Hi, it's me again.

I know I have been missing. I hadn't really felt that guilty about the way I have neglected our blog until recently. Today I was looking at my sisters blog and saw a link to mine in which the most recent post was "3 months!". The fact that Levi is 2 days away from being 5 months reminded me again that I am a terrible blogger. I love looking at other peoples blogs and know I do not do my part to contribute to the blogging world. I feel like I do one of these posts every couple of months in which I try to make excuses for my negligence and this blog is no different. We are tired. Each and every day lately has been packed to the minute it seems. Each night I feel like we are rushing to get Levi bathed and I am scurrying around trying to find something to make for dinner, which recently has been around 8:00. A few weeks ago we started apartment hunting and were blessed to find one that suited all of our needs and we love it! (Pictures later on in this post) In the midst of all of that we have looked, signed and moved in in the course of a few weeks. We have internet now, it took awhile, and I still have some rooms that need to be organized. Pictures of their status will not be shared, but it feels so good to be settled again.

In other news the Stallions added a new member to the football team this past game, # 7, and I have to admit he is really cute in his uniform ; ) None other than Coach Tim Akin helped the Stallions take their first victory with a score of 20-0. He would never tell you but he scored 2 Touchdowns!! We were all so proud of the team, they did awesome! It was a cold day but filled with lots of fun with the small crowd of friends that came to cheer them on. I am so excited to see how they do in the next couple of games. I got some video of the game but unfortunately always forgot to start the camera during the really exciting moments. Sorry Akin brothers.

Levi is still growin, growin, growin. He now can easily roll both ways and loves to put everything in his mouth. We are so proud of him; especially the way he handled the move and all of the places we have taken him lately.

Hopefully it won't be so long before there is another post, but I am not making any promises : /

Levi thinks his Daddy is hilarious

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Some footage of the game. Tim is #7 in the back and has the hand off to #11

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Levi and his girlfriends

3 months

We had our 3 month check up a few weeks ago with no shots! Yeah!! Levi weighed in at 15.9 lbs, our Doctor informed us he is in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. Just this week he woke us up around 2:30 crying and he had rolled over on his back. We quickly got over our grumpiness of waking up at 2:30 am and were very proud of our little man, he is such a big boy! Here are a few recent pics

Lounging in his Boppy and sucking on his hands, a new favorite hobby

Looking a lot like his Daddy


I love that chubby wrist!

Johnny Rockets

Tim and I finally ventured over the the European side and went to a huge mall to eat at Johnny Rockets. I think the mall was at least five stories high, and we both felt like big time foreigners as our jaws dropped and we just stood in the middle gawking at all the stores. Trust me, you would be doing the same if you saw this



Kinda felt like the small town ppl coming to the big city

We enjoyed Johnny Rockets and had a few conclusions,

Burger: Really Good, a lot better than Num Num's, another burger joint that has ridiculous prices

Music: Great, and a ton of fun, a great mix of oldies and we even chose a few with our personal juke box on our table. Levi loved it so much he got up on the table and danced



Atmosphere: Really fun, like you are walking into an old diner, and it was nice to be able to speak English to the waiters.

Milkshake: Average, it was good I think because I hadn't had anything Oreo or Cookies and Cream most of the time we have been in Turkey, but a Steak n' Shake milkshake would have probably won the taste test if I had one next to me.

Drinks: Really Good, they have fountain drinks, which is a huge treat here, and syrups like vanilla and cherry you can add to your drink

Overall, worth the trip and the traffic, we didn't think the prices were to shabby either. We both agreed we would visit again.
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Levi is napping more than hour, thank goodness! Any tips on this or is he just getting to that stage where he is taking an "afternoon nap"?

I should be doing this,


I like the sorting and putting it in the washer part, its the folding and putting away part that I don't like so much. Anyone else have this problem??

A few pics for the Grandparents

I know some of these might all look the same after while, but since they don't get to see him much I have to keep GiGi and Papa, and Lottie and Grandanny updated!



"Mom! Enough with the pictures!"



