pasca (special Easter breads) and decorating eggs. The pickled eggs from the Conner family tradition, however, were a new wonder for our Moldovan friends.

We arrived at the Easter service at 11:30 p.m. and left around 6 a.m. The church waits for a flame that actually comes from Jerusalem by plane to the capital city, then by car to all the villages. All the congregants light their little candles from this same flame and march around the church singing "Christ has risen from the dead...." At the end of the service, numerous people lay out a towel or basket covered with their Easter breads, meat, house wine and candle lit with the flame from Jerusalem, waiting for the priest to come around and bless their offering with the holy water. Following the blessing, they return home, keeping the holy flame alight to place in their house .
In this picture, after 5 and a half hours, with annointing oil drippig down my forehead, I am bit tired and cold. Hoping we were at the beginning of the blessing route (people were lined up all around the church) we realized our departure would be delayed a bit as the priest went in the other direction around the church - putting us closer to the end:). When he finally got to us, he said, "Hristos a inviat! (Christ has risen!)" To which we replied "Adeverat a inviat! (He has risen indeed!)" Smiling, he continued, "Jessica, this is how we do it in Moldova," while repetedly flinging a larger than necessary sprinkling of chilly holy water at us. We went home tired but invigorated - joyful to have shared in this traditional celebration of the Resurrection.

Easter eggs I decorated with our Romanian tutor and friend, Doamna Zina.

The end of the march around the church.

All the laid out Easter celebration food awaiting the blessing.

La Multi Ani Renee

It was the strangest thing. We were so sad missing Renee's 50th birthday back home when we discovered that...

Carpet Beating

We're soooooo overdue on updating this thing I vowed to myself I would throw some stuff up here just to get back in the swing of posting things. So here's us a few months back righ after we moved into a new new place, doing a little winter cleaning :)

Happy Birthday Emma

We hope this video makes you smile :)