Just as good as we remember!

As most of you know we were really looking forward to the food in America. Now don't get me wrong, the food in Turkey is really good but they are missing some of our favorites. We love seafood, and their seafood pretty much consists of fresh fish and mussels. You can get some other seafood dishes, but they aren't prepared the same as in America. We were especially looking forward to eating at one of our favorite restaurants, Pappadeaux's. Many people warned us that it probably wouldn't be as good as we remembered it to be. They said that they were disappointed in their favorite places when they came back for a visit because they had built them up so much in their minds, and then they didn't taste as good as they remembered. We didn't believe that we could be disappointed. We had already been back to the states for visits twice, and both times we ate at Pappadeaux's and it was still good! Soon after arriving in America, Brian and I went to Pappadeaux's for lunch. It was still yummy! Here are our favorite dishes!


Brian loves the crawfish platter! On the right you see fried crawfish tails. On the left is crawfish ettouffe, and in the middle is dirty rice. He always eats the fried crawfish first and then mixes the rice with the ettouffe and eats that. He says he eats it this way because if he can't finish his meal the fried crawfish doesn't taste very good reheated but the ettouffe does! Planning ahead so as not to waste good food...good thinking!

This is a shrimp po-boy...my favorite...basically a fried shrimp sandwich. According to my brother-in-law the pickles are the best part! The other day we went to lunch at Pappadeaux's and I decided to branch out a little. The meals always come with french bread so I decided to get the fried seafood platter. That is basically 3 fried shrimp, a decent portion of fried crawfish tails, and a piece of fried catfish. I had the great idea of making three different small sandwiches by using the bread that came with the meal. It was missing the lettuce and pickles, but that wasn't a big deal to me. I made a little sandwich with the shrimp first and ate that then could barely eat anything else! I had to have the server pack up the rest of the meal so I could take it home to eat later. My mistake had been eating a piece of bread with butter while we were waiting for our food to come. I had filled up on bread! I don't know how many times I have heard Brian say, "Don't fill up on bread." The waitress asked if I liked my meal when I asked her to pack it up, and I told her that I was really full because I had eaten too much bread. I don't know if she believed me or not! I had left the whole piece of catfish, all of the french fries, and almost all of the crawfish on my plate! If she only knew how much I love Pappadeaux's! Before coming back to America I had dreams about it, and this is the second blog I've written about it! The only disappointment in the whole experience was that my stomach couldn't hold all the food on my plate so I had to eat the rest later. Oh, and I agree with Brian. The fried crawfish didn't taste as good when I reheated it for lunch the next day. He is so smart!

Straight up...or almost!

I just wanted to write a quick little post to let everyone know that I am doing well. The surgery went fine and I am recovering. The doctor said that during surgery they removed 12 pounds of skin and fat. I am really fascinated by the whole thing. They removed all the skin from my belly button to just below my c-section scar. The c-section scar may gone but now I will have one from hipbone to hipbone. Brian says it looks like a magic trick gone wrong...like someone tried to cut me in half or something. Then they used the existing belly button but cut a new opening for it. I can't really tell a difference yet because I am pretty swollen and I am wearing bandages, a piece of foam for support and a really tight girdle like thing to help hold things in. When I got home I couldn't even tell by getting on the scale. I weighed the same as I did the morning of my surgery. Now it looks like I have dropped a few pounds but certainly not 12. I am getting tired of sleeping on my back, and it is still too uncomfortable to sleep on my side. I haven't even tried my stomach yet! I can stand up pretty straight but the muscles are really tight and sore if I stretch them too much. They say that it takes a couple of weeks to be able to walk upright again. The doctor said that I had quite a gap between the muscles in my stomach. He basically sewed the right side back to the left side. Again. I am fascinated. I know that diet and exercise would not have been able to rid me of the flap but would it have made the muscles move back together? I can't imagine how.

Thanks for praying for me and for the encouraging notes!

To tell or not to tell...

I have been contemplating for a while now sharing a secret with you. Actually most of my really close friends already know this secret so I guess it really isn't a secret. Just something that I am not sure how to share because I don't know what kinds of reactions I will get. But then I thought people will soon begin to guess the secret so rather than having gossip go around about me I should be the one to spill the beans. So here goes...

I am having surgery...an elective procedure. Many of you know that I have been working on losing weight. The grand total at one point was 44 pounds over a 2 1/2 year period. I must admit I have gained back 8-10 pounds just since I have been in the states though! Too much TexMex and ice cream! Anyway...after losing the weight I have been plagued by excess skin...maybe too much information for some folks! So after meeting with a plastic surgeon I have decided to undergo a tummy tuck. This will remove the extra skin from my stomach plus they will repair the stomach muscles and do some liposuction to even things out. This surgery does NOT shrink my stomach or involve any gastic bypass whatsoever. It is not designed to help me eat less. I am not doing this to lose weight but that will be a benefit. I am doing it so that the pants that fit around my stomach also fit around my waist without having to be taken in. I am doing this because after 4 c-sections no amount of dieting was going to rid me of "the flap" as we so affectionally call it. I am doing this because I want to, not because anyone else thinks I should. I am not ashamed to tell anyone, just worried that people will judge my motives or think less of me. I don't want people to be disappointed in me. I am telling you this so you can be comfortable and so I will be comfortable. I have been really open in small circles and think that people deserve to know and not wonder. If you have any questions feel free to ask. I would be happy to talk about it. And pray for me! My surgery is scheduled for August 14, at 7:30am central time. The recovery period is supposed to be about 8 weeks, but I will still have nerve damage and some slight swelling for up to 6 months! The first two weeks will be the hardest and most painful according to my doctor so I probably won't be online or out much if any. When you see me don't be shy. If you want to know something...ask!

