It's Not About Me

This blog post isn't about me. It's not about my next trip to Romania. It's not about raising funds. It may look like those things but it's not.

Yes, I am going back to Romania. In fact, I'm going very soon. May 30th to be exact. That means I have a little over 30 days to raise the $3000+ needed to go. Daunting? A little bit. But then I remember, it's not about me.

It's about this kid:

And this letter from him:
Dear Melissa,
I love you a lot and I miss you and can't wait to see you and I want to play with you and we can play together. And I know Jesus will help you come back quickly to Romania and you will play with all the kids and they miss you and I love all the Americans.

It's about the faith of a 13 year old orphan half way around the world and God's fulfillment of a promise He gave to that orphan.

This is totally not about me.

To help me fulfill this promise you can donate through my charity at www.eerop.org or through Heart to Heart International (http://www.h2hint.org/index.php/h2h/give/). Feel free to share with friends and others through Facebook and Twitter. Thank you for your faithfulness!

Just a Second

I literally have 5 minutes to make this posting before I have to get back into school work. My week has been super busy with starting a new job, being social, and trying to finish up the next to last week of school (for this quarter). I just had to share though: I met my goal of raising $1000 for my return trip to Romania in just 8 days. 8 days, people! That is so awesome! So, I'm not going to stop, I'm going to see how far this can go. The next milestone? $2000 in 21 days. Yep, I want to raise $2000 by the end of this month. How can you participate?

1. Donate through Heart to Heart International, the organization I will be traveling with. Their donation page is here. You can give online or send in a check. You can even sign up to give monthly (which would be great because I plan to travel at least twice a year to Romania). Make sure to designate your gift to Melissa Brown.

2. Buy a t-shirt. All the proceeds from my apparel shop will go towards this trip.

3. Buy some yarn. The monies raised from my shop will also be used towards this trip. As an added bonus you can use the coupon code "marchmadness" and get 15% off your purchase for the entire month of March.

Please consider donating something to help me return to my kids. I miss them terribly and they need a little love and caring after losing so much in life already. So... let's see if we can raise $2000 in 21 days!

Next posting: Updates on knitting! With pictures!

1000 in 31

Today starts a new month and I feel refreshed and ready for it! As we head into spring I've been thinking over a new project that I wanted to start. It's a push to help me raise enough money in just 3 months to go back to Romania this summer.

I mean, who couldn't wait to get back to these sweet faces!

The first campaign I'm launching is called 1000 in 31. I'm going to try and raise $1000 during the 31 days of March. Sound like a big task? It's really not. According to Facebook I have 645 friends. If each friend gave $1.55 I would raise the entire $1000. $1.55, that's less than a cup of coffee at Starbucks! You can barely find anything on the McDonald's menu for cheaper than that! I bet you have $1.55 in change in your couch cushions.

But why give? Because these children have zero stability in their lives. They need constant reassurance that someone is there for them. They are waiting for me to come back, literally! I have their notes on my dresser urging me to come back quickly. If I come back then they see that there is someone who cares. Someone who keeps their word. Someone who loves them enough to beg people on the internet for money just for a plane ticket. If I can raise all $3000 I need for this trip I can spend 3 weeks with them. 3 weeks of playing games. 3 weeks of snuggling. 3 weeks of bringing a little happiness and change to their normally dull and monotonous lives. And, as always, I will be taking a big suitcase of donations with me: clothes, toys, crafts, toiletries. Things we take for granted but that they have rationed out on a daily basis.

So, convinced yet? Great! Then go to this link here. You can send in a donation or make an online contribution. Make sure to include a note that the money is to be used for Melissa Brown. Or maybe you want to get something for your money. That's cool to. Go here and check out the shirts in my apparel shop. All the proceeds go towards this trip. Or maybe you don't care about supporting me and would rather just help orphans in general. Awesome! We still need to raise money to send some blankets to Russia. 75+ blankets. Visit the EEROP website and donate to shipping costs. While you're there check out the list of needed items and think about sending one (or two or ten) of those in my direction.

I appreciate your support in helping the orphans of Eastern Europe! Let's make March an awesome month!

Pressure Cooker

First, let me offer a belated Happy Thanksgiving! to everyone. I have seriously been neglectful of the blog this month. Which means I have to catch you up rather quickly:

1. Had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my parents, brother, and sister-in-law at sunny Universal Studios in Florida.

