Seven Years Ago

Seven years ago I was in Iasi, Romania working in an orphanage for children with disabilities. I had worked at the same orphanage four years earlier and then served a mission in Romania and Moldova. This time I went back as the facilitator for the group. There were eleven other girls that came over with me. These girls are some of the best of the best and will always be a huge part of my life. Think about it, anyone who wants to spend four months of their college years in an orphanage in a poor country has to be pretty special, right? Erin, Amy, Rhyll, Katie Rose, Kathleen, Emily, Eliza, Amanda, Christy, Sheena and Jenn will always have a huge place in my heart! Can I tell you again how amazing they are? We had such a great time! Yes, there were hard times and some sad times and some "girl" times and even some "is this reality?" times, but, overall, we made the most of our time over there. Besides working in the orphanage, we also worked with gypsy kids and some children in a hospital. In our free time, we toured all over Romania and even spent a week in Budapest, Hungary. We went to concerts, watched movies with subtitles, helped out with the Branch in the city and explored. One weekend we went to a small gypsy village and helped build a fence. We spent Thanksgiving there, so we did our best to throw a grand Thanksgiving feast! The day before Thanksgiving someone we worked with found out that we didn't have a turkey, so he had a friend from the village bring one for us. I met him at the train station an hour later. The man apologized that he hadn't been able to clean it because he barely made the last train into the city. The bag was still warm, that's how "fresh" it was. When I got back to our apartment, I realized how un-clean it was. I spent the next couple of hours de-feathering and de-organing it. In the end, the turkey didn't even taste that great, but at least we had a turkey! I have so many stories that I could tell. These girls and times really influenced my life...

One girl had a serious boyfriend at home, we knew they would get married. One girl had a missionary, we all figured they would get married (and they did)! One girl tried to set the girl with a missionary up with one of her good friends, in the end the original girl and her "good" friend got married. One girl was in love with a friend on a mission, but he didn't know how she felt about him. We joked around with her that she would marry that boy (even writing fake love notes from him to her). Eliza and Chuck did end up getting married! Now seven years married nine of us are married. Some have children, some live in Utah, some have a lot of education under the belt, some have traveled more, some have great careers, and I'm 100% sure that all of them are doing amazing things! Even though we are all at different places in our lives, I know these girls and the incredible hearts and souls that each of them have.

Around Halloween and Thanksgiving time, I always think back on this time in my life and am thankful for these experiences. I was prompted, though, to write this (after a huge blog break) after crying most of the day. My dear Eliza (who married her missionary friend) lost a sweet daughter last night. I remember her joking around about having twin girls, and then she did 15 months ago. Lucy and Hazel were born just two months after Clive. In the womb, they knew Lucy had a heart defect. Eliza was nervous to even give birth because she did not know what to expect. Lucy was a trooper and survived surgery after surgery. Eliza posted pictures on facebook of Lucy smiling in the hospital with all the tubes going through her. She looked so happy even though her little life had been hard. Yesterday morning she posted, "Day 11 on the vent. Day 3 with high fever. Recovering from rhinovirus and cellulitis and probably has a line infection. Boo." In the afternoon she posted that her fever was up to 106. Last night sometime she posted, "Our beautiful little girl passed away this evening. We love you Lulu." I love you, Eliza! I know seven years ago when we were planning your wedding to your missionary friend, we would have never guessed you would lose a child. My heart mourns with yours. And, I KNOW that when the other ten girls find out, they will mourn with you as well.

Because of this loss, I have a better determination to take pictures and document my boys' lives. Life is so precious.