illiteracy

i have heard quite a bit about illiteracy among adults in this part of the world. to this point i have never met an adult that cannot read or write- until thursday. i found out that my neighbor (who i wrote about in the next entry) cannot read or write, only speak. i kept forgetting and would show her a word in my translation dictionary. oops! at least its not such a taboo thing here- as hardly any woman over age 45 can read or write. so, she was not offended. i cannot imagine life without being able to read and write. my friend has three children. the oldest is 20 and the youngest is in first grade. why would she not learn along with one of the kids? it must be a mindset or something- a hurdle that feels like it cannot be overcome.

he met me

i am learning a new way to praise the lord. "praise the lord" is commanded more in the old testament than any other commandment. but what is praising the lord? is it just saying praise the lord? i think that is simply the command, no the act. a friend explained it with this story... "every year she makes a german chocolate cake for her husband. he loves it. after he savors the last crumb, he pushes back from the table and says... that was the best cake i have ever eaten, thank you so much for that cake. you are a wonderful cook! in my friend's opinion, that is thanks. praise is when her husband says you are a wonderful wife. you are wise and honest. you are full of integrity." basically the difference is that praise is lavishing on the character not the actions. this is a new thought to me. since it is such a predominant commandment, it must be important. so, i want to learn more! my friend suggested using scripture to praise god for who he is, not what he does.

so, with this new concept whirling around in my head, i decided to give it a try in my quiet time with the lord. lately the lord has really been ministering to me our of psalms 144-146. so i read this praise to him in prayer form, and elaborated on the character attributes mentioned. it was really neat. when you spend time praising this way,not only does it bolster your faith, but when you finally get to the point of bringing your requests before him, they seem so minor- like a drop in the bucket! not, the big deal that they were before!

yesterday, as i was getting ready for the day, a wave of sadness and loneliness overcame me! i decided not to waller in these feelings. instead i took it to the lord- using this praise method. again i used psalms 144-146- praying and praising the lord as i wept. it was amazing!! he really met me and comforted me! some of the psalm talks about praising him despite my circumstances and praising him with my dying breath. it ends up being such a blessing when you praise the lord even when you don't feel like it! feelings can be so deceiving! when i was done praising him, i felt like the negative feelings had been defeated, and i was completely comforted and content with my situation.

i asked the lord for comfort and a friend. this is how he answered before i even left our building to take the kids to school... as i was walking down our stairs i saw a neighbor who i have spent a tiny bit of time with. she invited me over for tea that afternoon! not only that, but as i walked past our mailbox, i saw mail! our first christmas card! it was amazing! i was so blessed and amazed at how quickly and thoroughly our father provided for my needs. after i dropped the kids at school lucy and i went to our neighbor's house. we spent the entire afternoon with them (my neighbor and her friend who is also a neighbor). we laughed and cooked and ate. it has been so long since i have gotten to laugh and joke around with girlfriends! thank you father for your loving kindness.

the LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.

the LORD is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.
psalm 145-8-9

gypsies are real

did you know that gypsies are real? i didn't! i still don't know if they are a people group, a race, a sort of tribe, or even a lifestyle. anyhow, in our city this is how i know someone is a gypsy. in the 7th largest city in the world, that is completely modern, they are riding along in a cart pulled by the saddest looking horse you have ever seen! i think they collect large pieces of junk. it is still quite surprising to see the horse and cart round the corner!

making new friends

playing dress-up with the girls down stairs


noah digging in the dirt with the boys at the park


ok... so this is just us girls, but i love this picture!


this is noah and his best friend baran

making friends

this is noah with his teacher and her son at the school independance day celebration


this is at the park next to our complex. these girls live downstairs and they love lucy. they knock on our door and ask if they can bring her down to their place!



these are noah's tutor's kids. both kids go to callie's preschool. the boy is on callie's class. that is how we met them. their mom, my friend derya, is helping noah with his dictation.

