GRADUATION

The BCA Class of 2008 has officially graduated! These six kids (yes, they're still kids to us) are all dear to us, and now they are all off in different directions: Kyle (the valedictorian, pictured above with Tony) is heading to Trinity Western in Canada; Lauren (the salutatorian) is going to Minnesota; Kyle is headed to Union in Tennessee; Rachael is going to college in Salem, Oregon; and Sean and Christina are staying in Bucharest one more year to attend a local university that has a degree program in English.

Tony MC'ed the graduation ceremony on May 30, and Chrissy helped with rehearsal and the closing benediction. That last week of school, with the yearbook presentation on Wednesday (Chrissy is the yearbook adviser), Field Day on Thursday (Tony is almost completely recovered from his injury. Whose idea was it to do a relay that requires you to spin around the number of times equal to your age???), and graduation on Friday -- it left us speechless on the way home Friday night: simultaneously proud of the graduates, exhausted from all the late nights, and sad to see so many students and families leaving Bucharest.

It is the nature of our work that relationships develop quickly, run deep, and are faced with frequent separations. But what a blessing to be part of the body of Christ in such a unique, boundary-crossing way!