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!