We're Back

Thanks to a new afternoon flight, we're feeling well-rested after our trip back home yesterday. In the past, we've had to catch our flight during the middle of the night, so this was a nice change of pace.

Here's a summary of our time away:

Talent Show

We had a week of meetings with coworkers, with fun during the evenings. The last night both Sean and Julie participated in the talent show. I knew that Sean was talented on the guitar, but hadn't realized how much so until several people who know a lot about guitar explained that it takes a great deal of skill to do what he does. Julie sang, and when she finished the MC walked up and said, "What are you, a miniature 25-year-old?"

Scalped. . .

We took advantage of the available health care and scheduled several needed checkups. We still aren't sure if Hannah Grace has eczema or psoriasis, but we're farther along toward a diagnosis than we have been. Randy had a biopsy taken from a spot on his arm, which we should hear about in a week or so. I saw a doctor about a sore that I've had on my scalp for a long time now. The doctor's English was great, until he began explaining the procedure he would need to perform. He said, "You know, it's like. . .it's like. . .uh, what the Indians used to do to people!" Having lived overseas more than a decade, I just laughed. As it turns out, he was partially accurate. He removed a small patch of skin and put in eight stitches, which is a far sight better than the skin graft he warned could be necessary. Still, I have far more insight than I could ever want into just how awful the practice of scalping must have been.

Glasses!!

A picture is worth a thousand words.

The Egyptian Bazaar

This week our major outing was a shopping trip to one of the less ancient parts of Istanbul. The Egyptian Bazaar, also known as the Spice Market, has only been around since the mid 1600s. There is another, larger, bazaar that we chose to skip because the sellers there have a reputation for being especially aggressive.



In addition to spices, there are also nuts, prayer beads, evil eye talismans, hand-painted ceramics, silks, metal work, pipes (those brought back some childhood memories) and plates with scenes from Ali Baba (more childhood memories). We enjoyed some samples of authentic Turkish Delight--my favorite was the pistachio.

We wrapped up our morning with lunch at Burger King. Julie could have skipped almost anything on this trip, but BK was on her "must do" list. The young ladies sitting in the booth behind us were fascinated with Hannah Grace and did everything they could to get her to take a picture with them.

Hannah Grace also provided on board entertainment for the ferry ride back to the Asian side of Istanbul. She sang and danced, and when she realized the other passengers were enjoying it, she was even more enthusiastic.

All of our pictures for this day are courtesy of Kevin. He did a great job of getting some good shots.

Sightseeing on Wednesday

This was one of the most impressive parts of Istanbul for Hannah Grace. She cried when we left the paisley cow to visit the Hagia Sofia, built by the Emporer Justinian 1500 years ago. The only enjoyment she found in the basilica were the lights and the cracks in the marble floors.

The other highlight of Hannah Grace's day was feeding the pigeons in front of Kaiser Wilhelm fountain.



We all enjoyed our ferry ride across the Bosphorous. The older three were on the lookout for jellyfish and it wasn't long before the littlest was excitedly pointing and saying "jewwy fich!" also.

Vacation

We're flying out early Monday morning for almost two weeks of vacation in conjunction with a meeting that Randy has to attend in Istanbul, Turkey. Everybody is excited--Istanbul is probably the most modern city in this region, with lots of American fast food, shopping malls and beautiful parks, not to mention the historical sights dating back to the Byzantine Empire.

Please pray that we'll have a safe trip, plenty of rest and some stress-free time as a family.

Ephesus

We finally got around to putting Kevin's youth retreat pictures on the computer, plus we were blessed with a good internet connection this weekend so I was able to upload them.

The view of the shoreline has unquestionably changed since the day that the elders of the Ephesian church accompanied Paul to his ship at nearby Miletus to bid him farewell on his journey to Rome (Acts 20:17-38).





Some things, however, never change. God has been gracious to keep the sun rising and setting over the water for thousands of years.













Another thing that hasn't changed since Paul and John preached the Gospel in Ephesus is the nature of God, man and the Gospel itself. Sometimes I deceive myself into thinking that it's harder for us than it was for the early church. Unlike the Apostles, the people we are trying to reach have been exposed to Christianity, and it has been mostly negative. Aside from medieval history and the Crusades, they have been taught distortions of Christian doctrine. For example, they think we believe that Jesus was conceived as a result of a physical union between God and Mary.


Whenever I read Paul's letter to the Corinthians, however, I am reminded that things really haven't changed that much after all. "But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles, foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Every generation and every culture presents challenges because the word of the cross will always be a stumbling block to human pride, foolishness to human wisdom.

Please pray that we will live up to Paul's own description of his ministry in 1 Corinthians 2:2-5.

For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Welcome Home, Everybody!

We are finally all in the same country. Randy returned safely from his trip to Virginia and was treated to Plumbing Woes, Parts 2 and 3 soon after arrival. (Yes, the raw sewage has returned. We are hoping to have our landlord step in and pressure our downstairs neighbors to have their pipes cleaned out. Otherwise, this will probably become a weekly occurence.)

Kevin and Sean arrived home Saturday evening from a week-long trip to Turkey. They joined up with over 100 youth from our organization in the Central Asia region for a retreat led by students from Union University in Tennessee. Along with the chance to visit with old and new friends, they enjoyed a hike to Ephesus. Mom is just a tiny bit jealous--I love history and visiting historical sites. Seriously, I'm glad they were given such a unique opportunity to visit the site of one of the early churches.

The boys had a safe trip and learned some new skills, such as getting through immigrations, exchanging money. Above all, they followed the primary mandate: DO NOT LOSE YOUR PASSPORT. They did have a rough time coming back into the country. For some reason, the customs officials had decided to do a complete baggage check on every single passenger. It took them nearly two hours to get through the lines.

Sean arrived home wearing a brand new t-shirt. He was too modest to tell me about it, but Kevin filled me in on the details. There was a talent show one evening, and Sean signed up for it. He borrowed a guitar and played "In Christ Alone", and was picked by the staff as one of the top three contestants. Needless to say, we were quite proud of him, especially since he's only been playing for a few months.

Hannah Grace has been very excited to have all of her guys home again. She was a Daddy's girl for a day or so after Randy came home and followed Sean all over the house, chattering away. We aren't sure what she told him, but it sounded like she was filling him in on everything she did while he was in Turkey.

Please pray that we can have a little bit of "normal" family time before summer arrives and things get really busy with volunteers and student projects.

An Angel in Disguise?

On our return trip to Central Asia, we were delayed due to bad weather. The delays caused us to miss our connection in London. We spent the night in a nearby hotel, courtesy of British Air, and returned to Heathrow first thing the next morning to catch another flight. After standing in one slow line to get our tickets, we were then sent to the check-in line. A young Muslim woman in traditional Sunni dress was checking tickets as passengers took their places at the end of the incredibly long line. Hannah Grace was starting to get fussy and I was really dreading having to stand in line for thirty or forty minutes or more with a crying baby. This young woman took one look at the baby and took us to the front of the line. Of course, we thanked her profusely, and as we chatted for a moment I noticed her nametag. Her last name was one I recognized because it is common in many eastern languages. It means, "angel". I feel sure she was a flesh-and-blood human being, but she certainly lightened our load that day. We were very thankful that God chose to put this particular "angel" in our path.