This past week

Well the snow finally arrived here and was greeted with 3 little boys screams of delight and joy! "Ce tare" screamed one (meant in a "how cool" way) while he punched the air. "so fun" shrieked the 2nd in English and the 3rd was too busy squealing like a girl to comment! The 3rd was of course mine! I'm not sure it'll still be here in the morning seeing as it rained all day but the children are ever hopeful. Cristi is so excited to go to school tomorrow now "mama it'll be the best day ever at school because we have snow" apparently it's the small things.



Everyday this last week I have meant to write a little but instead I stare into space then fall into bed with it unaccomplished.

The end of November saw the arrival of the shoe boxes. We received 1800 so thank you to all who worked hard to fill, check and deliver them to us they will make many people very happy this Christmas. I have been in the depot this last week setting aside gifts for the projects I work in. It's been fun to work somewhere else. Somewhere a little less emotionally entangled. My body is a little tired but my head feels clearer so I'm glad for that. But, it has been work. Making sure that we set aside that box that'll make that certain person smile and feel loved is harder than you think. They're all so different the boxes and those that'll receive them. It's a process to assign them correctly!!



December started with Romania's National Day. So we after a lovely 1st of December advent calendar opening pancake breakfast with Court and Laz, the 4 of us headed up into the town center to soak in the "Proud to be Romanian" feeling!




On the 2nd Laz and I went to meet Mos


I don't think it's possible for any child to have as much love for the man in red as this wonderful boy. Not even me when I was little and I had a lot of love in him!! Ah Laz I love you, you bring the spirit of Santa to us all!

On the 3rd there was a blessing ceremony for our children (ones that had been in the orphanage and are now in foster families in the surrounding areas). It's obviously not something I would have thought of doing for Kiki but the idea behind it was sweet even if Kiki did think "this is even more boring than school". The kids had so much fun getting together and playing afterward - some had not seen each other since the orphanage closed 2 years ago. It was an evening of laughter cake and love and that's something so important for us all!!

The 4th? What did we do? Hmmmm oh I remember Court and I watched Temple Grandin an amazing story of how a woman with autism made her way in this world and has brought a wonderful voice and understanding for autism and the people who have it. This film really touched me and gave me such hope for the future of little Alex. It really warmed me seeing how much determination and perseverance can get you places! That's good to remember for all of us.



The 5th we went tree cutting or branch cutting I should say. Court's family go every year and so we decided to surprise her and take her out to our local forest to pick a tree on the same day as her family would. It was I feel slightly more ghetto than what she was used to being that we had no snow and no pine trees but we did have: Hot cocoa and cinnamon buns eaten no less than at the top of a hunters tower in the wood:


A tree climbing contest which made us giggle:


A foot stuck in the mud and an almost lost shoe - which made me laugh out loud and almost fall over!:


A family picture minus a shoe:



and a fun branch decorating moment accompanied with a living room dance to some Christmas tunes

On the 6th Mos Nicolae brought some fun into our slippers. Or actually he brought some crazy slippers for Kiki big brown fluffy claws which he thinks are great and pretends to be anything form the Gruffalo to The Wild Things to any kind of clawed animal in between.

The 7th and 8th were pretty uneventful. Depot work in the morning homework help and some giggles in the afternoons. Followed by today - snow day.

Well I've brought you up to speed now. I should go and get some sleep before tomorrow - my day to cook for the team. So love to you all. Hope you're having a lovely December so far and don't forget to open your calendars everyday!!