A Thanksgiving Miracle

Nehemiah Emeth (foreground) and Jonathan Ransom. Born November 15, 2014

"And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Colossians 1:17
Dear Friends and Family,
Thanksgiving has come and gone this year, but for our family, the Thanksgiving season of 2014 will be one that we remember every year - and indeed all throughout the year - for the rest of our lives. We will remember it as a time when God chose once again to show us the depth of his love and mercy, and poured into our family the blessing of two more precious lives: Nehemiah Emeth and Jonathan Ransom.
Most of you are probably already aware that at twenty weeks, the twins were diagnosed with TTTS, or Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, which you can read about in our previous blog entry "For Nothing Will Be Impossible With God." The outlook was not good, and yet God preserved them through everything, including a laser surgury in mid August, as well as many close calls as the pregnancy progressed.
For example, in mid October we had gone for a routine checkup at the OHSU hospital in Portland, and Geta started having a lot of contractions; she was only 29 weeks pregnant. After several days of monitoring and even some bleeding, everything stabilized and we were finally able to come home after a week. It was scary a little in the sense that we might have had to deliver then; but God is so good - he stopped everything so that the twins could have more time to develop and be more ready to be born.
Then, on the 14th of November - at 34 weeks of pregnancy - on another routine visit to the doctors (this time here closer in Salem), they discovered that one of the babies' feet were pushing down to the bottom of the womb on the umbilical cord. They informed us that this is a very dangerous situation in that if the water should break, one or both of the babies would be at serious risk of death. So they immediately sent us up to OHSU to be most likely delivered.
Again, God's sovereign hand of protection was upon the babies, and on the morning of November 15th, 2014, Nehemiah Emeth and Jonathan Ransom were brought into this world by c-section. They were immediately taken to the neonatal intensive care unit, and hooked up to machines that helped them breathe and gave them oxygen, as well as IVs, and a host of other monitors. The doctors and nurses there were always kind and helpful and it was a great experience there. Nehemiah and Jonathan received the best care, and made amazing progress.
In just two weeks and two days, on December 1st, they were released from OHSU, at which time they finally got to meet their big brothers Joseph, Elijah, and Jeremiah, as well as their big sister Ammishaddai. And on December 2nd, we all got to come home to be together as a family.
The doctors have told us that the twin that had the possible heart problem (Jonathan) does not have any problems, and will not need any further checkups for that. They have also cleared them to go on the airplane when and if the time comes.
God's amazing preserving hand has been so evident in all this time of the pregnancy, whether that was preserving the twins' lives, or providing for our family at every turn, we have so much to be thankful for. Thank you to each and every one of you who have been praying for us during this time, or watching our kids, or providing meals for our family, or any of a number of other things; God has used you to bless us in ways that are overwhelming. Thank you, we are so grateful.
As George Herbert, a 17th Century Anglican Poet wrote: "You have given so much to me. Give me one thing more - a grateful heart." Amen, may it be so!
This Thanksgiving season, though it has come and gone, will be one that is remembered by our family for the rest of our lives as a time to be so grateful, a true season of grace: a true Thanksgiving Miracle!
Longing for a truly grateful heart,
Andrew & Geta & family

For Nothing Will Be Impossible With God...

Dear Friends and Family -
As most of you know, we have been in the United States since December 13th, 2013, and that is due to the love, friendship, and unflinching generosity of so many of you.While we do miss Romnania very much, we have been greatly enjoying our time here in America reconnecting with each of you. There have been so many opportunities to be with people we know and love while we have been here, it has been truly a great blessing for us.
We have also gotten to do some pretty fantastic things since we have been here, such as visit Mount St. Helens, the zoo, and the Oregon Caves, as well as go camping, enjoy the Fourth of July, and even go on a missions trip to Mexico (Andrew and Joseph). These have been months and memories we will never forget.
God has also chosen to bless us further with the addition of twins to our family, and that has been not only a surprise, but also somewhat of a journey of unknowns. The babies were diagnosed with TTTS, or Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome, a complication that happens only in cases of identical twins, and that only rarely. In the placenta, the twins were connected by some blood vessels, to the point where one twin was giving all his blood and nutrients (the donor) the other (the recipient). If not discovered and dealt with as it was, it would have been fatal - the donor would die from lack of blood and nutrients, the donor would die from too much.
But God is amazing and merciful, the problem was discovered in time, and in mid August Geta had the laser surgery necessary to cut the blood vessels connecting the twins together. The survival rate in these cases is generally: 1 twin, 85%; both twins, 50%. But again, God has been so gracious to us and smiled upon these two new lives, and as of our last visit, the doctors are ecstatic about the progress they are making, amazed at how well they are doing. Our doctor just told us they don't usually see twins do this well after the kind of procedure they had to go through. The coordinator at the doctor's
office's words were: "you guys must have a lot of people praying for you."
Yes we do, and it is because of each of you that we have been so blessed. God has heard all of our prayers together that have been lifted up before him on behalf of our family and on behalf of these two new little babies. It has been so exciting to see God work every step of the way through this whole time. Truly with our God, nothing is too hard, nothing is impossible. Our God is able...  "For nothing will be impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)
Please continue to pray with us as we get closer to the time when the babies will be delivered; pray that the babies will continue to grow and develop well, and that Geta will continue to have strength and be healthy too. Also please continue to pray for us as we prepare to return to Romania in March of 2015 - that God will provide us with a house and property to live on and minister from, and most of all that He would show us where we can be most effective serving for His Kingdom!
Serving Christ Together with You,
Andrew, Geta and family
p.s. Thank you to Carmen Darland for taking this great picture of our family, spring 2014.