It ain't so easy!

Okay...did I say living in America is easy? I think after the last couple of days I have changed my mind! I have been trying to register the kids for school but it hasn't happened yet! We went to Erica's new school the other day and started the process. We got to the form that said something about "proof of residency" and that is where we had to stop. I can't prove that I live in this house! The address on my driver's license is my parent's address since we consider that our permanent stateside address. I don't want to change it and then have to change it back in 3 months. There are no bills in my name. I don't have a lease agreement. I just am. How does this work? On one form I thought about checking the box that said we were living in a temporary shelter. That could include a car or an abandoned building according to the paper. I thought I could say we are living in this abandoned house...that my parents happen to own. Or we are living in our car which is parked in the driveway of a house my parents happen to own. I thought that might cause more problems so instead we went today to get approval from the head honcho on admissions and he said we could go to school. Yea! I was starting to sweat thinking about homeschooling the kids. Instead of going back to finish Erica's school registration we decided to go to the the other kids' school first. We got all of our copies made and then got stuck on the shot records. The nurse did seem a little puzzled when she saw that all of our kids have had rabies shots. She must have been envisioning a pack of rabid dogs attacking us. I explained our situation and we now need to have approval for all of the shots we had before we left. I compiled all of our records onto these nice yellow cards we got from our company but we never had any nurse or doctor sign it. The records aren't valid until I have a doctor sign them. This actually makes sense to me so we went to the old pediatrician office where we discovered that in our 4 1/2 year absence from America our records have been put in storage. Well, all but Will's, but I think we just got lucky there! So we now have to pay $35 per child to have the records pulled so we can get a copy of the shot records in them. We are supposed to go back next week and pick them up and hopefully at that point be able to complete the registration process. One thing I am figuring out is that we are weird. I guess I already knew that, but I never thought so much about it. We don't fit anyone's criteria or into anyone's box. People hear that we are in the states for a few months and don't know what to do with us. Who knew that we would cause such problems just trying to go to school?

On a side note...Will went to the doctor today because he has a cough and hasn't been feeling well. He has a bronchial infection and was given a prescription for an antibiotic. When I took it to the pharmacy the pharmacist asked when I would like to come back to pick up the prescription. I asked her how long it would take to fill it and she said if I wanted to wait it would only be about 15 minutes. I waited. All I could think was I am not coming back later! I haven't accomplished anything at all because I keep having to come back later. I wanted to be able to say that I had at least finished something!

New Orleans

We have just recently driven from Texas to Virginia. We drove through Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Six states in 3 days. It was really interesting to see so many different sights along the way. We drove on interstate 10 through New Orleans and were really shocked at the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. Whole neighborhoods empty. I had seen pictures of the really poor neighborhoods on the news, but what surprised me was the amount of what seemed to be middle class homes destroyed. It seemed like the media had really highlighted the poorer areas and overlooked other neighborhoods. Maybe it was because these folks made it out of the area before Katrina hit. Maybe it was because there weren't any deaths in these areas. Maybe these people didn't lose everything and were able to start over somewhere else with relative ease. Maybe living overseas I had just missed these pictures. Looking out at subdivisions with every house having broken or boarded up windows really was indescribable. All of the fences surrounding the houses had disappeared in the flooding so we could see straight into some of the homes. We could see two or three temporary mobile campers set up in front yards where some families were staying. Other than those few campers the area was like a ghost town. Nobody was home. As I thought about all of the displaced people and then contemplated the few who chose to stay in a small camper close to their damaged home I couldn't imagine what they must feel like. If my home was damaged as badly as these homes were what would I do? I don't think I would choose to stay. In a neighborhood of 100 homes I have to wonder how do you start the process of cleaning up and starting over. If one family decides to work on getting their home in livable condition but no other family on that street chooses to do the same thing what is the value of the one repaired home? I can't imagine being the first one to make repairs hoping that others will follow in my footsteps. I would imagine at this point that many banks own these homes, but even then, how do you start to clean up? I think it would be a much easier process if only one or two neighborhoods needed repair. The thousands of damaged or destroyed homes that we saw seemed like a overwhelming task. I know those devastated by the storm probably feel that way.

Reflections or simple answers made complicated!

So, I have been thinking lately. Not a shocking thing if you know me. I often go into reflection mode when I am asked a good question by someone. I can give a simple answer at the time of the question asking, but then I think about it for a long while and my answer ends up being way more complicated and indepth than the question asker ever wanted to hear. Then I usually reflect out loud or by email to Brian, Abby, Mentanna, or a few other friends, and we work through the thought together. I thought that this time I would open up my thoughts to my blog readers...not sure how many of the people that know I have a blog actually read it so that could still just be Abby and Mentanna. Brian doesn't even read it!

Here goes...
Since we have been back we have been asked how we are getting along here, if we are settling in okay, how the kids are adjusting, and other similar questions. My first answers have been something like fine, yes, pretty well, and we are having fun. After deeper questions...usually from the friends I've mentioned above...I have really thought hard about how we are really doing and what we are really thinking. My initial thoughts on the issue usually have something to do with how much easier it is to live in America and how simple life is here. I have said this to a few people and I don't think they liked it much. The more I think about it the more I think that it sounds somewhat offensive...like I think everyone has such an easy life and that my life in Turkey is so much harder than anyone else's. That isn't what I am meaning. I don't want to offend. How can I answer the question without offending people? Here is what I mean by life here in America is easier.

