No words....

Shock. Emotionally numb. dumbstruck. those words cant even begin to describe how i feel at the moment. 

Today, i had the chance to work at the children's cancer hospital and at the abandoned baby hospital. Unfortunately, because of rules and regulations, we weren't able to take pictures, which broke my heart. 

The day started off at the cancer hospital. Two other girls and i went to a kids play room and did arts and crafts with the kids. I ended up "hanging out" with the older girls, they were between 8 and 15. 2 (Alex and the other girls name i don't know how to spell) of the girls spoke Spanish and began an instant interview about how i learned, where i was from and all sorts of things. Out of the group of about 4 or 5 (Alex, Georgina, Elena and the girls who's name i can't spell were the four who stayed pretty constant in the group) girls that would come and go, one of them was unable to walk. Her name was Elena. I didn't even notice at first because she was sitting down. She LOVED to ask me questions and didn't know much Spanish, so she asked the Alex to translate everything for us. She had the biggest heart i have ever met. She and one of the Spanish speakers wanted to play "Mexican games" with me. It was interesting having to adapt some games to make sure to include her, but it didn't even phase me after about 5 minutes. She and Alex wanted me to braid their hair and Elena made sure to constantly, along with the questions, hug me and give me endless kisses. 

Today, Elena taught me more about joy and happiness than i could have ever learned on my own. To see her smile about just having commonalities with Lili, the Spanish speaking American and to see that we could talk and things were normal when she knew they werent. She and Georgina taught me to speak Romanian (some words, like green {verde} are the exact same in Romanian!) and they were the two girls who were more visibly affected by the cancer. Yet the constant smiles and laughter they had whenever we talked made me question my own selfishness. It made me question my reasons for being upset at life and at different situations. On our way out Georgina hugged me goodbye and called me her friend in Romanian. She told me that she'd always remember me and Elena didn't want me to leave without getting my email to stay in contact with her. These two girls have forever changed my heart. I thank God for the opportunity to have met them, i can honestly say that they gave me more in the 2 short hours we had, then i could have ever given them.

In the afternoon at the abandoned baby hospital, it was surreal to be there. Most of the babies are gypsy babies and treated badly because gypsies are thought of so badly here in Romania. At the present moment, i have no words to explain or describe what i saw or how i feel about the time i spent there. All i can say is that i wanted to take those babies with me and put them on an airplane to take back home. 

God has seriously opened my eyes on this trip.