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.

Monday, Oct 12th Update

The few weeks leading up to our trip was really emotional for me. I was anxious, nervous and really excited. I kept panicking wondering how I would do. I was afraid that I would be an emotional wreck the whole entire trip. However, Sunday morning when we woke up I felt a great sense of peace. I felt calm and happy to be going on my trip. During the whole flight I was never nervous or scared. I got emotional at times thinking about seeing everyone. I was just really excited to be returning home after all these years.

We arrived in Bucharest, Romania on Monday afternoon around 5pm. We took 4 pieces of luggage full of tons of donations with us that we checked on. We packed our clothes in our carry-on bags so that we would have enough room to bring everything with us. I was worried about the luggage but it arrived in Romania with no problems. After we got our luggage we walked outside the airport and were greeted by my cousin Larisa and her boyfriend/fiancé Marius. Larisa and I have talked on IM many times over the past year and a half. It was special to finally meet her face to face. They were so kind to make the drive from Suceava all the way to Bucharest to pick us up. Marius had to work the next day so we had to leave right away and make the 6+ hour drive back up to Suceava. Kalan and I were so exhausted after flying for so long. We started our journey early Sunday morning and we had been traveling for a long time. Thankfully we were able to fit all of the luggage into Marius’s car. Both Larisa and Marius speak English and that was a relief. We chatted as we drove. Kalan and I kept falling asleep a lot. We finally arrived in Suceava to meet my aunt Albina. By this time it was well past midnight when we arrived. Albina greeted us in the parking lot of her apartment. There she was standing holding a bouquet of red carnations for me. I walked up to greet her. We hugged and cried as we held each other. I was happy to finally reunite with her. I know that she remembers me but I only have one vague memory of her. She kept hugging me and crying. She said she promised my mother she would take care of me, and she said that she was sorry I left for America. I started crying as she was telling me this. I felt so sad that she felt the need to ask my forgiveness. There is nothing to forgive. Everything happens for a reason. I don’t ever want her to feel sad about the fact that I left Romania. She was so excited to see us. We couldn’t stay at her house because the room we were staying in was being painted. She had us stay at a neighbor’s apartment in a different building close by. Her daughter-in-law, Vica and grandson, Razvan both greeted me with white lilies. They wouldn’t let us carry any of our luggage ourselves. They hauled it up 5 flights of stairs. Albina was so stubborn and was determined to carry one of the huge duffle bags herself. Vica and her got it upstairs by themselves. When we got into the apartment, we saw that they had set the table for us with candles. There was a variety of meats and cheeses. They were so sweet and had set out some of their best foods to welcome us. They were celebrating our arrival. Marius and Larisa left to go home. By this time, it was past 1am. We were so tired but we sat down and ate the food. Vica went to her apartment and brought hot soup for us. It was really good and filling. They kept watching us as we ate. None of them would eat with us. They just wanted to feed us. Vica went home but Albina and Razvan stayed and slept in the apartment with us. Albina is so sweet. She hugs and kisses me every time she walks by me.

Thanks to Everyone

Before I give a status update I want to publicly thank everyone who helped us get here. There are not enough words to express my heartfelt thanks to every single person who worked so hard to help us. I never imagined that any of this would or could happen. Thank you to everyone who donated items for the yard sale. We had so much stuff and I was so overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and kindness. Thank you to everyone who just dropped donations by my doorstep. Thank you to everyone who make wonderful treats for the bake sale. We had so much stuff and everything sold. All the baked items were a great hit as well as all the otter pops, water and soda. It was a really great idea. I want to specifically thank Kellee, Marnie, Summer, Mom and Carolyn for staying up so late Friday night to sort through all of the donations with us. We couldn't have done it without your help. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did sorting through donations and visiting. Thank you to Justin & Summer for letting us have the yard sale in their driveway & yard. It was a really great location. Thank you to Jolleen for putting up all of the signs for us so we didn't have to. It was such a great help. Thank you to Kellee for staying up all night Friday night with me to "watch" all the tables and everything that we set up for the yard sale in the morning. It was fun! Thank you to friends and family members who donated items for the boutique sale. The items were so beautiful and amazing. I am so touched by their kindness.