1. In Turkey life outside our house takes place in Turkish. I know some Turkish, but I am in no way even close to being fluent in it nor can I conduct the majority of my life in Turkish. When I go to the grocery store, the post office, the doctor's office, or anywhere outside of my house I have to be able to speak at least enough Turkish to be understood. That means I have to have a plan. I have to think about what I am doing or what I might want to say to someone ahead of time. Now those places I have mentioned are pretty easy for me. I do them often so I have memorized the script. Hopefully the Turks I come across know the script and don't ask me something that I'm not expecting. Because I am so used to thinking about what I want to say before I say it I start planning my words as soon as I know that I might need them. I will never forget the first time we came back to the states for a visit. I was taking Erica to the eye doctor, and I remember driving to his office and thinking about what I wanted to tell him and how I should say it. About halfway there I realized that I didn't have to worry about it. He speaks English. I know English! The same thing happened when I came back to the states by myself. I learned on the airplane that my flight from Chicago to Houston had been canceled so I was going to have to get another flight. I started to panic because I hadn't memorized the script about needing a new flight when mine had been canceled. A few mintutes later I realized that they speak English in Chicago. I should be fine. So, for me, life is automatically more complicated in Turkey because of the language barrier and the amount of planning normal living takes. I don't usually stress about it or avoid going places where I might need words that I don't know. I just plan my thoughts ahead of time or trudge through if I am unprepared. It works...most of the time!

2. The culture in Turkey is completely different from our culture in America. If you go for a visit you might not notice a huge difference. In our city people seem to be fairly westernized. But, under that western facade is a culture that has deep roots in Islam and superstitions. People may look similar to us or to western Europeans but they don't think the same way. Turks are a very passionate people. We tend to be go with the flow type people. We don't get worked up too much over things. Things are big deals to them. One of my American friends said that everything is either a drama or a trauma in Turk's lives. I felt like we lived from one crisis to the next while we were there. I love the passion though. Because things are a big deal to Turks, people are also a big deal to them. I think they live life deeper than we do. That can be a good thing, but it is tiring when you aren't used to it. They invest in people. The problem with that is that when people make mistakes or let them down they get deeply offended. They have a hard time with forgiveness. That makes for more drama and trauma! Just getting off the phone with a Turk is an adventure. We say something like "talk to you later, bye". They say "it was good talking to you, talk to you later, take care of yourself, tell everyone I say hi, kisses, bye". Even saying goodbye can be tiring because it takes so long!

I have a lot more floating around in my head, but I don't want this blog to be too long. I will add some more reasons later so just chew on this for a while. What do you think?

Just Pictures

This blog is mainly for the enjoyment of my Turkey friends. I thought it would be easier to post pictures of where we live on here instead of emailing them to everyone for them to download themselves. You don't have to be a Turkey to look at these pictures so feel free to look and comment if you are interested.



This is the front and back view of our house. Our front door is in the middle of the house. You have to walk up some stairs to get to it and when you get inside you are on the landing between floors. The upstairs floor has the main living area, kitchen, and kids bedrooms on it. The downstairs has another living area and our bedroom. It seems a little strange to go upstairs to get to the kitchen and carrying the groceries up can be a pain, but I can't complain. I only have to go up one floor...not 3! Brian is enjoying mowing the yard! He has also gone out and weeded the flower beds. Anna Grace commented that she thought our backyard wasn't very big. I told her it is bigger than her personal backyard in Turkey! The sliding door you see under the balcony goes into our bedroom


Here is our kitchen. I wish our kitchen in Turkey was this big! It seems huge!

This is the upstairs living room. There is a small table over to the right of the living area so we have called it the salon just to keep things simple.


Downstairs living room. Brian decided to call it the den to make it easier. Our computer is over in the back corner. Our bedroom is also downstairs off to the left of this picture.

You're not from around here, are you?

We are having fun in America! The other day we stopped at an Exxon to get gas in the car. Brian asked if I would run into the convenience store and buy him a cup of coffee while he pumped the gas. He used to love to get coffee at the gas station so I was excited that he could have some. They don't have coffee in gas stations in Turkey so it was a treat. I thought to ask him what kind of coffee he wanted since I expected a couple of different choices. He said he just wanted the regular kind. I walked into the store and just stopped. They had a complete coffee bar! There were about 10 different flavors of coffee...house blend, dark magic, special roast, mountain berry, caramel vanilla, irish creme, and several other flavors. And then the creamers...probably 15 different choices there. Then, of course, I had to decide which size cup Brian would want from the 5 choices. I wasn't sure what to do. I finally chose the dark magic since it sounded like dark roasted coffee and decided on a medium large cup. I went out where Brian was paying at the pump for the gas (something we can't do in Turkey) and told him that next time he wanted coffee from the gas station he had to go get it himself. It was too overwhelming for me!

Yesterday, we spent some time at my parents' house visiting with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Erica and two of my cousins were making brownies in the kitchen. My mom reminded them to grease the pan and asked if they wanted to use Pam or shortening to grease it. I looked at Erica and I could tell she was confused. I asked her if she knew what Pam was. She said no. I asked her if she knew what shortening was. Again, she said no. I started laughing! We use oil or margarine in Turkey because they don't have Pam or shortening there! New vocabulary!

