Christmas 2012 pictures

Christmas Eve dinner!

Reading the story of Jesus' birth on Christmas morning

Look what I can do, mom!

Time to open presents!

My wonderful husband kept us highly caffeinated throughout the morning with his fancy coffee

Skyping with grandparents so they could see the kids open their gifts

Last minute campfire with friends Christmas afternoon

Perfect weather - perfect afternoon!

It was a wonderful day celebrating the birth of our Savior!

A Special Visitor

My cousin, Mel, has been traveling the world since November and we were excited that she dropped in to visit us in Turkey for 12 days. It was fun to be able to show her our corner of the world and catch up with her (it has been more than 5 years since we last saw each other)! What a special treat it was to have her here!!

Kadifekale (the velvet castle)

Smyrna

on the ferry

the theater in Ephesus

 Celsus library in Ephesus

Our kids had a blast playing soccer with Mel (the big boys), snuggling with her (Vienna) and keeping his distance and curiously watching her from afar (Isaiah). I enjoyed staying up late, talking and laughing, hearing adventures about her travels and catching up on each others lives. Good times! We will all miss you, Mel!

This morning I went out with Isaiah to get some groceries while the big kids were at school. Within 5 minutes of leaving our apartment two well-intentioned Turks came up to me and proceeded to scold me for having Isaiah outside when it's so cold!

Now, the temperature was in the mid 40s today. Definitely not cold for us native Pennsylvanians. Isaiah was quite bundled up and even had tights on under his pants like the locals dress their kids in from October to April (no matter what the temperature is).

Some days I just want to tell every person that offers me unsolicited advice on how to raise my kids to just shove it. Some days I get tired of trying to be culturally sensitive in every situation and just want to let my family be who we are. Because we can't possibly follow every unspoken rule there is in this country.

And so I let my kids sit on the floor in the winter, drink cold water if they want to, not make them change their shirts the minute they start to sweat, and sometimes, if I'm feeling really rebellious, I even let them eat a little ice cream in the winter. GASP! Because there has to be a balance. While it is very important to try to adapt to the culture, it's also equally important to not let the culture define who you are and how you live. Because if you do, you will end up becoming frustrated and want to go home. It's okay to be different, it's okay to be you!

And after almost 4 years here, I think our family has finally figured out what works for us. In the beginning we were the extreme of "living life like the Turks" and that got exhausting. We just couldn't stay up till all hours of the night every night visiting with our Turkish friends and we also realized that we didn't have to be friends with just Turks. Although we're here to make friends with Turks, it's okay to be friends with other foreigners as well. We NEED that, actually.

We love so many things about this culture and our family has changed a lot of the ways we do things, from the way we dress, to the way we eat (tomatoes and cucumbers for breakfast, anyone?) because of the influence of the culture, but there is more of a healthy balance now. In so many ways Turkey has become our home and we really do love this land and these people!

 

This and that

On November 10th we celebrated Isaiah's first birthday! Has it been a year already? It seems like just yesterday our midwife, Thalia, was shooing us out the door to go on a date only to have us return early for this little cutie to be born. I just adore everything about this picture from his cute little smile to the way his has his fingers tucked into his pockets! Love him!

I can't get enough of this picture of my Nenna, she is the sweetest!

I love love love our lazy weekend mornings eating breakfast together without having to rush everyone out the door for school.

Now, let me introduce you to my friend, Megan. Isn't she lovely?

I first met Megan about a year and a half ago on the internet, of all places! We met through blogging and then started emailing because they were thinking about moving to Turkey and she had some questions about life here and such. Well anyway, Megan and her sweet family ended up moving here in August (though not to our city - BOO!) and we started emailing more frequently.

What was once just an online friendship turned into a real life friendship when their family came to visit with us for 3 days a couple weekends ago. I was so nervous before they came because I only knew Megan through her emails and I wondered what she would think of me in real life and if she would even like me! Haha. I should not have been nervous, it felt like we'd known them forever! Our kids had fun playing together - everyone just hit it off! And we stayed up WAY too late talking and laughing! It was seriously SO MUCH FUN!

We are so thankful for them and for how God has connected our two families. They are truly amazing people with such big hearts and we look forward to many more fun times together.