I rode the hugely popular Forbidden World of Harry Potter twice

rode all the roller coasters and saw several shows. It was nice to see some of the Christmas decorations going up. Which reminds me...I need to get out my Christmas decorations here at the apartment.

We had a great time despite the fact that I may have sprained my ankle. Apparently walking on hard concrete for three days in a row and standing in lines for hours at a time isn't so great for you. My left ankle is swollen pretty bad so tomorrow I'm headed to the doctor's early in the morning to see what's up.

2. The Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project "headquarters" (a.k.a. my office) has been overrun with blanket donations. Just as I had sent 40 off there were at least that many to replace them. It's really a wonderful problem to have. Thankfully my mom came and helped me organize said office/headquarters and now things are looking much better in here. Once I get the latest batch of donations sorted, tagged, photographed, and stored I will try and take some pictures of the new office space.

I did finish seaming together some patchwork squares but alas, no picture of the finished blanket yet. Also, if you're the knitting or crocheting type stop by our Ravelry group. We're getting ready to do a huge year long knit along/crochet along with tons of options for participating.

On another crafty charity note...the crafting group at my church was featured in the local paper the other day. Pretty cool!

3. Christmas knitting. Oh dear. The title of this post says it all. I'm in a real pressure situation here, folks. I didn't realize how much I still have to do!

There are washcloths, and lots of them, that need doing.

There is a wine cozy to finish. Er...start.

A tie, a pair of socks, and a knitted toy that also haven't been started yet.

And then there is a vest that is two shoulder seams away from being finished but for some reason I lost steam right at the very end.

Gah! Enough typing, must go finish some knitting. Only 26 days of holiday knitting left!

All Romania, All the Time

Let's see...where were we...ah, yes, Wednesday...

We started the day at the "Little Kids Orphanage" about 15 minutes from the Heart to Heart house. We told the Bible story of the wise and the foolish man and did the song that goes with it. Then we made bracelets and played with the kids before it started to rain and we headed out for the day.

 Singing

 Showing off our necklaces and bracelets.

Playing with the parachute.

The afternoon was spent at the second orphanage. We did the Bible story and song again and then started making necklaces and bracelets. It threatened to rain again so we took the kids indoors for play time.

 We made this necklace at least 4 times. Needless to say I think she's a process beader.

 Silly faces while cuddling.

 Making a log cabin.

 Love, love, LOVE this tough guy.

And his brother!

Thursday morning we went to the piazza for some shopping where I got some beautiful hand painted eggs and other souvenirs. That afternoon it was back to the baby hospital. The hospital was miserable that afternoon. It was super hot, the babies were dressed in long sleeved footed pajamas (!), and there was less help there. Romanians are very superstitious about catching a chill from drafts so apparently they had decided that the babies were too cold and needed to be bundled up. We were all sweating and miserable that day. After dinner that night myself and several other team members decided to walk down to the corner grocery store for candy, ice cream and Mountain Dew. Then we went for a little walk around the neighborhood.

 The Heart to Heart house.

 The neighborhood. We were in a pretty affluent area so there were some really nice houses and cars.

The lake (or was it a river?) along one side of the neighborhood.

Friday it was back to the "Little Kids Orphanage" in the morning where we talked about being a light to others and treating people with kindness. Then it was time for more games and climbing trees.

 Singing "This Little Light of Mine."

 The "Little Kids Orphanage."

 Such a cute little movie star :)

 

We love climbing trees!

Doing a little gymnastics.

Eating sour cherries.
That afternoon we got to have a pool party with some of the boys from the second orphanage. The Heart to Heart house has a pool in the backyard just for such purposes. It was fun to spend a little time with the kids doing something that many kids in America have been doing all summer long. This is a special treat for them. By the end of the summer many of the kids (except for some of the youngest) will have come to swim in the pool.

Saturday was by far the toughest day of my trip. Not because I was leaving the next day but because I woke up at 2:45 in the morning sick from food poisoning! I spent the day in bed (or in the bathroom) trying to stay cool despite temperatures spiking into the 95-98 degree Fahrenheit range. Meanwhile the members of the team not affected by food poisoning held a "family gathering" of sorts for some of the orphans who had graduated from the transition program. In hindsight I think God was preparing me to go home because I was ready to be with my family after my illness. If I hadn't gotten sick I might just have tried to stay in Romania!

All in all I had a wonderful trip. The kids touched my heart and I saw a great need. The kids need supplies and clothes but they also need someone to come and hug them and tell them they are special and love on them. I would love to go back after Christmas to spend time with them again.

