Sarahy's Birthday

La Multi Ani Sarahy! Today is her birthday, the big 21! Katelyn and me made her pancakes, sausage and eggs for breakfast this morning and Andreea made her a cake while we were at the orphanage so we could surprise her with the cake after dinner tonight. We are all going out to eat tonight! I hope she has a good day. It would be hard to spend a birthday this far away from home. Chelsea sent us a birthday sign and candles in the package so we hung the sign up and Andreea put 21 candles on the cake! It is a chocolate cake with nutella frosting, I think! It was a recipe Andreea had.

Us at dinner!

She got 21 hugs and kisses from us for her birthday 

The cake!

Last monday working. I think I am getting sick. This is the worst timing too. I have woken up with a bad congestion and sore throat the past couple days. I hope it will pass quickly! I don't want to spend my last couple days sick... Besides feeling sick I had a great day! I was a little nervous when I first walked in because Marien was in my room today. He talks so fast and so much and gets frustrated sometimes when I don't understand. But today was good, it was more than good! Teo came and took pictures of me and the kids! I spent some quality time with almost all the kids and had a ball fight with Marien, Denisa, and Mirela. It was mostly Marien and me but the other two girls were there. The ball pit that I have previously talked about it a big hit. The kids love it. I normally save that toy for when its just me and the older kids. Well today it turned into a big fight! Full on balls flying everywhere, hitting each other. Marien loved it and I was having fun too! We would hide behind the wheelchairs, the slide or in rooms while we try to hit each other with the balls. Marien was just loving it! The physical therapist even joined in and so did Teo for a little bit. It was so tiring and exhausting but fun! I'm glad Marien was in my room. Today might have been the last time I see him. I'm glad I could bring him some fun! Earlier that morning Simona, the worker, brought a jump rope into the room. That small jump rope entertained the kids for about an hour! It worked magic! The kids are never entertained for that long with one single toy. She did it. We played so many different games with the jump rope. First we are crawled under the jump rope that was attached to two chairs, then she moved the two chairs a little closer to each other so we could jump over the rope. Then the jump rope because a tight rope and we are walked across it, Simona, me, Marien, Denisa, and Mirela. Next we attempted to play jump rope but it wasn't big enough for me and Simona and B12 couldn't quite figure it out. We spun the rope for awhile. Then Simona made a circle on the ground out of the rope. She put about 6 or 7 stuff animals inside and her and Marien raced against me and Mirela. The little kids would run to the circle in the middle and pick up a stuff animal and bring it back. It was a race to see who could get the most! Right before they left for masa "snack time," Simona, Marien and me played a version of musical chairs. There were 2 chairs and we walked around. Then one of the three of us would clap our hands and then we had to rush for a chair! Marien really liked this one. Some time in the morning I of course played with guns. Marien loves pretending to shoot people and handcuff people. He really is just a typical 6 year old. He also was the police and arrested me and Mirela while we were driving in toy car. Oh and Marien was a captain that had me holding the pistol and marching in the direction he said. He can be a bit bossy sometimes haha but I love this kid! Ala is a new baby in my room. She was there when I came back from my trip last week. She is such a cute baby! She is so happy and always smiling. Madelina gave me some lovin today! Of course she laid her head on my shoulder the whole time I held her! I'm going to miss seeing her! She is beautiful. Mihai what a cutie! He just wanted attention the whole morning. Anytime I would stop paying attention to him he would cry. Stelian is practically walking. He will walk the whole room. He falls occasionally but he is just so close! Denisa said my name! Well kinda. I told her "spuneti Megan" and she said something. It didn't really sound like Megan but maybe she was trying. She got the "gan" down but didn't say "me." Today at the orphanage was just so good! It was a great day.

Marion and me after the ball fight. We were so sweaty!

Denisa, Ala, me and Marion

Ala and me

This is Ala! She is almost always smiling 

Me and Mihai

Sundays Are the Best!

Today was my last full sunday. Next week our train leaves Iasi at 2pm, so we have to leave church early. We took pictures! I love the Stoica family! They are an amazing family. I owe the Stoica's so much! They are the closest thing I have to family here in Romania. I could probably call them my family. Brother and Sister Stoica treat me like I'm there daughter. They have welcomed me into their family with open arms! I can't express how grateful I am for them. They feed the three of us all the time. The Stoica's are so kind to me. They invited us over again today for dinner and to watch conference.

