Sunday Sneak Peek

Lucy had her first friend sleep over this weekend.  This is Lucy's best friend, Alara.

We were shocked that Alara's parents let her come spend the night with us.  She is an only child and her parents rarely let her out of their sights.  I was honored that they trusted us enough to let her stay over.  They missed her so much!

Mother's Day

This year on Mother's Day we headed out to a new spot for a big 'ole Turkish breakfast.  It is one of my favorite things to do.  Several of my friends had recommended this place and it did not disappoint!

The food was great, the location amazing, and we all had such a fun morning stuffing ourselves and exploring the coast.

We headed home to drop the girls off and get ready for our local soccer team's game.  Justin, Noah, and I jumped on the mini-bus and headed into town.  We played our rivals, the neighboring town.

Of course, our team lost.  But that didn't put a damper on my perfect day.

A Modern Twist on a Classic

Me: Yasin, where is your homework?

Yasin:  (completely serious and totally panicked)  Teacher, teacher, I couldn't do it.  A dog ate our internet cable.

Thankful Thursday

The weather has been beautiful lately.  I am so thankful for the sunshine and the big puffy white clouds.

I am thankful for some different camps and opportunities that are falling into place for our kids this summer.  They are looking forward to a really awesome summer!

I am thankful for the nice garden surrounding our apartment.  Now that the weather is nice everyone sits outside in the evening chatting and watching the kids play.  It's such a sweet time.

I am thankful that Justin has had some really great opportunities to be out and about in our community.  He is such an introvert.  So I am really thankful for him and proud of him for continually forcing himself to seek out people.

I am thankful for the beautiful path and parks that run along the sea in our town.  It such a pleasant place to walk or have a tea.

I am thankful that Noah's big test is over.  

I am thankful for 3 amazing kids.  We have our struggles and we definitely bicker too much.  But they continually make me proud.  They really work hard, are so flexible, and have overcome quite a few obstacles!

Mostly today I am feeling thankful for my momma.  She is more than amazing.  She is kind and thoughtful.  She works hard.  She always goes out of her way to bless and love on others.  I am sure the number of goodies and/or meals that she has shared with those around her is in the millions.  And, more than something for their stomachs, she gives all of us a piece of herself- her time, her attention, her love, and her presence.  After a few minutes with her your heart is happy.  She is the best.  Simply amazing.  I am so blessed and lucky to have her.

A Different Perspective

Somehow the topic of school shootings in America came up in the care on the way home from school today.  Noah said,

"I don't think I want to go to university in America.  It's too dangerous!"

I laughed and told him that most people think that living here is dangerous.  He was surprised to hear that!

It's interesting how our perspective shapes our thinking.  I guess that's why its a good ides to try to see things from different perspectives!

Pondering

Here are a few quotes that I've run across lately that resonate with me...

I found most of these quotes here.

Sunday Sneak Peek: Paddle Boating

We ended our worship time today with a little outing to a beautiful lake for dinner and paddle boating.  The weather was perfect and it was so nice to get out and move a bit.  The kids loved it!

Plus, like many of the good local family restaurants, they have all sorts of fun things for the kids to do while the parents linger over their meals.  This place had a huge bounce house and a playground.  All the kids played like crazy.  They were asleep before we hit the main road headed home down the coast... I was too!

Baking and Remembering

I have been on a baking craze lately.  For our International Children's Day party I made good 'ole American chocolate chip cookies.  Then, just before we babysat our friends' little kids I made a ton of muffins so that I'd have easy food on hand.  I have a loaf of banana bread and pumpkin bread in my freezer just waiting for unexpected company to drop by.

And I made a huge batch of my favorite cookies to take to the 8th graders during their test.

I may have eaten most of them before the test began!  These are seriously the world's yummiest cookies.

Then, my evil friend Jennie sent me these...

We were texting back and forth and out of the blue she slammed me with these doozies.  And I cried a million tears!  Wahhhh... I want my babies back!!!  They were so cute!

Workers' Day

Today is İşci Bayramı, Workers' Day, or Labor Day.  In past years it has been a bit of a violent day as folks protest or stand-up to the government.  But things were calm this year in our lovely little town.

Actually, I don't really know how they were in our town because we headed down the coast to the the mall.  It's a two hour drive to civilization and we were all chomping at the bit to experience it.