Anna Grace has also learned some new vocabulary since she has been here. One of her new words is pantry. She had no idea what that was! When I asked her to get something out of the pantry she just looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. In Turkey we have some food in the normal kitchen cabinets and some food in another cabinet unit that we refer to as a dolap (dole-ahp) which is the Turkish word for cabinet. If I had asked her to get something out of the dolap she would have known exactly what I meant. Also, Walmart is a new word for her. We left Anna Grace at my parents' one evening while we ran to Walmart to pick up a few things. My uncle asked her where we went, and he said she just tapped her head and said, "what was the name of that place again". He said any kid raised in America would have had no problem coming up with Walmart. He could tell she wasn't from around here.

I'm sure there will be more things to share with you as we live the adventure here in the states. Thanks for reading!

More stuff in Turkey

Water! It is so cheap in Turkey. A 20 oz. bottle of good water costs about a quarter...even Aquafina. I tried to buy a bottle of Aquafina water from Target today and it was $1.19! I was shocked. I decided to go thirsty. Then changed my mind and went through the drive-thru at McDonalds and got a bottle of Dansani for a dollar. Wow. We have large bottles of water delivered in Turkey...usually 3 at a time for about $12. And as you can tell from the picture they are the big Ozarka like bottles. And one of my favorite things about the big bottles there is Mr. Pumpy! It is a pump you put on the bottles to pump the water out into your glass. I meant to buy one and bring it here to put on the bottles here but forgot. I guess that is okay because I don't think I could afford the bottles of water!



Our freezer. I love this upright freezer that Brian bought me for my 2nd mother's day in Turkey. The top two compartments have a plastic door that opens and the bottom four compartments are drawers that pull out. It is very handy!


Our balcony! Sitting on the deck off the back of our house in Texas just isn't the same. I was excited to be able to sit outside like we are used to doing but staring down into the backyard just doesn't compare to being able to look up and down the street outside our building. There are usually people walking around, wild dogs in the field across the street, numerous cars, buses and dolmuses driving by as well as many other activities. The weather is also really nice...no humidity to speak of...so we even eat out there sometimes. I will miss the good summer weather for sitting on the balcony. By the time we get back to Turkey it will be winter and too cold to sit out there.


I was going to post some pictures of foods that we will miss while we are in the states but I decided to wait until we actually miss them. So far we have enjoyed all the yummy things we have been able to eat and not really missed any Turkish food items. I'm sure it will come though!

Things we will miss

The next few posts will feature some of the fine Turkish products or services we will miss while we are in the states. These are in no particular order!

1. Public Transportation!
It is everywhere you need to be. The small blue bus pictured below is called a dolmus (dole-moosh) in Ankara. In Istanbul these are called mini buses but no matter what they are called they are wonderful! To take a dolmus you stand on the side of the road and wait for one to come by that has a sign indicating it will pass by where you want to go. Then you just wave at the driver...he stops and you get on. You do have to pay to use them and the fare depends on where you want to go. Almost all places in Ankara cost 1.20 lira which is equal to about 77 cents. Then when you are ready to get off you just have to tell the driver to stop. It's that simple. This dolmus is passing right in front of my apartment.

The Taxi! Taxi's here can be flagged down or you can call the local taxi stand and have one pick you up from your apartment. The drivers at our stand know us and are always very friendly. When we call for a taxi we need to already be walking out the door because the taxi will be pulling up in front of our building in about the time it takes us to get out there...2 minutes! They are more expensive of course but when we are in a hurry well worth it.

And finally the bus. This bus stop is in front of the building next door to us so again we can catch it on our street. This bus uses a bus card which is purchased from a terminal downtown. When you get on the bus you slide your card in a machine and it subtracts the price of your ride. The price depends on if you are a student, elderly, or if you bought a multi-ride card. 20 rides costs 20 lira but one ride costs 1.20 lira. There are also pay buses that have a little man sitting at a desk about halfway down the isle who takes your money. This bus takes me downtown where I can catch another bus, a dolmus, or the subway if I need a second ride to get me where I am going.
I mentioned the subway above which is another form of public tranportation provided. It uses the same cards as the bus and the fares are the same. If I transfer from a card bus to another card bus or the subway within 45 minutes of my first ride the second ride is free! There are two subway lines in Ankara but in order for me to take one I have to take another form of transportation to get me to a subway stop.

The last thing I thought I would highlight is the service vans that most grocery stores have. After you shop you can take a free service van home. You usually have to wait a few minutes for them to fill up and then you have to give them directions to your house. A few of them will do pick-ups as well at scheduled times on certain days.

Oh, I can't forget to say my feet! I walk to a lot of places I never would have even thought to walk to in the states. Everyone here walks a lot! I will miss being able to walk to the grocery store, the tailor, the outdoor food market, and friends' houses.

So you can see I have not needed to drive a car for the last four years of my life which is a good thing because all the cars here are standards, and I don't know how to drive one. I plan on learning when I get back to the states though. But, my dad has assured me that a dolmus will drive down our street in Texas and take me wherever I need to go. And I'm sure the nice Kroger people will take me home if I spend enough money in their store. But it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I will have a car, and it's not a standard. The only problem is I have to share it with Brian!

Go, Go Jonah

Saturday Will, Jacob, and Anna Grace participated in the musical Go, Go Jonah at church. Will had a main character part which he was very nervous about. He had to be sarcastic and not very nice to another kid. It was fun to see him actually be able to do that convincingly. Anna Grace and Jacob were in the choir as Yeoman of Joppa...basically pirates.




