"I CAN SEE!"

We would like to, once again, thank Stitching Livada and eye doctors George de Jong and Johnny Roem of Stichting Zienderogen for the eye exams they completed on the Livada staff and kids as well as over 300 kids and staff who live and work in State care. About 80 glasses were made and sent for everyone who needed them. From the day the doctors left, the children asked NONSTOP when their glasses would arrive! They waited with much anticipation!



These past two weeks we have had the opportunity to hand out the glasses, and the kids have been thrilled to receive them! One kid ran up to me and said, “I can see!” and another teenage boy made up a little song claiming “I have glasses! na na na na na! I have glasses!” It has been so exciting to watch these children and teenagers faces light up as many of them can truly see well for the first time!




Eye care has been one of our greatest needs over the past few years, but with so many children in need, it seemed impossible to fill this need. Praise God that with Him, nothing is impossible, and that He provided skilled doctors and a generous foundation to not only perform eye exams for everyone we work with, but also to provide beautiful, custom glasses for every need!

Highlight... Claudia Kalanyos

Take a look at Claudia through the years...


Claudia or "Dita", as she is known by most, is the youngest of her five siblings who are all in the care of Livada. Like all the children in our care, Claudia lived in the orphanage in Ludus before coming into our care. She loves to play almost any kind of game... she loves soccer, basketball, ping pong, phase 10, Remmy, Uno and more! She also loves listening to music. She is full of energy and a great sense of humor.


She does not like school very much and really doesn't like math, specifically multiplication and division. Claudia does enjoy reading, if it is a book that she is allowed to choose. She says that she only studies and learns because she has too and so that the adults in the house will be proud of her!


Claudia loves to have fun and is respectful of adults. She also gets along well with the other children, but does not do well if she is made fun of our told she is too little and will fight back when provoked. Claudia loves animals, especially cats and wishes that she could have one live in her room with her. She really loves her oldest sister Simona and can't wait to grow up and be in an apartment like her.


Claudia does not have a lot of friends at school and so she really feels close to her sponsors and is very thankful to be at Casa Ana with all of her siblings and the other children here. She has really bonded with her sponsor, Jamie, and hopes that she will come to see her soon and bring her soon to be husband.


As you can see, Claudia has grown from a little tom boy into a young lady who is beginning to care about her appearance and is now trying to be more feminine and grown up. Pray that as she continues to grow and mature on the outside that God will continue to grow her and mature her on the inside as well. Pray that she will do her best at school and that she will do her homework without trouble. Pray that she will find a good friend! Thank you for your prayers for Claudia and for all the kids in our care.

Daniel...

Many of you have been praying for Daniel over the past few years. We watched God work in his life through the special therapy home "Casa Daniel." Many of Daniel's behavioral and emotional issues were much improved in a smaller and more structured environment. He learned to respond correctly to authority, to have self control and to interact well with others.

This was more difficult for Daniel in a group home setting with many other children and influences around. He also struggled with having many different authority figures to listen to. As time has passed we have realized that for Daniel, the group home setting is not the best option. For him and it will be best to be in a family much like his brother Madalin, who is also in our care.


We have found a wonderful set of parents who have experience working with children who have been institutionalized and who have challenges to overcome. These parents are now on our staff and Daniel is living with them in a foster care situation under our care.

Please pray for this transition time for Daniel as he is closely supervised and is adjusting to a new home. Pray for the family to have patience and discipline for him and to love him. Pray that they will find themselves a family before long!

Humanitarian Aide... A helping hand to the hurting

We wanted to share with you about a little known aspect of our foundation, the ministry of humanitarian aide. On average, there are 10 applicants per month, some are returning and others are passing through the town, or need help once. There are families and individuals, most who were once in the state orphanage system. Most of them have children and very few are able to provide the safety and care that they need.

The program aims to prevent abandonment of the children by their parents in a variety of ways: material aid - clothes, food, basic personal hygiene products and house keeping needs; financial aid - small amounts of money needed to pay the bills, purchase medicine or basic household goods; counseling on the administration of money, couple relationships, finding and keeping a job or a place to live. We try to help them to solve problems better and faster and to learn to manage and live independent lives in connection with the community.

Here are a few of their stories:


Antonia is now 5 years old and she lives with her mother and maternal grandmother in social housing, from City Hall. Her mother has health problems and cannot work, and all three live from her disease pension.
Her biological father is in prison, and legally he is not her father as he did not recognize her as his child. At the beginning of March her brother, Darius, was born.
His father divorced their mother and went abroad, before he was born. Antonia goes to kindergarten, she is obedient and she loves to draw and play outside with children. She loves her brother very much and she wants to keep him in her arms all the time.


Jozsef and Gyöngy grew up in an orphanage and when they decided to get married she already had a child. Their family has a social housing but just for a determined period, because they haven’t paid the minimum costs to live there. Their daughter, Imola, is 3 years old and the parents take her every day to the preschool of a Foundation, and during that time they seek employment. Gyongy also has another daughter, Erika, who is 13 years old and likes school very much, but she goes to school with breaks of several months, depending the family’s living situation.


