Samsun

The first stop on our Black Sea road trip was Samsun.

Samsun Bound!

These three ya-hoos make a road trip... interesting!

Sunrise over the mountains (and a dirty windshield).

I love the landscape here!  There is a little bit of everything.
Luscious rolling green hills.

Tall rugged mountains.

Cool rock formations with tons of rice fields.

Desert valley

I love driving through the countryside.  For a small-ish country, there is a great diversity of landscapes, crops, lakes, seas, etc.  It's like you never know what will be over the next mountain or around the next bend.

We arrived at our hotel in the late afternoon.  After a long car ride we were more than ready to walk around the city and explore.

The view from our hotel.

We headed downtown and found this (Foreigner Bazaar).
I thought it was so funny to take the foreigner's picture inform of the foreigner bazaar!
Too bad my family isn't into shopping, so they wouldn't let me go in.

These adorable carriages were ready to take folks for a ride down the coast.

This is a replica of the founder of the republic's famous landing on this spot in 1919.

Here we are famously standing in the same spot in 2013.

We strolled all down the coast, through a big park with a pond full of swans, and then over this cool pedestrian bridge.

As the wife of a(former)  civil engineer I had to appreciate the design.

The bridge crossed over the train tracks.

Lots of train tracks!
Here comes a train now!

Noah and Lucy posing with the founder of the republic.

All in all, I liked Samsun ok.  It was a nice place to visit.  But, it was one of the few towns on the Black Sea that one visit was enough.  All the other towns left me wanting more time to explore.  In fact, we'd love to live in quite a few of the other towns that we visited.

Up next...Trabzon, with some fun stops along the way!

Load 'r Up!

We are headed out this morning for a family road trip!  YAY!!

We set off at 8 am to get a jump on the holiday traffic.  By 8:04 the kids were fighting and we were asking ourselves why this sounded like fun again.  HA!  But, pretty soon everyone got settled in and the fighting subsided.

I am leaving my precious laptop at home, but I'll try to do an update or two from my phone.

If you think of us, pray for peace and safe travels!

Sunday Sneak Peek

This sweet princess turned 7 yesterday!

Her sweet sister went to the store all on her own and bought her some little gifts with her own money!

This one is just a mess!  If anyone wants a tween, let me know!!

Lucy's Fellowship Birthday

Our sweet co-worker made Lucy the most adorable pony birthday cake.  We celebrated her birthday at Fellowship (that's what we call our weekly worship time) today.  The other adults were teasing the lady who made the cake, but I thought it was amazing!  Lucy LOVED it!

What's not to love about a chocolate pony covered in chocolate icing?!

It Is Finished!!

So, the party was great!  Lucy had a great time.  She said it was the best day of her life.  (Don't get too sentimental, she says that a lot!)

We had 20 little girls and 10 moms come.  Everything worked out great.  The games were fun.  The food was yummy.  The girls did get bored of the movie pretty quickly.  But no problem... they were easily entertained by taking out every single toy in the girls room!!!

I was able to read a good bit of Scripture as a blessing over Lucy.  So, please pray that those seeds find some fertile ground.  Really, I'd be happy if they even find soil at all!

Here's a quick picture.  I'll write a full post once I've recovered!

Lucy with her teacher and friends.

Party Prep

I spent the entire afternoon over at my friend's flat making beautiful, yummy, little stuffed grape leaves. They are perfect when they are exactly the size of your pinky finger.  We probably made 200 nice tight little rolls of yumminess!

Then I had to race home to get the kids from school.  I took the girls back up to my friend's flat so that we could make bulgar salad.

We put Callie to work right away!

Stirring in the olive oil.

Chopping up some pickles to add to the salad.

Yıldız tasted it to make sure it was perfect!

 The big party is tomorrow afternoon!  I have no idea what to expect, other than I will probably sweat a whole lot!  It will be crazy.  But I know in the end Lucy will have a blast and always remember her 7th birthday party!

I am going to try my best to take lots of pictures in between filling tea glasses and wrangling little girls.  You can be sure I will post them for you to see!

Ole! Ole! Ole!

No party is complete without a piñata, right?!

Getting ready to paper mache! 

Adding salt to the water and flour mixture.

Stirring it all up.

Placing the wet strips on a balloon.

Making sure to overlap each strip.

Gently scraping the extra glue of the paper strip.

First two coats done!

We did the final coat with white paper so it would be easier to paint.

It's all dry and ready to be filled with candy!

Dropping the candy in while begging me to let her eat a few pieces.

