So, the truth is out - Even I can be silly sometimes. Here was cute little Collin trying to take a nice picture for some friends of ours and I had to go and ruin it. Too funny!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Romania Pictures
Here is just a quick post with a few of the pictures Chad has taken in Romania. I think I picked 5 out of the hundreds he has taken just to give everyone an idea of what he is seeing.
This 1st picture is of Chad and Matt D. It looks cold there...
The next 2 pictures are of kids that Chad has been working with. The little girl must have made an impression on him because he took several pictures of her. 
This next picture was taken at what Chad calls the "transitional home" and the 3 girls on the front left of the photo used to be orphans.
This next picture was taken at what Chad calls the "transitional home" and the 3 girls on the front left of the photo used to be orphans.
These final pics are just some good ones Chad took. I love the open window. It looks like the picture was taken by a professional photographer.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Hmmm...
I was thinking today about the fact that I haven't talked to my best friend, Tarah, or my sister-in-law, Michelle, for a long long time. I used to call them regularly. I have to wonder why that is......When Chad and I started dating, and really even into the first several years of our marriage, it used to drive me crazy that Chad didn't like to talk on the phone. It would now seem as though I have adopted his feelings about it. I often get frustrated when talking on the phone, especially cell phones. I hate that I am always distracted while I am on the phone. There TRULY never seems to be a "good" time. I hate that, when talking on a cell phone, I will be talking and can't hear what the person on the other end is saying because it cuts them off. Finally, I have a hard time "reading people" over the phone. It is funny how I have changed over time. I also feel like I don't have anything to talk about with them now that I have started blogging. We truly lead boring lives and anything big that happens makes it on the blog, so what is left to talk about?
On that note, here is an update on what the boys and I have been up to while Chad is away - -
- We have done the usual cleaning (that is a must in my book)
- We have been swimming
- I have been working, and sleeping, and trying to figure out what to do with the boys while I was doing these things.
- The boys have been spending lots of time playing baseball at the park
- The boys have been staying up too late
- The boys went to the batting cages for the first time with some good friends of ours, and they LOVED it!
- The boys talked me into taking them and their friends to the batting cages on what might have been the last of our nice cool summer days (it was only 85 degrees at 4pm)
- I had to take the family cat to the vet for emergency surgery to drain a large abscess on his neck, YUCK
- I have been checking 2 to 3 times per day for updates from Chad.
The boys have done exceptionally good while Chad has been gone. I wish I wasn't tired so much of the time so that I could enjoy them even more. We are all looking forward to Chad coming home. I think that Diesel, our family dog, is ready too.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Romania Day 6
Chad's e-mail about his 5th day in Romania was only moderately interesting so I decided not to post it. Day 6, however, is a different story. This is a VERY long one, so I will just post part of it. It will be enough to give you a picture of what he is experiencing.
The orphanage is actually located in a Castle. The castles here don’t look like those I have seen pictures of in western Europe, they aren’t made with large grey rock, but otherwise they look like castles. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take and pictures, the Romanian government got burned a few years back by people showing the worst pictures and got tired of the bad publicity. I was tempted to snap away, but restrained to not cause a riff.
Okay, let me tell you what I saw and then I will share my feelings. We pulled up a dirt road with greenery almost tunneling the road. We passed through a gate and I could then see the castle clearly. It was painted a soft Spanish orange color with white trim. It looked pretty good from a distance. Gorgeous trees surround the property and there is plenty of grass everywhere. I could see children ahead playing on swings and sitting on concrete. We were forewarned that the kids would be much more affectionate and likely treat us like celebrities. As we open the doors to the cars they came running. These kids ranged in age from 6-22 years. 22 doesn’t seem like a kid, but unfortunately the system hasn’t served them well enough to act like adults. I saw clumps of older kids sitting reluctantly under some trees. The younger ones reconnected quickly with the team that they already knew and then moved on to us newbies. It seemed they all wanted to speak all of the English words they knew but they were as limited in their English as I am in Romanian. They did apparently watch enough TV to pick up on ALL of the WWE wrestlers name. They all wanted to be called “Big Show”. It made me laugh and I decided I would often refer to myself as “Big Show”. We settled in after 20 minutes of standing in the parking lot meeting 40+ kids and then decided to get on with the games, crafts and stories.