My girls and their girls are ready to go!

At the top of Noah's list was the new Avengers movie.  The girls and I were happy to see that the Annie remake was just released here so we saw that.  It was really cute, and the guys loved their movie.

We ate at McDonald's.  Don't roll your eyes!  Our town doesn't even have a McDonald's.  Absence truly does make the heart grow fonder!  YUM!  I am not ashamed!  Ha!

Then we shopped.  The mall has a huge sports store that we love to meander through.  One of our favorite clothing shops was having a big sale so the girls and I each picked up a little something for Spring.

And, to top it off... there's a Starbucks.  So we indulged in a treat!  This little cutie came up to us and entertained us for 30 minutes!  He reminded us so much of my nephew, Cam.  Personality plus!

I promise you he is telling us how old he is not giving us the double birdies!

I wanted to put him in the car with us and take him home!  What a cutie!!

 It was the perfect American day... complete with kids arguing in the car both coming and going!  Ha!

Thankful Thursday

Noah just finished up the second day of his huge eighth grade test.  Things have been really stressful around here as Noah has ridden the emotional rollercoaster of being in his "test-year."  For many of his classmates this test determines their entire future.  It determines what type of high school they can get into and that determines if they can go to college.  It is a very complex and stressful system.

I am so, so thankful that Noah has broader options.  I am thankful that with a bit of hard work he can go to college in America.  I am thankful that he can take the SAT and other college entrance exams multiple times.  I am thankful that he has this experience behind him and has learned the value and terrible-ness of standardized testing.  (Yes, I am an English teacher... sort of.)

I am thankful that our plans for our summer stateside are coming together.

I am thankful for the Lord's goodness and provision.

I am thankful for the opportunities that we've had over the last few weeks to share about our hope.

Sunday Sneak Peek

motorcycle man

gangsta girl

My students play waaaaay too many video games.  So, they are always asking me what random words mean.  The most common ones that I hear are... ghetto, gangster, thug life, and pork chop.  I always know that I'm about to hear a good one when we are in the middle of a lesson, I haven't asked a question, and a boy raises his hand.  Of course, it never has anything to do with the topic.  It drives me nuts!

Children's Cultural Games

Also, this week we had another round of cultural children's games.  This game was really funny.  The kids had to put their left hand on their chests and hop on their right foot while trying to steal each others' handkerchief.  I played with them for about 10 seconds before I was too tired to move decided that maybe I should be the referee.

It has been a busy and fun week for the kids and teachers.  Praise the Lord we had a few really pretty days so we could get outside.  The weather here is really unpredictable.  It changes drastically in a matter of hours during the spring.  Short sleeves one minute a winter coat the next.

Children's Day Celebration

Today is International Children's Day.  We had an official ceremony at school this morning and then the rest of the day off.  Yesterday we asked the kids to wear cultural costumes and bring finger foods.  We had a big party the last two hours of school.  

I don't know what happened, but I didn't get a single picture of myself.  I wore jeans, a t-shirt, Converse, and a baseball hat.  I was totally American.  Most of the other kids who dressed up as Americans were Indians with a few hip-hops and kids in jeans thrown in.

I am a total sucker for a kid in a costume and my students did not disappoint.

Japanese

Mexican

Turkish

Arab

Some of the girls from Lucy's class.
They were all dressed as Americans... except Lucy who was dressed in a Spanish mantilla.

Just your typical everyday group of Arabs, cowboys, and Turkish soldiers.

Lucy and her friend Ilayda

My favorite little Arab!

Sunday Sneak Peek: Babysitting

We are babysitting these little angels this weekend.

Lucky for us (or not) they brought their skates! Ha!

I love hanging out with these little pumpkins.  It brings back happy memories of when I had little kids!  It is a sweet and exhausting life stage!

More Baseball Pics

Yall, the baseball fun continues!  My students are still begging me to play.  Maybe that has more to do with how boring my class is than with how fun baseball is!

Today I was so pumped.  A big group of my middle schoolers begged me to borrow my baseball set so they could play during our hour long lunch/recess.  Normally each class has it's own soccer game going somewhere throughout the campus.  They never mix.  However this group was from 6th through 8th grade.  I was really surprised and happy!

They really picked up on how to play the game.  They were hitting the ball well and making good plays in the outfield!