New Years Resolutions

Right now Tim and I are sitting the O'hare airport in Chicago waiting for our international flight to London to board. All of our packing is done, and you should have seen the ticketers in Louisville when we showed up with 8, 50lb suitcases. We actually heard one of them say and I quote, "We won't be able to take anyone else's luggage going to Chicago today!". Anyways, all that said and done, it feels really good to have everything packed in those 8 suitcases for the moment, and also knowing we won't have to see them again till we land in Istanbul. It was really, really hard leaving my mom and dad today, but I just tried to keep telling myself that with the technology we have today I will be able to talk to them alot, almost like we were in the states. Also there is the hope that they might come visit us : )

Okay, for the New Years Resolution part in my blog title (and I am now finishing this on January 16 a little over a week after we arrived). Here are a few of my New Years Resolutions, yes I know it is past New Years, but as you can see by my blog already, I am a bit of a procrastinator : |

1) START BLOGGING!!!!

Yes, I hereby declare on this day of January the 16th 2008 that I Anna Leppert Akin will blog, to the best of my ability (I had to put some kind of disclaimer in there!) . But yes, I really do want to start bloggin a whole lot more, I have so much fun looking at all of my regular blog sites every day and I feel like I need to contribute my part to the whole blogging circle.

2) Take more pictures.

Especially now that we are living in Turkey, I will definately have alot more interesting things to take pictures of. Plus, pictures on blogs are just more fun.

3) Really stay on top of learning the Turkish language.

Sure when you are learning a different language it is fun to learn some of the vocab and phrases like "good morning" and "hello" but alot of times when you get to the hard parts it is easy to get frustated. Tim and I start language learning on February 4th, and we are both kinda nervous. Please pray for us as we begin this process that while we are studying we will see the goal in language learning which is to begin more realtionships with the people that live in Turkey.

4) Learn to cook more from scratch.

This is a resolution that has become extremely evident to me upon my first trip to the grocery store. Turkey doesn't quite have alot of the conviences American grocery stores offer. For example, there are no jars of spaghetti sauce, and no cans of cream of mushroom soup. Which both were kinda staples to alot of recipes back in the states. I also realized how much I do not know how to cook from scratch when one of my friends here just "whipped up" a pan of brownies! Ah well, it is exciting to know that when we leave here in two years I hopefully will be a much better cook.

5) Drink more water

Kinda random, in comparison to the rest of my resolutions so far but I really do want to do this. Plus, I have also this great new water bottle made by Camelbak. I used to have Nalgene water bottles but mine always leaked, and I felt like a little kid always spilling down the front of my shirt. Anyone who has seen me recently knows that this Camelback has been attached to me like a baby and it's sippy cup. Apparently those extreme "outdoorsy" types know this brand well, they make these really cool backpack water systems. I really like that you bite the straw to get water out, somehow it makes it fun, and in the long run I drink alot more water.

Sorry, I really wanted to have a picture of this water bottle but I cant figure out how to copy one!

6) Learn to sew

Sure I can kinda make up sewing on a button but I really want to learn to sew. My sister is so good at sewing and I have always been jealous of the way cute quilts she has made each baby she has had. Plus, it just saves alot of money to do it yourself. Hopefully one day I can get a sewing machine too!

Well, thats all I can think of right now, I promise I will post pictures of our new apartment here in Istanbul. It took us awhile to get our internet up and running. I also promise to be back soon!