He is a he

Many of you may know by now that we are expecting our 2nd baby around the middle of May. Ever since I got pregnant I had a gut feeling that it was another boy, and sure enough at 12 weeks our doctor made a guess that it was indeed a boy. I have been referring to him as a boy since then. Well, I know everyone says thats too early to tell but at my appointment Wednesday, I was 15 1/2 weeks the doctor did not even have to tell me, it was very obvious it was another baby boy! So "he" is officially a he.

We are so excited for this little guy and are ecstatic that Levi will have a brother to play with so close in age. He has been obsessed with new born babies lately. I was holding a friends new born the other day and he came up and said "Ohhhh". He may just love this baby too much, in that we will have to watch the smothering!

This has been a great pregnancy so far, 16 weeks today! I have felt great and we are blessed to be able to receive an ultrasound at every appointment, it really puts our minds at ease about the baby. I am so excited to back to America in just two weeks, but I will sure miss my doctor here and the care I have received.

In other news we have been quarantined to the house. The boys have had the flu, getting better everyday thank goodness. We only have two weeks before we leave Turkey, it seems like we have a lot to do as each day is flying by with increasing speed. Hope to get a post in every now and then.

Brothers!

We've gotten to live here for 2 years

I went to the Christmas pazaar yesterday, essentially a big craft fair put on for the international women of Istanbul. The pazaar is great but one of my favorite parts was riding the boat to the European side and taking in the beauty of this city. So often we are in such a hurry, racing to get to our destination, bumping into everyone along the way, we forget to take in the amazing view. Our 2 years here have not come without difficulties or homesickness but I must admit a rush of bittersweet memories has rushed over me lately. The people here are so hospitable and we have made many friendships we will never forget. As our time draws to a close I am trusting that the Lord brought us here for a reason and for now he wants us back in America. We will continue to pray for this city and praise him for the time he has given us in this incredible place.

We did have a birthday party for him...

I just haven't blogged about it : /

But we did, about a month ago have a get together with some good friends here to celebrate this big boy's one year. We had a great time and I think Levi was more excited about the other kiddos to play with than gifts. The party did start around 6, and he is usually really happy to be in bed by 7 so he pulled a late nighter and we all had a blast. He wasn't thrilled with the cake, somewhat anti-climatic for a mommy and daddy who wanted him to shove it in his face, oh well! I made a football cake, which I almost thought I would have to give up on because the sides kept falling apart! Luckily my mom gave me a few pointers and with a few first layers of thin, melted icing, I was able to finish off the job. It was so much fun and we look forward to many more birthdays with this precious boy!

Playing with some new goodies!


I put that cake on his face, that is how uninterested he was.

Yes, there are six candles, at the time I thought the traditionally 1 looked really lonely on the very large cake.

I can't believe...

Our baby is 1 today. A year ago today I was in the Acibadem hospital here in Turkey, hopefully resting, but probably anxiously waiting to take my precious bundle home. The labor/delivery went so well and we were so blessed to welcome our little man right around 7 o'clock. My mom was able to be here for the delivery, we still talk about how it was such a precious time to be together. I am pretty sure she fell head over heels in love with Istanbul.

These past 12 months have been such an amazing learning experience for the both of us. Way too many precious moments to count and lots of laughter in between. Levi is above and beyond what we could have ever asked for in a son. He is sweet, kind, very adaptable, and loves people. He also has a great sense of humor. I know that some people probably would say you can't see that in a 1 yr old, but we sure can. We are so excited about all the new things he is learning, he is now cruising/pulling up on things, playing catch, and throwing anything and everything. I have known since I was a little girl that I have wanted to be a mommy but Levi has made that role mean so much more to me than I could have ever imagined. We praise the Lord for a safe and healthy 12 months with him, and pray that he continues to grow and mature into Godly man.

We love you Levi and we are so glad the Lord gave you to us on October 20th, 2008!

Here are some memories of our first year with him, they definitely aren't in great order especially since our computer crashed :( And, is it terrible I am too tired its hard for me to really tell exactly which month is which?

I know we are biased but we sure think he's wonderful!











The picture above is from his birthday party, it was a little late, thus the no smile and binki-in-mouth. I will give more details on that soon!

Love all of you and thank you so much for all of your love and support for Levi and for us this past year!

Are you ready for some football?

We are starting up another football season for the Stallions, and before our opening game we were blessed to have a group of coaches from Virginia come over here and work with the team for a camp. Everyday they practiced and practiced, taking a break for lunch at our house. Levi loved hangin' with all his favorite buddies.


Tim was super pleased with how the camp turned and we were so excited to see the team learn so much from these coaches.

We also got a visit from Southeastern, who brought their basketball team to play some of the local colleges/clubs here.


Levi and I had a great time watching our favorite player.


And, Uncle Nate came to stay since he was also playing for the team. Needless to say Levi loved hanging out with his uncle and followed him all around the house.


Both groups were a lot of fun and I think the football team loved having them here. We are so grateful they traveled all this way.

We finally had the first game last week. It was scheduled for one week and got changed at least 4x! Really frustrating for a coach, and therefore a coach's wife : )

But we finally had it.

