Good to see you again, dear ones! We hope you are well and healthy.

          At Casa Ray, with God's help, in the months of June and July, even though we went through some more difficult moments in terms of health, we overcame them all well. Ionela Matei (picture 1) was hospitalized for a week, being suspected of appendicitis, and the other children had to overcome an epidemic of enterocolitis, which "haunted" the whole country.

          As I said, we thank the Lord that now, at this time, we are all well.

          This period of 2 months, started with a holiday, on June 1 we celebrated CHILDREN'S DAY! Special thanks to our friend Heike Kunze, who together with her friends organized a small party for children with balloons, sweets, fruits and juices, exactly what children love the most. They felt pampered, and Father Mihai said a blessing prayer for them, which is very precious! (pictures 2-5)

          Welcome back!

          With God's help, this spring we planted about 25 new fruit trees in our orchard. Various varieties of fruit trees, from which we hope that in a few years, we can taste full of gratitude. We also planted raspberry seedlings that leave our mouths watering just as we think about them. (pictures 1 and 2) Spring cleaning was also important, the wind scattering on our property no less than 18 garbage bags.(picture 3)

          This spring was quite cold in our area, so the arrangement of the garden and the solarium was a little late, but at the end of April, the natural fertilizer was spread in the gardens, and seedlings and seeds of all kinds were planted. (pictures 4-6) God made it rain, made it grow, and at the end of May, we were already able to use greens from our own garden, and weeds were to be taken out… with bags. (picture 7)

          Greetings, dear friends!

          During the period when we haven’t heard from each, respectively the months of January, February and March, we had to face some challenges, but with God's help, this time we are well and working in normal parameters.

          The first challenge was to deal with a small staff and to quickly find replacements to take over the tasks. Mrs. Lica from the laundry got sick with covid, and after overcoming this disease she started to fight with a strong depression that she has not overcome yet, no longer being active in the Ray House. Mrs. Aurica from the kitchen turned 66 and wanted to retire because the 70 km commute she made to get to Ray House was too exhausting for her. Also, the sudden departure of my mother, who was involved in many aspects of the Ray House, left many gaps.

          We hope that we found you well and healthy, and the transition to the new year brought you new hopes and fresh strength to face whatever awaits us in this new year.

          After mother's sudden departure to the eternal ones, for a few days we were all paralyzed, in a state of shock, it was as if we were living another life, as if we had woken up in a story that could not be ours.However, even if we were hurt and astonished, we had to keep household chores in check and we had to take care of the scheduled things.

          We noticed a general mobilization among everyone, both employees, volunteers and children.Everyone was eager to put their shoulder to the wheel and support "our home" so as not to fall under this heavy burden.Even young people who had plans for the near future to continue their lives independently, changed their minds, saying: “I'm not going anywhere, I'm staying here to continue the work of mother Tatiana!”

          The house that the children live in, named Casa Ray, it was built 20 years ago. Improvements have been made every year. An important aspect we have not yet managed to administer/affix is the thermal insulation of the building.

In Dobreni County, the only heat source for the building is the central heating with solid fuel (wood). Without thermal insulation, the heat energy is pretty big, also the need of wood. For only one winter we need almost 30m³ of wood, which cost 11500 RON(2400 EUR). It is a big expense for us, that’s why we would like to reduce all these costs.

Mother...

         At the end of October, unfortunately, we had the first covid infections19. In turn, gradually, 7 children and the parents of the home, mother Tatiana and father Mihai, were found positive. God blessed us all with mild forms of the disease that could be treated at home, except for mother Tatiana who began to have difficulty breathing, her oxygen saturation dropped to 85, so she was hospitalized. As her condition worsened further, her saturation dropped to 63, she was transferred to the hospital's intensive care unit, where she was connected to 2 oxygen sources and given the maximum amount of medication.

         It's been 2 months since I came to you with news about Ray House, respectively news about the events of September and October.

         During this time, God helped us and we managed to put everything we needed for the winter: eggplant, peppers, red peppers, beans, mushrooms, pickles of all kinds, vegetables, tomato juice, jams, compotes, zacusca, fish paste etc. Tireless hands worked hard and filled the pantry and the refrigerated boxes, and mother Tatiana was the one who was not absent from all this work! We kiss your hands, Mother! (pictures 1-8)

         Household and farm activities also continued, being of course combined with play, anniversaries and moments of relaxation. (pictures 9-20) The celebrations of this period were Ionel(17 years old), Laura (10 years old), Gabriela (13 years old) and Madalin (17 years old). May God bless everyone and help them make the best decisions for their lives! (pictures 21-24)

          Warm greetings, dear friends! We hope you are well and your health has not left you.

          As for the children and the staff at Ray House, God protected us in these 2 months, July and August, and all the tests that were performed regularly, had a negative result. Thank God!

          One of the things we missed A LOT due to this pandemic was the visit of friends from America. Year after year, we had an indescribable joy when we spent about 2 weeks together, but this year we missed those beautiful moments. However, we had a small part of that happiness, when Jim sent us a short video in which he told the children how sorry he is that we can't be together, a video to which he attached some photos taken together in 2019. Thank you VERY MUCH Jim for the beautiful surprise! (picturea 1 and 2)

          The months of May and June were months of continuous quarantine, just like March and April, so the activities at Casa Ray had their "stage" also in our house and in our yard (with one small exception that we will mention later;).

          The children had regular activities such as housekeeping, play, birthdays, relaxation and learning. Especially the learning for 6 of our children and young people because at the end of June they had to take exams that would allow them to move on to the next form of education. (pictures 1-17) Oh, let's not forget. We also had a moment of artistic creation. :) (picture 18)