Last night we went to a restaurant to eat dinner to celebrate my birthday. They surprised me with flowers, (white easter like lilies) and a delicious meal with only a little chicken, some pork, and some sausage. One of my favorites here is the salad of cucumbers and tomatoes. Everyone comments on the juicy oranges and tomatoes they have here which evidently come from Greece or Italy. The also had icecream with a flare type candle in it that lasted almost a minute. It was so cool and so pretty, and a very sweet gesture. Today was a NORMAL day!! My eye is doing great. When it feels scratchy, I put in more drops.The people on the team are really beginning to feel more and more comfortable with eachother and the children. Tonight, at dinner, they all told stories very enthusiastically as if they were talking about their own children. It is easy to love these kids. They are so complacent. Some of them are quiet and sleep alot because of neurological problems. Others just know that it does no good to cry. It makes no difference. They are put in their cribs when it is time and the door is closed. When it is time to eat, they will have a bottle (sticla) propped. As a result, alot of the babies have a sore rash in the creases of their necks. I am often brought back in my memory to the tender care and the focused attention and detail with which my kids and grandkids were fed, diapered, played with, and put to sleep in someone's arms each night, and feel sad that these young hearts will never know that. The best case scenario for these little ones is to go home, but they have been taken away or abandoned for a reason. The social workers make the decision and there is alot of misunderstanding between them and the parents. Many of them are incredibly poor. Many have too many children for them to feed. Some are negligent. Some parents have TB, so cannot have their children in the home. Some have problems with alcoholism. Foster care is the other option. These children do not go out of the clinic. Even the toddlers who are 3-5 years old still wear diapers, because it is easiest for the staff. It is a problem born from understaffing, it is not that they don't care. They do what they can.
But you have to wonder what is best for these tender hearts who have only known the clinic as home and the other children as their siblings. A ride in the car would be frightening for them. The lights of the city a nightmare. Strange faces, as loving as they may be, are still strangers. I comfort myself with the thought that this pain for them would be temporary compared to the permanence of the clinic. It's hard to believe sometimes that the small part you play in these children's lives for just a breath of time in their little lives actually makes a lasting impression. Again, my comfort is in knowing there will be others who follow, others who have the same heart as we, and the same desire to impact the life of a child, one gentle touch, one soft kiss, one warm cuddle at a time. We are beyond blessed!
