Our Blog

Several organizations have volunteered to help us during the coming year. Here are a few.

The Bucharest Rotary Clubs had a picnic this past week end to celebrate the accomplishments they have made since the first of 2009. Mia’s Children was the main honoree. The kids had a great time spending the day outside playing games and enjoying the food and fellowship.

Rotary will also sponsor our camp August 23rd thru August 30th. They will supply outdoor shoes for each child and a school bag to pack their clothes for camp. Another great part is that they are providing the food and a cook for the camp. Mia really needs this break.

As well as the above gifts, the Rotary is also providing school supplies.

Rivaldo, 8, and Jon, 12, have been playing on soccer teams sponsored by Concordia. They love the sport and have done quite well. Congratulation, boys! This is Rivaldo’s first year at Mia’s Children. So this is a big accomplishment.

Brentag, another company in Bucharest, is providing swimming lessons for 10 days for 15 of our kids. They also sponsor a swim team. Who knows, maybe next year some of ours can be on their team.

There is a new private kindergarten that has been built in the area where the mission is located. The person that owns it had heard about Mia’s children and their artwork and asked Mia if they could paint story characters and decorations on the walls in five rooms. For doing this, 3 or 4 of our kids will be allowed to attend the program and be feed for a month.

ING Company has volunteered to help Mia during the school year, which begins September 15th, with tutoring and mentoring the kids. This is a task that Costel and Mia did together. It will really free up some time for them.

The Mariott Hotel has given Nicoleta, 16 years old, permission to come, work and learn about secretarial work, clerical work, and other things at the hotel. She will do this after school. The benefits of this hands on training will be excellent for her.

Many other things have happened this summer and will continue thru the fall. Please accept our thanks to all who have contributed their time and money to help this wonderful group of children.

Costel seems to be improving somewhat. He has more strength now and is able to be a little more active. He and Ed had an enjoyable visit. Ed had to come back sooner than expected due to a family issue. Thanks Ed for being there when you were needed.

The kids are enjoying their small pool and the opportunity to play most of the day. Mia still tutors them but just a little differently in the summertime. Their garden is beginning to bring fresh veggies to the table. Great for their health. Mia, Luminita, Rodica and the kids can vegetables for the winter also.

Hope to have more news soon.

Dear Friends,
Costel may come home from the hospital Friday. Our good friend from Iowa, Ed, is going to leave for Bucharest in the next few days to be with Costel and Mia for the next month or two. Ed is retired and has had EMT training and will help with Costel’s care. This will lighten the load for Mia. The children are out of school and can also help. This will give Mia quality time with Costel.

Costel is such a wonderful father figure for the kids. He loves each one and handles them with tenderness and kindness, but with a guiding hand, not too strict, but not too lenient. He is an excellent teacher, tutoring where needed, allowing them to grow and mature.

Special thanks to Rachel, Kay and Mike for donations toward Costel’s medical care.

We have just received word that Costel, Mia’s husband, is in the hospital in Bucharest. He has cirrosis of the liver due to hepatitis. He is extremely ill and may not make it. He has been dealing with this illness for several months.

Mia had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance this evening. We do not know what is wrong, but are in the process of finding out. As you know, they do not have any hospitalization insurance. If you should want to donate, please mail it to
Mia’s Children Foundation, Inc.
9245 Poplar Avenue, Ste. 8 #380
Germantown, TN 38138

Please pray for them. Thank you in advance for your prayers and donations.

It is a very special time for us to share with you how God in His glory and wisdom is blessing us in so many ways. Again we were reminded that no matter how hard the times are, He will never forsake us, He is with us every moment, and in this way we can look forward to fulfilling our mission here in Romania. It’s such a wonderful witness that His sacrifice created an impact over humankind, making new beginnings for the Kingdom of God.

We enjoyed having Mary-Ann and Joe from the United States here for three weeks. It was such a fruitful time for the kids, also for us, and they were so helpful and were grandparents for the children and special friends for us. We prepared meals together, studied Scripture together, fellowshipped, and playing many games with the kids brought new joy into our midst.

Our children finished this school year with good grades. At least 6 of them received national awards for different contests for painting and collages, and for creative imagination. Also, in two sports events—soccer and Romanian baseball—our children were on the team that were winners on the national level.

We built a basement storage facility for keeping food, using the cold temperature underground for preserving what our food supply. Also, we built a chicken house, starting with one lonely chicken but right now we have five of them. We look forward to finding those fresh eggs. We have already eaten the onions planted in spring, and now we have planted cabbage for the fall. We reorganized the front yard, using the wood, stones, flowers we had in our desire to teach the kids to use the resources given us by God instead of buying new things. We have to use our imagination and the things created by God for a better environment.

