March Happenings

 It's spring here which means it is GLORIOUS! Every year during this time I am amazed and so thankful that I get to live here! This season gets me through the drier seasons of life here! 

 On a clear day we can see all the way to the mountains that border Iraq into Iran in one direction and Turkey in the other direction!

 This is the big mountain outside our new city! Looks like something we need to explore soon!

 The Kurdish flag waves proud and strong in this new city!

 As you can see some of the new high rise buildings and the big streets that lead into the city, this is going to be a HUGE change for us from our quiet, little town. However, we are excited to welcome some of those changes and determined to push through the harder ones.

 We recently stepped outside our box and hosted a couple of short term trips.  The first team was a group of 5 people that prayed (no pics of them). They covered 4 cities in a few days. They were an awesome group! The second team was a group of medical people. There were 9 people on this team. They worked at a local center that had medical capacity. There were many people that came for help. They were a hard-working group that saw hundreds of patients over a few days. They have a heart for this land and it was exciting to see the ways in which God touched their lives too.

We had a doctor,  a dentist, a nurse practitioner and 3 nurses. There were also several assistants and pray-ers.

Dr. Clay is a pediatric dentist and was so careful and precise in all his work. Joyce came along to assist him and learned a lot of new skills quickly. I got to help translate for him one day. I learned some new vocabulary words and saw a lot of teeth pulled. OUCH!

Tim organized the masses of people. He had the hardest job of keeping people in line and having to turn people away at the end of the day.

Dr. Clay got to work with another local dentist. It was fun to see them interact.

Cherie took great care of all her patients as she directed them to the right doctor.

Amanda always had a smile and a gentle touch.

Jen was so kind and compassionate to each person. The Kurds are not used to hands-on care.

Laurie, our nurse practitioner, saw so many people. She was so much fun and was always able to bring a laugh and a smile. Her heart was broken for this people as she saw that even with all her skills they still need a higher saving power than she could ever give.

Dr. Allen was meticulous and precise in his work. He offered truth and lots of education to each patient. He has a big heart that truly went out to each patient.

 Here's the whole group along with staff at the center we worked at. What a whirlwind 3 days with hundreds of people loved. We don't know what God will do with all their work, but we know it was a sweet offering on this team's part. We are so thankful to Ben and Molly for opening the center and letting us see a new side to work here.

 For Nawroz we went to a village area called Geely. It was so beautiful!

 There were white and purple poppies everywhere!

 Some of us were happier than others to be all dressed up!

 We went on a picnic with our neighbors, Umed and Fairos. All of his family, his brothers and his father and their families were there!

 This is such a beautiful picture with all the colors of dress, their beautiful hair and all surrounding the sweet grandpa who has earned his place as head of the family. He calmly surveyed his family with his cane in his hand all day long. 

 The kids were so excited to dress up but were ready to change, play and get dirty about 30 minutes into the day!

 A decent family picture! Hooray for us!

 Everyone eats dolma on this day! Rice and meat with tomato paste and dill and other seasonings rolled in leaves and stuffed in vegetables and finally boiled in a giant pot!

 We watched as the whole family pitched in to help set up the meal. This is a huge change. Five years ago the men only sat and watched. This year we watched everyone chip in and do their part. The men even helped clean up and went around picking up trash in the surrounding area too! We were amazed by this change. I commented on it to Fairos and she just looked at me and said, "of course, this is just how we are." I thought that was funny to not remember that her husband spent most of their married life sitting on his butt, but then again sometimes we don't like to remember or reflect on our past, especially when it's painful. We are believing this is only the beginning of more changes for them and deeper ones too. It was really special that we got to see these things come about.

 Tea glasses a quarter of the way full of sugar...that probably won't change!

 Love this sweet scene of girls swinging together!

 I love that hospitality runs deep in the veins of the Kurds. They love to serve and they are deeply offended if you refuse. They consider it an honor taken from them. Fairos is a beautiful and patient servant. She is quick to laugh and makes amazing tea.

 These hands have worked hard!

 Another favorite scene was watching the girls collect and make endless bouquets of poppies.

 This was a new one. Everyone brings whatever vehicle they have to the picnic. Someone brought a truck with a crane on it. So they attached some rope and it became a swing. It was hilarious to me to see an Arab swinging with the Kurds. I hope that means there is healing between the people groups.

 Also they love to tempt fate and do crazy things like hang high in the sky.

 Our picnic spot had a river rushing through the valley. The kids had a blast playing in it.

 Apparently it's socially acceptable to picnic in the ancient grave yard. Kind of creepy to me.

 Even the women started swinging. There is nothing quite like a long tree swing to make you feel completely FREE. May freedom ring in their hearts!

 We hopped around a bit and met up with other friends later in the day! This location had lots of pine trees. We felt like were camping!

 My beautiful friend Shabnam and her husband Raybaz. They have lived abroad and it's so much fun to be with them as our hearts can connect on different levels. 

The kids played hard all day long. I wish I had a picture of their feet. Let's just say they needed a bath big time! But they were happy and sunburned and slept really well!