Our Christmas

This year, Christmas was just a bit different for us.  Being my first Christmas away from home, EVER, I wasn't sure how it would go.  Earlier last week, I got hit with being majorly homesick....thankfully that lasted for only a little bit and passed. 
Christmas Eve, J-Twice and I attended a candlelight service here on base and then Skyped with mom, dad, and Sarah while opening some gifts.  It wasn't the same as being in person, but it was nice to be able to do it together.  We saved some gifts to open on Christmas morning also.  J-Twice has been asking me all week (because he was off work for the week) if he could open his gifts, I felt like I had a child.  haha Needless to say, he was rather excited when the time finally arrived to open them!
Christmas Day, we spent the afternoon with some wonderful friends.  If it weren't for these great people we've become friends with along the way, I don't think being away from home for Christmas would have been as "easy". 

Cathy and Eric, were our fantastic hosts.  We all had a great time..playing games and enjoying each other's company, as we're all in the same boat. 



Myself and Cathy



Amanda made "Kurt" (a sock monkey) to travel around with us and enjoy all the fun we have. haha  Can't you see J-Twice looks so enthused!? :) I made some chocolate covered strawberries (because we FINALLY got some strawberries in the commissary--first time we have seen them since we've been here! It was Heaven!!) So, Kurt took a bite of those too!

While we had a great day, I can not wait until next Christmas when we get to be home with everyone! We definately did not have a white Christmas here in Turkey.  It was partly sunny and in the 60's.  I can not say that I missed the snow, but it definately didn't exactly feel like Christmas.

Now, we are on to New Year's!! I would really like to know where 2010 went, seems to me the year FLEW by!!

Merry Christmas!!

Love,

J-Twice and Becky

J-Twice calls this my OCD List....

We all have our little things we do that make us, US! So, I thought it would be fun to make a post about random things I do. J-Twice would prefer to say I'm OCD but it's just the way I like things!

* Every night before going to bed, I fluff the pillows and blankets on the couch.
* I hate the remotes laying around, they belong in the basket.
* First thing I do after getting out of bed is make the bed.
* I prefer to fold laundry right out of the dryer when it is nice and hot.  If it sits in the dryer for a long time, I have to re-fluff them.
* I hate the shower curtain not being pulled closed.(you know, after you're done w your shower and all..)
* J-Twice likes to tell me that putting away groceries is NOT a game of Tetris...I guess I am obsessed with getting everything to fit just right, and evenly.
* I clean out the car every time we arrive at the house ( this isn't so much an issue right now since we don't have a car with us here).
* My friends think my house is always clean, it's more like it's just always picked up. I hate things to lay around...everything has it's place.
* I know when things are not in their place. (and know right away if something has been moved)
* If our bank account gets below a certain amount (which isn't a small amount, at all) I get in the mindset we don't have money to waste.
* But at the same time, I don't let saving money stop us from doing other things in life, like traveling. (with these opportunities we have here, we'd be stupid to not take them!)
* In the shower: I wash my face, shampoo and condition my hair, shave and wash my body....in that order, every time.
* I hate dishes in the sink...that's what a dishwasher is for.
* I love to vacuum the carpet (which we don't have here) and get the perfect lines and then hate walking on it later!

I'm sure there are many more things to post, but I think I have listed enough! ha ha ...some of us are just born crazy. I can't help it! :)

Uzuncaburç

This past weekend, I went on a Photo Hunter's trip to Uzuncaburç.  It was about a 2.5-3 hour drive from base.  The lovely part of the whole trip...it pretty much rained (or stormed) the entire day!!!!


I got this tid-bit of information from turkeytravelplanner.com:
Uzuncaburç ("Tall-ish Tower"), 32 km (20 miles) north of Silifke (map) near Turkey's Mediterranean coast, is the ancient city of Diocaesarea-Olba, famous for its great Temple of Zeus Olbius.
On your way into the hills from Silifke, you'll pass through the village of Demircili (7 km/4.3 miles), calledImbriogon in ancient times, which has several impressive tombs visible from the road.

At Uzuncaburç (oo-ZOON-jah-boorch) the most impressive ruins are those of the Temple of Zeus Olbius, the nearby Temple of Tyche, and themonumental city gate. There are also ruins of anymphaeum (fountain), and a theater.

Here are some of my photos.

