Since I've been home...

HEY!!

So I've been home for 3 weeks now. Which is the same amount of time that I was in Romania. Boy is it crazy how differently time passes depending on where you are, who you're with, what you're doing, and whether you're comfortable or not. Being back in San Diego and getting to sleep in my own bed, seeing familiar faces, and getting back into my routine has made the time pass so quickly.
The flight back to L.A. felt like it took FOREVER!!! But it was all work it when after we landed, made it through customs, and got our luggage, I saw my Mom, Daddy, and Miguel there waiting for me with burritos and milk in hand :) And let me tell you, I devoured it all in record time!!

When we got home I got to see Sean, Liz, Brett, and of course my Laura!!! Sadly I had to see that disgusting fat lard Frank too. It felt so good to be at home with the people I love. I was able to show them a bunch of photos and videos from the trip!!
Looking through all the footage and talking about the trip is incredibly bittersweet. Going on the trip, working with such loving people, exploring new cities, and getting to play with the adorable children made it all a positive experience. And then there were a few things that made it not so positive. Getting sick wasn't too enjoyable, neither was missing my family and friends, but the part that hurt the most was leaving the babies behind.
Knowing that I got to come back home, but that they had to stay there hit me really hard the first week or so of being back. They were constantly on my mind, especially little baby Alex (kissy duck noise boy). It felt like I was in a funk. I had images of the babies stuck in my head that I couldn't get out. I just kept re-seeing some like this:

I was (and am) so happy to be home and surrounded by the people and things that I love, but it all made me feel.... selfish? I'm not really sure what the word would be to describe the type of feelings. It seemed like I felt like I did so much good while I was there, but then I left and that was it. It all just ended. I won't get to make a difference in their lives anymore. And that was really hard for me to handle. I love babies so much, and knowing that they are still there is heartbreaking. After talking to some friends and family members about the trip and how I was feeling I seemed to be getting a similar response from everyone.
They helped me come to the conclusion that I know what I did there effected people's lives positively and made an impact. And everyone from there made an impact on me too. I have been keeping in contact with everyone that I met with while I was there, and it is so good to get to hear from them. And now I try to keep some of the more happy images in my head like these:

Hollie & Jen made it back to Pennsylvania and have gotten to meet up with each other and keep in touch with all of us through facebook. Hollie mailed me all of the pictures that she took with her camera! And sent a cute card along with them saying how blessed and happy she was that she had met me. It was really sweet of her. I miss her and Jen a lot.
I got to talk to Joe the other day on facebook chat and catch up with him on how things are going there at the hospital. He gave me such good news that I just have to pass on to everyone that had read my previous blog posts. He told me that Roxy, the little girl who had been abused, got put into a foster home!! Here is Jenna & Roxy:

Joe was very excited to tell me the news so it sounds like she is in a much better place!! And then he told me that Alex went home. And when I first heard this news I was taken back and sad to hear that, because for most of the children their home life isn't so great. But, apparently Alex does have a good home with loving parents they just were having financial trouble so they brought him there until they were back on their feet. Hearing that put my heart at ease. I know that there are so many other children still there, but knowing that Alex was safe and being loved is what I needed to hear most.
I still want to try and see what I can do from over here to help out, so if you have any suggestions let me know. They are always needing volunteers and/or trying to raise money to buy diapers for the babies.
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I am working on trying to get a video put together of all the footage and pictures that I have from the trip. Turns out I don't know anything about making movies, or just using my computer at all for that matter. Watching Michael, Mr. High-tech, try to show me how to do things was pretty amusing. After much torture to both of us, I begged enough for him to just burn them all onto disks and take them home with him so that he can try and do it from his gigantic Mac at home. I'm going to try and explain how I want it to go, but either way I'm just thankful he is willing to help! My goal is to try and get them out as soon as possible so I can send a disk with the video on it along with a thank you card so that everyone can get to see all that went on!!
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Since I've been back things are going pretty well. The first few days were great! I got to eat all the foods I had missed so much and got to see people that I loved and catch up! Then, about 3 days after I got back things took a turn for the worse and were a bit rough. I was really dehydrated and malnourished. I was constantly tired and no matter how much I slept I just couldn't get enough. Monday morning I woke up to go to work and got so light-headed in the shower that I ended up passing out. I was fine, but it really scared me. I called my parents and they said they would drive down to come see me and make sure I was okay. And then Allyson, Shandley, and Bray came over and took me to the hospital just in case. This is how I know that Ally really loves me: she's a germaphobe and sat with me in the waiting room full of sickies!!

