BambooTom

http://home.pacbell.net/taylor42/flyertalkpage.html
We are on our way out of here tomorrow Dec 22.

Spending the Holidays with the Archway Kids and friends in Bucharest, Romania. I am so excited as this is my 4th mission trip to Romania. The most exciting part about it is that my wife is going with me. This will be her 1st time to Europe.
I am excited that she will finally meet the children who have developed such a place in my heart as well as meet the staff and a few other Romanians I have gotten to know.
We are also going with a good friend and it will be good to spend time with him. It looks like the weather will be nice and crisp http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/15420.html

My wife has no idea whats in store for her as far as flying time since her longest flight was from LA to Toronto. Tomorrow we happy 3 leave LAX to SFO on United then on Lufthansa to FRA connecting to Bucharest, Romania OTP all COACH THANK YOU!

I've tried to do the best I can to prepare her for the 11 hour hellride that is SFO-FRA. (We routed through SFO because we saved a few bucks on the airfare but I was so dumb because I've totally spent way more then my budget allows) I made her a little audio care package consisting of NR headphones as well as a MP3 player with 1G storage which I am loading with her favorite tunes. She has adaptors for the NR headphones so they can interface with the IFE if it happens to be working.

I myself have 52K I think in the M&M LH program so I guess if if I wanted too I could upgrade myself if space was available in biz (not likely) but I think my wife would pretty much clobber me before we ever boarded.

An interesting scenario might be If I could secure 2 exit row seats for my friend and I and have her upgraded to biz but to be honest it looks like the cattlecar hellride is in store for us.

I've bought the FA's in my section See's Candy and some hand creams from Bath n Bodyworks. I'll wait till we are flying to give it to them so I make sure I give it to the FA's in our section.
I will take plenty of pictures and will post a trip report when we get back.

I have enough FT luggage tags for all of our Checked Luggage (6 bags) so they will be easy to group, sort and spot in transit. I'll take a pic of them lined up at LAX.

Keep us in prayer,
Thanks! God Bless, Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
In Him,
Tom
http://home.pacbell.net/taylor42/newrom3.html
http://home.pacbell.net/taylor42/newrom2.html

skye1

God bless this trip of yours! I did a missions trip to Romania "back-in-the-day" when I was in college, and Romania was still a communist country. Spent lots of time travelling all over it, incl. a lot of time with children in Bucharest. It's great that you're able to go help 'em out! Very much looking forward to hearing how your trip goes....remembering so much beautiful scenery, so many really cool people there. Good luck w/ the travels. Hopefully the flights will go better than you currently imagine .

Helena Handbaskets

Tom, do you know what's in store for you? Probably you do.

I don't know much about your personal situation, so I'm only making broad, unfounded, generalized assumptions that are sure to get me in hot water. But I've seen this happen a number of times, and what you describe sounds like a good situation for the trip on which the wheels are set in motion toward adopting one or more of those children.

Most likely, you've already considered this as a possibility. Probably you've already discussed it with your wife. But this trip would seem to me the time when it really becomes a concrete possibility to her.

On the other hand, of course, there are many reasons why this kind of scenario doesn't happen the way I'm imagining it, and on top of that, I suppose I'm getting too personal anyway, for someone I don't actually know. So pardon the intrusion if I've gone awry with my suggestion, but if I haven't overstepped the bounds of propriety, I'll be interested to learn whether the topic was discussed when you return from your trip.

gary_nj

By this time (evening, east coast time on Dec 23), the
original poster should have arrived in Romania.

One thing that jumped out at me from the original post was
that this was the first trip to Europe for his wife. I am
of course encouraged by the purpose of this trip... but I
guess I have a question to others on this board.

If someone (who has traveled a bit) was going to take his
or her spouse on a mission such as this... would the first
one be to a place like Bucharest? I realize that mission
trips are normally not to sun & fun destinations, but I would
imagine that the spouse may have something different in mind
when hearing the word "Europe." While Bucharest may have
changed in the couple of years since I have been there, I
imagine that it is still a somewhat challenging place, especially
in winter.

I guess I am just wondering if folks might suggest a different
location for a first trip to Europe, even one for this purpose???

dnotes

i'm just wondering why you'd think that the mission trip would turn into the possibility of adopting one or more of those children. did i misread the OP's post?

tom good on you for spreading God's love to these children.

