Romanian Orphans: A Poem by Me

Recently I have discovered a new found love:

Spoken Word Poetry

I found this a bit weird at first, as I never really liked poetry

But I watched more and more YouTube videos of it

And I began to understand it and connect with it more and more

Which inspired this poem

While it would probably be better if you heard me read it with all my emotions

I'm not much one for performing

Or recording me talking to myself...

I hope you enjoy it anyway, and who knows? Maybe I will record it at some point

Romanian Orphans

People find out I spent my summer helping orphans in Romania.

I tell them that it was the most amazing thing I've ever done.

I tell them that leaving them to come back here was the hardest thing I've ever done.

I show them a picture of one of my favorites.

(Only one of my favorites because really, I love them all

All hundred some-odd of them

And I could spend hours telling you about each and every one of them

I can show you a picture and tell you their name

I can tell you their physical challenges in life

And I can tell you how in spite of it all,

They are some of the happiest people I have ever seen in my life)

But people aren’t interesting in hearing the details--

They bemoan the conditions these children live in

They say how wonderful it must have been for them to have me there

They do not realize that I feel blessed to have had the chance

To get to know each and every one of them

Personally.

Individually.

~

They are not a statistic.

They are not what defines Romania.

They are not a social problem.

They are children

Children who deserve to be loved with every ounce of your heart and then some

Because when you love these kids, your heart isn’t all you are loving them with

God is using you

He is giving you His love to pass along to them

Because I did not choose to go to Romania

I just knew

I just knew that Romania was where I was supposed to go

I didn’t know what I was getting into

But I went anyways

I was scared out of my mind because I only knew a few words of Romanian

But I went anyways

I was terrified that I would not be able to love the children like they needed me to

But I went anyways

And God made me enough

~

When I walked into a hospital room

And saw a little boy about two years old,

His skin covered in sores and boils and scabs,

And I could do nothing more than sing to him to try and make his life more tolerable

I realized God didn’t send me there for him

He sent me there for me

So that I could learn

Learn that this little boy is not a statistic

He is not a problem with society

He is a little boy who just wants someone to love him, to touch him

That little boy was the last child I saw before I left Romania

And I didn’t get to spend that time with him for him

God gave me that time with him for me

So that I would know that He is watching out for that little boy

And just as He used me

He will use someone else

Because now, He doesn’t need to push me anymore

He doesn’t need to nudge me into going halfway around the world

I’m already planning to do that again next summer

Because these children are not statistics

They are not a problem to be fixed

They are children to be loved

And held

And taught

That they are wanted

~

“I have parents, they just don’t want me”

That is what I heard a boy say this summer

(in Romanian, of course)

He is eight years old

He spends three days a week in the hospital getting dialysis

And he can throw some gnarly tantrums when he’s sick of being in the hospital

But then

You see him at the orphanage

And he is king

And you imagine the life that he could have

If he had a new kidney

If he had a family

If he could go to school without missing every other day

~

“They do not want your handouts, they want your hands out”

That is something one of us was told about what we would do this summer

That is what everyone needs to understand

These children do not want your money

They do not want you to try and fix them

They want your love

They want you to want them

So when people find out that I spent my summer working in an orphanage in Romania

They ask me what I did

I tell them:

These children have enough food

They have clothes

And medicine

And someone to change their diaper

So what did I do?

I held them

I sang to them

I taught them how to walk

I taught them how to talk

I laid on the floor and played pretend nap time with them

When the workers told the girls with heart problems, they weren’t allowed to jump on the trampoline

I jumped for them

When the girl with no hips who couldn’t walk wanted to play on the slide

I carried her to the top and I caught her at the bottom

When the girl with hearing problems who can’t talk yet wanted a life size doll

I laid on the floor and let her position me and take off my glasses and turn my hair into a knot

When the boy who is blind and epileptic and has cerebral palsy loves to be spun in circles

I took him out of his wheelchair and I held him while I spun until I was faint

When the boys who are autistic were fighting over the same toy

I took it away and gave them each a new one

When the girl at the hospital has only one quasi-normal limb

I took a crayon and put it between her toes so she could color

When the boy at the hospital with burns all down his legs could barely walk

I found an inflatable beach ball and played keep-it-off-the-floor with him

~

What did I do this summer?