Last, but certainly not least, I have to say a huge thank you to everyone who donated handmade items to the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project. I took 55+ handmade pieces of clothing and left them with the organizers of Heart to Heart to hand out to the kids once the weather gets colder.

This was the majority of the 45.2 pounds of my suitcase!
Now, 55 little people will be just a bit warmer this winter.

Next post it will be back to the knitting!

Romania Recap

As promised here is an update of what I did while I was in Romania with Heart to Heart International.

Left Atlanta on July 1st around 5:30 and arrived the following morning in Amsterdam. Waited around for a few hours until I caught my flight to Bucharest, Romania. Was picked up at the airport by Jen, Jenny, and Carolyn then taken to the H 2 H house.

The house was pretty similar to something you would find in the US, just with more bedrooms and no A/C.

Sunday was church, lunch at the mall and then a chance to meet some of the kids from one of the orphanages. H 2 H works with 5 orphanages: 2 close to Bucharest and 3 that are further south. We went to one that was about 45 minutes outside of Bucharest.

 School and girls dorms.

 Some of the boys. There seem to be more boys than girls at the orphanages for some reason.

 Boys dorms.

 A room in the boys dorms. 6-7 bunk beds in each room. Each boy gets one cubby to hold all his things, which usually isn't more than a few pieces of hand me down clothing.

 A box of communal shoes in the boys bathroom.

 The music group. We got to listen to a performance by them.

This little man stole my heart.
We played with the kids and listened to their little band perform a few songs for us and then it was back to the H 2 H house.

Monday we all headed to the music camp that was being held at the girls transition house. I helped cook and clean while Todd, one of the team members lead the music camp.

 Buying watermelon for a snack.

 Music group rehearsing in the back yard.

Girls transition house. During the year this will house the girls who have aged out of the orphanage. They learn basic life skills like cooking, cleaning, and shopping in addition to finding jobs and learning to live independently.
By the end of the day Monday all the rest of the team except for the members coming from Canada had arrived (they arrived Tuesday night). On Tuesday we all headed to an orphanage about 15 minutes from the H 2 H house. There are primarily younger children at this orphanage.

We spent the morning playing and coloring with the kids. In the afternoon I went with a small group to the baby hospital. There are 26 abandoned infants and toddlers housed in one small wing at a local hospital. They stay there until they get old enough to move into an orphanage or are adopted by someone in country (Romania is closed to international adoptions). Because the babies are wards of the state we couldn't take pictures of them or the hospital. It was tough to see babies that were 8 or 9 months old that could barely lift their heads. None of them reached for toys or looked you in the eye when you talked to them. The backs of their heads were flat from laying in cribs on their backs all day. Thankfully it was nice and sunny in their rooms and there were some volunteers who would take some of the babies out every once in awhile. And when they learned to crawl they were taken to a special playroom in another area of the hospital for a few hours a day to get some exercise. We held the babies and loved on them as much as we could before leaving for the day.

This is turning out to be a longer update than I had planned so I'll break it down into two parts. Coming soon: Wednesday-Saturday.

Back in the States

Yes, I successfully made it back to the good ol' U.S. of A. yesterday. I'm taking it a bit easy today by doing some laundry, school work (yep, grad school starts back today), knitting, and planning for my trip out of town for the Friends and Fiberworks Summer Retreat where I will be vending. In the wee hours of Saturday morning (Romania time) I was struck with a truly nasty bout of food poisoning. I don't remember ever being so sick before. At one point I actually wanted to die. Like, truly would have gladly gone to meet my maker than to spend one more minute in such agony. So I'm still getting over that. Which sucks because I'm pretty hungry and yet nothing sits quite right with me. All that to say I'm enjoying staying close to home today and not really exerting myself.

I will share more about the trip over the next week or so here on the blog and on the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project blog but I just want to say: the need is great. These are children who need love and clothing and a hug and a place to call home and enough food to actually give them body fat. These children need out but are stuck due to stupid laws and blind politicians. But that doesn't mean they are without hope. Which is why whatever you can do to help is much needed and much appreciated. A pair of socks might not seem like much but for a child who lives in a dormitory without heat and wears plastic shoes year round then socks help keep him warm and healthy when the snow starts to fall. A washcloth might not be a big deal to you but to a child who baths from a bucket that means they can actually scrub clean some of the dirt from their face. A bib doesn't look like much but to an abandoned baby it keeps the one outfit they get a day clean during feeding time. So do what you can. Make something beautiful and give it away. Visit a children's home in your state and play games for a couple of hours. Donate your unwanted clothing. Skip the latte and send your change to a children's relief agency. Advocate and be a voice for the voiceless. Whatever you do don't turn a blind eye. Because if not for the grace of God you could be the one on the other side of the orphanage fence.