thanksgiving

thanksgiving was quite different this year! on thursday, i made pizza! it wasn't mashed potatoes and gravy, but at least it was from scratch (no jars of pizza sauce here!). we did video chat with my family. it was fun, but wild. noah and callie and my niece and nephew just talked way too loud and acted crazy on the camera. it was so good to see everyone- almost like being there!

friday night we had thanksgiving dinner with our team leaders. she bought a turkey breast and had smuggled some honey baked ham into the country. boy was that an awesome surprise. i never thought that i'd be so happy about ham, but its been 3 long months... actually it ended up being quite a traditional meal minus the yeast rolls!

here is the best part of thanksgiving (even better that the ham). my mom had sent us a christmas package four weeks ago. the lady at the post office told her that it would only take 2 weeks, so mom has been stressed out! ... where is it, who has opened it, is it lost, have my grandbabies christmas presents been stolen... we had heard that it could take up to two months if it comes at all. then, we would get a slip in our mailbox that we had to take over to the big p.o. on the other side, and pay customs. all in all a huge hassle! anyhow, on thanksgiving morning our bell rings. who is it, but our mailman with mom's package!! it had a few things for now and most things to be put away for christmas. we flipped out! so, i know my mom has been so majorly stressed over it. but, i cannot help but praise the lord for his goodness. what a great day for it to get here!! the customs charge on it was tiny, it was delivered to our building, and it was unopened! can you imagine how excited we were? what a wonderful blessing!
"So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." matthew 7:11 we thought that we wanted the package as soon as possible. but how much better the father knows us. he knew how to time that package perfectly. what a good gift to have a taste of home on our first holiday away!! i tell you what... our god is good!

ready to go to school

here is a cute picture of the kids- all bundled up and ready to walk to school! they are standing at our front door.

futbol

this country just qualified for the eurocup! it is really cool because the people here are freaking out!! a huge group of men were parading through the street with the largest flag you have ever seen, chanting and singing! everyone was blowing their horns, hollering, and firing off their guns! we could just barely hear the fireworks from the stadium. these people are serious about futbol!!
as a side note... we are watching lord of the rings: return of the king on tv. it is dubbed over in the local language.

language

ok... so i have just finished my language lesson! this is usually two hours twice a week when i feel like my brain is being hit with a hammer! it has been a long time since i have really used my brain. it is having trouble kicking back into gear!! i have a helper come twice a week and the other days i study on my own.
here is the info on this language...
it is impossible! it is a suffix language which means that you simply have certain suffixes that you add to the words to make it plural, possessive, a preposition, conjugated, etc! you can conjugate nouns and verbs. there are at least 657 million suffixes (i counted!!). so, one entire sentence could be one very long word! in theory, the length of a word is endless! and the suffix you add changes the way the syllables are broken up which in turn changes the way the word is said!! to top it off, the vowels are incredibly short. i do think that it is physically impossible for a southern woman to make her vowels that short!
so, learning this language is proving much harder than i had thought it would be. but, i am so determined!! so by this time next year i will easily be able to say...
Çekoslovakyalılastıramadıklarımızdanmısınız?
(43 letters, 18 syllables)
...and know what it means!

