It's been a month.....

Wow this month has been a crazy one! I am clearly appalling at updating my blog so I will summarise things of note from this last month.

• Due to my terrible procrastination I found myself with a 1 month gap, left from a 1 year period that I had, to finish a distance learning course I ordered. So, wanting to finish it I started crazily studying in between a great friends visit and turning 27. It was hard but with the help of 2 wonderful friends who helped to entertain my child I managed in 2 weeks to write 6 essay assignments and complete a certificate in counselling children and adolescents! YAY!!
• My beautiful friend Hanna came to visit for a week and settled my soul because she is wonderful and has that effect on me and my life. I love you and miss you now you have left. She did ask me to be her bridesmaid though and although I'm not sure how good I will be from here I am oh so touched and excited to have that role!
  
• I had a birthday - it was a day of fun and laughter and a kids party with the boys. Some good old pass the parcel and the mars bar game and a cow themed cake from my boy who came to wake me at 7am "come on mama it's your birthday you have to get up and open your present from me NOW!"

• We've been trying to deal with school bullies and learning what it means to be assertive. However, I think the message got lost today when Kiki decided he had had enough of the boy bullying him and threw an apple at him - oops!!
  
• Helping me put away laundry the other day he held up my bra and exclaimed in English "Mama I found your Boob!" Hmmmm I couldn't correct him for laughing!
• Things at the state institution are going OK we've been really trying to come up with new games/activities for them but it's hard when there is a mental age of 3 to 20 to find things to engage them all. One of them told me on Monday that they were living in a prison and I asked why she named it so. She said that they were now not allowed to leave the place to go into the town because the director had found out they were prostituting themselves to locals and road workers. "It's good though I got 25 lei the last time" said another. That is the equivalent of around £5. My heart breaks for these lost souls who do not realise or have any reason to care that they are worth so much more than that!
• School/Day Center is good. Been trying to come up with crafts and games to entertain them. It can be hard (so if you have any ideas let me know) but it can be laughter filled too!
  
• I had a good day today with one of the boys from the poor family I work with. I took him for a bath and then Court and Laz came to play and do crafts with us. He felt special I could see but I cry for his older brother who now age 14 has given up on school. His dad says "well he can write his name what more does he need? I need help with the sheep that's more important!" Will they ever reach any potential or is that it for him? It is hard to stand by and watch it happen when neither the parents or the child see any benefit in attending school. These people need education for them to have any chance at changing their lives but when the education they get falls short of teaching them what they actually need to know in this life can we argue with them not attending school to help feed their families? They are beautiful I wish they knew what more this world could and should hold for them.
  

• Well Springtime weather has started to come and the sunshine filled days allow the kids to play outside bringing laughter and warmth to us. The rose tinted skies bring a calm to the evening. I hope the cold stays away. It is great not to have to pay for heating especially for the people in my life who do not have the money or the voice to demand that their homes are warm and that they deserve more than 1 day a week of hot water or any clean water for that matter. Life can be hard here but sometimes it is the ones stuck in the gutters that hold the most joy in their eyes reminding me what life should really be about. Think about them and remember how blessed and lucky life can be for some.

Love to you all. I will update again soon xx