First course of doctorate completed!

Here I am lying on a piece of new real estate I recently purchased – yes, you got it, a new mattress!! Much needed and delightful.

Just a short update to fill you in that after 5-6 weeks I feel that body, soul and spirit are more oriented and grounded here. Health is good! PTL! Our weather right now is in the 50’s. Currently seeing patients in the Petros clinic two days a week. Arrived home yesterday exhausted after speaking Romanian all day with patients. At least the language is coming along. At the pediatric hospital, I will be meeting the new doctor next week.

I finished my course and am still enjoying a few days of my two-week break before another course starts up this Monday. This weekend I will be renting a car and going to Lugoj, 5 hours away, to see the little boy, Silviu, in his familiar surroundings. If I can get a full audiogram from him, then his family will not have to come to Cluj for the special testing with sedation. Pray with me for success and safe travel. Thanks!

Then next week on March 5th, I leave for Dubrovnik, Croatia with two other missionary ladies to attend a FREE woman's conference/retreat for American missionary ladies. They pamper us, so it will definitely be worth the 24 hours by train (with no sleeper) and 4 ½ hours by bus to get there. Right?!?!? Of course, right!! Yes, it will be a fun adventure as long as we are traveling together. Our travel will take us through Budapest, then Zagreb, then Split on the Adriatic and then on to Dubrovnik and returning on March 10th. So, please pray for travel mercies for Kitty, Laura and I.

Those are all the delights for now. Hope this update is finding you all well.

Back in Cluj - purpose accomplished!

Just wanted to inform you quickly that I arrived intact in Cluj on January 14th. Praise the Lord with me – I did not have to pay anything for the overweight and extra luggage! And I had 4 bags! Getting used to things here slowly but surely – using my time to rest and get my apartment re-organized. Sleep is still a bit crazy!

The weekend before leaving I had the opportunity to visit Mike Webb and his family in Arizona, as well as the Shiloh Christian Center, his church family which supports me. It was a quick trip but a delightful one.

I have now returned with a healed ear and greater health than when I arrived in the States last October. The Lord has accomplished mighty things in the last three months. I was thrilled to be able to be there for the home-going of my dear friend, Pam May, who is now running and jumping with Jesus after being in a wheelchair for so long with MD. I was also truly blessed by being able to meet with many of you, sharing a meal or a cup of coffee or tea. I also had opportunity to spend lots of time with my family.

It won't be dull here – another doctoral course has already begun. But don't worry, I will take only one course at a time!!

Thank you for your love and care and support of me! It is because of you and your prayers that I am able to do this at all. Let's all make it great in 2008!

The ear an issue once again - in US til January 2008

This is just a quick communiqué to all of you on my email list including those who have not known the events of the past month. The main thing to communicate is that my ear has once again become an issue. A week before returning home to the States for my “proposed” month’s stay, I developed a bad ear infection. At least during that final week in Romania, I managed to complete my two courses, take my finals, get started on antibiotics and get on the plane for home. I arrived back on October 2^nd.

Since being home I enjoyed traveling with my mother and visiting family in California and Oregon from the 9^th – 20^th. (FYI - flying is not an issue since I have a hole in my ear drum anyway.) I have been under the care of my ear doctor for this infection during this time and since the ear is not healing as swiftly as expected, I will be extending my stay here in the States. I expect that I will stay here till after Christmas and return in January.

So now I will have a little more leisurely time to visit with many of you and to rest and get this ear healed, not to mention to be here to enjoy the holidays.

Looking forward to what the Lord has in store during this time.

Article about the Romanian Hearing Project

The Hearing Journal published an article about the Romanian Hearing Project entitled "Good Samaritans of hearing care cover the world to help those who cannot hear". It appeared in their August 2007 edition.

You can go to this link to read it (you may need to copy and paste it onto the web address field):

http://www.audiologyonline.com/theHearingJournal/pdfs/hj2007_08_p21-29.pdf

Trip to Poland with a Rental Car

Forget summer, fall is here and my down comforter is already back on the bed!

This is just a quick update to let you know that after finishing two courses in August I took off for the IT Conference in Poland. The opportunity to drive there with Kinga, a Romanian missionary in Turkey, in a rental car made it a great, sight-seeing adventure. Along the way, we visited northern Romania called Maramures, where you can find bride’s dowry trees which have colorful pots hanging on them (an old tradition) and a “merry” cemetery where all the tombstones have pictures painted on them in colors and tell a story of the person’s life. Spent a night in Debrecen, Hungary and then drove through Slovakia and on to Ustron, Poland just over the Czech and Slovak borders. The trip was like going from the Appalachian Mountains (Maramures), across the plains (Hungary is totally flat) and on to the Rocky Mountains (Slovakia has tall mountains like the Alps), within the span of only a day and a half. Beautiful vistas! The only thing different is the roads – it is like going across the US on back roads, like the old Rt. 66 or the Skyline Drive. No highways as yet in Romania or Slovakia and in parts of Hungary, so it makes for a little slower driving (don’t tell them that, they drive fast!).

While in Poland, we were able to visit Auschwitz and Cracow. It was my first time visiting a concentration camp – something I had always wanted to experience, but nothing can ever prepare you.

Got back to Cluj August 21^st and was catapulted into two more courses (about 200 pages of reading a week and that is only for one course!) and seeing patients at Petros. There are 3 more weeks left in these courses and then I will be heading home on October 2^nd for a month in the States. Please pray with me for endurance and discipline to “stay the course” with these studies. Thanks! Hoping to see many of you when I am home.