PARTY

So, the party is over and it was great! Lots of fun, lots of food, and lots of rowdy kids!! Lucy was perfect! She is awesome!

We are exhausted! The first guest came at 1:30, and the last one left at 10:30!!!! I'll post pictures and details when I've gotten above water again!!

MERCY

In just a short while A LOT of foreign (no... wait, I'm the foreign one) women and children are going to descend on this flat! Lord help me... I'm going to have to communicate with them for probably at least 4 hours! Mercy, the sweat is starting to roll!!

Amca

Amca is our word for uncle. It is the familiar way that people refer to older adults. This morning our dear sweet neighbor, Amca, rang our bell, and presented my kids with cotton candy. FANTASTIC! I didn't want to make breakfast anyway. And really, what could be a more balanced breakfast than cotton candy and milk. I should have thrown in some chocolate, too! Hope the noise created by three strung out children doesn't disturb him!!!

File This One Under Conversations That Used To Be Abnormal

Explaining the downfalls of polygamy. During this conversation, the man I was speaking with kept asking, "but what if my wife doesn't interest me anymore?" I was bold enough to tell him that was a selfish attitude!!

Discussing the parts of the Koran that acknowledge Jesus as Messiah.

Challenging my friend to read the other Holy Books (the Pentateuch, the Psalms, and the Gospels) in addition to the Koran since the Koran says to read them.

Explaining why wearing a pink shirt and makeup does not mean I am trying to attract men. And learning the reasons behind the extremes in modesty.

The Athlete

The boy loves his shinguards!!!

On any given day Noah wears baseball socks that are thigh high, football or baseball pants, shinguards, sometimes shoulder pads, and of course he changes jerseys constantly! He cracks me up. I don't think anyone loves sports as much as him!

Preciousness

Aren't my girls awesome?!?!? I am quite sure that this is a little taste of heaven! Turn up the sound on your computer to hear the song they are dancing to- it is one of my favorites!

Sorry, maybe one day I will realize that I need to quit turning the camera!!

Biscuit Bliss

We have new teammates from England. We LOVE them! They are so fun. They were on the field for 10 years in China before they were asked to leave! So, now they are here!

It has been so fun to realize the differences in American and English culture. There are so many! One thing that cracks me up is that they call cookies or sweet crackers (graham crackers) biscuits. I've been trying to explain to them what we call biscuits. Well, all the talk about biscuits has made me crave the wonderful pillows of buttery yummyness! I have been scouring the internet for recipes that contain ingredients we can get here. Also, I have been watching tutorials on how to make them. I guess you can say I was a little intimidated by the thought of making the perfect biscuit!

Today, I did it! I made the best biscuits. It wasn't hard at all, and they were fantastic! We ate them with butter and fresh jam! OH MY GOODNESS!! WE HAVE BEEN MISSING OUT!!! I had to stop the kids at 3! Good thing there was no one around to stop me...ha ha!

Now, I just need to invite our new friends over to show them what REAL biscuits are!!





Maybe next time I'll attempt something like this... if only I could find a pig to slaughter (and orange cheese!)!

Sadness

Only one more day of vacation till the real world starts again... booo hooo!

Noah and I have A LOT of homework to do!!

Here's the short list of fun things that we did. I'll elaborate more on them when I get the chance!
*had our whole team over for dinner and "church"
*gave out candy to all the kids who came to our door over a 3 day period
*Noah, Callie, and Lucy went to the neighbors in our building and got candy
*we made several visits to friends and neighbors
*subsequently, we ate A LOT!!
*explored an amazing fortress (pictures to come)
*went to the cinema with friends to see Wall-E, the Disney pic (YIKES, what a social message, made me not want to throw anything away!)
*Daddy took Noah and Callie to the government theatre (1 lira) to see Kung Fu Panda (we saw more movies this weekend than we have seen the rest of the year combined!!)
*ate at Subway!
*learned how to make biscuits, and to convert some of my old favorite recipes to my new situation and product availability
*played outside in the BEAUTIFUL fall weather
*began preparations for my Baby's 2nd birthday party... its going to be interesting!

GO TO THIS LINK NOW AND READ IT!!

Too Much of A Good Thing?

This is how you know your 7 year old has enjoyed (maybe a little too much) the Sugar Holiday that ends Ramadan:

As the "Auntie" (the familiar term that children use to respectfully refer to older women- in the local language, of course) was handing him another huge cookie similar to a moon pie:
Noah: Mom, do I have to eat this, or can I hide it in your purse?


