Village Fun!!

I had the great opportunity to go visit some friends and see Antioch and Tarsus. It was so much fun and I loved it all. Life here has been pretty crazy lately but my good friend C-love has posted about our trip. If you would like to read and see some pictures of my trip, just click on his link. Thanks Chris for blogging for me.
Oh and when he refers to the Yeti, thats me. :)

Prayer and Vonage Spot

This is a view from my room that is special to me. I know this is random, but this chair is where I sit a lot of the times when I pray. I have a great view of part of the city, and I love to look out and watch the sunset while talking to my Savior, and the Creator of the beautiful sunset. Part of my life has been changed by sitting in this very spot. He is so good to me, and I am blessed to have a place that I love to sit and enjoy.
It is also the place that I sit when I'm talking to people on my vonage phone. So, those of you that I have talked to on the phone, I was probably looking at a sunset like this one. That is the view I see.

Ode to the Palm Tree

This is my beautiful palm tree, yes it does have Christmas lights on it.
Awhile back I was having a hard day, and my good friend Brandon suddenly was standing next to me with this palm tree smiling. He got it for me to remind me of home. (Brandon and I are both from Cali) It made me laugh and I automatically felt better. I have to say that every single time I see it, it makes me smile. I absolutely love it. Especially now with the lights on it. So now it is sitting in my living room, until I put my Christmas tree up, then it will move to my room for me to enjoy even more. Isn't it pretty? Gracias Dragon!!

Walk to Europe

I walked from Asia to Europe on Sunday. There was a marathon going on, but of course I didn't run in that. I just walked across the bridge. It was a lot of fun. Beautiful day, beautiful views, and beautiful friends. This is a picture of me with one foot in Asia and one in Europe. I was in two continents at once. Yeah for living in Istanbul!

Turk Kasi Cheer!!!

This video is our cheer for Turk Kasi, and my team was playing and the side lines started cheering for us. I love it. I just had to film it.

Son Bahar Ligi

We are having a fall league for ultimate frisbee. We have had two weeks of it so far and I am loving it. It is amazing how much fun you can have with great people playing such a fun sport. My team are in the blue shirts. These pictures are from the first day of fall league. Yeah!

Only in Turkey!

The other day I was driving to go get lunch and there was horrible traffic. When we finally made it to the exit I needed I saw what was the cause of the traffic. Yes, there were cars parked on the side of the freeway, double parked. No, this is not supposed to be legal, or a place to park but naturally there was a store opening and not enough parking spaces in the lot. So, everyone decided to make their own, and as I drove by there were people running across the freeway because they had to park on the other side. The pictures do not do it justice.
Just picture people double parked on the 91 fwy (those of you from Southern Cali) and running across traffic, and cars parked everywhere on side streets and any place possible.
I turned around, and went somewhere else for lunch. I was not about to go in the middle of the place where the store opened, I know I would not have gotten food, I might now have made it out.

More Ramazan Fun!

Last month was Ramazan, as most of you know, and living in this country it is a very interesting time. There are some perks during this month for me. One is this amazing bread called Ramazan pide, it is only served during this month. Also, I don’t fast during the day, I am not Muslim, but I do enjoy the occasional iftar. Which is the feast at night to break the fast. One night I went with some friends to an area of town that has a nice little festival setting. You can see how many people are sitting there waiting to eat. I got to eat cotton candy, and drink salep. I do love me some iftar.

More pics

Here are some more pictures, enjoy.

Turk Kasi in Germany!

Germany was amazing!!! I had so much fun with my team, I have missed being with them all the time for sure. We came in 4th in the whole tournament. We have definitely improved from the last tournament. I am so blessed to be able to be a part of a team that has so much fun being together and playing Frisbee. We love winning, but we have fun even if we aren’t. Everyone had such great attitudes the whole time.
We flew into Frankfurt, and then drove to Erlangen to play in the tournament. We stopped on the way, in a really nice city, with a castle on the hill. I could talk forever about all the fun times, but basically it was fun. I loved it. Thank you for your prayers, we had a great time and I got to be good friends with my teammates.
Enjoy the pictures. One of the pictures is our little dance break in between games, one is the huddle with another team after the game, one is at the castle looking at the view, one is all our hands in the feeling circle, and the other one is all of us drinking all the Dr. Pepper because they wouldn’t let us take it on the plane (sad).

Ramazan Fun!

Today the month of Ramazan started. For those of you who do not know, that is the month that Muslims fast during the day. Needless to say from today on for a month there will be a lot of hungry people, and all that brings, around here. This is also a time of heightened spiritual awareness. This is a month where Muslims are seeking God, and seeking His favor through their fasting, and seeking to sympathize with the poor and hungry. Please remember this time, and all the times I have with friends during this time. There are so many great opportunities this month to spend time and really get to know the people and their culture. The evening meal, to break the fast each day, is definitely a time full of food, fun, and bonding. It is a little like the Thanksgiving meal every night with the quantity of food. Hopefully I will be able to share a few of these times with good friends. I will share pictures if I do.

Popeyes Geldi!!

Yes folks Popeyes came to Istanbul. The grand opening was yesterday and we went after church. I do have to say, it was amazing. The most amazing part was the biscuits, never had biscuits like that before. I am excited!