Anna Grace and her friend Mikah pose for the camera.



Jacob and his friend Jacob looking not so ruthless!


Will, Sam and Josh are really good friends. Sam played the bully and Will had to act like he couldn't stand him. It was lots of fun because they really love each other!

Soccer 2006

Soccer...what can I say about soccer. The local military base here sponsors sports for the kids. Will and Jacob both played this spring. Will scored two goals and I missed both of them! That's what happens when there are other kids to watch as well. Here is a team picture. Will is bottom, 2nd from right. Brian is top, right.


Here is Will trying to score a goal on his dad. Mr. Greg, a good friend and one of the coaches, tried to stop him.


Mr. Greg giving Will his trophy! They both were making goofy faces at the camera.

Tea and Yogurt

I was making cheese toast in my oven this morning and I realized that there were a few things about ovens in Turkey that are different. So I thought I would share.


The cay danlik. That is the pot you see on the stovetop in this picture. Cay means tea in Turkish. Everyone has one and they are usually sitting on their stoves since they are used all the time. How to make Turkish cay... Fill the bottom part of the pot, or the kettle, with cold water and put loose tea leaves into the teapot on top...about 1 tsp of leaves for each glass of tea you want to make. I usually throw in a little extra as well. Put the kettle, with the teapot on top, on the heat to boil. When the water boils, pour it into the teapot until full and put it on the kettle, which should still contain plenty of boiling water. Lower the heat to medium while the tea brews for about 10 minutes. When the tea is ready pour it into your glass. Only pour a little...anywhere from a fourth to half a glass. They have tea strainers you pour the tea through so you don't get tea leaves in your cup but many people don't use them and just know how to pour it so very few leaves come out. Then use the hot water in the bottom pot to fill your glass. You can adjust the strength of your tea by putting more or less of the tea in your glass. Most people here drink their tea at medium strength. You can also order it acik which means light or kamyonculu which means like a trucker or really dark! And of course you can sweeten your tea to taste. The tea here is generally served with a couple of sugar cubes on the side or with a bowl of sugar cubes. When we are in the states please come by and we will make you a cup of Turkish tea! It is really yummy!


I got this picture off of a website just so you could see what the finished product looks like. These glasses are the normal tea glasses here. The ones we bought aren't quite this fancy...no gold!


Another interesting thing about Turkish ovens is the yogurt setting you can find on them. I have never actually made my own yogurt since you can find it everywhere here and it is very inexpensive. I know that you use about 2 tablespoons of yogurt mixed with about several cups of milk. After that I don't know what to do. The setting is less than 100 degrees celsius but I don't know what the exact temperature is. I have found a recipe for making your own yogurt at home by boiling milk and adding the yogurt to it at www.turkishcookbook.com but it says nothing about the oven.

So there you have it. Cultural lessons from an experienced cay maker and an inexperienced yogurt maker.

Pictures from Esenboga

I had to take a trip to the airport the other day to pick up a volunteer team. I decided to take my camera and get some pictures of the waiting room I blogged about in March. Here they are!


I am standing in the doorway to the outside. I don't know if there are actual doors that can close or if it is just a doorway. They are never closed if there are doors. Anyway... off to the right there are doors that lead outside as well. To the left are a few benches and a small booth selling things to eat and drink. Straight ahead is the sliding door that leads into the airport. In this picture it had just opened because someone walked by on the inside. My friend, Abby, is the girl on the left in the pink shirt.

Notice the people right next to the glass. They are trying to see through it which is next to impossible! The plane we were meeting was the only one coming in for a couple of hours so the room wasn't too crowded.


This is after the plane landed. All of a sudden people came from who knows where to meet the passengers. I am still standing in the doorway to the outside. There is still quite a bit of empty space in front of these guys. When more than one plane is coming in you can't even move in this room!

Just thought I would share!

Lunch Time

I just had to post this picture of one of our coworkers. He was over for a meeting and it ran into lunch time. He, being the timely organized guy he is, had packed a lunch for the day. He took it out and I just about died. It was the lunch you hear about. The one you are supposed to eat. His sandwich was peanut butter and jelly. Both the bread and the peanut butter were homemade! The cookies were also homemade...not the slice and bake kind of homemade but the real thing...chocolate chip. The pretzels and the apple finished it off. I told him I could pour him a glass of milk if he needed it to feel complete. He opted for water. Anyway...just thought it was funny. Who knew a packed lunch could look so good!

From Anna Grace

As you know Sunday was Mother's Day. I wasn't feeling great so I didn't go to church and I didn't have any special lunch requests. Anna Grace also stayed home from church so we just hung out. I said something about it being mother's day and she went to her room to get me the gift she made for me at school. I couldn't help but smile...well giggle...when I got it unwrapped and saw what it was. There was a cute purple bag and a picture of her holding a bouquet of flowers. I asked her if the letters written on the bottom of the bag stood for "From Anna Grace" and she said yes. I did take it out later that day but it may be one of those gifts that doesn't make it to America. I'm not sure I would be seen out with it there!

Questions answered!

I have had several emails asking about several postings in my blog so I thought I would blog the answers. If you haven't asked a question recently or just don't care feel free to stop reading now!

