fun times with the kiddos.

Feeding the neighbor's chickens. (distraction technique as her parents leave, haha)

Ella's with Erol, one of the staff of the house with whom I have learned to exchange information without words since he only speaks Turkish :) He's a super super nice guy (He's one of those people you can tell is super nice just by his face, don't you think?)

Ella being a traffic police. She's wearing her favorite dress from her anneanne (Turkish word for grandmother). Also, she has a bad boo-boo on her arm... boo-boos are common for these two kids, real or imagined.

Yep.

We helped Erol unshell beans in the kitchen. I think he thought it funny to have me help with this... I wanted to tell him I'm a farmer's daughter but Ella didn't know how to say that in Turkish. haha

Sometimes, you just let the kids decorate the lawn with stones. Entertainment is entertainment, no matter the quality.

I think this is my first picture of Denis. He is 1, a chunk and an irresistible bundle of love. I mean, just look at him. He is so sweet, he loves to hug me and make silly faces at each other. A Turkish nanny is his primary caregiver, but we all play together often in the afternoons.

Denis and Ella love to dance. At the park often the Turkish nanny gives Denis her phone and plays the same song... I have no clue what it is but it's a bunch of men singing loudly in Turkish and sounds like it would be patriotic or from a war movie soundtrack or something. Anyway, Denis is dancing, waving his arm in the air.

The park is tiny and dirty and not very nice, but it doesn't matter one bit to these two! They spend hours there.

This week I actually worked Sunday through today, Friday. Individual days sometimes felt very long, but overall it went quickly. I definitely had my frustrated moments, and my joy-filled moments :) I am very much growing to love these kids more and more deeply, and the staff as well! I cannot believe how quickly my time is going. This coming week I will work Monday-Friday, then on Saturday we will be leaving for Bodrum, which is a really popular vacationing spot on the southern coast of Turkey. There I will be staying on a yacht with the grandparents while my host mom and the kids will be in a hotel. I'm guessing we'll be at the beach every day and going out to nice restaurants, etc... I'm pretty excited as you might guess :)

I have had very little interaction with my host mom and grandparents lately, because they have now begun Ramadan. This is an Islamic month during which some Muslims choose to fast (no food or water) from sunrise to sunset, then they have a meal at like 8:45PM and another at like 3AM. Ramadan moves forward by 10 days each year, so it is not always in the summer, but this year it is in the most difficult range of dates since the days are longest. My host mom and grandmother sleep very late, and then I do not eat the evening meal with them because it's so late, so I have hardly been seeing them. I am amazed though at Erol and especially the Turkish nanny, because they are also doing Ramadan and fasting all day, yet continue their work here in the house. I am constantly feeling badly when the Turkish nanny is picking up or chasing Denis around, etc. because I know she must be very tired and depleted! But my host grandmother has also told me that the first few days are very difficult, but then your body gets used to it and it is not bad. Along with fasting, individuals often try to read the whole Koran during Ramadan, and they take part in the 5 daily prayers. There may also be more to it, but this is as much as my host grandmother has explained to me.

Considering their discipline in this way reminds me to consider the value of fasting as Christians. I think it is a discipline most of us practice very little if at all, yet it is talked about SO much in scripture. We do not like to be uncomfortable; we do not like sacrifice. But how would the Lord move if we as Christians set aside a month for fasting and prayer?

Tomorrow I am taking a day off to go out and explore the city some more. :) Then Sunday I get to return to the Hope International Church I attended two weeks ago! (I couldn't attend last Sunday because the family had just returned from their vacation.) I am really, really excited for more fellowship and worship with other believers.

Please continue to pray for me to be completely filled and overflowing with Christ's love and all the fruits of the Spirit for each person I interact with to see. Today for the first time I taught Ella a song that had Christian themes... "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot". Of course I felt this was acceptable because it is a spiritual, a song slaves sang. Ella asked what a spiritual was, so I told her slaves sang them, but Ella did not know what slaves were so I explained. Then I told her they are singing about how they want a chariot to come and take them home to heaven, because their lives here on earth were so bad. She asked me what heaven was.

I am Christ's representative in a place where he otherwise is not known. I want so badly to represent him well and to share the hope that I have in him.