The doctors and nurses were all really nice. They gave me an iv and ran some blood tests. They said everything came back okay but just to take it easy for a few days. Ter kept trying to convince me to come all the way back home with her, but I just wanted to sleep in my own bed. Mainly, I just didn't want to give-in to the sickness. I figured if I just toughed it out i'd be done with it quicker. I'm really glad that my Mom stayed, it was nice to have her comforting presence there, plus she cleaned everything :) haha. The next 2 days I was still really weak and had no appetite. Even my favorite foods sounded so gross. But by Thursday morning I was feeling a lot better and Bradyn and I got to go to Seaworld!! Oh how I had missed that place! And Michael just came down to visit so we all got to go to Seaworld together! Now things seem to be back into their normal routine- babysitting, soccer, eating, boating, seaworld, etc.

I know, I know, "poor Cissy Butler" as my Mom likes to say. But the one thing that the trip taught me most was to be so thankful for what you do have in your life. And boy oh boy did I realize just how much I have to be thankful for. My list could go on and on.
Thanks for reading along and supporting me as always! I love you and as any other information comes in I will be sure to update you!

Here is a picture of Alex and I!

Mixed Emotions...

Today was our last day in the Hospital, in Romania, and with all the people from FFR. My whole day was filled with so many different emotions. I think I underestimated how hard it was going to be to say goodbye to the babies in the hospital and the girls from FFR.
We worked the morning shift today with Joe. It was kinda relaxing just the three of us going around together. And Joe was so sweet! He knew that it was our last day and that we were going to want to be spending as much time with the little ones as we could, so he let us sit and hold the babies while he went around and changed all the diapers. I told him that his wife is truly going to love him one day (while he was cleaning a very messy diaper) and he laughed and said oh she better! It was pretty funny. He is really nice I am going to miss him. But thanks to good old Facebook, we will be able to keep in contact.
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Saying goodbye to little baby Alex (kissy sound baby), broke my heart today. I went in to see him and he got a big smile on his face and put his arms up towards me. I picked him up and gave him the biggest hug. He rested his head on my shoulder for a bit, and then sat up and was ready to play! We took some pictures and videos on my camera, and he loved getting to watch himself on there. I tried getting him to say his name by pointing at the pictures of him and saying Alex. It took awhile but we finally got the slightest hint of "Ale-" out. It was really cute. He is an incredibly smart little boy and I hope and pray that he gets that love and attention that he deserves in order to continue to foster a healthy life and stimulate his learning. After playing for a bit he rested his head on my shoulder and I sat in the rocking chair and we both dozed off. Then it came time to go and pass out diapers to the other floors, so I carefully and slowly placed him back into his crib. Thankfully he stayed asleep because seeing him cry would have broken my heart.
We went up and passed out the diapers and talked to a few of the nurses. Then we came back down to Alex's floor and I walked into his room and he was awake and crying :( He put his arms up into the air towards me and I just couldn't resist. I changed his diaper and then had to hold him in my arms again. I had to run into the room that shared a window with his room really quick to change a diaper in there. Putting him down was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. He clung to me with all he had. I walked out of the room and heard the screams coming from him. I walked into the room next door and he was up against his crib holding on to the bars crying his eyes out just staring at me. I fell apart. I quickly changed the diaper and had to go back to Alex. This is where Joe stepped up to the plate and was so kind. He told me to just stay there and hang out with Alex while he went around changing the diapers. Alex just wanted to be held and loved. We sat back into the rocking chair and he fell asleep. I held him as tight as I could and asked God to please watch over this little boy. I don't really know what it is or why, but I felt/feel so connected to Alex. I got pretty emotional while sitting there with him in my arms. Even typing this now, forcing myself back into those moments and memories is bringing tears to my eyes. We rocked in the chair for about 30 more minutes. When it came time to leave, I knew that it was going to be tough. The odds of him staying asleep when I put him down weren't good. And the thought of him crying as I walk away hurts so badly. I got up, slowly moved him into his crib, continued to rub his back, closed the crib, and tried to make my silent get-away. I got out of the room, and that's when I heard it. The sound of his cry and the look on his face when I glanced back over my shoulder and saw him through the window will forever be engrained in my mind.
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We had dinner at the girls house tonight. It was so sweet of them to invite us over and make it for us. Then we watched a little bit of the Oscars, chatted, had some dessert, and said our goodbyes. It will be nice to be able to keep up with everyone that I have met while I am here. It truly is like a family here, that no one can fully understand unless they experience it themselves. They are all so welcoming and so loving. I am going to miss karaoke nights, crazy Romanian birthday parties, American TV nights, and getting to talk with everyone and learn about their lives. I will miss you all so much. Thank you for everything.
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Our flight leaves in the morning, and then we get home Thursday night at around 7pm where Ter will greet us with burritos in hand. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you so much again for helping make this experience possible for me. I love you.

