Although we traveled to 20+ countries during our 6 months in Europe, Romania was our home base and it made a great home for our little family for those 6 months. We have so many wonderful memories of our little apartment in Bucharest as well as our favorite places around the city. But the people we met are the ones that made our memories there priceless!
Cismigiu Park by Parliament Building. An amazing part of the history of the church in Romania and a beautiful park! Had great street Gyro's nearby!
The view of the city and our apartment at sunset on a Ferris Wheel ride!
Since Jenn's sister and brother in law served missions in Romania, we were sure to have the missionaries over for dinner as often as possible. Since Michael often had to work late to accommodate US hours, this meant it was often Jenn, the sister missionaries and the kids. It was fun to have tacos most of those nights to scratch that missing Mexican Food itch and to be able to speak English with the sweet sisters. We loved having them in our home and loved sending their photos to their families too. So many incredible missionaries!
We also loved saying hi to dad at work. Haha! His building/desk was literally right across from the apartment.
We made good friends with the sweet workers at the grocery shop at the bottom of our apartment complex. Laila and Yuliana were the best of friends. She would say "Laila! Buna!" and Laila would reply "Buna!" That was about the extent of their ability to speak to each other but their friendship was priceless!
This little guy grew so much while we were away! He learned to walk in this apartment and always liked being treated like a big boy- even if the water bottle was bigger than he!
We made so many friends and loved every outing with them!
Date nights were always appreciated too!
Romania had so many fun festivals and street fairs. This one was a yummy one! Food truck festival! We had fun trying everything with the Carnells and Whalens!
Before we left we had a great dinner out with the Carnell's one last time.
Cannot believe how much our kids have grown since then!
We also enjoyed one last play date with the Whalens and Carnells at the luxurious indoor water park!
One of our most cherished memories was being part of the English "Twig." Since it was too small to be considered a branch, we were an English Twig that would meet and have church together at the mission home. Those were some special Sundays!
It's hard to put into words the influence Romania has had on our lives. Our time was short there but completely packed with incredible opportunities, tough learning moments, and wonderful people. We would definitely do it all over again in a heartbeat!
