Yesteday we visited the market here in TM. Potatoes, tomatoes, and carrots are in season and every stand had those staples. We also picked up some cherries and saw the first crop of strawberries.

Kelly told us that Marian had his first strawberry last summer and he was so thankful for it. He was 13 then. It is amazing what I take for granted.

The Roller Coaster

Abby took this shot while she was standing on the sidelines of this "roller coaster" at TM Day. She wasn't feeling so well so she volunteered to stay behind. The ride was fun, although it took us around the same track about 10 times. I was very glad when it stopped.

Look how fast we are going!

Dogs have so many talents

Several years ago at the Romanian Zoo a lioness birthed a few cubs. The cubs were unable to eat from their mother so the Romanian's brought in a Vizsla dog to help nurse them. The Vizsla is a Hungarian short-haired pointing dog and reminded me very much of Easy.

She seemed to get along just fine with the lioness she nursed by her side. She is now full grown. Amazing what dogs can do!

Lacremora

Friday was one of our last visits to the baby hospital. While we were there, Kelly spoke with one of the nurses and found out the name of the baby I fell in love with. Her name is Lacremora. Apparently she is named after a flower here in Romania and she is now nicknamed "La" as Lacremora is such a huge name for a little baby.

We brought washcloths and towels and gave the babies a little cleaning. La also learned how to make noises with her mouth while we were there and discovered her tongue! We will visit her for the last time the Saturday before we leave. I will miss her very much.

TM Day

Yesterday Abby and I, along with the kids from Casa Rebeca, visited the festivities at TM Day. There were carnival rides, live dancing entertainment, and large blowup slides. The highlight of the afternoon was the "modern dance" routine done by a dance squad. They danced to the Pussy Cat Dolls, "Don't cha" and wow was it enteraining.

The kids loved the roller coaster (train) we rode as well as the bumper cars. We had a blast!

Romania Zoo

I am a huge animal lover and so are the kids of Casa Rebeca. Upon entering the zoo, we were greeted by 5 horses nibbling grass at the entrance. We then made our way through the extensive monkey exhibits and then through the fish and reptiles. Along with the lions, tigers, and bears, we also saw donkeys (as pictured above), deer, and dogs. To top off the whole adventure we ended with a large exhibit of guinea pigs and rabbits. The kids enjoyed this the most.

Tomorrow we are heading back to the baby hospital, going on a picnic with Casa Rebeca for lunch, and having the girls of Casa Rebeca over for a slumber party night at Kelly's.

Babies, Part II

The babies we saw today are all under a year old and two of them do not have names that we know of. It is bittersweet to see them as they are so easy and wonderful to love but it is so easy to feel helpless. Please pray for these infants and toddlers. As they sit in their cribs all day, sleeping or looking at the ceiling, they are losing precious opportunities to learn, walk, and explore. Pray that they are blessed, that they find a family and find their love from Christ.

Pray for solutions in Romania.

Today....

We are on our way to the baby hopsital again this morning. For those of you who are Saved By The Bell fans, we packed a large duffle to carry some babies home. I wish we could....

Father's Day (a little late)

Abby and I share the pleasure of having the funniest dad in America. He gave us money this summer to complete an expedition to Italy and Romania to ensure he was also the funniest dad in these countries. It is now verified that he is the funniest dad in London, India, Thailand, and Dublin. Some may say this expedition is a waste of money but it does help dad sleep at night. He is now ready to try out for last comic standing, the "Dad edition".

It is not every day that I have a reminder to bless my father and it just so happens this time around, I am a 26 hour plane flight away from him. None the less, I love you and am thankful for you and who you are every day. Thank you for being a support in my life and for this trip. It has truly been a blessing. This time - I took pictures of the scenary just for you.

Love you Dad and miss you! Happy Father's Day!

More Babies

More pictures of us at the baby hospital. Abby is holding a little toddler boy. He has probably been at this hospital since arriving in this world. I am holding a little baby who is about six months old. Unfortuantely, I do not know this babies name or sex as it was not posted. It was the sweetest few hours to be able to hold this little baby. We had a chance to feed each of the babies in this room before leaving and gave them a few hours of our attention. I so hope we have an opportunity to go back and love on them more.

The Trip Begins

This is why we are here, to see babies like this. Today Abby and I went with Kelly to the Baby Hospital. Due to the way the orphanages are handled here in Romania, these unwanted babies are left here for sometimes two or more years. They receive very little attention and spend 95% of their days in their cribs alone. Today we were able to hold them. laugh with them, and call them by name. Some of these babies did not even have names or birthdates. I so wish that Romania allowed open adoptions as so many of these babies could have loving homes in other countries.

Rome

Abby and I saw many sites in Rome and happily, we saw everything we wanted in our four days. Here are the highlights, with pictures.

Friday - We arrived in Rome and managed to catch a taxi at the airport. The taxi driver did not know very much english but was able to get us to our hotel. Our hotel room was small but we loved it. The first day, we walked around the hotel area and Plaza Fiume, picked up some pizza at the cafe, and cherries at a local market. We scheduled the "Illuminated Tour of Rome" for that evening and had so much fun learning about the sites and seeing Rome at night.

Saturday - We overdid ourselves this day. We mastered the subway, went to the Colleseum, the Roman Forum, Capital Hill, the Emperors Monument, and on and on. We also did a little bit of shopping and ate our lunch on a terrace across from the Roman Forum.

Sunday - We mastered the bus system and loved this mode of transportation. We took a test run to the Christopher Columbus Center to see if we could buy tickets to Cirque De Soleil. We were able to get tickets for the 9pm show and also went to the Rome Trade Fair and sampled cheese, bread, baked goods, etc. We did most of our gift shopping on this day as well and really enjoyed ourselves. I picked up a pair of nikes and Abby got a nike watch. (Not that this could not have been purchased in the US, but seems fun to say they are from Rome).

We made a second trip to the trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps (which were under construction) on Sunday night. We didn't make it back to the subway before it closed so we made a long walk back to our hotel. Very tired....we slept in until 1pm on Monday.

Monday - Last of the site seeing. We spent half of the day at the Vatican and the Vatican Museum.

All in all, we had a blast! Pictures are coming. We are having trouble with uploading them.

Everything is Italian!

We are getting ready to leave for Romania early, early tomorrow morning! When we get settled, there will be lots to tell. In the meantime, here are some fun tidbits to hold you all over....

- Everything is Italian. Dad, FYI no one speaks English. (Including this website)
- Our hotel is not close to anything, including the Spanish Steps.
- Spanish Steps took 3 days to find. Abby can't talk about this without cursing so ask me for the details.
- Prego is a word for everything, can be used in any sentence and has no meaning on its own.
- Don't tell the wait staff that your order is incorrect. You will hear lots of yelling in Italian. Again, don't ask Abby about this...
- Italian men, glad we can't understand what they are saying. Lots of screaming, pointing, and death looks.
- Buses are the way to go for traveling.
- Texas automatically translates to BUSH!
- Taxi drivers rip you off.

Pictures to come tomorrow!

Packing

In three and a half days, I will be boarding a plane to Rome. I feel nowhere near prepared. Packing has begun this morning and it has been somewhat of a slow process. The dryer keeps buzzing, MTV's Made keeps beckoning me to the couch, Remi is chewing a bone on my house slipper, and my job has called 4 times. Also, the list for Wal-Mart keeps getting longer and longer.

I have accomplished cleaning out our closet, organizing Jared's clothes, uploading and ordering pictures on www.walgreens.com, and posting this journal entry. None of these things were on my to do list for today but I feel glad they are getting done.

Now it is time to get serious about packing...