Last days...

We were only in London for a short period of time, but I feel like we got to see so much!! We went and saw Big Ben, The London Eye, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, Double-decker buses, little red phone booths, the old-school black cabs, and so much more! I couldn't have asked for nicer people to show us around either. Mark was so kind in letting us stay at his place while we were there. He even went grocery shopping for us before we got there! I think I mentioned this in my last post, but when we arrived there were flowers in our room and chocolates on our pillows! It was incredibly generous and thoughtful. I drank tea like a crazy person! I LOVED IT! It reminded me of visits to Grandma Joan's when I was little. I would go and sit at the counter in the kitchen and she would turn on the kettle. Then she would bring over two little tiny cups, that looked like they were meant for dolls, and put tea bags in them. Then when the water was ready she would pour it in and I would watch the tea seep out of the bag and fill the cup. We would add a little bit of milk, and way too much sugar, but boy did I love it! I honestly probably drank about 7 cups of tea a day while I was there. Thankfully, I brought my own tea bags to Romania so I have been able to keep up my addiction now that I am back!
Sunday in London we went for a walk around this "near-by" lake. Call me crazy, but when it takes 1.5 hours to walk TO the lake, and 1.5 hours to walk back from the lake, it is not considered "near-by"!!!!! hahahaha. It was really cold out, but it was still fun. I tried to sneak into the back of a picture (as always) that Jenna was taking of Mark, Laura, and Simon, and I almost fell into the lake!!!! (I would like you to immediately take back the "Ha! That's what you deserve" thought that you just had). It was really funny though! It would NOT have been so fun to walk back soaking wet in the freezing cold though! Thankfully just my boot went in and I caught myself with my arms before the rest of me fell in too!
Monday morning we had to get up early because we had to leave the house by "half six" as Mark called it. From there we had to walk to the "tube" (underground train), and take that to the train (above ground), and then take a bus to the airport. You should have seen our faces as Mark was trying to explain this to us. He might as well have been speaking..... Romanian! Hahaha. I basically have never taken public transportation in my life, and he wanted us to figure this out?! Well, after looking at it, it wasn't that complicated. They have done a great job of making it very simple and easy. The only problem was that the amount of time Jenna and I would have taken in between transitions would have caused us to have to wait for the next train each time. Mark finally decided that he would just come with us until the last train and then we would have to figure out the bus (which turned out to just be a shuttle so it was simple!) for ourselves. We made it all the way there safely and got on the plane back to Romania! Thankfully, most of our time was spent in the London airport not in that crazy little Romanian one again!!!
Our flight was somehow delayed mid-air, or just took longer to get there than they had planned, I'm not sure haha because I slept the whole time. I just know that when we landed it was 3:48 and we were supposed to get there at 3:10. (Mini panic attack set in because our driver was picking us up at 3:10 and I know there aren't any screens that say the arrival times of flights for him to see). We get through customs and walk out and there is a crowd of people at the arrival gate. We make our way through looking for a sign with my name on it. Nothing. We look around again thinking maybe we missed it. Nothing. No sign with "Cissy Butler" on it anywhere to be seen. Panic is really starting to set in. This is NOT a nice airport at all, and not in the greatest area. Jenna and I walk over to an area against the wall in order to get out the phone that we have here to call Sarah or one of the girls to ask what we should do. I turn and start walking just as Jenna almost bumps into a man running up with a sign in his hand that says my name!!! He quickly apologized for being so late (it was about 3:55 now... there was only 2 minutes of panic time, but boy oh boy it felt like forever). We told him about how our flight got in late and that it actually worked out that he was late too! We decided that we were all hungry so we stopped at a McDonalds on the way home and went in and had some lunch. It started snowing pretty hard on the drive back, but we made it home safely. Then we headed over to the girls house to say by to Jen because it was her last night here. We all sang some karaoke and hung out. It was fun! I really miss Jen, she is so much fun. We (Jenna, Hollie, Jen, and I) all decided that we need to plan some sort of yearly meet-up. We are thinking that maybe next year we can all meet in Kentucky and stay at my Grandparents and go to the Kentucky Derby together! How fun would that be?!?!? Okay fine Laura my love, you can come too!! :)
