Moving!

We have been busy, busy, busy over here because we are moving! Yes, two weeks after we arrived back in Turkey we decided to move. Are we crazy? Yes! But it was definitely a God thing. 


For awhile we had been wanting to move to some place cheaper, but we didn't want to move too far away from the friends God has put in our lives. About two weeks ago our friends told us that an apartment close to their building was going to be opening up. We went and saw it and loved it! And it's about $200 a month cheaper than where we are staying at right now! It's a little bit smaller than ours and needs a little work, but we don't need a lot of room and it's perfect for us. It's also on the bottom floor - which will be SO much easier! Right now we're living on the 4th floor and I'm so glad we will no longer have to deal with kids fighting over who gets to push the button for the elevator, getting fingers pinched in the elevator, the elevator not working, or trying to fit all of us plus groceries and a bike into that tiny little elevator. Did I mention I really don't like elevators? Yay for being able to walk out of our apartment and go right outside! Makes my life much simpler. 


Anyway, we move in on Saturday. Saturday, as in two more days. So we've been busy packing up and moving things over to our new place - which is right across the park and takes about two minutes to walk to. God is so good! Our friends have been so helpful and are excited that we'll be a little closer to them. We have been slowly moving things out of this apartment and into our new one. It's kind of funny because we haven't put a single thing in a box. We are filling up our suitcases, walking them through the park to our new place, emptying them and bringing them back to fill up again. Yup, that's how we roll!

We will do this move without any boxes or a moving truck. Well, we actually might need to rent a small truck to move our fridge, stove and washing machine. But besides that we really don't have a lot of stuff. It makes moving pretty easy. The kids are also really excited about our new apartment. And moving this time around is a LOT more easy than when we first moved here since we already have two years of language under our belts. When we first came to Turkey all we knew how to say was hello. That's it. We couldn't talk to anyone! The first couple of months were rough and I'm sure we made plenty of mistakes and lots of people were wondering who are these crazy foreigners who let their kids play outside in April without 15 layers of clothing on :)


But we survived and somewhere along the way this country has become our home. I mean, I don't think I will ever feel completely at home here, but I also know for certain that if we moved back to America it wouldn't feel like home either. And I think that's a good thing. It's a good reminder for me that this world is not our home.

I'm so thankful that God totally messed up our plans and we ended up here. He sure does have a sense of humor. Never in a million years would I have thought I would be living in Turkey, a country I knew nothing about and couldn't even place on a map 5 years ago! But  yet here we are, right where God wants us to be. And it's a good feeling knowing I'm right where God wants me to be, even if it isn't always easy, even if some days I feel like giving up and going home, even if I feel like I will never understand this language or this culture. 

But I know His grace is sufficient for me and His power is made perfect in my weakness.


Now for a few random pictures:

We were pleasantly surprised to come back to Turkey and find out that a lot of the parks in our area had been re-done. We call this one the pirate ship park. The kids love it!

Yohanis and a friend

See ya next week when we have the internet hooked up in our new place!

Peanut Butter

One thing our kids all love love love is peanut butter! But it is really expensive here so we rarely buy it. Our kids ate a ton of peanut butter while we were in the States and they've missed it so much (especially Colson) since we've been home. So today we decided to make our own! I didn't know how easy it is to make your own peanut butter and it's something we'll be doing from now on. 

I didn't remember to take pictures of the process or of our kids enjoying eating peanut butter with their apples after lunch. But I did take a few after it was made.


Anyway, start with some roasted peanuts. The ones we bought were shelled, but they still had the skins on them and we didn't feel like peeling the skin off of every stinkin' peanut so we just threw them in the food processor, skins and all. What the heck, why not? The skins have got to be good for you, right?

Next we added just a tiny bit of sunflower oil (I didn't have any peanut oil) and then some honey to sweeten it.

Turn on your food processor and in a couple minutes you'll have yourself some peanut butter. That's it! Simple. easy. delicious!

Mmmm. Our kids loved it and were so excited to have peanut butter again. And I loved being able to make something ourselves, plus it's much healthier this way!

Yohanis Update

Where does the time go? I can't believe that Yohanis has been home for nearly 2 1/2 months already! In some ways it seems like he's always been a part of our family. I can hardly remember what life was like before Yohanis came home.

He is just an amazing little boy! He has jumped head first into our family and hasn't looked back. I don't know if this is still the "honeymoon" stage or what, but Yohanis truly is one of the happiest and most compliant kids I have ever met! He is the sweetest little boy that walks around with a huge smile on his face. He just glows. If you've met him, then you know what I'm talking about. He has a smile that just lights up an entire room!

We have been back home in Turkey for 2 1/2 weeks now and Yohanis has handled the move like a champ. Big changes don't really seem to affect him all that much. We had been talking about the move for awhile before we left and made sure he understood that all five of us we're going to our home in Turkey together. We had a countdown and he was SO excited to fly on an airplane again!

