TACI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  So I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but the people who live above me like to fight - and loudly!!!  We have been awoke at 3 a.m. to hear the sounds of furniture being shoved around, accompanied by shouting and yelling.

  I think most of time time they are near the bathroom when the fighting starts up, as that is where it is the loudest - in my bathroom.  Then sometimes they take it to the kitchen, and the balcony just off the kitchen.  I have no clue what they are fighting about.  However one time I did hear the woman yell a very bad word at the man.  The only reason I know this word is because in English when you say 'pull-up' it sounds like this Romanian word for a mans 'member'.

 So the other day, I'm in the bathroom, giving the girls their bath, and we hear the fighting, they've been going at it for a while now, and it had been one of those days, where EVERYTHING was getting on my last nerve.  So after getting the girls dried off, dressed, and sent to get under the blankets to keep warm, I was picking up in the bathroom, and just got tired of hearing their yelling, so I looked up at my bathroom ceiling and yelled at the top of my lungs "TACI" (pronounced 'toch' [short 'o' sound])! 

Taci, is romanian for shut up, Taci din gura, mean shut your mouth; gura means mouth.... 

...anyway, so after I yelled Taci as loudly as I could, the fighting stopped, at least we didn't hear it anymore.  Not the rest of that day anyway. 

Honestly, I have NO reason to be annoyed with the noise level coming from any of my neighbors, since my 3 monkeys make more noise than you find at a Metallica concert.....okay, not really, but it's close!  I mean they play loudly, and they fight even louder!  And of course I have to yell, so that they can hear me above their yelling, it's really quiet embarrassing, and I'm surprised none of our neighbors have ever said anything; in fact they usually stop my kids to talk to them, or will bring them treats from time to time.

So if you are ever in Romania, and someone is getting on your nerves just tell them 'Taci din gura'! 

New Year, New Rants....

  So just finished up my 3rd attempt at making Fudge.  The first time, I discovered how Hershey's makes it's syrup.  The second time, the middle was gooey, this time.....er.....not sure, waiting for fudge to cool and set.

....hmmmmm.....still don't know what 'sheen' is, as when it looses that, is indicator to stop beating and pour into pan....

..On the upside, have emptied about 1/2 a liter of milk into saucepan, and will be enjoying some pretty amazing hot cocoa/chocolate in just a few!  Aren't you jealous now?!?

...yeah, I wouldn't be either.

N-E-Way, Marius was home for like 2 whole weeks for Christmas and New Year.  Was so nice to have my little family all together for the holidays, this year was especially nice, since Marius' 2 brothers and 1 sister were all together for the first time in over 13 years.....there's a lot to be thankful for.

  We spent more than we should have on food - of which I cooked - I lived in the kitchen beginning Christmas Eve and ending the day after New Year!  I was T.I.R.E.D.!

  But as I said, it was totally worth it.  Money is made to be saved and to be spent, especially on special occasions such as this was for us!  Now if MY family would have been able to have been here as then too, well, I think I would have died right there, flown up to the pearly gates and asked St. Peter to pinch me to make sure I hadn't dreamed it all up!

...wooops, I hear the milk hissing at me......until later....

Is God There?

  So I went to a pentecostal church here in Tulcea this morning with my sister in law.  My Romanian is still very, VERY, limited so I understood pretty much nothing.  The services here are much different than what we experience back home, there is a lot of standing, sitting kneeling & praying, then singing.  The several different men got up and spoke, reading scripture [i think], then more down on the knees and praying. 

  I didn't know if people were "speaking in tongues" or just praying out loud in Romanian.  I didn't feel God's presence, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was because I didn't understand anything being said, or if it's something else.  Kinda made me wonder. 

  I know that most of what goes on in the mainstream churches in the U.S. is heretical and un-biblical, so it made me wonder if some of the 'charismatic' move has moved on over here too.  I believe in God, His son Jesus, the crucifixion, resurrection, etc.  However, I don't necessarily believe in the whole slain in the spirit & speaking in tongues, 'holy laughter', etc. that runs rampant these days.  Most of that seems demonic, not righteous and holy.  BUT, I do believe that a fraction, a very small fraction of it is real. 

  I think mainly I've just seen the Word so twisted and convoluted in "churches" - that it has left a really bad, bitter taste in my mouth.  I try to not judge and not be bitter, not be so cynical about it, but I guess the whole fool me once: shame on you, fool me twice: shame on me, kinda fits the bill here.  I've been fooled one too many times by charlatans and false teachers, and propho-liars!  I can count on 1, ONE, hand how many TRUE men/women of God that I know, who are teachers/preachers.

  Anyway, so do you think it comes down to understanding what is being said in order to feel God's presence, or is it like most everything else in churches these days - a big show that induces psychosomatic sensations, i.e. the power of suggestion?