A Leadership Retreat...

A few days after the house staff retreat the Leadership of LOC went away for two days of encouragement, rest, a little training and fun. It was just what the staff needed. We are so thankful for the directors, mentors, and follow up staff that work so hard to build into the lives of the children in our care and in the care of the state.


Managing staff, dealing with the many needs of the children, the bureaucracy of Child Protective Services, budgets and more can often be stressful and as you can see, the usually professional and busy leadership staff enjoyed a little time to "play!"



Please pray for the Leadership of Livada. It is the untiring dedication and love of the staff that has made such an impact and change in the lives of the children and teens that we work with daily. Thank you!

Our House Staff...

The many ladies and precious few gentleman who work in our group homes each day are have a non-stop job! Our house directors, counselors, house moms, cooks, tutors and drivers all work hard to care for the children who live at Casa Ana, Nadia and Rebeca.

You hear often about the children, but we wanted to share with you about these precious men and women who invest in the lives of the children, prepare their meals, counsel them, tutor them, get them where they need to be, take care of the house, make sure everyone has what they need, guide the children, discipline the children, pray with the children and so much more!

We have been working on staff encouragement this year and decided that even though it may be difficult to care for the children for a whole day if you took all of their "care givers" away... it was something that we wanted to do as an encouragement time, training time and a time when those from different houses could come together and have some fun!


We had a team here this past weekend from Georgia and they, along with our follow up staff and some volunteers looked after the children for the day as we took the house staff away for a little retreat!

We learned about the Five Love Languages and how knowing each person's love language could help us to better encourage one another. We also talked about how this applied to the children that we work with. We also learned about good communication and had a wonderful lunch together.





The day wasn't all sitting and talking... there was also plenty of time for fun and games... some of which were used to encourage one another, some of which were to build unity. The game pictured here was one where the teams had to try to fit their whole group on pieces of paper that got smaller and smaller with success. As you can see it was fun for all... but the educators from the houses pulled out the win with their "pile on" strategy!




We were so thankful to be able to take the house staff out for what we hope to be our "First Annual House Staff Retreat." Please continue to pray for all those who work in the houses each day... they are truly in the trenches of ministry as they reach out to the kids each day in all areas of their lives!

The First Day...

It comes every year... it is anticipated and slightly feared... it is greeted joyfully by some and with sadness by others... It is the first day of school. While it arrived in America a few weeks ago, we welcomed it today here in Romania!

It was an earlier morning than most had seen in a while and everyone was a buzz... the younger ones full of energy and some of the older ones changing clothes multiple times... but finally they were all ready and waiting for the first day to begin...

Casa Ana

Casa Nadia

Casa Rebeca

Elena, the Director of Casa Ana & Nadia, was there for the festive start of school. She made sure that everyone had flowers to give to their teachers, which is a Romanian first day of school tradition, and that everyone knew the plan for getting each child to their school, to their class and having someone make it to each classroom to meet the teachers. Even with most of the houses' full staff joining in this morning it is a huge undertaking! Alina, the Director of Casa Rebeca, along with all three educators took part in dividing up the eleven children from Casa Rebeca to make sure each child was where they needed to be.


Zorro was never put in school when he lived at home and came to us at age 11 with no formal schooling and too old to begin. We signed him up for "school from a distance" and basically home schooled him for three years. He quickly showed that he was very capable but had never been given the opportunity to learn. He took on first and second grade in one year and then also completed third and fourth.

At this point home schooling is no longer an option and we had many, many, many meetings, requests, appeals and more before we were finally able to sign Zorro up for school for 5th grade this year, even though he is older that the allowed age for his grade. As you can see on his face, he is thrilled to finally be going to his first "real" first day of school!


There are some other "firsts" on the horizon for some of our older children. Simona & Elis will move into a mentor apartment with Gabi, who has been a mom at Casa Ana for three years, as their mentor in a few weeks... They are excited and scared about this new step.


