As the warmth of spring washes over Romania, the month of March brought a unique holiday for our children there.

In Romania, Mother’s Day is in March. For most children, this is an exciting day to celebrate their mothers. But for the children who have no mother, or are not close to their mother, it is understandably a difficult day to process.

Vasile, a leader in Romania has a graceful way of explaining what this day is for the kids under his home.

“After the sad and frozen winter, spring comes and under the heat of the sun’s rays, the birds start to sing songs full of life and love. The snowdrops blossomed, bringing joy and hope, being a relief for the saddened, a delight for the teary eyes and a comfort for a broken heart.

We are still struggling with this pandemic and the children are looking forward to the days when they will play and be able to go to school without restrictions. Currently some children go to school and others learn online.

Being the month of March, the children are preparing to celebrate Mother’s Day and like every year they repeat the lyrics of the song: “If I could gather star by star, to make a bouquet for my mother, to hug her tight I’d like to. Happy birthday mommy, it’s your birthday!” For the children in our house, their mother is somewhere far away and yet so close in a corner of their heart and in the dreams that caress their sleep. As usual, they will offer flowers and hugs to those who take care of them and for a while they are mothers for them.

God is the father of the orphan and takes care of them through your heart full of love and compassion. And that is why we thank you and pray to the Lord to reward you, and bring blessings for you and your families. May He take care of you and help you get through these difficult times.

Dearly,

Vasile”

It is apparent that a holiday like Mother’s Day is not a simple one for our children. But that does not keep them from finding their own way to celebrate it. We are immensely grateful for every leader who has stepped into the role of ‘Mother’ for these kids who so desperately needed one. Because of their sacrifice and love, this can still be a joyful day for these kids.

So please join us as we say ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ to every unconventional, yet vital mother, either within this organization, or not!

In a communist era, where the name of God was forbidden, what would happen to a young boy who had no hope outside of his faith?

Vasile remembers when he was only a few years old, watching his mother’s coffin be carried by cows to the cemetery in their local Romanian village.

“I remember tears as rivers on my cheeks and how much I missed my mother’s hugs and love.”

The loss of his mother made him an orphan, and so he was taken into a local family who said they could care for him. This was not the case though, and after a few unsettling years with this family, they took him to a state run orphanage.

There were 1200 other children in this one orphanage. During this time, the country of Romania was under communist rule, and the Christian faith was not allowed. But for Vasile, he had no other choice than to run to God.

“Every Sunday, three of us found a way to run to church. It was three villages away, but we walked the whole way. Every time we came back from church, we got punished. My comfort was a little New Testament which I kept very well hidden, otherwise the care takers would have taken it from me.”

Despite the persecution and struggles, Vasile was still able to complete his education and move out of the orphanage. He got married and they were blessed with three children. His wife also grew up in a different orphanage.

Just over twenty-two years ago now, Vasile’s pastor came to him and his wife, asking if they would be interested in overseeing a new orphanage. He didn’t know either of their backgrounds, but it was clear that God was bringing them into a new season. They accepted the role and began to welcome young orphans from their area.

“We understand these kids so well, coming from a similar experience, and we give them all of our love. They call us mother and father.”

Through the course of these past twenty-two years, they have seen many children come and go, and it has brought them enormous joy to watch the children flourish. And for the kids that aren’t able to find their happiness here, each one is faithfully prayed over.

Vasile shares that one of the young boys who grew up in his home has since moved to Ukraine to become a missionary with his wife who is from that area. They stay in touch over frequent phone calls, and Vasile is so happy to see this young man pursuing his passion of serving.

Vasile and his wife are able to provide for all of the needs and support that their children have been lacking, but even more, they provide them with the way to an everlasting help and love from Jesus. These leaders have been faithfully serving the children of their community with the parental hugs and love that they themselves lacked as children.

Vasile wanted to tell you that “you helped these kids to smile, to have a good life, and to be happy. You are serving Jesus through these kids, and He will bless you.”

If you would like to send support to Vasile, or one of our other home leaders, you can click here.

Any part of raising or ministering to children comes through planting seeds that you hope will grow and remain in the children.

One home in Romania raised a young girl for 17 years before she was old enough to live on her own. She became a teacher in the village she came from where she is able to influence the next generation there. She has also gotten married and now has two children of her own!

At the end of this last September, the young woman’s husband was elected as mayor of their village! He is a very respected and honorable man, and everyone is celebrating this opportunity for him. The couple is very involved in their local church, and through the church, they have been able to supply the children’s home with some essential needs during this season! This has really blessed the home, and they are so thankful to continue fostering this relationship.

The leaders attribute how their young girl was able to succeed to her loving sponsors who helped her get through college studies to become a teacher. She met her husband through her college, and they are now living happily as leaders and influencers of their village. From an early age, the home leaders were able to sow seeds of confidence and Godly identity into her. She has now grown from that leadership into the plan that God has for her!

We are excited that this village has gained a respected leader, and we are so thankful that we are able to see our children growing up to positively help their communities!

A story by C.R. Roberts.

It’s tough to find a rainbow without being tested by the rain.

Meet Andrea, age 3.

“She’s our miracle girl,” says Gusti, one of my hosts at a Romanian countryside orphanage serving perhaps a dozen children, most under 10.

Andrea was prematurely born at five months on the very day her father died. Gusti attributes this very premature birth to the mother’s shock at the news. The child “had no chance to be normal,” the doctors said. She spent her first year — the entire year — in a hospital bed. She was fed a liquid diet because she was not learning how to eat.

“She would never walk, never talk,” Gusti and his wife Florica were told. “She would be like this forever.”

But forever didn’t quite last.

A few months after giving birth the mother, distraught, offered Andrea’s two older brothers to the home. “The mother brought her boys.

She said she had a daughter also in the hospital.”

A daughter who could not speak who spent her days in bed not reacting to stimulus.

Six pills every three hours, forever.

The mother surrendered her sons, then after that year in the hospital, she offered Andrea to the orphanage.

The doctor asked, “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

Prayers answered yes. More prayers followed. Andrea didn’t quite wither, but she didn’t quite move ahead.

The mother had eventually settled in “with this man who is very violent and jealous of whoever she talks to and if she gives attention to the children.”

The boys were doing well and Andrea was moved to a bed on the second floor of the home here in the green and quiet village of Bencec.

One afternoon several months later the housekeeper-cook at the home was working in the kitchen and she heard a noise on the stairs.

Andrea was walking down, by herself, walking, by herself.

The housekeeper told me, “I was scared.”

A child who could not walk, walking, who might be blind, seeing, who would never be normal, looking pretty darn normal coming down the stairs.

Hope not only floats, it swims. And it can belong to us all.

C.R. Roberts is a retired journalist from Tacoma, Washington. After studying at the University of Washington he moved to England, and upon his return owned a small business dealing in rare coins and stamps. Later, following a 30-year career as a columnist and business writer at the Tacoma News Tribune, he retired to a life of volunteerism and has made several trips with Kidstown to Romania, India and Nepal. He personally sponsors two young men in Romania.