The kids were obviously not the kids at the CDC. I thought the CDC had “rough” kids, but this place was the real deal. We had 2 deaf girls, 1 girl had a broken arm but just had some heavy gauze wrapping it, plenty of the kids were obviously larger than they were educated, the older girls that huddled were dressed like street girls in the 1980’s, one boy was the obvious wild child. He honestly resembled a kid that was raised by animals, often running while flailing his arms. He was likely 13ish but behaved as a 3 or 4 year old. There were kids in dire need of dental care as well. One girl’s front teeth and gums jutted ½ an inch forward making her look tragically awkward. Many of the youth were dressed carelessly. Girls needing bras but were not aware and boys were wearing shirts that were made for girls. It was sad.
The inside of the building was also described to me. The kids abuse everything. They have broken any remote controls for tv’s and dvd players. The furniture is a wreck. The rooms sleep 15+ kids when fully loaded and no less than 12. They do have some belongings, but the other kids constantly steal anything of value. They can’t even keep silverware in the kitchen due to the kids taking it. It is a mess.
The rest of our conversation was mostly about trying to find some silver lining. There isn’t much silver in it, but hope can be found. If they didn’t have any interaction with outsiders, they would be in orphan prison. Something is better than nothing. Playing rock-paper-scissors with me is better than not. Hugging one of us is safer than 30 seconds away from us. Someone looking them in the eyes and talking with them is better than 10 minutes inside fighting over the remote control. God bless these kids, they have it more difficult than you and I can ever comprehend. They are victims of life in a broken world.
The orphanage is actually located in a Castle. The castles here don’t look like those I have seen pictures of in western Europe, they aren’t made with large grey rock, but otherwise they look like castles. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take and pictures, the Romanian government got burned a few years back by people showing the worst pictures and got tired of the bad publicity. I was tempted to snap away, but restrained to not cause a riff.
Okay, let me tell you what I saw and then I will share my feelings. We pulled up a dirt road with greenery almost tunneling the road. We passed through a gate and I could then see the castle clearly. It was painted a soft Spanish orange color with white trim. It looked pretty good from a distance. Gorgeous trees surround the property and there is plenty of grass everywhere. I could see children ahead playing on swings and sitting on concrete. We were forewarned that the kids would be much more affectionate and likely treat us like celebrities. As we open the doors to the cars they came running. These kids ranged in age from 6-22 years. 22 doesn’t seem like a kid, but unfortunately the system hasn’t served them well enough to act like adults. I saw clumps of older kids sitting reluctantly under some trees. The younger ones reconnected quickly with the team that they already knew and then moved on to us newbies. It seemed they all wanted to speak all of the English words they knew but they were as limited in their English as I am in Romanian. They did apparently watch enough TV to pick up on ALL of the WWE wrestlers name. They all wanted to be called “Big Show”. It made me laugh and I decided I would often refer to myself as “Big Show”. We settled in after 20 minutes of standing in the parking lot meeting 40+ kids and then decided to get on with the games, crafts and stories.
The kids were obviously not the kids at the CDC. I thought the CDC had “rough” kids, but this place was the real deal. We had 2 deaf girls, 1 girl had a broken arm but just had some heavy gauze wrapping it, plenty of the kids were obviously larger than they were educated, the older girls that huddled were dressed like street girls in the 1980’s, one boy was the obvious wild child. He honestly resembled a kid that was raised by animals, often running while flailing his arms. He was likely 13ish but behaved as a 3 or 4 year old. There were kids in dire need of dental care as well. One girl’s front teeth and gums jutted ½ an inch forward making her look tragically awkward. Many of the youth were dressed carelessly. Girls needing bras but were not aware and boys were wearing shirts that were made for girls. It was sad.
