Little Miri called him Baa

Oradea, Romania

We got the appointment date we've been waiting for. And well...we have an official Hungarian citizen on our hands! He's so very proud! And I'm proud. It was a long process and a complicated one. Considering all the moving around we've been doing. This would have been done months ago if we were back home. We were in Sofia for the appointment...just for the weekend. Too short. We were out of there as soon as we got the papers. Didn't want to risk any fines at the border. We thought we had 4 days left in BG but with careful counting and recounting found that we only had 2! Well we shouldn't have been so stressed...no one cared at the border that we were one day over! It was really great to be back in Sofia! It felt like home! I loved seeing everyone. I understood people...it was wonderful! Emo and Luba were so amazing in taking us in and feeding us. The Kostinbrod families that we've grown to love had us over and fed us a ton. My cousin had us over and fed us again. The youth got together to welcome us! We had a very nice time!


The citizenship ceremony was formal! We were underdressed to say the least. The room was beautiful! Chandeliers and old style furniture. In the center two fancy chairs and a table for the people of the hour. Everyone was required to stand the minute the consulate entered the room. After mike shook her hand he sat back down...well that was a no-no. All the documents to be signed and pens were aligned neatly on the table before we came in. There was a photographer and a guy dedicated just to playing the music. He didn't even walk two steps from the stereo the whole time. He'd switch the music on and off. The national anthems. There were 2 we had to stand and look at the flag for. We were all served wine after and took pictures in front of the flag. Now we can stay here forever!

We're still hanging out in Arad. We have our own house! It's pretty neat. Mike's cousin Yanchi is building a house and a few of the rooms are completed. He put in a shower for us and it's totally livable. We have a ping pong table and a drum set and a keyboard. Entertainment a plenty. We like it. Its just an empty house that the family uses for things that they'd rather not do in their homes. Or dont have space for. Music practice, ping pong tournaments and they have a huge bible study that gathers once a week. Suits us perfectly. We're still going to the Aunt and Uncle's house for food everyday. They've been feeding and housing us for a month! We've really started working on a plan of action. It'll all come together soon.

Gyula, Hungary

In the meantime we've been taking some mini trips to nearby cities. We went to the cities Szeged and Gyula in Hungary for a weekend of thermal baths. It was so nice! Like a mini vacation...from our 5 mos vacation.:) Also went to Lipova, Cluj and Oradea. There is alot more of Romania we want to see like Sibiu and Bucharest but I think this is all we'll do for now. We came home from the day trip around RO pretty late and got woken up the next morning to loud baa-ing. The house is located in a really new development, no roads and fields all around. There is a pastor with I think 500 sheep that hang out in the fields next to the house. So I thought "one of the babies has wandered off and is trapped somewhere! We HAVE to rescue it!" So we follow the baas downstairs to our backyard. Turns out he's ours!! Yay! He's really cute...has a heart on it's side! I'd never even touched a sheep before this. Now I feed him milk from a bottle! I was scared at first but once Yanchi's kids came over and were all hugs I saw how harmless the thing is. The kids wouldn't leave it's side. They were asked to name him...5 yr old Miriam is sticking with "Baa". Yanchi decided to keep him here for a while. I like him. He can stay.

Getting ready for Easter. Here in the Orthodox countries it's a week later. Thanks so much for reading! Come back soon!:)

Baaaaaa