First of all, my deepest and most sincere thanks to all of you who have prayed me through Influenza A.  After more than a month since contracting it, I am still not out of the woods.  But, I absolutely know that your prayers before the Throne have brought me to this point of healing.  THANK you!!

Since I have been so sick, there is not much to report here this month.  I still have not seen our ‘kids’ at Barza Mica, nor out ‘littles’ at Albina.  This has broken my heart, but I know that our amazing God Who does all things well has had a definite plan in all of this for me.  From the start of the flu as UGLY as it was (is), I sensed the Lord really was protecting me from something perhaps far worse . . .

Four weeks to the day that I came down with the flu, I drove my car to about a mile away to meet the director of Barza Mica to give her the funds for the meds for the ‘kids’.  It felt so good!  After that, Corina went with me just down the street to help me do a bit of grocery shopping.  It was exhausting.  When we arrived back at my flat, she carried the two bags up the stairs for me.  After she left, I parked my car, came home and fell exhausted on my bed at 11:30a.  That was for the rest of the day!!

Remember Romania – Brasov, in particular is ‘home’ to me.  And you don’t ever sense ‘home’ without loving amazing friends and folks who are like family.  I have been so blessed during this time of illness.  Corina who works with me has contacted or visited me nearly daily and brought me soup.  Others have brought food in spite of my not having an appetite (bless them!) – sent me messages – have made themselves available to me for any need I might have – and have prayed over me.  The director of our big orphanage had called Corina several times to see how I’m doing – was determined to come and visit me until Corina told her that that would really not be a good idea – and even wanted to bring her IV (she’s a nurse of sorts) to enter vitamins, etc. directly into my veins.  Once again, Corina nixed that.  (Thank You, Lord!)

Again, THANK you to all my precious friends and family in the West for your sweet, loving notes – your encouragement – whole churches for praying!  When a precious friend knew that I had sent my ‘American’ food to Ukraine – and how some of that would have encouraged an appetite in me, she asked me to give her a list of the foods I had sent and she would replace them sending them to me.  Wow!  The Family of God is amazing!!!

Please pray that I will regain enough strength to make the trip back to Norton on April 30!

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”   – Isaiah 40.29