The inside of the building was also described to me. The kids abuse everything. They have broken any remote controls for tv’s and dvd players. The furniture is a wreck. The rooms sleep 15+ kids when fully loaded and no less than 12. They do have some belongings, but the other kids constantly steal anything of value. They can’t even keep silverware in the kitchen due to the kids taking it. It is a mess.
The rest of our conversation was mostly about trying to find some silver lining. There isn’t much silver in it, but hope can be found. If they didn’t have any interaction with outsiders, they would be in orphan prison. Something is better than nothing. Playing rock-paper-scissors with me is better than not. Hugging one of us is safer than 30 seconds away from us. Someone looking them in the eyes and talking with them is better than 10 minutes inside fighting over the remote control. God bless these kids, they have it more difficult than you and I can ever comprehend. They are victims of life in a broken world.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Romania Days 3 and 4
Here are some excerpts from the past two e-mails from Chad. He is having a great experience and amazingly, and thanks to great friends, I am not to stressed out either...
I ate the normal breakfast of salami, pickles, boiled egg, bread and coke. It was good. Lunch today at the CDC was good too! It was another chicken soup but with rice instead of noodles. The main course was mashed potatoes, and fried chicken. The fried part doesn’t really do it justice though. It was fried in a light breading and the chicken was pretty thin. It was tasty. I skipped the peas and corn mix, but ate some sort of cabbage and vinegar. I loved it. I had two servings and the gas to prove it. Dessert were these awesome cookies. They are simple, vanilla sugar wafer things dipped in chocolate. I ate too many to count. Fat Chad is back! Dinner was okay. I had a grilled white fish (one I have never heard of). It was a tad overcooked, which is better than undercooked, but didn’t do much for me. I also had some fries with salty cheese shredded on them. They were good but nothing to write home about…
Romania Day 3
Today started by waking up at 6am, not because I had to be anywhere but because I simply couldn't’t fall back to sleep. I still had plenty of sleep and didn’t really feel tired throughout the day. I ate breakfast at the hotel. Breakfast in Romania is very weird. This is no joke; I honestly at some fresh salami, a piece of bread, a few pickles, cheese and a hard boiled egg. It is more like lunch than breakfast, which is fine with me because I really don’t like sweets in the morning.
Today started by waking up at 6am, not because I had to be anywhere but because I simply couldn't’t fall back to sleep. I still had plenty of sleep and didn’t really feel tired throughout the day. I ate breakfast at the hotel. Breakfast in Romania is very weird. This is no joke; I honestly at some fresh salami, a piece of bread, a few pickles, cheese and a hard boiled egg. It is more like lunch than breakfast, which is fine with me because I really don’t like sweets in the morning.
Throughout the morning I was reminded how cute children are. During the games you could spot the jokesters, the dumb kids, the smart kids, the prissy girls and the tomboys. They are simply children when they are in this environment. But just as soon as I was getting comfortable with these kids I looked out the window at the kids that are not in the CDC and I saw where these children come from. Outside in the fenced in area in front of the CDC children had jumped the 8ft fence and 40 kids were literally running wild. There was NO supervision from ANY adult. The kids at first glance just looked like they were on recess, but after watching for 10 seconds you could see kids beating one another with their feet and fists. There were boys wrestling each other to the ground and punching, kids chasing each other and shoving the victim into walls. I saw one child lying on the ground writhing in pain for 4 minutes before a group surrounded him. Once the group arrived they did NOTHING to console the kid, they just continued to pummel him. When they got bored they would move on to the next victim. At one point a man in his 20’s who was obviously mentally delayed (at best) knocking kids down by the dozen. He would then drag the child by their feet for 20 feet and then move on the next kid. The child would often hit their head in the process of being drug and lay their holding their head while crying. After a minute they would pick themselves up and start running around as if nothing happened.