our flat

here is a little bit of what our flat is like...
i am not exactly sure how many square feet we have. we have three small bedrooms. justin and i sleep in the larger one because it has a small laundry balcony off of it that i did not want the kids going out on. the kids all sleep in the other bedroom. the third bedroom is set up as our family room/ play area. it has my desk, the kids toys, and our tv. our salon is our formal room. it has couches and the dining table. tish people keep this room pristine because they are always ready to host company. that is why we have the other room to hang out in. we have a decent size foyer with coat hooks and shoe cubbies. tish people do not wear shoes in the house at all- no exceptions! so this is where we store them once we have taken them off at the door. my kitchen is tiny. it is a hallway style with everything along one wall. we do have a tiny table against the opposite wall with little stools. the kids and i eat breakfast and lunch there. off of the kitchen i have another small enclosed balcony that has our water heater and my washing machine. our bathroom is decent sized. it has the basics- no frills or counter tops!! concrete floor. the bedrooms have industrial style carpet without padding. we had it put down, and when i asked the carpet man what thickness the padding would be he had no clue what i was talking about- and it wasn't the language barrier!! the kitchen has tile floor, and the salon, foyer, and hallway are cheap laminate. we have fixed it up (with the landlord's help)- redone the floors, painted the walls and ceiling, and redone the kitchen. we have what we need, but otherwise i haven't really decorated yet. really i don't know if i will. i don't want to spend the money and i don't want more stuff to dust! our place is small, but we like it. the kids have not missed the big house with the big yard! that is an answer to yarper!!
hopefully, i'll get better at uploading pictures!

Oppression

this is my thought for the day...
if you want to minister to people who are oppressed you must also become oppressed. oppressed... not depressed!! what you do internally with the external forces put upon you is what the christian walk is all about!

A day in the life

so, i've finally getting this blog thing figured out. it is hard to get in the habit of posting things on a regular basis. and, i am having a hard time getting my pictures to upload. i know that pictures and video will be far more interesting than anything i have to say!
my friend asked me what a typical day was like. so i figured that was great blog fodder! here it goes...

we wake up whenever the kids get up. that is anywhere between 6:45 and 8:00. the kids usually watch a little tv. we have breakfast- bananas, yogurt, bread, cheese, cereal, etc. Justin usually feeds the kids breakfast while i get ready. then we switch. he leaves for work at about 9:00. he catches the bus just down the street from our apartment complex. the bus is crowded and there is quite a bit of traffic, so his commute takes about an hour. his work day consists of study, errands- shopping for things we need, meting with people, artisans lane work, and language lessons.

the kids are in after noon school. so our mornings are flexible. noah usually has homework to do. and, i have chores like laundry, dishes, etc. lucy goes down for her nap at 10:00. we have to start lunch at 11:30 because it takes forever!! after lunch, the kids have to change and get ready for school. noah wears a uniform. since the time change (daylight savings) noah's school starts earlier. we have a really hard time getting up there on time. it starts at 12:25. so we try to be out the door by 12:15. we walk to school- it is about 4 blocks up town. each day school starts with all of the children out in the blacktop area. they are lead in a chant about how they will be good citizens, good students, etc. it is quite neat. then the bell rings, and they are off to their class. noah's best friend at school is named baran.

once we drop noah off, callie, lucy and i walk another block over to callie's preschool. we drop her off. sometimes, her best friend, irem, is waiting at the window for her. after we drop callie off, lucy and i usually go to the supermarket on the way home. since we don't have a car, i can only get as much as i can carry. on thursdays the pazar- the big traveling market that has everything- is on our neighborhood. i love to go there! anyhow, lucy and i run our errands then we head home. i play with her for a little bit, and then she goes down for a nap. two days a week my language helper comes from 2:30 to 4:30. otherwise i study on my own. also, i usually try to start dinner. lucy and i go back out to get the kids at 4:50. i have to pick callie up at 5:00. noah's school gets out at 5:40. so, either the girls and i hang around to get noah, or justin leaves a little early from work and picks him up. now that the time has changed it gets dark pretty early. but, if its nice out, we try to play at the park either before or after dinner. we eat dinner, then play or do whatever. we try to put the kids down by 8:30. then, justin and i study, watch tv, or work on our computers.

our weekends are flexible. we usually try to get out as much as possible. we meet as a team for dinner and worship on sunday nights. it is not the type of church we are used to, but basically we have a topic and scripture for the night. we discuss it with the kids over dinner. then the kids play, and the adults study the bible and discuss it further and pray.

so... there it is. not too exciting really! other than we are in a huge city on an amazing adventure.