Friends, food and fellowship

We have learned to try lots of new foods since we have been here expanding our pallets.  I have a new favorite!  There are VERY few cereal choices (like we eat cheerios and that's about it) and of course no pork because it is a M*slim city which means no bacon or sausage poo!  So we have had to expand our breakfast options.  The locals eat yogurt almost every meal.  I found a wonderful chocolate and banana granola at one grocery store that I mix with yogurt and honey...it is soooo good I crave it!

Karis and her neighborhood buddies...

This sweet little girl lives in our apartment complex and is in Karis' class.  Almost every time she sees me and Karis, she says, "You are beautiful.  I love you.  You are beautiful.  I love you."  I think it is the only thing she knows how to say in English ha!

This is one of Karis' best friends.  She sits by her in class and lives in our neighborhood.  She is a beautiful girl!!!

Also the girl on the left is in Karis class and neighborhood too.  She comes over almost on a daily basis.

We stumbled upon this yarn store in walking distance and we have gone back several times.  Karis is my little crafter and the stuff there is really cheap so she has bought lots of ribbon and yarn for her and her little friends to play with.

Exploring a new restaurant...

I will give thanks to the Lord among the peoples;

I will sing praises to you among the nations.  

For your steadfast love is great to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the clouds.  

BE EXALTED O GOD IN A CITY WHERE FEW KNOW YOU!

Walking my boy to school (daily occurence at noon)...

I love getting special time with Lu throughout the day.  Next year she will go to local school!

Our neighbor friends came over one night for chai....

This is their older sister (age 12) Ezra...

Me and my friend Hafize...this woman makes me laugh constantly!

Lucy is my little helper in the kitchen.  Since I have to make most things from scratch here, I spend LOTS of time in the kitchen.

My first apple pie from scratch...wasn't the prettiest but it was delicious!

My kitchen looks like this most of the time...

Keepin' it real...a hot fudge cake I made that was a disaster.  It tasted good but I won't be sending this one to the neighbors ha!

Love this man!

Playground time with my Lu!

Local doner...about $1/sandwich.  It is Jay's new favorite lunch food.

This is our bus system but usually it is so crowded you can't even sit down nor breathe!

So we found out this is how you move out of a high rise apartment.  They don't want you using the elevators so they bring in these contraptions...

 Last week we went to our local pazaar and it was the ultimate farmers market.  And stuff here is so cheap!!!

 A little playground time before school one day....

 A little neighbor love!

This is my first local food that I made...borek!  One side had cheese and herbs and then other had sauteed potatoes and onions...delicious!  My language teacher Gul stayed one day and taught us how to make it!

  I am embracing my inner junior high making bracelets with Karis!

Two of our friends have birds and the kids love it.  

THIS is an after dinner snack/chai with neighbors...they go all out seriously.  Their hospitality puts Americans to shame!

Love my new spice jars!  We can't get alot of American spices but some we brought with us and some are local.  

 When I think of the detail of God's creation and how big it really is, seriously it is mind-blogging that He cares about the details of our lives.

 Goofy kiddos....

Thanks for hangin' with us and our crazy adventures!

Day out on the town...

We truly enjoy days when we can get out on the town and see our new city!  Although sometimes it is overwhelming and a constant reminder of the lostness of our city and the lack of language we have, we enjoy exploring and pushing ourselves past our comfort zones.  Not to mention we live in a really cool city!

This is the bus stop around the corner from our apartment complex where we walk to anytime we catch the bus.  We wait anywhere from 1-20 minutes usually for our bus. 

There are alot of street vendors especially downtown (and most of them sell the exact same things)...

This is a typical doner shop where you can get a lamb or chicken sandwich for about a dollar...they are Jay's new favorite!

There is a really cool park/hill in our city that we love to frequent when we go downtown.

This photo is from the "hill" and you can see just about every form of public transportation we have...metro tram, city buses, cars and private domish.

A famous mosque for tourists downtown...

A really cool tree (and some pretty cute girls too!)...

 I was taking a pic of the girls and this boy jumped in and smiled and then wanted money...no thanks.

Love these two!  Brayden was in school this day which is why he wasn't in any of the pics.

Our city has beautiful flowers...I can't wait until Spring so I can show you all!

This sweet girl is usually my bus buddy!

Lucy's date with daddy

We try to spend one-on-one time with our kids occasionally because we feel like it makes them feel special and it is memories none of us will ever forget.  Living overseas with lack of family around constantly, we feel it necessary especially here.  Today was Lucy's date with daddy!  She dressed up in her pretty pink sweater, curled her hair (well I did) and I even let her put on a little makeup to look pretty for daddy (lip gloss and blush) and she was twirling in excitement anticipating what daddy had planned for her!

On the elevator daddy took this.  She was a little excited about her date!

Daddy took her to the local store where she had been eyeing this tea set and bought it for her.  Then he brought her home to have a very girly, classy tea party.  AND she told me she got to put LOTS of sugar in her tea (which mommy doesn't let her do!) and then they spent special time at home just the two of them.  She was beaming by the time we got home.  She has had a special bond with dad ever since...amazing what special time will do especially between dads and daughters!