(I'm ashamed that it's 9 months later and I'm still finishing these)
As a special treat for us on our last full day in Romania, Jim announced a "special breakfast edition of hot seat". This was mostly so we could get through everyone before we headed home, but it was fun. Following breakfast, those who still needed to do some shopping (mostly for gifts for sponsors) went to take care of that while the rest of us helped clean up the team house. Most of our cleaning was organizing the things we were leaving for the kids.
When the others came back, we began our debriefing process. It wasn't until I got home that I truly appreciated that this was a part of our trip. I really went through a major culture shock when I got home, which I wouldn't have expected if Jim hadn't told us about it.
Jim had us all go around and say our highs and lows of the trip, and three words we would use to describe our trip. For me they were as follows:
Lows: thinking about the babies at the baby hospital during the thunderstorm, and having to leave the kids
Highs: worship at Alfa & Omega, and Marius' huge smile at Voluntar on Children's Day
3 Words: love, sovereignty, and fellowship
We paused our debriefing here for lunch, and our final visit to Peris. I spent my time there chasing Alina around the play yard, giving her and Ana piggyback rides, and laughing at some of the older boys giving Brinn a hard time about Volle. Goodbyes were hard, especially when some of the younger ones got emotional, but the H2H staff eventually ushered us back to the vans and got us back to Pipera.
We were given Schwarmas for dinner, and then ushered off to finish our debriefing by writing our story in one page, and then in one paragraph. We finished off the night with the final edition of hot seat.
Showing posts with label babies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label babies. Show all posts
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Saturday, August 22, 2009
6-2 Trip to Rossiori
Tuesday was a very early morning for us. I believe we were on the road by 6:30. I spent a bit of the time sleeping, but was awake to see a couple storks' nests as we drove past and the city of Alexandria as we drove through. The big exciting thing on our drive was passing through a gypsy village. Oh my was that interesting. Everything was very extravagant looking, big ornate houses. Jenny told us though that those are all fronts, the real house are quite small and behind them.
Our home base for the day was at a local church in Rossiori. We set up and put on a concert and carnival just like at Peris, except that these kids were crazy. It was kind of scary doing the cake walk with them because they were doing so much running and shoving.
We recovered over some lunch and then had free time. I did a bit of shopping, tried authentic Romanian sausage (called "meech") and bought a scarf.
We put on one more concert for a second group of kids and another carnival. These kids were much less hyper than the first ones, thankfully. One little girl was very cute, when given her candy she exclaimed in Romanian "I've won something!"
After carnival we packed up, got sack dinners to go, and made the drive back to Pipera. We could tell on our way home that a storm was blowing in and just as our van got back to the team house, rain drops started falling. These were HUGE raindrops. I made a ran for the porch, and no sooner had I made it up the steps then it started pouring buckets. This was absolutely the biggest thunderstorm I have ever seen.
Some of the others were not quite so lucky and were drenched by the time they made it inside. Gusting wind, pouring rain, and booming thunder...definitely a good night to be inside. There was pizza waiting for us for a little extra dinner, now that's a good pizza delivery service!
Tues night was when I hit my low of the trip. I was sitting on one of the couches pondering the week and the storm, and then it hit me. I thought of the babies at the baby hospital, lying in their little cribs, alone, in the dark, in the middle of this storm. Babies who don't have parents to rush in and comfort them if they're scared and crying.
It only occurs to me now, several months later, that this could be an analogy for unreached people: alone, in the dark, in the midst of storms, with no one to shed light into their world. How important missions are for all the lost and lonely people in this world!
After pizza consumption we had night light and hot seat. Hot seat quote, Ryan to Katie D. (who are dating) as he picks up paper and pen "Describe your perfect date..."
Our home base for the day was at a local church in Rossiori. We set up and put on a concert and carnival just like at Peris, except that these kids were crazy. It was kind of scary doing the cake walk with them because they were doing so much running and shoving.
We recovered over some lunch and then had free time. I did a bit of shopping, tried authentic Romanian sausage (called "meech") and bought a scarf.
We put on one more concert for a second group of kids and another carnival. These kids were much less hyper than the first ones, thankfully. One little girl was very cute, when given her candy she exclaimed in Romanian "I've won something!"
