I am OLD!

I awoke at about 4am and literally couldn't move in bed! I had this massive, painful catch in my upper back. I made it through the rest of the night and then took a hot shower. Thankfully we actually had hot water this morning!

We went to church and out to eat Chinese for lunch. Then I rested and Maria and Stephen went ice skating.

When they asked what was for supper I told them we were planning on having pancakes and sausage, but I just couldn't stand and mix and flip and all. So they decided to cook.

While Stephen was in the shower, he had run 7 miles after ice skating, Maria decided to get all the ingredients out. Then she started measuring. One thing led to another and by the time Stephen got to the kitchen Maria had everything ready except for lighting the stove. (Our stove is a little scary here!)

They sounded so happy in there together I had to sneak in for some pictures!

So even though I feel very old since I can't MOVE, at least I'm being served like a queen.

Ha ha!

Dana and Maria's day "on the town"

We needed a day off of gymnastics so when Maria slept past 6:45am I decided that today was the day!

After a leisurely breakfast, we got our school work done and got ready to "go to town". This is what we say in the states. Of course here, we actually live "in town", but you know what we mean!

We walked to the metro and bought a new pass then boarded the metro to go to Cora. Alexa had a cool doll house, made from a book so it folds up, in language lessons last night. Maria and I loved it and since it is actually portable, we can bring it home too! We decided to try and find it at Cora.

We had success! Then we ate at KFC - I told you it was a big day on the town.

We left from there to take the Metro back to Titan Park and try out the new outdoor ice rink. We have tried three different days this week. One day we were late and couldn't rent skates, the next try was after a day of rain and they were still clearing the water off the rink. Today we got Maria some skates and hit the ice. It was cold and damp and for some reason people kept wanting to give Maria pointers and asking if I wanted her to have lessons.




It drove her crazy! Maria likes to be left alone when trying something new and this wasn't working. After 45 minutes we called it quits and headed for the apartment.

We set up the doll house and cut out all the pieces to make the furniture. It is so cute!

Then we made brownies. Not a bad day at all!

Ice Skating

Maria and I arrived back in Romania on Thursday. We went to gymnastics on Friday morning since we had equipment with us and presents. It was so much fun to see the girls get their equipment they had been waiting on!

This morning we went to church and turned in over $1600 USD to the Pastors. They were so excited and amazed. Thank you again for making this possible.

This afternoon we went, with the Bucur family, ice skating. There is a public skate at the local hockey rink and we met Gabi, Florin, and Alexa there. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a match to finish and then we were in. It only took me two tries to find Maria's size in the European numbers - not bad! They all had a ball - I was cold since I wasn't skating. By the end of the two hours Maria was actually getting a little comfortable on the skates. We'll probably go again.

Thank you

Thank you so much for your loving support of our family and our church in Bucharest, Romania. You have helped to raise over $1500 for Bibles in the Romanian language. There have been days this past year when we felt very alone living in Romania, but through your prayers, the Lord always strengthened us. You will always have a special place in our hearts!
Thank you again for allowing the Lord to work through you to reach Romania,
The Jutton Family



Maria and I will be reuniting with Daddy on Thursday afternoon this week! We still have two active "to do" lists on the kitchen counter but they are rapidly dwindling down. We are all ready to be together again. Maria and I will be in Romania until May 31st, when we will take our summer trip to the states. We will be meeting Daddy in NY again to visit with that side of our family during the summer.

More from Romania in the weeks to come! Thank you for all your prayers and support during this past year and for the assurances that they will continue on our behalf. We are all very grateful for our friends and family here in the US.

Ooops!, The New "Last Post" of 2006

Due to the chaos of the last couple of weeks alone here in 2006, I actually failed to blog a really fun event. I was invited by a couple of the young guys at our church for a Sunday afternoon game of Risk.

Risk in Romania

If you haven't lived in a bubble for the last 50 years, you should know that Risk, "The classic Game of Global Domination", is probably the most famous strategy board game ever.
The players from left to right were Marian, Dan, and Jamie. Marian and Dan both work full time in ministry at our Romanian church, Cavalry Chapel. They are Romanians and grew up together in an orphanage. Among other things, both of them basically set up and break down the equipment for Sunday services at the rented building each week. Jamie is one of the assistant pastors and he is from the USA.

We played a "quick" game first which was won by Marian. The second game we played was the typically LONG and sometimes "heated" global domination version. It was won by me after about 3 hours. The game was decided when Dan had a series of unbelievably bad rolls of the dice attacking me. With his army depleted, this gave me a golden opportunity to ruthlessly eliminate Dan from the game and acquire a full set of risk cards (the keys to victory).

Apparently, my viscous play didn't make anybody really mad (this may be a first for me), and the guys have invited me to go skiing this Saturday. Stay tuned! When my chance of injury increases, so does the chance for a good blog post.