Turkey Day1

So finally I am sitting down to blog about my Turkey experience. The next days will all be journal entries from my time there. Some days I missed because of travel or exhaustion. I can only pray that as you read through my thoughts, you will in some way be touched by the unbelievable experience we had.

DAY 1

The first thing that comes to mind today is EXHAUSTION!!!! We started our journey at 2pm yesterday. Drove to the airport and boarded an 8pm flight to Munich, Germany. Landed in Munich around 4am only to turn and change planes to head for Ankara. We finally landed in Ankara around 8am. There we met our new friends. A wonderful couple that our church has privilege of supporting. We rode to the hotel with Nabby (as I will affectionately call them) but the girls were in her car the guys were in his. I guess "when in Rome...." (or Turkey) The afternoon has been spent getting to the place we will spend the week and settling in a bit.

This was the view from our window!!

So was this :-)

Thoughts from Day1~
* Beautiful Country
*Turkish people like their Tea and Cigarettes
*There are Mosques on every corner it seems.
*The team I am with....WOW!! They are the weirdest people ever. Kidding....they are definitely the funniest.
*I MISS my kids soooooo much.
*I wish the my Big girls could have come. (maybe next time)
*Pray Hard!!

After a very long day it is 9:45pm Turkey time (2:45pm est) and I can't hold my head up. Good night!

Funnies from Turkey

Here are some videos that were made in Turkey. I am blogging these because they have been requested. :-) I have some serious ones too...... but for now I will just do the funnies.

Home

WHEW! It has been a crazy couple of weeks.
Tons of driving, Tons of Flying, Tons of memories!

I am still trying to pull it all together since the trip to Turkey. Jet lag is brutal. I am also trying to digest everything that went on while we were there. The good thing is that I journaled the entire time. So over the next days I will be blogging my journal. :-)

I definitely have come away from Turkey with some HUGE emotions. I am in such awe of the Christians in the country. They are loyal, loving, passionate, warm, and so much more. In a country that is cold, dark, hopeless, and blind. They plant seeds of hope and love in a ground without water. Their determination and drive can only be powered by a loving God who wants to see Turkey turn back to Him.

To our friends in the beautiful land of Turkey:

Thank you! For loving a country with the love of Christ. And for teaching us to do the same.

God,

We pray your protection on our friends. Please hold them close. May they feel your loving arms around them when they are scared, tired, lonely, or hurting. God, please carry their burdens in a way that can only point to you. Thank you for allowing us these new friendships. I pray that you will bless our relationships. I pray that we will be allowed to be our brother's keeper. And for Turkey.... God send your rain. As the seeds are being planted God allow the Turkish people to thirst for no one but you. May they find life in You the Living Water. God raise up workers for the harvest! Because we know it is coming. And we thank you for that day. Give us peace that your timing is perfect. Thank you for your love and for the many ways that you show it.

Drive Time

Yesterday I drove half way to Georgia to hand the kiddos off to my brother. 5 hours down there with screaming, excited kids. 5 hours back with silence (well actually I listened to talk radio for about 2 hours :-) Strangely, I love the quiet time. It became a time to think and get prepared for us to leave for Turkey.

As I drove down the road listening to MY music my favorite song came on Hope Now. I have listened to this song a million times, but yesterday I heard it differently. The first lines of the song are:

If everything comes down to love,
then what am I afraid of.

That was it. Those words have forever changed me.

If I truly believe that God loves me and I truly believe that He is in control of everything, then what the heck do I have to fear? There was the huge release of anxiety and fear as I thought through this.

I let go of my fears and focused on the simple idea of God loving me (us). Through death, pain, joy, and gladness...He loves me. And no matter what could happen or one day will happen, His love does not change.

If everything comes down to love
Then just what am I afraid of
When I call out Your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I'm Yours
I'm not my own
I've been carried by You
All my life.


Thank you Jesus, for giving us hope in a hopeless world. Thank you for giving me the time yesterday to remember that I am yours. Thank you for awaking my soul and for carrying my burdens. I pray for your protection on us as we travel today. Help us to carry your love to a part of the world that is so dark. Thank you for loving away our fears and for giving purpose to life. I pray for protection on the families that we all leave here in the states. I pray that they feel you hands holding them tight and comforting them as we are away. Thank you for the breath of life you have given us today and the opportunity to live the adventure you created.

48 hours

SO in less than 48 hours we will be on a plane to Turkey. My children will be safely tucked away at my brothers house, my hubby will be safely tucked away beside me on a plane, and I will be............... a basket case. :-O

Just kidding....kind of.

Well, the truth is... I am already a basket case. Trying with each step to hold it together. As I packed our van tonight with all of the kids suitcases I had to fight back the tears. Telling my self ,"Focus, hold it together, there is too much to do, don't loose it now, you can do it!"

My mommy heart is heavy. Heavy because I can't stand being away from my kids. Heavy because each moment that I miss is a moment that is gone forever. Each silly joke that Barron tells, each infectious smile the Peyton shares, each smirk that Shelby tries not show, and each laugh that Baily warms us with, means something to me. And to miss any of those is hard.

But...

My ministry heart is SO Excited!!! Excited to step out on an adventure that has been placed in front of us by a gracious God. An opportunity to pour out ourselves and serve a group of people who are on the front lines in Turkey. A group of Christians in a country with over 70 million people and 99% of them are Muslim.

I know that God had given me excitement for the trip,so that I will allow Him to carry the burdens I have for my children.

Prayers as we go:

Pray for safe travel.
Pray for safety while we are there.
Pray for our health.
Pray for our time there, that it will be fruitful.
Pray that we will be able to give 100% of ourselves in service to these people who live 100% of their lives in service to our God.
Pray for our energy (especially around Thursday, b/c I am sure we will be wearing down by then.)
Pray that the Starbucks has white mocha :-)
Pray that my heart will be comforted as I leave my babies. (all 4 of them)


I don't think I can blog while I am there, but if I can I will. Other wise I will be journaling, so that I can blog it all when I come back. Thank you all for all of your prayers and support.


Much Love!
Thank you all for your support.

Vacation 2009

Ahhh! Fitting the my 200th post would be of vacation. We had the great opportunity to go to Myrtle Beach with some best friends of ours. We-meaning me and the kiddos. Hubby had to stay behind and work. We had a CRAZY week, which included 7 wild kids, to insane moms, 2 fully loaded mini-vans, benedryl, mello-yello, perfect weather, the police, my favorite restaurant (PF CHANGS) and too many laughs to count.

It was a great week!!!

Here are some pictures from the week.

Team Gumby

Introducing "Team Turkey" (aka Team Gumby)

8 days and counting. Please be in prayer for our safe travels and to stay healthy. We will be gone for over a week. Many of us will be leaving children/families behind in the states, so please pray for that. This will be the longest I have ever been away from my kiddos, I know it will be very hard.

I am not going to fight to blog while we are there but I am going to journal. That way I can blog about the trip when we come home. My emotions are all over the place right now. Partly because I JUST got home from the beach last night. ( i will post pictures soon. ) Last time I tried to do anything like this.... I discovered that God had other plans. So this time I am taking small steps into my excitement. Trusting that God will place me exactly where he wants me.

In the mean time, please pray for us all. I wanted to give you pictures of our team so that you would know exactly who to pray for.

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This team is a BLAST!!! We have already had many laughs together. I can't wait to travel with them. Thank you for all the prayers and support that many of you have sent out for us.

Much love!