Things I love

Traveling is a large part of my experience here in Romania, but I never forget the reason I am here. It is easier to post about the things I take pictures of or experience, but I want to help you have a glimpse of the beauty of the work I get to do everyday here.

They say pictures are worth a thousand words, so I won't be able to type enough to make up for not having a picture to show of my precious kids, but I'll try to share a small snapshot of their contagious personalities. Here are five things I love from 5 of my favorite people!

1. One of my boys is very musically talented. He has always had an obsession with my iPod and could spend hours flipping through the hundreds of songs I have on there. When I first met him, he would recite some English songs like "Twinkle Twinkle" or "Ring around the Rosies". After spending a summer with me, Caroline, and my iPod, he is singing Taylor Swift and Train! He has found his favorite songs among my large selection and asks for them.. frequently! One of my favorite things we do together is whistle the tunes of the songs he likes. I will start and he follows along PERFECTLY!  The first thing he asks for when I want into the door is for music. Sometimes we try to hold out so we do more than just listen to music. The morning is full of things like "nu acum" "nu am muzica" and "oleaca"  (Not now/I don't have music/Later), but when I finally give in he has the biggest smile and best happy dance I've seen!


2. We have a future football star among us. The youngest of my boys, 2, lights up when he sees a ball. At the beginning of the summer he was associated with tantrums and lack of emotion, but now he giggles, smiles, and kicks a soccer ball around with us. One of my favorite moments was when we were outside playing. There in the parking lot near the park, there were 3 older teenage boys playing football (Soccer). My little toddler ran right up to them and just watched.. starred! The boys offered to let him play but he was too much amazement and admiration to play. Maybe one day he'll be able to play a real game with friends and a real soccer ball.

3. Another boy, who is 4 but has the age and speech of a toddler we've nicknamed "Maimuta", which is monkey in English. Apart from his adorable face and little voice, my favorite thing is when he latched on so hard to you when you pick him up. He wraps his legs and arms completely around you, so I don't even need to hold him. I just love it.

4. I understand the term "terrible 2's" now because my other toddler has off and on unexplainable outbursts of unhappiness. This is not my favorite! But luckily, as quickly as it comes, it also goes. His face, as happy as can be, on the swing is the cutest thing I have ever seen. He gives me high fives every time he swings down and manages to have the biggest smile on his face while going up. 

5. The last boy is definitely a challenge, but he has my heart. This little boy has me wrapped around his finger, but also knows how to get me worked up (For example: biting me, pulling out my braids, pinching, pushing....). Despite this, when he has your attention, which I happily give him a lot, he is the sweetest most loving boy ever. He reminds me of myself when I was a kid because he just wants to be touching or attached to you at all times. (I was the kid attached to my moms leg, my Sunday school teacher's lap, etc). When we are at the play ground, he grabs my hand and insists that I go through the playground equipment with him. Even when I tell him "Sunt mai mare" (I am too big), he helps me out by pulling me farther. I just can't deny his little hand taking me whereever he goes. One of my favorite moments was when he wanted to play with a new set of toys. The boys don't seem to have a huge concept of cleaning up, but my mom engrained it too well into me to ignore it. I attempted to tell this boy in Romanian that he needed to help me clean first. He grabbed my hand and walked all around the room, while holding on to me of course, and picked up each toy and put it away. I have never before seen him clean, so I was very excited!

One of my favorite quotes is "When love is our motive, the Lord will strengthen us to accomplish His purposes to help His children". - Pres. Oscothorpe

I had special experience the other day in the hospital. The hospital is bittersweet for me. It is such a miserable place to be, however, I have some of my most memorable experiences there. I don't want kids to have to be there, yet at the same time I love when they are so I can be with them. As I said, mixed emotions! Anyway, I was in a room with a little girl the other day. She was 5, so so was able to speak a lot and easily communicate what she wanted. She has a little disfigured body and was laying down, so I started rubbing her tummy and singing songs. After awhile she didn't want me to rub her belly anymore, but I continued to stand by her crib singing (Yes, 5 years old and in a tiny crib). She was on the verge of falling asleep for about half an hour but wouldn't give in. I asked if she was tired and if she wanted me to leave but she said "no vreau" (No, I don't want). Finally, she asked me to stop singing but still insisted I stay there standing by her crib. She must have gotten sick of my primary songs/Disney song/Wicked soundtrack mini concert I was giving her, which was fine by me because I was running out of songs I knew the words to (Actually I had reached that point a long time before that and had begun making up my own versions. Thank goodness no one else was in the room and she only understands Romanian!). I stayed there for awhile until I finally had to leave, but it was interesting to me that it was important for her just to have me there. I remember being a kid and just wanting my mom in the room. I remember being a teenager and just wanting my mom in the room. And even now, I just love having people around me so I know I am not alone. That is all this sweet little girl wanted was to know someone was there and sometimes

Today was the last fast Sunday I'll be in Iasi. I took the opportunity to bear my testimony in Romanian for myself and for the branch to know I have a testimony of this Gospel. This was my simple testimony I bore (O Maturie mea foarte simpla):

Eu stiu ca Isus Hristos traieste si ca Duhul Sfant este real. Eu stiu ca Biserica lui Isus Hristos a sfintilor din Zilele din Urma este adevarata. Eu stiu ca Isus Hristos amurit pentru noi si Dumnezeu aude ragacunile noastre. Sunt reconoscatoare pentru familia mea si Salvatorul meu. Sunt reconoscatoare pentru Cartea lui Mormon si Eu stiu ca este adevarata. Am spus aceste lucruri in numele lui Isus Hristos, Amin.

It was such a cool experience to share mt testimony with the people in the Iasi branch. For two months I've wanted to get to know them and understand them, but the language barrier makes it so difficult sometimes. Studying personally how to say my testimony helped me to understand other testimonies given because I had studied that part of the language. I was able to talk to members about the church better and I felt more involved. As it always is with testimonies, the more you share it, the stronger it grows. I hope I meet some Romanians in the States, because I have the desire more than ever to share what I believe..in Romanian :)