This was the first time I had seen the diff color leaves around here!

ummm, yeah--I said it was storming, right! That is the hail that was falling as we were trying to get pictures!

We also made a visit to Aya Tekla Church on the way to Uzuncaburç.  I found this information on Wikipedia for you. (The Link)
Thecla was one of the followers of Saint Paul whose origin was Tarsus about 110 kilometres (68 mi) east of the church. Thecla who was originally from Konya (Iconum of the Antiquity) lived around Silifke, in a location , now called Meryemlik (meaning of Virgin Mary). There is a cave on a small hill next to Silifke which is believed to be her home in her later years. The grave in the cave probably belongs to her.<sup>[2]
Up to 312, Thecla's cave was a secret pilgrimage center. The church was built in 460-470 AD by the Byzantine emperor Zeno and the church was devoted to her. The church and the other related buildings such as bath are now in ruins the only standing element being, a part of the abscissage.

And here are my photos from that visit!</sup>

Don't let those blue skies fool you, it literally was for that pic only!!

Inside the underground church

J-Twice decided to stay home on this trip (it may have been the better choice considering the weather!).  I went along with my friend, Amanda, her husband, and a guy that they were sponsering that just got here, James. (We call them Old James and New James hahaha)  We had a great time,despite the weather. A trip is all in what you make of it! 

**update**

I can not believe I forgot the most important part of this trip! As soon as the last person paid their 3TL to tour Uzuncaburç, it started to S-T-O-R-M! I'm talking: thunder, lightning, hail, rain...everything! It was crazy. I took a few pictures (which wasn't exactly easy while holding an umbrella) and jetted back to the bus. Needless to say, that is why I don't have a whole lot!

Stay tuned for our next adventures! :)  

 

Christmas in Turkey...

Oh wait, that doesn't happen here! Have you ever celebrated a holiday, like Christmas, in a country that doesn't? It makes it kind of hard to get in the holiday spirit.  I miss going to the mall and seeing it all decked out in Christmas decorations and children waiting in mile long lines just to sit on Santa's lap and tell him everything they are wishing for.  The past couple of days I have been listening to Christmas music on Pandora and all these songs are bringing back so many memories.  From my days of working in retail and having to listen to these songs, usually on repeat, and never tire of them to the songs that make me think of home.  But then again, pretty much anything and everything is making me think of home right now.  I try not to dwell on it, but we all know it's in the back of my mind!

Up until last week, the weather made it hard to imagine Christmas was coming so soon. We had been having 80 degree weather, sunshine, clear blue skies, still able to walk outside in tank tops and not need a jacket.  That all changed REAL quick.  It doesn't snow here in Adana...we are in one of the warmest parts of Turkey (most days I am very thankful for that...guess i've already forgotten what those 110 degree days of summer feel like!) but it sure does RAIN!!!!! We've had so much rain, it's beginning to come through our ceilings!

Anyhow, I didn't do this entry to talk about the rain, I did it to talk about Christmas.  I've done most of my shopping online or out in 'The Alley'.  I wanted to try as much as I could to send home Turkish gifts, I would call myself successful for the most part.  Earlier today my friend, Amanda, and I went to the BX and were looking around at the abundance very few Christmas decorations they had and it gave me mixed feelings.  I loved the feeling of "Christmas shopping" b/c yes, I was picking up a couple gifts for J-Twice but at the same time it made me miss the aisles upon aisles of Christmas decor in say, Target or Wal-mart! haha (I know, go figure) It made me miss that "rush"of making sure you get everything before   Christmas.  Which then got me remembering the days of last minute shopping with my dad.....because he is notorious for waiting until Christmas Eve to shop for mom and I was always his little elf! This is the first Christmas in 25 years that I will not be home....I still am not quite sure how I feel about that!

Santa's elves have already sent us some presents to surround our tree. J-Twice is having a hard time not peeking in all of his gifts!

But this little guy tells us we only have 10 days left!!! Woo-hoooo!!!

I've been baking lots of Christmas cookies and am glad to say they are out of my house so that I can't blame them on gaining weight this holiday season! haha On base, they do what they call the 'Cookie Caper' and they deliver cookies to all the unaccompanied Airmen on base.  The Spouses' Club bakes and packages them.  I baked mostly for that and then I also added in a couple different batches for J-Twice to take to his office. He tells me everyone has been enjoying them! Better them than me! :) Another memory of Christmas time..jamming to Christmas tunes and baking tons and tons of cookies with the family. 

