productivity.

1 week til i'm walking in memphis.. :)

today was super productive... i....:
-went into work and finished a website banner design..
-completed my monthly finance report (at least a week ahead of time)
-sent out the monthly team newsletter
-updated the monthly team blog

that may not sound like a lot, but it's really like a whole month's worth of actual "work" for me.. ha. but, it is now 3:33 am and i am about to pass out. night.

AH! ONE WEEK! can't wait!

refugee teaching is back.

i started back teaching refugee kids today. it's only for 2 hours each monday, but i enjoy it overall... we had one 5 year old who cried until we took him back to his mom (twice)... which is quite an ordeal because there are approximately 122 steps to climb down and then back UP to get to the class.... while i was taking him to his mom, a little 2 or 3-year-old tried to escape and i picked him up and put him back inside and as i sat him down he........

spit in my FACE. it was disgusting. i mean, i have been working with kids for forever, but i've never actually had one successfully spit in my face. all i could say was "ugh. that was disgusting" and left him with his adults. if i had known him or his parents, i would have sternly reprimanded him or told his parents, but i was in a hurry to get back up those 122 steps and i don't know him, his parents, which country he is from, or what the cultural norms are for disciplining children.

yuck. yuck. yuck. if this becomes a regular occurrence..... yea..... it better not.

when i went back upstairs, a girl, Blessing (who incidentally is not quite a blessing most of the time), said "why are you washing your face?" i told her what happened and she said "oh, he is bad like i was last year. except i never spit on you." and i said "yeah, and you never will because that is rude and disgusting." so, i am hoping Blessing really will be a blessing this year. she was much happier to see me today.

also, i have decided children sri lanka have got to be some of the most beautiful children in the world. if i ever adopt..... man, they're beautiful.

9 days....

i'll be home in 9 days. 

some things i am looking forward to.... 

meeting jackson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

seeing my FAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

brooke's wedding!!!!!!!!!!!

taco bell!!!!!!!!!!!

central BBQ--lunch date anyone? haha

MEXICAN food!!!!!!

sonic slushes... 

seeing some amazing friends

going to Neighborhood C (NC) on sunday! 

some things on my list to buy while i am there are: 

garnier fructise mousse

garnier fructise hair spray

garnier fructise shampoo

garnier fructise conditioner (i'm obsessed)

gum (joseph is picking me up some at costco!) 

shoes

flavored coffee creamer (powdered)

taco bell sauce (got my mom stocking up for me--haha)

notecards (like blank cards for birhtday cards/notes/whatever....they are hard to come by)

nose rings (all of the ones i have had, the stones fell out)

marshmallows 

secret spring breeze deodorant

bacon bits

venus razors

pecans

dove chocolate

wheat thins

salsa

acryllic paint

brownie mixes

little music promo

i don't know if you have ever heard Katie Herzig's music but i love it... she has some really great songs and lyrics... i can relate to some of them and i could listen to all of her songs over and over without getting tired of them. she has a lot of her music available for free download on www.noisetrade.com... it's the best place to get free (legal) music.... 


these are the lyrics to one of her songs that i love... "I Hurt Too" 


When you’re weary
And haunted
And your life is not what you wanted
When you’re trying so hard to find it

When the lies speak the loudest
When your friends are starting to leave
When you’re broken by people like me

I hurt too, I hurt too

When an ocean sits right between us
There is no sign that we’ll ever cross
You should know now that I feel the loss

I hurt too, I hurt too

Even though you are drowning in valley’s of echoes
I believe there is peace in those hills up ahead
You will climb ‘til you find places you’ll never let go
And I will also be here praying just like I said

I hurt too, I hurt too 

oven. friends. b study.

well, the oven was fixed. the repairmen came at 9:25 am. stayed until 9:35 am & said the heating element had "blown up" slash gone out... they returned at 1:05 pm and stayed until 1:15 pm & it's fixed!

too bad i have basically no appetite or motivation or time to cook. i do have time, but not at the right time of day.

on the bright side, G has really answered my requests to hang out with local friends here. i got in early wednesday morning & had English Tea Time that night, hung out with the 3 people from the CBS group from the spring the next night, & hung out with another friend tonight... & will hang out with another tomorrow... whew. :)

tonight my russian friend *ana asked me to come with her to an event at a chrch. i have been there with her once on a sunday & although she's buddhist, i know she goes to that ch. often. so, i went with her... it started out with some conversation outside, followed by a free dinner, then a b. study. i was a little surprised because she's been several times before and continues to go... we talked about colossians 1:15-23 and i tried to explain the role of J as Creator and Redeemer to Ana... she understood what i said but i don't think she's close to understanding what it really means... still, for whatever reason, she enjoys going to that chrch and i was excited to study the Word with her... plus, i met people from 8 other countries.. we'll see how this goes....

language.

it's funny how in one day you can get "your language has improved so much this summer" and a few hours later "you're a coward and you don't speak enough"... both from friends.. man...

well ya..

