Good to see you, dear friends!

          After the long winter we had, the long-awaited spring finally came, only....in the calendars we saw it until the middle of April, because the low temperatures were present and were even accompanied by a snow like in stories. (pictures 1,2)

          The snowdrifts in Neamt County, as big as in the middle of winter, were rather detached from the horror stories for drivers stuck on the roads, but…with God’s help, we managed to admire the spring flowers until the end of April. (pictures 3 – 5)

          Due to the low temperatures, gardening was also postponed. We pulled the garlic out of the weeds and dug up the trees at the root. (pictures 6,7)

          Unfortunately, we cannot use the solar at the moment as it needs to be repaired because a strong storm destroyed part of the "roof". (picture 8)

          After the winter holidays, with the hustle and bustle of those days, with rich meals, we felt the need to escape into nature, to breathe fresh air into our lungs, to contemplate the new year that lies ahead,so together, young and old, on the second day of the year we climbed Mount Cozla, where we enjoyed a beautiful time. (pictures 1-6)

          The festive atmosphere continued because of the days off, the vacation, the guests who visited us, the children who went to visit other families, because of going to the skating rink and to McDonald's, because of sledding, the Dodita brothers got together and climbed Mount Ceahlau, the Matei brothers visited their mother whom they had not seen for 3 years etc.(pictures 7-18)

          Also from the category of relaxation activities, we can mention the outing that the children made to Margineni, the realization of manual work activities and "working" with snow :) (pictures 19-25)

          September and October, beautiful autumn months, full of wealth and contentment.

          We want to start by thanking God that in these months He protected our children and they are all well, healthy and happy. (pictures 1 and 2).All the 20 children we care for started school in September, 9 of them at elementary school and 11 of them at high school or vocational school.(picture 3)

          We have MadalinBaroi who turned 18 in September and at the same time managed to pass his driving test. We congratulate him from the bottom of our hearts! (picture 4) Laura and Gabriela turned 12, respectively 15 years old. Two serious and decent girls, as are (mostly) all our girls.(picture 5)

          Our dear Doinita has not forgotten where she left from and already has several good visits at home (picture 6), also Ionut came from Iasi on vacation,but...he doesn't allow himself to be photographed, and still, I managed to get a picture:) (picture 7)

          July and August, two blessed months! Moments of joy, moments of trying, but definitely the moments of joy took precedence.

          At the end of June, we had the great joy of seeing our old friends from America, Greg and Anne Heisey, whom we hadn't seen since 2019. At the same time as them, our friend from Germany, Michaela Khulman, also visited us. (pictures 1 – 4)

          Besides the great desire to see each other again, our reunion had Doinita's wedding as its focal point. Our oldest girl got married!

          Cristi Prelipceanu is the chosen one of her heart, a faithful young man from the north of the country, from Radauti. They had their wedding on July 3rd, but before this date we were all involved, children, family, employees, guests, in great preparations. (pictures 5 – 11) We wish them God's blessing to accompany them at every step on the new path they have taken. We love you, our dears!

           Greetings, dear friends!

          Ever since we heard each other, things have evolved at Ray House.

          The garden and the solarium were filled with vegetables that grew seeing with the eyes, but unfortunately the weeds competed with the vegetables, so in several stages we had to go clean the garden of unwanted weeds, mow the grass in the yard, water the flowers and gather hay for the animals. The children were involved, each according to their abilities, in all these household activities. (pictures 1-5)

          Regarding the farm, we have in these past 2 months also entrances and exits, as follows: we bought 60 turkeys, slaughtered 2 pigs, we sent the goats to the sheepfold and we have already received a slice of curd from them, egg hens have entered production, and the meat chickens have reached maturity and we started sacrificing them. Glory to God for our daily food, He cares for us at every step. (pictures 6-11)

          We all want the hope that came into the world with the resurrection of Christ fills your hearts and homes. Christ is risen!!

          We celebrated Easter in peace and quiet, even though the house was full of bustle in the days leading up to the holiday. Visits from children who grew up at Ray House, visits from friends at home, visits from relatives, visits to relatives, cleaning, food, relaxation, songs about the death and resurrection of Jesus all created a festive atmosphere. We leave you to feel a crunchy moment of these, looking at the following photos. (pictures 1 - 22)

          At the beginning of the month, more precisely on April 11, we had another occasion of celebration, when Doinita and Cristi got engaged. We say again that God will fully bless them and give them wisdom at every step on this new path they have set out on. (picturea 23-27)

          And two more reasons to celebrate, Vasilica who turned 10 and Ionela who turned 13. Blessed are you, dear ones! (pictures 28,29)

          March for us continued with the hosting of the group from Ukraine. We had pleasant moments together, in which we told each other small fragments of life, tense moments when with our mouths open we waited for news from their family left in Ukraine, sad moments together when we saw them with tears in their eyes when they received news that other objectives were bombed, moments of relaxation when we went on a trip to Red Lake, moments of strengthening the relationship when we worked together etc.

          In other words, we believe that the time we spend together and the situation they are in has given us some lifelong friends.

          After this group of 22 people left, we kept waiting for other groups, but no one came. In the north of the country, the Suceava area is full of refugees, who stay for a night or two and then go to other countries, but below, to the south, they rarely host.

          Anyway, we have the door and arms open for such people and we look forward to them whenever they need a bed and a warm meal. (pictures 1-12)

           Good to see you again, dear friends!

          We were preparing to present to you how the months of January and February passed for us, here at Casa Ray, but in the light of the new events that have taken place on the border of our country, in Ukraine, our hearts and thoughts are preoccupied with these people, who are in great suffering and distress.

          We could not remain indifferent to the trauma our neighbors are going through and knowing that we have empty guest houses, we showed our willingness to accommodate some of those in need. This is how 22 people have been able to stay with God's help so far. Practically the Casa Ray home has doubled its number of "tenants", 22 children beneficiaries of our center and 22 guests.

          All those we have accommodated so far, are passing through Romania, and will continue their journey to their relatives who are further away, and in their place will come other people and so on … We expect a continuous flow of people.

           Blessings in the new year, dear collaborators!

          May all the possible hardships of 2022 make you stronger and may all the joys of 2022 form a heart full of gratitude.

          In short, we want to present you some aspects from the last month of 2021, December, the month of gifts.

          As every year, the beginning of this month was marked by the decoration of the house, both inside and outside, which makes us happy and gives us the strength to do all the things with joy, while we hum carols. (pictures 1 and 2)

          Of course, the traditional "Christmas cleaning" followed when each room was lined up and made "extremely tidy", the garden was also cleaned, the shed was supplied with wood and so on. (picture 3)

                Hello, dear ones!

               Autumn has come to an end, and winter has rushed to make its presence felt both through its specific cold and through a few happy snowflakes. However, we want to go back two months and tell you what we did at Ray House in October and November.

               We started by harvesting the last apples and the fodder beet. Thank God that this year too the orchard was fruitful and so was the garden. (pictures 1,2) From the fallen apples on the ground, we made jars of jam, only good for spreading on bread or for use in tarts.(pictures 3,4,5) We also received a donation of apples (and a pumpkin J) from Rotaru family from Bacau, to whom we thank, with the help of whom we made apple juice and put it for the winter. (pictures 6,7,8)