I played with children

I told them that I love them

I showed them that I love them

What am I going to do next summer?

I am going to Vietnam

Or China

Or Ghana

Sri Lanka

Cambodia

Peru

Bali

Ecuador

Uganda

Costa Rica

I am going where there are children who need to be loved

Where there are children who just want to be held

Where there are children in horrible physical conditions

So they find joy in the simplest of pleasures

Where the best smile I have seen is a boy who has never seen someone else smile

Where one of the sweetest boys I have known has head trauma because he was abused

Where the sassiest girl I have known cannot run because her heart barely works

~

People hear me talk about my children

And they think I’m too young to have kids

And I tell them, no, I am not their mother

But I have over a hundred children

Halfway around the world

That I think about every day

And I love them as much as I am humanly capable

And then some

I have pictures

Do you want to see?

I have stories

Do you want to hear?

Will you listen beyond the cute little boy with kidney problems?

Will you listen when I get to the boy who has burn scars on his face?

When I get to the boy whose head is misshapen from hydrocephaly?

The boy who will never be able to do anything for his own physical well-being?

The girl who has no muscles and has developed an aversion to human touch?

The boy who outgrew his crib and now is permanently deformed?

Will you listen beyond the ones who are easy to love?

Will you listen when I get to the girl who almost never responds to stimuli?

The boy who will never say your name?

The girl who will never be able to recognize you

Because she’s never actually seen you?

These are my children

They are all adorable to me

They are all easy for me to love

Because they are mine

And I can barely remember a time when I did not love these children as easily as I can blink

~

Leaving them was the hardest thing I’ve ever done

But trying to make others understand is a close second

Because they are not a statistic

They are not a social problem

They do not need to be fixed

They do not need to be brought to America

“Because that makes everything better”

They just need to be loved

And before you go and poke fingers at how they do it “over there”

Remember this:

In 2012, there were estimated nearly 400 thousand children in American foster care

Close to half of the children who left foster care that year, were the ones who had only been in it for less than one year

During that year, nearly a quarter of a million children entered foster care

And before you think, “oh, they’re in foster care, that’s okay, that’s better than an orphanage”

Remember this:

15% were in institutions or group homes

1% had run away

1% of nearly 400 thousand?

That is four thousand children who had run away

54% were in care for one or more years

15% for 3 or more years

56% of those were a race other than White

~

So when you hear I spent the summer helping children in Romania,

Forget the part where I said Romania

Because this isn’t “a Romanian problem”

This is a world problem

Do not bemoan to me how you wish you could do something like that

Because you know what?

There are places in your own community who need volunteers to love children

To give them attention

To listen to what they have to say

To let them know they are loved and wanted

You don’t have to go halfway around the world to find children who need your love

Just look around you

They are there

Waiting for you to notice them

 If you're reading this, you've made it to the end. Thank you for reading.

The source for the statistics included can be viewed here:

https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/foster.cfm

Pe Mâine

Just over a week ago, I said goodbye to my children for the last time.

It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

On Tuesday, we got to work, expecting to have a normal day with our kids. Instead, Alex and I were informed by Teo that one of our children was going back to live with his mother. It made me so very sad; I had thought to have three more days to spend with this wonderful little boy that I had come to love so much. It also gave me a taste of what I was going to have to do in just a couple of days. We pushed him on the swing. We held him one last time. He kissed us on the cheeks and we did the same to him. And we watched him walk away with his mother. What made it even sadder was knowing that his little sister would not be going home with him, at least not yet.

