Life is in the Moments....

Life is in the moments, so I'll share 1 bitter moment, and 5 sweet.

Bitter:  A cleaning lady on one orphan's floor got really mad at me for stepping across her newly mopped still wet floor (I had to to go onto the floor) and said they didn't have any copii fara mama, even though we're pretty sure a certain boy was there... and on another boy's floor, the nurses weren't in their nursing headquarters, but we saw the orphan boy through a window into a room playing with another kid, and the boy saw us and ran out to play with us, but a lady at the very end of the hall called “Nu avem copii fara mama” (We don't have any children without mothers) and waved her hand back and forth. We just said “Multumim” (Thank you) and turned to go- there were other kids on other floors who weren't playing with other kids like this boy was, but then the boy came running out into the hall wanting to play with us, and we just had to say, “Pa! Pa! Imi pare rau”, (Goodbye, I'm sorry) because the nurses had said he didn't exist, and we just had to walk away, with him standing right in the middle of the hall, watching us go. We kept looking back, and wondering why the nurse didn't want us to see him. It was really hard to do, and really sad.

Sweet: Another day was more successful at the hospital- I feel like I did a lot of good because when we picked up the babies, we calmed them down and the only one we left crying was a small girl. I held Sumo for a good hour and changed her poor diaper- she has a really bad rash- and Hannah got the burn baby victim to smile for the first time. :) And the 3 boys upstairs all loved the playdough and coloring books. The two youngest boys kissed each other on the lips twice- it was so cute! And I had a blast coloring with the youngest one and having him be frustrated when I colored on his side of the page and telling me “Nu aici! Aici!” (Don't color there! Color here!) :) So cute. The highlight of the day was being in the room with the babies, Sumo and the burn baby, and another baby with a mom that just wasn't there at the moment, and picking up Sumo and having her be so calm and enjoying being held, and simultaneously putting a pacifier in the mouth of the other baby, and having that baby to go sleep. I felt so useful. And peaceful. I loved when Hannah started singing “Sing Sweet Nightengale” and “Baby Mine”. The spirit just filled the room and it was a little bit of heaven. Ah...

Sweet: A fetal alcohol toddler from the orphanage is really improving! Today for a good 15 minutes I held a little red tractor thing with colorful buttons just barely too high for him to teach in any way except standing, and I made him figure out how to stand up on his own, using me for support, and then hold on to the toy, and the toy alone, not leaning on anything, while standing up. Of course I am also holding the toy, because that kid is so wobbly. And he fell down a lot. But he kept wanting to get back up, over and over and over. He was so persistent and so resilient. With that kind of attitude I really think he could walk soon. 

Sweet: all the kids that used to be content to be alone sometimes look at me and cry, which I count as a success, because that means they want to be held by me, loved by me, given attention, and before I came, they didn't crave that- because they didn't know the difference between being alone and being loved.

Sweet: So a week ago, a girl we will call little princess came back from school with a green and purple clip in her hair and saw me and I said she looked so beautiful, and she immediately pulled it out of her hair and proceeded to struggle to put it in mine- taking about 7 minutes. I thought that was so... interesting, and sweet. That in a place where everything is communal, where you wear a shirt one day and the next day it's on another kid, where blankets are switched, toys are all on the same shelf, teddy bears are on the same windowsill, where the only thing unique that she has to make herself her and beautiful is her hair clips, once she knew I liked them, and she liked me, she pulled those clips right out and tried for 7 whole minutes to attach them in my hair so they would look nice. That is so selfless. The scripture about becoming as a child has taken on so much more meaning, knowing the orphans- submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

Sweet: Then today I brought the little princess her own new hairclips- she chose pink and orange, and I let her use my smelly hand-sanitizer that she loves, and use a little mirror to see what she looked like with her new clips in, and she played with a slinky. She struggled to say slinky right- and it was so cute- “Seenkee”. And she wanted to show everyone, all the workers, her new hair clips. And when I left while she was going to the table for lunch, she called me back, “Hei!” and said, “Hai pentru pop”- come here for a kiss! And she gave me a big kiss on the cheek with her hands around my neck, and then let me go home. I felt like the most special person in the world.