I have never actually seen such a display of human chaos in my life. Come to find out that many of the kids that were out front were the kids we were to be working with in the afternoon. I was worried to say the least. The younger kids in that we worked with in the morning have older siblings who attend public schools. School was out so all of the kids in the community gathered outside the CDC to hopefully get in for the afternoon activities. What the kids didn’t know is that unless they had a younger brother or sister in the CDC they would have to leave and watch the activities through the fence (which a few dozen did for 3 hours). So here I am with 10 of these kids being asked to run 30 minutes of games. Believe it or not they were awesome. Once they were given some order and structure they were fine. They felt safe enough to behave civilly. They want that kind of structure, but cannot find it outside the fence. I was literally watching Lord of the Flies before my eyes.
I have never actually seen such a display of human chaos in my life. Come to find out that many of the kids that were out front were the kids we were to be working with in the afternoon. I was worried to say the least. The younger kids in that we worked with in the morning have older siblings who attend public schools. School was out so all of the kids in the community gathered outside the CDC to hopefully get in for the afternoon activities. What the kids didn’t know is that unless they had a younger brother or sister in the CDC they would have to leave and watch the activities through the fence (which a few dozen did for 3 hours). So here I am with 10 of these kids being asked to run 30 minutes of games. Believe it or not they were awesome. Once they were given some order and structure they were fine. They felt safe enough to behave civilly. They want that kind of structure, but cannot find it outside the fence. I was literally watching Lord of the Flies before my eyes.
Romania Day 4
Alright, last nights email was a long one and tonights will not follow suit. I had a great day today, but it was VERY similar to yesterday (and tomorrow for that matter). I will share a bit more about the food and some about the children.
Okay, priorities…the food. ; )
Alright, last nights email was a long one and tonights will not follow suit. I had a great day today, but it was VERY similar to yesterday (and tomorrow for that matter). I will share a bit more about the food and some about the children.
Okay, priorities…the food. ; )
I ate the normal breakfast of salami, pickles, boiled egg, bread and coke. It was good. Lunch today at the CDC was good too! It was another chicken soup but with rice instead of noodles. The main course was mashed potatoes, and fried chicken. The fried part doesn’t really do it justice though. It was fried in a light breading and the chicken was pretty thin. It was tasty. I skipped the peas and corn mix, but ate some sort of cabbage and vinegar. I loved it. I had two servings and the gas to prove it. Dessert were these awesome cookies. They are simple, vanilla sugar wafer things dipped in chocolate. I ate too many to count. Fat Chad is back! Dinner was okay. I had a grilled white fish (one I have never heard of). It was a tad overcooked, which is better than undercooked, but didn’t do much for me. I also had some fries with salty cheese shredded on them. They were good but nothing to write home about…A few kids stand out in my mind after today. Their names are not important it is more there beautiful faces. One of the boys has the most amazing smile. He will be handsome as an adult and has the personality to match. One of the girls is also blessed with a beautiful set of blue eyes (not very common here) and pretty dark brown hair. You can pick them out of a crowd because they are both striking. Other kids may not look as “pretty” but are cute and ornery. Alex is one that makes me smile because he has such a mischievous grin. He often puts his arm around me like we are buddies and always sits next to me during the games (even when there isn’t room or reason to). His head is shaved close, just a bit shorter than Collin’s after a short cut. He is dark skinned and skinny as a rail. I will try to get some pictures of these kids in particular. Many of the other kids crack me up too. One fat kid with a mullet type of mess for hair always laughs when he runs. One kids can’t run for shit because he moves like he is covered in body builder muscles (he is skinny as a rail too). One of the girls is blond (1 of 2 blond kids) and she look so AMERICAN that I sometimes get freaked out when she doesn’t speak our language.
