Gearing up for Christmas

The week before Christmas was spent celebrating with national friends, participating in a English speaking Christmas service and wrapping gifts to put under the tree.
Our friends Serife and Huseyn and their kids Seyvda and Baki came over for a Christmas breakfast and to decorate cookies. Baki couldn't wait to eat them.
A local church in town hosts a special English speaking Christmas service each year. This year Ryan and I each participated in the service. I sang and Ryan read scripture. It was a beautiful evening and really prepared our hearts to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Uncle B and Aunt Sassy

Brent and Cassie came and spent a week with us before Christmas. We had the best time! We are so thankful that our families endure the long airplane rides and jet lag to come hang out with us. We didn't take a ton of pictures. We were too busy having fun. But here are a few pics from their visit.
An evening out on Istiklal in TaksimMom and Owen cuddling up on the trolley ride. It was a cold night!
Uncle B and Aunt Sassy are responsible for keeping Owen cool! They brought him this awesome robot shirt and a Paul Frank sweatshirt.
Storytime with Uncle B
We love you guys!

Let the Parties Begin

We love Christmas and it's been so fun to share our Christmas traditions with our local friends here and celebrate Jesus' birth. For most of our friends, this is the first time they have really heard about and celebrated Christmas.
Here is a picture of Ryan with his friend from school, Shervin.
We built gingerbread houses with my friend, Aylin, and her family.
Owen and Mira in front of the Christmas tree
Friday night we had a Christmas party with a bunch of other Americans. We ate yummy food, read the Christmas story, had a christmas cookie contest, played Christmas Cranium and did a white elephant gift exchange. And thanks to some friends in America that sent a package full of goodies, we had all kinds of great Christmas decorations to make the party feel more festive.
Our good friend, Hande, came to the party to celebrate with us.
The kids sitting around listening to the story of Jesus' birth. Owen was sitting front and center and participated with enthusiasm.
Saturday morning, our friends came over for breakfast and some more Christmas fun. We decorated Christmas cookies and ate candy canes, yummy!
Here are Gamze's beautiful cookies.

See You Later Party

Our very good friend, Rindy, is moving back to the states in a few weeks. We love her and are going to miss her a ton. We all got together at a great little restaurant outside of town to say goodbye. It was such a fun evening spending time with good friends and remembering our favorite times with Rindy. I'm sure there will be many more fun times with Rindy in our future!
All the girls
Owen hanging out with Anastasia

Baby Shower

I threw a baby shower for my language teacher, Nuray. She is pregnant with her first baby, a boy, and he is due in a few weeks. Baby showers are not common in this culture, so she was very embarrassed at first that we wanted to have a party and buy her gifts for her baby. But she loved it and felt very blessed. She is just so sweet so it ended up being a wonderful morning. And I had fun decorating and cooking for the party.

Owen moments

Here are a few cute moments from Owen in the past few days. He really is a hilarious kid. These are moments I will never forget!

After having a meltdown about blankie going into the washing machine for a bath, I found him cuddled up with my robe on my bed.
This first video is him explaining how to feed animals on a farm in Germany. Sorry the sound isn't great. I really just wanted to capture his enthusiasm and facial expressions while telling a story. Turn up the volume and listen carefully.



I found him in the kitchen today, naked, singing "I have decided to follow Jesus" while banging on a drum. Here's the video.


And if you haven't gotten enough nakedness, here is a final photo. I'm not sure why he was naked so much today. He really is usually wearing clothes.

And a Star on Top

On Saturday we spent the day ringing in the Christmas Season. We started the day by decorating the tree and hanging the stockings while listening to Christmas music. Owen spent the day playing with the nativity scene. Since Saturday, we have read the Christmas story 4 times as Owen moves the characters through the story. When I ended the story the first time with the Wise Men visiting Jesus, Owen told me that that wasn't the end and that they had to move to Egypt because King Herod wanted to kill Jesus. I was excited to see how much he remembered from last Christmas! In the evening we ate gumbo, popped popcorn and watched Babes in Toyland. Just a note: That movie is a lot more enjoyable when you are 3.
We couldn't find a star to buy for the top, so Owen made one and it's perfect!

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving celebrating with friends this year. And thanks to a few packages from America, we had all the fixins, including sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie. Can you believe that one sweet potato is $7 here. Crazy, right!

This year we are thankful for many things. We are thankful for our local friends in our neighborhood who have accepted us and welcomed us into their lives. We are thankful for our families back home who love and support us and for our "family" here who takes care of us and celebrates life with us. Owen is thankful for his friends, his toys and his great school. And we are especially thankful for Jesus!

Church at the Park

We met for church at this great little picnic area outside of the city last week. They had picnic tables, table-side grills already hot and a playground area for the kids. And it was set in the middle of a valley with hills and trees all around. It was great to be out of the city for the day and enjoy God's creation. We had a typical American picnic with hotdogs, chips, fruit and cupcakes. But when they came around and offered us hot tea in glass cups served from a teapot later in the meal, we just couldn't resist this local must-have-at-every-picnic custom.

Owen hanging with his very best buds! I love, love, love this picture!

Kitchen Help

Owen has been spending a lot of time in the kitchen with me lately. Sometimes he cooks with me, but lately he's been working at his own little play kitchen which he moved into the kitchen. He tends to take over my sink at times as well. Since I spend so much time in the kitchen these days, I really enjoy having him in their with me. But he can sure make some messes. Oh for the day when my little kitchen helper makes for less work rather than more.

Eating deviled eggs during E week. This kids loves some hard boiled eggs.

Sliding raisins down a shoehorn into your mouth. Now that's a creative (and stinky) way to eat a snack.