Recent Happenings: June and July 2012

The people of Smirna church together with the people of the church in Hobita. Sunday, July 15th, 2012, in front of the church building in Hobita.

Greetings from Romania!
We hope this finds each and every one of you continuing to draw strength, joy, and encouragement from Jesus in every day...

Nehemiah 8:10b: "...for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

This is an update about what we have been doing and been involved with in the last couple of months here in Romania.

June
As summer wears on, we have been very busy with projects around the property - cleaning, mowing, sweeping, clearing space to be more clean, putting locks on garage doors to "fortify" them better against thieves, etc. We also need to work in the basement some, and on the water system in the basement. There's nothing wrong, we just want to modify the space a little more so others will have more room to store canned goods and things for the winter, also need to modify the water system slightly to not leave water messes any more when we have to switch the main pump hose to fill different water tanks. Busy, busy...before we know it, it will be time to buy firewood and deal with that in preparation for the winter.

Ministrywise in June, things seemed a little scattered. We had some different things going on, so even though the church met every week like usual, the youth group was on and off. Either they couldn't

come, or we had some thing to do, or whatever.
Early in the month myself and another leader from the church (Dan) were invited with our families to a leadership meeting (an afternoon/evening with dinner too) near another city called Targu Jiu. It was actually up in the mountains, and there weren't a lot of people. It was a nice time to get away for the afternoon and evening with our families and learn a bit together and fellowship with others. Plus all our kids enjoyed it a lot since there were quite a few other kids there to play with.
The last week of June was a really great week for us. Many of you have already seen the pictures we posted on our Facebook page. We got the opportunity to take whichever kids that wanted to go from

our church (and who were old enough) to a camp for kids (in the end, only 1 other kid came with us to the camp). The camp is near the city of Fagaras, about 450km from where we live. The drive was long, but it was very much worth it. Geta helped all week in the kitchen, and I helped with the kids in the camp, taught lessons, was a room leader (there were several dorm rooms with 13 or so beds each). The kids were generally between 9 and 13 years old, and there were about 45 or so there, from all around Romania. It was an amazing experience and one that we will not soon forget. It was one of the

best weeks we've had in a long time. It was great to get to know the kids, and they are at that age where they just are eager to be your friend, and they are so trusting. By the end of the week, we were

sad to go. On the last night there was a big campfire; some shared, and there were lots of laughs but also lots of tears, as the reality set in that it was the last night of camp. We miss the kids, but are

looking forward to going again next year to help. We want to stay for two weeks next year, and are hoping to see many of the same kids again. We are also hoping to take more kids from our church next year. We will see what God has in store for us in regards to that next year! 

July
The month of July continued pretty much as normal, with the weather being quite hot for most of the month (near 100 degrees! Although it's cooled off here a bit at the end of July). We've had our

regular church meetings every Sunday, with afternoons full of fellowship, "hang out" time, and encouragement.
One of the weekends in July (the 14th and 15th) we were went as a church in mission to a village, about 150 kilometers away. We left Saturday afternoon, and arrived at the village (Hobita, where we

also went 2 years ago as a church) toward evening. There were 19 of us (wow!) that went on the mission, and it was really a great time of being together with others. Saturday evening, we had a meal together and visited with people from the church. Later on, the ladies all worked together with the ladies from the church in Hobita to prepare a whole bunch of sarmale (cabbage rolls) for lunch together with the church the next day. They all seemed to enjoy that; again, many of you may have already seen the pictures from our trip to Hobita on our Facebook page.

Sunday morning, we all walked along a little creek through a small wooded area to where the church was. There we sang a lot together, which was great because the people there at the church don't have someone to play music during their services, so that was something a little more special for them. We really are blessed to have someone at the church (both here and in America) who can play music and lead us in worship. After that, I spoke from Romans (10:12-15) about "Beautiful Feet". I  believe that went pretty well, especially considering that I taught in Romanian; people seemed to understand

the message that God had for us that morning and that is what is important.

