Romania!: December 2006

Family Time

I got to spend a lot of time with my family while I was home! Bill and Dave were both out at the house for a few days around Christmas. It was great to have everyone there and get to spend time together.

I got my mom a new computer game that got the whole family addicted! We spent hours playing and competing against each other. Dave completely dominated and holds the all time high score, but I plan to practice in Romania and beat him. If you like word games, it's Hoyle puzzle and board games (we love Word Yaht - it's a combination of Boggle and Yahtzee).

My Uncle Mark from Dallas came in town on Christmas eve and my grandmother came over Christmas day to hang out.

Back in Texas!

I got to take a short break from the cold and headed back to Texas for 2 weeks. It was a great break and I had the opportunity to hang out with lots of friends and to see my family. I started the time in Dallas, where I got to go to my small group Christmas party! It was a lot of fun to see those girls again and get caught up on life.

Nathan, Kelly, Travis, Ryan, Mary and I all stayed at Mary's apartment for a few days and had so much fun! I didn't realize how much I missed my friends from back home until I got to spend time with them again. It was great to just relax and hang out.

I had Travis in our secret santa gift exchange. Nate gave me a fantastic scarf to keep me warm in Romania and some delicious peppermint hot chocolate to take back with me (other flavors too, but the peppermint is my favorite!)

We had a fondu dinner one night at the apartment. It was very entertaining to watch the boys fight over every piece of meat that fell off in the pot! It's amazing what a loose piece of meat will do to some hungry boys.

New Schedule

Now that I'm working in the hospital my schedule has changed up a bit. I'm so thankful that everything has worked out to allow me the opportunity to work there; it has been amazing! I work in the Brasov hospital on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9-1 and Saturday afternoons from 3-5. Thursday mornings I go to the hospital in Sacele, which is a town right outside of Brasov. It is a smaller hospital with much fewer babies. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons I teach English at an after school program in Sacele for 30 minutes and then help out with the rest of the program for 2 hours. I'm still hoping to make it out to Chip every once in a while on my free evenings. I've worked there for 2 months and have gotten really attached to the kids and want to continue to spend time with them as well.

Secret Sister

Heather organized a secret sister gift exchange for all the girls at church. This picture was taken when we all got together to exchange gifts and reveal who had who! It was a fun night with lots of laughs and amusing guesses at who gave which gifts.

The whole town is decorated for Christmas. It looks amazing and these pictures definitely don't do it justice! There is a huge tree set up right in the center of the square and lots of other smaller trees set up all around. All of them have lights and it really gives the town a Christmas feel. I love walking home at night and passing all the lights and decorations!

Christmas Party

The Crossley's (family who hosted the Thanksgiving dinner for everyone) threw another great party for Christmas. I'm amazed by their hospitality and by how much amazing food Mrs. Crossley can make! The house was packed with lots of people from all around Brasov and it was a lot of fun to hang out and talk.

Roxi and I (I think she had too much sugar!)