Sorry these postings are so long. I am not even posting everything he writes to me about...just the highlights.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Romania Day 2
So here is a quick update on Chads trip to Romania before I head off to work. I will include a few pictures and an part of his e-mail. The 1st thing I noticed when looking at the pics is how small the beds are...
Now for part of his e-mail. He is great at making me laugh even when he is so far away. I guess that is why I love him so much!
Well, it is now 10:30 and day 2 is ending. I am not tired and really feel pretty acclimated to the time/travel. I know it sounds too soon for that to happen, but I feel normal. Somewhere in the back of my head I feel like a bit of a badass for not being more jetlagged =).
I woke up today at 8am and had an hour before our “in country training”. That meeting consisted of learning quite a bit about Romania, Buckner, and the orphanage. Really, it is not an orphanage at all; it is a day school for kids. There is an orphanage that we will visit, but we are not working at it until Saturday. The kids are apparently dirt poor and behind in their schooling, but not technically orphans. Most of the kids are in fact Gypsy. I learned quite a bit about the Gypsy communities and am not particularly impressed with them. There are three classes of Gypsy. There are “traditional” gypsies that are permanent residents. They are rich, due to their ability to trade goods, and live in tight nit family units. The second are the “traveling” sort. They are the real black sheep of the group. Witchcraft, theft, and lacking of moral value are their strong points. Then there are the final group which are a bit more of an oddity. They seem similar to our white trash. They have lost most of the Gypsy traditions in their lack of traveling and they certainly aren’t rich. They live in the slums on the outskirts of town, in isolated communities. They don’t seem to contribute to society in any positive ways, but enjoy living off the goodness of others.
After the training we headed to a local pizza shop for lunch. Amazing. I ate at least 4 pieces and only stopped so I wouldn’t be the only person still shoving food in my face. After lunch we rested for an hour and then headed over to the CDC (Center for Child Development). This is the “day school” I mentioned earlier. This place was a trip. The building is three stories and looks like most of the buildings in Romania, run down but not tragic. Upon entering I thought of you. I though that you might not be able to do this trip due to the smell. It reeked of bug spray and the opening stairwell had 1000 mosquitoes flying around. The school is on the second floor, but it was such a strong odor that I almost didn’t even want to see the school. I bucked up and proceeded up the stairs anyways. We opened the doors to the school and I was impressed with the cleanliness and new conditions. I will get pictures for you to see. It was decorated just like a preschool in the U.S. The smell was still present, but a tad less potent. After a short tour of the second floor, we headed upstairs to the third floor. Honestly, I don’t have words to describe the smell, but it was far worse than the chemical smell downstairs. It was more like death and rotted cheese with a scoop of ass mixed in. The 3rd floor is a mess. The building used to be a hospital 50 years ago, and then was abandoned. It had been abandoned for decades and was looted and virtually wrecked over the years. It is as big a mess as a building can get. Though they have “picked up” a bit, the walls look like they have been hit with a bomb. It blows my mind to think they turned the second floor into such a nice area having started with such a mess. Someone was very busy in order to make such a drastic change. The hope for the third floor is that it will someday be renovated…I pray for the people that have that job.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Romania update
This is part of an email sent to me from Chad when he first got to Romania. He is not sure that he will be able to blog, so I will try to keep everyone posted --
We left JFK at 6:30pm (eastern) and arrived in Bucharest at 10am (Romania time). We then piled in a car and drove for 2.5 hours and stopped for lunch. After lunch we drove for an additional 4 hours and finally arrived at the hotel Iris in Tarnaveni.
I didn't sleep much on the plane, maybe 4 hours total. I slept for 1 hour on the drive. I am tired.
