Hi Everybody

I am going to try to explain the life here and try to show why I've thought it important not to have too much completed in my renovations before our return.

In Raluca's home they live in a concrete apartment that has two rooms and a kitchen, that doubles as another bedroom at night. They are painted with watered down paint that is almost transparent. The floors are bare concrete with some well-used throw rugs that look like they have been handed down three generations. The mattresses are lumpy 50-year-old things that make your back sore to look at but seem to work, as most people are tired from the lack of heat at night. In some apartments that are heated, only one room is heated usually and in winter most beds are crammed in one room.

On the monetary side it would seem like much is lacking here, on the other side the family is very close and supportive of each other. They give freely of what little they have without measuring the cost, and between them all they seem to have their needs met. For example just when the cupboards are bare someone seems to come thru and manage food on the table. It is winter out and without Raluca who held the only stable job in the family she is trying not to think how they will manage without her. She is holding back her concern that some in her family are not motivated enough to seek such low paying work and that the rent will go unpaid in her absence leading to their being on the street over the winter.

Their apartment would cost approx $1700 cdn and I could help with that but I don't want to contribute to less need for her brothers to contribute something productive to themselves and their families. I am withholding this information till I see more of her families' situation in the coming two weeks before I leave. When Raluca comes to Canada and becomes aware of our finances I don't want her disappointed that I didn't help when I could've.

Yesterday it snowed, today the sidewalks with thousands of slushy footprints all froze, 70 000 people live here in fairly close proximity, I almost laughed when I saw a sand truck go by. A dump trailer the size of a dump truck was pulled by a tractor and in the back of the trailer were 5 guys with shovels throwing sand on the street. All in hats and mittens and warn jackets looking cold. The planning skills used by many Romanians are fairly disappointing for me to fully realize.

Anyway I consider comparing the daily living environment there and moving to a place like Canada. Where the floors are suddenly polished and furniture is shining. I think it's important that she have a contribution to the living environment that she is about to achieve and she wants to be a part of that. It will be good for us to work on that together and most of the difficult parts are completed, i.e. plumbing and structural repairs. The drywall and flooring are fairly cosmetic that won't take a lot of time to achieve progress now that the other items are completed.

I do have a second construction friend that I will bring in to help with the hanging of the doors and the cabinets so those parts go more quickly. And Shawn is very fast at the electrical and he has been great at helping with that. And I do have a month or two of winter still so I believe there is till time.

I see this as quality time we get to spend together before the roofing season gets busy in the spring again and she will need to have some purpose while she adjusts to life without the regular interaction with her family.

Oh and I forgot!

We were in to the Visa office in Bucharest to apply for a Raluca's temporary Visa and the lady official called us in right away wondering why I was there. She had just looked at our file the previous day and thought our visit was premature so I explained we came in to apply for a visiting visa. She warned that it was still very early in our application and that it was very unlikely that we would be approved but she would talk to her superior and see what he thought. She mentioned to wait for an hour and she would call s back in. I was pretty worried about this so we sat down and talked about it and prayed about it. After an hour and a half she brought us both in and said we shouldn't apply for a visiting visa because she was going to issue a permanent visa and by 3 Pm we had it in our hands. We are now making plans to come back to Canada around the 23rd or so of January. We are just so relieved.

Thank you all for contributing to our prayers, they have been answered greatly!

Love Bill and Raluca!