Hello Old Friend...

Have you missed me?

Yesterday I finally got to spend some time at my happy place!  We were supposed to go last week for the first time this summer, but we got rained out.

Noah and Callie were at camp.  So it was just my girl and me.

We had the beach pretty much to ourselves!

The water is still a bit chilly, but not too bad!

We played in the sand, had a picnic, swam, and I took a power nap.

Of course, Lucy needed a mermaid tail.

She managed to get free before she was swept out to sea.

It was the perfect way to celebrate the beginning of summer!

Praise the Lord for this lovely beach so close to us!

Fathering

I think that being a mother is a weird thing.  It continues to amaze me that I am, in fact, responsible for this gaggle of kids that I have somehow miraculously produced.  Sometimes I look around me and think, when did this happen, and what the heck and I going to do about all of it!  I wonder if when I was young my mother felt the same way.  Responsibility is sometimes hard and it just seems to sneak up on you.

Ya know?

If I feel like that, I know it must be tenfold for Justin.  He's the provider.  The one we all look to.  This family hangs its hat on that man!  The good news is that we couldn't ask for a better man to head our family.  He is funny and kind.  Wise and merciful.  A friend and disciplinarian.  Justin is such a great example to our kids.  He doesn't lecture them or try to tell them how to live and what to do- he lives it.  Noah, Callie, and Lucy are so blessed to call him Daddy!

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  Justin's dad is the greatest!  He is fun and kind.  He oozes compassion but frosts it with snarky wit.  He's the kind of guy you want to hang out with all the time.  When he and Justin are together, it's like two kids making adolescent jokes and looking for trouble.  He is easy to talk to and slow to offer an opinion.  We are so thankful to be able to call Tom Dad, and we just love him to pieces.

On my side, my father has taught me the very meaning of loyalty.  One of my favorite things growing up was that my dad ran his own business out of our home.  That afforded him flexibility.  I always knew without a doubt that my mom and dad would be at my events.  No matter how big or small my part, my parents were there, on my side, cheering me on.  I can only imagine there were other things that my Daddy would have rather been doing.  But he was there for me every time.  Every time!

He has always offered wise advice and as I've grown older I actually appreciate it!  HA!  My dad is a quality time kind of guy.  So there is nothing better than going out to breakfast together, going for hike, or just hanging out one on one with him.  We love you so much, Daddy!

What Is A Dad?

A dad is someone who

wants to catch you before you fall

but instead picks you up,

brushes you off,

and lets you try again. 

A dad is someone who

wants to keep you from making mistakes

but instead lets you find your own way,

even though his heart breaks in silence

when you get hurt. 

A dad is someone who

holds you when you cry,

scolds you when you break the rules,

shines with pride when you succeed,

and has faith in you even when you fail...

- Unknown

Happy Father's Day

Sunday Sneak Peak: Laundry Day

A Big Day

We've got a lot of things going on today.

First off, it's my 16th anniversary!  I've know Justin since 6th grade and loved him since 11th!  We married after our sophomore year in college despite everyone telling us we were way too young!  It hasn't been all roses and flowers ever since.  But, I can say that whatever has come our way, we've walked through it together.  It sounds cliche to say, but I really do love him more now than I did back then.  Heck, I hardly knew what love was.  I was still giddy on feelings.   It's only lately that I am finally learning that more often than not love isn't a feeling, it's an effort.  I don't know about you, but daily, even hourly, choosing to put someone else before me is down right hard!  I'm not very good at it, but I am trying to learn!

If I could get it for you, I would, Sweetheart!
Happy anniversary!  Here's to 60 more!

Secondly, we spent an hour at the police station this morning getting the girls' residence permits renewed.  We have to do it every year.  Praise the Lord, it finally feels like we've (well, Justin, that is!) has it down pat.  We can tell you horror stories from those early years!

Today was also report card day!  It is so weird to me that school here just sort of fizzles out.  Grades have to be turned in by June 1st.  So a lot of moms quit sending their kids to school after that.  Sometimes the teachers tell the kids not to come and they don't come either.  We showed up to school yesterday and it was like a ghost town.  Lucy's teacher was there and said that Lucy could stay with her but that just seemed so weird to me.  Callie's teacher didn't even show up. 

Anyhow, everyone and their momma was at school today promptly at 1:00 to get their report cards.  My kids are awesome!!  The girls both got all 5s (the equivalent of straight As).  Justin picked up Noah's report card since Noah is out of town.  He got two 4s and the rest 5s!  I am still so amazed and so proud of how well my kids are doing! 

Lucy getting her report card from her teacher.

Callie's class has been together for four years.  So lots of the little girls and mothers were super sad to say goodbye.  Callie hates that sort of thing (unless she's the one freaking out!) so she sort of slipped out without really saying goodbye.  I felt bad that we didn't say proper goodbyes to folks.  Hopefully we'll see them around the neighborhood!

Finally, tonight we are putting Callie on an overnight bus down to the Med. Sea for camp.  We spent the afternoon getting her supplies together and all packed up.  She is so excited.   Noah and the friend that he is vacationing with will meet her there.  They always have so much fun at camp!    Little Lucy doesn't know what to do without them here.  She'll finally be old enough to go next year!  I'm already planning my Italian vacation!!  HA!

Happy Friday, friends!

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!