Birthdays and BBQ's

This weekend our friend Anghelina came to visit us and we had fun hanging out with all our other friends too. Yesterday we celebrated Alex's 10th birthday with a fun and surprisingly relaxed party (11 children plus the Balla 6 who were playing with them outside). Today we enjoyed the warm Spring sun with this years first BBQ, games and snoozing in the sun while the kids rode around on Jonte's newest tinkering a handy go-kart. Here's a little look at our weekend :)

Sometimes it amazes me how big our boys have become!

P.A.R.T.Y

Springtime and puppies go hand in hand

Puppies galore!

Ah love these smiles!

Me and my boys :)

Our BBQ yumminess

Blossom 

They were having some trouble sitting on the wood pile!

Our boys sure do love this girl! As do we :)

Otis wasn't up for smiling so we decided to do the sad face!

Here's Cristi enjoying Jonte's newest welding invention

Hallelujah the adoption is finished!!

Finally after months, really years of waiting, the adoption is finally finished and Cristi is finally a Worner! After our second court date in January I finally got the papers that the adoption was approved placed in my hand last Tuesday. I wasted no time and the next morning went to the Mayors office in town and made his new birth certificate - it was a happy moment getting that birth certificate and seeing him finally and legally with our family name. 

The next day we went to Oradea and made him a passport and following that booked tickets to come to Scotland. It has been 3 years since I came there and of course Cristi has never been so we are very excited that in 2 weeks on April 8th we get to come and visit all our friends and family in the UK. Cristi was so keen to go that as soon as he had his passport in hand he asked if we could go to Scotland that afternoon! 

It is a strange thought to be able to leave the country with my son, something we have never had the chance to do. I am so thankful to finally be able to bring him to my home country and show him all the people and places I have missed seeing these last few years. I can't stop smiling! It is a great time. 

However, it is also a hard time. Hard to think of leaving friends and people who over the years have become family here. Hard to think of leaving some of the kids who I have become so attached to. Hard to think of not being there anymore for my kids in the institution who have very few people to look out for them and love on them. Hard to fit the last 7 1/2 years into some suitcases! 

I am however exceptionally ready for a lovely and most probably wet & windy Scottish holiday!! So, I hope to be seeing some of you very soon. That is as soon as I work out spring cleaning my house, finding someone to care for my cats and all the other bits that have to be done. 

Until then I just want to say a huge THANK YOU for all your support over these last years. Your devotion to me, Cristi and the work I have done is so very much appreciated!  

Woo hoo! I have a little Worner! :)

Happenings of this last week

Spring

Delicately they open

Heralded by spring sunshine

A warm breeze dances amongst them

Innocent colours of fresh beginnings

New life upon aged branches

The cycle starts again

Spider Boy

As I was putting Cristi to bed the other night we were talking about the importance of hygiene etc and as I was listing the reasons for good hygiene I mentioned that one of the many reasons this was important is because at some point he might want to start dating and that (scarily) that day might not be too far away - it could even be within 5 years. At which point his face screwed up and he laughed "Mum don't be so ridiculous I am not going to have a girlfriend when I'm 15! Maybe when I'm 20 I might want a girlfriend but never at 15!" Keep being my innocent little spider boy I say :)

Enjoying our first ice cream of Spring :)

Beautiful friendship

Food Delivery:

Family Björk and I both received donations over Christmas and so we decided to put them together and buy some food packages for the 5 families that live out in Făncica. These families are on the foundations poor family list and so receive a small package of food and clothing 3 times a year but they need so much more help than we are able to currently give. Three of the families have each had a child at Casa Alba - 2 have been adopted and currently live abroad and another is in foster care here in Romania. It is so strange to see faces so alike to their siblings. Bare foot, dirty, with misfitting clothing and hungry belly's but eyes so similar to ones I used to care for. It's a real prince and pauper story. Of course their siblings have not had an easy start. They have missed out on much needed early years bonding and still suffer the scars of being abandoned but to look at their biological siblings and see the utter squalor they live in, little mud houses infested with rats that bite their feet and eat their food at night, no running water, no toilet, crammed some 10 family members into a one bedroom two bed house it makes you wonder. I wonder what life has in store for them. I wonder if they can move forward from this poverty and away from this cycle of poverty. I wonder how different their lives would have been if they had been the ones left at birth. I wonder how they can stand there with such big and beautiful smiles.   

Food bags

The left side of this house is home to a family of 7. They have a mud floor, 2 beds and a wood burning stove. Their children are beautiful.

Cristi handed out a bag of his old toys to some of the kids. As a parent you want your children to understand the importance of sharing and caring for others less fortunate. It's strange and sad to be able to do that so literally here, knowing that if things were different this could have easily been him or any of the children who once lived at the orphanage.  

Following the car down to their houses

Ah just look at these precious faces!

Some of the children ran after the car as it went back up the hill

Country Living

A Blustery Day

The weather changed a bit at the weekend with some crazy winds! We went 'kiting' as Cristi likes to call it with Jonte and his homemade kite. I tell you that thing was dragging me along the ground so you can image what it did to Cristi!! If you want to see a short clip then click here. A tad scary - obviously after that we didn't let him do it alone! A fun time but gosh my arms hurt the next day :)

Another piece of news

Possibly the best part of this week was the phone call I received this morning. The social workers finally received my final adoption papers :) :) :) So.... tomorrow I get to go pick them up and therefore finally this week my boy will officially legally be mine and will share my name! Oh happy day! A long very very long time coming!