A young woman was abandoned at birth. She was an orphan, a gypsy, and mildly handicapped. With these three strikes against her, she had no future to look forward to. At 18 she was about to be kicked out of the orphanage, the only home she knew, and then to her surprise her mother came to take her home. But soon her joy was turned into sorrow. Her mother beat her and poisoned her. One day she refused to let her mother sell her into prostitution, so she tied her to the bed, beat, and stabbed her five times in the chest. When her brother tried to protect her, the mother stabbed him to death. Children's Protection came to me and asked me to take her after she got out of the hospital. She now is working with another missionary and her association.

Cosmin at 4 years old was left to defend himself on the streets. By the time he was 7 he was already into smoking, drugs and alcohol. One of the girls I had taken in from the orphanage was doing her internship at the local hospital where she met Cosmin and brought him home to me. He didn't know his name or how old he was. He is in 4th grade now and at the top of his class.

Sophia was 2 months old when her mother decided to throw her in the trash on a cold winter morning. A group of gypsy children found her and brought her to me. Romanian law does not allow children under 2 years old to be placed in a home. But God had other plans for this baby and she is living with us and is now a happy and healthy 2 year old.

Romania is doing what it can to enter the European Union EU. For that reason they shut down all international adoptions, leaving many children without hope of ever having a family. There are many good things about Romania; the foster care system, if run by just people, is much better than what I've seen in the states. The problem is, no one here can afford to take in children, and there are still many false conceptions about orphans and street kids and they are not valued by the community, or government. But to get into the EU, Romania has been closing down it's orphanages and sending many of the older kids out on the streets. The younger ones are sent to group homes, but many children are being dropped off at their homes and parents are forced to take them back. There are so many sad stories heard about these children. One little girl was thrown down a well by her mother because she wanted to keep her boyfriend, the little girl climbed out of the well and went back home. The mother then told the girl they were going to play hide and seek and tied a bandana around her eyes, and then stabbed her to death. Because of human-trafficking, I do understand the need to close international adoptions for now. But in many cases, sending these kids back to their home is not the answer. Many children have come into my home, called Isaiah's House, and into my family. I often take other children from the streets and orphanages into our home for the weekends and for vacations. It is very difficult for me to take them back and breaks my heart when they cry and ask if they can stay, promising they will be good. Last year Isaiah's House became an official ministry of Safe Harbor International and Asociatia Calvary Chapel, Bucharest. Our desire is to reach out to more children by setting up a family center to place younger children with families and a house for older orphans being kicked out on the streets. Our hope is to finish building one of the houses, to hire workers, and to have a ministry van to continue to reach to "the least of these".