The blessing of Kay Jones

This is our good friend Kay from Cwmaman, whom I met at the "Ty Hafen" Charity Shop in Aberdare 2 years ago.  Kay was in the queue behind me and overheard my conversation with the assistant about the Charity's Shoe Box Appeal.  She tapped me on the shoulder and said she would love to become involved and the rest is history.  Throughout the year she  tirelessly (with the support of her 2 daughters)searches for items for boxes which she keeps in a massive suitcase ready for me to deliver covered boxes.  Even though she delights in all ages, her speciality are the baby boxes.  Kay and her family have recently moved house and we pray God's blessing on their new home.

Thank you so much Kay for your love and support.  Here she is with Wayne at one of our packing nights at Ramoth.

Christmas in a Shoebox at "Oaklands Primary School"

As part of their Harvest giving, children, parents and staff have been enthusiastically filling shoe boxes with much needed gifts for vulnerable Romania children.  They also donated a large amount of baby items.  Last week Wayne and I had the blessing of meeting with Caroline Wright, the Headmistress, some of her staff and pupils.  We give thanks for them all and also to the parents for their support.  Choosing items for each box is such a joy. 

Caroline and the children (seen here) even helped us load the 81 boxes complete with their pound coins attached to help with transportation costs.   We will bring them feedback from Romania with a set of lovely pictures. 

May God Bless You All for your support.

Prayers for my Mum please

After a 3 week stay, my mum was discharged from hospital on Monday. It is taking her some time to again adjust to independent living and so I am staying with her at present.   She is needing a lot of support and  we give thanks for other family members and supportive neighbours.  I would appreciate your prayers for her.

Happy Birthday Hannah

Tuesday was a special day at "Almond Tree" as we celebrated the 87th Birthday of one of our precious ladies - Hannah with banners and a Birthday Cake.   Hannah seen here with our leader Jen lives alone in Hirwaun and is much loved by everyone for her cheerful spirit and sense of humour.  We so love our visits to her home - especially in Winter when we can sit around her open fire for a chat - she is a real inspiration.

Hannah is a loyal supporter of Reaching Romania and we give thanks for her. 

Our Running Heroes

It was a 4.30 am start for us on Sunday  as we made our way to Cardiff  to ensure we got a parking space for the Cardiff Half Marathon.

 

Congratulations of our 3 super heroes:  friend Chris Rees,  hubbie Wayne and our nephew, Eifion Davies.  In glorious sunshine they all completed the 13.1 mile course in record time.  Super fit Chris broke his previous record by crossing the finishing line well under 2 hours.  He was followed closely by Eifion with Wayne who was nursing a cold coming in with a huge smile in just over 3 hours.  All 3 thoroughly enjoyed the new scenic route under blue skies and Praise God have already committed themselves to next year's race.

It was a joy to spend the day with Chris's family and also Wayne's sister and family. 

A big thank you to the 3 of you and your sponsors.  You are making a difference to the lives of many people in need in Romania. 

Giving Thanks for Merchants Hill Baptist Church in Pontnewynydd, Cwmbran

It is amazing who God plants in our paths.  Last year during one of our Table Top Sales we met up with Kathryn and Jason Donovan who live with their 3 beautiful young children in Glynneath just 5 miles from our home.  Jason is a former working colleague of Wayne's and still works in the mines.  Talking of the mines we give thanks for the safe rescue of the 33 Chilean miners and their acknowledgement that God was with them during the ordeal.

Kathryn and her mum kindly enrolled the support of Merchants Hill Baptist Church Members and Sunday School Children in producing around 3 dozen beautifully filled shoeboxes for poor Romania children.  I am hoping Kathryn will be able to supply me with a photo of the church to add to this entry.

We give thanks for you all.  Be blessed in being a blessing. 

Support for "Reaching Romania" runners in the Cardiff Haf Marathon

This Sunday we are blessed to have 3 runners in the Cardiff Half Marathon- hubby Wayne, our friend Chris Rees from Hirwaun and Eifion Davies, Wayne's nephew from Blaen Rhondda.   They have all been training hard for months and we wish them well.  Please pray for Wayne as a he has contacted a chest infection in the past 2 weeks which has hindered his training schedule but he is determined is run.

We need to raise as much money as possible to support all our projects in Romania.  If you wish to sponsor any of the runners then please contact myself on: admin.reachingromania@ gmail.com or telephone 01639 701458 or 07910 939716

Never too young to get involved in the Lord's work!

We adore spending value time with our little grandson, Morgan who is almost 3, full of energy and loves to be involved in ministry work.  Here he is in Ramoth helping Grampa Wayne pack shoeboxes. 

