Opening Presents

 We got to skype with my parents so they could watch us open some of the stuff they sent.

He loves Skittles!

 And Minecraft.

 And this was just a cool shirt and hat that my mom sent.

 I asked for books, and she sent this great one about women from the Bible.  I'm really enjoying it and the stories stick in you mind and I've be read to read more about these women in the Word.  Like, did you know that Boaz's (who married the foreigner Ruth) mother was the prostitute Rahab who hid the spies Joshua sent?  And then she chose to live with the Israelites after that.  I had never made that connection that probably Boaz's mother being a foreigner grafted into Israel had something to do with his acceptance of Ruth.  And all these people are a part of God's story of grace that brings Jesus to us!

 I love getting presents!

 My mom sent socks of course!

 And my friend bought me delicious Oreo chocolate which is truly a treat here.  I'm still hiding it in my closet for a rainy day.

 To remind her of the squirrels in Oregon.

 We love shiny things!

On the first day of Christmas...

Not a partridge, but pigeons!

 Doesn't he make a nice decoration.

And I love this one with Jesus, Santa, and the pigeon.  Yes, this is Christmas at our house.

3rd Annual Christmas Cookie Decorating Party

 Yes, we've made this an official tradition to be carried on every year!

 It says Merry Christmas and the inside is green and red cake with pudding in the middle.

 Some of our best works!

Victory Hill

My dad got to come with us as well to help pass out backpacks to these kids.  They were all definitely pretty excited!

Birthday Party

Yes we are getting old!  But never too old to have a party with a fun cake made by my friend and decorated by me!

The table is ready for our guests.

Can you guess how old I am?  That's last year's 28 candles with one more extra!

So thankful to have these wonderful friends with me for the special celebration.

Many people wrote me words of encouragement and blessed me with thoughtful gifts.

And then we got to speak with a good friend over skype who lives in Florida.

The kids had fun too.

And after it was all over we were all quite happy and worn out.

Lunch with a friend

We are thankful for the wonderful hospitality that our lawyer friend always shows to us whenever we visit her.  We pray for healing for her eyes.

End of Summer Fun

Well I know that summer has been over for quite a while but I wanted to share these pictures with you all.  We went to visit our duck again and her new owners has bought her five babies to look after.  It was so cute to see them following after her in a line and eating whenever she ate.

I don't know how many of you know these guys but they are Dupont and Dupond (in Turkish) who are funny characters in the TinTin books that I used to read when I was a kid.  I've read several here in Turkish too and they are just as fun.

And a fun day at the mall wouldn't be complete without a delicious waffle with chocolate sauce, fruit, and whip cream on top.  But now we have our own waffle machine at home, thanks so my mom's early birthday present, so we can enjoy this wonderfulness more often!

Getting ready for winter by preparing green beans to be cooked, bagged and frozen for quick and easy meals.  We also prepared tomatoes in jars, green peppers and fried eggplant.