Looking back though, I realize that this really is a good thing. Just the night before, I had been thinking about saying goodbye to him on Thursday and worrying about he would take it. He had arrived at the orphanage only eleven days before us and was very shy when we first arrived. Soon, he opened up and was a happy, overly energetic three year old. He remained a sensitive boy though. More than once, he was sobbing when it came time for us to leave at the end of the morning. All we could do to comfort him was to hug him and repeat "pe mâine", promising him that we'd see him the next day. Thinking of saying goodbye to him on Thursday, I could not imagine what we would do when we could not tell him that and we would instead have to tell him that he was never going to see us again. So really, it was a blessing in disguise for him to leave before we did.

Then came the final goodbyes to the rest of our children on Thursday. I got to spend a little time with all of my children at the orphanage. Maria came back from daycare in time for me to spend a little cuddle time with her. I carried her as I went around to each of my children in their cribs (it was almost nap time for most of them) and as I gave last kisses and hugs and said goodbye to each one, she greeted each of them by name and with a smile, wanting to hug and kiss them too. Seeing this, I knew she would be a loving sister to each of these children that I had to leave. This made it slightly easier to hold it together as I finished my goodbyes. Until I headed for the door, and she started saying "pe mâine, pe mâine" as she always did when we left. I could barely hold back tears as I went back to her and told her in my broken Romanian, and with some help from the workers, that this was our last day and we were not coming back.

Leaving that room, knowing I will probably never see these children again before heaven, was the hardest thing I have ever done.

And yet, it could have been harder. Oh what a blessing it was, that we were the ones crying and not our children. I do not think I could have left that room if any of my children had been crying. They weren't all smiling (that may have had something to do with most of them being sick), but none of them were crying.

That afternoon was also my last time to go to the hospital. Early on, I was disappointed that it was not a full day. Two of the children we normally would have spent time with were asleep, and we had reached our last child of the day by half way through the three hours we normally spend at the hospital. Upon reaching the room of the wonderful little boy that I told you about in my last post, I realized that it was actually a wonderful thing that those other children had been asleep.

He was crying when I first saw him that day. I changed his diaper, which while I could tell he appreciated it, it is not a comfortable process for him. After a short while spent trying to calm him, a nurse brought me a bottle and I was able to feed him. After being fed, he barely cried for the rest of the hour and a half that I was able to spend with him. His hands were looking good and while he couldn't move around much, his arms were free to grab at things, and as most of the children have met this summer, he was fascinated by my jewelry. Oh how he loved my rings.

This was the fourth time I had seen him, and I had seen him crying, calm, and fascinated, but I had not seen a smile, and I decided I was going to get one. The act that actually brought a smile to his face was a simple one. All I had to do was blow on his face. How much joy that can bring a little child in a stuffy hospital room. Knowing that the nurses wouldn't have let us see him if he was contagious and seeing him smile, I became a bit braver in my actions with him. I let him grab my hands and my rings. I tapped him on the nose (children are so confused by that). I rubbed the healthy part of his cheeks. And then, I realized that there were parts of his sides that were healthy and unbandaged. It took a bit, I don't think he's been tickled in a while, but he laughed. A boy who a week before had looked so miserable I wanted to cry, was still just as sick, but he was laughing. With some more tickling and more touching of as much of his good skin as possible, I got more smiles and laughter and I even got him babbling, another thing I had yet to see him do. He even made a grab for my glasses, which I promptly removed. I continued to let him touch my face and grab at my nose, as I realized, this boy is probably only touched when absolutely necessary to change his diaper or his bandages. How lonely it must be to have so little human contact. And so I gave him as much touch as I could without being able to hold him.

I stayed with the boy for an hour and a half, with the nurse's encouragement (not all the nurses like us or let us stay that long) and was able to leave without him crying, which is a bit of a feat with a lot of the children at the hospital. On the long walk home from the hospital that day, I realized that Heavenly Father had arranged for those other children to be asleep. He knew what I needed, and He gave it to me. He gave me the chance to see that boy happy before I left, a promise from Him that He would take care of him after I was gone.

And I'm going to hold Him to that promise.