I've just been so blessed by Megan's friendship because living here can be discouraging and lonely and it has been so good for my soul to have a friend that is in the same stage of life as I am with raising young kids and who gets how hard doing that can be in a foreign culture. It's so nice to have someone that can relate! Now, if only we could convince them to move to our city . . . ;)

Thanks for such a fun weekend Brock and Megan (and Sawyer and Nash) We can't wait to do it all again in February!

Family Pictures

Someone please tell me, does taking a family picture where everyone is smiling nicely and looking at the camera ever get easier? This was a bit stressful, but I'm glad that it's over and we got a few good ones, even though Isaiah would NOT crack a smile! 

I hope everyone's week is off to a great start!

I feel like I've been in a bit of a funk lately. There are so many thoughts swirling around in my head and maybe someday I will be able to put them all into words here, but for now I will leave you with a few pictures. Because pictures are always good :)

Isaiah hanging out with the pots and pans. How ridiculously cute is he? He loved sitting up there - and don't worry, Joel was waiting with open arms to catch him!

Aunt Melanie made Yohanis quite the happy boy by bringing injera back from Ethiopia with her. We had an international feast the night they got back with the Turkish dish of kiymali mercimek (lentils with minced meat), an Ethiopian dish of Shiro wot (chickpea stew) and the American dish of macaroni and cheese (with Velveeta sent all the way from America).

I had to document this moment because Joel and I and my sister and bro-in-law all had breakfast together one morning while our kids (except Isaiah) were at school! It was lovely!!

I just love this picture!

This week Joel and Adam made a visit to a nearby village to take a special little boy a wheelchair that he so desperately needed. It was so fun to be able to bless him with it. I've written about this family before here and here and here and here. 

Joel and Adam go to visit the family every couple of months. Their son is still sick and he's in and out of the hospital a lot. Please keep this little boy and his family in your prayers! 

Even though our friends are from a poor village, every time Adam and Joel go they always return with LOADS of goodies. And this time was no exception - milk, olive oil, dried figs, apples, pomegranates and chestnuts. What a blessing!

Love this one and E's big smile!!

I'm still here!

This update is for you, Celesta ;)

How has it been almost two months since I've blogged?! I do enjoy blogging and hope to keep this thing going.

For now, here's the update, bullet style :)

- We were so glad to have my sister and her family back home after being away for two months in America. Joel and I missed them so much and our kids couldn't wait to play with their cousins again.

- We enjoyed one last day trip to the beach in September before school started

- Yohanis, Colson AND Vienna all started school in September. Yohanis is in first grade and Vienna and Colson are in kindergarten together. They are all doing so well! I wasn't sure how Yohanis would do since he has only been speaking Turkish a little over a year and 1st grade is the real deal here! But he is understanding everything and doing such a great job, I'm so proud of these guys!

- My kids had fun cutting up paper into a gazillion itty bitty pieces and throwing them up in the air. Then they would roll around on the floor laughing their heads off. I just had to include these pictures because my kids crack me up. I love them!

- We celebrated Yohanis' 7th birthday in October. I still can't believe that I have a 7 year old!

Yohanis wanted to go bowling for his birthday!

- The very next day Vienna decided to turn 4 YEARS OLD!

The birthday girl wanted to jump on the trampolines :)

- And then if all these kids getting older wasn't bad enough, Isaiah decided to start walking at 11 months! Where has my baby gone?!
 

Isaiah's latest favorite thing? The washing machine, of course!

 - This week I have 7 kids (ages 11 months to 8 years). We are taking care of my sister's kids while they are in Ethiopia meeting their SON! I am so excited for them and can't wait till E is finally home! It has been a crazy week with all these kids and Joel and I may or may not have declared that everyone needed to whisper at dinnertime tonight. Let's just say our house has been LOUD the past week! It has been fun though, I'm so glad these guys have each other and have made such great friendships with one another.

- It's Kurban Bayramı (Festival of Sacrifice) here in Turkey. This is a four-day holiday when sheep or other animals are slaughtered in memory of the ram sacrificed by Abraham in place of his son. According to Islamic tradition, after the animal is sacrificed the meat is then shared. One third is saved for the household, one third is shared between friends and neighbors and one third is given to the poor. We already received a big bag of meat from our neighbors! Kind of funny to have your neighbor ring your doorbell, hand you a bag full of bloody, raw meat and say "Happy Holiday!"

Okay, I think I'm all caught up now. Hopefully I can get in the groove again :)