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I received a package in the mail from Kiley and Bradyn!!!!!! It was full of Skittles (yum!), Reeses (delicious!!), Starbusrt (yayy!!), Crazy socks, crayons, chapstick, a deck of cards, a packet of gum (apparently Ki must think my breath smells from thousands of miles away), and a hand drawn note by Ki that says "We Miss You, Love Kiley & Bray." It brought such a smile to my face. Jenna didn't come into the Hospital today because she has a cough, so I was there by myself a bit early. Then out of no where appeared Joe! So we sat on the floor outside the Volunteer changing room and decided to play some cards. We played Texas Hold'em, but then realized it's much more fun when you get to bet. So I pulled out some of the candy from the package and we used Starburst and Skittles as our money. A Starburst was worth 2 Skittles. It was a lot of fun! A couple of the nurses and doctors walked by and laughed and smiled at us.
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Tomorrow is our last day at the Hospital and in Romania. It is a weird bittersweet type feeling. I so badly want to come home, back to my comfortable, easy life. I want my cell phone, my car, my bed, to play soccer, the beach, and to play dance games on the Wii. I want food that I actually enjoy eating, not things that I eat just to stay nourished and alive. I want to see my family and my friends. I want to understand the language that is being spoken around me. I want to know where I am and if it is safe to walk somewhere or not. I want all of these things, and yet, wanting them makes me feel selfish. Being here has taught me to be so thankful for the things that I have, and for the life that I have been blessed with. The people and babies that I have gotten the opportunity to work with and meet will always hold a special place in my heart. There really is no other feeling better in the world for me than holding, playing with, or making a baby smile. And knowing that the babies here don't get that one-on-one attention all the time is heartbreaking. I am so glad that I have such generous and giving people in my life that made this opportunity possible for me. Without your help I wouldn't have been able to do it. This experience has changed a part of me forever. It has allowed me to open up my eyes, mind, and heart to so many different places, things, and people. I wish that I could fully and in detail explain everything that I have learned or seen here, but some of it you truly just have to experience in order to understand it. I tried to take as much video footage as I could while here, so once I compile that all together you will get to see more of everything. I am so happy to go home, and so sad to leave. Knowing that I am leaving and that I will no longer be here to help out with the babies is difficult. They are so little, innocent, and just want someone to love them. Thankfully there are all of the girls from FFR and other volunteers that are still here running this organization and working with them daily.
Bradyn every once in a while will talk about how he wishes that there were more of one person. For example he wishes that he could have two mommy's so that one could stay with him and one could go to work. And he wishes that he had two Cissy's so that one could hang out with him and the other could go to her house. I find myself wishing that I had two of myself too. One that could stay here and continue to impact these children's lives, and one that can go back home and hopefully impact everyone's life there for the better as well. I am going to keep in contact with everyone that I have met while here and see what I can try and do back home in order to still try and help out in any way that I can. Whether that be by continuing to raise money or even just talking about my experience to others in order to help get more volunteers over their way.
One major thing that I have learned here is how even the smallest act of kindness can mean so much to someone else. A simple smile from another person here, truly would change my whole day around. I like to think that this same concept can be applied to the babies. I may not have been here that long, but hopefully, the smiles that I gave them changed at least one of their days around, if not more. The little boy that I worked with that made the kissy sounds, was still doing it today when I went in to see him. I found out that his name is Alex! Knowing that from working with him for just one day, for one hour, and he still remembers what we did, puts the biggest smile on my face and fills my heart with joy. I hope that other people were impacted from my time, I know that they all have changed my life, and I hope that even if it was the smallest amount that I changed theirs as well.
I want to thank all of the people from FFR for making this such an amazing trip. You were all so welcoming, helpful, loving, and fun to be around. I look up to each of you and love what you are doing here. I hope that I get to see you all again sometime soon!
And I want to thank everyone that followed along with reading my blogs and sent me their continuous love while i've been gone. Being away from home wasn't easy for me, but knowing that you were all there supporting me made it so much better. I am looking forward to getting to see you all and getting to tell you all about my trip.
Tomorrow is the last day, and then off to the airport for hours of traveling, and then home to a nice delicious burrito. If I have time tomorrow I will do another post about saying goodbye to everyone and all the babies and letting you know how that goes. Thank you for reading this far sorry it was so long!

