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

Today is the first day of our 10 day holiday!! We are so excited for a break. The start of school has been quite hectic for all of us. Callie has done wonderful! She LOVES kindergarten. She has made lots on new friends. Here are a couple of pictures from her real first day!

Dear Mother Nature,

Please don't take this the wrong way, but I think you are mean spirited! It was all too cruel of you to give us a luxurious- almost sweat free- few days of 80's. Then, smack us down with the hottest temps yet! Compounded by our yearning for bearable weather, I must say, you have dealt us a very unsavory hand.

As you may know I have a glandular problem. Err... I sweat.... a lot! I am sure you think this is funny due to my haughty disregard for NBA players with sweatbands around their legs. Yes, it is true, that there was a time when I discounted this to thug-like behavior. Oh the insensitivity. Perhaps they suffer from a problem similar to mine! What I wouldn't give for a few properly placed sweatbands!! Please forgive me, NBA!

But, I digress. Anyhow, Mother Nature, am I vain enough to think that you design the world's weather for my contempt? Well... yes, I am! Because, the final blow comes with this week's forecast. Oh the glorious cool weather is coming. But what is bringing it? RAIN... on beach day. As you certainly know, Mrs. Nature (I am not sure I want to call you "mother" anymore!), our team has planned a day trip to the beach. Weren't we shocked to see the forecast called for rain! I should have suspected you'd do something to thwart our plans of making the best of a hot situation. I want to remind you, that the only other day that it rained all summer was our on our family's last beach day.... Noah's birthday. This is very, very cruel of you.

So, please, find someone else to torture. I am hot and tired, and I need to pack our raincoats in our beach bag!

Sincerely,
Elizabeth

My Girls

When I dreamed of having children, I assumed that God was smart enough to give my boys. In fact, I figured that I would have 4 boys. Can you imagine my shock when Baby # 2 was born and the doctor announced "its a girl!"? Justin and I laughed with joy. What the heck do you do with girls? Again, we were shocked when baby # 3 turned out to be a girl, too! What a blessing!

Well, I cannot begin to tell you the joy that comes with girls. My girls have made me a better woman. I've had to pay much more attention to how I look and what I'm wearing. It feels a little funny to have your 5 year old more concerned about her appearance that you are. The most important decision for kindergarten was the correct shade of lipstick (which by the way, was a subtle shimmery purple). Even Lucy, who will only be two next month, begs for lipstick. They dance and sing constantly. They wear bows and dresses and accessorize. They laugh and giggle, and are nothing short of God's very best. These little monkeys are a joy!!

Look who lost another tooth! Noah's top two front teeth are gone!

A Day In the Life... Alternate Title: I Sweat, Therefore I Am.

Today I did very little for foreign relations. I guess its good that I'm not an ambassador or representative for the government in any way. I guess its bad because I represent THE King. Well, except to greatly prove that God can (and does) use ANYONE!

Today marked the first day when Noah and (hopefully) Callie had school and I did not have language class. Lucy and I had the afternoon to get a few very important things done. (Aren't moms supposed to get to goof off when they finally shuffle all of their kids off to school?) First on the list was taking Lucy to the doctor. She needed her 18 month shots (now that she is 23 months!), and a health report for preschool. The health report included a throat culture and parasite test. If you have an animal, you may be familiar with this type of thing. It is not fun to deal with when its your cat. It is REALLY not fun to deal with when its your CHILD!! So, this morning when Lucy had a poopy diaper, I gathered a sample in one of my cherished ziplock bags and put it in my purse so I would not forget to take it. GAG!!!

Every time I passed that purse, I could smell it. So, finally I put the sample and bag inside a small plastic container. Again, the smell permeated. But, it was time to get the kids to school, and an hour after I dropped them off, we were going to the doctor. So, I had to just deal with it!

Thank God, Callie did start school today! She did great!! Lucy was starting to get a little nutsy, so I got her a juice box at the school store. While I was trying to get Callie settled, Lucy dumped the red juice all over herself! At that point I realized that I had left the flat without diapers or wipes! What kind of mother am I?!?!? I haven't left the house without diapers and wipes in 7 years!!

It did not take as long as I had thought it would to get Callie settled at school so Lucy and I had some time to burn. We walked up close to the doctor's office and grabbed a snack at a little cafe. If you read this blog, you know that Lucy gets lots of attention. Well, today it was in the form of a cookie. So now, the child had a very wet diaper and a juice and cookie stained face and dress. Nice! Oh.... and there's the wad of poop in my purse that is putting off a lovely smell! What a sight (or smell) we are!! So, I decide to go in search of a little store where I can buy some diapers, wipes, and maybe even a cheap little t-shirt or dress. I found a cute little outfit for a couple of bucks, but no diapers or wipes.