our oven broke while i was on vacation. tragic if you ask me. so the repairman is coming out tomorrow to take a look. i'm really hoping it's fixed because i would love to cook something great. :)

that's all.

thoughts..

the past couple of weeks especially, i have realized how much deep, close, real friendship i lack recently.. i don't know if it's the reality of living over here for right at a year or what, but i really miss having close, real, deep friendships... i have one or two that are close, deep, and real even from across an ocean, but i feel like little by little all of the people i thought i would keep in touch with and continue to go deep with have dwindled away. i know it's the distance and a lack of effort on both ends, but i know i need that too...

this weekend/few days have been a really good time for me to laugh hard with people. to have real conversations with people, and to just breathe deep. it's been refreshing to my soul, to say the least... ah, life...

even though i have felt removed from a lot of my friendships lately, i really feel like i have been walking closer to Him.. i have been comforted by that.. it's amazing to see ways that He can come and heal things and restore. He makes all things new and whole. and i know i need that in my soul. new. whole. real. deep.

one more day here, then 2 weeks til i go to Memphis!!!

ohrid! :)

i'm loving macedonia...
it's been great to hang out with some amazing girls..
it's not that i am necessarily really good friends with any of them, but just hanging out... laughing... talking... spending time with people who will listen and who you can listen to..
even just this weekend has been really good for me...

i was talking to one of the girls tonight about how i miss really close friendships..
i have great friends in turkey, but none who REALLY understand me and who i can 100% at any time be myself around...
it's a different way of living and some parts of it are better and some are worse...

ya, so macedonia's been amazing these few days so far! :) here's a few pics from the hike and the city of ohrid--beautiful!

macedonia!

i am on my first real vacation since i got to turkey.. i've gone a few places, as you know if you have seen my thousands of facebook photos, but none on official vacation. 

so needless to say, i'm thrilled... i am visiting a few friends in macedonia.. so far all i've seen is the bus station and my friend's apartment, but we're going to a different city tonight to visit a friend of ours... 

i rode the bus, which was definitely interesting but not bad. i met an interesting pink-haired girl from Latvia and some other nice people... we stopped what felt like 50 times but it was really about 6 or 8 on our 14 hour ride... 2 border crossings--turkey to bulgaria and bulgaria to macedonia.. 

the guy in macedonia was quite intense as he searched through EVERYONE'S bags... i think he particularly had an issue with me after i told him i was american... he pulled out a packet of spices and asked "WHAT IS THIS!?" to which i replied ".... um... spices... Turkish spices" and pointed to it on the packet... he acted like it was explosives, geesh... then he pulled out a plastic baggie of tampons and pulled one out to feel and see what it was... talk about AWKWARD and slightly embarrassing, especially in a country like mine where they are looked at a little differently... then he pulled out my bible and flipped through all of the pages... the most random things for him to search... as i put my things back into my bag and zipped up, he had already finished the guy beside me who said "geçmiş olsun" which is the equivalent of "get well soon"... ha.. 

but now i am here, and very excited about catching up with friends and spending some time out of the BIG city... :)

oh, and a pic of me and my cousin scott, who i saw earlier this week.. he works on an amazing cruise ship and stopped in istanbul for a couple of days.. it was great to hang out with him for a bit... & i'll be in america in 18 DAYS!!!! :) 

rachel..

tonight i hung out with my friend *rachel again..
she is one of the warmest, kindest people i know...
she is fasting for ramazan this month, so we met for iftar, the time each night she breaks fast..
the first thing she did was grab her drink and take a huge gulp... she was so thirsty...although she had fasted all day from both food and drink, she knew that her thirst overshadowed her hunger..
my desire for her is that she would have that same thirst for our Father, Messiah.
to drink in His Truth and be satisfied.

each time we talk, she openly listens as i (and others) explain deep spiritual truths to her. she listens, reflects, asks questions, and is never impatient with me...

i've explained things ranging from j's life, death, resurrection, what it means to have a relationship with God, the picture of Chrst and the church, what a godly husband looks like, why i would never marry someone who didn't love jesus like i do.

she has told me she knows i am going to paradise because i love my jesus so much.
i can only hope some of this is leaving her waking up in the night... desiring to know Truth...desiring to know who this J is I talk about...and that she will find Truth in him..

as we talk, my heart breaks in ways it has not before for Mslm people. i want her to know the saving grace of my Redeemer. to be free. free from practices that will never get her to Heaven. free from lies she has believed. free to love Him. & free to be transformed.

goodbye, beach...

yesterday i went to the beach...which made 2 times in a week, which is unheard of for me.. this summer, the beach has been my friend.. i have gone to the beach more times this summer than i have my entire life... growing up, we never went to the beach, but instead spent our summers in michigan on the lake... which was fabulous as a child, don't get me wrong... i am just happy to have spent so much time at the beach this summer...

yesterday was my last time at the beach for the summer, i am pretty sure... and it was a good one. apparently, nobody goes to the beach in september... perfect!