I love you and I can't wait to see you!!!!

London so far...

We started our day (Friday) at 3am getting up and making sure that we were all ready for our trip! The driver picked us at up 3:30am in front of our place. It was the same driver that picked us up from the airport when we had first arrived, so we knew him and felt safe, which was nice. We were able to sleep a little bit on the long 3 hour drive all the way to Bucharest. We were flying out of the smaller airport this time because we found such cheap flights! However, we quickly learned why it was so inexpensive. The airport is TINY. You walk in and there is a room with about 5 check-in desks. We found the one that said London Lutton. We handed them our passports and they checked us in and handed us each back a tiny little ticket that said BlueAir (our airline), our name, our flight number OB131, and our seat # 24A. Next we walked 10 feet and we were at the security check-in area. We made it through security quickly and expected to find what you normally would expect next: a big tv screen with all of the different flights, times, and gate information. Instead we walked into a room no bigger than my parents living room filled with about 200 people sitting on the floor, leaning against the walls, and just a few sitting in chairs. We looked around confused, were we already at OUR terminal? There were no TVs that told us what gate to go to, and the section on our ticket that said gate was blank. We looked around and there was a giant glass window with 4 doors. Each were numbered Gate 1-4. We didn't know what to do or where to go so we decided to look for some signs, but of course there were none. So we went back over towards the security area to ask someone from there. We had heard an announcement (not in English) and all that we could catch out of it was "London" & "7 and 8". So we assumed that we were supposed to be at gates 7 or 8, but the numbers only went to 4. We went to a security man and asked him where gates 7 and 8 were. He laughed and said, "haha no 7 & 8 only 1, 2, 3, and 4." Jenna and I looked at each other confused, and then back at him. We tried explaining that they just made an announcement and we heard the numbers 7 & 8. Again, he laughed and slowly counted 1, 2, 3, & 4 on his fingers. My immediate thought was "Yes, thank you, I know how to count to four I'm not stupid." He didn't understand what we were asking so he led us over to a lady. We told her that we were looking for which gate to go to for our flight to London, and that we heard the announcement that said 7 & 8. She too just laughed and counted to four in our faces. She then told us that they would "make an announce" soon. Now incredibly frustrated we turned away and just stood there with blank faces. This man must have over heard what was going on because he came our way and nicely explained what the other two wouldn't. He told us that they only have 4 gates, and that the announcement that we had initially heard was for those who hadn't checked in yet, to go to the check-in desks 7 & 8. He said that they would make another announcement in a little bit that would tell us which gate to go to. FINALLY!! Someone nice!!
After some time had passed it was getting closer to our flight time so we were nervous that we hadn't yet heard which gate. We were packed like sardines into this little room and outside the doors of the "gates" were buses. So we were scared that we were going to miss the bus that would then take us to the right terminal. We walked around looking for someone who looked like they were going to London or who spoke English. Finally we saw this blonde women, with 3 little blonde girls following her through the crowd. We listened to her talk for a minute and heard her accent. YES!! She must be going to London!
Once she had settled with the girls we went up and asked her if she was going to London. She said yes and that we could follow her if we wanted. She explained how she had been to this airport before and it is SO confusing and impossible to understand and figure out. But she assured us that between the 3 of us we should be able to piece together enough of what was being said over the intercom. We felt a rush of relief fill us. Her daughters were really sweet. They were about 9, 6, and 3. Hearing them talk in their little accents was adorable!!
We finally heard our flight being called and went out the door and all filed onto the bus. Apparently there are no other terminals!! The bus drives you through the snow, on the runway, over directly to the plane. We all got off and the people pushed and shoved their way up the tiny staircase onto the little plane. (Not sure why they were in such a hurry to get on because there were assigned seats!!!). Jenna and I got into our seats and bucked up and fell asleep!
Once we landed and got off the plane we had to go through customs. We then headed to the bathrooms and freshened up, taking our time. We stopped and exchanged some money into Pounds. We got out and were planning on just sitting at the little coffee shop and relaxing for a moment and eating before embarking on our next task: mastering the buses and train routes in order to make it all the way to meeting up with Laura in town. We were a little bit stressed knowing we had to do all that, so we wanted to relax a bit first. Then the BEST surprise ever happened!!! We walked through the doors and Laura came running our way!!! YAYY!!! We don't have to take the buses and trains!!! It was such a calming feeling knowing that we were safe and ready to go!!
She showed us all around town and it was so exciting!! We were SO tired but it was fun to get to see most of the sights and it was a nice and sunny day outside! Later that night we met up with Jack (Laura's bf), Mark (who we are staying with), and some of their friends: Joe & Rob. It was a lot of fun and we went to this little Pub where I was able to order CHICKEN TENDERS!!! YAYY!! I was so happy hahah!!!
When we got back to Mark's his mom had come over and left a few little surprises for us! She put a little map of London, a magazine, and some chocolates on the bed!! And flowers in the room! It was so nice!!! We had a great night's sleep after a long long day.
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We woke up slow, showered, ate some breakfast, and are now getting ready to see some more sights!
I will let you know how today goes!!

