The Hardest Part of our Job

Would you believe that the hardest part of our job isn't ministry related at all.  The absolute hardest part of our job is trying to get a decent family photo!  Here are a few of our latest attempts...

The first attempt.  Self-portraits!

Trying to figure out the remote.

Not so subtle use of the remote!

Still didn't get it.
But who cares.  No one in my family bothered to tell met hat my hair looked like hot garbage.  So I would've hated any picture from this day!

Second attempt.  I asked a friend to take our picture.

This was my favorite picture from the day.  Except Callie's eyes were closed! :(

Hair malfunction!

Noah spent a good portion of the time acting like a 12 year old boy!

We lost Callie!

Noah... again!

We did several like this.  They turned out sort of artsy and cute.
But, I guess Lucy took it a bit far because she was not looking at the camera in a single one of them!
Plus, I sort of look like I was photoshopped in!

I'm still trying to choose which (from the good ones) one to get printed up for our prayer cards.  Hopefully you'll have one on your fridge soon!

Dodge Ball!

I survived yet another class picnic.  Praise the Lord!  We had a great time.  The weather was beautiful and there was enough food to feed and army.

You sure can tell the difference between mothers of first graders and mothers of fourth graders.  At the first grade picnic every woman brought several homemade entrees to proudly present to the other mothers.  We engaged the (first grade) kids in games. And there was general sense that the moms were putting in quite a bit of effort.

Roll around to fourth grade.  A couple of women bought food and a few others just made one basic thing.  We didn't engage the kids in any games, we just kept them fed and then shooed them off to play.

After several hours of sitting around, drinking tea, and eating sunflower seeds several of the women got a bit restless.  So, that meant...

DODGEBALL TIME!!!

These women do NOT mess around when it comes to dodgeball!  They are the picture of the modest and submissive Middle Eastern wife until that dodgeball comes out.  Then all bets are off!  When the kids would run over and ask to join our game we shout, "No!!  Move out of the way!!!" and fire off another shot at somebody's momma!

This girl was the real deal!

It's hard to be quick-footed in a skirt and flats!

Callie took this shot of me in action.  Please try not to be jealous of my moves!

Picnic Induced Coma

Here's a little funny to watch while I am recovering from the picnic:

IMG 1991 from Elizabeth on Vimeo.

Noah and Callie competing in the hurdles on an XBox 360 at our local electronics mega store. 

This was the final event in a decathlon!

In case you are wondering... yes, we did attract some attention! 

Ha!

Justin's Birthday Adventure!

Yesterday was Justin's 37th birthday.  We started the day at our fellowship's Sunday worship.

Of course, we had to have something delicious to mark the occasion!
In this case, a double decker monster cookie with chocolate peanut butter fudge frosting in the middle.
Does our group know Justin, or what?!

We had to leave our meeting early to take Noah to the airport.  He was so excited.  He must have asked me every 2 minutes what time it was.  Finally someone in our fellowship gave him their watch to wear!

This picture is blurry.  But, I think it accurately represents the pace at which Noah was excitedly running through security to his gate!

When we arrived at the airport we started to panic a little bit because the line to check in was super long.  We got Noah checked in just in time, said our goodbyes, and sent him through security.  It turns out that the president (of this country) was also flying into the same airport at the same time as Noah.  So his flight was delayed and hour.  We still don't know if they had to circle for an hour or took off late.  There was no mention of a delay even 20 minutes before the flight.  In the end, he got there just fine and I am sure he is living it up at the hotel's huge pool, three watersides, and endless food buffet!

The rest of the day was our time to celebrate with Justin.  When I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday he didn't really have any ideas except eat Iskender for dinner.  (It's a local food that is YUM-O!)

My dear husband, he is wonderful, but not very adventurous!

As we were leaving the airport, I gave him a choice.  We could go back home, chill out, and then go to his favorite restaurant.  OR we could go on a little adventure/road trip that I had done a bit of research on.

(That sounds like I spent hours in the library in the reference section- using all manner of encyclopedia, research librarians, and micro-fiche machines.  In actuality, Google and I spend some quality time together in the privacy of my own home.  God bless Google!)

Everyone unanimously chose the adventure.  So off we went!

Yay for maps and unexplored places!
The further out of the city you get, the prettier this country gets!

First stop: a bridge built by the Emperor Justinian in 500 AD.

It was the perfect find for my bridge-designing Justin!

The bridge has 12 arches.
It was very long and wide.

Birthday hugs from Callie girl!

Callie and Lucy posing out on one of the side structures.
This may give you a bit of perspective on the size of this bridge!

This was at one end.
I have no idea what it was.

The bridge is running across the background in this picture.
It's just out in a big field/water basin in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere.
This country is interesting in that these sorts of ruins can be found everywhere!

This says "I love you."

A beautiful day to explore!

The next stop was a little down about 70km south that is know for its ancient Ottoman houses.

It turns out that they were having a little festival.  JACKPOT!

This was the main square.
The buildings all around this area had been very nicely refurbished.

There were all sorts folks selling all sorts of interesting stuff.

Tablecloths

The town mosque

Another very nicely refurbished Ottoman building.

These ladies were selling all sorts of textiles and homemade jams, molasses, and noodles.

Around the other side of the town square.
There was a nice tea garden in the middle.

The streets have obviously just been redone.

The village culture center.

This one is for sale.
Just waiting for the right person to come along and breath new life into it!

Leaving the village.

Some of the beautiful countryside.
I didn't pester Justin to stop every 2 miles so that I could get out and take pictures.
So, I don't have any pictures of the beautiful mountains that we drove through.
You'll have to take my word for it: it was gorgeous!

