Today's meeting ....not meetings

I was able to meet with Mr. Mocanu today at 11 am at the Office of Foreigners to turn in the paperwork to obtain my Romanian residency. It can take up to 30 days to get the actual card. We are going to check in a couple of weeks though. The picture ... argh ...the lady didn't even tell me she was taking it. I was in the middle of talking. I am sure it is lovely. Not. The good thing is that another step of many is done.

Afterwards I was expecting to go to the DPC to see about visting Nicolae and seeing Cristian. However, we didn't even go to the DPC today because Mr. Mocanu said he didn't have time. Doing two things in one day? Does that happen in Romania? He said he will call me. Grrr.*&^%$! I also found out from Radu that there is still some legal trouble with Cristian's paperwork. Procedure stuff as Radu calls it, but don't worry it is not a problem. Not a problem for him maybe.

"Everything" is done for Nicolae. Which sounds great in theory, but the fact that I can only see him when his foster mom wants me too is a problem.Once every two or three weeks isn't getting it for me. Please pray for me. The road is long and emotionally hard.
I so want to be home right now. My mom's birthday is this month and it only adds to the emotions of everything here. It feels like I am here for no reason at times.

Riding home on the metro, it was all I could do to stop my eyes for watering. I thought about treating myself to McDonalds, but that all changed when I was walking into the subway at Universitate. There on one of the platforms leading down to the metro was a street kid sleeping. He was dirt from head to toe and his clothes (if that's what you want to call them) were so worn. The need for eating or cheering myself up didn't seem so important anymore.

I just got done reading a book called "When Invisible Children Sing". It is about street kids in Bolivia. I could certainly relate to the book. It talks about the street children and all the things they do just to make it through a day. Begging, selling...sometimes themselves, stealing, cutting, sniffing glue, trying to keep warm and safe. So here was this kid sleeping in the middle of the subway stairs. People walking around him and looking at him like he was trash that someone, not them of course, forgot to pick up and throw away. Suddenly my self pity stretch was over.

I did end up going to Mcdonalds... for Mirel age 14. It took me a while to wake him up, but seeing that I had food for him, helped. He took the soda immediately. We sat on the stairs, right where he had been sleeping and chatted for just a bit. Knowing limited Romanian, does limit the conversation. Please pray for him. I can't stop thinking about him. He is the same age as my nephew Daniel and yet there lives are literally and figuratively, worlds apart. It was huge reminder of how incredibly blessed many of us are.
I hope I see Mirel again and that we can talk some more.

Anyway, Radu is supposed to check with DPC about me getting Nicolae on the weekends etc. He said he will call me. He said that he "will try" to go tomorrow to the DPC.
I will let you know what I find out.
Love,
Debbie