Levente and Cristina also grew up in foster care in Mures county. Levente doesn’t hear and is very ill with TB which he inherited from parents and because of this he can not work. Cristina has given him moral and financial support when he had operations and was in the hospital for months.
They decided to get married when they found out that they were having a baby. Alexandra came into this world in July 2007. They were happy about this, but they always had trouble with debts which they accumulated trying to pay bills and they were threatened to be thrown out of social housing. Today, Cristina is working in Italy for several months and they only get reports from family to know that she is okay. Alexandra is cared for by her father with the help of friends from the neighborhood and an aunt. There are still many costs that they need help with.


Emese is 28 years old and when she was 14 her mother took her back home from foster care. She says today, she was brought back into the bad story when she could have had a better one in foster care… going to school, being qualified for a job and doing something better with her life. She felt that by coming “home” her story was over. Now she is living with her mother and her two girls in social housing. She was fooled by an employer to sign her resignation, so she would not receive her unemployment benefits.
Her daughter, Renata, is 5 years old. She is going to kindergarten and the father, although he lives only a street away, does not want to know anything about her. Her little sister, Noemi, is 2 years old, and her father will soon come back from Germany, because he didn`t manage to find a stable job.



In April, Cristian will be two years old. His parents met in an orphanage. They got married and they wanted very much to have him. Now, his father is unemployed and his mother, Cristina, will look for a job, while Cristi will go to day care.

With our small humanitarian aide budget each month we are doing what we can to help these families stay together and keep their children. Please pray that we will be able to continue to reach out to those that need help and that they will come to know that God loves them through the love and support that they receive here.

The Love of a Family...

These simple words hold such huge meaning to the majority of us who will read this blog. Many of us know love because we have been demonstrated love from our parents, our siblings, our grandparents, our aunts and uncles, and our cousins for our whole lives. From the moment we arrived, most of us were held in our parents arms, doted on by our grandparents, and shown unfailing love whether we were smiling or crying, hurting or healthy, succeeding or failing. This love that is so common to us is so unfamiliar to the orphans with whom we have been so blessed to work. They long to be held, supported, and most of all loved. This past week as we had our different follow up clubs, I was overwhelmed by these precious children’s desire to be loved, most of all by a family. We work with many kids who have siblings, many who don’t even live in the same house as one another. I was full of emotions as I sat back and watched some of these siblings interact when they came to our programs.


Petru and Ionel live in the same house together in Tarnaveni. These two boys, so different in appearance, personality, and capability are twins. I have been amazed to watch them interact. Instead of being turned off by their differences, they embrace them. They love each other wholeheartedly and interact as if they are best friends. It is so neat to watch them stick up for each other, protect each other, and most of all love each other with the love of a family that is so unfamiliar to these children.


Bobi and Rodica live in two separate group homes and only meet every other week when they come to club fuel on the same morning. From the moment they arrive, they are inseparable and no one else in the world seems to matter. They don’t care who else is on their team, as long as they are together. It has been so amazing to watch their relationship grow and deepen as they have finally been able to see each other on a more consistent basis. The love of a family is so evident in these two children even though this has been an apparent void throughout their childhood.


Pipi and Tuende are another set of siblings who do not live in the same house. Tuende is still in the care of the state, but Pipi has graduated from state care and lives in a night shelter in town. Tuende also has a twin, Bela, who lives with her in their group home. These siblings fight for each other, protect each other, and defend each other all the time. Pipi has begun to volunteer for Fundatia LOC mostly because he wants the opportunity to be at whatever program his siblings attend. This is another sibling group that consistently demonstrates the love of a family with one another.

As I watched these siblings, and so many more, I realized how thankful we can be that despite the abandonment and pain these children feel, God has given so many of them siblings, whether biological or from the same group home, who have become the family they need. Praise God that He does not lose sight of how important the love of a family is, and that He hasn’t forgotten that with these kids. Praise God that even though most of these kids were never demonstrated love from their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins; He has been faithful in allowing them to develop love for one another.

Livada Kids Get Messy!

Just as we were able to have a blast playing messy games with all of the kids with whom we do follow up, we were able to play a bunch of really messy games at Bible study with the Livada kids! If you were to ask the kids from Casa Ana, Nadia, and Rebeca what their favorite thing to do is, many of them would say to play messy games! We had two separate nights of the games, one for the big kids and one for the little kids. Each night, we divided the kids in to 2 teams, boys against girls. They had a great time fighting to prove which gender is the best at getting messy!:)




We have really enjoyed sharing the follow up program that we do with all of the kids in state care with the kids in our Livada group homes. The kids talk about Bible study, about the songs they sing, the skits they watch, the discussions we have, and of course the games we play all the time. It has been great for the kids to have the opportunity to get out of the house to learn about God in a fun and exciting way.



Every once in awhile we just let loose and play our little hearts out, and this week was one of those times. The kids not only competed for the title of the messiest, but they also loved laughing, having a fun time, and cheering their teammates on to victory.



Thanks for your prayers for the follow up staff and volunteers as we continue to minister to the kids who remain in the orphan system in Mures County and to the kids in the Livada group homes.

Lots of Birthdays!

In the last few weeks we have celebrated many birthdays and more to come! Many of our children did not even know when their birthday was when they came into our care, so it has always been a day that we try to make special. All the kids in the house help to decorate and then celebrate all together.







It has been fun to watch our kids continue to make friends outside of the house from school and other places. This year one of our boys, Adi chose to have a bigger party with friends and food rather than to receive gifts. It was a fun time for him and all his friends from school and the houses.







As you can see, it was parties for 10 year old's all the way to 17 year old's in the past few weeks!

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and your loving sponsorship of all our kids!