Family

Proof of Care

 in Family / Home by

For some time, Mia has been working to get all the legal issues resolved regarding some of the children and their parents who cannot take care of them.  It is difficult and complicated but Mia reports today on the progress she is making.

“We have again contacted Children’s Protective Services, and with the help of Linda, of ‘Family Service” (a foreign foundation trying to introduce to Romania Christian moral values) we now have the assistance of a highly experienced, professional and kind lawyer willing to help us.  We completed endless paperwork, assessments, documents in order to prove that we are caring for five of our children.   It is a lengthy process involving the courts, testimony, etc., but I am determined to continue the fight to legally protect these children from those who believe they are to be used at any time for begging and worse.”

Please pray this weekend and on into the future that Mia and her lawyer will be successful in convincing the government officials that the children are well cared for and better off than on the streets.  Pray also for each of the children as they grow up knowing the love that Mia shares and may that help heal the pain that these young ones have experienced.

Painting and Prayer

 in Family / Love / Painting and Prayer  tagged family / love / marriage / ministry / prayer / Romania by

As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.
Isaiah 62:5

We pray today for the adults in Romania who have grown up with Mia’s Children and are getting married. We pray for Tabita, Mihaela and Gigi, Catalin, and George, and for their families. Please strengthen their relationships and give them wise men and women to encourage them in their marriages. Help them to grow as one together, looking to you always. Amen.

From Our Family, New Families

 in Abuse / Family / Hope / Love  tagged family / marriage / ministry / Romania / wedding by

Catalin on his wedding day

In the same year of our beloved Costel’s death, many of the young men and women he counseled about family are moving forward with their own!

Earlier this year, Tabita – one of our first members – got married and moved to London. Then Catalin got married in June.

Coming up this month, Mihaela will marry Gigi. And George, one of the first children to whom Mia and Costel ministered, will legalize his marriage with the mother of his child.

Costel saw many of these young men grow up and helped some of them out of extremely abusive situations. Only a year after his death, they are starting families of their own.

Says Mia, “Happy news: how time passes, and our children are now adults! This is a great honor in memory of Costel, husband and father who was their role model.”

Please pray for these young people as they commit to marriage!

Tabita's wedding

Mia’s Words for Patsy

 in Family / Hope / Mia  tagged Bucharest / encouragement / ministry / Romania by

As many of you may already know, last week Patsy Vick, one of our board members, lost her husband.

Ray Vick was an active part of Mia’s Children, supporting Patsy’s regular visits to Romania and traveling there with her as well. A devoted father here in the United States, he was also beloved by the many children he met in Bucharest.

After losing her own husband this year, Mia had many kind thoughts for Patsy. We wanted to share some of what she said with all of you.

We love you, Patsy, and we miss you, Ray.

From Mia:

Beloved Patsy and Family,

The words are too poor to can say how much I’m sorry to lose such a wonderful man as Ray was and will be forever!

Lord knows him so well and I’m sure that he’ll stay with Lord in Heaven, watching over all his dear Family and Friends, as well as his beloved grandchildren.

Costel is with him and I can see their hugs and special smiles. Two brave men who dedicated their life for others, serving the Lord whom they loved so much…

They’ll stay with us forever, dear Patsy. We were so blessed to have them. Ray was a special Husband, Grandfather, a Man of God, a Friend for so many. What a blessing and great honor to meet him, to know him, to work with him, we all in a great and blessed team of Lord!

The kids are so sad to lose their Grandfather Their tears are signs of how much they were blessed through Ray and you!!! Many memories will stay with them forever, because ray was the great man with white hair, with soft heart, with tears in his eyes speaking to them about Lord and sharing a special love!

Thank you, Ray, thank you, Patsy, thank you Lord! He is with us forever!

Patsy, I don’t know how to comfort you…but Ray is with Lord and with other Man of God, with Costel. You’ll suffer a lot after him because you’ll miss him so, so much. Nothing will can fill your heart, but be strong in Spirit as he’s not suffering anymore and you’ll meet him one day.

You have so many to love you around you and you’ll have to give them Ray’s love, to continue to be for them what Ray was. Take care of your beloved Granddaughters, rejoice into Lord. I’m with you – take my hugs right now and say a great thank you to Ray from me, from us, please!

Painting and Prayer

 in Family / Painting and Prayer  tagged Bucharest / children / fathers / FathersDay / God / love / painting / prayer / Romania by

But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.

Psalm 10:14


Thank you for fathers who love you and who give sacrificially for their children’s well-being. We pray for the many children who do not have fathers or who do not know paternal love. Please comfort them and provide them with people who reflect your fatherly care. We ask this for the children at Mia’s Children and for other young people like them around the world. Amen.

Wolf Children

 in Abuse / Boys / Bucharest / Education / Family / Health / Home / Hope / Orphans / poverty  tagged abuse / Bucharest / children / education / health / home / hope / ministry / orphans / poverty / refuge / Romania by

(The following update from Bucharest tells the story of two new members from the “wolf group” of children –  arrivals at the mission who Mia and the rest of the association have very courageously taken in. Please consider their plight in your prayers this week. They represent exactly why Mia’s Children exists.)

◊ ◊ ◊

In times of concerns and social, economical, moral crises when people are so much focused on their own drama, trying to find answers to so many questions, God is giving us grace, prosperity, meeting His promises for us: “Don’t be afraid, I am with you !”

