Istanbul...Constantinople

We made it to Istanbul and have stayed two nights. We met another little American girl named Quincy, who was also 7 that Annie enjoyed being really crazy with! If you thought Annie was tall for her age...Quincy is REALLY tall!

we have had two twin beds that we pushed together to all sleep on...the kids slept horizontally on one and we slept on the other...i was on the crack with feet in my face, stomach and legs...nice! but it was cozy and we thought of when we first moved to waco and had to live in a hotel house for 3 weeks and thought how hard that was....but now we can sleep anywhere together and we LOVE being cozy together!

little cafe in the grand bazaar

we loved people watching...all sorts of weirdos out there

we must have walked 200 miles...but the kids did amazing...well jesse got carried a lot...we even walked down to the ocean! it sprinkled on us off and on and felt so cool and great!

discovered a little park to go wild in

ice cream under a grape arbor

family pic in front of the ayasofiya

learning to use the metro in a really big city...it was quite fun!

a familiar store...we didn't actually get to go...but this sign was so cool...it's real furniture up there!

a last parting shot of the city....next stop AMERICA!!

Before leaving Iraq...

no trip is complete without a few incidents right before we leave...including a black eye given to jesse by his brother with a badminton racket...jesse thought it was pretty cool!

here's a great shot of our yard before we left...hopefully we will come home to this greeness too! i love our home!

our first tomato popped up a little while ago

and even a zucchini

our grape vine is over the wall now

our basil is amazing

our wild flowers are even blooming...thanks Mom!

even our cantaloupes are growing...we should come home to a few things still edible. we told our neighbors to eat up though...so we will see! our garden has been an amazing source of joy...some hard work and sweat, even a few tears, but mostly just sheer joy to watch it all bloom and grow. it's completely green now and so beautiful. it has also been lesson after lesson in patience and humility in learning that things here need LOTS and LOTS of water! so many great lessons for us! thank you Lord for your amazing miracles even in our own front yard!

Father's Day

Daddy woke up and got blueberry muffins, coffee and a crown...who could ask for more? Thanks to my friend Vanessa and her amazing blog www.sillyeaglebooks.com, we came up with a great idea of something fun to make for Tim for Father's Day. You can see it on the right...the big "Daddy" and then in small print all around are different things we love about him. this great website that Vanessa recommended did it for us...wordle.net.

Then we got our adventure clothes on and headed out for a drive...one of our favorite things to do and find some of the raw nature we live in.

we found this fun wheat field that reminded us that the harvest is NOW! So we stopped to take a few pics!

this is my new favorite picture of Annie

Toby was a little less thrilled and cooperative with my photo shoot!

Jesse just goofed around and thought he was real funny

much to the children's joy we moved on and found a creek to splash in...

i didn't mean to angle the camera, but i love how this picture turned out.

my explorers

this adventure was way more fun in our new to us car that we bought from Paul and Erin...so much better for the rugged roads our explorations take us on!

Busy, busy, busy...

Our life has actually slowed down a little...in some ways...our schedule has changed and it has been all about transition for the last month as we have helped get people out the door and back to America. Excruciating really...but no "real" work to speak of. So Tim has assumed a lot of projects! He made me this fabulous bookshelf for our homeschool room! i love it! He is amazing! He can seriously make anything!

His other project was watching the kids all day when I got some horrible virus! It actually rained on that day so he played outside in the rain with them! What an amazing Daddy! He also took care of me and emptied my bucket! Now...that's an amazing husband!

don't they look so happy to have their Daddy taking care of them?

Tim has also loved working in the garden...it's actually starting to look like a jungle. i think i planted things to close together...oh well. we'll see which plants are strongest and survive. From right to left, there are carrots and zucchini and tomatoes and basil and cilantro in this picture...however the zucchini is taking over the tomatoes and starting to cover the basil. who knew they got so big?? the melons are next and starting to grow up and over their mound. the cucumbers are trying to climb the sunflowers.

there is eggplant and broccoli even. the lettuce is being eaten and the green onions are good. the dill and radishes are past their prime though. but we did manage to eat them a few times.

Night Out...or In!

Thanks to Bevin, my beautiful hair-dresser and make-up artist that also happens to be a dear friend and live upstairs...I was transformed for a night out to the big city with Tim! I even wore big earrings...but I am still wearing my Teva flip-flops! I can't part with those! (notice the luxurious, green grass in the background!!)

We spent the night at this amazing guest house...which is the best kept secret ever! We thought we would go out, but once we got there and saw the leather couches, wood floors and the whirlpool tub, there was NO reason to go out!