Okay, about the trip. We were met by two guys (can't remember their names) and they drove us. 1 was the rep for the mission organization. I rode with him. He is a really nice guy and speaks English (with an accent). We chatted about many things as we drove through the country. I estimated we drove about 200 miles so we had time to chat. Lunch was great. I had some sort of wiener schnitzel (not a hot dog) and liked it alright. Most of the group ordered a chicken with feta and stuff and it was awesome! Steak fries to boot. I can tell that the food will not be an issue for me. The country is gorgeous. We drove over the Carpathian Mtns and I could have just been dropped off with my camping gear and disappeared for several days. The town I am in is mostly rolling hills. It looks like what I imagine Ireland/Scotland to look like. The architecture is quite cool. The first thing I noticed were the cool roofs. The look SO...European! I am taking quite a few pics of the countryside. I can't do it justice with words.
The travel went flawlessly. I feel great (other than tired). I am looking forward to having the energy I need to explore and learn.
We left JFK at 6:30pm (eastern) and arrived in Bucharest at 10am (Romania time). We then piled in a car and drove for 2.5 hours and stopped for lunch. After lunch we drove for an additional 4 hours and finally arrived at the hotel Iris in Tarnaveni.
I didn't sleep much on the plane, maybe 4 hours total. I slept for 1 hour on the drive. I am tired. Okay, about the trip. We were met by two guys (can't remember their names) and they drove us. 1 was the rep for the mission organization. I rode with him. He is a really nice guy and speaks English (with an accent). We chatted about many things as we drove through the country. I estimated we drove about 200 miles so we had time to chat. Lunch was great. I had some sort of wiener schnitzel (not a hot dog) and liked it alright. Most of the group ordered a chicken with feta and stuff and it was awesome! Steak fries to boot. I can tell that the food will not be an issue for me. The country is gorgeous. We drove over the Carpathian Mtns and I could have just been dropped off with my camping gear and disappeared for several days. The town I am in is mostly rolling hills. It looks like what I imagine Ireland/Scotland to look like. The architecture is quite cool. The first thing I noticed were the cool roofs. The look SO...European! I am taking quite a few pics of the countryside. I can't do it justice with words.
The travel went flawlessly. I feel great (other than tired). I am looking forward to having the energy I need to explore and learn.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Scrapbooking Fun!
I had so much fun at scrapbooking this weekend that I had to share. Recently I found out that several of my friends LOVE greeting cards. They love going to Hallmark and picking out the perfect card for people. I am absolutely the opposite! I don't see the value in them (that doesn't mean that I don't give them). I sometimes get sucked in by a great card and pay the OUTRAGEOUS $2 to $5 for them and then the receiver reads it and throws it away.
Hmmm....maybe I should have given them a $5 gift card somewhere instead....
Anyway, back to scrapbooking, this month we made cards! It was super fun and I was able to make 12 cards for like $2!!!! Granted, I had to pour a lot more of my time and energy into them, but that it was makes them so great. Here are some pictures of a few that I made.
I made 36 total. The last set I made was a set of "male themed" cards in browns and greens, but I didn't get to photograph them because my camera is currently traveling abroad with my honey.
Hmmm....maybe I should have given them a $5 gift card somewhere instead....
Anyway, back to scrapbooking, this month we made cards! It was super fun and I was able to make 12 cards for like $2!!!! Granted, I had to pour a lot more of my time and energy into them, but that it was makes them so great. Here are some pictures of a few that I made.
I made 36 total. The last set I made was a set of "male themed" cards in browns and greens, but I didn't get to photograph them because my camera is currently traveling abroad with my honey.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Romania
Well, the time has come for Chad to start his summer whirlwind of traveling. His first adventure will lead him to Romania, yes, Romania. 
While there he will be working at an orphanage running recreation programs for the kids. It sounds at though the group will only be working approximately 5 hours a day at the orphanage, so this should leave them with some time to do some sight seeing. 
I am excited for Chad to explore the local sites, castles, and food. He has promised to keep us all posted via the blog. I will be as interested as everyone else. Our only form of communication while he is gone will be the computer because of the time difference and the expense of international calls.
The kids and I will miss you! I can't wait to hear ALL about your 1st trip to Europe :)
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