Thank you to family and friends who have been so loving and supportive. I am so touched by everyone's kindness. I am really very thankful. It's been so overwhelming to see everyone's interest and support. I never imagined anything like that. I have an amazing family in Arizona. My family is wonderful and supportive. Kalan's family is amazing and supportive. I am so glad for every family member I have.

I hope I am not leaving anyone out. You all know who you are. I am so touched and want to offer my deepest thanks to EVERYONE who helped and supported us. This has been an amazing experience.

THANK YOU TO EVERY SINGLE PERSON who helped, supported, donated and shopped at our event. You helped make all of this possible and I am so thankful.

HUGE YARD & BAKE SALE

I can't believe all of the donations we've gotten from so many people. I am so excited! Our yard sale is going to be way bigger than I ever imagined. This is going to be so fun!!

Come out and see us! The sale is Saturday, October 10th at 6am at 1809 E. Gary Street in Mesa (Gilbert & Brown). We're going to have tons of stuff for sale. Anything and everything you could imagine. We will also be selling some really great boutique items as well as baked goods of all sorts and water, pop (soda) and otter pops.

We will be leaving early Sunday morning, Oct 11th. We are set to arrive in Bucharest on Monday afternoon!

Needs for Yard & Bake Sale

Our yard sale event is getting really great publicity! We want to take advantage of all of the traffic that the sale will get. We only have 1 week until the yard sale. Please dig through your boxes and see if you have anything to donate. We will come and pick it up!

Please look through your houses and see if you have any of the following to donate:

Garage Sale Items:
Furniture: Couches, Beds, Dressers, Desks, Tables, Chairs, Office Furniture, etc.
Decorations: Wall Art, Frames, Curtains, Blinds, Vases, Holiday Décor, Signs,

Baskets, Rugs, Flowers, etc.
Electronics: TVs, VCRs, DVD Players, Computers, Printers, Scanners, Cameras, Movies,

CDs, Car Stereos, etc.
Appliances: Microwaves, Small Appliances, Washers, Dryers, Refrigerators, etc.
Tools: Lawn Mowers, Weed Eaters, Leaf Blowers, Tools including Power Tools,

Mechanics Tools, etc.
Baby Items: Cribs, Toddler Beds, Strollers, Bouncers, Car Seats, Boosters, Play Pens, Exersaucers, Mobiles, Bathtubs, Diaper Genie, etc.
Exercise Equipment: Bicycles, Tricycles, Jogging Strollers, Bike Stands, Weights, Benches, Wagons, Treadmills, Yoga Mats, Body Balls, Resistance Bands, Snow Skis, Snowboards,

Exercise DVDS, etc.
Clothing & Shoes: Any and all sizes of clothing and shoes for babies, children,

men and women, etc.
Games, etc: Board Games, Puzzles, Video Games, Remote Control Cars/Planes, etc.
Toys: Stuffed Animals, Dolls, Barbies, Cars, Balls, Baby Toys,

and any and all children’s toys, etc.
Miscellaneous Items: books, linens, blankets, lamps, plates, bowls, utensils, cookware, purses, jewelry, trinkets, collectible items, nick-nacks, candles, etc.

Boutique Sale:
Handmade Items: Crafts, Decorations, Frames, Vinyl Signs, Jewelry, Hair Accessories, Signs, Wall Art, Framed Art, Holiday Décor, Wreaths, Quilts, Blankets, Bags, Baby Items, etc.

Bake Sale:
Individually Packed or Plated: Cookies, Brownies, Lemon Bars, Cinnamon Rolls, Iced Cupcakes, Carmel Pretzels, Fruit Bars, Treats, Breads, Jams, Pies, Candy, etc.
Beverages for Bake Sale: 24 pack cans of any flavor of soda

Please contact me at savetasstory@gmail.com or call 480-219-2477 if you would like to donate items for the garage sale, boutique or bake sale. We will come and pick it up!