Even if you aren't religious I encourage you to watch this video from my church. The statistics alone are enough to move me to action.

New Orleans: Day 2

Buckle up, it's going to be a long, bumpy ride.

This is a typical shot of my family in action while in NOLA. 3 people with cameras all taking pictures of the same thing and my brother standing around.
Sunday was a visit to the zoo. The first thing we saw was an elephant exhibit. I was about 20 feet away from the paddock so I had a great view. They did demonstrations of how elephants are trained and used in India and other parts of Asia. And yes, that is a guy on the back of the elephant in the picture below.
The zookeeper doing the presentation at the elephant exhibit sounded and looked like a totally stereotypical California surfer and by the end of the talk had wandered off into talking about tortoises. Classic.

We saw some camels which my aunt and I decided were pretty much the perfect pet.
They can store 40 gallons of water in their body, go up to a week without having to drink again, withstand extreme and sudden changes in temperature, lose up to 25% of their body weight in sweat without dying, are excellent transportation devices, and, most importantly, you can spin their fur into yarn. I think I may get a couple.

My brother did his best impression of being a statuary.
Boy with Turtle next to Boy with Water Bottle.

Brandi climbed on stuff she wasn't supposed to...again.
I saw a bear swimming (and some dumb a$$ redneck try and spit on him. I would have loved to have seen the bear scale that wall and maul the guy to death...but I'm evil and vengeful like that.)
Got up close and personal with some baby crocs, and I don't mean the shoes.
This guy was just hanging out in the gift shop.

Saw a loose interpretation of the fabled "Swamp Monster."
He kind of looks like the Chupacabra (ugh, I hope I don't have nightmares from looking at those pictures...).

Got to see the famous white alligators.
These are not albino alligators. They are leucistic which means they lack the pigment in their skin that produces the traditional camouflage coloring. They don't have red eyes like albinos do but blue. There are only 2 examples of white alligators being found in the wild and they both occurred in Louisiana. The first time was in 1986 (or '87 depending on your source) and there were 18 hatchlings found in a nest with other, normal colored, alligators. Scientists speculate that the reason why they are so rare is that, because of their color, they are easy targets as infants to be eaten by prey.

Hmmm...this trip is turning very educational.

Brandi climbed on some more stuff...
We almost got sprayed by some bobcats (there is a reason those fences are 4 feet away from the cages).
My mom communicated with some gazelles (it's a loooooong story...).
Brandi and my brother climbed on things they weren't supposed to.
Brandi is definitely about to be eaten.

Saw some warthog love which was actually pretty cute. The male had wandered off from the female (a total of maybe 30 feet) and she came running over. They embraced in this kind of head butting/rubbing. They seemed totally elated to be reunited even though they'd been apart for less than a minute.
True examples of love can be found in the strangest of places.

Brandi laid on stuff she wasn't supposed to.
And then that night we rode the trolley to Canal Street and back just to say that we'd done it.
Thus ended my 1st trip of the summer to Louisiana. I'll be back there in a few weeks with Brandi again to visit my brother. Brother working in a different state=instant vacation destination.

Knitting wise I've been working on the following, some of which saw a little face time on the way to and from NOLA (I was too busy while I was there to do much knitting).

Test knit sweater
I've actually finished the 3 inches of garter edging and I'm about 1.5 inches into the body.

Britt's baby blanket
Half way through with this. Which is good because my aunt's already having contractions. He better stay in there until the 17th.

Pair of BIG socks for Warm Woolies
The pattern is the Perfect Fit Hiking Socks. I didn't do the stripes or the ribbing all the way up the leg (just at the top). Yarn was Cascade 220 tweed for the main color and Cascade 220 for the toes, heel flap, and ribbing at the top. My friend Carolyn graciously modeled one of the socks a few weeks ago at knit night.
Not for the normal sized foot.
But perfect for a 16 year old boy.

Big 10 socks which were a test knit for a friend on Ravelry.
These are the ones where I got to try out an afterthought heel. Turned out well. Blocking didn't totally fix the pointy toes but I think it did help. Both these pairs of socks are now dry and ready to send off.

In other knitting news I'm working on some job opportunities with my shop and getting ready to dye some more. I'll keep you posted on how all that is going :)