Tabita and Natalie

What an adventure this last week has been. I have had to personally handle much of the work Adina had been doing for me so it is taking time for me to hit my stride, see what I can delegate and work in the rest.  God is good and it is all getting done. On that note - Adina has found a wonderful opportunity that makes use of many of her talents and she is very happy, I wish her well and God's blessings.

Tuesday was dwarf day - I don't know how else to say it.  There are two little girls, Tabita and Natalie that are little people. Last year we had managed to have both girls enrolled in a medical program that entails daily injections of a growth hormone as well as monthly and yearly monitoring.  Last Tuesday was the day for the big yearly evaluation.  I know both girls were prone to car sickness and we had to drive to Timisoara to a hospital that I had never been to, and to meet doctors I had never met.  The grandfather of one of the girls has been on these visits and was familiar with the program, but he also has a problem with alcohol.  I had all but begged him to be sober to help me Tuesday...HMMPPHHH - well at least he was coherent when we started off early in the morning.

I was directed to the hospital and then to the room where the girls needed to be (up 3 flights of stairs of course)  God had granted me one of my miracle parking spaces! At least these girls were as slow as I was going up stairs. There were several children there for evaluation. We were in a regular hospital room so they just say to sit on somebodies bed and ask them to make room. Since the girls were going to have to disrobe for examination the grandfather asked me to take it from there. Natalie is pretty much non-verbal so I was communicating what we would be doing to her when the grandfather asked me for money for coffee, I was distracted so I gave him money.  Gee what a surprise, during the course of the exams, going to other departments on other floors and back, blood and urine tests, measurements and x-rays he kept disappearing. Each time he was back he was in a little worse shape. Gotta tell you I am not having a good time.  I only had to have one of the girls give a urine sample - also not an easy task. Her little forearms are very short and she was unable to get up on the toilet by herself anyway.  I managed....


Since a mother in the hospital room gave both girls a nice lunch when we were done...there was a lot of woofing in the back seat on the way home.  I was prepared with bags, wet wipes and towels but since I was in the fast lane and couldn't pull over fast enough I kept encouraging them to "please barf in to the bags!"  As I dropped the one girl off with her grandfather he wanted to stay and chat a little. I was in no mood by then, told him I'd see him in church Sunday.

In driving Natalie back to Arad I realized I was not sure exactly where she lived. I had been there once and Bogdan had picked her up in the morning. I got in to the general area and then prayed. I turned to the little one and asked if she had any inclination of becoming verbal, now would be a great time, can you tell me where you live? Point? I found it.

I await the results of all the exams and pray that both girls continue to qualify for the program.  We pray for these girls and that the treatments work. How difficult will their lives be? They already live in extreme poverty.  Tabita comes to the children's program faithfully Saturday mornings in Vinga. Natalie lives in Arad so I don't see her on a regular basis.