Eggs, chocolate, and money

Well, today mainly consisted of taking care of the boys, visiting our neighbors, and talking to the man who works at the green grocer's shop next door. I think I am over jet lag, but I really haven't had a chance to find out since the boys are still getting up early and are waking us up to feed them! I hope they will get over it soon. It is amazing how much time it takes to care for the boys. At times I get annoyed that I don't have time to do all the things I want to do, but at the same time I wouldn't trade spending time with the boys for the world! They have really developed just over the past few days. They have been laughing and smiling a lot more and have started to enjoy playing with some of their toys. It is so funny to watch them! We decided to give them a bath today and then take them over to visit our neighbors, Ayse and Haluk. They just loved seeing the boys. We dressed them in the cardigans that Ayse had made for them. It is a good thing we washed them since Ayse made a point of smelling them and talking about how fresh they smelled. (Before the bath they smelled like hair oil and spit-up!) Before we left she gave both of the boys presents of a raw egg, Hershey's kisses, and a 1 lira coin. She said it was a tradition to give these symbolic gifts when a new baby visits a house. Elizabeth then started making a sausage and lentil soup and I went over to the green grocer's store to buy some ingredients and talk to the grocer there to practice my Turkish. My Turkish is a little rusty, but we had a really good conversation about the economy, the mayor of Ankara, and fruit. He wants me to start teaching his daughter English. Please pray with me that this will be a way to get to know him and his family better and be a better witness to them. After writing this blog I need to start working on preparing a message for Sunday! Have a great week!

A New Start

That's what the new year is all about, isn't it? - a new start. Well, that is certainly what this blog needs. I started it over a year ago but never got past the first blog. I hope this year will be better. What is the purpose of a blog? I guess for me it is to share personal events and thoughts that will hopefully be of interest to all of my friends back in the states. With the birth of Nathan and Noah there are more things to write about (but also less time for writing!) Unfortunately, I haven't been so good at sending out e-mail updates, mainly because it takes so much time to make it look "perfect," (I guess I am somewhat of a perfectionist.) and Facebook can sometimes swallow up hours of time. I will continue to try to stay connected through e-mail and Facebook, but I hope to continue adding to this blog to make it a sort of journal of our experiences. I hope it will help you to better understand what we are doing and perhaps be used of the Lord to encourage you!