As you know, I’m sure, this is a very difficult ‘Update’ to write.  We know that every morning we get up and put our feet on the floor, we never know what the day is going to bring.  We could never have dreamed that our world would come to a screeching halt in just a matter of hours.  For me, that happened early on Wednesday, March 11 when I received an email from my oldest son saying, “Can you get a plane home today?!”   As I read his email concerning the onset of the coronavirus world-wide, my mind went into a tail-spin!  I paced and paced the floor of my little flat in Brasov (Romania) with absolutely no wisdom as to what to do.  Finally, I decided that I would stay in RO.  It wasn’t long that I really had no peace about that decision and felt assuredly that I needed to leave.

However, I could not leave before getting our precious orphans supplied with the meds and food that they would need for many weeks to come.  I made flight reservations for Saturday, March 14 – but on Thursday, I made sure that our babies at Albina would be taken care of, and on Friday, Corina and I bought hundreds of dollars worth of staples for our kids (and workers) at Barza Mica.  All of that got delivered.  I had at least minimum peace at that point.

For some time, we had not been able to see our babies at Albina without plastic ‘booties’ and face masks – and then finally, not at all.  The kids at Barza would be quarantined for two weeks, so had I stayed, I would have been of no further use to any of our precious ones.

Ovi picked me up at 2:00a early Saturday morning and we headed for the airport in Bucharest not even knowing if the plane would be allowed to take off for Heathrow in London.  It did take off – and with not many people aboard.  There were a couple of Romanian families, four or five businessmen – and the rest of us were missionaries.  Many were getting out with their children in order to receive proper care should they contract COVID-19.  Thankfully, we landed safely at Heathrow.  I had a seven-and one-half hour layover there.  Dread!!  I had asked many people to pray over me for stamina.  With very little sleep, lots of stress, and trying to hold up for that length of time in an airport seemed beyond daunting.  I must say, though, that I felt lifted on the wings of prayer and it really seemed a much shorter time than 7 ½ hours to board the next flight to Boston.

It had been announced in the airport every five minutes or so who would and would not be able to fly out.  When we finally got into line to head over the pond to Boston, It was announced every two minutes which countries would not be going on this flight.  To make sure that we were who we said we were, our passports were checked by three different individuals.

So much for not gathering in crowded places.  There were probably 450 of us packed like sardines in that Boeing 777 for the next seven to eight hours.  However, I have nothing but praise for our Almighty God for getting delivered safely to Logan – and then on the Logan Express (bus) to Braintree where a precious friend and her grandson picked me up and delivered to my home in Norton (MA)

As of this writing, the situation at our two orphanages is status quo.  The plight is not good, however, for our precious folks at Canaan, our church in Halchiu.  Many, many of the people have nothing to eat.  Last week, Ovi took bread and a canned meat spread to as many as he could.  Ovi is the only one allowed to move about the village to take food or supplies.  The police and army are in the streets to prevent anyone from leaving their houses.  They mean business!

On March 30, I wired Ovi some funds to get food for the people – just bread and meat spread.  There are a lot to feed – so many children. It’s still cold there, and I know many of them are literally freezing . . .

Ovi cleaned out my fridge and gave my precious ‘old Ana’ what food was there.  He also has access to all my food/staples in a couple of the cupboards in my flat in Brasov to mete out where needed.  Please pray for Ovi.  He goes all day into the late evening waiting on everyone – and rises early the next morning to start ‘it’ all over again.  Please pray for his physical and emotional well-being.  He is the consummate/ultimate ‘shepherd’ for his people – but everyone has their limit.  Pray for our Lord’s strength to be his strength – please!

‘Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines’ the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat’ the flock shall be cut off tfrom the fold, and there shall be no heard in the stalls:  YET I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.’   – Habakkuk 3:17,18