Mark 9:35-37 (NKJV)
35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”

Helena Handbaskets

Well, I suppose there are two reasons. The first is that I've seen it happen a number of times. One spouse goes on a mission trip and discovers a passion for underprivileged children s/he encounters there. Perhaps the idea of adoption occurs to the individual, but of course it's a decision to be made by both spouses, and the one at home, without the experience, does not share the passion. But then an occasion arises for the second spouse to encounter the same children, and, well, like I've said, I've seen it happen a number of times that that experience prompts a serious evaluation of the adoption options. Not that it always results in a couple deciding to adopt, but it does seem to often prompt a couple to confront the possibility in a more serious way than they may have before.

And the second reason is that, as I read Tom's post, the image that popped into my head in a rather persistent way was one of Tom's wife discovering why these children have captured his heart, and a discussion about adoption arising from that. I can't say the image was a prophetic one; it may just be my overactive (and bounds-overstepping) imagination, and amount to nothing. But God has spoken to me before through similar imaginings of others, so I thought I ought to mention it, just in case.

BambooTom

Hey my FT brothers and sisters,
I am home safe and sound and will post as soon as the cobwebs of jetlag clear. Everything went well except for the flight from LA to SFO.
I will never fly UA again (if I can help it). Our luggage never made it onto our LH flight and the kids did not receive their gifts until 3 days after we arrived

CDTraveler

Okay, this is strictly my opinion from reading BambooTom's other fascinating posts about his mission work, but when I read his posts, what comes out of them is "mission work" not "vacation to Europe" - as in the work outweighs all other considerations. I'm sure Bucharest is a challenging place, especially when you are there to feed and clothe needy children - but when I read Tom's posts and website, his concern for the children shines through. I have to imagine that the woman who would marry such a man shares his vision of service, including the hardships involved.

God bless you, Tom.

BambooTom

http://home.pacbell.net/taylor42/rom2006.html

Hi Gang!
Here is a initial web page of Christmas days food delivery.
I'm 43 years old and this was the best Christmas of my life.

As far as what I got from Santa Claus (The kids at Archway)
I got a bottle of Nivea body wash (they trying to tell me something? )
and a piggy bank. I've never been blessed to receive so much love from people who were not blood related and even then I'm sure that this Christmas has been my favorite until next year rolls around .
God Bless,
Tom

PS this is the webpage from the start of this topic and you can see
the changes in the house where the little boy got his face burned when he fell into the heater. http://home.pacbell.net/taylor42/flyertalkpage.html

dnotes

good stuff tom, having been on two missions, it's the children that really touch the heart.

Keep up the good work in His service.

BambooTom

Here are some Black N Whites from the trip.
I have been so busy since I got back.
I'll try and make the next webpage of the Kids at Archway.
Tom
http://home.pacbell.net/taylor42/bnwbuch.htm

2lazytothinkofname

Challenging? In what way? I lived in Romania the first 10 years of my life in the 1970s and 80s during the height of communism. I don't recall any winter challenges myself. Sure it wasn't paradise but it's not like people are freezing or starving to death either.

BambooTom

Come to think of it I did not see anyone who was frozen to death either, thats because they had a nice warm manhole to climb into and keep themselves warm by the underground steam pipes. Whole families, Multiple mothers with infants who climb out of the manholes with their babies in their arms. Then their are the apt buildings that are gutted but people still live in them anyway they can.

Why they live like that is not my concern, what my concern is that they get something to eat and get new clean clothes and that the children at Archway know that someone cares about them. Why Romania? Well if you are in this part of the forums chances are you believe in God no matter what way that may be. I believe God led me to Romania and has a plan for me there, at least I hope he does as that is my desire.

When Romania fell and became a free market society thousands of families could not make that transition because they had no real job skills.
I'm sorry if it seems I paint a bleak picture of Romania because I love that country and hope to one day retire there. It is a beautiful place yet it has such contrasting views.

Just to give you an example of the cost of living compared to the U.S.
My wife and I took 8 kids to eat at a local pizza place near the orphanage.
We had three large pizza's and 10 soda's and the bill came out to a little more then $9. U.S.
Is that amazing?
Take care,
Tom