I have learned many things this summer. I could never hope to tell you it all. But I will tell you the most important lesson that I learned:

I can trust God. I need to trust God. I may wish that I could stay with those children forever. I may wish that I could bring them to America where they would have access to better medical care. I may wish that they all had families that loved them and took care of them right now. But that's not possible. And while I may wish they had physical people with them right now taking care of them, it's okay that there aren't. Because our Heavenly Father is there. He is taking care of each of those amazing children. He loves them and is watching out for them, and He can do so much more for them than I can. He will make sure that they are taken care of. All I have to do is trust Him on that.

So that is what I do. I am still sad sometimes when I think of my children and how I can't be with them any more, and that is okay. But in the end, I can be at peace because I trust that He is looking out for them. And one day, I will see them all again in heaven. I will see them healthy and happy and I will know that I was right to trust Him. I will know that He took care of them when others could not.

Trust Him. He really does know what He's doing, even if we do not understand it.

All are Loved by Him

Announcements!

We got all the playground equipment set up this last week for the kids! They are loving it! We've got 9 new swings, 3 new slides, a porch swing, and a picnic table.

We also made the Romanian news! It talks about how our program is ending and how the new playground was done in memory of Ashleigh. Here is the link, you just need to watch the first four minutes. You'll see a couple of the interns' interviews (in English) and see video of us playing with the kids!

I leave Iași on Thursday night! The time has gone so fast! I have four more days of work and then we're traveling. We head to Brașov first (Dracula's castle, etc) and after going to church there Sunday morning, we head off to Bucharest until we fly out on Wednesday morning.

I'm so excited to travel, but I wish I could also just sleep for a week.

I also wish I could just take my kids home with me. I understand that's not possible and things have just come to hit me this last week.

We met a new boy at the hospital this last week who, I would guess, has leprosy, or something like that. He is about two years old, and he is the sickest kid I've seen since I've been here. I heard about him on Monday, but I didn't meet him until Thursday. I was astonished when I saw him. He has sores, his toes have been amputated, and his hands were tied to the sides of his cribs to keep him from scratching at his sores.

This was the first time that a child here really made me want to cry over their conditions, mostly because we were so helpless. We were barely able to change his diaper, and we couldn't hold him. All we could do was stroke his head and sing to him. He did enjoy the singing, but it seemed so small.

I have realized that while what we are doing here is important, it is the Lord's work, not ours. That means that while we are doing His work, we are not the only ones capable of doing it. We have helped take care of all these kids for a while, but now we are passing them back to Heavenly Father, and He will take care of them. I have seen that just in the last couple of days. I was able to visit the boy again at the hospital after church today. In just three days, he already looks a bit better and he was much happier today. We fed him and sang to him and entertained him with finger puppets, and he even smiled! I know I won't be able to see him completely healed before we leave, but I love to just see him smile and a little bit healthier.

Our final Sunday picture! So good to see everyone one last time, but so sad to leave everyone who welcomed us so wonderfully for the summer.

It's also going to be weird not having church in a different language anymore...

Pa! Vă iubesc!

(I may or may not post next week. I may be too busy having fun in Bucharest.)

Perspective

To start out, I'd like to let you all know about the fundraiser that was for our orphanage here. As I mentioned previously, it was started by the family of an intern from last summer who passed away early this year. As they spread the word, they got many others with no connection to Romania to help out. The money was collected and sent to us this last week, and it was a lot more than we were expecting. Caroline has been able to go on some shopping trips and we will be able to set up all the new playground equipment this week with some help from the missionaries. It was so wonderful what we're able to do for these kids.

We are often asked what people can send to help the kids, but this playground equipment is really the only thing that these kids really need. What they really need are more people to give them their time.

I gave the Sunday School lesson today, as we have our own English Sunday School, and as we are not assigned topics, I had a bit of an adventure trying to decide what to talk about. In my search, I found some really good quotes that I've collected on my Pinterest...

Most of you probably don't know, but I'm pretty obsessed with quotes. I don't care who said it or where I found it, if I think it's good, I want to save it for later. So here are some that I particularly feel apply to my time here. I could give you my commentary on them, but I think you can figure it out.