We want to thank you so much, for without your help there is really nothing we can do. We need all your support in friendship and prayers for:
-continuing this work that the Lord has given us
-the new home, including the official papers and all plans for it
-health and strength for Mia, and especially for Costel & the kids
-wisdom for all the decisions we have to make
-a safe summer

God richly bless you!

Lots of exciting things have been going on in the last few months. A lady has given us a piece of land about 4300 square feet on which to build a home. This may sound small to us Americans, but land in Bucharest area is very limited. She has even paid for the taxes and titling it to Mia and Costel. She works for a bank and has been so impressed with the work at the mission. An attorney there has helped with the paperwork so that the property is correctly titled so that the Romanian government cannot tax us to death. The bank she works for has been willing to help with some building plans. A group of Romanian architects have drawn up a draft of how to make the best use of the land provided, having 3 stories – 2 completed and the 3rd as a guest room with a bath.

Right after this happened, I saw that Habitat for Humanity had received a very large donation to help build homes. Habitat is an international organization, to I went to the computer and got their email address and sent them a letter asking for help to build a home for our kids. I was fortunate to reach the correct party in Habitat/Romania. They had already had an inquiry about helping Mia’s Children in March from the Rotarians. So now there is a possibility, though it might be slight, for Habitat to help. There is a couple from Arizona that have been visiting with Mia, Costel, and the kids this month. They talked with the Habitat people and something might happen!

The kids are finishing up with their exams and are excited with the prospect of summer. We have a small swimming pool that they love to splash around in and playing outside is always fun.

Please keep all the above things in your prayers as well as for strength and guidance from the Lord for Mia and Costel. God is in control!

Beloved friends and faithful supporters of Mia’s Children,

March brought to our hearts a lot of joy, hope, and again we could see that God is always with us, taking care of our needs. In many ways we could see that when you are putting your faith in the Lord, He is so faithful.

As you know, Romania is facing the crisis and many effects are coming over us, changing life in adverse ways. This happened to your country too, and to the world like a sign that everything is changing and unstable like the world itself, but at the same time this is a sign for us to wake up to what really counts. The world crisis didn’t just start, but it comes together with the moral crisis, like a result of the spiritual problems especially human vanity, pride, turning away from God, also bad leadership. Please don’t receive this as criticism or judgment on my part, but I’m just looking and trying to understand my own people and how the world is going, affecting so many lives. Everything is related with the condition in my own country.

What I wrote before explains why more children are trying to come to join us in the mission. For a long time we thought that after joining the EU, the problems of children in needs would be resolved or at least improved. But the reality is that, especially now, more people and children do not have any hope. Five children have asked us to be accepted, and we couldn’t give them a positive answer because reality must take into consideration the inflation, increasing costs, and in the end our capacity to work is at a maximum—24 hours in 24 hours.

But even in this very high pressure the results of our work with the kids are wonderful. Progress at school is so encourage, two children’s artwork was selected to represent Romania in an art contest abroad, two other children were selected in the school team for soccer and a national sport, oina, which is like softball

Work in the yard brought a lot of joy in the sense of affirming that hard work brings good results. Right now in our small garden space we planted onion sets, garlic, and parsley. But the most important project was building an underground root cellar for storing canned goods, fruits and vegetables, and other things. Roxanna’s father worked hard to dig by hand the hole, about the size of a small one-car garage, for this cellar. Some of the young people from our group helped him. I saw them really enjoying working together on this project.

Last Saturday we had the great honor to sing, dance, and celebrate together with invited royal guests from other countries at the birthday party of her highness, Princess Margarita. We dedicated two songs to her and her guests, then presented The Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaykovsky with all the choreography created by us. Little Gabriela was the solo ballerina and the rest of the girls were dressed in delightful, fluffy dresses having wrist corsages and little flowered tiaras on their heads, all made by us. The little girls were like delicate swans dancing, and afterwards, in English, they gave special birthday greetings to the Princess. Everyone was so impressed, especially the Princess herself.

I want to add that right now there is a strong virus affecting children, and some of our children have been sick. Roxanna is in the hospital right now, having collapsed for some seconds with no forewarning. Please pray for her and some of the other kids, who have high fevers.

Please also pray for:
Health throughout the house, including Mia and Costel.
A stable, permanent home for the future.
Financial support during this crisis time.
For spiritual and moral revival all over the world.
God to be able to open the eyes and hearts of the people, especially His own, to the truth, light, and hope that is in Him alone.

We want to thank you with all our gratefulness and respect, and wish you God’s richest blessings,

Mia’s Children