I miss you all!!! LOVE YOU!

Arrived in London!!

We made it safely!! I am SO tired though!! So I am off to bed!! But I will tell you all about it soon!!!

You can do anything you set your mind to, man

The past 24 hours or so have been so much fun!! It is like everyone says, but you never believe them until the end, that just as you are starting to have fun your trip will be coming to an end.
Last night we all went over to the girls house and had pizza and talked about what we liked, thought could be better, or suggestions for the future about volunteering in the Hospital. Then after that Mary made some delicious cookies!!! I was so happy. I pretty much ate the entire tray. I loved them haha. Jenna, Hollie, and Jen and I all squished onto the couch together and we just felt so comfortable with one another. We told stories, relaxed, & made each other laugh, it was the perfect last night with Hollie.
Apparently Hollie and Jen had been reading my blog and read about the karaoke night when I said I wanted to rap Eminem. They made me promise that before Hollie left that I had to rap for them. I upheld my end of the deal. I turned the lights down low to set the right tone of the song, found a jacket and put the hood on, and Jen started the music. With my back facing all of them, I let everyone know that they only have one shot and one opportunity to seize everything they have ever wanted.....
.... I know that they captured it and didn't let it slip, because they have it all on camera.
Odds are I looked like a fool; but hey, it was Hollie's last wish before she left! I had no choice!
We already miss her so much. She promised to come out to California, so this time she better hold up her end!!
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Today we worked the morning shift, which was a little hard to wake up for after staying up late the night before. But it was totally worth it!
Working the morning shift with Jenna and I was Joe, Manu, and Tamsin. And we all had so much fun together! We were all joking around and making each other laugh and just having a really good time. Joe and Manu like to be gentleman (or just like to feel in charge), and carry everything (diapers, the backpack with wipes, etc), while the girls stand there and feel useless. We kept trying to tell them that we could help them carry everything, but they were very persistent in saying that "it's okay, we've got it". Finally getting fed-up Jenna and I tried making up jobs that we could do. I became the hand-sanitizer carrier and distributer & door opener. And they let Jenna hold one pack of diapers. It was pretty funny. As we went up and down the stairs to the different floors distributing diapers I had to make sure that I was the first one so that I could open the doors for everyone, but of course Joe and Manu made even my small task difficult by blocking me up and down the stairs.
On one of the floors some of the kids were a little sick so they had us wear masks and gloves when going to change diapers. I wanted to try and get some pictures of everyone in their masks, but of course, yet again, they told me I was slacking at my new task of changing diapers. It made the morning shift, which is usually not as fun as the afternoon shift, enjoyable and exciting. It also made the time fly by!!! The morning shift normally ends at 12:30 but we were all having so much fun we looked at the time and it was 1:00 before we knew it! I did get some cute pictures of everyone and also some of the babies. But my favorite might have to be the video I got of Joe trying to make-up a song to a little baby name Laura-Dawna. Trying to rhyme things with Dawna became pretty amusing. To name a few that were used: sauna, momma, trauma, cabana, banana, and... rowanda?! Hahaha.
