Apartment

Recently a friend reminded me of the importance of praying specifically. So, in thinking about my apartment for this coming year (and perhaps beyond), these are the things that came to mind-things that an ideal apartment would have:
-hot water (even early in the morning)
-heat in the winter
-be within 30 min of school (walking or public) and in a good neighborhood
-near public transportation and a grocery store/market
-kind and gracious landlord who would be willing to move things out of the apartment as I purchase things to make it feel more like my home
-within my budget for rent
wishful thinking category:
-be higher up so I can see out around the city
-colorful

Thank you for praying specifically for my apartment for me:) I look forward to sharing with you how God provides!

Technology

Isn't it amazing what you can do these days! I love my family and it was wonderful to talk online tonight in a conference call. It was great to hear their vocies and laughter-to catch ourselves interrupting one another and to not feel like we had to tell the same story three times. What fun!

Taxis

Sometimes you just have to wonder about where companies come up with their names? For example take these great companies recently seen in Bucharest...

-Quite Pretty Taxi-and yet all of the cars I have seen are still yellow (not the prettiest color in the world) and don't seem to be in the greatest shape
-Taxi Occident-I think that along with the rest of the American population in Bucharest, this reads Accident (especially with the flowing script lettering)-why would anyone want to select a taxi company apparently more prone to accidents than others
-Taxi 2000-perhaps this seemed appropriate during the new year, but it feels a bit outdated-perhaps Taxi 2006-just doesn't have the same flow.

There are certainly others-new companies spring up weekly. What variety!

I'm a Genius:)

Okay, so I am not really a genius, but this morning I feel like it. I have solved two mysteries.

The first: Every morning when I arrive to school as the first person to my building I had to turn off the alarm. Most mornings despite my dash to the keypad through two sets of doors the alarm blares across the neighborhood. Repeated calls to the alarm service asking for them to set the timer longer seem to yield no gain in time. After succeeding in entering the building a number of times without setting off the alarm, I realized that it is all in the second set of doors. If the second set is left open, I can get to the alarm bad in time. If not, the alarm sounds. How exciting to have found such a simple solution when the logical things didn't seem to work:)

The second: I figured out the reason for our bathroom floor filling with water. Apparently, the drain system couldn't handle normal flow so I figured out a way to limit that. Go figure:) So, that problem is resolved too!

Kirby

I was surprised at how I reacted this morning when I heard that Kirby Puckett recently died of a stroke. As a young child I remember going to Twins games with my dad and cheering on Kirby-even though it was from a great distance. Even as I try this morning, I can't seem to come up with any other names of players from the Twins from that same great era. Kirby was somehow a "hero"-and yet he was a man, destined to die along with the rest of us. There is certainly sorrow at seeing the past fade away in so many different ways-whether legendary sprots figures dying or children that I babysat heading to college and then graduating.

Forgiven!

What an amazing image! Today, I was told that a debt I had hanging over my head was not really a debt at all. What an amazing feeling to learn that instead of owing money, I was to receive money. It was freeing and it brought up in me an even greater generosity toward others.

As I thought about it longer, I realized that this was exactly the picture of what Christ did for me in terms of the punishment I deserved for my sin. Instead, He took my debt and gave me His righteousness. Shouldn't the same freedom and generosity to share what God has done for me permeate my life? All our lives?

Finally

It only took two and a half years, but I have finally found a brand of 'milk in a box' that I can handle. I even managed to have a glass of milk with a meal instead of the usuall glass of water. So maybe I won't need those calcium chews so much after all:)

Streams

Isaiah 58:11
The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

This verse jumped off the page as I was reading last night. It was a reminder to me that God knows my needs and he will satisfy them. He will be my strength.

In my fifth grade science class we are studying landforms. We recently learned about perennial and intermittent streams. Intermittent streams only have water flowing in them during parts of the year whereas perennial streams have water flowing in them all year long. How neat to think that in Christ, I can be a perennial stream:)

Winter in Bucharest

Snow finally fell today, covering the city with a light blanket. There is always such a wonder that comes with seeing snow: the way it slowly drifts to the ground and brightens the surroundings. I can't seem to get enough of walking in the snow:)

(The building pictured is the building I teach in at BCA.)

I finally got it!

It took me three times I think to understand what the cashier was saying. I had won! I had to go to the "reception" and claim my prize. For a brief moment, I thought perhaps this might be something worth claiming:) It turns out, I won a 15,000 lei coupon on cleaning products. What appears to have a high value is really only worth 50 cents. Lucky me! Now I have to figure out how to use the coupon.