Observations:

1. It was hot, beautiful, not a cloud in the sky kind of day, but a little warm

2. I kept telling the coach to put this tough guy in, I don't think he heard me.


3. Football jerseys smell yucky while washing them a week before a game.

4. The coach looked super cute, and very professional.


5. We were so proud of all the players. They played so well and have improved a lot.

6. Referees can be unfair.

7. Do not place large bottles of water around angry coaches.

8. Had SO much fun with all my buddies on the sidelines. Including the Waters girls, Rindy, and Nilgun.

9. We'll get em' next time ; )

Our next game is this weekend, Sunday we think so far....

We will keep you posted!

Maybe we'll have Levi give you a call.

Veggie Lover

I am cherishing a lot of moments these days with this little one. I am especially enjoying the fact that he got excited about a cucumber the other day for an afternoon snack.






And he ate the whole thing...

Summer Recap and a New Critter

Hey there!

Once again its been awhile so I thought I may just do a quick recap of our Summer up to this point. Unfortunately Summer is coming to an end. But I will say we are looking forward to/already enjoying cooler temperatures. We are very proud of ourselves having made it through the hottest parts with no AC. We bought an AC for our last apartment but sold it to the new tenants.

Well by now a lot of you have heard about our vacation to Africa. It was amazing and it was a trip we will never forget. We went to Nairobi to see Paul, Kari, and Micah (Tim's brother, our sister-in-law, and our nephew) and we also got to meet up with Tim's parents! It was so refreshing to spend time with family and we are so blessed to have been able to go.

We have a ton of pics so I'll spare you all ba-jillion of them and just include some favorites.

Some highlights of the trip included

-Spending much needed time with family
-Watching Levi and Micah play together, these boys are already best buds and Micah is too cute!
-Speaking of Micah, getting to watch him dance! That boy has moves!
-Watching Tim and Paul be together
-Going on the Safari, it was surreal almost how beautiful everything was and how close the animals were
-Riding in a Hot Air Balloon! I never thought I would do this!
-Riding in the Safari truck, talking and catching up with everyone
-Kazuri Beads!! Kari talks about this on her blog, these are so pretty and we spent a lot of time in their stores. I have so many cute earrings, bracelets, and necklaces now, the problem is just picking one out each morning!
-Hearing English spoken, and eating more "American" type food
-Shopping at all the great stores in Nairobi
-Enjoying the landscape and people of Kenya, and just enjoying a new country all together
-Going down to the center where Paul and Kari used to work, it was so fun to meet all their friends
-Catching up with some old friends
-Going to the Tea Farm, it was so beautiful!
-Getting to meet Josephine
-Spending time with family, I said that already, but again, it was great, and I thought it should round out the list

We are so grateful that Paul and Kari let us come and so glad Danny and Charlotte could be there too.

















Okay, I know its a lot, but it was so hard to choose, there are too many favorites!!

We also got a visit from Uncle Gregory!! It was so great to see him and we loved taking him around the city. I was also glad that he got some rest from all that backpacking! Thanks so much for taking the time to see us!


The rest of our days have been filled with lots of preparation and practice for the new football season, on Tim's part. Getting some new friends settled in, visiting with local friends whenever we can, and chasing after this new critter!

We have a RAT.....


A Rug Rat that is...

Every time I turn around he is eating our shoes, eating the fuzz from our rug, and trying to play with any electronic device/cord he can get his hands on. I am convinced he has a large fuzz ball from the carpet in his tummy and since I had to wrestle him to try to get some fuzz out of his mouth the other day, with the struggle ending with him swallowing it!

Oh well! I guess thats the stage we are in with this active crawler!

We took some "9 month" really 10 month pictures the other day with a friend. We think he is awful cute!

His face is totally smushed in this picture, and I don't think he knows what to think, its obvious I love my kisses!





Hope to be back soon!!

Beach Bums

We went to the Beach last week with Seyfo and his family to their beach house in Saroz. Tim says it is close to Greece, I'll have to look for myself on a map.

Anyways, it was so wonderful to get out of the city for awhile. Instead of seeing concrete we drove for 3 hrs with this as our scenery.



Saroz was so beautiful. It reminded me of when we used to drive to Kansas to see my sister, with a big body of water next to it. The complex where the beach house was so cute, and quiet. It was so nice to hear the trees moving with the wind, and the birds chirping in the morning.



Seyfo's mom was an incredible hostess. We ate like kings the entire time. We ate almost every meal outside on the balcony, one of my favorite things to do. Every morning we would have Turkish breakfast which consists usually of olives, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, tea, and bread. I have to admit that I think I would choose that over any American breakfast from now on. She is an amazing cook, we were so blessed to be able to spend time with her and Seyfo's aunt. They love Levi and he was never at a loss for someone to hold him and love on him.

We did some of my favorite things while we were there. Of course we went to the beach everyday. The water was so cold but the last day was really hot and it felt great. Levi loved the beach and he had his own personal baby pool which worked out great since he wanted to eat all the rocks on the beach. We also went to an amazing bazaar. I got a cute little dress for about 2 dollars! Yeah! Tim and I also got a good chance to rest and slept any chance we could get when Levi was sleeping. It was so refreshing.










We had a blast getting to know their family better, relaxing, swimming and eating wonderful food. We hope that this is the first trip of many others this summer.