Plans are not exactly set yet as for what we are going to be doing for Christmas, but one way or another we will be spending the day with friends.  I'm very grateful for the wonderful group of friends I have made here at this base.  I will be with my family via Skype and in our hearts.

And while you are enjoying your time with your families, please remember to think about and say a prayer for the amazing military members who are not able to be with family this year. There are still lots of troops in the desert that need our thoughts and prayers, as well as troops that didn't make it to spend another Christmas with the ones they love. Please remember them.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Stream of Thoughts...

So, it's been a while since I've posted on my blog. I apologize! But honestly, I haven't had anything to write about.  I have been sitting here for at least an hour trying to decide what to tell you all.  I have nothing!

Make that two hours, I got distracted and here I am again. We really haven't been up to a whole lot around here since Thanksgiving(which is what my last posts were about). 

We I put up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving...I would have put it up earlier, but J-Twice was not a fan of that idea.  I have at least 4 bins of Christmas decor, and I didn't get to put up half my stuff because I have no where to put it! Not cool!! But I have loved looking at my lovely, decorated tree. One of my favorite things to do is sit with all the lights off and just have the tree on.  Love the way it looks! There are lots of presents under the tree right now because Santa  my parents delivered early here.  J-Twice has been struggling with not being allowed to open any of said gifts and I find it rather comical.  Just 15 more days. Can you believe that, 15 days until Christmas, 21 days until New Years. Could someone please inform me as to where 2010 went!?! Seems like it was just yesterday, J-Twice and I completely missed the ball drop because we were playing our new Super Mario Bros game all night.  Our time here in Turkey is flying by. For that, I am totally grateful.

I had a few other things I was going to write about, but I had to quit for a Carpet Party we had out in 'The Alley' and now I can't remember what I was going to say.  With that, I am going to end this and try to pick back up later when my mind isn't blank.  On the other hand, The Photo Hunters group will be doing a day trip tomorrow that I can't wait to blog about! Stay tuned to hear all about it!

Adios!

Thanksgiving...Turkey Style...

When we moved to Turkey in August, we knew we weren't going to be able to be "home for the holidays".  Little did I know, we would make such great friends to share this holiday with.  We all decided that we would make one big Thanksgiving meal, and share it together.  I decided I wanted to make my first turkey! Between my grandma and my mom, i've always had AMAZING turkeys to eat for the holidays, so I had some big shoes to fill! :)

We only had 6 of us, so we had a small 12 lb turkey. I thought I was prepared for cleaning out this turkey, I had my latex gloves(yes, I went there), my tongs, and was ready to go. Umm....I didn't get very far.  It grossed me out! haha Thank God J-Twice was here to take over! 

He took complete control, getting the yuck out (in it's plastic bags--haha), cleaned it and dried it off.  We stuffed the turkey, got it in the oven bag and let it do it's job of cooking!

We had said we were going to eat at 3pm, it was about 12:30-12:45 when I got it in the oven (yes, behind schedule because that's how I work) I worked on the side dishes I was preparing for the meal, our guest started arriving, and we snacked on veggies and cheese. And waited. And waited. And waited for the pop-up timer to pop. FINALLY, it popped! It was about 430-445....but it smelled and looked soo yummy!!

James was given the job of carving the turkey, and he did a great job! 

We couldn't wait to dig in and enjoy all the side dishes.  We had the complete meal: Turkey, Ham, sweet  potato casserole, mashed potatoes, corn, deviled eggs, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, salad, homemade rolls...deliciousness! 

We all ate WAY too much, but it was good!! The boys enjoyed theirs while watching football, and us girls enjoyed ours at the table together! :) Sorry boys, I'll have to get a bigger table for next time! 

As if we had room for it, we cleaned up and set out the desserts. The best part of the meal, right!? We had pumpkin pie (of course), pecan, chocolate pie, and whatever Aunt Mary calls her dessert! :)

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the Thanksgiving we enjoyed here in Turkey.  Our close friends become our family when we have to be so far away.  

Being Crafty..

