teamMarius

Note: Marius' first operation was postponed from the 22nd to 29th. He and Ionut traveled to San Diego last week and had a great time with Lynne and her family. Here is her report. Also, please go to www.teammarius.org to see pictures from their great adventure.

Greetings to all from the Southern California arm of Team Marius! I just wanted to give a little report on the wonderful time we had with Marius and Ionut while they visited us Woodward/Ludlows here in San Diego.

We did lots of fun things while they were here. I think their favorite activity was their trips to the dentist! Well, maybe not their favorite, but Ionut particularly was so appreciative to be able to have his dental work done. A thousand thanks to Dr. David Russell and his staff for their kindness and generosity in donating their time and resources, doing ALL their dental work for free. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

More thanks go out to our new friends Alina and Ken Kleinhenz and their boys, Andy and Stephan, for taking Marius and Ionut (and Paul and I too!) under their wings. They are the greatest! They accompanied Paul, Marius and Ionut to the Romanian Orthodox Church on Sunday where they participated in the services, met many members of the Romanian community here in San Diego (Father Iustin had visited with Marius and Ionut previously), and then had a delicious authentic Romanian meal! Marius said he felt like he was back in Romania. Sincere thanks to all for being so kind and welcoming. Then Alina and her family came over the next day and taught us to make mamaliga, a staple in Romania. This was the first mamaliga the boys have had since leaving Romania, and they were SO excited. They loved it and were so happy when we loved it too. Ionut really loved talking with Andy, who is close to his age and knows perfect Romanian, and Marius and Stephan (who is 10) also became good friends. They did a LOT of wrestling. Again, so many thanks to the Kleinhenz family for going out of their way to befriend us and the boys. I must have heard the words, “Alina is so nice,” at least a dozen times.

Ashley and Andrea and Grace were able to fly down from Utah for a few days and that was so much fun. While they were here we had a party/barbecue to thank our supporters here in the San Diego area and also for our neighbors and church friends to be able to meet Marius and Ionut. It was so much fun. We rented a big bouncy slide that Marius and all the younger kids played on the entire time, and Ionut and Ashley and the older kids enjoyed playing volleyball and ping pong. And of course, everyone enjoyed Paul’s barbecue. Thanks so much to everyone who came and to those who brought such thoughtful gifts for the boys. My friend Kathy brought Marius a Batman costume that he wore for the rest of the night. It was so cute.

A few other fun things – we went on a horseback ride, spent some time at the zoo, and had a blast going to Medieval Times with lots of the family and cheering for our green knight. Ionut went to a couple of swing/salsa/tango lessons. I tell you, the boy’s got rhythm! Ionut and Paul also went to the mountains and did some target shooting. Marius enjoyed playing his new video games with Logan and Farrell, and everybody (especially Marius) liked driving our new little go-cart around. That thing goes pretty fast, and Marius was a pro driver! We wanted to put a sign on there saying “Marius’s taxi.” He loved taking people for rides in it, and Sharlyn’s 3-year-old twins, Cole and Parker, especially loved riding with him.

On their last day here we toured some of the historic boats in the San Diego Harbor (the boys especially loved the submarine), and then we went for a sail ourselves in the Bay. Ionut took the tiller for a while, and he was crazy! But we loved it. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for sailing with lots of wind. We saw more seals than I have ever before seen in the bay, many scattered around on various buoys that we were able to get up close and personal with, and probably a couple hundred seals on one particular pier. The boys also really liked feeding the birds, and Marius made a special friend with one bird who followed us for probably 15 minutes. The only thing we were sad about was that Teo couldn’t be with us. She had wanted to go for a sail while she was here but we weren’t able to make it happen. Next year when she comes, right, Teo? Anyway, good times.

We LOVE those boys. What a privilege it is to have them in our lives.

Love to all,

Lynne