Maria, me and Katelyn

All 5 of us

This is what Andreea's room looked like after we looked at all her clothes! There was clothes everywhere. She was so nice to share her church clothes. It felt so nice wearing different clothes.

This upcoming week is going to be so busy. There is so much I want to do and squeeze in. I just don't know how I am going to get everything done. So many goodbyes are approaching and I just don't know what to do! I do know I want to write thank you notes to all the workers in my room, Mihai, Nina, Teo, and Mario. I also want to write thank you notes to members in the branch! So many people have done so much for me. I'm giving the Stoica family a hot pad made of Juniper wood from Kiev, Ukraine with a card. It is not much but I know they will appreciate it! I'm also going to give Sora Litia a postcard from Las Vegas.  As for saying goodbye I think I am going to give the thank you cards on friday and if the workers aren't there I will give them to Teo and she can give the rest out. As for saying goodbye to the kids I want to make sure I tell all of the kids in my room bye. Hold them one last time, kiss them one last time, and tell them I love them one last time. Same for at the hospital. I want to see all the kids on the last day. I know it is going to be a tough day on friday. Hopefully I can hold myself together on the last day.

I love conference time. Conference was amazing! 

General Conference Weekend

Well lets just say this weekend is going to be different then past conference weekends. First off conference is at 7pm and 11pm! It is so late! Also the branch still has church. So tomorrow is fast sunday. I started the morning with paying our last bills with Teo. Mario had surgery so Teo is helping us out until Mario recovers from her surgery. After paying bills Katelyn, Geninna and me did some shopping. There is still some last minute presents I need to get before I head home. On the way back to the apartment we stopped and got covrigiking and covrigi cu mere at Petru. I'm really going to miss this place! They have the best pretzels. The covrigiking is a pretzel filled with cheese and ham and the other pretzel is filled with apple! Seriously the best.

Sarahy's birthday is monday. Since we work all day, we figured we would do something today to kind of celebrate it! The weather wasn't good for all the activities we had planned to do. It was cloudy and sprinkling a little. We wanted to go horseback ridding or go on a boat but the weather said no. We finally decided on having a BBQ in the forest. Andreea knew of a place so we decided why not. Well once we were in the car we changed our minds again and just went to Andreea's apartment to cook the food there. We BBQ the food there and watched conference at 7. Conference was in Romanian with English subtitles. I think it helped me pay better attention since I was reading it all! I liked watching conference with Andreea and her mom. It was like I was watching it with my family, just not as many people. It was different because I wasn't in my PJ's on the couch with my family. But I was still with other people! Conference was so good. It always comes at a great time. I needed to hear these talks! After conference we played dress up with Andreea's church clothes! We all found an outfit to wear tomorrow to church. I'm excited to be wearing something different. I'm tired of the two skirts I have been wearing the whole time I've been here in Romania. After that Sarahy and Andreea dropped me off at the apartment and I talked to my family between sessions! They are in Payson with the Olsens. They have tickets for sunday afternoon session. I love talking to my family! They make me so happy. They mean everything to me! Thanks Austin for the picture! It made me smile!

Love my family! What a beautiful picture of all of them!

Friday Came too Fast

For once I'm not glad it is friday. The week went by way too fast. At the orphanage I traced the hands of the kids in my room today. The worker, Christina, helped me too. She also asked when I was leaving and I told her on the 15th. It just surprises me how fast time went by. I have such sweet, tender moments with these kids everyday. I feel like now more than ever they just all want to be by me. Today Denisa, Mirela, Mihai, and Stelian all were around me. If I could of held all four of them I would of. I think maybe they know I am leaving soon and want to get as much of me as they can.

At the hospital Sarahy and me were so tired. I don't know why today we were so tired compared to the other days. The little girl on the 8th floor was really scared today. She was crying a lot. I wish I could of helped her. We spent a lot of time with her. She had the whole room to herself and while I was holding her, Sarahy fell asleep on the bed. I held her for a long time. As soon as I would try to sit down or sit her down she would start crying a lot. It made me so sad to see her crying like that so I just held her for a long time. She was crying a lot and a lady in the hospital came in and told us to put her down so I did. Then me and Sarahy took a short nap on the bed until the nurses came in and told us to leave haha. They were probably shocked to find us sleeping on the bed.

