Stories

Some of you may wonder why Ilinca's face was blue in the picture taken on Friday.  When we arrived, Liviu, Luciana and Ilinca were in the playroom.  In addition to Ilinca looking like a member of the blue men, Luciana's chin was faintly blue. I thought it was that nasty anti bacterial stuff they used to paint the kids with in Tutova.  Turns out Liviu was putting "lipstick" on the girls using a blue crayon.  I suspect Luciana was the instigator as she was playing with lip gloss the other day. 

Speaking of Luciana, she is such a typical little girl, which is something we don't see that often.  She plays with the baby doll (whose head is falling off) pretending to change its diapers and putting it in the crib. She pretends to sweep the floor and sometimes helps feed another child a bottle. She is good about cleaning up (most of the time) and generally is a good little helper to Coca. I would love for her to be in a foster home like Gaby. She would blossom.  Of course this is true for most of the children. 

Turns out Liviu's legs aren't as paralyzed as we thought.  They are very weak be he seems to have some small movements.  Dan is good about getting him up in his feet.  I posted a picture of from Thrusday when he was actually climbing up the special wall in the physical therapy room.  He has good upper body strength.  If only, he had someone who could work with him every day!

As usual, when I write about the children there are a lot of "if only" situations.  I try to accept that there are things we can't change but then I see glimmers of hope. Who ever knew that Jenny would be able to help Delia be able to eat from a special spoon?! Who ever thought Gabi would be toilet trained and jumping up and down and saying words? 

Things are changing, albeit slowly. There are now physical therapists in Barlad.  More people seem to be volunteering to help others.  The country is still recovering from the dark days under Ceaucescu but it is recovering. There are still abandoned factories in the fields, Roma people who have to live outside the town, and people living in crumbling apartments without heat.  I remember we have similar problems at home, although perhaps to a lesser extent.  We can only do what we can do and carry on. 

See what happens when I have time for philisophical ramblings on a Subday morning!