Raul in walker

Caroline asked me to video Raul in his walker.. well, on Thursday he came into the newborn babies' room in his walker so I thought it would be a good idea to video.. then 2 seconds later Dan came in to say it was time to leave. Sorry Caroline, this isn't the best footage LOL Short and sweet.. but he hasn't been in his walker any other times I have been down :-( Our team shrank from 9 to 6 on Friday.. then Monday 2 team members stayed behind at the hotel because they weren't feeling 100% -- which made us a team of 4. I have had trouble getting down to spend time with Raul but I did go today (Tuesday) and took a few pictures. I hope to post those later tonight!

Weekend Trip to Painted Monasteries and Iasi

We had a fabulous trip to visit the Painted Monasteries and visit the city of Iasi (pronounced Yash) this weekend. We hadn't been out of Barlad for very long when a horrific rain storm hit, thunder, lightning, hail, the works! It did cool everything off though so we are very happy! We explored the monasteries in the rain on Saturday. Then today we walked around Iasi and shopped at Carrefour for baby stuff! We got back into town early enough to do some laundry, have dinner, and just relax in our rooms.. now Emily and I have refilled our well (thanks Kerry for this wonderful imagery) and are ready to tackle the hospital again on Monday!

Thank you friends who are reading the blog and praying for everyone here! It means so very much!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Friday was just one of those days... it had been between 95-100 degrees for the past few days, everyone was tired, and everyone was grumpy! Emily and Jane had not gotten a chance to see the newborn babies on Thursday so I offered to take them in so they could hold the babies. We went into the room and I gave Isabella to Emily. Almost immediately a nurse and aide came in and took the baby away from her and put her back in the crib. They were trying to tell us something that none of us understood.. all we understood was they were being very ugly. I tried to explain to them that the nurse yesterday had given us permission to hold the babies because there was no parent there with the babies... they didn't understand me so while Emily and Jane went upstairs I went to find Mihaela. She was in a meeting with the manager of the hospital. I explained to her what had happened, she translated for the hospital manager who immediate picked up her phone and called the floor. The nurse said that she was explaining to us "no photos" but that is soooo not what Jane and I got from her gesturing. The hospital manager and Mihaela proceeded to march down the stairs to take me back to the room. I insisted I did not want to go back in that I would just go upstairs where everything was flowing well.. I did stand there while the manager explained again that we were there to work with the babies so they didn't have to be alone and I apologized to the nurse and aide then went upstairs. Krista was the brave volunteer who went back downstairs to hold the babies. I'll go back when a different nurse is on duty!

Upstairs everyone was hot and tired as well.. good thing today was a short day!

Gabriela and Jane

Jennea, Sami, Ana-Maria, Emily

Ana-Maria and Emily

Mihaela and Krista playing airplane

Mihaela watching Emily play with Ana-Maria...

and deciding she needed to join in :-)

There was a new baby this morning. A beautiful dark blonde/light brown haired baby, chubby, ponytail on top.. we all thought it was a girl but it was a boy!! LOL Valle (sp?) He was not real happy to be there :-( Then the nurse came in and asked for someone to hold him while she put in his IV.. yikes! Jane volunteered and stayed with him until we left the hospital. I'll get some pictures of him on Monday!

Short video of Mina-Tonya

I tried to get a video of Mina-Tonya dancing.. but she was looking at a magazine and her sister "sunshine" tried to steal my camera.. then someone yelled for Mina and she walked away LOL

Mihaela Dancing..

Sorry for having the camera turned the wrong way, I was having a blonde moment LOL..

But I figure you can tilt your head and get the picture ;-)

Krista (dressed in black scrubs)is the person you can see in the background.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Thursday was an emotional day at the hospital. Not only was it the last day for Bob,Katie, and Brad (they were volunteering for 1 week) but it was also the day that Sebastian and Alex went to a foster home AND Georgi & Denisa went home with their mom... or so we were told... It turned out to be a topsy turvy day but let's start at the beginning...

That morning when we arrived at the hospital someone brought in a People magazine and the kids enjoyed "reading" it.

Mihaela reading People.

Krista taking a final picture with Denisa (who is one of the most loving, sweet, shy girls EVER! Keep this one especially in your prayers!!)

Katie and her brother Brad had become especially close to the family of 3.. Mina-Tonya, Emilian, and "Sunshine" Deon-Georiganna. Emily, Brad, and Kerry went to the high school to meet some of Mihaela's students and work with them on conversational English. They were coming to the hospital after lunch to work with the kids there. Katie decided not to go to the hospital because she really wanted to see the family of 3 one last time and say her good-byes. It was a good thing she made that choice because even though they weren't supposed to leave until Friday.. we found out that they were leaving before lunch.

