Vasile and I at Camp

Sleeping with the 3-year-old at camp (She's more of a morning person than I am)

David, the boy with CP that I visited in the hospital, and I

After Camp, and Goodbye to Romania

If the thought of me saying goodbye to Romania makes you sick to your stomach, then you and I are on the same page. I'll write a bit more about "Goodbye" later.

I have returned from Camp. It was an amazing experience. It was, like I had hoped, a whole new world for the kids. The British volunteers had a program and the kids got to do new activities every day. Normally they do the same thing everyday of their lives, even on the weekends. I got to sing with my guitar with the kids, which they enjoyed. In fact, a British volunteer asked me to sing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" in a new Romanian Version and this became one of the theme songs of our camp. We sang it daily, often several times. It was such a pleasure to see the kids and the staff be singing all together, doing motions to the music with slight smiles on their faces!!! These British folks, from a charity group, seem committed to returning next year to help with camp again! This commitment is such a delight. So instead of saying goodbye to them, we said, "Until next year."

I got to sleep with the three year old during camp. The first three days she wore no diapers to bed, and I woke up twice during the night to sit her on the toliet. She wasn't very excited about being woken up, but she made it two nights without any mistakes. The third night she went several times, once on my pillow, on a blanket, on the bed. We put the diapers back on and slept soundly. These orphans, even at camp, take a 3 hour nap after lunch. This is to help give the caregivers downtime, but none of the kids are really very sleepy. I realized that though the 3 year old could nap, she slept much better at night if she didn't - so I spent the 3 hours after lunch with her most of the time. We went on walks. Spending so much time with her was good, because I got to apply some consistant disciple which was EXTREMELY affective. It was nice to see her change by the end of camp, and I loved caring for her. You would have loved her, too.

It was at the camp, also, that I got an insight into why God didn't allow me to spend as much time with Vasile as I wanted to. A
British volunteer made me see that unless I was a permanent/life-long volunteer it was bad to form a really strong bond with just one child, because they would be really hurt emotionally if we had a strong bond and then I left them. Also, although I didn't get to work with Vasile daily, I can see that Vasile is different from last year, and the difference seems good. Last year he wouldn't allow me to touch his face. He was uncomfortable with this. This year was quite the opposite. Vasile was very comfortable with me touching his face. In fact, his new greatest desire is to be held like a baby. He's about 13 years old. I pray for God to continue working mightily in his life.

When I told the three year old that I was going to go home to the US, and not coming back to visit for a long time she said, "Well, then I'll leave, too." I have always had the conviction that I would never want to adopt a child unless I was married, because I would want the child to have a father figure as well as a mother figure, but passion threw reason out the window when I saw the need in this young girl's life. I new I would give my life to make hers better. If God made a way for me to do so, then I couldn't stop myself from adopting her.

Have I told you that I plan to return to work with these same orphans next summer? How can I help myself? I almost didn't have the courage to return to the US. Can you tell from all I write that my heart and life and hope is all here in Romania? This ministry is what I am living for, and sometimes I feel that it is what I was made for. In the middle of my stay in Romania I seriously considered not returning to the US to begin school. Nothing would make me happier to continue being a consistent part of these children's lives. But there is only one desire more important to me than doing what I want, and that is doing what God wants. God never yelled at me from heaven to leave Romania in order to get my degree in Speech Pathology, but he opened all the doors for me to do so. Honestly, I hoped that he would close the doors, but he did the opposite. I am now at home, I just began classes at Sacramento State yesterday. I feel a sense of morning as I go about my day, and what gives me hope is dreaming that maybe I can return for a month to the orphanage during my Christmas Vacation from school. Please pray for me, that I will be a good student and not miss the kids and the staff and my Romanian friends in a hopeless way. Pray, pray, pray that I will do God's will. And I want to thank everybody who gave a piece of themselves in order to help me go on this trip. You can't know how God has used your prayers. I am SO thankful to you!

I hope to keep this blog and use it when I return to the orphanage. I pray that my return is much sooner than later. Isn't God good to give me work I love; work that makes life truely LIFE?

Danuț

Adi

Gianina

Cosmin and I