When J-Twice lived in the dorms before we got married, he found an old rocking chair that was perfect for his "gaming chair".  He moved out of the dorms and into our first house, this chair came with him.  We had such a small living room that said chair sat in the corner in the dining room for the most part and didn't get much use. We had all intentions of leaving this chair behind when we moved here to Turkey.  Before we knew it, the movers had a sticker placed on it and it was getting packed up. I thought, oh who cares, we may need it. It now fits perfectly in this little corner of our living room.  This chair had an old, ugly fabric on it and it was filthy...I hated it.  Most of it was covered up w a blanket, and it made it "okay" to look at.

Back in September, I had met this awesome friend, Amanda.  Little did I know back then about how awesome she is and the creative, crafty, ideas she can come up with.  Here in Turkey, there are TONS of fabric shops.  I had all intentions of taking said chair cushions to a shop and having them reupholster it. Amanda had a better idea: let's do it ourselves, it can't be that hard! So, on an adventure to Old Adana, we got off the bus in what they call "The Fabric District" ...we had no idea what we were looking for.  After looking in many stores, I finally found a fabric I liked.  We had no idea how much fabric we needed, so we picked a random number...turns out we had more than enough but better than not having enough, right!?  This fabric sat in my house for a few weeks before we finally set out to complete this project.

Then comes this past week.  We said "let's do this"!

 We had to take off the old, ugly fabric but being careful not to completely ruin it because it was going to be our pattern for the new cover.

Let me just say, that fabric was gross!!!!! I don't even want to know how old it was or what it had been through! haha  Amanda and I traced the old fabric and made a pattern with the new.  Remind you, I haven't sewn much else other than a pillow and a stocking (and i'm pretty sure mom did most of that work!) Amanda has only sewn a couple different things, but has a brand new sewing machine so we were putting it to work! We decided to do the bottom cushion first, because it was going to be the hardest.  We pinned the two pieces together and went to work.  Amanda finds great amusement in watching me do a project, because I get impatient and just do what I need to do to get it done, and quickly.  Meaning, I don't always do what is the correct way or watch what I am doing....also meaning, I messed up and started sewing a rather messed up line. haha  We had it on a triple stitch so it wasn't exactly possible to just take the stitch out and re-do it.  Rather, we prayed it wouldn't look too bad when it was complete! :) 

We were just about complete, and the sewing machine decided to act up.  Or rather, we learned that Turkish thread isn't as great as American thread! haha It wasn't tight enough, so it kept unraveling and messing up the sewing machine.  We couldn't get the sewing machine apart ourselves, so we decided to wait until her husband got home and he could look at taking it apart.  Therefore, we couldn't do much more that day.  The next day, Amanda got it fixed and finished the bottom piece. (much against my approval, but she doesn't listen to me very well.haha) She did a great job, and even fixed my mistakes as much as she could! :) 

The hard part was done.  Or, so we thought.  haha  We went to working on the back piece.  We made our pattern from the old fabric again.  Tried to match the fabrics up and couldn't figure out why it wasn't matching up.  It only took Amanda a couple of minutes to say "ohhh, duh!" and as soon as she said it, I knew what we did.  We made two of the same pieces!! hahaha Sooo...we had to make another pattern, this one being the correct way. (Front and back vs. 2 fronts)  Once we got all that figured out, we went to town on the sewing machine.  Much easier sewing this part! 

We got the old cushion back in, stuffed it a little and had to hand stitch the bottom to complete it.  I will say, even though I attempted a little bit, Amanda did the majority of that! She rocks, really.

We had worked on this back piece for quite a while that day, it was getting late and we both had tons to do for our Thanksgiving meal the next day.  I went home, telling Amanda to not worry about completing it, we would do it after the holiday.  I told you already, she doesn't listen to me much...because she showed up yesterday with the piece completed! Yay! :)

And now we have a cute little rocking chair, with fabric that matches the rest of the house! I think for our first time reupholstering something, we did a pretty rockin' job!! (Just dont look too close!) So.. many, many thanks to Amanda for helping this girl reach into her crafty side! 

Our Home

Today, I finally got ahold of a concrete drill so that I could put my mirrors and some pictures on the walls! Yay!!!! It's amazing what little things can make a place feel like a home.  So, with that...I thought I would take you on a little picture tour of our current home (Lord knows we will be having lots of homes in this adventure called "the military life"). haha
We have so far lived in two different homes and they could not be any more opposite of each other!! Our first home in DC was a 3 story, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath lovely townhome.  Our home here in Turkey is 1 level, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath...needless to say, we had to get rid of a few things before we came here and our 2nd bedroom here is also storage! :)

So, here we start...

