June 16, 2008 (Monday)

The Lord’s Hand In My Life: I was reminded of how precious each and every child is when we took hand and foot prints of our orphan kids today. It was the Lord’s way of reminding me how lucky I am to be working with some of his most beloved sons and daughters.

It was definitely a Monday today. I don’t think I’ve ever liked Mondays…but that’s okay. I got to play with all my kids except Andrei today. That always makes me sad if I don’t get to see him, but I did get to see him sleeping which was adorable. Today we started a new little project. We are going to be taking hand and foot prints of all the kids so we can remember them when we leave. It was so cute. They all have such small little hands and feet. It reminded me of how precious each child is in the eyes of the Lord – whether or not they have handicaps. I am so blessed to be able to work with them everyday.

There weren’t too many new developments with any of the kids today. I’m still trying to get Valentina to jump. I took her to the physical therapy room again…she still doesn’t understand…It’s frustrating because it would only take one time for her to jump on her own and she would understand the concept. However, I can’t make her do it. Maybe that’s the way the Lord feels about our weaknesses - if we would only try and overcome them then we would understand how…that thought may not make sense to anyone else, but it does to me…

No one said too much about my hair. It’s different, but it’s still light. Some of the workers asked if I dyed my hair. That’s about it. Then Sera walked in and said “hi.” He did a double take at my hair, but I tried to ignore any reaction. If people don’t like it…I don’t want to hear about. Not to mention I don’t care. It’s going to have to stay this way for the next two months. I’m not going to try and do anything else with it until I get home.

MacKenzie stayed home today. She has been feeling miserable. She got the cold I’ve had. Then Annie said she was starting to feel sick. I hope she doesn’t get it as well….it was not a fun sickness…The only problem is that since we all live together – we all tend to catch each other’s sicknesses. No good.

I went with Mary to the apartments since MacKenzie stayed home, and she can’t go by herself. It was a lot of fun. I’m sad I rarely get to go there anymore. The first apartment I brought this Egyptian mummy book that has pop-up pictures for the kids to play with. It’s really neat…however, Sergio loves to rip up anything he can get his hands on. So the entire time we were there Illena was trying to look at the book, and Sergio was trying to get to the book so he could rip it up. That boy would not give up…he tried for about 20 minutes straight. Illena thought it was so funny that he was trying to get the book. Then Cosmina is a little chubbster, but she is so cute. She will just flop into your arms and cuddle with you, but boy is she a solid little girl. She weighs a ton…

At the second apartment Catalina and Laura decided to do our hair. It was a little painful at times, but at least they had fun. By the end I had three ponytails on my head and every butterfly clip they could find. The worker there thought it was hilarious – so did Mary. I don’t know why little kids love doing hair so much – but they do.

Right after the apartments we met Sister Padoru at her apartment. She decided to show us how to make chocolate gogosi. It was quite the process, but we had a fun time making and eating them. She is such a sweet lady and so is her husband. Apparently he was baptized along with her, but he doesn’t go anymore because he has problems with the word of wisdom. That’s not a surprise considering it’s Romania. He’s such a sweet man though. He was such a jokster. Sister Padoru met us and showed us where her apartment was and on the way up her husband jumped out of the stairwell and scared us. Then while we were eating he had his grandson wrap up this little toy that jumps out when you open it. He thought it was hilarious. I hope I marry someone who has a good sense of humor…

Throughout the evening I kept thinking how impressed I was with Sister Padoru. Her and her husband live in a dumpy, one bedroom apartment, and she was still more than willing to invite us over to her house and make food for us. It’s amazing how often people who have so little are so willing to give, and people who have so much aren’t. That’s not always the case, but I’ve seen many situations where that is true. By the end of the night we ended up sneaking her some money, but she didn’t want us to. The fact that she didn’t want anything in return amazed me….
As we were leaving Sister Padoru offered us a skirt that she had made. It was quite homely. Luckily the only person it would have possibly fit was MacKenzie. It ended up being too small for MacKenzie so we told her we would give it to Mindy to try. She is tiny as well. We all knew Mindy would love that surprise…muhahaha…On the way home we ran into Mindy and showed her the dress. We told Mindy that we told Sister Padoru she would wear it on Sunday. Mindy just laughed…I don’t know how she’s going to get out of this one.

To end the evening I talked to my mom for over an hour. It’s always good to hear a familiar voice. She told me about how much fun she had on her vacation last week with all her sisters (who are like my sisters). Then she told me the funny stories that happened while they went about on their various adventures. I was kind of sad I didn’t get to join in the fun, but I’m really glad they all had such a fun time…I miss and love them all very much!

P.S. I’ve decided I don’t like my hair very much…It’s a little bright and a little too red looking for my comfort...I’ll just have to fix it when I get home I guess…