After carnival we packed up, got sack dinners to go, and made the drive back to Pipera. We could tell on our way home that a storm was blowing in and just as our van got back to the team house, rain drops started falling. These were HUGE raindrops. I made a ran for the porch, and no sooner had I made it up the steps then it started pouring buckets. This was absolutely the biggest thunderstorm I have ever seen.
Some of the others were not quite so lucky and were drenched by the time they made it inside. Gusting wind, pouring rain, and booming thunder...definitely a good night to be inside. There was pizza waiting for us for a little extra dinner, now that's a good pizza delivery service!
Tues night was when I hit my low of the trip. I was sitting on one of the couches pondering the week and the storm, and then it hit me. I thought of the babies at the baby hospital, lying in their little cribs, alone, in the dark, in the middle of this storm. Babies who don't have parents to rush in and comfort them if they're scared and crying.
It only occurs to me now, several months later, that this could be an analogy for unreached people: alone, in the dark, in the midst of storms, with no one to shed light into their world. How important missions are for all the lost and lonely people in this world!
After pizza consumption we had night light and hot seat. Hot seat quote, Ryan to Katie D. (who are dating) as he picks up paper and pen "Describe your perfect date..."
Thursday, June 25, 2009
5-27 People's Palace and Baby Hospital
Breakfast was extra special Wed morning, we had some very yummy french toast. It was also surprising. I was the first to crack open a (what we thought to be) hardboiled egg. I very quickly discovered that it was not in fact hardboiled, but raw. They had put out the wrong basket of eggs, woops. haha Breakfast also began Erin's and my day of helping with kitchen clean up, which wasn't too bad.
Jen led devotionals from Max Lucado's book Give a Day a Chance. "Diary of a Dog" and "Diary of a Cat". The difference is a dog comes across everything saying "oh boy, my favorite!" and a cat finds the bad in every detail (at least in Max's analogy). The point is to try to keep a good attitude about all things and stay open to the seeing the good that God is doing in each day.
Each of the 3 days (Wed-Fri) that it was just us woodwinds, we would go do a sightseeing/cultural immersion thing in the morning, and then go to Peris in the afternoon, since the kids are in class in the morning. Wednesday we were to go to the People's Palace.
Nicolae Ceausescu (pronounced "Nee-co-lai Chow-chess-coo"), the communist dictator from 1974-1989, had the People's Palace built to house his office. The building is GINORMOUS and very extravagant. Building it drained the Romanian treasury and put the country into severe foreign debt, which was paid through the country's agricultural resources while the people starved. Present day, the building houses many government offices and has rooms that can be rented for private occasions.
It took us quite a while to get there. Bucharest traffic makes LA traffic look like a nice Sunday drive. Plus, traffic laws aren't exactly the same. Oh goodness, people seemed so polite when we got home, haha On the way there though, we passed time by sharing summer romance stories, very entertaining.
Unfortunately, due to the heavy traffic we were late for our tour time, and were told we would have to come back another day. Several of us took advantage of the gift shop anyway, and did a little exploring of the outside. Stephen (one of our saxophones and the only guy woodwind) later told us how thoroughly amused he was in watching a group of European guys check out the group of 13 American girls.
We made an equally long drive back to the team house for lunch and then split up: the flutes and saxes to Peris for the first day of lessons, and the clarinets to the baby hospital.
The impact of the baby hospital didn't come until later in the trip and now, but more of that later. The baby hospital ministry involves holding, feeding, and changing these babies. It's a section of a children's hospital in Bucharest, children that have been abandoned, many of whom will end up in the orphanages later. Romania is so economically unstable that many families just do not have the money to care for their children.
The saddest part is how uninvolved the nurses are with the children. They feed and change them, and that's about it. That's why we're there. I spent 3 hours straight holding and rocking babies. I get choked up now thinking about it, those precious little things who, if it weren't for H2H and other missions organizations, wouldn'would have barely any physical touch.
The hospital conditions were definitely a lot better than I had expected. It was clean and the babies each had plenty of space. It was cute, the door to each room had a different Bambi character on it. Amberly and I were inthe Flower room. Oh goodness those babies were so adorable. Andrei, Rafael, Domi (he didn't have a first name, his last name was "Domitreanu" so Corny, a Romanian H2H member, calls him Domi), Catalin, and Mihai. 4 of the babies were about 3 months, Rafael and Andrei were older.
