Sidewalk Art...by Nicolae and Cristian

Here are some fun photos of the boys showing off their talents with sidewalk chalk.
Enjoy! BTW June 1st is Children's Day in Romania.
Love,
Debbie




Here is Cristi's snowman and Nicolae's bird.







Nicolae showing off his writing ability. He has no trouble spelling Bev's name and today he learned Teri's name. He even knows how to spell my name, but somehow I didn't get that on film. Shocker.





Oh and just because they are so adorable, here are a couple pictures of the boys with their new tractors.

May 28, 2008

Today we went to the Museum. It was good. It had lots of animals... via taxidermy. It also had lots of exhibits under glass. The boys seemed to enjoy it. For Romania, it is considered one of the best museums to go to. It was o.k., not outstanding, but good.



Afterwards, we went to a new park. I have to admit that I really like the parks here in Romania. They have lots of creative toys for the kids to play on.


On the way home we stopped for some ice cream. It was in the 90's today here. Let's see who can eat their ice cream before it melts all over their hands.

Love,
Debbie

Thanks Livermore Team!

Today the boys had a great time at the park with their new balls.
They had such a wonderful time laughing and running around. Auntie Teri did a great job of teaching Cristian how to catch the ball. She worked with Nicolae dribbling the ball too.






It was so great to see them practicing kicking the ball. A skill that both of them need.


Thanks so much Gail, Tricia and Sandi...for everything.
Love,
Debbie

Today's Meeting went well!

Nicolae and Crisitian started out a bit on the silly side, but it was
certainly better than them sitting there being robots. The ladies
from the DPC stayed approx. 2 hrs. and had nothing but good things
to say. Things are moving as they should and Sylvia said that this
visit would be sufficient. There is no reason for them to come again.
She also assured me that she would get the report written up
and please not to worry. Yay!

Thanks for all your prayers!

I am so relieved and happy that it went today. And...added bonus,
the house is clean! I cleaned every inch of the house...which of
course they never even looked at. Oh well...It felt good to be
ready just in case.I am so glad to have yet another hoop
hopped through.
I am looking forward to sleeping well tonight!
Love,
Debbie

Please pray for tomorrow!

Another fun picture taken of Nicolae and Cristian today at the park.
Tomorrow, which is Friday here, the ladies from the DPC are coming for a visit. Yes, I am nervous. I want things to go well. Please pray for tomorrow's visit. Thanks in advance for all your prayers.
Debbie

Two Months Today!

It has been two months now since the boys have been living with me. I have one more month to go before I can apply to officially and finally adopt the boys. Please keep praying about this.
I went to the DPC today and even though my case worker left and the person in charge also left, things seem to be going fine. I talked with the new PIC and another lady in the office today. They assured me that things are still moving forward and not to worry. Easy to say, hard to do.
The boys were wonderful at the DPC today. They did their best to wow and zow the socks off the ladies there. It was a very precious moment for sure. The boys read to them, gave them cookies they had made with Auntie Teri and they sang a few songs as well. Very adorable.

Working hard at keeping everyone involved with the adoption here happy. So looking forward to the day we can come home.

Here are a couple more pictures for you all to enjoy. Nicolae and Cristian jumping at the park.













Love,
Debbie

Aplauda Dumnezeu!

When Cristian woke up this morning, he was feeling much better. I could tell when I touched his forehead, that his fever was gone. Praise God!

I asked him if he felt better and he responded with "Da". "Aplauda Dumnezeu pentru ca El este facut mine mai bine!" Applaud God because he has made me much better." It was so adorable.

Cristian actually got to go to the park today. It was great to see him outside again. I made him take it easy and he was happy to do so. He still isn't up to his normal self, but so much better than he has been for the last 4 days. It is such a relief to see him doing better. Nicolae was happy to have Cristian feeling better as well.

Thanks to all of you who took time to pray.
Love,
Debbie

Foarte Destept - Very Smart

I walked into the living room and found that the boys had put their play phones in their pockets. They had both clipped pens onto their pockets as well. The only thing missing were the glasses, which of course I quickly provided. I wasn't about to pass up on this Kodak moment.
Who knows? Maybe someday they can be business partners and run companies like the "Geek Squad".
Six years old and adorable!
I think I am beginning to see a family resemblance!
Love,
Mommy

La Multi Ani Cristian!

Today is Cristian's birthday.
Here is a picture of him with his "Happy Birthday Breakfast." He is 6 years old today. Nicolae and Cristian are both 6 years old now.


Cristian's birthday makes me think of my mom. (Not that I don't think about her EVERYDAY! Mom forgot many things, but one thing that she always remembered about the boys is that they were 5 and 6. Now she would just have to remember that they are both 6. God how I miss her!

Happy Birthday Cristian! I love you so much!

Lessons with Nicolae and Cristian

Yesterday Nicolae and Crisitian worked on becoming more fluent and flexible with their numbers, both in English and Romanian. I noticed a huge improvement after the lesson...especially with Cristian. Knowing the numbers fast and fluent was not easy for him. However, once he figure out what the numbers were, he was very good at writing them.

Nicolae already knew his numbers, however, he had a bit of trouble when it came to writing them down. Writing the number 2 was the most difficult for him. You could hear him groan every time he rolled a 2. In the video you can even see his attempt to avoid having to write the number 2.

Later on last night we played the board game "Trouble". It is the game that has the dice in the middle of the board. You click on the bubble to roll the dice. There was an amazing difference in the boys' confidence level. Cristian actually knew some numbers immediately. Before he always had to count each individual dot. Sometimes he would say the numbers in Romanian and some times he said them in English. It was so wonderful to watch learning in action.

Great times with the boys!

Today was another wonderful day with the boys. Nicolae was so adorable at the store this afternoon. He loves going to get the fruit weighed. It is his goal to get the lady who weighs the fruit to smile. It is so adorable. He looks at me and then heads off on his mission. He always starts by saying " Buna ziua" to the lady. "Good day". Then after she is done weighing whatever it is he has handed her, he quickly replies, "multumesc". "Thank you". If the person does smile, he smiles and is so happy. If they don't smile, it is as if he has failed and wants so badly to try again. He so reminds me of Tomas when he was Nicolae's age.
At the park, the boys spent some time jumping rope and of course climbing up the climbing wall. Nicolae can not only climb up by himself, but he can get down by himself as well. It is such a huge thing for him. He has had to overcome a lot of fears to accomplish this. I am so proud of him. He is pretty darn proud of himself as well.
Cristian is almost ready to go solo, but not quite there. Hopefully, he will be able to add this accomplishment to his list...soon. He still needs a tad bit of help get up and some help getting down too. It isn't because "he can't do it", it is because he doesn't trust himself. Fear takes over.


Here is a video for all of you to enjoy. It is a video to "showcase" Nicoale's and Cristian's "jump roping abilities". Enjoy.