Painting the piñata.

The finished product!

Since we will be indoors, I am going to let the kids hit it with a wooden spoon.  I think that should prevent anyone from getting hurt... especially me since I'll be holding the thing!

Lucy and I had so much fun making this piñata.  I keep thinking of other events that we can make a piñata for.  Or, we can do my dream project... the paper mache volcano that erupts!!!

Road Trip!

This year the 4 day sacrifice holiday falls in the middle of the week.  So, most schools and business threw Monday into the bunch creating a 9 day holiday!  YAY!

Justin surprised me last night by suggesting we tick off another "Must See Place" from our list.  I am so excited.  I LOVE a good family road trip!

We are leaving Monday morning and traveling out the Black Sea coast!

We hope to see this, this, and maybe this.

We'll be back by Friday evening, unless we are having too much fun!

Searching for a Kidney

Well, to be honest, my mind has been mostly occupied by the big party coming up.  I've secured a teenager to help Callie lead the girls in some games.  (By the way... why haven't YOU given me any game ideas?!)  Lucy and I ordered her cake today.  I've made day by day lists to help me make sure that by Saturday at 1:00 everything will be prefect!  I'm excited!

Crazy thing is, life has not stopped just because I'm planning a party.

My "To Do List" today included:

1. Get cash from the money machine.

2. Go to the gold seller.  Oh!  Have I  not mentioned that a dear friend's daughter is getting married?  Unfortunately she is getting married on Saturday afternoon so we won't be able to go.  But I am going to the Henna Party on Thursday night.  (I've written about hennas before.)  So, I needed some gold to give as a gift.  I also need to find my hips again since I may have to shake them when everyone else starts belly-dancing.  Triple Yikes!

3. Get a kidney from the butcher.  Yep!  Noah needs a kidney for science class tomorrow.  I had no idea where to get a kidney, so I went to the butcher.  Unfortunately, he didn't have one.  He told me to go to the liver restaurant.  YECK!  Lucy and I didn't have time to walk over to the closest one before I needed to get her to school.  So, we went on to the next item on our list.

4. Order Lucy's birthday cake.  Thankfully, we have an affordable and yummy bakery just up the road from us.  Lucy wanted a chocolate cake with a Snow White theme.  We'll see what we get!

5. Get my medicine from the pharmacy.  The bad news is that I am 36 years old and struggle with acne.  The good news is that even though tetracycline can't be bought in the States, it is dirt cheap and easy to find here.

Then we hopped on the minibus and headed back down to our neighborhood.

6. Pick up a few things from the market.  Since it's our local market, I end up going there about every other day, and everyone knows me.

I had a quick flash of brilliance, and asked the butcher if he happened to have a extra kidney.  "Lamb or cow?" he asked.  "Um... I don't think it matters."  Well, sure enough, he had a sheep kidney! YAY!  My quest has ended.  It is now sitting safely nestled into my fridge waiting to be mangled by a bunch of 12 year olds!

Let's hope and pray that Noah doesn't forget that kidney in his backpack for a week or two!

This is Why our Kids go to Local School!

Click on this link to read a recent article from the weekly english newspaper in our city.  There is a list of 20 reasons why to send your ex-pat kids to local school.

If you read my blog, you may know that this has often been an area of struggle for me.  It is so hard to send your kids out into the world.  But, we know that it has been the right thing for our kids.  And, we continue to reevaluate each kid's situation each year.

The Lord has been faithful in protecting our children and helping them to be successful- not just in local school, but also in this culture.  Praise His name!!

Sunday Sneak Peek

Callie had to choose a *healthy food and make it for school.  So, she decided to make granola bars for her class.

Mixing the oats, cinnamon, salt, and butter.

Spreading the oats out to toast them.

Measuring out the brown sugar.

Heating the sugar, molasses, apple juice,  and vanilla.

Mixing the oats, almonds, cashews, walnuts, raisins, and the sugar mixture all together.

Pressed into the pan and ready to bake for 20 minutes.

It's ready!

Our flat smells like heaven and this granola looks YUMMY!

* Health food is a loosely used term here.  It basically means homemade.  So, not packaged junk food like chips, or soda; and not fast food.  That's why our granola that has sugar, butter, and cashews counts as health food!

Glutton for Punishment

Well, after talking with Lucy's teacher I've decided to invite all the girls from Lucy's class to a birthday party at our flat this Coming Saturday the 12th!