Apparently Rafael has a cleft palate that will be fixed soon, he had a feeding tube for the time being. Domi is being adopted, which was very exciting to hear. And oh goodness, Catalin had the most hair I've ever seen on a baby! A sad part of the hospital trip was seeing the nurses not do much, they spent most of the time we were there sitting in the break room smoking.
Once the babies had been fed their dinner, we went back to the team house and had our dinner. Then Night Light and Hot Seat. My turn for hot seat, awkward, thanks to being asked to tell the ENTIRE story (including the details I leave out) about how Tad and I started dating. However, I'm thankful I went then and not after the brass go back, Matt Fell sure knows how to ask awkward questions.
Jen led devotionals from Max Lucado's book Give a Day a Chance. "Diary of a Dog" and "Diary of a Cat". The difference is a dog comes across everything saying "oh boy, my favorite!" and a cat finds the bad in every detail (at least in Max's analogy). The point is to try to keep a good attitude about all things and stay open to the seeing the good that God is doing in each day.
Each of the 3 days (Wed-Fri) that it was just us woodwinds, we would go do a sightseeing/cultural immersion thing in the morning, and then go to Peris in the afternoon, since the kids are in class in the morning. Wednesday we were to go to the People's Palace.
Nicolae Ceausescu (pronounced "Nee-co-lai Chow-chess-coo"), the communist dictator from 1974-1989, had the People's Palace built to house his office. The building is GINORMOUS and very extravagant. Building it drained the Romanian treasury and put the country into severe foreign debt, which was paid through the country's agricultural resources while the people starved. Present day, the building houses many government offices and has rooms that can be rented for private occasions.
It took us quite a while to get there. Bucharest traffic makes LA traffic look like a nice Sunday drive. Plus, traffic laws aren't exactly the same. Oh goodness, people seemed so polite when we got home, haha On the way there though, we passed time by sharing summer romance stories, very entertaining.
Unfortunately, due to the heavy traffic we were late for our tour time, and were told we would have to come back another day. Several of us took advantage of the gift shop anyway, and did a little exploring of the outside. Stephen (one of our saxophones and the only guy woodwind) later told us how thoroughly amused he was in watching a group of European guys check out the group of 13 American girls.
We made an equally long drive back to the team house for lunch and then split up: the flutes and saxes to Peris for the first day of lessons, and the clarinets to the baby hospital.
The impact of the baby hospital didn't come until later in the trip and now, but more of that later. The baby hospital ministry involves holding, feeding, and changing these babies. It's a section of a children's hospital in Bucharest, children that have been abandoned, many of whom will end up in the orphanages later. Romania is so economically unstable that many families just do not have the money to care for their children.
The saddest part is how uninvolved the nurses are with the children. They feed and change them, and that's about it. That's why we're there. I spent 3 hours straight holding and rocking babies. I get choked up now thinking about it, those precious little things who, if it weren't for H2H and other missions organizations, wouldn'would have barely any physical touch.
The hospital conditions were definitely a lot better than I had expected. It was clean and the babies each had plenty of space. It was cute, the door to each room had a different Bambi character on it. Amberly and I were inthe Flower room. Oh goodness those babies were so adorable. Andrei, Rafael, Domi (he didn't have a first name, his last name was "Domitreanu" so Corny, a Romanian H2H member, calls him Domi), Catalin, and Mihai. 4 of the babies were about 3 months, Rafael and Andrei were older.
Apparently Rafael has a cleft palate that will be fixed soon, he had a feeding tube for the time being. Domi is being adopted, which was very exciting to hear. And oh goodness, Catalin had the most hair I've ever seen on a baby! A sad part of the hospital trip was seeing the nurses not do much, they spent most of the time we were there sitting in the break room smoking.
Once the babies had been fed their dinner, we went back to the team house and had our dinner. Then Night Light and Hot Seat. My turn for hot seat, awkward, thanks to being asked to tell the ENTIRE story (including the details I leave out) about how Tad and I started dating. However, I'm thankful I went then and not after the brass go back, Matt Fell sure knows how to ask awkward questions.
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