Spring 2023 Update

What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Matthew 6:9

Dear Family and Friends,

Our family would like to ask you to please be in prayer about the possibility of us going to Romania in April. We would all four go and stay for two weeks. We ask you to pray with us for wisdom about whether or not to take this trip. There are many world events taking place right now and we need wisdom from The Lord and clear direction. On top of this, Homeland Security is experiencing big delays and we still do not have the twins' new passports even though we expedited them a month ago.

Our ministry has experienced some remarkable peaks over the last quarter and some upsetting valleys. Regarding the valleys, five of our boys have now stopped attending vocational school in the city. As you can imagine, this is very hard for Nelu to process because he pours so much of his time and heart into each of them. One family stated their 15-year-old son needed to get a job because he was going to get married! This is quite opposite of what we teach them but, without a supportive family, these young men struggle to comprehend how important it is to advance their education to properly provide for a family.

Pertaining to the recent peaks in the ministry, our Florentina, who is attending the Pentecostal high school in Oradea, has adjusted beautifully and we are supporting her in every possible way. One of those ways has been to address her dental health which has been largely ignored until now. She was very proud to show off her new smile today!

Another huge high was the celebration on March 8th of International Women’s Day. Every year, I am excited to see how our ministry celebrates it! They did not disappoint this year! Alina managed to find the tiara I once wore for my wedding reception (over 21 years ago now!) in Romania and let each mother (or custodial grandmother) have a turn wearing it and declaring what they would change about the world “If I were queen of the world.” Brilliant idea!!! Love these heart-warming photos of our staff loving on these precious women! Their darling children made them gorgeous flowers out of paper and what a lovely bouquet they were together!

Our precious preschool dolls in a different village also had celebrated their mothers with food and a program that included reciting sweet poems! Their adorable little faces always melt my heart!

On a local level in North Carolina, I have been providing case management for a teen girl to prevent homelessness due to custodial grandparent being institutionalized. I am now the power-of-attorney for the grandparent and have logged countless hours doing paperwork and making phone calls. It looks like our ministry is going to have to step in and pay for utilities for the young woman. She works full-time but is struggling making ends meet. We want to help understand The Lord loves and cares for her even though she has spent her lifetime never really being nurtured. Her work ethic is truly amazing and she has been a joy to get to know. We are currently providing counseling to help her cope with the death of her mother and the imminent death of her grandmother.

Thank you for your faithful prayer and financial support. It blesses my heart that we are able to continue doing lots of ministry directly involved with so many children and families because of the strong support base we have! I hope each of you know how much you are appreciated!

Basking In The Son,

Michelle

PS - If you have a Facebook account, please follow us there at Children In The Son so you can see more regular updates about our work.

If you would like to donate to help with the expenses, you can give through PayPal on our website at www.childrenintheson.com or by going to PayPal and using the email address michelle@childrenintheson.com or you can go to our Facebook page Children In The Son FB page (they do not charge us a fee like PayPal does) and click on "Donate." Please be sure to follow us on Facebook if you have an account so you get all the updates! As always, you can send a check to Children In The Son, PO Box 99063, Raleigh, NC 27624.