Friday Night Lahmacun

Tonight we decided to have one of our favorite dishes in Turkey . . . Lahmacun!



It is a round, thin piece of dough topped with minced meat, usually beef or lamb.




Then you sprinkle it with lemon juice and put some lettuce, tomatoes and plain yogurt on top . . . no sour cream here :(




Then you wrap it up and eat it like this. We all love it! Looks good, huh?

A little about adoption

Disclaimer: This post might get a little long; this is something I'm very passionate about!

So why are we adopting?

Well, a couple of years ago God really began speaking to our hearts about adoption. As we prayed about it, we knew God was leading us to adopt from Ethiopia. As we we learned more about Ethiopia, a lot of things really confirmed it in our hearts.

First of all, did you know that in Ethiopia one in ten children die before their first birthday? One in six children die before their fifth birthday. 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition. 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (the 6th highest in the world). There are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia! That number alone is staggering!

All these statistics are just overwhelming and when you think about it, you start saying, “Okay, God, what can I really do, I'm just one person? How can I make a difference?” But if we let ourselves think like this, sometimes it prevents us from doing anything. A lot of the time God is calling us to do something completely crazy and totally our of our comfort zone and it involves a huge risk! But that’s the exciting part, risking it all for God and watching him do something incredible in and through us!

Starting this adoption process is big and scary and totally out of our comfort zone. But for us, it's just a matter of being obedient to what God has told us to do. Some might think it's brave, some might think it's foolish, but we call it faith. We can't see the path up ahead, but we're stepping out in faith anyway, knowing that God has called us on this incredible journey of adoption and He will be with us every step of the way.

And really, what it comes down to is that there are lots of kids in the world who need a loving, forever family and we want to be that family for a child. Simple as that.

I feel like I have to give this big, long explanation for why we have decided to adopt, and it's hard because people don't always react like you expect them to when you tell them you're adopting. Sometimes I feel like we have to defend our decision to adopt, when really we just want people to be excited just like they would be if we told them we were pregnant. Because really, adopting is much like being pregnant. God is blessing us with another little one through the miracle of adoption. A child being brought into a family, no matter how it occurs, is a miracle!

It doesn't matter if a child was born into our family or adopted into our family, they will be OUR child and we will love them just the same.

I can't begin to describe how excited I am! I am already dreaming about holding my little baby from Ethiopia. God will definitely be growing my patience through this whole process. Adoption is a long and sometimes difficult process and we are only at the very beginning of this journey. So come along and join us as we dive in!

I will write more about the adoption process later. A lot of people don't understand why it takes so long and what all goes into the process. Oh, and don't be afraid to ask any questions, I love talking about adoption!

Thanks for reading, now it's time for some pictures :)

Last weekend we went on a picnic in the woods. It's so nice to get out of the city and just enjoy God's beautiful creation. Joel captured some great pictures, so enjoy . . .


Colson having fun talking to his pine cone




Oh I love him!




A face we see a lot more often now that he's a two year old ;)




Does he not have the cutest little feet?





Colson loves playing in the dirt, what little boy doesn't?





Joel's photography skills
















Mommy's girl




So precious!




Now that we have two kids, we rarely take pictures of ourselves.

A lesson in Turkish Culture

About a week ago Joel decided to make a cheesecake. No, Joel does not usually bake; however it is a tradition for the men in the Hildebrand family to make cheesecake. And for some unknown reason it must be made late at night (why is that, Dad H?). We had to alter the recipe a little since you can't get all the ingredients to make cheesecake here in Turkey, but it was still yummy!

So anyway, this was Joel's second time making cheesecake, the first time he made it, we took some over for our neighbors to try and they LOVED it. Since then they've been asking us when we're going to make cheesecake again. They were also really impressed that Joel made it. So we told them the next time we make some cheesecake we'll have them over.

So I went over in the afternoon to talk to my neighbor and I invited them all to come over in the evening after her husband got home from work. He works really long hours and usually only gets home around 9:00. She said they were going out that evening but maybe they would stop by after they got back.

I thought that it would probably get too late and they wouldn't come. So Joel and I went to bed at 11:00 and a few minutes later we heard a knock on our door. We thought we would just ignore the door and they would think we were sleeping. After all, we were in our pajamas and it was late. But then they rang the doorbell. By the way, our doorbell is loud and rings to the tune of Beethoven's "Für Elise."

We thought we better get up and get dressed because they just might keep ringing and wake the kids up. So we got dressed as fast as we could and went and answered the door. They didn't even ask us if we had been sleeping because it was 11:00 and, for goodness sakes, no one in Turkey goes to bed at 11:00! Turks stay up so late, even the children. So we invited them in, along with their 10-year old daughter. I quickly ran in the kitchen and started some Turkish tea.

