We are having a fabulous time and thank you again for all of your prayers!
Romanian Journal - Day 1
What a fascinating day! We began our day in our special breakfast room (red-headed stepchildren only). Then headed out for our visit to the Child Placement Center. Upon our arrival we met with a social worker and the manager. We had to sign forms stating that we would not take pictures of the children at the placement center. We did however get some awesome pictures of a Christmas tree made out of forks! :) There is an arts and crafts room for the older children and the fork tree was one of their creations!
After our meeting we took a short tour of the main building. We saw child size sinks that we can use to teach the children the lifeskill of hand washing. We also saw a fabulously equipped hydrotherapy room. Sadly, we learned that there is no hydro therapist or massage therapist to work with the children on a full time basis. :( There is a small playroom located in the main building and that is where we will be working with the children.
Next we visited 2 of the group homes. When you enter there is a small foyer and then the main living room. Whew, there were a lot of kiddos in those living rooms! Our visits were short and sweet. At the 2nd house we packed up the younger children to bring them to the playroom.
Our first crew of children consisted of:
Luca - an almost walking, nonverbal, introverted little boy
Luciana - a sweet, little girl who gave us high 5s from her crib in the house
Alexandra - a precious, quiet soul who loved working puzzles and playing with blocks.. Emily and I both thought she strongly resembles Mihaela (of the Gabi & Mihi twindom)
Georgiana - possibly the most verbal and extroverted gal of the group..she immediately recited a Christmas poem for us
Ionut - a big, sturdy boy.. He made me think of a mafia bodyguard :) but he was very sweet natured and said, "mama" constantly
Delia - a sweet girl who loves her "minge" and squealed when Dan came into the room
Alina - our precious, Thumbalina the mini-ballerina... She was so well behaved and smiled constantly! She even remembered the bee game that Jane taught her 2 years ago! Jane pinches her fingers together and acts like that is a bee -- moving it around while making buzzing noises, it frequently lands on Alina and makes her squeal! Then Alina walks around with her own finger bee :) too precious!
We came back to the hotel for lunch and a short rest. After our ret we returned to the clinic to work with the older children. Whew, what an excited bunch!
Our 2nd crew included:
George -a super sweet boy who has Down syndrome... He was so happy to be there with his friend, Ionica (I know I have spelled that wrong)...
Ionica - another super sweet boy who has Down syndrome... The boys played with the iPad for a while, sand & danced with a microphone, played pretend with plastic animals, and then joined Lindsay at the table for play dough time. George kept making donuts and Ionica like rolling out his dough to make shapes.
Andrea - the only girl in the afternoon crew... We immediately fell in love with her gentleness. We are fairly certain that Andrea was at the hospital when we were in 2011. Emily recalled that she would ask for apa (water) constantly in 2011.
Ion and Marius -- 2 wild boys I first met in Tutova in 2008 -- they played together quite a bit then and today they took turns bouncing things off each other's heads and running wild! Ion still gets super excited by life in general and Marius still looks to be a professional basketball player when he grows up!
On our way back to the hotel tonight we bought some supplies for the clinic and some Christmas gifts for the older children. The hotel is located next to a plaza across from City Hall. Tonight there was a singing group dressed in traditional clothing performing. We watched for a while but then got a bit chill.
Before dinner we had a gift wrapping party! We went through the many toys donated for Emily's birthday and picked which toy would best suit which child. All the gifts are wrapped and ready to be delivered! We held back several items to take to the hospital since the Child Placement Center seems fairly well set as far as toys are concerned.
Best Moments of the Day:
Seeing Maiastra in one of the homes
Alina playing the bee game
Singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" then having the aide, Beatrice, find the song in Romanian on YouTube and play it while we sang
Ionica's excitement upon seeing the Christmas lights come on outside and his eagerness to have everyone gather at the window to look at them together
I must say even with the diversity among our team: a teenager and her mom from the southern US, a NYC gal, an Australian Sheila, & a Romanian married couple... We all get along fabulously! We worked very well with the children and impressed those at the Child Placement Center. (We are the first team to actually get to spend volunteer time there!! And we made the BEST first impression!) I am blessed to be volunteering with this team!
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