Items from Shopping Yesterday (using donations)!

All the shoes from Walmart.. they look big in this pic but they are anywhere from 3 - 5 little kids ($10 + tax)

Babies R Us purchases: soft bowling ball set and shape toy approx. $30 including tax (I am going to teach the Mobiles to play if it kills me! LOL I want them to start learning that toys are things you can play with not just throw!! LOL So at least bowling has a cause and effect that they can see immediately!) The book Gallop! ($12.95 + tax) is the coolest book I have ever seen -- I bought it specifically with Alexandra (6yo w/ brittle bone disease and dwarfism) in mind. She loves to read and I think this will fascinate her! The book ($6.99 + tax)below it is a soft baby book that you can insert pictures into -- I will print out pictures from December and add them to the book. Since I bought every bottle liner I could find I thought I should throw in some nipples also! ($3.99 + tax per pack). The 2 teething rings ($1.99 + tax each) will be easier for the babies to hold instead of the chunkier teething rings they already have.

Six.. yes 6 of the pink outfits with butterflies -- t-shirt and shorts together 74 cents for each outfit!! Woo hoo gotta love 75% off sales!! The little fishie outfit was too cute to pass up ($3.49) and the clinic tends to need newborn size when they get itty bitty new babies in who are malnourished. Also in this pic the temporal artery thermometer I wanted to buy -- a steal at Target for $34.99 + tax!! They only had one in stock -- the same exact thermometer is $49.99 at Walgreens!!

All the boxes of original liners we were able to find in Knoxville!! LOL Approximately $5.50 a box

All the Target brand drop-in liners we found at the first Target. The problem is going to be that the boxes are HUGE!! So I also bought this tote.. my thinking was this: when we take them out of the boxes they have the potential to become unsanitary during both the flight AND during storage in the clinic -- so if I put them in ziploc baggies and then put them in the tote then the clinic can store them in the tote forever :-)

Okay I am a sucker for baby clothes... The clothes above I bought for some of the smaller girls -- yes, Ema-Elena will probably be the first to wear them all! :-) The rattle is a fairly soft one that I hope big Andreea can hold without dropping or bonking herself on the head too much! About $35 for all at Babies R Us.

The clothes above have a specific purpose!! LOL When I emailed Mihaela about needs for the clinic she said the bottle liners, of course, but she also said a couple of the older girls (Ana Maria and Miastra) needed clothing. They are bigger than any of the other children so the clothes that fit all the others are too small for them. So the shorts outfits on the left are for Ana-Maria ($5 each at Walmart) and the shorts outfits on the right are for Miastra ($5 each at Walmart).. the 2 cute onesies at the bottom were on clearance at Kohl's for $2.50 each.

Finally.. you all know how I am about books!! :-) I got about 25 of the books below at the Dollar Zone in Target!! YIPEE!!! Several of them are copies of the same book but that way the pre-school teacher can put them up until a book is destroyed then bring out another copy! At a dollar a book for board books there was no way to pass this one up!!

Letters to Former Students

Again.. let me know what you think OR if you would like to contribute and have a book given in your child's name let me know!!

September 18, 2008
Dear Families,
During Christmas break, I will be going to work in a failure to thrive clinic with babies and toddlers in Romania. This has been a lifelong dream! I am so excited about going! The cost of the trip is quite expensive – around $4500. I have been doing fundraising to help offset costs. I would like to talk to you about something special I would like to do.
The children in Tutova Clinic in Romania are placed there for mainly 2 reasons - their families cannot afford to take care of them or their families literally abandon them. The youngest child at the clinic is 1 month old. The oldest is a 6 year old. Typically after the age of 4 the children are moved to another clinic or orphanage. There are only 4 staff members and 1 nurse on duty during day time hours. At night there is typically 1 staff person on duty. At this time there are 26 children at Tutova Clinic. Unfortunately this means unless there are volunteers working at the clinic the children must remain in their cribs with little mental stimulation or adult interaction.
Most of you know how important I feel reading is – children who have the opportunity to explore books and hear stories read aloud from an early age are extremely fortunate. Studies show that language development which occurs before the age of 3 strongly influences later reading success. In addition to purchasing items for the children’s physical needs I would like to purchase several board books – at least one for each child to have as his/her own and several for the clinic to keep even after these children move on.
If you feel that you could donate any amount of money to help me with this effort I would greatly appreciate it. For each $10 donation I will make sure there is a book plate which lists your child as the donor. You can send donations in an envelope labeled “Terri Williams” through your child’s teacher or mail donations to my home address: 1630 Sam McCarter Way, Sevierville, TN 37876. Please make checks payable to me.
Thank you in advance for your support!

*** This is not included in the letter I am sending home with former students BUT my friend Cindy clued me in on this awesome digital scrapbook site which allows you to make mini-books at a relatively reasonable price... What I would really love to do is contact previous volunteers and request pictures of the kids -- then make each child's individual book that they will get to keep forever be a book full of pictures of themselves! One of the most important things about reading is making it relevant to the child -- think about how much your kids love seeing pictures of themselves -- wouldn't a practically indestructible scrapbook be such a cool gift that would stay special forever?!? There are lots of pictures of the kids out there on the web already so I think that part would be easy... just pray that I raise the funds to make this happen!!