"The greatest gift you can give someone is your time because when you give your time, you are giving a portion of your life that you will never get back." (Unknown)

"The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you." (Unknown)

"A child can teach an adult three things: to be happy for no reason, to always be busy something, and to know how to demand with all his might that which he desires." ~Paulo Coelho

"Tremendous happiness and peace of mind are the results of loving service to others. Nobody can live fully and happily who lives only unto himself or herself." ~Gordon B. Hinckley

I could go on and give you many more that I feel can describe what I'm doing and how I feel more than I ever could, but I will just give you a few more.

I was introduced to a book titled "Kisses from Katie" on Friday that is about an American girl who, after high school, went to Uganda to teach kindergarten and ended up staying for years. I'm already two thirds of the way through the book, and it's the most quotable book I have ever read. I love it so much. I will share some of her words of wisdom here, and I hope you all go read it because it is so very worth your time.

"I have learned that I will not change the world. Jesus will do that. I can, however, change the world for one person."

"I'm not here to eliminate poverty, to eradicate disease, to put a stop to people abandoning babies. I'm just here to love."

"People tell me they miss me; they think I am so far away. But I'm not. I'm right here, on the same earth as everybody else, doing what I know to make it a little better."

While I feel that I have learned so much from my time here, reading Kisses from Katie has given me a new perspective on my work here. I think most importantly, it has helped me to accept that what little I can do here is enough. I can not do everything, but I can make a difference for one child for one hour, and it is enough. There are some children that I love so much, but looking back, I realize that I have only spent two hours with some of them. But I showed my love and God's love for them for those two hours, and I made a difference.

While there are many quotes I could give you, something I read earlier today in Kisses from Katie really made the biggest difference to my mentality regarding having to leave in two weeks:

"The Bible tells us of Jesus magnificently raising Lazarus from the dead, healing numerous deathly ill people, and feeding thousands. What the Bible does not mention, but what must be true is that, years later, Lazarus still died. The people Jesus healed were inevitably sick again at some point in their lives. The people Jesus fed miraculously were hungry again a few days later. More important than the very obvious might and power shown by Jesus' miracles is His love. He loved these people enough to do everything in His power to "make it better." He entered into their suffering and loved them right there. We aren't really called to save the world, not even to save one person; Jesus does that. We are just called to love with abandon. We are called to enter into our neighbors' sufferings and love them right there."

And that is something everyone can do, wherever they are in the world.

Simple Goodness

This week has been so good. This last week was the first of the last five weeks where I made it to work every day, and it was just simply wonderful.

One of my girls who had been in the hospital the week before came back to the orphanage.

One of my chair bound girls got to go outside for the first time that we've seen this summer.

One of my boys who has severe burn scars is in the hospital to see about getting some skin grafts done.

I got to go see said boy in the hospital after church today. He is so adorable.

I got to take care of one of the other babies from the orphanage at the hospital on Tuesday.

I got to meet a nice gypsy girl at the hospital.

I got to eat KFC, which is really good here.

I got to visit a 14th century fortress.

We made plans to create a new Y-Serve program when we get back to school.

We had a birthday party for Mario, our Romanian mom.

I got to see some really cool lightening... I am still mystified by how there's no thunder here...

I got to spend some good time with Maria at the end of one day.

I got to hold an adorable baby boy at the hospital who was screaming when I came in, but by the end he was calm and nearly asleep. I'm actually really impressed with my own ability to put him to sleep because he was really unhappy about not being able to move his hand that had an IV in it.

I got to meet a wonderful 8 year old boy with burns on his legs. We played with bubbles and a beach ball, and watched him make faces behind the nurse's back.

The kids I work with in the afternoons at the satellite apartment got moved into the orphanage on Friday because their apartment is getting remodeled. This was a mixture of sadness and happiness. One of the boys is getting moved to a different orphanage soon where he'll be able to go to school. One was moved into Meggie and Olivia's room. He'll fit in well with the other kids in that room. The two brothers and the girl got put into Brooke D's room at the orphanage as well as one of Meggie and Olivia's boys, who will fit better in Brooke's room. She already had 5 little girls all around 14 months old, so there are 9 kids in that room now. That's where I'll be going in the afternoons now.