Shoeboxes en route to Romania - Thank you Lord for your provision

Due to the generosity of many over 450 shoe box gifts are now on the first leg of their journey to Romania in preparation for the Christmas distribution.   After weeks of preparation the boxes were last night loaded into the large van of our friend Mark and my car for early morning delivery to the Warehouse of "Support for Romania" at Talbot Green.  To avoid 5 hours of back breaking packing at the warehouse,  this year we packed and labelled all the boxes in advance.

We wish to extend a big thank you to: Stead and Simpsons at Brecon who supply all the boxes, our friend Sheila who beautifully covers them all, The Pastors and elders of our Church for hosting the huge operation and for their patience amid the disruption, to those who make and collate items throughout the year, to everyone who donated filled boxes, to our volunteers who check, sort, pack and label at the church, Mark for the use of his van, brothers Ken and Ivan for all their support, Alan Penrose and his team from "Support for Romania" who kindly transports all the boxes to Romania, to Pastor Jackie, Vio and Ianci who receive them all and help us with the sorting and distribution. We arrive in December and then the huge Christmas operation begins.  We love you all -  God's work is such a blessing

Happy 21st Birthday Super Mum Vicky!

Last Monday we celebrated the 21st Birthday of Super Mum Vicky at our  "Little Lambs" Parents and Tots Ministry.  We all tucked into a finger buffet complete with cake. 

We are indeed blessed to have Vicky and her beautiful little boy, Harvey as part of the Group and we love them both  Vicky has a beautiful, giving and caring heart and is an active supporter of "Reaching Romania".  Thank you Vicky for all you do for vulnerable children in need. 

Children of Hirwaun Primary link with Ramoth CC to brighten up the village!

Last week was an exciting day for Hirwaun as local Radio Wales celebrity, Roy Noble officially visited to unveil the beautiful murals that had been painted by children of Hirwaun Primary School with the help of Ivan Davies and Delyth James from our church, Ramoth Christian Centre.  The theme of the paintings was "The Creation" with words from the well known song:  "All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all" - what an awesome God we have!Hirwaun Primary School are actively involved in Community Projects and impressive paintings by the children about litter and dog fouling were also displayed at the Church.

Everyone enjoyed a hearty buffet breakfast at the Church and our little grandson Morgan was content sat among the children.

Ysgol Gymraeg Blaendulais reaching out to the children of Romania.

With excitement in their hearts, children with the support of parents, teachers and staff of Ysgol Gymraeg Blaendulais (our neighbouring village) have been busy collecting items and packing 50 shoeboxes with Christmas gifts for children in dire need.

Following our visit to the school to thank everyone, the children even helped load our car - Thank You.

The blessing of Ty Maes Marchog

We give thanks for Warden Pam and the wonderful bunch of  residents at this sheltered housing complex in our home village for again supporting our Christmas Appeal with shoe box gifts for children and also "Granny boxes for poor elderly widows who live on minimal pensions in run down home, mostly in remote villages.

Please forgive me for the poor quality of the photo - I am at a point when I need to buy a new camera!

May God Bless you all for your caring hearts.

Thank you Aunty Marian and daughter Joanna

Wayne has a wonderful Aunty Marian and family who live in Blaenrhondda where he spent his early childhood.   It was only this year that I had the pleasure of meeting Marion for the first time and we spent a joyous afternoon with her and the family last week.    Supported by her wonderful husband, she is a pillar of strength in the Community and is one of those unique people involved in everything and has a heart to help anyone in need, regardless of their circumstances. 

Thank you Marian and daughter Joanna for donating a huge suitcase full of beautiful baby clothes for the poor abandoned babies in Arad City Hospital that we care for when in Romania.

Be blessed in being a blessing.

Loyal Reaching Romania Supporters

Our good friends, Peter and Christine from Norwich have been loyal supporters of Reaching Romania since Peter's sister, Kay founded the Charity in 1990.  They own a house in Romania and support Pastor Jackie's ministries. We give thanks that since the change over of the Charity to Wales they continue to support us in many ways.  Here they are on top of the Foel Mountain during our Charity Walk - congratulations to Christine who, during the last year has lost almost 4 stone.  She says her motivation was to be able to reach the top of the Foel Mountain this year and she did it!!!!  In so doing she will have helped many vulnerable people in Romania.

Peter's 2 grandaughters, Sophia and Leanne also travelled all the way from Northampton on the morning of the walk to support us - a big thank you to them both.

We enjoyed some value time with Peter and Christine over the weekend and we loaded up their car with many items for the various ministries which Peter transported to Romania this week together with 50 shoebox gifts from their own church and many other much needed items that they themselves collated. 

Our Annual Sponsored Walk

26 enthusiastic people gathered at Ramoth Christian Centre on Saturday, 25th September for the Charity's Annual Sponsored Walk.  It was a glorious day of sunshine and fellowship as we ambled through country lanes to Penderyn and up the Foel Mountain with it's magnificent views.  We all tucked into a mouth watering buffet lunch on return to the Church.