The bedroom was also lavishly decorated

and stocked with a serious amount of sweets

but then we got to the kitchen and we knew we couldn't leave! tostitos? queso? oreos? to the untrained eye, this is just a regular pantry...but we haven't seen these things in over a year and we were seriously hooked!

the guy showing us the place opened the freezer and showed us taco bell burritos...we tried to act all cool...but i kept pinching tim and squealing under my breath! i don't even really like taco bell...but it sounded amazing and WAS for that matter!

so i was all dressed up and done up...only to plop onto the most comfy couches ever to watch a movie and indulge in some seriously yummy snacks! i look pretty happy though!

did i mention the starbucks frappuchinos?

bleary-eyed and happy with a cup of starbucks in the morning! it seriously can't get much better for me! But it did, because part of the guest house is also a homeschool library and we were able to check out a bunch of curriculum for next year that will save us hundreds of dollars!! We were happily sitting on the floor together pouring through all the books our kids will learn from next year! Our kids had a great time with Paul and Erin! Thanks guys for letting us have a great time out!

The Final Days!

In our last days as a big team, we have had a lot of things to do to wrap up here! Including moving our office and seriously trimming down on the amount of stuff we have accumulated. Some of it is sensitive material...like these old VHS tapes. So...what to do? Have a big bonfire? too dangerous! Scratch out the names on the tapes? no...too obvious. How about throw them at the cement wall...

or smash them with hammers! YES!! it ended up being a fun time had by all and a HUGE mess to sweep up afterwards!

also our final prayer time together was a sweet time of blessing our stinters that have been with us all year! We are so thankful for all they accomplished this year and for their influence in our lives! We will miss them dearly!

Ridin' the Rapids!

Bright and early this morning we loaded up the cars and trucks with the river rafting equipment and headed for the river as a last hoorah for all of the people that are leaving our team!

the day started off like this for Jesse...a little sunscreen in the eye turned into a total meltdown...that was rough, but he managed to get it together and have a great day, especially once he discovered all the bugs that he needed to smash!

this little guy serenaded us all day...we think he must be a relative of the tadpole we tried to raise who came to an unfortunate end in the middle of his metamorphosis...but i don't want to talk about that...it's still a little painful!

the kids tried to catch him, but fortunately for me...we do not have a pet frog!

the rafters headed down the very full river after an hour or so...in boat #1 Carol, Rizgar and Bobby pulled in first!

Boat #2 was Elijah, Laura and Paul

and pulling up the caboose was Josh, Wendy and Bevin!

we found out one of the boats had flipped over and set its occupants to the rocks, scraping up a few knees!

Elijah took it pretty hard...fortunately the amazing Tilmans came to the rescue once again with their first aid skills! Seriously do not leave home without the Tilmans!

Rizgar and Jesse playing instead of eating!

We got our turn later on to take the rafts down the river a mile or two. So we suited up, posed for a picture and....

had to really talk annie into coming...Jesse bailed immediately...

and Annie made it on the boat the first time...she was not a happy rafter....

so due to much screaming and gnashing of teeth had to be dropped off early!

i am happy to report she still loves the water though and is happier on her own two feet.

we found a long bamboo pole and it became a fishing pole

and then a bow....thanks to the amazing Tilmans! they are so resourceful! Toby is learning some serious skills from Bobby!

Mr. Josh helped Toby build this cool boat from all the trash along the riverbank. Toby played with it the rest of the time! He brought it home as well and said it should go on top of his wardrobe!

Jesse discovered all the bugs and captured a green grasshopper named "Calvin" that got a little too loved on and met the same doom as the tadpole did a few weeks ago...boys!

Annie made use of the trash as well and had Rizgar and Laura help her craft a message in a bottle in Kurdish to send down the river...it reads, "My name is Annie and I love Jesus. So should you!"

The bottle about to start it's maiden voyage...i really wonder if someone won't pick it up and read it!

The water in the river is freezing cold. Like hurts your skin it's so cold. So the fact that I am out in the water is no small feat! but once you are in it for more than 5 minutes i discovered, you lose all sense of feeling, so it's no big deal!

one last parting shot with Laura...we will love you friend and miss you dearly! Thanks for being you!

after an all out fit with the sunscreen, killing at least 100 bugs, screaming about the raft and cold water...a guy has to sing himself to sleep while leaning forward on the back seat...song of choice..."aloha-oy" from Lilo and Stitch! He was out cold! What a great day!