Paula (above) and Mihi (below) dancing to Don't Stop Believing...

Gabi enjoying some floor time.

Alex playing with one of the kids' favorite toys..

an old broken tape player! They love it though..

Sami practicing walking with Jane. Bob in the background with his ninja headband ;-)

Ana-Maria playing with this week's favorite toy.. a baby wipe!

Jennae and Sebastian sharing a bed with Lori and Mihaela for snack time.

Sabi hanging out with his friend Jennea. :-)

In the mornings when we arrive at the hospital we help feed the younger kids a "breakfast" milk bottle (they eat at 6am also.. so maybe this is just a snack). Then wait for the doctor to finish medical exams on all the kids before we can take them outside. The pictures above are all from this morning playtime.

Then finally we get outside!! Mihaela got to go outside today for the first time (even though she still has her IV).

Look at that happy baby!!

We had a great time playing outside.. being 3 volunteers short it was hard to take pictures but I definitely wanted to get a few of Mihi since it was her first day out AND since Emily was missing Mihi's first day out since she was at the high school.

We took out some large blankets and were sitting in the shade enjoying bananas and yogurt for snack when suddenly several people came over to the blanket. They asked which kids were Sebastian and Alex.. then they proceeded to explain they were their new foster parents. They were both so nice!! They said hello to the boys and started talking to them. It was great to see. Then something happened and apparently one of the other adults said Georgi's name and I don't know what else but Georgi freaked out and tried to run inside calling for his mama. It was heartbreaking. We finally decided to take all the children upstairs so the foster parents could check in with the doctor and nurses. Alex and Sabi's foster parents had snack cakes for all the children. Here comes the confusing part.. instead of Georgi, Denisa, and their little sibling (the little sibling had been staying with the mom in a hospital room - not with us) going home with the mom - they were all split up and sent to foster homes. Mina-Tonya, Emilian, and Sunshine were also sent to foster homes. It was a sad, stressful event... very emotional.. but as one of the aides said.. no tears, it is "bine".. (bine means good)... the kids are going to be cared for in ways they have never experienced before... the families were so happy to meet the children... while it was sad for us to see them leaving it is a fabulous thing for all of them. Keep these children in your prayers as they begin new lives in their new homes.

After the kids ate lunch Coca came in and gave Ana-Maria a much needed manicure :-)

During the volunteers' lunch break (while the kiddos are napping) I took this picture of the empty playground.. kind of as a reminder to myself of how wonderful it is to see it full of happy playing children.

for my bird loving friends.. this is one of the birds that has made a nest in the corner of the hospital windows... I think it may be a finch.

After our break I went back inside to find the girlies still napping.. Mihaela (above)

Gabi

Ana-Maria

Then came the good news of the day!! The nurses on the first floor had talked with Dan and there are 2 newborn babies who are at the hospital without their parents and they need our help holding them!! YIPPEEEE!! Kerry and I immediately went downstairs to meet the new babies...

Kerry holding Robert... 6 days old!!

I am holding Isabella who is a little over 3 weeks old!

A great way to end the day!! Although when I picked little Robert up after his bottle he did projectile vomit all over me (much to the aide's delight I must add!). LOL It's all good!

After work we went to the travel agency to book our weekend trip to the Painted Monasteries.

travel agency (above)

Dan is pointing out where we are now (closest finger) and where Transylvania is (farthest finger)... Although Emily would love to visit Castle Bran (the castle everyone thinks of as "Dracula's Castle") I think we may pass on that trip this time. :-( It is tiring to travel 5+ hours one way during your only down time of the week. I'll let you know when we make up our minds for sure.

After a quick shower and change at the hotel we walked to dinner at the new Italian restaurant Trattoria Da Vinci. I am so glad Dan was leading us.. otherwise I would have NEVER believed there was a restaurant way back those streets. The restaurant was BEAUTIFUL!! We dined outside on the patio and Dr. Delia from Tutova Clinic joined us for dessert.

My delicious spinach and cheese tortellini

LOL Dan was teasing me about always taking pictures of the food.. so he said, take a picture of mind... and I did! Dan's lasagna (above)

Emily's 4 cheese penne

The crew picking out desserts from the carousel

my dessert: chocolate cake

Emily's dessert: strawberry cheesecake

Team 168 from front to back: Jane, Emily, Terri, Kerry, Dr. Delia, Bob, Brad, Dan, Krista, Katie, Jennea
Walking back to the hotel from the restaurant we passed this center for children with disabilities.. I was unable to ask Dan about it but I will find out more.. the thing I noticed was the sign below which says: Volunteer in My Community! YIPEE!!! Volunteering got a bad name during the Communist regime so I am so happy to see Romanians encouraging one another to volunteer within their own communities!!

