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June 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

WOW! These past two months have been CRAZY! However the craziness was sprinkled with blessings. Enjoy the updates from our growing family!

It’s a Baby Girl! We are pleased to announce the birth of our first Family Center baby! Her name is Elena Rebeca Crisan. She was born on May 22nd at 3:30 am (Romania time). She weighed 7lbs and was 47 cm long. God answered our prayers for a safe delivery and a healthy mother. The doctors told us that if the baby stayed inside the mother one more day the baby might have died from the amount of meconium and the lack of amniotic fluid present. The baby was monitored for a few days and does not seem to have any serious issues. Thank you Jesus! We are so blessed to have her in our family. Thank you all for your precious gifts of baby items, they made it here safe and sound with the two teams that visited us in May.

Speaking of teams… WHAT A BLESSING! I want to send a big thank you to the team members from CCRSM and RBC for all of your hard work and obedience to the calling of God on your lives. We miss you already. God was so glorified through each your short visits.

The visits were short but incredibly fruitful. Here are some of the highlights: The teams evangelized the area of Colonie and shared the story of Jesus’ love through felt boards and tracts. We also visited Betania and had one of our famous BBQ’s! The kids loved the bible story and were very responsive to the alter call at the end. Each child made crafts which included a salvation bracelet and received a dental hygiene kit (BIG hit, never knew kids could get so excited over a toothbrush!). We also reached out to the children in Colonie with a VBS in the church yard. The trip motto was “blessed are the flexible” and we were blessed and flexible, haha, well at least with our plans. God moved and we were so encouraged!

Family Center: It was our pleasure to “show off” the future Family Center building to the visiting teams. It was nice to share our excitement with others and see excitement in their eyes as well. Once all the paperwork is finished we will need a lot of help to get the house prepared for kids…please come out! We will keep you all updated on our needs and when we need them. We could not do any of this without God working through your gifts, thank you for your blessings.

Da Boys! We have been blessed with two other additions to our family within these last two months. We have two teenage boys living with us. AHHHHHHHHH! Just kidding! Aryana loves having her two big brothers; she is all smiles around them. The boys names are Robi (Row-bee) and Marius (pictured with Andrei and Aryana). They were abandoned first by their parents and then sadly by a missionary here. Long story made short, they needed a place to stay after being kick to the streets. God showed both Andrei and I that they belonged with us. It has been a very smooth transition and a huge blessing.

Please pray for them. They both need to find a job until school starts in September. We are trying to help them mature and become men. The rules of our house are that they are welcome to stay with us as long as they have work (or are diligently looking for work) and that they finish High school. Andrei disciples the boys everyday and teaches them simple construction skills. I have been so blessed to see God take Andrei’s abandonment by his parents to glorify HIS name amongst the other orphans that we minister too.

Child Protection Visit: Our meeting with Child Protections went VERY well! They were at first a little harsh with Andrei. Many people here take in children to get money from the government….a type of business. Because of this abuse of the system they have lowered the money given to placement parents. The CP officer said, “You should know that you only get 35 dollars a month from the government.” Andrei answered, “I don’t care about the money I care about the well-being of the child only.” After Andrei expressed his heart and motive for taking Elena into placement the CP officer lightened up and became very friendly.

Another Addition? Possibly! Today we heard from child protections that the 4 year old brother of Elena needs a family. He was abandoned at the hospital and has been living with a maternal assistant for the past 4 years. We are not sure about the details yet, but I will keep you all updated. As you can see God is growing our Family faster than we can move into the Family Center. When we finally get the keys to the house, we need help getting it ready to move into ASAP!!! (HINT HINT) OH! There are also three siblings that live at the Betania Orphanage who just lost their mother to TB, we are praying about taking them in as well. Please be in prayer with us!

Well that is all for now, thank you for your letters and prayers. We love you all!

With Much Love,
Familia Andries (Andrei, Kelle, Robi, Marius, Aryana, and Elena)

Praise Reports:

  • The arrival of beautiful, healthy and little Elena Rebeca Crisan
  • Our meeting with Child Protections went VERY good.
  • The addition of “our boys.” I love joking with them and spending time with them.
  • The wonderful time spent in fellowship with our teams!

Prayer Requests:

  • Prayer for Elena’s mother’s salvation.
  • Pray for Kelle to have patience with two babies.
  • Pray for Aryana’s Romanian citizenship to go through and for Kelle’s Romanian residency to be accepted.
  • Pray for wisdom and guidance for the new Family Center. Pray for wisdom for Andrei to decide who we should take into the Center.
  • Pray for us to find people to help us take care of the children that we can trust.
  • Pray for the placement of Elena into our family will go smoothly.
  • Prayer for the Local church. For unification and love to be overflowing within the body of Christ.