The Orphanage and the Children's Hospital

Buna ziua! Sorry I haven't posted for so long. This past week and a half have been quite busy. We finally got to start working in the orphanage and hospital last week. It was nice to have some down time to relax and get adjusted, but we were definitely ready to get started with what we came here to do. The rest of our group goes to both the orphanage and the children's hospital every day for 3 hours each. Since we have Maylee with us, Spencer and I split the time. I go to the hospital for a week while Spencer goes to the orphanage and then we switch the next week. So, one of us is always home with Maylee. It seems to work out quite well, but makes it tricky to fit homework time in. I guess we'll figure that out as we go. We walk just about everywhere we go. It doesn't take longer than 20 minutes to walk places. We're getting our excercise in, that's for sure, especially since we live on the fifth floor with no elevator. And we thought the 3rd floor was bad in San Diego! : )

When I went to the orphanage for the first time, I was surprised by how nice the facility is. For as many children as live there (70-80), they really work hard to keep it as nice as it is. It is nice, but there is still a lot of need for supplies and loving hands to help. The first day, we went around to the different rooms (there are 6) and got to spend a little time there to help us decide where we wanted to work for the semester. In one of the rooms, I got to hold a darling little boy named Florin. He was about a year old and had big brown eyes with dark brown hair. As I picked him up, I realized he was the first Romanian baby I got to hold. I had waited 9 years for that! What a neat experience it is to be here. I am so grateful we have this opportunity. After Spencer went the next day, we chose where we wanted to be. We'll be working in a room called "Mickey Mouse 1". There are about 10 children in that room with 1 full-time Romanian worker. It will be a good place to be. Spencer has been there this week and is enjoying his time there.

I have been working in the children's hospital this week. The hospital, unlike the orphanage, needs a complete renovation. The conditions there are not so nice. It is a very old building and is run-down and over crowded. There are 8 floors in the hospital and between the 8 of us, we go to all of them and ask the nurses if there are any children without mothers (orphaned or those whose parents live too far away to come each day). We hold the babies and play with the older children and try to communicate as best we can in our very broken Romanian. It's quite an experience! I love it. I really wanted to work in the room with the babies in the orphanage, but since I get to go to the hospital every other week and hold the babies there, it all works out great. Today I played with a little 3 year old girl named Stefania who had been burned on her right arm and up her neck. She was quite shy and quiet at first, but once I started playing peek-a-boo with the stuffed animals she had in her crib, she warmed right up. She was laughing so hard! It was lots of fun! After that, I gave her some stickers I had with me. She thought that was pretty neat and plastered them all over her little tummy! I wonder what the doctor or nurse who saw her next thought! I also got to hold an 11-month old girl named Celine. She is so sweet. She has club feet and has casts on both her legs since she just had surgery on them. She is the fairest baby I've seen here with strawberry-blond hair. She has the cutest little laugh too!

One thing we've noticed since being here is the drastic need that is here. We are so grateful for all the donations from our friends, ward, and family. We change a lot of diapers (that we buy here) in the hospital when we go to visit the orphaned children there. We are also looking into renovating a playroom there for the kids to play in. We really hope that works out and will keep you posted with the updates.

Well, it's getting late here and I need to get to bed. Noapte buna! We send our love!

P.S. We haven't posted any pictures yet because our camera broke when we got here. Sorry. Hopefully we can get a new one soon.