We also walked over the first bridge built in Barlad.

Yep, there is a tiny bit of water in there.. I still haven't figured out why the water levels are so low.. but this is a common sight, to see big bridges with only tiny streams of water running underneath...

Wednesday June 22, 2011

This morning Mihaela brought markers, colored pencils, and drawing paper to the hospital. It was a huge hit!

The older kids "drew"...

Gabi amused herself with light and shadows..

Deon-Georgiana played with toys..

Sebastian and Denisa

Krista took Ana-Maria to her favorite rolling spot...

Mihi chased after Mama Mihaela until she scooped her up and gave her some lipstick. :-)

Mina-Tonya (below) drew this lovely picture of a house and 2 people.

Then it was bottle time.. Gabi did MUCH better drinking her bottle today!

The older kids went outside to play but Paula wasn't interested in going out when they did.. then later she walked down to the doorway that leads to the stairs and acted like she wanted to go out.

Emily let Gabi play with her iPod touch.. she *loved* it!

Gabi's vision is apparently so poor that she likes colors and lights super close to her eyes.

Gabi having a zen moment with the iPod.

Emily and Paula really connected today.. Paula was in a super bad mood and only Emily could make her happy! I was shocked! Paula has improved so much since I was last in Tutova! I am so happy with her progress! Here Emily was giving her kisses up her arm.

See how happy Paula was!

Mihi is jealous, of course.. Paula loved this bouncy game of "sus" (pronounced Seuss, as in Dr. Seuss and it means up)... Watching how happy Paula was reminded me of the johnny jumper from the clinic. Mihaela is going to ask the doctor about getting it out of storage for Paula. But apparently the doctors think it is better for Paula to practice walking instead of jumping.

Mihi drawing while the other kids are outside.

Coca and Raul trying to find a shady spot. I am going to look in Iasi this weekend and see if I can purchase a canopy for the clinic playground so the children have some shade!

Mihi is great at the game of "pretend". She and Emily are pretending to eat berries in the book.

Mihi and Gabi watching a science video on Jennea's iPad.

Gabi with a baby doll we brought over from the States.

Maria-Cleopatra taking a nap.

Paula visiting Nadia, a 16 year old with severe CP.

Bradley has to take turns throwing Mihi up in the air.

Gabi

Paula

So happy to see Gabi take off crawling! We are practicing walking

every day but the crawling is great too!

These are 2 of the rooms that will hopefully become "ours". They are doing renovations at the end of the hall to turn these 2 rooms into a great big playroom for Global Volunteers to use with the children who need to stay at the hospital for a longer amount of time.

I know this is a bad picture but seeing the HUGE open window made me so happy! The windows in the current rooms are small and have so many screens you can barely see out!

Window at the end of the hall.

Gabi only drank a bit of her soup bottle.. but everyone there insists she just doesn't like the soup. I was encouraged by how much milk she drank today.. so hopefully she is feeling better.

After our lunch we hung out near the front of the hospital and Emily bought an ice cream. It came with a shovel! LOL

This is the window to one of our rooms. Notice the birds' nest in the corner. We think they are finches.

As you walk up the stairs at the hospital (we are on the 4th floor and there is no elevator) there are pictures like the one above hanging everywhere. These are all paintings done by children either staying in the hospital or living in Barlad. They are beautiful!

How on earth is Sami sleeping like this?!

After naps.. Mihaela and I took the 3 older kids (Mina-Tonya. Emilian, and Georgi) to the playground. Mihaela picked some berries from a bush and told me to give them to the kids. LOL Talk about a mess!! They are going to be stained purple FOREVER! I didn't really get any pictures of them being messy because it was just me outside and I was too busy trying to keep an eye on all 3 of them.

Emilian (blue shirt), Delia (Dan and Mihaela's daughter), Mina-Tonya, and Georgi

Georgi in the middle of the berry bush

Mina-Tonya picking more berries

Kerry and Sami in deep discussion.

When all the others came outside I decided to go back up and help out up there. Ana-Maria, Paula, Gabriela, and Mihaela had to stay inside along with Nadia and Maria-Cleopatra.

Is this not the sweetest picture ever? You can see the love and compassion on Mihaela's face while she was playing with Ana-Maria.

Mihaela gavae Ana-Maria several kisses but I never caught one on camera!

Gabi

Mihaela

Gabi mesmerized by the light again.

Emily and Paula playing.

Mihaela and Jane had a long session of pretend play... where Mihi pretended to throw her kleenex (which was really a baby wipe she was using on her nose) at Jane and Ana-Maria. Jane would then act disgusted when the dirty thing landed on her and then throw it back at Mihi. We all laughed so hard that we were crying.. Mihi included!!

Hands down the best chocolate in the world!!