After yet another visit with some local friends...
Noah: Mom, I think I only want to eat fruit tomorrow!


At one house, Lucy ate so much chocolate that I am pretty sure I'll find a pure chocolate bar in her diaper tomorrow!


Callie and Lucy almost passed out in sugar comas. They laid down on the floor at a friends' house and their eyes rolled back into their heads as pure sugar drool dripped from their lips!

Tastes Like Ketchup

For the first time in 13 months Ketchup tastes like ketchup! You see, before the other day EVERY TIME that I ate ketchup I always compared it to American ketchup. "This tastes like American ketchup, this sweeter than...., this isn't even close..., etc." But the other day as I was dipping my fries into ketchup no comparison even crossed my mind. After my meal it struck me that... the Ketchup tastes like KETCHUP!!! My taste buds are forgetting...

Beach Day

When our team began talking about going to the beach for a day, all I could envision was The Office episode when they go to the beach! Oh.. how I miss my favorite show!!!

After a very long, HOT, summer the weather was supposed to change on the very day we had chosen to go to the beach. The weather here changes in an instant! I don't know if its because of the water or what, but literally, the temperature changed by almost 30 degrees in 24 hours! It always catches me by surprise! I am used to a slow cool down and warm up. There should be a slow progression of clothing layers. NOT HERE!

Now, there are 16 of us total on our team, so doing anything together takes a bit of effort. Our team leaders' friends allowed us to use their beach condo, and we borrowed a VW van from another family. We loaded up at 8 am and headed an hour north to the beach. The weather was quite a bit cooler but the rain had stopped. After we arrived at the condo we had a quick snack and headed out to the beach. The air was a little bit chilly, but the water was fine. We all had such a great time! The fresh air and sand did us all a huge bit of good! We were the ONLY people on the beach! It was fun to have the entire beach to ourselves.

The kids played in the water and dug huge holes in the sand. They were going to make a tunnel, but never did make it connect. Most of us walked all the way down the beach to the huge rock island. The tide was down so there was a tiny strip of sand that connected it to the beach.

Just as we were getting very hungry and ready to leave it started raining. We went to the condo for lunch. Then the kids watched a movie while the adults spent time sharing and praying together. The kids, who apparently have no feeling in their skin, were dying to go swimming in the pool!! That only lasted for about 20 minutes, then their lips were blue! Again, as we were leaving the pool it started raining. This time it began to pour. We had an awesome dinner and then headed back to the city. Despite Mother Nature's best efforts to thwart us, we had an awesome time!!



Lucy, Grace, Callie, and Max in the van. This was the first time in a year that my kids have been in seatbelts and Lucy in a car seat! All of the kids were in the van together with Eric, Justin, and I up front. The kids had a blast. They sang along with the Sound of Music soundtrack. My kids totally love that movie right now. Thanks to the magic of stereo fade, we actually got to carry on a conversation up front!



Alyssa exploring the beach.



Nobody here!



Lucy doesn't really like the water, but she loves to play in the sand!






All of the kids (except Lucy) and the dads playing in the water.



Callie mermaid.



The girls beginning the digging project.



Noah checking the depth.



Teresa inspecting the depth. But she wouldn't get in.



Beginning the tunnel.



Beginning the tunnel on the other side.



The beach from the cliffs.



You can see every step we took!

Turns out God's promises are for this place, too!



What a beautiful surprise to come out of language class the other night and see this double rainbow spanning our big waterway! (The second one was a little too faint to show up in the picture!) What a blessing to be able to see the assurance of God's promises!

The Sugar Fest!

Tomorrow is finally the last day of Ramadan! The following three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) are holidays. People typically buy new clothes and go visiting. The first day they make the rounds to family, the second and third days they visit friends and neighbors. There is lots of eating after the month long time of fasting. Children go door to door, sort of like Halloween, and wish you "Iyi Bayramlar!" Then you give them candy.

Because Monday, October 6th is a citywide holiday as well, the government gave us a 10 day holiday! They threw in tomorrow and Friday, October 3rd. We are planning to do some visiting, as well as explore a fortress on the other side that we have been wanting to see. I made the mistake of promising the kids we could go see Wall-E, that was just released here, so they have been begging me on an hourly basis. So, that's in the plans as well!

Hooray for Holidays!!!

LUCY