Down by the bay

Time for lots of pictures. You're welcome, Grandparents :)

Let me just say that we LOVE having our van! It has helped us be a lot more spontaneous and do fun things like last-minute picnics by the bay without having to worry about catching the right public bus in time or Vienna getting sick from the crazy bus driver. We are thoroughly enjoying being able to get around our city more freely!

Being without a vehicle for 2 years made us really appreciate having one SO much more and realize what a luxury it is! And it's so much fun to hear how excited our kids get when we tell them we're going for a ride in the van! I love it!

I just adore this picture!

How is he so big already?! There is something about my babies hitting that 6th month mark that makes me really miss the newborn stage and want another baby. Don't worry, no more kids for us . . . yet ;)

  

Isaiah absolutely loves Yohanis. His whole face lights up when Yohanis talks to him. I love these two together!

 

I love the way Turks love children! It is quite a beautiful thing in this culture. Children are valued and loved (and spoiled!)

Having fun flying the kite. If you are wondering why Colson isn't in many of these pictures it's because he doesn't sit still long enough to take one. Most of the time I capture Colson as a big blur. That boy never stops moving!

And we ended the evening by eating sunflower seeds and throwing rocks into the water. It was perfect!

Do I care about the things that God cares about?

*I'm re-posting this from about two years ago. As I was looking back over some of my older posts, this really hit home with me again! 
I used to think that materialism was only a big stronghold in America. Then I moved to the other side of the world and the same struggles that were real in America were real over here too.

Before we moved to Turkey many well-meaning people told us to rent a nice apartment, set it up how we like it, basically to make it as comfortable as possible because life here is hard and we deserve to have a nice comfortable home since we “sacrificed” so much to move here. So we listened to others’ wisdom, not God’s. We stepped off the plane and moved to a very nice part of the city and went to Ikea and bought a bunch of nice stuff to fill our nice apartment. But then God started challenging us in a huge way.
Before I get too far, let me just say that there is nothing wrong with having nice things. But I do think there is a huge problem when we feel entitled to our money and things. We sometimes forget that all the stuff we have doesn’t really belong to us. Everything belongs to God; we are only stewards of it. And isn't it God who gave us the ability to produce wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18)? What if we wouldn’t hold onto our things so tightly and realize that God wants us to freely share what we have with those in need, and not just out of our excess? It’s not about giving only when we have extra, it’s about sacrificing things that we don’t need so that others can have the basic necessities of life.

I do think more Americans would be willing to give to those living in poverty, but many of us are just so comfortable in our lives and aren’t confronted with people in need every day. That is exactly how I lived up until a couple years ago; I knew about poverty but it didn’t directly affect me, so I could pretend it didn’t exist, right? Wrong! Even though I could forget that poverty and oppression exists, it is always on God's mind - it is all throughout the Bible. Our God is a God who secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy (Psalm 140:12). There are nearly 100 passages in the Bible that deal with our responsibiltiy to care for the poor and needy. It is a theme loud and clear throughout the whole Bible, not just a few select verses. It is obvious that these are the things on God's heart and he expects us to do something about it!

Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. Isaiah 1:17.

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18

I wonder sometimes if I would have been so challenged with all this if God never would have asked us to up and move to the other side of the world. Seeing how other people live really changes the way you think, it really makes you re-evaluate the way you live. Right now we live in a nice apartment building, but right across the street our friends’ home consists of two tiny rooms. Their whole house is smaller than our living room. They all sleep in one room on couches; they lack many of the things that most of us would consider necessities, yet they are very happy.

In the last year God has been challenging us to get rid of those things we don’t need - and let me tell you there were a lot of things we didn’t need! I didn’t realize how much value I put into my possessions until God told me to get rid of them. So we got rid of a lot and it was really freeing. Our neighbors were asking us why our apartment was so bare and we had opportunities to share with some of them about living on less so that others can have more and what we have learned from the Bible about what God expects of us with regard to caring for the poor.

Sometimes it is still really hard for me, I like nice things, I like to wear nice clothes. But wouldn’t you know it - that is exactly the area God challenged me in: "What if you would get rid of more than half of your clothes, Charity? Can you let go of them? No one is going to remember 20 years from now that you didn't have lots of clothes or an apartment full of lots of stuff. What is important to me is that you care about the things that I care about. Please don’t get so caught up in the things of this earth that are going to pass away. Start living with an eternal perspective!"

How many children have I clothed? How many mouths have I fed? How many sick people have I looked after? How many strangers have I invited in? Am I using the resources God gave me to care for the poor, the oppressed, the sick, the orphan, the widow and the lost? Because those are the things that really matter!

‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25: 35-40

Children's Day

April 23rd was Children's Day in Turkey. The boys had been practicing their dance for the holiday for quite awhile and were so excited to perform (and we were just as excited to watch them perform)!

This holiday is a pretty big deal here and all the kids get to dress up in such elaborate costumes.

Yohanis and Colson with friends at school

Colson with his dancing partner

Yohanis and his partner

So handsome!

The boys with their class and teacher

It doesn't get much cuter than this, folks!

I took some pictures of the other classes doing their dances - they were just too adorable!

Here comes Yohanis!

Here's a video of part of the dance. Yohanis is the first boy in the line and Colson is the last. Enjoy!