Friday update by Wayne

On Friday we built two of the Corn Hole game boards using some discarded wood trim which was almost a 2 x 4 in size but with an ogee cut on one side and a new piece of particle board (we could not find 3/4" thick plywood). We will let the boys put a few coats of paint on it after we are gone. We were expecting some men to bring a brick saw with a diamond tipped blade to come cut the concrete tiles that will be installed around some of the perimeter, they were supposed to arrive at 10:00 am. As they had not arrived by lunch time we went back to the hotel to eat. We had marked several of the concrete tiles that needed to be cut before we left. The workers had arrived while we were gone and had cut the marked pieces and were now waiting on us. We marked the rest of the tiles and installed them as soon as they were cut. The man who operated the saw also took a try at playing cornhole. He threw his first toss right through the hole! Later in the day these same guys delivered five of the used concrete/wood benches which will be installed on the patio. By the end of the day we had completed our work on the patio with the only item remaining to be done was to fill the cracks with the grout Kiro instructed the boys to use. The corn hole game boards were also completed and several minutes were spent tossing the bags made by Nicky.

The children knew that our time there was coming to an end and several good-byes were said through teary eyes, theirs and ours. Svetly gave me his blank personal diary and told me that I was his best friend. Svetly will be leaving the orphanage in September to go to a vocational school to become a chef. Most of us guys think he would be better suited for a demolition contractor. He is supposed to return to the orphanage next year for summer vacation. We also took our annual photo assisted by Zoiko.

On Saturday we packed up, checked out of the hotel and went by the orphanage for a couple more hours and more teary good-byes. We drove to our hotel in Sofia and will leave Bulgaria on our flight which is scheduled to leave at 6:10 am. On our drive from Lom plans were made and notes taken on what we would do next year.