I went Friday afternoon, and it was wonderfully fun. The brothers have a little sister who has been in Brooke's room rather than the apartment because she's so young, so they hadn't seen her since March, and they are so cute with her. They were giving her toys and showing off for her, and just being so nice. The new boy is fun too. Brooke's girls are so wonderful. It feels so good to hold babies who are healthy and happy.

We also had some extra helpers. There's another apartment that is getting renovated, so there are three teenage girls at the orphanage right now. They joined us Friday afternoon and helped with holding the girls and disciplining the boys (it's so useful having people fluent in Romanian to tell them off for kicking the ball at the television).

And those are just some of the wonderful things from this last week.

The beautiful countryside of Maramures from our trip at the end of June.

We had a surprise birthday party for Nathan with our Romanian friends Andrei and Alina and some extra Americans...

My first train ride to get to Neamt for the fortress.

Cetatea Neamt, a 14th century fortress

The view from the fortress

We bought wooden swords just for the purpose of taking pictures... though I also bought a little crossbow :)

Home

So it's been a while since I have posted anything, mainly because I was sick again...

Anyway, while I was sick, I was thinking a fair bit about home, probably because it was the 4th of July. Mainly, I was missing American food, and I was starting to think that since I keep spending so much time sick in bed, there was the point of me even staying for the rest of the summer because I can't do the work with the kids that I'm here to do.

But then Wednesday night before I was able to get back to work the next morning, I was watching some movies to pass the time, and this one quote in the Hobbit stood out to me quite a bit.

(For some context, Thorin, leader of the dwarves, had just had a rant about how Bilbo had probably ditched them, and when Bilbo shows up, Thorin asks him why he came back, and this is Bilbo's response.)

"You're right, I often think of Bagend. I miss my books, and my armchair and my garden. You see, that is where I belong. That's home. That's why I came back. Because you don't have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you to take it back if I can."

This quote really hit me as I realized how much it applies to what we're doing here in Romania.

We have all left our homes to come here for these kids because they don't have a place where they belong. Their homes were taken from them, often by death or poverty or other unfortunate circumstances. And we are only here for a little while, but we are here to give them a piece of home, if only for a while.

That is why I come back to work after being sick.

I counted this last week, and I have been sick 24 of the 58 days that we've been here so far. It seems ridiculous to me that I've missed so much of my time here. But it is always worth it to go back to work and see my kids, even if I only make it to work two or three days during the week.

And so, I am going to introduce you to one of my favorite children here.

Maria is four years old, and she is one of the few kids in my room who is actually developmentally on track. She normally spends most of the mornings in the daycare for special needs children in the downstairs of the orphanage, so some days I never see her, but on a few lucky days I get her for the last half hour of the day when most, if not all, of my other kids are down for naps.

She is the only child in my room who can really talk and earlier in the summer, I was able to teach her my name. She's the only kid in the orphanage who can say my name, and it is so wonderful to hear.

One day recently, I saw her in my room, and while I was holding her, she just randomly said my name. I responded with "what", and she said, "Mariah, stiu te cheamă", which means I know that's your name. She was so proud of herself for knowing my name, and it made me so happy because she had to ask me my name several times when she was first trying to learn it.

She has physical disabilities that make her stand out, but they just make me love her all the more. Her lower half didn't develop properly, so she doesn't have hips and her legs are too small for her torso and just permanently crossed under her. She also really small for her size. She fits entirely on my torso when I'm laying on the floor. Those are probably my favorite times. She has a wheelchair that she can wheel around herself, but she hates being confined to it. She loves to be held and carried around.

Whenever she comes into our room, she wheels up to me asking to be held, and I take her out of her chair, and she latches on like a little monkey. She loves to be lifted and tossed into the air as I lie on the ground, and then she'll just lay on my chest and cuddle.

She was in the hospital early last week, but she came back on Thursday morning, my first day back after being sick. It was sad that she'd been in the hospital, but it was so fun because I got to have her in our room for a whole hour, as she didn't go to daycare. That was just the boost I needed after missing so much work.