And He is!

Romania is going crazy through all this: the school system, the medical care, the social policy and not only these, are not covering the real life and the results are a disaster. More kids are abandoning school, all types of viruses are going around, and there are no medicines, no money, no proper education in school–the society seems that it is asleep.

But in spite of this, the Lord is giving us a special vision to redeem, to rebuild, to refill the precious spirits and hearts of those who are brought into our work. That’s why we accepted two more children, coming from” the wolf group”, Bogdan and Emi. At the age of 8 they look like 4-year olds, mal-nutitioned. Wild an scary as they lived for months and months in a place where they imitated the way beasts are walking and speaking.

It’s incredible how children can survive with no love, no care in this moment in the society and how they can try to survive, having refuge among animals, who became a kind of family for them. The first days they were speaking in strange language, imitating the sounds of animals. And it required great courage for Costi and Oana to bring them inside the group, to clean out their lice, to try to calm them and cut their wild hair, and to give them the first bath….the words are too poor, sometimes ….

It is tremendous to see how hard it has been for them, and also for the group, to all of us to change their habits. The kids are trying to adjust their new life, including the new boys. We notice the great progress the two boys are making in one month: they started to love to play with other children, to speak, to listen and respect simple rules, to take baths, to stay dressed.

They still are rocking back and forth and sucking their thumbs, and they want to be taken in your arms as babies, emitting different sounds that have no meaning for us. They started to love to be hugged and touched, and looking at the rest of the group, they want to start to write. Emi drew his first tiny house and gave it to Mia, telling her how much he loves her. He also hangs on Oana’s feet, and we discovered that one of his legs is shorter than the other. Please pray for these children and us to continue to improve their lives.

All of this is possible because God loves each of us so much, because of each of you who are praying, giving, trusting, helping to design a vision for a better tomorrow. This can be a way for a better society, an answer for a safer world, where love and peace and understanding and supporting can take place and help human beings to live in harmony with God and each other, rebuilding the moral fiber of God’s creation.

Thank you for your faithfulness and dedication, for your supporting Mia’s Children!

In Memoriam

 in Family by

[slideshow]

On Thursday, August 19, 2010, Mia’s Children lost a dear friend and family member when Costel Scarlat passed away after battling liver disease caused by hepatitis from earlier in his life.

His funeral was held in Bucharest on Saturday, August 21. Since then, the organization’s older members have come back to help take on some of the burdens at the mission and keep the younger children occupied.

We thank you for your prayers and thoughts and continue to encourage you to send Mia and/or the children a note of encouragement by commenting on our blog, writing on our Facebook wall, or contacting us by mail or e-mail.

And we hope you enjoy the above slide show that honors a few of the things we love about Costel and continue to thank God for.

No More Missing Romanian Children

 in Abuse / addiction / Bucharest / Family / God / Home / Mia's Children / poverty / Romania  tagged Balkan Insight / crime / disease / drugs / foster care / missing children / prostitution by

BalkanInsight.com reported yesterday that missing children cases in Romania are on the rise.

Over 3,200 children went missing in the last year, which is ten times more than five years ago. About 90% of the children are suspected to have run away from home and foster care voluntarily, sometimes in order to make money on the street.

But Mia’s Children knows exactly what they’ll find on the street: crime, drugs, prostitution and disease.

Many of our youth came from similar circumstances. Some of them were forced to work in crime for money, and some of them left voluntarily to escape the poverty and domestic problems at home.

We try to work with the children as well as their families, because families broken from addiction and poverty are what causes this danger to Romania’s young people the most.

But sometimes the families do not want help. The parents are not ready to beat the addiction, or are abusive, or feel that they cannot provide anything better than the streets for their children.

In that case one thing will always be certain:

No child is missing from God’s sight, and with his help, they can be found and loved again at Mia’s Children.

Art for the Children of the World

 in Art / Family / God / Hope / Jesus / Mia's Children  tagged European Union / flowers / Iraq / Spain / still life by

A few months ago, a Romanian diplomat with the European Union came by Mia’s Children and saw some of our youth’s amazing paintings. He asked if he could exhibit their work in an international show meant to bridge cultures and give hope.

He has since chosen 47 paintings to show in Iraq, with more to be shown in Spain and possibly the U.S. later.

Mia calls the exhibit “a message of love and peace for all the children in the world” and says, “We are honored to represent Romania because it is a way to display how God has put in these children His gifts, with seeds planted, and we all together help them grow and be fruitful.  So it is not only about art; it’s about something beyond – the love of God to and through His children and all His people who answer the commandment to love one another, instead of despising and/or giving no hope for the hopeless.  It shows the agape love of Jesus in action.”

For the last 12 years, Mia has taught every child who walks through her doors how to paint, starting mostly with flowers and other still life pieces. It began as therapy and then led to competitions and even scholarship opportunities around Romania.

But these newer paintings veer away from the typical bouquet taught by Mia in the first years.

Each one is unique. They show a developed confidence and creativity. Children who walked through our doors twelve years ago unsure of who they were are now expressing themselves through art, just as they do in their schoolwork and relationships with others.

For us, these paintings represent more than the great talent it took to create them, or even the hope displayed through the show in Iraq: they are a symbol of how far we’ve come, of how beautifully the family at Mia’s Children has grown up.