After the service, we walked back to the house where the majority of our group had stayed the previous night, and we all had lunch together - our church and their church. It was a nice meal together, and a nice afternoon of just being together with other believers. Later that afternoon, we had a short service again, with singing and various people sharing. At the end the church's pastor showed up for a brief word of encouragement. (they still have many areas in Romania where a pastor has several churches under his care, and must travel to several of them during the morning service time, and several during the evening service time. This is the situation in Hobita and the surrounding areas.)
As I mentioned earlier, the weather cooled off a little in the last week or so (all the way down to 90). We were supposed to have church camp last weekend, but postponed it for a week because of

thunderstorms. More of the same is predicted for this week, but hopefully it will clear up by Friday so we can all go for a weekend together in the mountains. We'll see...

Prayer Requests
Please pray for all the boys and girls that were at the camp near Fagaras at the end of June (camp Bit of Heaven, as it's called); pray that God will speak to the children's hearts and cause seeds that were planted in their lives to grow so that those kids can know him more.
Please also pray for the church, the people in Hobita. It is a very small church with almost all older people, several of whom have died in the last couple of years. Pray that they would be strengthened and encouraged physically as well a spiritually, that God would work in their church and use the people there to reach the village and raise up a new generation of people there for the glory of his kingdom.

We appreciate all your continued prayers for Geta - it is a great encouragement to our family. She is still having trouble with her leg; in fact she took a bad spill in the ladies restroom on a wet floor while we were up at the children's camp in June. Please pray that God will continue to heal her leg, give her strength, joy, and encouragement. I am so proud of her (and inspired by her), because in spite of the pain and discomfort that she has to live with every day, she continually has a positive outlook, and chooses in every day to declare that God is in control and knows what is best for her.
We hope and pray that all is well with you and your family. God is taking care of us, and we see his hand in our lives on a daily basis. We trust and pray that the same is true in your life.
To God be all the glory!
Servants together with you,
Andrew & Geta and family

Christmas Play: The Three Trees

This is a video of a play that Geta did together with the Sunday School kids here in Romania on Christmas Sunday. It is a simplified version of the story "The Three Trees" (or in Romanian, "Povestea Celor Trei Copaci"). Geta only had a couple Sundays to get the kids ready, but they do fine. I drew the outline of the pictures, and the Sunday School kids had fun coloring them.

Our daughter Ammi is the first tree, Elijah appears as a carpenter, and Joseph  as a woodsman. Another boy, also appearing as a woodsman, is not one of our regular Sunday School kids, but has been coming fairly often to our youth meetings; he wanted a part in the play too (which was great), so we got to include him as well.

The video is made using a cell phone, so the quality is not very good, but those of you that are familiar with the story can figure it out pretty easily. The audio quality is also not very good so you'll have trouble hearing the Romanian. We hope you'll enjoy it for what it is though.

Take care and may God continue to bless you!

Andrew & Geta

God's Protection and People's Gratefulness

Andrew with some of the people in the village of Plopi

Dear Friends and Family,
We hope and pray that all is well with you, and that you continue to be blessed and see God's hand in your lives on a daily basis.In June the we saw the lower floor (most of it) of the multipurpose building here on the property completed, which has been areal blessing. It turned out very nice and "homey" feeling, and is a very pleasant atmosphere to be in for Sunday services and fellowship times in the afternoons - although most of the fellowship time is spent outdoors these summer days.
Sunday afternoons continue to be a great time of fellowship here as people from several different churches come to spend time together, whether that is visiting around a picnic table with drinks and sunflower seeds (the hang-out snack of choice here) or friendly competition in a game of volleyball. It is also a good opportunity to include/get to know more non-believers, as several have come when they have opportunity.
We saw God's hand of protection in our family a while back as we went to a village near the city of Targu Jiu. When we were about 20km from the city, in a curve, the front driver's side wheel of the van came off and shot off into a nearby field. Needless to say it was quite a surprise, but praise God, I was able to hold onto the wheel until we slid along and came to a stop mostly off the road. Turns out the big screw in the middle of the wheel came out somewhere along the line. But God's hand was certainly upon us, as none of us was hurt, no other cars or people were anywhere near when it happened, and not more damage was done to the car. To make a long story short, We have a friend in Targu Jiu who helped us non stop in the next two days to get the car to the city, find parts. etc. we really thank God for the people he has put in our lives!
Late in June, the planter of the church where we serve, and his wife left with their family to move back to America. It was a sad day for everyone here, and hard on all the kids to see their friends leave for good. But we are convinced that God is bringing even more good from this than we can dream of. Church is continuing, and we believe God is going to do great things. Please pray for the people still here, the leaders, and those whom God will put in our path and in the church's sphere of influence.
Near the end of June, I had the opportunity to help some friends take several mattresses, boxes of clothes, etc. to the village of Plopi to some needy people, about 50 kilometers away. We went to a couple different families, and people and kids just crowded around to see what was going on. (The picture at the top is me with some adults and the adorable kids) I am still amazed at the profound gratefulness of people in the villages when they receive something.
Thank you for your continued prayers for us and for Romania. May God continue to pour out his blessings and fill your lives!
In Christ,
Andrew & Geta Roby