Straja Photos

Vasile, Kalan, Albina, Me & Ion by Saveta's house.

Vasile and her live on top of a hill and have the most amazing view of Straja.

In Straja we saw a lot of horse and carts. It is a farming village and this is how they work.

Kalan & Vasile in the forest on the walk up to my uncle's house.

The forest is really thick.

A beautiful view of Straja. It was so beautiful there.

As we made our way up the hill, we could see my uncle standing outside his house in front of his fence waiting for us. It was like a scene out of a movie. He stayed there the whole time watching and waiting for us.
My uncle Aurel and I as we met for the first time in 18 years.

Somehow being around him again made me feel like I had really missed him all these years.

My cousin Ion & I standing in my uncle's yard.

My uncle and his wife own a cow and she had a baby calf. It was really cute.

As we left my uncle's house, his neighbor called me by name. She was such a sweet lady who remembered who I was. I think she said that I used to play at her house when I lived with my uncle. She picked some beautiful flowers from her garden for me. I didn't remember her but I was really touched by her sweetness.

More Photos

The kids all eating sugar wafers.

(One of the down blankets that was donated to us by The Breast Cancer Society.)

Gabriela showing us that she wrote my name next to hers on a piece of newspaper.

Proof that everytime I saw her she was wearing this many hair flowers in her hair. She always greeted me with a big smile, hug and kiss and lots of hair flowers in her hair.

One of the handmade blankets that was donated to us by some wonderful people in Heber. They gave us 3 handmade blankets along with some fleece blankets.

The other blankets went to other members of my family.

Andrei wearing on of the soft, fuzzy beanies we brought for them (from The Breast Cancer Society). Each of the children had a fuzzy beanie. They loved them, especially Gabriela who received a pink beanie.

The two little boys are a little more shy than Gabriela, but they warmed up to us quickly.

Here they are smiling and being goofy for the camera. They are so sweet.

The kids shoes. The pair on the left was what I sent last year in a package. The other 3 pairs were ones that we brought with us, plus we also brought boots for the kids for the snow.

Gabriela and Cristian. The top Cristian is wearing is a pj set we brought. He looks so cute here. Gabriela is always smiling for the camera. Some wonderful people in Heber also donated a number of the beanies that Cristian is wearing. We gave all of the beanies to them.

Me with all of the kids. I love them. They are so sweet and bright. Gabriela is always playing with my hair and giving me hugs and kisses. The kids are really sweet and always happy.

I wanted to take them all home with me.

Nicu and I. We were both overjoyed to see each other again after 18+ years.

I love him and miss him everyday.

Kalan & I with Nicu, Mihaela, Gabriela, Andrei and Cristian.

My life is not the same without them.

Romania Photo Album

My old house (Nicu's house now).

Nicu's House, Tuesday Oct 13th

Gabriela with a little doll we gave her. A friend's 2 year old daughter gave her favorite doll to us to take to Gabriela. I thought that was so sweet. Gabriela really loved the doll.

The kids were so excited about everything that we brought. They wanted to try on the clothing and shoes and they loved all the toys. They were screaming and talking so fast. They were so excited about every thing they saw.
The dark blue blanket on the right is a very thick down blanket that was donated to us by The Breast Cancer Society. We brought them 2 down blankets. I was thrilled because it will keep them all very warm during the cold winter. (You can't see but the youngest, Cristian is snuggled in on the bed sleeping near the blanket.)

Sightseeing with Albina, Wednesday Oct 14th

A view of Suceava from the top of the fortress

Part of the fortress. Up until about 5 years ago, there used to be water surrounding the castle. You could walk on top of the fortress and see a view of the whole city. It was beautiful.

Kalan & I inside one of the knooks inside the fortress walls.

Razvan, Me & Albina in front of the fortress.

Kalan, Me & Albina in front of the fortress.

Nicu's House, Thursday Oct 15th

Kalan, Razvan, Vica and Ion loading all of the food we bought for Nicu into the car. We purchased all of the food at a store called Selgros, similar to Costco. Ion and Vica had a membership and were so kind and helped by picking out all of the food. It was hard holding back tears because I was so excited to be taking food back to Nicu and his family.

Andrei, age 4

Cristian, age 2 1/2.

He has marker all over his face. They loved the markers we brought.

Gabriela, age 6.
She loved the markers and hair flowers we brought.
Everytime we saw her she had about 5 hair flowers in her hair.

Nicu, Mihaela and the children.
In the background you can see 2 peanut butter jars.
The kids loved the peanut butter and the jars were almost empty.
The kids had the markers and colored pencils all over the floor.
I had left the coloring books back at the apartment so they were just coloring on newspaper.