I had tried to find the best Iskender restaurant on our side of the city.  But I guess the one I found had closed down.  (Couldn't have been too good, I guess!)  After driving around in frustration for a bit, we decided to head over to our tried and true Iskender restaurant.  It did not disappoint!

Then we went home for dessert!

Thanks to Jennie, we had marshmallows and rice krispies.  So, I could make Justin's favorite dessert- Rice Krispie Treats!

Tomorrow the girls and I are going on a picnic with Callie's class.  Have mercy on my soul, I am a glutton for punishment!!  At least this time Justin is in town.  I can walk in the door, drop everything, and curl up on my bed in the fetal position and leave the mess for him to deal with- his birthday is over!  HA!

Sounds of the City

It's 10:36 pm and right now I'm sitting in my bed listening to...

-the call to prayer

-behind our building some work men have just unloaded a huge backhoe from a trailer.  It is in great need of some WD-40.  And now they are starting to dig the foundation for a new building.  This seems like the perfect time for this sort of thing, no?

***Update- The good news...They only drove that crazy digger around for about fifteen minutes.
The bad news... They were up and at 'em bright and early this morning.  The sort of good, but mostly bad news... They had to drill.  The good thing is that is our location should be earthquake safe because we live on very firm rock.  The very bad thing is, imagine a jack hammer.  Now imagine it 10 times louder than you originally imagined it because it is very large.  While you are imagining it, take a hammer and hit yourself in the head repeatedly.  This is the joyful noise that I have been experiencing nonstop since 8 am.  Pass the Advil, and maybe some wine while you're at it!!***


-the garbage truck has just rumbled through.  (It usually comes a bit later, and during Ramadan it comes after midnight!)  Even though it is really loud I don't care.  I am thankful that it comes every night!  Our garbage canisters get very stinky!

(Justin wanted me to add that as the garbage truck went up our steep hill, it couldn't quite fit between the cars parked on the street and the corrugated metal fence surrounding a construction site.  So they just rammed it a bit and ripped it down!  That wasn't so quiet, either!)

-my neighbors across the street are sitting out on their patio with lots of guests.  They are talking, laughing, and of course, I hear the delicate ting-ting of their teaspoons stirring copious amounts of sugar into their ever-flowing tulip shaped tea glasses.

-there is a busy street one block over.  So, we can hear the sound of cars going by almost all night.  Often times when the big trucks are going to run the red light, they blast their air horns to startle into a heart attack warn all of the people sleeping peacefully in their beds.

-usually around midnight the policeman who lives in the building next to us drives by.  He makes sure to sound his siren to say hello to his family.  So kind of him, don't you think?

Praise the Lord that I don't try to go to sleep early!  This sort of noise would drive anyone crazy!  But, I guess that's city life for you!


Today is Justin's birthday.  I forced him to go on an adventure.  (I'll write more about that tomorrow.)  Anyhow, when we got out of the car in this little old village, both of my girls exclaimed, "it's so quiet!!"

Finally, Noah did great on his solo plane trip.  He is now having the time of his life!

Like Sands Through the Hourglass...

Just last night, I put my bald headed, chubby cheeked, precious baby boy down in his crib.

And this morning I woke up to this:

A 12 year old knucklehead!

(Eating his birthday breakfast- chocolate chip pancakes!)

His birthday was a bit quiet this year.  Since we're headed to the States soon, we'll celebrate with our family there.  He did get some cash and some Legos.

We took him to dinner at his favorite restaurant.  And I made his favorite cake for him.

Tomorrow we put him on a plane all by himself to head off for an adventure!  It seems like yesterday I was trying to keep it together once I dropped him off at kindergarten.

I cannot believe the wild ride that these 12 years has taken us on.  

Praise the Lord for the gift of Noah!

Noah's Birthday with our Fellowship

The Sunday before Noah's birthday we celebrated with our fellowship.

Our sweet friend made him some yummy cupcakes.

We sang Happy Birthday and had cupcakes and ice cream.

We are so blessed to get to be a part of a wonderful team.  We love serving with them!  

I'm Very Miss You

Surgery Day

Callie, just after we got in her hospital room.

This was the low point of the whole thing.  She HATED having to wear a hospital gown and hairnet!

 

 

My sweet Callie was all smiles as soon as it was over.

Quick Request

***Update:  Callie's surgery went really well.  She was fairly calm until they asked her to put on the hospital gown.  Then she lost it for a bit.  But in the end, she was fine and the surgery was successful.  Thanks for praying!***

Will you take a minute and pray for my precious Callie?

She is going to have a quick procedure to remove her ear tubes on Wednesday morning.

Please pray that she is calm, that the surgery goes well, and that her ears heal quickly so she can swim.

Thanks!

That's the Pot Calling the Kettle Black!

So, this has happened.  You know things are bad when Syria says it's not safe to travel here!  HA!

Things are getting interesting.  Since we live in a lower class neighborhood where a good percentage of people are illiterate and almost all of them love our current Prime Minister, we haven't been affected by the protests.  Every now and again you can hear people banging pots and pans together.  I'm not exactly sure how that is supposed to show support or for which side, but there you have it.

We've got a careful eye on the situation.  We are laying low, and our team has a contingency plan.  Really, I'm reading about what's happening on CNN just like everyone else.  We'll see what becomes of the whole ordeal, and pray that through it all the Lord would be glorified.

Good Read

This article from The Atlantic is a good and quick read about the growing Islamization of this country.  In fact the header photo is the view from Justin's office!

Sunday Sneak Peek

My friend Aynur gave Callie 4 strawberry plants.  The dern crows stole one right out of  our planter!  

Sweet Callie took such good care of her plants.  She watered them and checked on them constantly.  Just last week we finally got some strawberries.  I think from the three plants we've had 6 strawberries.  They were little, but they sure were tasty!