Welcome to our blog!

I am not sure how much writing we will do but we will be adding pictures from time to time. We began our blog in Romania where we lived for over nine years. The Lord called us to Romania in 1998 (arriving in Feb. 1999). We had an amazing adventure with Him. He allowed us to see him minister in many ways in Romania. We were able to see first hand political and economic changes but also enjoy its beauty when we were out in the countryside. Checkout the Bucharest and Romania slideshows on this blog.
We are now back in Texas waiting to see what the Lord has planned for us.

The BIG Event - Kyle's high school graduation May 30, 2008!

It does not seem that long ago when Kyle was 4 years old and was attending Pre-K at Caldwell Playschool in Tyler, Texas. The years have passed by, too quickly. Now we have our third BCA graduate!

Over 10 years ago I asked the Lord to provide our sons with Christian educations. Of course we never imagined he would do it by sending us thousands of miles away from family and friends to Romania. By doing this he educated our whole family. The Lord opened our eyes to seeing a lost world in need of him. He showed us we need to stay focused on him to not only meet our needs but also to show us the direction he wants us to go as we serve him. It has been an amazing journey with the Lord!
Of of his classmates Kyle had been at BCA the longest (since he was in 4th grade). Kyle is in the striped shirt in front in Miss Leahy's 4th grade class.

Rachael Mather arrived in the 5th grade.
Rachael and Kyle at the Prom in April.

Class of 2008 with Jennifer Lipp, BCA's school director before graduation begins.
Preparing to file into the graduation ceremony.Tony Barbusca, BCA's secondary principal begins the ceremony.
The graduates listening.A sibling of each graduate read a scripture that the graduate had chosen.Nathaniel read Kyle's selection, John 5:19.Ladies' quartet (Seas Byul, Sarah, Christina, and Lauren) sang Psalm 23 beautifully.Kevin Nelstead, BCA's secondary science teacher and father of Kyle, the class valedictorian gave the keynote address.Lauren Staab was the salutatorian.Kyle Nelstead was the valedictorian.
Kyle receiving his diploma from BCA school board chairman, Jennifer Cox.Jennifer Lipp changing Kyle's tassle from one side to the other.
The class of 2008 after tossing their hats.The reception line.The hugs begin with kindergartner Rose.The oldest brother shaking the youngest brother's hand.A hug from his middle older brother.Laura Crawford (a former BCA teacher) had all three of our sons as students.
Nathaniel with Mrs. Pavel one of his English teachers. She also taught Jordan and Kyle in English and Romanian.Twirling his tassle.The graduates cutting their cake.Kyle receives his official diploma from Mr. Barbusca.Aura (our colleague) taught Kyle for one semester after she arrived here in January 2006.
Jordan with Austin Brown, BCA alumni class of 2007. His parents are colleagues of ours.The two Kyles. They have been good friends since Kyle Nelstead and his family arrived in 2001.The Cristeas and the Russells. We have been good friends since Roger and I had Adina as our language teacher in 2001. Three year old Alex is our godson. Little brother, Andrei is 16 months old now.
Kyle and his Nana.Our family - Roger, Nathaniel, Melinda, Kyle, Nana, and Jordan.

More graduation pictures can be seen on Facebook.

Nathaniel and Nana arrive/ The week with our family

Nathaniel and Melinda's Mom, Marilyn, arrived on May 26th to take part in the graduation festivities. Nana holding the flowers we gave her at the airport. It is a Romanian custom to give flowers to guests.
What no shirts! Melinda's Poppa always said guys needed to wear shirts at the table. Of course it has been a joke in our family for years. Kyle and Nathaniel enjoying breakfast on the 27th.
On the 27th we met up with two volunteers from Texas, Mike Phillips and Dr. Mark Kemp from Copperas Cove. We took them to the Village Museum before taking them to the hotel by the airport.Nana also enjoyed seeing the different buildings at the Village Museum.
Nana also got to meet Dr. Gary Fenton and his wife, Alta Faye from Birmingham Alabama.

Nana was able to attend Ladies' Bible study with Melinda on the 28th and meet the ladies Melinda had been telling Nana about.
Marilyn, Melinda, Margie, Freda, Caty, Lidia, Min and Lisa
We also had our moments as a family in the team van.Melinda and Jordan closeup.
Nana, Nathaniel, Jordan and Kendall also had the opportunity to see some of our colleagues while they were here. On May 30th we had a going away party for Aura, our colleague who is returning to California on July 1st. Her Journeyman term is ending.
"Chester" aka Wes Banks presenting Aura with a small gift."Baba Banks" aka Tamara presenting flowers to us. Our colleagues also had a time of prayer for our family as we prepare to head to Texas to begin stateside assignment for 9 months. Here is Dwayne Brown praying for us.Afterwards the boys headed to BucurestiFest.Jordan and Wesley Banks enjoyed hanging out together.Nathaniel at the concert.
After church on June 1st we headed to the Bucharest Mall for lunch. In the picture family and friends - Kyle, Kendall, Jordan, Nana, Jennifer, Aura, Jerry, and Diana.
One thing I wanted all three of our boys to have done was to be measured. For the past 7 years we had been marking their heights on the inside pantry doorframe at the Piata Alba Iulia apartment (now the Browns' home). On June 1st Nathaniel, Jordan and Kyle went over and Dwayne measured them. Nathaniel's height is still the same 6' 1/4". Jordan is the shortest of the boys now (but taller than Roger). He is still 5' 10". Kyle has grown a tad and is now 5' 10 3/4" tall.

We enjoyed our time with our family. We are thankful the Lord provided the funds for all of them to come be here for Kyle's graduation and visit with friends.

Jordan and Kendall come for a visit

Jordan and his friend, Kendall arrived on May 16th. Jordan had come for Kyle's high school graduation but also came to see some sights of Europe. Jordan and Kendall departed Bucharest on the 17th by train.First stop Budapest Hungary.
From there they traveled to Vienna Austria then to Brno Czech Republic. (They spent the night with colleagues of ours in Brno and Prague.)
From Brno they trained to Prague and saw the famous Astronomical Clock and other sights. From Prague they traveled to Munich for a few hours before boarding a train for Paris, France.
Jordan by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.Kendall in front of the Eiffel Tower.
They even saw the catacombs in Paris.

On to Rome. The boys had planned to train to Nice France but the additional cost besides using their Eurorail pass was expensive. To they headed straight to Rome where they saw many of the sights including the Colosseum.

They went to Pisa and saw the leaning tower. Afterwards they went back to Rome to see more sights before training to Venice.


Venice's Grand Canal.St. Mark's Church in Venice.
After Venice Jordan and Kendall trained back to Bucharest arriving back on Thursday May 29th.