Venturing out...

We have internet, Houston! In this adventure, I sometimes feel like an astronaut going to another world. We are in a town....seriously, I can't remember the name until I see it written. It starts with a "G". It is a few minutes away from the first painted monastery that we will be visiting tomorrow. We have a nice hotel, with a young hostess who speaks some English. They brought the chef in to make our dinner because the owner let him/her off due to the hotel being slow, and they have wifi. That makes us all happy.

Robin, Luisa, Durrell (our driver) and I left Barlad at 2:30. We spent the morning at the hospital with the kids. It was a little shocking because a few minutes after we arrived, there was a person with official papers and she was there to take Christian. After some inquiry, we were told he was going to the placement center. He was whisked away very suddenly, it was difficult for us to watch him leave after seeing him make such good progress in the few days that we had him. This may be what it will feel like when we leave. After that drama was over, we had our duties to help feed the kids and play. Little Miss Allena decided to strip down, so Kristen used that opportunity to change her into a very cute pink dress that she brought (see picture below). Sweet Gabi, was placed in a silky purple dress and didn't miss a beat with eating this morning. Man, that girl likes her food! She eats each meal as if it's the last one she will get. Evan says, that she only recently started eating solids. Gabi is kind of the garbage disposal, finishing everyone's bowl. She also discovered the rocking chair this morning and set about rocking herself in it, and did some very nice imitating of mouth movements and sounds. This is the first that I've seen of that. Delia and I strolled down the hall and into the stairway, and I had a momentary thought of running down the stairs and leaving the country with her! Instead we just looked at the plants in the stairway. She also, enjoyed knocking off a book that I placed on her chest by rolling over. This was a game for a few turns before she became bored. Little Eanots seemed to enjoy some very light head stroking. This was after he has some very active time with a gymnastics therapist (our equivalent of a physical therapy assistant). I really enjoyed visiting with her and discussing the similarities and differences of therapist in America and Romania. It seems they don't know or understand the sensory system, as poor Eanots was completely overstimulated by her sweeping him up and moving his limbs, but that seems to be the Romanian way. Kids have things done to them. It just the way it's done. Conversely, Cleo, enjoyed her massage and fell asleep when it was over.

After we had lunch and packed up, we set out on our drive to the town we are in right now. On the way, we drove past so many interesting sites. We saw many horse and buggies on the road. We drove on a winding road that meandered through a gypsy village, a peasant village, a house made of mud; many, many beautiful churches (they take their religion very seriously here), lovely snow filled fields and frozen rivers. During our drive, Durrell mentioned we were going through the county/providence where Nadia Comaneci was born. He finally understood, where I was from when I told him I lived in the same place as Nadia and her husband. Sometime it's about reference. During our drive we laughed and feared for our lives. Thank goodness we did the former more that the latter. I will say the emotional freedom that the traveling has given us is refreshing. Don't get me wrong, I'm here to spend time at the hospital and I'm thankful that Evan and Kristen, who stayed in Barlad, will be going to see the kids over the weekend. But the heaviness of my heart has lifted somewhat, being away. I hope to enjoy my weekend and be rejuvenated for my second week with the kids. As our new friend and driver says, "no problem".