Teo and Florin are from my room at the orphanage and they were both in the hospital today. They were both so happy to see me! I was really happy to see them too.

This is Teo

This is Florin!

Children

"Having children is not something you do if you have time, having children is what God gave you time for."

Madalina

This is Daniella

Stelian is being so daring and brave now when it comes to walking. He will leave the couch without me looking and I will turn around and he is walking to me! It is crazy and I am so happy! I am so proud of this little guy. He has came so far. Madelina just loves to cuddle. I could hold that sweet baby girl all day. She is so cute.

Elena tucked me into bed today! She told me to lay on her pillow and go to sleep "dormi." She even put a blanket over me and covered my whole body. I was laying in her crib when she tucked me in. Too bad I didn't get a picture of this. She even put her doll next to me when I was pretend sleeping. She was very sweet while she was tucking me in bed. Katelyn and I played a long time with the baby on the 8th floor. This is the baby that reminds me of Ursela, the baby with the hair. We had a bag in our back packs and we pulled it out. We put all her toys in it and she would pull everything out one by one. She did this for a long time! She loved it. We also spent a long time with Daniella. Daniella is from the orphanage. She is in isolation with Katelyn and Sarahy.


Happy Birthday Mom! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful mother! I hope you have the best day ever mom!! Always remember how amazing you are! You are a great mother, don't ever doubt it. You have influenced my life in so many ways! Mom you are amazing. I love you!

"Motherhood is a choice you make everyday, to put someone else's happiness and wellbeing ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you're not sure what the right thing is... and to forgive yourself, over and over again, for doing everything wrong." -Donna Ball

The Best Welcome Home

"There is an instinct in a woman to love most her own child- and an instinct to make any child who needs her love, her own." -Robert Brault

This quote is so true, especially after my time spent in Romania. I have an instinct to make any child who needs love, my own. I make all the kids I interact with my own. They all need my love.

I wish I had the words to describe how I felt today. Imagine the best moment in your life and that is how I felt! Maybe not the best but it was pretty close up there. I just can't even describe the feeling I felt when I walked into my room and saw those kids again. All I can say is that I'm really glad the worker wasn't in the room. Lets just say I have been pretty emotional lately and I was close to tears. I just want to freeze that moment of when Tep and Denisa saw me. The moment when all the kids were looking at me and just smiling. The moment when Denisa came running to me with her hands stretched out towards me. The moment when Madelina reaches her hands out for me to hold her. The moment when Mihai starts shaking his hand with the "ahh" sound. The moment when I am so overwhelmed with love for these kids. I couldn't get enough of these kids today. I just wanted to hold them all, all day long. They couldn't get enough of me either. Denisa just melted into my arms like she always does. She was one I was nervous about. I was really nervous that they would forget me on my long trip but none of them did! Teo greeted me with a kiss and of course asked for hand sanitizer. It's our little thing. Madelina was just cuddling with me for the longest time. Mihai was just so happy to see me. Stelian is close to walking and was walking so good for me today! He even was smiling at me and I could just tell he trusted me. I just love these kids so much and I can't express what they mean to me. They have changed my life in so many ways.

The hospital was so great too. Alexandra was back in the hospital. She seemed so big! She has grown a ton. Mirela from the orphanage was there. The worker told me this morning that she was in the hospital. It was so good to see her. She remembered me and even said my name! I love that girl. She is so cute. It made me happy seeing her. Elena and Florentina are still in the hospital. They did not look good today. Elena was kind of grumpy and wasn't feeling well. Florentina was in a great mood but looked awful. She did not look good. They both were really sick and looked it too. I hope they get feeling better soon! I want Mirela to come back to the orphanage soon!



Iza left my room while I was gone. I was so sad not to be greeted by her today. I won't see any more kisses or smiles from this cute little girl. Teo told me they took her to the apartments on tuesday. I'm glad she is there but sad to see her go. She is one of my favorites! I could definitely take this little girl home with me.

Happy Birthday Nana! I sure do love you! I hope you had a great day. I miss you and can't wait to see you.

Kiev, Ukraine

Lana took us sightseeing

People's Friendship Arch

She took us to a traditional Ukraine food place and we loved it so much we had it for lunch and dinner!

 This cute lady did mine and Lana's hair! She was even nice enough to take a picture with me.

The churches remind me of the castle on Aladdin.