Christmas Program at Church

The kids in the care of Livada attend two different churches in Targu Mures. The majority of the younger kids go to the Liberty Baptist Church, and the majority of the older kids attend the Independent Church. On Christmas night, the Liberty Baptist Church had a special program in which the kids sang, performed in a skit, and took part in a puppet show. 

Eight of the younger kids were in the program with their Sunday School class, and the rest of the kids went to support their little "brothers and sisters." The kids did a great job, and it was so nice to see them participate in celebrating the birth of Jesus with the other kids from their church!

We hope that you enjoy this video clip of the kids singing about "The Perfect Gift!"

LOC kids Christmas Party

For our annual LOC kids Christmas party we began the morning with the team scavenger hunt (see previous post) and then raced back to the Livada office. Once there, we played the gift passing game. We enjoyed pizza then settled down to watch their skits (see previous post on Buddy the Elf) as well as a new Christmas movie. After the movie we looked at their pictures from the scavenger hunts and ended with a tie-breaker game. The winning team members each received a huge chocolate Santa, just in time for Christmas! We had a great time bonding, laughing and making great memories! Merry Christmas!

 gift passing game

 everyone loves pizza and brownies!

 watching the skits and laughing until you just couldn't laugh anymore!

 Daniela with the best view in the house; Anna with Bex

 Final tie-breaker game

 Rebecca and Jenny

Christmas Scavenger Hunt

As part of the LOC kids Christmas party, the 3 teams from the Buddy skits had to run around town crossing things off their scavenger hunt list. They had to do things such as finding a snowmen, crossing a crosswalk, sliding on a slide, swinging on a swing, eat with chopsticks, and build a team pyramid int the center of town. They all got really into the game and raced back to the office to enjoy the rest of the party festivities!

Here is team 1: Eniko, Kati, Marga, Sergiu, Anna, Stefan and Bela

 Here is Team 2: Janos, Levi, Zsofia, Geza, Daniela, Krisztina and Ibi

 Here is Team 3: Kati, Fanel, Daniel, Dita, Laura, Emese and Zorro

Buddy the Elf skits

This year in preparation for the LOC kids Christmas party, we had the kids divided into 3 teams. They were each given a mission to come up with a mini movie of Buddy, the Elf's, adventures while visiting Romania over Christmas. They loved the challenge and got very creative with the story lines, music and costumes. We recorded their skits and showed them at the end of their Christmas party. Everyone had a great time and got a lots of good laughs from it!

 Zorro acting as one of the narrators

 Emese and Kati Rostas

 Santa Bela and Sergiu the Elf

 Stefan as the rapper and Anna the sumo wrestler

 Zsofia, Krisztina and Janos

Geza, a narrator from the winning skit team!

Annual Christmas Staff Party

Just before Christmas we had our Annual Staff Christmas party. This year we enjoyed delicious food, lots of games, fun and laughter. We played a gift passing game using the words right and left, which was a hoot to watch the staff try to remember which direction in Romanian matched the English word. We also did a white elephant gift exchange together. There was a lot of stealing and competition to end up with the best gifts!

 Noemi and Gabi helping decorate; the boys getting in a round of ping pong

 Noemi, Jenny, Rebecca and Gabi

 Daniela and Jeni, two of the educators at Casa Rebecca

 Enjoying the appetizers and desserts

 The passing game

 Marius and Traian, our two drivers, both won a game!

 Right or left...

 Playing the white elephant game

Vio so proud of his red candle; Marianna stealing from Emi

  

 David stealing from Paul; Dina and Erzike, two of the staff at Casa Rebecca

 Jeff and Jenny, Directors of ministry and sponsorship

 Cristina, Marianna and Julie, staff at Casa AnaNadia

 Magda, Doina, Elena, and Cristina; Casa AnaNadia staff

 Maria, Mia and Angie; Casa Rebecca moms

 Emil, Jeff, David, Dan, Dragos, Traian and Istvan

 Codruta and Alina; staff at Casa AnaNadia

 Alina, Istvan and Rebecca; Outreach Staff who work with our 400 state kids all year

 Dina, Mia, Daniela, Magda, and Angie

Our Foster Care parents who love and care for Daniel and Madalin Simon all year long. They play a huge role in our foundation and often don't get the credit. They have taken in two of our most troubled kids to love as their own. We are so thankful for them and their willingness to parent these boys.

Merry Christmas from our Romanian staff!