Least of These

(I'm not sure why this posted before it was finished. Sorry if you got this twice.)

Today was the hardest all around for me so far. The emotion of where we are and what we are doing hit me while we were walking around between shifts at the hospital.

We left the hospital around 12:30 and headed around town, by the black church, then up to the gondola that would take us to top of a mountain (sort of). While the journey to get there was hard and seemed to take forever on foot, the view was spectacular.

We did have an interesting conversation with a doctor today. She was completely amazed that people would come to Romania from America for only a week. She said that Romanians don't have any sense of volunteerism. I'll add a "yet" to that sentence for her. We have already met some people here who think what we are doing at the hospital is a great thing, and there are a couple of volunteers from the area.

The hospital was hard today. I spent a little extra time with the babies this afternoon while a few of the girls went to feed the newborns. One of the things I love to do is to bless someone secretly, so they don't know who or where the blessing came from. This is true with the babies. I knew this going in but I didn't know how much it would affect me. Each baby I hold or feed or change or play with will not remember me when I leave, but they are forever in my heart. Next week, some new strangers will come to hold and feed and change and play with them. I wonder what goes on in the minds of these little ones. As I tried to comfort a baby today with an IV in and his arm with a splint-type thing on it that was tied to the bed while he had a fever and I couldn't pick him up, my heart broke yet again for him. The IV was basically for dehydration, with no medicine in it really. He was so unhappy and just wanted out of that bed. All I could do was pray and cry.

"When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'

"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'

Romania update

We've had a couple of pretty amazing days. I think today is Friday, but I've really lost all sense of time here. What seems like hours is only moments and what goes by so fast has been hours.

We started working on the baby closet - it's really coming along. Bins are getting full, with lots of extra to go to the homeless shelters.

Firm Foundations does so much more than hold babies: diapers, teen programs, mom's programs, family sponsors, clothes, shoes, homeless shelters, and I'm sure I missed many other things. Every day we are learning more and more about sacrifice.

Many people told me how great it was that I would sacrifice to come here. This isn't a sacrifice, this is a blessing. I'm not sure how people do it without the hope of Jesus. Each time I learn a baby's story, my heart breaks a little more. I'm not exactly sure how it's still beating with it being in so many pieces, other than I know God has plans for each one of them. It would be easy to get stuck in the "why, God, why?" mindset, but I'd miss out on what God is doing here.

The staff and long term volunteers have pretty much given up everything they know to be here, and not all of them know Jesus. My prayer is that as they change the lives of these little ones, that they find their lives changed for eternity.

The hospital is better than I thought it would be, but it's still not what we're used to back home. The babies are in whatever pjs are around, many stained or with holes. They get 4 diapers a day, and are changed on a schedule.

Yesterday I held a baby for a long time, then the nurse came in to give him a breathing treatment. Because of the language barrier, there was a lot of pointing and talking and before I knew it, I had this breathing mask, which was quite obviously made for an adult, my hands and arms all placed in specific places, and one very, very unhappy little boy in my arms. He fought and fought and I just kept telling him it was good for him and singing softlyl to him and praying that God would heal his sickness (I'm not sure what it is) and give him peace. He did eventually relax and go to sleep.

We don't know the names of many of the babies or why they are there or if they will stay indefinitely or if someone is coming for them, though the FF staff do know some of their stories. Many babies aren't sick but are just left there. Regardless of the reason, they need to be touched, kissed, played with, talked to, but most of all, loved.

For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the
knowledge of God more than
burnt offerings.
Hosea 6:6