sometimes in the midst of chaos you take a break. we took the girls to see beauty and the beast sunday after church. we are still “behind” in life but it was worth it. what a great version! they loveddddd it. 💛
this handsome fellow turned thirty-six last month, calm and collect like always. we started his celebration with a date the night before (thanks craig and alie!) that included a movie and a meal, aka a ginormous hamburger. i absolutely love time with this guy. there is never a boring moment and before we know it, the evening is over.
we finished his celebration on his actual birthday with home cooked mexican food and cookie bars (instead of cake).
happy birthday christian! happy birthday daddy!
sometimes you find yourself staying home and not going anywhere for an entire weekend thanks to colds. and sometimes your children make you a restaurant because they are simply adorable.
cutest servers in the world…
beautifully set table even with hand written menus…
hard at work…
salad…
lemon in soda…
clatite cu dulceata!
Christmas always rolls around with a sort of intensity we never expect. We suddenly need extra time, extra supplies, extra money, extra sleep. This year we were more than blessed by how much you guys supported us through one of our craziest times of the year!
After chatting with a friend about raising money for the holidays, she suggested “selling” something as a fund raiser. I had no idea what I was doing, but all things considered it went ok, with only a few minor glitches! I have TONS of ideas for next year! 🙂 This year, it was Christmas cards and ornaments. Next year, well that is a surprise of course.
Then there was the mess, errrrrr preparation. 🙂
Caroling and gifts…
Lots of parties. Lots of food.
New bibles with homemade/decorated bible covers thanks to a church sewing ministry and youth group!
Performances!
Santa! (And Addy, Mercy and Walker)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Anchor of Hope!
We don’t post “good” pictures online – – aka ones that clearly show kids’ faces. If you would like to see more photos of what we did for the holidays, please visit and like our Facebook page, Christian and Marie in Romania.
just a zillion sister pictures. these two are amazing. they love. they fight. they make up. they really are best friends and i love it. also, there might be a few out of order pictures but you can literally see addy’s teeth disappear and then reappear again.
pictures i forgot to post from september. 😉
our anniversary, nine years!
targoviste. i attended our church’s ladies’ retreat, christian brought the girls so we could all be together at night.
observing ants and bugs.
not gonna lie, miss the too hot to sleep in pjs weather.
finally seeing the bfg!
checking out a new mall…
fun weekend with friends
end of summer fun.
last year, addy started rythmic gymnastics. she liked it but then we went to the states for our adoption and she missed a large chunk. she came back and was able to jump into a two week intensive gymnastics camp at the beginning of summer. so really, she has only been doing gymnastics regularly since this fall and i think (proud parent aside) she is actually pretty natural! 😉 these are just random pictures of the process and we learn what it means to be a gymnastics family, ha! {side note, the younger one doesn’t want to do gymnastics, she wants to do traditional dance…of course!}
grammie managed to squeeze in a month away from her home…her home on the market! pops stayed home and held down the fort, so it was truly a joint effort (since this was the first year they wondered if they could come for a visit or not with everything happening). and of course, it was nice and refreshing. all things considered, i didn’t take a whole lot of pictures. this is almost {{all}} of them. but we had a lot of simple, quiet fun.
airport bound! 
these two went on a date to see some movie i wasn’t interesting in seeing. 🙂 
we also went on a date! come to find out, i took my mom to her first 3-d movie. kind of strange since romania is really into 3-d movies so we have a hard time finding 2-d versions (mercy’s preference). 
so many read aloud books were read! 
and so many puzzles were done. all of the ones we own actually! 
mall excursions: 
my mom’s signature. my {beautifully} made bed every single morning! 
a grammie and her oldest granddaughter 
after church fun 
sometimes you go to ikea on your second to last day here. whoops. and sometimes you come home with “whichever lovey you want.” 😉 
a last night of cards 
last airport selfie. 🙁 
we have been blessed by an amazing relationship – – last year when mercy started grupa mijlocie (aka k4), she had a teacher (educatoare) and two rotating class aids (ingrijitoare). she bonded from day one with “doamna dorina.” fast forward to this year (grupa mare or k5) and dorina (and her daughter denisa) are now family friends. we love these two! in september, mercy spent the entire day with dorina and denisa at their house. it was such a beautiful thing for christian and i – – it was proof that our little girl is healing and moving forward after losing her brother last may. i took the first four pictures and then dorina and denisa sent me all the other picutres!
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disclaimer: way.too.many.photos. {sorry not sorry!}
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this is where we live: 
homework which we might actually enjoy around here, oh my: 
alex started at mercy’s school! 
chocolate eyes and a tear on her cheek…
goofball three: 
and then we got new colleagues! 
gaming at the mall: 
daddy love: 
that time we bought a bag of mixed veggies boasting broccoli and found one entire piece of broccoli, haha! 
there is something magical about sleeping babies: 
international day of world peace: 
oh this child keeps me young: 
blowing me a kiss: 
oh.my. 
best friends: 
freshly washed and braided hair: 
she makes me food…
summer comes to an end whether or not you want it to…
these two are so much fun: 
birthday celebrations (part one):
grandma ducky came to visit: 
and auntie deedee! 
you probably will notice that these pictures are more or less missing faces – – these are photos of places we visit on a daily basis so we want these kids to remain anonymous. the one thing we don’t want to do is “market” our kids. and yet we know you enjoy seeing pictures of what we actually do. 😉 if you would enjoy seeing more personal pictures of ministry, connect with us here.
About Me
I am the second oldest of six kids. I was shy and quiet as a kid with a vivid imagination. When I was five my parents gave up the fast paced city life for quieter Northern California. I was in heaven, spending my time outdoors, running around barefoot, climbing trees and raising any and every animal I could get my hands on. My parents homeschooled me in an eclectic mixture of un-schooling and world schooling, giving me a life long love for learning. I have a colorful imagination and a different way of thinking about things (something I have just recently discovered is called synesthesia). I am a dreamer and a complete optimist, an artist and lover of glitter, I am right brained through and through and I absolutely love science experiments and art projects. I have a deep passion to help those that have no one to advocate for them. My life’s goal is to be a little more like Mother Theresa, Gladys Alwood and Amy Carmichael every day. I have been married to my bestest best friend for over ten years and he is seriously the glue that holds my crazy together. I can’t imagine adventuring and wandering without him. We are currently raising two very capable and strong willed children that are both very creative and very smart. Being a mother was never something I imagined I would love the way I do and I can’t wait for the Lord to bring more kids into our lives!