What's Next?

Many knew that we thought we would be adopting and in the states for the holidays.  Then things changed with that as the birthmother changed her mind.  The big question was, "Do we still go on furlough?" or  "Do we wait until we hear about another birthmother picking us?"  

Well, we thought to wait it out.  However, this past week we bit the bullet and purchased tickets for our home assignment.  Yup, we are coming back to the states for a five, yes 5, month stay.  

Our options for home assignment were:

1) 4 years Romania with 1 year back in the states.  

2)  2 years Romania with 6 months back in the states.  

We felt option one was too long for both reasons for relationships on both sides of the ocean.

We have now been in Romania for 2 1/2 years - so we are over due to get back to visit friends, family and supporters!

This past week we received a few reports from close friends and family of some health concerns. At that point we were more assured that we need to spend some good quality time with those we love back home.

We plan to spend holiday time in both Minnesota and Nebraska, with News Years back in Arizona.  Then both of us need to take some continuing education courses for our therapy license and certificates.  

Adoption News:  We are so close to the top of the list at the adoption agency that every expecting mom that goes through this agency will read our profile and letter to choose from. Please join us as we continue to pray that during our time in the states our family will grow to include a beautiful, healthy baby.  

As exciting as it is to think about being in the states it is difficult to pack up when ministry and relationships here are going so well.  Please pray for us as we pack, organize, and visit with many before we leave here.  Oh yeah, all of this in ONE WEEK.  We will depart on Dec. 6th heading to Minneapolis first.

New Place to Call Home - Again.

I had heard it said that a missionary's life consists of getting used to moving.  Not always within the same city like us, but back and forth from the states and sometimes to different towns and cities.  We have had our share of mobility in our two and half years of living here.

However, we are so happy with this present move we made.  We left behind the apartment in the block building and are now in a large 3 bedroom apartment in a house.  The neighborhood is nice and quiet with a observatory across the street.  This makes parking our van so much easier!!!  I can not even explain the increase of cars we have seen here even in the last two years.  These Romanian cities were not designed to accommodate this and in the areas of block apartments it is the worst! 

Steve has been busy with distributing wheelchairs and equipment and other ministry things with moving furniture in between.  Hence, there has been no down time for us until this past weekend.  We celebrated my (Kristi's) birthday and our new place with having friends over.  

Adoption News - is that we have not heard anything new.  We are still in the waiting mode for a birthmother to pick us.  This has changed our travel plans and we will not be in the states for the holidays.  Unless, we get a call that requests us to come immediately to pick up a surprise Christmas gift.  Thanks for your continued prayer for us and our future family.

For the time being we expect to celebrate Thanksgiving with other missionaries and Americans here in Timisoara.  

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

So Let's Get to Work!

There are many reasons for ministering both alongside and to people with special needs and disabilities. All the arguments could fill volumes in anyone's library. However, two verses have been banging around in my head for the last six months. They come from the pen of the writer of Hebrews.

Hebrews 10:24-25 "...and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near."

We often see the verses in a different light than having relevance with special circumstances, needs, or disabilities. However, I feel convinced that it is extremely relevant to the life issues of all people who have special circumstances. Where are the vast majority of the people with special needs on Sunday morning and evening? Are they at church or in bible studies? No. They are home or elsewhere, cut off from the church body. Who is stimulating them to love and good deeds? Who can they encourage? How are they growing in love and in worship? I think the key is to help and encourage churches learn how to open their doors and incorporate those who have special circumstances, special needs, or disabilities.

Can anyone do this? Why not? God uses anyone with a mission, a heart, goals, and is obedient. So let's get to work!

Stephen Carnazzo

The Roller Coaster Ride of Adoption

Life is in constant change and motion.  We are in the midst of packing our belongings and moving to a different apartment.  This next one will be in a house.  Yeah!  It will have more room for a baby.

Also we are trying to get ready to fly to the states for adopting a baby in December.  BUT, halt on this one.  The birthmom who had chosen us to adopt her baby changed her mind and is now going to parent her baby.  It is a disappointment, but not a death or a miscarriage.  We will continue to pray for this young mother and this baby boy.  We still have a hope for a baby and our application and information is being shared with other expecting mothers thinking of adoption plans. 

The other positives is that she changed her mind in advance before we purchased plane tickets or flew to the states.  Those who follow our blog and are praying for our adoption we wanted you to know.  We appreciate your prayers.  Thank You!

Taking A Break

After a wonderful and blessed summer we found ourselves exhausted. In knowing we needed a vacation we discussed the many possible locations in driving distance from us. We chose Vienna, Austria which was only an 8 hour drive away.

It was a time of more relaxation than sightseeing. We were fortunate to be able to stay in the home of fellow GEM missionaries who live in a smaller community just outside of Wien (Vienna). While we enjoyed visiting this family we also had quiet time to read and take leisure walks through the town exploring and tasting the foods of Austria.

Two of the days we traveling by train and subway into the city and explored. It is a beautiful city and rich in history. Kristi loved seeing the locations where many famous composer preformed and lived. We even took in a orchestra concert at Musikverein (The Golden Hall) where every year they perform on New Years Day and it is aired worldwide. The music of this concert was of Strauss and Mozart. The website for the hall is at http://www.musikverein.at/

It was that time again for annual conference.  Every year we look forward to this time to reconnect with other GEM missionaries servicing throughout Europe.  Worship is with a great professional team from the states that serve in a week long mission to us missionaries.  This is a huge blessing to us.  Worshiping in our language is a moving and true worship experience.

It is encouraging to hear how God is moving in other countries and ministries.  We connected with those we had initially met when joining the GEM team to some new missionaries just coming to the field.

This year they had an evening of a talent show and also a night with the opening of the Olympics in Beijing.

Nick Vujicic In Timisoara

We did not get the chance to blog immediately following Nick's visit due to our annual GEM conference that took us to Hungary.  People have been asking and wondering.

It was a blessed whirlwind of a few days.  I thought a few of us were picking Nick and those on his team at the airport.  As we waited I did not see any cameras in the crowd, but as he rolled out in his wheelchair out popped video cameras in many directions.  Yup, it was big news in Timisoara. The newspapers had referred to him as a pastor living without limbs.  The first church service on Monday was packed with people standing along the side of the aisles.  That church can seat 2500. His message was powerful and the line afterward to greet and hug him took almost 2 hours.

The following day there was a press conference followed by a kind of townhall meeting with local professional regarding the state of living for those with disabilities here in Romania.  That evening he went to our church in Timisoara.  Yes, the one that had just built a ramp the two weeks prior to this visit.  God has great timing.  This church can only seat about 1200 people. Because of this it was overflowing into the front hall and 300 chairs in the basement with a live video stream there.  

We have been praying for a movement that the churches can reach out to this part of the community.  Please pray with us that maybe from these events the churches can provide special bible study and sunday school classes for as well as access to their general services.