I will leave you with this twelve person selfie from our trip to Maramureș with the lovely Romanian countryside in the background. They have the most beautiful green hills there.

Souvenirs

As I've laid in bed the last few days, I've decided there's only one thing I really wish I could take back with me. I love all the souvenirs I have gotten, and I would love to have pictures of the kids, but the one thing I would love above all else is a video of Jack laughing. His laugh is the most wonderful thing I've ever heard. He's always so happy when I hold him and play with him. And like any little boy, he loves it when I make sounds for him, like when I give him loud, smacking kisses. I give him three in a row, right on the palm of his hand and he busts out laughing, only to stop a short while later and put his hand up to my mouth to do it again. He can go on forever like that. He is my favorite of all the children here, and I would take him home with me in a heartbeat if I could.

I don't know how I'm going to survive going back to America. It's been a week since I've seen my precious Jack, due to me being sick again, and it is killing me. Seeing him smile and laugh just make me the happiest I've ever been. His smiles alone make this whole summer worth it, even with me being sick every other week.

Lying in bed for the last five days, I've had a lot of time to think. It's not been good.

We have 28 days of work left. We have six weeks left, but when you only count work days, we only have 28 days left at the orphanage. That is so little time.

But that is 28 days that I will get to hear Jack laugh and see him smile, and those 28 days will be so very precious to me.

Legacy

The week has been so packed full. The professors were here all week. We did a couple different trips. But the most important thing that happened this week was probably Thursday night.

For those of you who don't know, this summer is the last time this program will be happening. There are a couple possibilities of ways to get other volunteers back here in the future, but the program as it currently exists will end in August when my group leaves. Thursday was the closing banquet for the program with the professors and the head Romanians that have supported this program over the years.

With everything that was said Thursday night, I realized one major thing. I am part of a legacy. This program has sent over 250 BYU students to work in this orphanage for the last 16 years. When students first started coming here, they were not wanted. The stories I have heard about things that happened in the early years of the program shock me because the workers in my room are so welcoming, wanting us to hold the kids and such. At the closing banquet, we were able to hear the director of the orphanage say how much she wished this program wasn't ending.

Of many things said, there are a couple things that I believe are good descriptions of our legacy. 

"You have taught us how to smile and be happy every day." - from the banquet speeches

After watching an intern in the early days of the program taking care of a couple of babies at the hospital, a nurse told the girl, "Watching you care for those children made me see them as human for the first time, rather than just my job."

We have changed a culture and that will last long after we leave.

Also, for any of you who are interested in helping: check out this Facebook group

Basically what it is: one of the interns from last summer passed away in an accident early this year, and so her family is working to raise funds for this orphanage that she loved so much, and anyone who wants to help raise funds can join in! They need to have the money collected by July 17th and then we (the current interns and the Romanian social workers) will buy stuff for the orphanage before we leave. (We're buying it here because it's super expensive to ship stuff)

And now, a look into my week through pictures:

Mario's parents' home in the countryside

A well in the Romanian countryside

A kindergarten in the countryside

Mario's parents' cat :)

All dressed up for the banquet on Thursday

Romanian countryside by the kindergarten

By one of the monasteries we went to with the professors: kind of thought I was in Washington again...

In front of one of the monasteries: us, Mario, the professors, and accompanying family members

Monasteries

Our new friend, Gregory, at one of the monasteries

Tina and Chloe :)

Monasteries

Girls falling asleep on the ride to the monasteries

 Matching Nelsons as little Nelson tries to sneak pictures

Ran into the missionaries when we were out with the professors and got to hear about the new sister missionaries that we're getting this week

All the Nelsons! (The two on the left are not related to the one of the right)

Christian Nelson, Dr. David Nelson, me, Dr. Larry Nelson

Missionary collision during ultimate frisbee

McAllister climbing a fence to fetch the frisbee

So, that's my foot in the bottom of the picture... I climbed a power line tower to watch ultimate frisbee and take pictures

One of my first tries at taking action shots... turned out pretty well, I think