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Today in the hospital was one of the most rewarding type of days. Jenna and I were sent to the 3rd floor in the beginning of the shift and the play therapist had us both go into one room and said to work with 2 of the kids in there. One of them turned out to be that same little boy that I worked with on my first morning shift. Do you remember the little boy that they said threw toys, didn't eat, and barely slept? It was him again! I was very excited to get to work with him again. He is so sweet!
And HERE is when I saw that what I personally am doing here is truly making a difference. It made me feel so good to know that so much that I have learned from my family & friends, in life, and in school, is paying off.
Before I get into more details about my time working with him (I still don't even know his name, but I do know that I have impacted his life positively, as well as he has mine), I have another mini-story to tell.
The other day as we were leaving our afternoon shift with Raelene; we were all up in the Volunteers room changing, bundling up, and getting ready to leave, and Jenna asked Raelene how her shift went. She responded with, "It was good! Haha, I worked with this little boy who kept just kissing every toy I gave him." My eyes lit up with joy, and I said, "HEY! I taught him that!!!" It was one of the coolest feelings in the world. I have taught so many kids a multitude of different things, but this time it stuck. It was a feeling that I will never forget.
So back to my time with the little boy- I walked in to arms reaching up at me with tears in his eyes. I picked him up and he just conformed completely to me, resting his head on my shoulder, just wanting to be held and loved. After he had calmed down, he pulled his head back and sat up, put his finger to my cheek, and made a little kissy sound. I couldn't help but smile. We played with big block legos and a little truck, and everything had a kissy sound. It was the most precious thing ever. I set up the video camera on one side of the crib and was able to capture it all.
We even learned a few new things today!! We learned to wave hi, blow kisses, make the click-clack sound with our tongues, and give high-fives!! And the best part is that I have it all on video to watch over and over and use as a constant reminder of what was accomplished here. I want to edit all the footage I have of him learning everything and send it to Sarah and just let her know that they really have created such an awesome organization here. And that hopefully she can see this footage as proof of the good that is being done.
After playing and laughing for about an hour, his eyes started to get a little heavy. So I picked him up, held him tight, patted his back, and swayed side to side with him in my arms and his head on my shoulder. It wasn't long until he was fast asleep (and snoring loudly I might add!!). I sat down in a chair and closed my eyes, just focusing on trying to send as much love as I could into his little body. And then, here is my FAVORITE part of the story- as we were both laying there with our eyes closed, him sleeping and snoring, his arm started to twitch a bit. I assumed it was just normal sleep-type twitching. But instead, 3 times, while sleeping, his arm moved up to his mouth and he made the kissy sound. It seriously was such a wonderful feeling.
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Jenna is out taking pictures right now, while I am sitting at the little bakery with free wi-fi that we found. It has become like a little meeting spot for everyone. It reminds me of the coffee shop in Friends where one or two of them will be there and then all of a sudden, without a phone call or warning, the others walk in and join them. I love it.
We have to get to bed early tonight because our driver is picking us up at 3:30 AM to take us to the airport for our 8am flight to London!! It will be very early, but so worth it!!

I love you all :)

The Crazy Flute Guy!!!!