Since we've been here he has already picked up some Turkish words and says "merhaba" (hi) to pretty much anyone we see! He is learning so fast. When someone rings our call button from the bottom of the building, Yohanis loves to run to the door and press the red button and say "kim o?" which means, "who is it?" to whoever is waiting. It's so cute!


He is such a good big brother to Vienna and Colson, he especially loves to take care of his little sister. He has such a soft spot for her. If she needs her blankie, he will run right away and get it for her. If she needs help putting her shoes on, he is right there helping her do it. It's so sweet to watch their relationship develop.

Things haven't been as easy with Colson, on the other hand. Yohanis loves Colson and plays really well with him, but Colson is having a hard time adjusting to having a big brother. All of the sudden he isn't the oldest anymore and that has been really tough for him to get used to. He gets jealous of Yohanis and everything is a competition. I don't know how many times I hear the words "I'm going to beat you!" from Colson everyday. I also don't know how many times I've said "It's not a race!" in the last 2 1/2 months! It's been hard and I'm trying to have lots of grace for Colson and make a point to get one-on-one time with him a couple times throughout the day because I know this is not easy for him. 

A rare moment caught on camera - Colson giving Yohanis a kiss!

Yohanis has been eating like crazy since he came home. This boy can put it away! He is definitely spiking our grocery bill! It's like having another adult in the house. He is such a good eater and isn't afraid to try new things. But we can tell he doesn't really like something if he eats it slowly because he usually inhales his food. He ALWAYS cleans his plate though, even if it's something he doesn't really like. His favorite foods include plain yogurt, oranges, any kind of meat, pizza, macaroni and cheese and bananas.

He is speaking more and more English everyday. He doesn't ever talk in Amharic anymore and he hasn't been for a few weeks. Even when he's playing by himself with a toy, he talks in English. His is speaking longer sentences now and although they are not usually in the correct order, it's so cute to hear him trying. The bad thing is that Colson and Vienna are regressing in their English now :) They repeat everything Yohanis says. I think Colson is doing it more for attention though. 

The boys are sportin' their summer haircuts!

Overall I'd say we're at a really good place right now. Yohanis is attaching really well to us. It's been a little more difficult for Joel and I. We love Yohanis and are so blessed that he's our son, but it's been very different parenting Colson and Vienna than it has been parenting Yohanis. Those loving feelings just weren't there right away. I mean, we suddenly had this five-year-old that we knew absolutely nothing about and couldn't communicate with. Love didn't just happen overnight. Like with any relationship, it has taken some time for us, but our feelings of love grow stronger and deeper everyday. 

I love my son very much and I am really enjoying getting to know everything about him. Joel and I are both feeling more and more everyday like he is ours and not just one of our kid's friends playing with us everyday. That's what it felt like for awhile in the beginning. I can tell I'm doing better because I can pick a boogie, no problem - and that would have totally grossed me out in the beginning. Yes, when you can pick someone else's nose, now that is true love, my friends :)

One thing I missed so much while we were away from Turkey was shopping at the bazaar. We would go once or twice a week and buy all of our fruits, veggies, nuts and anything else we might need for the week. 

It was so nice to come back and hit up the bazaar right away and Yohanis loved experiencing it for the first time. He was so excited to buy strawberries!

We eat so much healthier here than we ever have before in our lives. Everything we buy is fresh and there are just so many different kinds of vegetables and fruits we have learned to eat. I love it!

One thing I haven't learned to love yet - olives! There are so many different kinds of olives in Turkey.

I love strolling down the streets and seeing all the vendor's brightly colored umbrellas.

Those are grape leaves on the left. A popular dish in Turkey is grape leaves stuffed with a mixture of rice, meat and spices. It is SO yummy! On the right is anything pickled you could ever want!

Mmm, honey!

There is nothing like tomatoes from Turkey. Seriously, Joel and I both came to Turkey not liking tomatoes very much and now we eat them with everything.

Any kind of nut or dried fruit you can imagine (this is Colson's favorite stop!)

Variety of cheeses

Although this picture clearly does not show it, the kids really do have a lot of fun at the bazaar.

More nuts and dried fruit.

Everyone is so friendly and always has time to chat- Turks especially love our kids!

Chickens being sold on the street

the cutest little shopper

And that is how we spend many a Saturday morning!

Home Sweet Home!

We arrived safe and sound last Sunday night. Sorry it's taken so long to get around to posting an update, but blogger wasn't working for me all week until now. 

The kids did really well on the 3 (!) flights over here and now we're struggling to get over jet lag. The kids were wide awake the first 3 nights from about 11-3 thinking it was time to play! The past two nights we have finally been sleeping more like normal.


This week has been a bit crazy as we've been jet-lagging, trying to unpack everything and visit with our friends. We were definitely missed! And it has been wonderful seeing Adam and Melanie again. We missed them so much. Yohanis loves his cousins and is adjusting so well to everything here in Turkey. I am continually amazed by him and how easily he handles all these changes! 


I will hopefully be posting more often now that we're back, but for now we're off to our friends' house to sit on the floor and drink tea and eat sunflower seeds! It's good to be home :)