1 Year Ago

One year ago we landed in what would be our new home. Here is a picture of us in front of our apartment around this time last year.



It is hard to believe that it has been a year. This last year has been marked by adapting to lots of change, some great sorrows, great joys, perseverance, and many new experiences. We have seen God's faithulness through it all.

We took a class before coming here on how to learn a language. One of the speakers referred to being in a culture where you can't understand or speak was like encountering a "wall of noise". That is exactly how we felt on arriving. Not understanding a single thing anyone said and not understanding customs. Though I have to say I still don't fully understand everything that someone says to me. But that "wall of noise" is becoming less noise and more understandable. It hasn't been easy, but definitely rewarding.

Here we are a few weeks ago:


When we arrived Asher was a baby and now he is a very active toddler and loves to explore his little world. He has a baby brother due (hopefully) in less than 4 weeks. We are excited and looking forward to yet another change in our lives.

Praise God for his goodness and faithfulness to us as we live our lives in this culture.

It's Summer!

It is officially Summer and we are enjoying being outdoors. We spent a morning near the lake this week. Asher loves being outdoors and was content to just walk around.



A beautiful view

Turkish Maternity Dress

This is a picture of my language tutor and I. A few months ago she had gotten me this maternity dress as a gift. I wore it yesterday when she came over for a lesson to get a picture with her. It is a fun dress. The feel of the material and style totally reminds me of some of my mom's dresses that I used to play dress up in that were from the 70's. It was a really thoughtful gift.

34 weeks

Water!

Asher loves to play with water and say the word "water" over and over and over......

Today was a warm day so he played with his little pool on the balcony. We got him this pool last summer as a baby. I think it would almost be too small for him now, but no worries, because he wouldn't get in anyway. It took him about ten minutes before he would even put his hands in. He was excited, yet, he is a bit timid to try something new.

Once he got going though it was lots of giggles and saying "water".



He was a bit surprised when he splashed himself!


Asher was trying to get all the water off of his face.

This time he really splashed himself good!

We'll see if he will actually get in sometime this summer!

Laundry Basket

For a little boy this is more than just a laundry basket. It has provided much entertainment.

Picnic

We spent the day with our American friends having a picnic. It was nice to get out of the city and enjoy the mountains and waterfall that were around us.

Asher was excited to be outside all day. Numerous times throughout the day he would excitedly say "water! water"! One of his new words.


The kids all enjoyed running around, getting dirty and playing near the water.


We had a gorgeous view all around us. Reed hiked up to where the waterfall came out of the mountain and got this picture from above.


The men were hard at work cooking our burgers.

We had brought a lot of yummy food!

Dan and Lynn brought their hammock and guitar. We enjoyed relaxing and music.

A relaxing day would not be complete for some without a game of Settlers of Catan.

This picture was taken at the end of our day. Asher was pretty wiped out, but loving every minute of the outdoors.

One of Asher's favorite things was to throw rocks into the water.

It was an enjoyable day with friends and beautiful scenery.

Queen Lorelai and King Asher

We went out for a traditional Turkish breakfast the other day with our friends. Lorelai and Asher sat at the head of the table in these high chairs. This picture isn't the greatest picture, but
they looked like royalty in these tall high chairs sitting above everyone else. The chairs were pretty impractical. They were taller than the table and had no trays, but nonetheless, it was cute.

High School Visit

My (Reed's) friend is a High School Geography teacher in a village not far from our city. He invited me to come with him last week and meet his students and fellow teachers.

Here I am with my friend (center) and his friend (left), an English teacher.



Here is the English classroom. They were very excited to have a native English speaker join them in their class.



So excited in fact, that they got up and performed some cultural dances (below).



After their dancing performance, they requested that I sing a song in English. Yes, they asked ME to sing. After many polite refusals they finally relented. As an alternative, my friend had Elvis Presley on his cell phone, so we all enjoyed "You Aint nothin' but a Hound Dog". Ahhh, the beautiful and bizarre occurances of cultural exchange.

I was paraded around to several other classrooms as well, and students were given the opportunity to ask me questions. This was really a challenge given my language abilities, but it was a very interesting look at the local educational system.

Barnyard Animals in our Backyard

Asher enjoyed watching the sheep graze from our back balcony. There is a small patch of grass back there and often sheep herders will bring their sheep to this spot.



Yes, we do live in a city, but it is not uncommon to see a herd of sheep in town grazing in open grass areas and occasionally stopping traffic.