April Showers Bring May Flowers

We kicked off April by taking this little cutie to Starbuck's after we picked her up from pre-school.  She loves sharing our drinks with us and crunching on the Bobo (candy) ice!!

April is always a busy month with teams and Easter.  During the first part of the month, we had a dental team from Indiana with us, so I became a dental assistant!  Our kids had a lot of dental needs so the dentists were much appreciated!!  Thanks Dr. Payne (how's that for a dentist's name??) and Dr. Brett!!  Jen and I were the primary dental assistants.  The dentists were very patient with us and taught us so much about dentistry.  They even let us do some things that wouldn't happen so much in the states.  I gave one of the kids a deadening shot!  It was a lot of fun learning and experiencing and working alongside them.  It makes me appreciate my good teeth!!  There was one girl that we saw and we probably could have pulled all of her teeth…and she would have been much better off and in far less pain!  So sad!  The stats: we saw 71 patients, we did 132 fillings, and 73 extractions!  Whew!

Jen and I searching for just the right instruments!  Is it a scraper or a carver?

On this one occasion, it took both dentists to do the job!

Open wide!!

H2H staff with the dental team

Easter was fairly calm for us this year because we didn't have a team and some of kids were either working or out of town.  We did hide the annual golden egg and it was almost not found.  But at the last minute, it was found taped up in one of our outside umbrellas hidden inside of another egg!!  We were very tricky this year!!

Pre-Easter bunnies at the Voluntari Orphanage!

She's so cute!!

Dying Easter Eggs

My cookie making helper!!

The big day….

Me with the BTH boys

Searching for the "Golden Egg"

Searching, searching, searching….

Nope, not in the rose bushes!!

Pinterest…epic failure on the bunny rolls!!

Is it in there?

Yep, the "Golden Egg" is found!!

We have this same picture on our fridge from last year!  Ruthie wanted to recreate it!!

Yummy desserts!!!

Inside of the cake!!  Surprise!!!

After Easter, we hosted the Canadian Team!!  A delightful little group that is always very, very helpful!!  

Crafts!

Carnival!

Stories!

Birthday Party complete with cupcakes!

Playtime!

Time for water!!

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

March was a crazy whirlwind of interns, the Mission Possible Team, lots of fun kid time, walking around Herastrau Lake and Elena's going away party!

Having fun with the kids at Voluntari

 The Lord blessed H2H with two interns this last winter, Tyler and Heather!!  They got along like a brother and sister and were just the extra hands that we needed!!

I do 4 main things when we have teams here….

Drive them places...

Cook for them….

Help them at the orphanage….

…and host events like Mommies and Me at our house!!

We love to go to the Voluntari orphanage and hang out with the kids outside.  Sometimes we just play, but sometimes we take a story and a craft!

This is my cute and SASSY Alexandra!!  She runs into my arms screaming, "Mommyyyyyyyy," every time I show up!!

Daniel and the Lion's Den masks!!

Jen and I decided to take Ruthie to the park one Saturday morning when she was at our house.  It was a beautiful day and we thought we might try to walk around the whole lake.  It was actually a much longer distance around than we thought it was, and well, with a three-year-old, we only made it about 1/3 of the way and she was tired.  We ended up carrying her on our shoulders!  After we got some lunch in her (and found the playground toys) she was much happier and loved her chocolate ice cream!

The last big event of March was Elena's going away party.  Last May, some of our team members fell in love with Elena and her sweet spirit and decided to try to help her get a Visa to come to America as a student!  Everything fell into place and she moved to North Carolina at the end of March.  I, of course, miss her to pieces here in Romania, but, am glad for the experiences that she is having in her new family!

Letting them go...

Sometimes we have to let our kids go….they just want to spread their wings and fly.  That was the case today!  Alex and Ioana were both from Peris and both were in our transition program last year.  They got married in August in our backyard.  About two months ago, Alex met his brother on social networking for the first time.  His brother lives near Rome and has a home and a life there.  He invited them to come stay with him and work in Rome so they can save money and eventually come back to Romania and buy a home.  Alex told me he dreams of coming back and starting his own business.  We will definitely miss them here in Romania, but know that God will keep them in the palms of His hands.  Pray for them as they begin this new adventure!!

Valentine's Day 2014

Actually, these pictures were taken the day before Valentine's Day at Voluntari!  We have been trying to do some really fun things at the orphanage, especially for holidays.  I downloaded the new Pete the Cat Valentine's Day book onto my iPad, because who doesn't love Pete the Cat!  The kids at Voluntari were more interested in touching the iPad and changing the page then they were the story.  However, the kids at Peris were so attentive and listened to the story so well…too bad we didn't take any pictures at Peris.  I cut out a big heart from cardboard and let the little kids take pictures with it and throw balloons through it!  They absolutely loved it!!  We also had a heart hunt and made homemade Valentines!  The little ones were so cute as they made them for their favorite supervisors at the orphanage.  Happy Valentine's Day!!!

 

29 again!!

Well, I turned 29 again!!  Ha!!  I celebrated the day by not having to take care of anyone except for myself.  I had a massage booked, a manicure and a pedicure and basically hung out at the mall!!  Basically, I spoiled myself!!   I ended the day with a small party at the mall (because I certainly wasn't going to cook for myself)!!!  We had dinner together, had a few presents and ate chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting (Thanks, Haley)!!  I would do it all again!!!  Here are a few pics from the day!!

Raluca

A couple of weeks ago, I took Ruthie to the orphanage with me.  She was on a break from school and her mom was working, so she pretty much went where I went and did what I did that week.  Anyways,  A little girl named Raluca at the Voluntari orphanage melted my heart the first day I brought Ruthie. She has only been at Voluntari for a couple of weeks so she is still learning the ropes and she is about four years old.  Raluca asked me who Ruthie was and if she was new there. I said no, she came with me and she is going home with me. With tears in her eyes, Raluca replied to that with, "Take me home with you, too!!" If only I could Raluca, if only I could.... Pray for her!! She is having a really hard time adjusting. I don't know her full story but my guess is she was in foster care and has now been returned to the system because they can't take care of her anymore!