1. No, I have not lost any weight in the last several weeks. I actually think I may have gained a couple of pounds. We have had guests in our home constantly for the past couple of weeks and, of course, I have to feed them. That also means I am eating! And desserts, too! What would a meal with friends be without dessert? Also the stress of trying to get stuff done before we have to leave is probably causing some problems. I told you I am a stress eater! No fears though. I will be back on track starting Monday when things settle down some for at least 2 weeks. Maybe I will be so busy with packing that I will forget about food!

2. Yes, Will was able to keep his haircut for school. Well, that is, until yesterday. He was stopped by the principal and told he needed to shave it. I'm sure the principal didn't even notice it himself but probably heard kids commenting on it. So this afternoon it is bye, bye mohawk. Everyone thought it was cool, and I know the other kids talked about it. He is a little sad but had fun while it lasted.

3. Yes, I am feeling better about coming back to the states now. I think part of me is ready to leave here because things start picking up the week before we leave and stay steady through the summer. If we aren't here we don't have to help. Is that wrong? I am also ready for a break. Sitting by the pool and doing nothing...not worrying about engaging the culture or working on language or feeling guilty because I am not doing that. I won't be too lazy though. I will engage the culture...smile at the people sitting by the pool near me and know that they won't wonder where I'm from, if I speak their language, or care about me at all as long as I give them some personal space. I will work on my language. I am sure there are new slang words in America that I haven't learned yet! And English spoken with any accent other than Turkish might be a struggle for me to understand. Last time we were home the waiter at the Mexican restaurant we went to said something to us and my dad answered him. We had no idea he was even speaking English since it sounded so different to us. I vow to go to Mexican restaurants and listen harder...and since I am there I might as well have some fajitas or a burrito or something.

4. Yes, Brian is available to help coach any sport. As long as he has some knowledge of it he should be fine. He played croquet, soccer, football, and baseball in his backyard growing up so he is an expert at those sports. Basketball, golf, softball...no problem! He also has some knowledge of kickball, bowling, badminton and after the winter olympic game coverage here in Turkey a pretty good handle on curling. Feel free to ask for his help!

Thanks for reading, and keep those questions coming!

Whose kid is that?

Some friends of ours hosted a "Friend Day" for the boys last Saturday. The day included soccer in the morning, a spaghetti eating contest for lunch, a picnic in the park, and riding an alpine sleigh ride. The boys were supposed to have crazy hair for the occasion. Will asked if he could get a mohawk on Friday after school and we said he could. He stopped at the barber on the way home from school to get his haircut and then came on home. When he showed up at home he kept hiding his hair behind a notebook. I was interested in seeing his hair but he said he was worried I would be mad. He put the notebook down and his mohawk was blue and red! He thought he might be in trouble because he had the barber hairspray it different colors. I told him that I let him get a mohawk...the hairspray was nothing...it would wash out. He definitely had the craziest hair that day! One of his friends sprayed his hair purple and another one had a buzz on half of his head. We have let Will keep his haircut but he isn't allowed to spike it for school. There is a dress code to follow you know! When it is not spiked it almost looks normal. Jacob didn't want to do anything to his hair so he looked mostly normal. He actually needs a haircut...his sideburns would make Elvis jealous!

Will's new do!

Excited, Scared, Sad

Those were the words Will used to describe his feelings about going back to America for 7 months. We were saying prayers one night, and I asked him if he was excited about going back. He said, "a little". I asked if he was scared and his answer, again, was "a little" and then he volunteered "and I'm a little sad too". I told him I understood his feelings exactly. That is how I feel too. I am excited to be able to see family and friends and eat things that I have missed. I am scared/worried about the kids being in school there, about feeling overwhelmed with cultural differences and about not having really close relationships. And I am sad about leaving the team and friends here that have come to be like family to me. I look back at life in America, and I can pinpoint times when God really spoke to me or when I really felt like God was teaching me truth about himself. But they were just incidents among many other "normal" times. I relied on myself when things were tough, and I figured out how to fix what wasn't right. I look back at life here in Turkey, and I feel like it has been a 4 year long incident or lesson! I have had to rely on God so much more here. I realized very quickly that I was not capable of fixing the things that weren't going right. I had to depend on God to see me through. I feel like I have learned volumes about who God is and who He created me to be. I think part of me is worried that I will go back to the states and become complacent about things again...that I will not be intune to what is going on around me. I pray that God will bring people into my life to speak truth, to call me on things when I am being disobedient, and to love me and encourage me. I ask that you pray for our family as we finish our last 6 weeks here and as we begin to adjust to life in America again. Yesterday Erica said she couldn't wait for school to be over, but then she added "except that means we have to go back to America". I guess we all are feeling it. God is good, and He is faithful. I know He will use many of you to teach us many things while we are there. Thanks for being faithful to pray for us.

Wait...Weight?