Marian started his first day of high school today and was dressed up and looking very grown up. He will be moving into a mentor apartment later this week and is looking forward to being away from the "little kids", but we know that he will miss them!


Please pray for the kids in the coming weeks as several of them are starting new schools, just starting to change classes, just starting high school and more. Pray that they will apply themselves and learn all they can and that they will make good friends. Thanks.

We Are Thankful...

We are so thankful for Neighborhood Alliance Church of Orlando. This church used "Change for Change" as their VBS missions project again this year and provided school supplies and shoes for our kids to go back to school. It was a special treat for Tom Myers, the pastor of the church, to be here as we did all the back to school shopping and was able to share the fun of preparing for school with the kids. A big thank you to the kids and families who participated in this mission project and helped us prepare for school!





We are so thankful for all those who collect items, raise money, involve their churches, schools and friends to help us minister to the children in state care and raise our 34 children here in Romania! If you want to help with other needs of ours... like Christmas coming up... just contact kelly@livada.org. Thanks!

Welcome Visitors...

This past week we have had two of our Livada Board Members here in Romania with us. We have been to visit just about all of the orphanages, state group homes, our group homes, Camp Vetca, the baby hospital and more in the few short days we had together. It was good for Bruce Thomas to be back and see how things are going here in Romania and for Tom Myers to get a look at the bigger picture of all areas of ministry that Livada is involved in.




It was a special day for Tom to see a little boy, Olympiu, who was an infant last year when he was here, now walking and laughing with him. It was sad that he was back in the hospital, but this is what happens to so many of the youngest children who are currently housed in the hospitals... they are taken home, come back to the hospital, stay a few months or years and go back home and the cycle continues...


One of our other stops on our whirlwind tour was to visit Madalin at his new home. It was good to hear others who have been away from him for a while also commenting on how much more peaceful and happy he seems in his new setting.


Although many of the places that we visited do not allow photos, it was fun to be with the girls at Campenita and see them trying to teach Tom Romanian, while he worked on English with them.

It was a good week to visit and see all that Livada is doing, what the unmet needs are and to meet and discuss where we are as a ministry and how we will move forward. Please pray that as these discussions continue that God will give each of our Board Members and Ministry Leadership wisdom, clear direction and unity as we move forward in what God has called Livada to here in Romania. Thank you.

Getting Geared Up for School...

We want to say a special thank you to Scotland Trinity Presbyterian church for collecting and sending backpacks for all our kids and teens and for all the wonderful school supplies that were gathered and sent. It is such a blessing for us and for the kids to have these items provided in tight financial times. As you can see by their faces, the kids were thrilled and are even getting excited about the start of school!






Please pray for the start of school and all the changes, opportunities and structure that it brings. Pray for understanding and challenging teachers and for the children to step out of their stereotype and excel where they can. We are so thankful for Scotland Trinity Pres and other churches and schools who are partnering with us to meet the needs of these children.

Rebecca, Nadia & Ana 2008

As we wrap up each summer, each house has a special evening. We get dressed, go out for a special family dinner and take the "family picture" for the year. We also take individual pictures of each child for their sponsors. It is a special family event and although sometimes they are embarrassed to pose for the pictures, they always love having them. It has been a great way over the years to watch them grow and change.

For Casa Rebeca this is their fourth "family" picture and for Nadia and Ana, it is their third. What a blessing to look back and see all that God has done in these children's lives over the past several years.




Many look at these children now and say, "But they don't look like orphans"... to which we say, Praise the Lord! Thank you to all of you who continue to invest in the lives of these children each month through sponsorship and prayers. You are making a difference!

There is still a long way to go in many areas of hurt and pain from the past and the struggles that now face many of our children as they go through the adolescent years, but we know that God has done a great work and will continue to soften hearts, heal hurts and grow these children and teens.

Summer Video 2008!

Many of our wonderful donors & sponsors should be receiving this video in the mail soon, but we wanted to give everyone a sneak peak and a look back at The Vetca Olympics 2008!