Christmas

Painting and Prayer

 in Painting and Prayer  tagged advent / Christmas / Jesus / painting / prayer by

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light.
For those who lived in a land of deep shadows—
light! sunbursts of light!
You repopulated the nation,
you expanded its joy.
Oh, they’re so glad in your presence!
Festival joy!
The joy of a great celebration,
sharing rich gifts and warm greetings.
The abuse of oppressors and cruelty of tyrants—
all their whips and cudgels and curses—
Is gone, done away with, a deliverance
as surprising and sudden as Gideon’s old victory over Midian.
The boots of all those invading troops,
along with their shirts soaked with innocent blood,
Will be piled in a heap and burned,
a fire that will burn for days!
For a child has been born—for us!
the gift of a son—for us!
He’ll take over
the running of the world.
His names will be: Amazing Counselor,
Strong God,
Eternal Father,
Prince of Wholeness.
His ruling authority will grow,
and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.
He’ll rule from the historic David throne
over that promised kingdom.
He’ll put that kingdom on a firm footing
and keep it going
With fair dealing and right living,
beginning now and lasting always.
The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies
will do all this.

Isaiah 9:2-7 (The Message)


O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight. O come, Desire of Nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind. Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, and be Thyself our King of Peace. Amen.

Christmas Reflections

 in Uncategorized  tagged Bucharest / children / Christmas / Jesus / mystery / Romania by

This season we glorify a God who allowed himself to be born into poverty and sadness so that we could have eternal home.

Jesus spent his childhood years first in a barn, then in a foreign country fleeing violence and terror. He learned a trade, but spent most of his ministry homeless. How many of Romania’s children can relate to such a life?

And here we celebrate his humble birth and infancy only days after Mia and all of Mia’s Children move into a permanent home, warm and safe.

Thank you for your love and support, for your prayers, time and many gifts. Some of you have been a part of this work since Mia first arrived in the United States 12 years ago, and some of you have become involved recently but are deeply invested. We are so grateful.

This Christmas, we wish you all of the joy Christ offers and a deepened awe at the mystery of a God who would be born into the slums in order to save slum-dwellers. Surely he came to save Romania’s children.

Merry Christmas.

Mia’s Children Foundation, USA

House Progress

 in Uncategorized  tagged Bucharest / charity / children / Christmas / construction / ministry / Romania by

Mia and some of the children, ready to move!

We’re making progress!

Mia says that the house is now finished on the outside and they are beginning work on the inside!

In fact, they are hoping to move everyone in around the middle of December so that they can be in their new home for Christmas.

In order to move in fully, Mia and the rest need an incredible amount of furniture and other supplies, including:

  • tools for kitchen
  • plates
  • blankets
  • sheets
  • carpets
  • bedroom furniture
  • living room furniture
  • shelving
  • tables
  • desks
  • sofa

Fortunately they already have help securing an oven and washing machine.

If you would like to help cover some of these costs, please contact us or make a donation! We will have a lot of options to give this holiday season, and we hope that you will keep Mia in your prayers and consider the new house in your Christmas gift plans!

Below we include some thoughts from Mia on the new home:

May our Lord be with you in all His glory!

The house it’s finished outside and soon will be inside!!! It’s incredible! God is so, so good!!!

The kids  are so happy. They just wait to be in the new place, not because they don’t like here, but because that will be the place where they’ll continue to grow, a stable home!!!

Well, I hardly can imagine that we’ll be in such a huge home!!!

I remember when Joan asked me to dream big!!! 12 years ago, I even didn’t know to dream!!!

Day by day Lord taught me to dream and you helped me to dream and fulfill the dream!!! I pray for stable place for the kids 12 years!!! Look where we are!!!! I’m so, so grateful for all what we received all these years what we had learn! It’s a story of life, of faith, of walking with Lord, learning to dream, reaching people at the Truth for the glory of God.

It’s awesome !!!

Please, help us to purchase some furniture for the rooms, carpets, plates, blankets, everything would be possible.

The owner of the place would like to be finished everything before Christmas and the kids to sleep inside starting with the 17th of December!!!! So, we need to move fast!!!

All our love and thanks, a lot of miss for you!

Blessings from Oana and Costy
Mia and all

Ceausescu’s Body to Be Exhumed

 in Bucharest / Communism / God / History / Jesus / Mia's Children / Politics / Romania  tagged Austrian Times / Ceausescu / Christmas / Communism / Death / Revolution by

Arguments over the death of Romania’s most infamous dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, will soon be put to rest.

On Sunday the Austrian Times reported that Ceausescu’s son Valentin has won a four-year court battle for the right to exhume his father’s body in order to answer questions about his parents’ fate.

Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena ran Romania with an iron fist from 1965-1989. Following a violent coup in December of 1989, the couple was arrested and tried. They were executed on Christmas Day, and their bodies were dragged through the streets on national television.

Regardless, rumors have persisted that the couple actually escaped and that two other bodies were buried in their place in Bucharest. Valentin Ceausescu hopes to solve this matter by exhuming his father’s body.

The Grave of Nicolae Ceausescu – Ghencea Civil Cemetery, Bucharest

The first time I traveled to Romania, I was shocked by the aftermath of this powerful couple. It was 2005, over 15 years after the fall of communism, and yet people still referred to events as “before Ceausescu” and “after Ceausescu.”

The revolution, which was in many ways similar to a bloody coup, took the life of Mia’s brother and became a catalyst to her and Costel becoming Christians and starting Mia’s Children.

Indeed, many people’s histories are tied to Nicolae Ceausescu and his assumed death. If for some unlikely reason the myths of his and his wife’s survival are found to be true, the country will need some way to regain the closure they should have had in 1989 – a closure that, in many ways, Romanians would still like to experience fully today.

– Joanna Miller