Just to review...  that's going to be 25 little girls, their siblings (who always come along), and their moms!  It sounded like the teacher will come, too!

Help me, Jesus!!

I love a nice big party, and I know it will be so fun!  The only thing I am worried about is space.  Good thing locals don't really need or want personal space!  We are going to be packed into this flat like sardines!!!

Justin and Noah are going to leave because this will be no place for menfolk!  Callie has agreed to help lead the girls in some games.  I am also going to ask our babysitter if she will come and help Callie.

Lucy and I are going to make a piñata!  That should be interesting!  We'll play a couple rounds of pin the crown on the princess, simon says, statues, "Doggie Doggie Where's your Bone?", and whatever simple party games that I can think of.

PLEASE let me know if you have any fun game ideas.

I figure, if I can keep the girls occupied and having fun, then I will be freed up to entertain their moms and pour countless glasses of tea!  I'm going to have to borrow a neighbor's teapot- mine won't be enough!

My friend and I are going to make stuffed grape leaves, a savory layered pastry, and a bulgar salad.  In addition, I am going to make my momma's mini banana muffins and some chocolate chip cookies.  Lucy and I are going to go order her cake on Tuesday.

I am already so excited!  You can be sure I'll give you the full update with pictures!

Birthday Conundrum

Lucy's birthday is coming up and this year I have decided to throw her a real party with her local friends.

You may remember that birthday parties here are really simple.  There is lots of food.  The kids eat and then run around like crazy.  The moms eat and drink tea the whole time.  Often times they even belly right up to the food table and feast!

To prevent the kids from destroying our flat and/or getting bored, I will plan some basic party games.  I am thinking about asking our babysitter and her sister to come do the games for the girls.  Hopefully Callie's Momma-instinct will kick in and she will help, too.  Party games are unheard of here, so basics like pin the tail on the donkey have been quite a hit in the past.

But, what do you do when your child is in a class with 53 students and over half of them are girls?!  I am waffling between inviting all the girls or just Lucy's closer friends.  If we go with the latter, that would be about 15 girls.

I really don't want to leave anyone out.  But the thought of 25 little girls with their siblings and their mothers stuffed into my apartment makes me cringe!  However, I have the holiday in my favor.  A big Muslim holiday begins on Monday the 14th.  So, everyone has the entire week off.  Including the weekends, that's a long break from school and work!  So, lots of people will probably travel.

Should I invite everyone and hope lots of people are busy or should I be exclusive?

Update

To update this post...

Well, crows are nasty, but they are smart!!  They dumped the soil out of my pot to get rid of the pins!  Now they are happily roosting again in my pots!

Triple UGH!!!

My only hope is the pellet gun!

Crow Hunter

Yall, I am beside myself at what my life has become!

You may know that I hate birds!  I think they are gross and nasty.  Their little beady eyes creep me out, and don't even get me started on their gross beaks and feet.

YECK!!

Anyhow, we live on the top floor of our building and the nasty crows love to land on our balcony railings and the gas vent pipe.  Now, I hate birds, but I REALLY HATE crows!  They are more disgusting than any other disgusting bird... pigeons in a close second!

Crows pick nasty stuff out of the garbage dumpsters, carry it up to our balcony, decide its too nasty even for them, and then leave their trash on my balcony!  I promise that I am not exaggerating when I tell you that they have brought

wads of hair

grass

onion skins

bits of cloth

food waste

lots and lots of chicken bones

Yall, that is just nasty!  You know it's bad when the massive amounts of bird poop are the least of your worries!

I asked Justin for a pellet gun for Christmas!  It could be the only answer!

This war against the crows has been particularly arduous!  I have tied plastic bags to the balcony railing because I heard that the sound scares them away.

NOPE!

I have wrapped the railing in duct tape, sticky side up, because I heard that they hate to have their feet stick to anything.

NOPE!

The other day, it got so bad that Callie caught me arranging straight pins, pointy side up, in my flower pots.  I have seen bird deterrents in America that look like a row of needles sticking up along awnings and rooftops.

I am monitoring the success of my latest trap.  If it works, watch out!  There are going to be straight pins sticking out of everything!  My neighbor (yes, I've exposed the locals to my crazy!) and I even devised a way to stick the pins through an old towel and drape it over the gas exhaust pipe near my kitchen.  That pipe is the crows' favorite place to perch, and there is no worse sound than their horrid claws scratching along that pipe!

I will let you know my progress.... if I can work my way out of the straight jacket that I'm sure Justin is having the nice men in white coats bring any day now!