So we showed up to at the doctor's office looking clean. Well, except for the fact that I sweat profusely when I am nervous, and having to speak a foreign language to an educated professional makes me nervous!! So, the sweat starts rolling! But Lucy did great!! She is very healthy. Her height and weight are great- 12.8 kilos and 90 cm. She was even super tough for her shot. He gave it to her in the arm. Lucy just looked over at him and said "OW!" She sort of got the cry face, but didn't even cry!! Amazing!

Unfortunately, the doctor couldn't do the throat culture and parasite test. He said that I needed to take her to a lab. (I did not mention the poop in my purse.) By the end of our appointment I could smell that Lucy had produced a fresh sample. The doctor was so happy. He sent us straight over to the lab. Our doctor was nice enough to give me directions that I almost completely understood and write down the name of the place and what I needed from them. Then he called over to tell them I was coming. Well, except that I didn't have any diapers. So, first I had to search out a market and get the necessary diaper changing supplies. Then I had to find the place. After a little bit of searching, some nice gentlemen helped me find it. It was pretty easy to find since I was right in front of it!! Ha!!

I got into the office and assured the nice nurses that I was indeed the foreigner they were waiting for. They asked if I had a fresh sample. Apparently freshness is very important in poop samples! So I changed Lucy and handed over the entire diaper to the nice lady. You can imagine that I was sweating pretty profusely there as well! And, of course, the old sample was still in my purse! We finished up our business there and left to pick up some milk before we picked up Callie- whose school was to let out at 3:30 or 4:00.

The great news is that Callie had a great first day of kindergarten. She told me that "a lot of them kids cried like 2 year olds. OR maybe even 1 or 0 year olds!" She also told me that she made 3 or 5 friends and got to eat her snack, but did not get to play outside. Sounds like a great day to me.

We headed home and stopped at the chemist to get some medicine for Callie's ringworm, and then to the fırın to get some bread. All in a day's work!!

So, if you ever meet someone from the country where I am currently residing and they think that all Americans are extremely sweaty and even worse smelling (and not in the body odor sort of way, because that doesn't seem to get any one's attention here) it is because of me. I'm sorry!!

First Day of School!

School finally started today. As it often happens, starting about a month ago I couldn't wait for school to start. Noah and Callie were at each other's throats. But, the closer it got, I began to dread the idea at the same time. The bi-polar tendencies and emotions of motherhood always grip me!!

Noah began second grade. He was pretty low key about school starting- not excited but not throwing a fit, either. His uniforms from last year still fit, so that was a blessing! Throughout elementary school he will have the exact same class with the same teacher. So, things felt very familiar. This year he knows the language and kids in his class. All of our confidence levels are 100 times higher!! He walked into that classroom with ease today! What a blessing!

Callie, on the other hand, was beginning kindergarten! Everything was new for her. She threw me for a loop. A few weeks ago she was pretty sulky about school. So, I figured she'd throw some pretty good fits leading up to the start of school, with a public eruption reserved for the first day in front of God and everyone! BUT, she did a 180, and was so excited! Thank you, Jesus!! Unfortunately, once we got to school we found out that the kindergarten doesn't start today, and we're not sure if it starts tomorrow or Wednesday. She took the news fine. I think new school supplies, and especially a beautiful new Barbie backpack smoothed the pathway to kindergarten!!

The government provides every student with their very own set of textbooks and workbooks. The major expense is, of course, uniforms. Lucky for us, Noah's still fit and Callie doesn't wear them this year. They each got new backpacks, snack bags, pencil cases, water thermoses, erasers, pencils, etc. School begins at 12:25 and ends at 5:35. First grade and up has 5 different lessons, sort of like when you get to change classes in jr. high, but they have the same teacher and classroom. So basically the kids get a break between each subject. Noah loves it. The boys play futbol with an empty water bottle in the schoolyard (it is paved). One of the breaks is a few minutes longer for snack, which they bring from home.

Here are the pictures from the first day!


Ready for school!







Showing off their back packs.



Showing off my beautiful kids!




Posing on the front steps of our building.




Callie posing in front of her school. It is in its own cute little building.



Noah in his classroom.



Fatih and Baran sitting in front of Noah and a new student, Mamut (or maybe Mohamed).


I guess I'll have some more pictures from "Callie's First Day: take 2" if and when it happens!

Mommy, May I Take a Picture?

Sure, dear. Just take ONE!

How Was Your Day?

Well, I am so glad you asked. My day consisted of a visit to the the 7th layer of HELL- better known as the Ist. Police Department- Department of Foreigners. All five of us went to renew our residence permits. Let me tell you all about it...

