Wow.. one week exactly until I leave..

I cannot believe I leave McGhee Tyson in exactly one week to return to Romania! It is a dream come true! Thank you so much to my wonderful friends and family who have been so supportive and helped me finance this journey!

My sister Trish just let me know that the kids at First United Methodist Church in Pigeon Forge raised over $200 to help buy baby bottle liners for me to take with me. AWESOME job guys!! Thank you so much!!


On a side note - I spoke with Mihaela (the country manager and coordinator for my team) today and learned that PLAYTEX BOTTLE LINERS are NOT sold in Romania!!! How bizarre is that?!? So the clinic has made a move to use Playtex (which is fabulous for both the cleanliness factor AND the less air in the tummy factor - since babies don't get burped in the clinic!) but the liners are UNAVAILABLE in Romania. So note to all future volunteers -- TAKE plenty of liners with you!! I cannot even begin to imagine how many liners they are using in one day and if volunteers aren't bringing them frequently then I assume they will have to go back to using old bottles and have the Ministry of Health on their back!

One more week and the blog will be up and running on a (hopefully) daily basis giving you updates on those precious babies!! Sign up to be a follower in order to get notification of new blog entries! Until then....

Less than a Month...

Less than a month until I return to those sweet babies in Tutova. I am excited but also a little nervous -- things have changed in Tutova and I'll have to get used to working with a new team (WISH YOU WERE COMING ALONG Elizabeth, Evan, Kim, Laura, Rosie, and Shannon!!). Sweet little Ioana was placed in a foster care -- YEA for her, WAH for me!

This is a picture I snagged off another blog of Ioana with her new foster parents.

Other changes:

• time of year
  

• my Maria is missing still due to heart surgery
  

• did I mention my friends/team won't be there??

It will be great though!! I have been dreaming about the babies every night... and cannot wait for our reunion! There are new babies for me to meet also!! That is always fun! I am flying out of Knoxville on July 3rd and will arrive back home on August 9th (3 days before I am supposed to report back to school for teacher inservice!! LOL) Five weeks of nothing but loving on babies! I think it will feel like heaven to leave all the petty junk behind here in the States.

I will miss my sweet girl though! Emily is truly a strong, independent, wonderful, young lady for allowing me to go halfway across the world to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams. A friend introduced me to this quote and I know I will treasure it dearly while I am away:

"Dear God, the only thing I ask of you is to hold her when I'm not around, when I'm much too far away. "

As always keep praying for those sweet babies and that I might do the Lord's Will while I am there!