Just An Update

Here's what's going on.

My shoulder is getting better slowly but surely. I no longer have to wear the sling, but I'm still in quite a bit of pain. It gets a little better each day, so, I'm keeping my head up. I'm going through pretty tough physical therapy right now. That's probably going to be going on pretty much until I leave. 

I am leaving for Romania on June 9 and I'm very excited :) I plan to be there until December. What I am even more excited about is the fact that I am going to have a summer missionary with me for 6 weeks! Ellen is a freshman at Notre Dame (GO IRISH! My older brother went to Notre Dame, so we are big Irish fans at my house). She visited Romania for her spring break about a month ago and wanted to come back, so we made that happen. Welcome to the Missions of Hope family, Ellen! 

I made a video of some of the pictures from my first couple months to the song "Kings and Queens" by Audio Adrenaline. I wrote about the song in an earlier post - the guys wrote it about the kids in their orphanage in Haiti and I found that it really rang true to what I'm doing in Romania. Click here to watch the video. 

I am very excited to be working with graphic designer Cassie Pease (cassiepeasedesigns.com) to design a logo for the mission (maybe I should make t-shirts. Hmm...Now there's an idea!). Her designs are beautiful and you should check out her website!

Fundraising wise, I've hit kind of a plateau. At the moment, I'm sitting right at about $21,300. I just applied for a grant from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and I sent letters asking for help from two very large foundations in Cincinnati. I'm praying that I can get help from all three places because fundraising from Romania isn't going to be easy and I would really like to have the orphanage open by next summer, but whatever God wants and in His time. If you can help financially, large or small, please click here. 

I saw this picture on Facebook today and it reminded me EXACTLY why I chose to name the new orphanage after St. John Bosco. That man was just so plain stinkin' awesome. I am so insanely excited about the future and what God has in store. It's more than I ever would have thought when I began praying about being a missionary 2 years ago. 

Please continue to keep ETL: Mission Romania in your prayers because it's the prayers of our supporters that keep us going.

The Smallest, Most Heartfelt Donation

Today, I received a letter from a 10-year-old girl named Sarah who I used to babysit when her family still lived in Cincinnati. Here's what it says:

Dear Catherine,
Happy Easter! I hope yours was incredible! Mine was. My family has a tradition of putting up charts so we know how well we are doing with our give ups and take ons for Lent. If you do both give up and take on correctly, you get 2 nickels. The first one you earn goes to the Church and the second one you keep. This year, however, I am not giving my money to the Church. I am giving it to your orphanage in Romania. It isn't much ($2.30) but I hope it will help you.
Love, Sarah

When I read this letter, my eyes began to tear up. What a beautiful witness this young girl is. She has always been such a delight and her generosity has really moved me. It reminds me of the Parable of the Poor Widow: "And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came, and put in two copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put more in than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she our of her poverty has put in everything she had." -Mark 12:41-44. Her donation has even humbled me. If someone as young as Sarah sees the need, then I, as someone who has the chance to change the world, shouldn't pass up the opportunity to do so.

Sarah's donation brings the grand total of fundraising to date for Casa de Copii Don Bosco to $21,002.30. Everyone who has donated has been so generous and I could not be more thankful for our benefactors. I am so excited about this project and God has made it very clear that his is what He wants.

I had surgery on my shoulder 3 weeks ago and everything went well. I will be in a sling for another week and a half and then I will have 6-8 weeks of physical therapy after that. I'm hoping to be back in Romania by mid-June.

If you'd like to donate to the orphanage fund, on the side bar is the link to the donation page. Just choose the orphanage fund designation.

I find great joy in these words. I hope you do too. "My greatest pleasure if to serve the Lord in His poor children rejected by other people." -St. Damian of Molokai