Merry Christmas from my chicken Allisyn!

House of Humus

First, the bread...

Then we got to choose from egg and humus,

or humus topped with hot olive oil.

But the very best was humus with melted butter!  We will definitely be visiting the House of Humus again soon.

My Nativity

I got this for $2.50 at the Christmas fair.  The can is even painted like Bethlehem.  My favorite is the sheep.  Can anyone figure out what the legs were made from?

10 for creativity

I never knew Jesus could be a little block of wood. :)

Santa's Workshop

Well, we didn't sit on Santa's lap and we didn't tell him what we want so I guess we won't be getting any presents.

Lots of meat!

Some friends from Finland came and took us out to a wonderful lunch.  We are thankful for the Father sending potential partners to us.

Wateremlon Cookies

We served the finished product at our cookie decorating party.

Christmas is coming!

At the request of my niece I sewed a little Santa hat for my chicken and we successfully tied it on her head for about 10 seconds.  She's not quite into the Christmas spirit yet!

A Turkish Thanksgiving

Well here we are celebrating our first Thanksgiving in our new home.  There's green beans and mashed potatoes and salad and bread and carrot sticks and fruit juice.  And then we made a new bread in the oven for dinner.  It was super delicious!

Chicken Selfie

This is Neema, our new chicken.  She is the sweetest thing ever.  She is always following us around and likes to sleep in the sun on our balcony.

This is Ashley, the calm one who is the easiest to catch.  No eggs yet. :(

I'm 30!

Yeah, I do feel old.  But I'm sure that I've got lot's more great years to live for my Lord.

Land of Tolerance

The region that we live in is known to be the place the church, mosque, and synagogue.  There are some churches, but as far as I know the synagogue is closed.  But there is definitely an air of tolerance for all faiths here that you don't find any where else in this country.  Our neighbors often ask, "And how is it with you guys?" as if all faiths and practices are valid in their eyes.  We pray for God to open their eyes to the truth.

Visit from my parents

 My parents were quite worn out after their long trip but we were all excited to open the presents they brought us from America.

 We all went together to visit a new place a few hours away.  We had a great time swimming in the sea and visited the place called "Heaven and Hell" but we actually just visited Heaven.  There's an old church there and a big cave.  It was a pretty walk down to it through the forest.  It started raining and my mom and my friend had to take cover under the arches.

Another day we took a beautiful drive up into the mountains and had tea on a raised platform cushions under the huge pine trees.  It was very relaxing.

Conference

 This was the view from our room.  What a blessing!  Praise the Lord for His goodness to us!
From the speaker, “Jesus didn’t die just to save you from hell but to give you the whole of heaven.”  We want to live each day enjoying all the blessings that Jesus died to give us: joy, freedom, love, unity, purpose, security, abundant life, fullness, and so much more!
We thank you for your prayers for us to stay strong and encouraged in our new home and ministry.

 I love the sea of course!

And here I am drinking hot chocolate in the sea!  I did swim later when the wind died down and it was refreshingly cool!

We had lots of cups of tea by the sea.

And coffee of course!

I love the sea!

We are so thankful that my friend's mom was able to attend the conference as well.

This is the face for carrot jelly.

A sunset at the end of a very wonderful day.

Coffee in Izmir

My friend's childhood friend took us to have coffee and the most delicious strawberry ice drink I've had even in the country!  We had a good visit with her and continue to pray for her salvation.

Another Visit to Swan Park

 We really love this park in Ankara!

The weather was just a beautiful!

 I enjoyed taking these pictures with my new camera that my parents brought to me for an early birthday present.

Washing our Rugs

We had a lot of fun washing our rug with soap and brushes in the hot sun on our balcony.  This is a yearly job that I really enjoy because you get to get wet!

A chicken at breakfast

Ever had chicken for breakfast?  We were holding our new baby chick and she jumped right into the pan and started eating the leftover eggs.  Don't worry, we're not going to cook her!

And this is our newest baby chicken.  She is named after my friend's niece, Neema.

I tried to get Neema and Kailey to be friends but they were not interested and still aren't.

Delicious Food

Here is a traditional food from around here that we like to eat.  You fill up this big metal tray with onions, tomatoes, peppers and chicken pieces and then you take in in your arms down the road to the bread baking place where they cook it in their big wood oven for two dollars.  It's super delicious!

Cheesecake

We have learned how to make a delicious cheesecake!

More Animals

 Our neighbor gave us a new baby chicken!

 I found this little guy in our living room.  I tried to convince my friend that we should let it live in our house because it eats bugs but she didn't want it to so I let it go back outside.

 This is Kailey and Ethan, our new chicken and rooster.

The animals in our new home

 When I saw our new house with a fenced-in yard and a dog house I thought it would be fun to have chickens.  A friend of ours heard that and decided to give me a pair of half-grown chicks that they had.  So these two were named after my nieces-Ashley and Allisyn-and they came with us from Ankara.

One day I came into our living room and there was a pair of sparrows perched on our chandelier.  When they saw me they started flying into the windows trying to get out.  We finally chased them under the bookcase one at a time and caught them and put them in this box.  I gave them some water because they were totally exhausted but every time I opened the box they were completely still like statues.  We let them go of course and I often see sparrows flitting around our house and wonder if it is these ones.