This is walking in our front door..

The first room on the right is the spare bedroom/storage..

dont mind seeing the extra boxes..like i said..storage haha and some Christmas presents to be sent back home!

 From there you walk into the living room, which is WAY larger than the last one we had and I love that..

Still waiting to add my vinyl quote above the TV..

And this is looking from the other side of the room towards the front door

And then we have our tiny little kitchen..

The dining room and another view of the kitchen

View from the dining room

And we walk down another hall which the laundry room and tiny little bathroom are off of...but I am sparing the pictures of those rooms. Mostly the bathroom because J-Twice has decided that he doesn't like the shower curtains that I brought with us from the last house so right now we have a cheap one from the BX that does not match the rugs I have! hahaha (oh, my adventures in life..) I'm working on this...just very slowly obvioulsy. :)

and I just realised this picture is from the opposite direction of the rooms I was speaking of! ha, oh well

The last room is the Master room...

Oh, and can I tell you that all of these pictures were taken at about 430pm, and you see how dark it is outside. Yeah, BOOOO!!! haha  Above each of the windows is an interesting curtain hanger in the ceiling....they apparently hang curtains different here...so needless to say, the ones I had, don't work. We'll see if I change that. Another fun tidbit..the rugs in the living room and the runner in the hall are from here in Turkey! Rugs are a HUGE deal here, so we were excited to get some!

But this is our lovely little home in Turkey. Enjoy.

In my head.....

Hello everyone!! Sorry I haven't been the greatest at keeping up with this blog as of late...I really don't have a whole lot to write about.  That only means one thing to me...we need to get out and travel!!! :) We were planning on making a trip to Cappadocia this weekend, but ummm....that would require one of us going to sign up for the trip and that has yet to happen! haha Good thing is---they have groups that go pretty much every other weekend, so we'll make it there soon!

J-Twice finally got his certificate for being September's Logistics Airman of the Month. shh...don't tell him I told you!!! He didn't think he deserved it, but his supervisor obviously felt differently. He had to go in front of a board and compete with some other Airman, and J-Twice won.  I tried to tell him for someone only being here since August, he's obviously doing something good but he doesn't like to see it that way! haha (boys.....)

I still don't have a job (and I haven't been looking too hard for one).  On the other hand, I am completely enjoying being able to go out and about with the girlfriends I have made here.  Last week, a group of 7 of us ventured into Old Adana on the Dolmus (the bus system here) and had a great time.  I got some fabric to re-upholster the rocking chair we have, so I am looking forward to doing that project! Look, I am becoming all domesticated and stuff...hahahaha!!!!! Along with all the fun i'm having, i'm also enjoying being back in the gym. My foot hurts occassionally but for the most part i'm back to where I was before jumping off rocks! :) The base is having a "Cold Turkey 5K" next weekend and us girls are supposed to be attendng! It seems they have 5K's often, so hopefully by time we leave here i'll be well off! 

Speaking of...can you believe we've been here 3 full months already!?! Time is flying by for me! The time has changed over here also, so now the sun is set by 5pm...I am not exactly a fan of that, but eh- what choice do I have! LOL I was talking to a lady that is getting ready to leave here in a few weeks about the weather during the "winter" here and she says it will get only cold enough to wear a jacket or sweatshirt, but gloves/hats/scarves aren't needed. AAAHHHHH....Sounds ah-may-zing!! :) She says it will rain a lot, but that when it rains, it down-pours, floods everything, and then the sun shines! Do you hear this!?! Heaven to my ears! No SNOW?! No freezing cold temps?!! No ice!?!?!! YES.PLEASE!!!!! Esp. after those FEET of snow we had in DC last winter! But, that doesn't stop me from wanting to take a snow tubing trip to the mountains! A group of us are planning to do that mid-Dec...should be fun! 

Christmas is coming up, QUICK!  This will be my first Christmas away from home.  I may stay in bed all day. HA, just kidding.   I can't do that.  I need to get out and get some shopping done...I will be running out of time to get stuff home in time! OHHHH, speaking of Holidays...I'm doing Thanksgiving at my house this year...that means i'm making a turkey....for the first time!! hahahahahaha This shall be interesting!! I am told it is easy, so we shall see! I'm actually really excited about it, so it should be a good time.  Some friends of ours will be joining us. Military life...overseas esp.....friends become your family.  That will be a blog entry itself! :) 

Well, I guess I did have some stuff to write about...but I'm out of words now! Hope everyone is doing well.....love you all!