I decided to go ahead and make a post about my weight loss since I have gotten several emails from people who have commented on it. Yes...I have lost quite a bit of weight. I originally went on a "diet"...the dreaded D word...by accident in September of 2003. I had not planned on going on a diet. On Sept. 1, I made pancakes and had every intention of eating them, but by the time I fed my family and the visitors we had there wasn't enough for me to eat. Also I was sick of looking at the pancakes because I had made so many of them. For about 4 days things like that kept happening, and when I stopped and thought about it I had not had carbs or sugar to amount to anything for that entire time. My mother had just been telling me about the weight she lost doing Atkins so I thought I would try it. Once I made the decision to not have carbs or sugar it was harder. After about two weeks of severely limiting my carbs and sugar it got a lot easier. I no longer wanted them. I was pretty strict with myself from September through Thanksgiving. By that time I had lost about 30 pounds. It was shocking. And I felt great. After Thanksgiving I continued to watch what I ate, but didn't try to lose more weight. I never did set a goal weight. I was just excited to weigh less than I had in years. I kept that weight off for a full year. In November and December of 2004 I went to the states and saw several of you. Everyone was really surprised to see that I had lost so much weight. And I ate whatever I wanted while I was there...Hey! They don't sell Krispy Kreme here! After returning to Turkey things just seemed to be more stressful here and I put back on about 10 pounds. I am definitely a stress eater! I decided in October that I needed to lose that plus a little more, and I set a goal for what I wanted to weigh. Now I had something to work toward. I also set little goals...I want to lose 5 pounds by a certain date...or by the time I see my family at Christmas I want to weigh a certain amount...whatever it took to motivate me. It worked great. Since I started in October I have lost about 25 pounds. Some weeks I am really strict with what I eat and others I relax some. I weigh less now than when I got pregnant with Erica which was one of my "little goals". Now I would like to weigh what I weighed when I got married. That is my goal for going back to the states. I have 8 weeks...and 7 pounds. I think I can do it!

Home Sweet, Nice, Normal Home

We have noticed that when people come visit us...whether family or friends...they often are surprised by how nice our house is. It is the run of the mill, ordinary house but most people have in their minds something far less appealing I guess. I have heard these comments from people coming to visit. "This is really nice. Not at all what I expected." "I don't feel sorry for you anymore." "No more care packages from us!" So, in order to not perpetuate the myth that we live in a hole, mud hut, or tent in the desert here are some pictures of our house.


Our living room/dining room combination. Here it is called a salon.


This is a picture of our bedroom. Not the best picture but I was hiding Brian's side of the room with this angle!


The kitchen. Not huge but big enough to cook in and eat in. What more do I need?


I chose not to take pictures of the kids rooms. They weren't exactly company ready. You know...unmade beds, pjs on the floor...you understand!

Random sights

The last couple of times we took trips outside the city we had to stop to let sheep cross the street. Here is a picture of a flock with their shepherd. The sheep all had paint splotches on their backs so that the shepherd could tell whose sheep they were. Almost everytime we take a trip we see flocks of sheep up on the hills. They always have a shepherd or two and sometimes the flock includes goats and a dog or two.

This is a picture of Anna Grace (left) and one of her friends wearing as many clothes as they possibly can. You should have seen the mess on Anna Grace's floor after they were done with this game. There were no clothes left in her drawers!

I didn't have a whole post of anything but just wanted to share these pictures with you!

Who is the potter?

On our trip to see the eclipse we stayed in a town called Avanos. It is in the region of Cappadocia which is one of the places 1 Peter was written to...check out 1 Peter 1:1. Anyway this town is know for it's pottery. There are clay pots everywhere! In the town square there is a pile of pots...I think it is a statue. On many street corners there are random pots. There were many different kinds...some painted some just in their original clay color. Come visit and we will take you there!


Will tried his hand at pot making and did a pretty decent job. He did have a little help though!

Sumer, one of our Turkish friends...and an employee of Brian's, takes a turn at the potter's wheel. It is foot powered so every few minutes she had to push it like a merry-go-round.

Anna Grace and a friend sit at a fountain in a city park. Notice the pile of pots on the top!

Sumer's finished product! We weren't sure what to call it. Modern pottery?

One of the stores that sells the many different pots. These stores all have rooms that are like caves. This is actually a doorway into another room of the store.

Coach Brian

Many of you have heard that Brian is coaching "university football" here in Turkey. Well this rumor is true. A few schools here have football clubs and Brian and another worker here coach at one of them part time. The club was started by the guys wanting to learn American football and they recruited their own coaches. Brian never played football in junior high, high school, or college but he watched quite a bit of it which makes him an expert. The guys sometimes ask him what position he used to play and he gives them one of two answers...
1. in my backyard?
2. second base.
They don't usually have a clue what he means by either answer! I went to a recent game and took a few interesting pictures. Brian's team is the one in black and gold. They are the Cankaya cougars. They are playing the team wearing blue and red.



Notice the player with the black and white socks on. The weather was a little chilly so I guess he decided to wear matching socks and a scarf!!?? while playing the game!

Another picture of the scarf wearing player. I did notice that another guy has on one blue sock and one black sock. I am not sure if these are team issued or not!

Brian is walking over to talk to a couple of guys. They get very emotional and cry when they mess up or when they think someone else thinks they messed up. Brian says it is like watching junior high students play, but his players cry more.

Total Eclipse

We have just returned from a short vacation to a city about 4 hours east of us. Brian's parents came to Turkey to visit us and to see the solar eclipse that God scheduled for the area this week. It was a cool experience. Wednesday morning we shopped in the little town for a bit and then after lunch settled on the terrace of our hotel where we had a front row seat to totality. The eclipse started around 12:40 and took about an hour and a half from start to finish. Brian had ordered some special glasses from the states that blocked out all light except a small bit from the sun. Once the eclipse started he and I walked around and handed some out to the locals who didn't really want them at first. There was a truck traveling the streets telling them that there was going to be an eclipse and not to look at the sun with the naked eye. We explained that the glasses were made so that you could look at it and that if they looked now they could see that it had already started and we had a few takers. Once one person looked at it and exclaimed "yarim, yarim!" which translates "half, half" we had many takers. They couldn't believe that the sun was being covered by the moon and only half of it was shining! After about 15 minutes of that we went back to the hotel so we didn't miss the main event! It was amazing how quickly it went from some light to darkness...literally seconds! Totality lasted about 3 minutes and was really amazing. The stars came out and everything. It was a great time!