The husband just loves Vienna, so right away he wanted to go peek at her sleeping. Now Vienna is SUCH a light sleeper so as soon as we cracked open the door she was awake! So we got Vienna up because we knew there was no way she was going right back to sleep now that she was wide awake. We brought her out to the living room with us and their daughter had fun playing with her. They stayed till around 12:00 and we had fun drinking tea, eating cheesecake, talking and laughing. Vienna had fun too, even though her sleep was disrupted for an hour in the middle of the night.

What is so cool is that our neighbor's don't know any English besides a few words. So the whole conversation was in Turkish and WE WERE ALL UNDERSTANDING EACH OTHER!! It was
so. much. fun. Of course we had to break out the Turkish dictionary every once in awhile to look up a word we didn't know, but we were actually communicating, not just sitting there and nodding and smiling (which is how we spent many of our first few months here). God is answering are prayers and I am confident that some day soon we will be able to communicate well and from our hearts!

We really love our neighbors! God is definitely blessing our relationships with those around us. Colson even loves to go over to their house and play. Every time we come home, instead of going in our front door, he wants to go the neighbor's door and knock. They always invite him to come in and if he's fast enough, he's in the door and around the corner and off to play before I can catch him! This is so amazing to me, because it usually takes Colson a while to warm up to people. What a testimony of how faithful God is in taking care of us and helping our WHOLE family to thrive here!

We are thankful that God has provided this apartment for us, we are surrounded by some of the nicest, friendliest, most hospitable people you will ever meet! We keep asking God how we can bless them when it seems like in so many ways they are blessing us!



Joel's Cheesecake. Yum! He even made a strawberry glaze to go on top. When Joel does bake, he goes all out! You know you want some :)

Wordless Wednesday

Funny things Colson says . . .

Be warned, if you don't like potty humor, don't keep reading . . .

So whenever I go to the bathroom Colson likes to tag-along (he also likes a front row seat when it's time to change Vienna's diaper). He's very interested in poop and pee ever since we started potty training. I will spare you all the details, but to say the least, he's very proud of himself when he goes in the potty and always has to have a look at his accomplishment and discuss the size, etc. So whenever I use the potty he likes to congratulate me by saying: "Mommy, you went pee-pee! Good job! Give me five!" Oh, life with a two-and-a-half year old is never boring. I love this little guy! He is always making me laugh. I'm amazed at how fast he's learning new things, where did our little baby go?!

On another note, what is a blog post without pictures? So here's a few cute ones of Vienna that Joel took the other night. He's been playing with our camera and learning how to use the different features. My husband is becoming quite the photographer :)























I LOVE this little girl! Is she not she just the cutest?



And one more, just for fun. Don't you like our new shelf decoration?




Have a great Tuesday!

Charity

Beach Day Hooray!

So we've been to the beach the past 4 Saturdays in a row. That is more times than I've gone to the beach in the last 5 years! I suppose it helps a little living so close to some REALLY beautiful beaches. Plus it's just SO hot here, if you're going to be outside, you need to be close to the water. Most of our neighbors have summer homes, nothing super elaborate, just simple homes close to the beach where they usually live from the end of May through the end of September. We've gone to visit our friends at their summer house twice now with Adam & Mel and their kids, and it has been SO much fun! All the kids just have a blast! The house is somewhat small but with a HUGE balcony. You don't really spend much time in the house anyway. Our friends are just the greatest and we're really learning a thing or two about hospitality! They take such good care of us when we come, we've been so blessed by their kindness and we always go home a few pounds heavier. I LOVE Turkish cookin'!


The older kids painting together





Cousins enjoying peaches together




Yasemin just loves Vienna. Yes, Vienna is a thumb-sucker, but only when she has her blanky.




Colson's all-time favorite activity at the beach - rock throwing! Andy and Katie even joined in on the fun this time.




We love our friends :)





Vienna loves the water, even when it's freezing










Colson had fun jumping to Daddy in the water




Well, more like falling, I don't think his feet left the ground



Happy Sunday!

Charity

Here we go . . .

Hi all! We wanted to start this blog to share about our life here in Turkey, and of course, lots of cute pictures of our kiddos!


Here are some of the latest from a recent trip to the beach with friends. . . ENJOY!



Colson having fun throwing rocks at the beach.





Vienna, our little beach baby!




Colson with his friends Yasemin and Eran.




Vienna in her own personal swimming pool! What a life!





Great action shot of Colson throwing his favorite thing besides rocks - SAND!!
If you look closely you can see the sand in the air.