First, you need to know that it is Ramadan. Muslims that are keeping the fast wake up before sunrise to prepare and eat a huge meal. To help everyone get up, a wonderful, lovely (NOT!!!) drummer bangs his drum loudly through the streets.... around 4 am. For this reason, we have been sleeping with our windows and balcony door shut. We have been trying to keep the fast, but cannot make ourselves get up at such a horrible hour of the morning. So, when I get up, I have a little breakfast. Justin on the other hand had been only eating the evening fast break meal called iftar. Now, you must know that the really difficult thing about a proper fast is that you do not consume any liquids, either. Remember... its hot here. NO liquid for 14 hours! So, my dear husband set the alarm on his watch so he could wake up to drink and eat a little bit. Unfortunately, the lovely dear forgot and took his watch off.... who knows where. So we had our own version of the Ramadan wake up call this morning consisting of Justin searching the flat for the alarm! FUN!

For our adventure to the other side, we had to get up and out early. So, an hour later our real alarm started going off. Again, the poor dear was too tired to properly deal with it, so we did the snooze thing for about half an hour until HE LOST THE CLOCK. How does that happen? So, by 6:30 we were all up and grumpy thanks to the obnoxious alarm that could not be found to be silenced!! What a great way to start the day. Especially this day!

We got ready and headed out to catch the bus. As we were approaching the bus stop, there goes our bus! We took a taxi down to the pier. As we reached the pier, there goes our ferry! I cannot believe this! We wait for the next one. Go across to the other side. Find a taxi. His meter is broken, so he has to keep stopping to fiddle with it. Finally, Justin just settles on a set price with the guy, and we were off!

All of that, and that's not even the start of our immigration experience! We were up late the night before trying to get all of the paper work in order. Ok... in all fairness, Justin was getting the paperwork in order. I was providing moral support from the couch by watching TV! You never know exactly what they are going to ask for. Last year we had to make 3 trips to the Police Department before we all had our permits. So, you just compile every possible document you can imagine (birth certificates, rental contracts, passports, old residence visas, bank accounts, letters, individual pictures, applications, etc.). All must have copies, but you never know how many, and some must be translated. Good grief, its a zoo!

We get there, get our number and go stand in front of our assigned window. The number system is not the same as in America, that's for sure. It takes forever. They begin one person's paperwork and inevitably they need a copy or a different document, so they have to go downstairs and get it. So, the clerk will begin the next person, and then the other person will come back. So, they get to but up to the front and continue their paperwork. Also, if your number has been passed, and you're not there, you don't have to start over. You just but up to the front and they'll begin your paperwork. It is a process of jockeying for position and praying that you have the right paperwork. Of course the clerks could care less. They are SO SLOW!!!

Everyone applying has to be present. So, I stood against the wall (in a space about as roomy as a hallway) and wrangled the kids while poor Justin played the waiting game. The kids did ok. I think that I said "keep your hands to yourself" 473 times, gave quite a few looks that could kill, and lost my religion four times, but what on earth can you expect for 5 HOURS!!! Yes, you read that correctly, it took us FIVE HOURS!!! IN ONE SPOT!!! At one point, Lucy was pitching such a fit, that an incredibly sweet lady offered to give us her number, but the clerk had already began our paperwork.

Towards the end of our process, the clerk asked Justin for the documents. Justin informed him that he (the clerk) had them. To which the clerk shuffled some papers, and replied, "they're not here. What are you going to do?" Well, not in English, of course!! That would make too much sense to have someone who speaks English in the Department of Foreigners!! Anyhow, after some intense panic (remember all of the documents that I told you we had to provide!?!?!) they were found, and our application was processed.

Then all you have to do is go downstairs, wait in a huge line to pay, take you receipt back upstairs, wait in another line, and give the approved application with the receipt to a different clerk. Then, we get to go back over and pick them up next week! Let's hope there is a nice long line. Oh... one little detail that I forgot to tell you in this long sordid tale is that the building is not air conditioned. So you are rubbing up against some savory smelling folks!!

The good news is that we get to live here another year. I think I will have about recovered from this experience by the time I get to go over and do it again!!

So... how was your day?

Gettin' Hitched

These pictures are taken from our window. The groom has just come to retrieve his bride. It is so romantic!

You See What I Mean?!?

After we dropped Mindy off at the airport- a month and a half ago- we decided to console ourselves with a trip to McDonald's. While Justin was trying to order our food the staff had their attention on Lucy. Finally the guy behind the cash register couldn't handle it any longer. He came out front, scooped her up, and took her into the back to show everyone the beautiful baby. Lucy loves the attention. Although, now she has gotten to where she plays shy and then when she doesn't get attention she flirts like crazy. Just like a girl to be so coy!!!

I Guess This is What Happens When you Raise Kids in the Middle East!

This morning Noah sang...

Yankee Doodle went to town
riding on a camel...