A little full after eating

He has really discovered his hands this week


Enjoying his Christmas presents

Buds

This is Selah and Levi. Selah loves Levi and Levi doesn't appreciate her enough right now, but we know he is going to love her too. There are a number of reasons why we know these two are going to be great buds in the next couple of months. First of all, we always get to hear how excited she is to see baby Levi and we've heard she prays for him often (what a great friend!). Second, Selah always looks out for Levi's best interest, carefully looking for his binki whenever needed and presenting a toy if he starts to get fussy. And last, how could anyone resist that adorable red hair?! What more could a little guy ask for in a pal? I can't wait to see as Levi becomes more active how much fun these two will have! Thanks for coming to see us Selah!!

One year ago today....

We packed up 8, 50 lb suitcases and my Mom and Dad drove us to the airport to fly to Turkey, our new home, for 2 years.

(A few pictures from the day we left (before the crying)





I remember telling people before we left what we were doing and where we would be living for awhile and them giving me kind of that "Your crazy, but I'm trying to smile and be nice" look. And yes part of me thought we were crazy too, especially as we slowly began our departure into Istanbul and had that feeling of "there's no turning back".

As Tim and I reflect over the past year we are grateful for so many things that Turkey has taught us. We have learned to become more patient, as we are foreigners living in a country, stumbling through language and culture. We have learned how to live in a huge city, and are pretty proud that we are able to get around. We have learned hospitality like we have never seen. Turkish hospitality blows America out of the water. We have learned endurance, not only physically (with a lot of walking) but emotionally. Saying goodbye to friends and family was not easy and definitely being so far away is even harder. We have learned to depend on each other and learned even more how blessed we are to be each other's best friend in a context that is so unfamiliar. We have learned so much more about service to each other and to all of our wonderful friends who have taken care of us here. We have learned a lot more about communication both in Turkish, and our own language.

Yes, living in a foreign country is difficult sometimes, and I'm not going to lie, more than a few times this year I have said, "I want to go home." But slowly without even realizing it, Turkey found a place in our hearts and became more like "home" than we ever could have imagined.

Thank you Turkey for teaching us so much about the world and ourselves. For being such a wonderful host for the past year, for being the place our first baby was born, and for being a place we will never, ever forget.

Our favorite souvenir from Turkey :)

Christmas

Believe it or not I had been working on a post about Christmas for the past couple of weeks and had some great video to show from the football Christmas party we had, but as usual time got away from me. Also, I really wanted to post some video's and I have no idea how to convert our video from our digital camera so everyone else can see it. Any ideas???

Well Christmas has come and gone and it went by way too fast! This year the Akin clan gathered right here in Istanbul for a Turkish Christmas. The festivities kicked off when we picked up Paul, Kari, (who we hadn't seen in a year), and Micah (who we never had met!) on the 22nd with the rest of the family coming in on the 24th. Needless to say, we had a blast! We toured the sites of Istanbul, took a trip to Ephesus, and just enjoyed each other's company. Of course the boys played a lot of Wii, and I think Kari and I would have rivaled their playing time had we realized she like Dr. Mario as much as I do : )

Even more fun this year were the newest additions this year, Micah and Levi. Micah is so precious and we had so much fun watching him with Levi. We can't wait for the years to come as the grow to have more and more fun with each other. Both boys did such a great job considering we just strapped them on and took them all over Turkey! They were troopers!

Levi got some wonderful goodies from the states, and loves them all! I am slowly taking pictures of all his fun new toys and outfits to post. So far he loves his seahorse and Baby Einstein rings from Aunt Heather, Uncle Greg, and his wonderful Spencer cousins. He also loves his rain forest crib attachment from Gi Gi and Papa, it really helps him settle down for his naps, which Tim and I may like it more than he does for that reason. And, Uncle Gregory, he loves your books! I am amazed how much he already focuses on some of them, he loves looking at other babies.

We were sad to see everyone leave last week, and even tried our hardest to get them to stay longer. Tim and I now are super excited about seeing Africa this summer, we can't wait! Thank you Akins for coming to see us, and making this Christmas away from home a lot easier. Love all of you!!

Here are a few pictures from the month of December.

We played White Elephant with the football team and didn't realize it would be such a hit!







Ephesus