Latest from Dawn

Update – October, 2026

– My heart is filled with JOY as I let you know that all my work finally went through with the Romanian government and I now have access to the ‘littles’ case (houses) – AND to two orphanages in Victoria.  It took nearly 3 months to get this accomplished, but my heart is filled with gratitude to our omniscient and omnipotent God!

– Two precious ‘littles’ are now with our Jesus.  There is always a sadness involved when one passes, but the greater emotion is that they are no longer suffering on this earth, but rather healed and whole in Glory!   Franz was beautiful – one day a healthy, happy little boy in a family, and then in an instant apparently this precious four-year old had a stroke!  He only lived a year in a totally incapacitated condition.   And just on September 29, Florin who was born with so much wrong with him including being blind was scooped up by his angels and carried into the very presence of our Jesus.  He was eight years old.

– After traveling for over an hour and a half, one way to the city of Victoria, I was told that I would not be able to enter to see my precious Claudiu and Moldovan.  That happened because the specific name of this horrendous orphanage (think of mental institutions in the 1920’s in America) was not specifically named on my papers with its new name!   I refused to leave there without seeing those two boys!  I was told that Claudiu was unable to leave his bed anymore and was on life support. I begged the two in charge to be able to see him for just one minute so I could tell him that I loved him.  Finally, they yielded to my pleas to let me cross the huge courtyard and enter the huge, cold and dark building (orphanage).  Only me!  Corina and Robert were not allowed to go inside.  I was a bit apprehensive leaving by myself with the man who would lead me into the building AND up six flights of stairs!!

– At the top of the stairs, there was Claudiu waiting to greet me!!  I was in shock.  He was neither confined to his bed nor on life support! The director’s assistants had LIED to me!  When we saw Claudiu, you would think that the man would have apologized to me or at least have been terribly embarrassed!!  But, no.  This is the mentality that I deal with in RO.

– I loved and loved on Claudiu, and when we stepped in through the door on the top level, I was in shock/over the moon to have Filip come and greet me!!  I was told seven or eight years ago that when he had been transferred there that he had jumped out a window committing suicide!!  Can you imagine??!!   But, what a joyful reunion.  (I’ll share more in my next email Update.)  I also got to see another boy I had known at Barza Mica, Brumi – and then, of course Moldovan!

– Next, we found the orphanage where three of our girls from B. Mica had been moved.  Once again, such JOY in spending time with them!  We hugged and hugged and kissed and kissed – and they never let go of my hands all the time I was there.  I was delighted, too, to learn that they are very happy at this new casa.  Praise the Lord!!  It was a most emotional trip!

– For other news, work on the ‘fence’ (barricade) is going rather slowly at Canaan (my church in Halchiu).  About mid-September, the really cold weather set in (even with mountain tops covered with snow!) – so I’m praying that work on the ‘fence’ will step up before Winter.  Please pray to that end!

– With some of our ‘kids’ having been moved from B. Mica to another orphanage in Bradet, it has taken a bit of flexibility for me to adjust.  Others who had already been at Bradet and are of a very low IQ status, have joined our program.  I’m still trying to figure out what to do with everyone.  “Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak, you who treat poor people as less than nothing.”  – Amos 8.4 MSG Above all, I want to treat them SO Christ-like.  After all, they, too, were created in His image – so loved by our Lord, thus – so deserved to be loved by me.  I would appreciate prayer in figuring this all out.


August, 2017

Risking sounding like a broken record, I am thrilled to be back here in ‘the other land that I love’ once again – that the Lord has allowed me to be His hands and feet, eyes and heart among these people whom He planted in my heart seventeen years ago.  I praise God for a…
Read More August, 2017

July, 2017

I am excited to be returning to ‘the other land that I love’ (Romania!) on July 6 – landing in Frankfurt, Germany on the 7th – and then, to Bucharest – and finally up into the Transylvanian Alps to Brasov.  Lord willing, I will be hands-on in the work until the first week of October.  I can…
Read More July, 2017

June, 2017

I am so excited to be headed back to ‘the other land that I love’, Lord willing, on July 6.  I miss my babies!   I miss my kids!   This summer will mark seventeen years in Romania – and I truly feel after all this time that I am their ‘Mama Dawn’.  In a couple of…
Read More June, 2017

May, 2017

It has been a busy first month back in the States – Thirty-nine year old Alina, who has non-Hodgkin’s’ lymphoma for the second time in her face endured days of painful stem-cell removal in preparation for cancer treatment. The doctors couldn’t find enough healthy stem cells to set aside and freeze, so Alina had to…
Read More May, 2017

April, 2017

Six weeks in my beloved Romania passed like a flash before my eyes.  That was a result of being extremely busy at both orphanages, Barza Mica and Albina, and also, without having even one day off.  I arrived in Brasov in February just in time to help with some dire financial needs at Barza.  Praise…
Read More April, 2017

March, 2017

On a personal note, I was so blessed to be able to spend two months in Georgia to be with my 4 beautiful grandchildren there – Isabelle, Noah, Lily and Rowan.  It was the first time that I had felt like a real grandmother, and not just a guest or a visitor.  I love being…
Read More March, 2017

February, 2017

I wish I had more information to give you concerning Barza Mica.  Unfortunately, I have no new news from the director.  Will the State take the orphanage away from these young people (my kids) whom I have loved for 16 years?  Will God change the government’s ‘hearts of stone into hearts of flesh’ to have…
Read More February, 2017

January, 2017

I wish I had better news for you this month concerning Barza Mica.  The inspections did not bode well for the orphanage.  In what we believe is the government’s motivation to gain the orphanage building for themselves, two weeks ago they demanded truly ridiculous proposals for Barza.  In order for the building to pass inspection,…
Read More January, 2017