My Family Vacation Picture Diary

So, today I came home from a week in Istanbul and 2 weeks with my parents. Yes, I know, if you read my blog at all, you thought your mouse was broken because I have never been this long without updating. I've been a busy girl, and a happy girl. I have lived in Turkey for one year officially yesterday and it was a perfect way to finish the year and start a new one, with family. My parents came bringing smiles, hugs, much love from folks back home (If you sent love and happies this way...THANKYOU! it was WONderful!), and tons of gifts! This year has already been one of transition as I said goodbye to two different kinds of family in the same week. My parents went back to America yesterday along with Jayme and Jared a week before. After a year of living here, they'll be missed just like family and so many things will be different, but I know God will use this as He has everything over the past year to keep refining me. But, it was a great 2 weeks in spite of the goodbyes that I have just learned are inevitable in life, and mean what you allow them to mean, and I have been quickly embraced back here in the village that I call home. Melissa and I have decided to start judging how much Turkish time we have each day by how many glasses of cay (tea) we drink each day and today I've had seven since I got home from the airport, yep, that's 7. I'm not proud, I just can't help it when you have neighbors like mine! They love to cook for us and serve us tea! But we do know that we are loved! It was a nice way to be welcomed back after saying goodbye to my parents in Istanbul. Here are a few pictures from our time together! Enjoy...

Momma and Daddy are showing their pride for Turkey! They fell in love even quicker than I did with my new home!

Momma got used to all the tea real quick! Her and daddy got invited to an impromptu tea party their first night that lasted until almost midnight!

Chris helped us make it to Tarsus and Mersin for their first day in Turkey. Too bad their luggage didn't make it until day 2...and momma had to wear mine and daddy's clothes the first day! She was a good sport!

We spent Christmas day with sweet friends and we're displaying our gifts. Everybody got hats and headbands. Good minds think alike.

I know Daddy felt like he was back in high school helping me drive! But him and momma were very complimentary of my newly acquired stick shift driving skills! They did say that I drove like a Turk though. I'm just adjusting to my culture here...and maybe I was a bit of an aggressive driver in America, maybe.

The night before we left Adana, the neighbors thought they hadn't tried quite enough Turkish food...so they invited themselves over at about 11:00 the night we're packing for Istanbul and promptly began cooking in our kitchen! I'm so glad they did, I think it was the best Turkish midnight snack they had all week!

Here we are in Kapadokya the land of fairy chimneys. It was so incredible. I think this is one of the coolest places I've been in Turkey.

One of my sweetest friends came with us to see Kapadokya for the first time with us. It was so much fun having her with us and she loved getting to meet my parents. Everybody loved meeting my parents. The neighbors called them 'sugar' when telling other neighbors about them. 'They were just like sugar'...

I got to spin my hands at making a bit of pottery while we were there. It didn't end up making anything but a stain on my shirt and something he threw away after I finished the masterpiece, but it was fun!

So...we did actually enjoy some of the history while we were at the Archaeological Museum, but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I guess you could say...

We made lots of friends at the Grand Bazaar every stop we made...Maybe it helped that we needed some trinkets to remember the trip by and we paid handsomely for them, but we did have a friend help us wheel and deal.

The perfect end to our winter holiday, it snowed the last 3 days of my trip up until the minute my plane got held on the runway for an hour! But we loved seeing the snow. It was magical.