Thank you to our friends Alun and Sally for planning and leading the walk and for supplying bottles of water and chocolate bars, St. John's Ambulance officers, our Church catering volunteers, our steward Ray, Lee from Hirwaun Chippy for donating a meal for 2 to the person who raises the most funds and of course to all the walkers and their sponsors.

A thank you to the Cynon Valley Churches and Friends R Us

We are so grateful to our own Church, Ramoth Christian Centre (seen here) for storing all our shoe box items throughout the year, for hosting our packing nights and for being so accommodating and understanding about the  Appeal almost taking over the premises for months.  Their one office is currently packed with huge boxes of gifts waiting to be taken toTalbot Green ready for transportation to Romania in October.  Thank you for your patience and understanding - we could not do it without you.

Our heart felt thanks also to St. Lleurwgs, St. Winifreds and Zion Churches plus Friends R Us in Aberdare  and also individual local residents for their "all year round" support of our Christmas Appeals.  The many items donated make a huge difference to our Christmas operation and benefit the lives of many people in desperate need in Romania. 

The Havens do it again!

Warden/Manager Annette of the Havens RCT Sheltered Housing Complex in Hirwaun and her enthusiastic team of residents have been busy making up Christmas shoe box gifts again this year.  They not only had a heart for the elderly people from  the Widow's Mite Project but also filled lots of shoe boxes for children from poor families.  Thank you to Annette, her team and other local residents who supplied gifts for filling the boxes. 

A big thank you to our friends, Kay and Jemma for helping to sort and fill boxes at the Church.   With over 500 boxes coming in this year this is quite a task and we value their support.  A huge thank to our friend Ken who keeps us supplied with large boxes for packing and for always being there to lend a land with what ever assistance is needed.

We give thanks for you all

Value Time with our precious grandsons

I know we are biased but we just adore our little grandsons and treasure our time with them.  Morgan who will be 3 on the 31st of the month.  He spends every Monday morning with us at the "Little Lambs" Mother and Toddler Group and then we get to enjoy him for the afternoon.  He also care for him on Fridays and some Saturday's whilst his mum and dad work.    He adores helping Wayne in the garden or getting covered in flour whilst cooking with me in the kitchen.  Here he is cooking cheese scones with me in his Great Nan's kitchen.

We so wish we lived a little closer to our other little treasure, Dylan who will be 2 in February.  He is beautiful and is such a happy and content boy - a real bouncer for his age.  We adore him and in August we spent a blessed day out with him and Dean and Collette at Alton Towers. 

Our Gem Elizabeth

Here is a real gem by the name of Elizabeth Peters who works tirelessly all year round, collating bargains and making shoebox items for the Charity.  She makes incredible material draw-string pencil cases, shopping bags for our widows and toilet bags for the homeless.  She has recently retired from Oaklands Primary School in Aberaman and we thank her for linking us to the school who are filling 90 shoeboxes for vulnerable Romanian children as part of their harvest celebrations.  Here is Elizabeth with Wayne when she joined us on our summer picnic with the Little Lambs Parents and Tots Group in Aberdare Park.

Thank you again to St. Mary's Church and Mothers' Union

Our thanks to Members of the Church and Mothers' Union who have again been busy knitting and collating further items from the Charity's Christmas Appeal.  The Vicarage has also been a hive of activity with Rev. Stephen Barnes' wife Anne and her daughter covering and filling large shoe boxes for vulnerable children in Romania which were beautifully presented.    Here are Rev and Mrs. Barnes pictured with Wayne.

Contact at last!

I apologise for the delay in communication but our lives continue to be so hectic as we juggle many eggs in one basket.  Sadly my mam's health has deteriorated again  and she is currently in hospital recovering from a chest infection which has not left her since she was discharged from hospital in August.  I would value your prayers for her complete healing.

It is a year where there has been a lot of strange bugs and infections in the air and this summer, despite taking medication I have suffered badly with sinus problems and hay fever but with God's strength have managed to fulfill all my responsibilities.   Wayne and I  both have  heavy colds on the chest.  It has come at a difficult time for Wayne because he has had to take a break in his training for the Cardiff Half Marathon in 2 weeks.   Please pray for him, and our other 2 runners, Chris Rees and Eifion Davies.   

As well as putting our heart and soul into Church ministries which we love, we are also busy collating, sorting and boxing all our Christmas gifts ready for transportation to Romania.  Although there are a lot of responsibilities here we are claiming an answer to prayer that no obstacles will prevent us from going to Romania in December to spend time with Pastor Jackie and the projects, to participate in the Christmas programmes and to distribute the Christmas gifts.  We would so value your prayers.

Thank You