Happy Tears

Last night I laid in bed updating my blog when I got a surprise Skype request from my most favorite boy in the world, Bradyn!!! It was very late here, about 2 am and he was just waking up from his nap. So I got to talk to both him and Shandley while Kiley and Allyson were off at SeaWorld (oh how I miss that place). It was so good to get to see them and talk to them. It brought about way too many emotions for me to handle. I was so glad to get to actually see Bray's face and hear his voice. But of course, doing that, caused a bit of an emotional break down. I miss everyone, but he is the one person that can actually get to me in that way because I don't think he fully understands. We talked about it a lot before I left. He knows I am in Romania, where it is on the map, that it is far away from home, that when it is day for him it is night for me, that I am here with Jenna to help kids with no Mommys, etc. But I don't think he gets why that meant I had to leave him in order to be here doing all of this. I put together a little baggy with a small gift, note, or piece of candy in it for him and Kiley for every day that I am gone, hoping that it gives them something to look forward to even though I am not there. Apparently I should have made some little baggies for myself too! I did bring along some pictures that Bradyn and I took together in a photobooth at SeaWorld before I left and have them up next to my bed. And last night when I was talking to him Shandley gave him a baggy to open and it happened to be the one that had the copies of the pictures in it for him to have. That was pretty cool to get to show him that mine are up on the wall and that he has some too.

After that I had trouble falling asleep. It made me realize how much I do miss everyone. (Yes, I realize it has been about 5-6 days since I have been gone). But, I do. Although at the same time I am having so much fun, getting to see many new things, meet a ton of new people, and experience a different culture.

Today we met up with Sanzi at 5pm in the middle of Town Square by the fountain. She walked us over to a little coffee shop that she likes and we sat there for about an hour and a half and just talked! She is SO nice. And really funny! We talked about everything. She was very sweet. We told her that we would try to meet up with her again soon! Thanks for that connection Dee!!

We worked the morning shift at the hospital from 9:15-12:30pm. We started out by going to the play therapist and she assigned us all to a child to work with for a different reason. I was told that the little boy I was going to work with- wouldn't eat, barely slept, and only threw the toys. Maybe I went to the wrong kid, or maybe she caught him on a bad day, because the little boy that I got to spend the morning with was so sweet. He was roughly about 9-10 months old. He had olive skin, dark hair, and dark eyes. He was a little hesitant at first, but then warmed up to me and he was so sweet. We played with a little rubber ducky for a bit, and I kept having the ducky give him kisses and making a kissy sound. After a little while of doing that I put the duck down and grabbed another toy. But then I noticed that he was starting to make the kissy sound and reaching for the duck! So I grabbed the duck again and brought it over and had it give him more kisses and he would kiss it back. Then I would have the duck give me some kisses. After a little while he grabbed the ducky and started giving different things kisses. He even turned and had the duck give me some! All while making the little kissy noise. It was so dang cute! Only a few times did he try and throw it. And when he did, I would just pick it up and put it on the bed and say that we needed to be gentle to the ducky and throwing him isn't nice. I'm not really sure if speaking English vs Romanian makes a difference, because they are so surrounded by both, but he seemed to get the point very quickly. After that we grabbed his bottle and he took a little of it at first, but not much. So I decided to take his bottle and feed the ducky and some of the other animals, and then bring it back to him. Each time he would take some, and then wanted to share with the animals, and then it would be his turn again. After doing this multiple times the bottle was almost empty! Then I noticed him getting a little antsy so I turned him toward me, gave him a hug, and could tell he looked a little sleepy after all the playing we had been doing. So I held him tight, rocked him side to side, and patted his back. Within about 5 minutes he was dead asleep in my arms.

Playing- Check, Eating- Check, Sleeping- Check ....... SUCCESS!!!!

It is one of my favorite things to get to hold a sleeping baby, and knowing that I was able to help this one child, even if only for that day, was very heart warming. He was so sweet and had so much potential, but just no one there to take the time to care and love for him. It was almost like the first time I really felt that what we were doing here can and does make a difference. Sometimes I get caught up in all of the other things to get to talk about and forget to mention in detail about the children. But what everyone is doing, even though it may be small, has a huge impact.

I have some more funny stories to tell everyone, but I will save them for tomorrow because Jenna needs the computer to do some homework for her photography class. I am off to do Insanity yet again, and then going to head to bed early tonight.

I love you all so much!!!!!