The Beach, Dr. Pepper, and Good Friends = Wonderful, Wonderful Day!

I got to go to the beach this weekend. I loved every minute of it. It was absolutely beautiful, there were actually waves, and sand. We played frisbee, climbed up the rocks, and just enjoyed the day. I am blessed. It was like being home for a day a little bit.

Kartepe

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to spend the week in Kartepe, which is in the mountains, with some people that I love spending time with. We had a conference, and it was so refreshing. I was blessed just being able to be there, and be with the people that I was. God has given me a special family here. Here are a few pictures from the week.

Lindsey Geldi

My old roomie came to visit for a couple days, and she brought me a lot of treats, I am very excited. The best treat was just seeing Linds, and talking to her. We got to talk face to face, and I could hug her. She is such a sweet friend. I don’t know how to describe how much it is a blessing to have friends like her, and being with them. I love you Linds.

Beach Day

I got to go to the beach this week. Those of you that know me, know how amazing it was for me. It wasn't a California beach but it was still wonderful, and beautiful to be there. It was also fun to spend the day with people I definitely enjoy being with. Here are a few pictures from the day.

3 Absolutely Amazing Women!!

This picture is one that I love. These three women have been a huge impact on my life. One is my mom, she is amazing, and I pray I will be like her. The next is my Aunt Dorothy, she is adopted family. I have spent countless days at her house just being loved on by her and Uncle Mel. The 3rd one is Grandma Teagarden. This woman is one of the biggest prayer warriors I have ever known. I do not know the extent of how her prayers have blessed my life. I am more thankful than I can say. Her heart is incredibly tender, and this tiny woman is one of the strongest warriors for the Father that I will ever know. So thank you Mama, Aunt Dorothy, and Grandma Teagarden for helping shape me into who I am. I love you.

The wedding!

I also had the privilege to go home for some good friends wedding. I loved it. I got to see people I love with all my heart. If I put all their pictures up there would be way to many. The wedding was beautiful, the reception was fun, I definitely love weddings. It was a blessing because I got to see a lot of good friends that I probably wouldn’t have been able to see. The pictures are the bride and groom with me. The girls I went to the wedding with (Lindsey was taking the picture), and my sister Merea and I on the dance floor. The last picture isn’t at the wedding but these two wonderful ladies came and stayed with us to go to the wedding. I took them to their first In-N-Out experience.

Home, Family, Fun!!

I am finally posting about my trip home. It was amazing. I cannot even begin to describe how much it was a blessing to my heart. It is amazing how much I was refreshed, and recharged to live here. God has blessed my life more than I can say. I am very thankful for my family. My church is also very much family to me. There are so many people praying for me, and encouraging me. I love the Body. He is good.
I had a blast with my family. These pictures are just a few of the fun things we did. The first night I was home we ate at In-N-Out, of course. It was actually 5 min. from the airport. Also, we went to the beach, the pictures are us jumping and also playing football. My family is fun. If you don’t know them you really should. They are amazing!!
Thank you for making my time at home wonderful. I love you and miss you.

I'm back!!

I'm back and I going to be posting about my trip home. I want to put pictures up, but my luggage has not arrived yet and my camera cord is in my bag. I can't put my pictures on my computer until I get it. My time home was amazing. It was wonderful to see my family and friends. Also being at church was amazing. I loved every minute of being home. I will post more later. Thank you for everyone that made my time more amazing than I can explain. I loved being home. I already miss everyone.

I'm going home!!

I leave in the morning to go home for 10 days!!! I can't wait I am so excited. My wonderful friends Kim and DImai are getting married and I get to go. Yeah!! I can't wait to see my family and friends. So, next time I'm on the computer I will be in California. In-N-Out here I come.

Gule Gule

I just said goodbye to a good friend today. She is moving back to the states for the time being and I won’t see her again for a long time. The last couple weeks have been full of days like this one. It is not easy sometimes. All these people have been good friends. I have laughed, cried, struggled, rejoiced, been challenged and many other things with them. It is so wonderful how God brings a family to you, His Body is a blessing. These people have been family to me. I love them very much and life in Turkey will definitely not be the same without them. So, DImai, AJ, Jeff, A, and Little A, Chris, Jonya, Junglecat, and Laura Beth I will miss you guys and I love you all. Thank you for being family to me.

Yeah!!

I got an all turkish email today, and I understood it all without looking in a dictionary. The email was small but I was excited and just thought I would share.

Stomp!!

I got to see Stomp this week!!!! It was amazing. It is incredible what they can do with really anything they find. They used trash cans, water bottles, sacks, match boxes, lighters, sticks, brooms, and a lot of other things that were amazing. I would have pictures up but they took my camera at the gate, no pictures allowed I guess. It was amazing and I loved it. Oh and I got the ticket for 10ytl, which is less than $10, there are times I love living in Turkey.

My Birthday

My birthday was wonderful. I talked to almost everyone in my family, and I got tons of messages from friends. Jeff took some of us out for my birthday, it is always so encouraging when he comes to town. I love it. Then the next day, a group of us went to see Pirates of Carribbean. I loved it, I have a small fascination with pirates. hehe I am blessed, God is good to me with the family and friends that I have.