I took this picture by holding a pair of the cardboard eclipse glasses over the lense of the camera. It actually worked better than I thought it would. This is leading up to totality. You can see how much light is filtered out by the glasses. The sliver is what we could see of the sun at this point. Without the glasses we couldn't even look at it because it was still too bright!

A picture of totality. Pretty cool! We could view this without the protective glasses on.

Brian and I modeling our eclipse glasses. Don't we look hip!

Erica and Will watching the moon slowly move in front of the sun. You can see how light it was even though the moon was covering the sun halfway at this point!

Free Stuff

When we first came overseas all we did was shop. We needed to buy all the furniture that we would need for living. We also needed to stock our kitchen with dishes, small appliances, bakeware, and other such items. After visiting the local equivalent of Walmart we discovered that we could get free kitchenware when we bought certain products. What a cheap and easy way to stock a kitchen. One of the comfort items that we bought quite a bit of in the beginning was Coca Cola. As we bought Coke we accumulated a collection of Coca Cola brand dishes. We got several glasses, a metal tray, and two large plates and four smaller plates...just perfect for our family of 6. We also tried several local varieties of soda and ended up with quite a collection of glasses from these companies as well. Over the last four years we have gotten several small glass bowls...most often taped to packages of pasta, several ice cream scoops and tall spoons taped to ice cream, a large plastic bowl and platter taped to knorr sauce and cream soup mixes, plastic ladles, spatulas, small cereal bowls, and of course other free food items. The great thing about these free items is that when they break you just have to go buy more food...something we would do anyway. There was a while when I avoided buying all food items that had free stuff taped to it. I was running out of cabinet space! Then I got smart and started giving some of the free stuff away.


Glasses from Fruko (similar to Sprite but more of a bubblegum flavor), Sprite, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Camlica (similar to 7up), and Fanta.

Some of the various free items we bought taped to our food and drinks!

Airport Security

Many of you know that my family was able to come to Turkey to visit us for Christmas. We were really excited to have all of them here and counted down the days for 2 months! When the day finally came for them to arrive Brian, a friend of ours, and I went to the airport to pick them up. We needed two vans because there were 11 people coming plus many pieces of luggage. My family was going to be coming in, going through the visa line, and then going to pick up their luggage. They were allowed two pieces of luggage per passenger plus a carry-on apiece. That makes for a lot of bags! The airport here is not designed to be "passenger pick-up friendly". For security reasons the people waiting to pick up passengers have to wait outside in a covered waiting room. The day that my family arrived was the first big snow of winter. It was freezing in the waiting room. I decided that while I was waiting I would go into the departure area to use the restroom. I had to take off my heavy coat and put it and my purse through the security screening. I walked through the metal detector and it started beeping. I went back out, took off my belt, shoes, watch and emptied my pockets into a container and walked back through the metal detector. It beeped again. I was frisked by a nice security lady who decided the metal button on my jeans wasn't a threat and then I proceeded to gather all of my stuff. After going to the bathroom I went back outside to the waiting room to wait. When I saw that my family's plane had landed I began to watch through the exit only, sliding glass door for them to walk by on their way from the visa line to the luggage pick-up area. This is not an easy thing to do because there are usually 30 other people trying to see through this door as well and to make things more difficult the door is covered with a dark mylar coating to make it shatter proof. This not only makes is hard to break it also makes it very hard to tell who the people are on the other side. There is a small clear circle the size of a salad plate in the middle of the door for your viewing convienence. It doesn't help much. As soon as I saw what appeared to be my family I thought that I would try to go into the airport to help them with their luggage and get them through customs. When someone approached the door from the other side it opened and I slipped in. There was a guard standing there and he wanted to know what I needed. I explained to him that I had 11 guests arriving from America and that they didn't know any Turkish. I pointed to my nieces and nephew and seeing small, cute, light haired, light eyed children he took pity on them and let me go help. After getting 6 large trunks, 14 suitcases plus a boxed Christmas tree we headed over to customs. The customs official looked at our many carts of bags and didn't know what to say. He looked at the picture on the Christmas tree box and asked if there really was a tree in the box. I think at this point he started to sweat. My dad had used those convenient plastic ties to "lock" the trunks so that the lids did not come off during transport but so that they were easily accesible for any inspection that anyone chose to do at any point during the trip. After explaining to the nice customs man that my family had brought a Christmas tree, gifts, special food from America, and the clothing they needed for their trip he said that he would only open one of the many pieces of luggage. He decided to look in one of the trunks, but he needed a knife to be able to cut the plastic tie. He pointed to an office about 30 feet away and told me to go ask the man at the desk for the knife in the top drawer. I was a bit confused but went over to the office he pointed to. The man at the desk said he didn't have a knife so I told him that the man at the customs booth said it was in the top drawer of the desk. He opened the drawer and pulled out a steak knife! Then he handed it to me and I proceeded to walk back through the airport carrying a steak knife. All I could think of was that the waiting room was outside the airport for security reasons. There was mylar coating on the windows for security reasons. There are very sensitive metal detectors at all of the entrances for security reasons. But, they will give me a knife once I am inside...no problem!