This is Andre. Isn't he cute! Seriously, this kid stole my heart. It was hard for me to leave him. I spent every day with him the hospital and he was always so glad to see me. If I could have taken home one kid from the hospital, he would have been the one. I just loved this kid so much and I really knew that he needed me. There is something very special about spending a lot of time holding a young baby that is completely dependent on you for food, warmth, love. The children in that hospital are so pure, so precious. Even with the hopelessness and pain that you experience with them, there is a healing power that comes from letting your heart be touched by these little spirits. Serving them truly changes you in ways that are near impossible here in the states. When you leave Romania, you will carry with you a capacity to love that you never thought possible before.

This is Constica. Many of you heard about the story where I had to go all mission impossible in order to get to him in the hospital. For those of you who haven't heard the story, let's just say it entailed hiding under beds, sneaking around a hospital floor, diving in and out of rooms, fighting with very powerful doctors, and potentially getting kicked out of the hospital for good. But it was worth it. If we hadn't come, he and another kid from the orphanage would have spent their days and nights lying in their own urine, starving, and scared to death. That's what Romania does to you. It makes you realize that you would do absolutely anything, ANYTHING, to help a child. It makes you imagine what Heavenly Father must be feel for us ya know? And besides, do you really think I could have resisted that angel of a face. I mean come on!

This beautiful girl is my Iuliana. My angel, my sweetheart, my princess. I got closer to her than any other child in Romania and I would have adopted her in a heartbeat. She has cerebral palsy and autism and is a very difficult child, but when you take the time to get to know her, you come to realize that she possesses the most precious of souls. She really loves sound and music and it is such a gift when you make her happy. She isn't happy often because the workers neglect and abuse her, but when you are able to understand her, and make her happy, well... there are few things in the world as beautiful as that. She has so much love to give, and so much she can teach you about love and sacrifice. I seriously would go to the ends of the earth to protect this girl, as I would with any of my children, but especially her. I can honestly tell you that getting a child that has been hurt so badly, that has so many tears and so much pain, that is practically incapable of trusting anyone or anything, getting a child like that to trust you is a remarkable experience. One that will change you forever.

Mmk. This is Mihai. Talk about a punk. I worked with him for three hours every day. This kid is a CHARMER! If you even looked at him he would just smile and smile and laugh. Of course it was all a ruse for attention, and it worked pretty dang well! Mihai has cerebral palsy, doesn't talk, can't move much, is as smart as a whip and will do anything to get his way. This may include learning how to breath through a narrow slit between his lips when we would plug his nose to get him to open his mouth so we could feed him his disgusting food, or it might entail learning how to wiggle off the couch and make a break for the door in the short time we turn our backs to watch the other children. Seriously though, I love this kid. He truly is such a charmer and has an incredible desire to learn that is truly rare in an orphanage. With the proper love and guidance, he could go very far and have a pretty happy life.

Ok, I have to be honest. I didn't really care for this kid the first time I met him. He was tired and cranky and the most unresponsive child I had ever met (which is saying something in my line of work). Luckily, one of the girls convinced me to go back, and then he stole my heart. This kid, Mihai is his name, is the cutest dang thing on the planet. True he is a gypsy and had so much lice in his hair you could see it crawling, but the kid is the most joyous creature on the planet! He absolutely loves balloons. I mean LOVES them. He would pass it back and forth with you for hours if you let him, and the whole time he would have this huge grin on his face with an occasional burst of laughter. he was always happy and was so chubby and adorable. It was always hard to leave him at the end of the day. I could have played with that kid for forever!

This is Ionuti and he is just a barrel of laughs! I LOVE this kid! He's a gypsy and he spent three months in the hospital because of kidney problems. We all loved going to see Ionuti. He had the most infectious laugh and he just loved to play with anything and everything! He loved to tease you and rough house and joke. He was a great pick-me-up when you were drained from holding babies. And he had the funniest run the world. He looked like a duck or something as he waddled down the hall. And he was always trying to steal your stuff, just to see if you would notice (don't worry, he always gave it back before you left). The look on his face when he realized that he got you was priceless. It was just pure joy that only a child can have. Pretty much all this kid's faces were priceless. He was pretty much the greatest kid every.

This is Iulia, my sweetheart. Most days she was the only reason that I went to the hospital. She was there the whole four months and she had no family. Since she was in constant pain, it was sometimes hard to spend time with her, but man did that girl teach me! She had the sweetest spirit and she absolutely refused to give up. Her courage and perseverance would inspire even the most hardened hearts. She ended up not making it in the end, but her spirit will always be with all of us. Romania teaches you a lot about God's love, about people, but most of all it teaches you about life and death, about the reality and joy that is the plan of salvation, and about the wonderful peace that comes with knowing that death is not the end, that there is a spiritual paradise, and that this veil of tears is nothing but a test that we must pass through on our way to eternal life.

This is Ionella. When we got to the hospital, she was very sick and very very pale. It was always touch and go with her, but after a few surgeries and a lot of love, she pulled through and was a whole new baby! It's really amazing to be able to see all of these kids go from deaths door to happy and healthy and amazing! It will really change your world. And the best part about Ionella is that she actually had a family! They just lived too far away to stay at the hospital with her. So once she got better she got to go home with her family and live a normal life! She truly was one of our happy endings.

This is Petrica. He has downs syndrom and is pretty much a ball of joy. He smiles all the time, is so ticklish and loves to just roll around on the floor and play. The second you see him, you know that he needs you. There is so much joy in his face and love in his eyes. He loves to chew on just about anything and he loves to hear his own voice and just about any other noise. At any given moment you can hear him gabbering in the corner or banging a toy against something. And he has the cutest little army crawl! He looks like an inch worm as he scrunches his way from one side of the room to the other. He's great and is ALWAYS there to make you smile.

And last but not least is little Octavian. Isn't he adorable?! When he came to the hospital, he was premature and so little. He was always sick and had to have numerous surgery. There were so many days that we would go to the hospital expecting him to have passed away during the night, but he was always there. What a fighter this guy is. We never really knew if was going to make it or not, but about two weeks before we left, he had a miraculous turn around! He gained about 10 lbs, and he started smiling and laughing and responding. He would play and look at you, all the things he never did before! It was a miricle! And we all know that it would never have happened if someone handn't been there to love him and take care of him. Someone to show him that there was a reason to live and that there were people that loved him. And at the end of the daying, knowing that you helped give a little baby a reason to go on, is really all that matters.