Oh, I'll leave you with this pic of our sunset the other night as we were grillin' out in the backyard. Enjoy!

5 years (a day late!)

5 Years ago today, you asked me to be your girlfriend.  I still have yet to figure out why you asked me on Halloween (or as you say, why I said yes on that day!).  Never in a million years did I ever think I would date you, better yet end up marrying you.  So funny to think of how long we "knew" each other before we really knew each other…and then it all turned into a "bet". ha 

I still remember the day (like it was yesterday) we went to the park and swung on the swings…me, singing "catch a falling star and put it in your pocket…never let it fade away.." and you STILL wanted to date me! I remember the red rose you gave me when you got in the car, I remember being antsy (because I was nervous) as we sat and watched the sunset, and then being kicked out of the park because the sun was setting. ha My life hasn't been the same since. 

I remember our first kiss. I remember the first time you said "I love you". I remember the day we had to say "see ya later" as you headed off to basic training for the Air Force. I remember counting down the days until you graduated so I got to see you again.  I remember walking around the library in Texas, not wanting our time to end,because I knew it was another "see ya later".  I remember counting down until you got to come home again.  I remember shopping for your new car.  I remember having to say "see ya later' and seeing you off to start your military career. I remember planning our trips and figuring out who was going to travel that month: me to see you, or you to see me. I remember our first trip to the beach together. I remember all our late night/early morning phone calls.  I remember all of our first holidays together. I remember missing you so much. I remember our first vacation.  I remember the day you asked me to marry you.  I remember planning our wedding.  I remember saying "I do". I remember our honeymoon. I remember saying "see ya later" to all my friends and family to go start a life of our own. I remember having the hardest "see ya later" as I sent you off to war.  I remember counting down the days till you would be home, in my arms again.  I remember crying because I missed you.  I remember our first hug after you got home. I remember our first family vacation.  I remember finally being able to celebrate our wedding anniversary, together.  I remember all the trips we took together: New York City, Las Vegas, Ocean City…. I remember you saying "we're moving to Turkey".  I remember packing up our first house.  I remember moving half way around the world with you.  I remember.  

We have had quite the adventure together in the last 5 years, my love.  I can not wait to make more memories together with you.  You are my world, you are my everything.  Thank you for telling my brother "She is hot!". Thank you for that evening in CiCi's! Thank you for asking me to be your girlfriend.  Thank you for asking me to be your wife.  Thank you for saying "I do".  Thank you for never giving up on "us".  

I love you to the moon and back, my love. 

A Lesson Learned...

While on our trip in Izmir, I learned that if you do this:

and don't pay attention to what you are doing,check the ground for safe landing before you decide to jump, or look at the ground vs. the camera (for the sake of an AWESOME picture) while jumping...you could end up in one of these:

No, I don't typically roll my jeans like this. It was for the sake of the picture! haha

Yes, that is the awesome shoe I have been rockin' for the last week. :)

 HA.HA. Joke was on me!

But I am glad to report that after 1 week of wearing said shoe, my foot is doing MUCH better and I can not wait to get back to running!!! I have been going crazy these last 2 weeks with no exercising.  

So, lesson learned. 

The Military Wife

I found this on Facebook and thought I would share.  I have no idea who wrote it, but I like it.

The Military Wife

A Poem

When she was a girl, her dreams were bold, as bold as her fine, free gaze;

And every gift of grace and mind was hers in her younger days.

When she was a girl, a golden girl, with a soul as fine as fire

She could outshine the brightest jewel that a rich man's love might buy her.

Yes hers could have been the glittering path through a careless, carefree life.

But she fell in love with an soldier, so she became a military wife.

Away from the home of her childhood she marched at her husband's side.

For she chose a wide and winding road when she became a bride.

And sometimes the road was a hard one, so different from what she had planned;

And sometimes she wept for the home she had left as she lay in a foreign land;

And sometimes her steps would grow weary as she followed the drum and the fife;

But she set about making the world her home because she was a military wife.

She learned to build a hearth for them wherever her man was sent;

And she knelt to plant a garden every time he pitched their tent.

Yes, she always planted a garden though she never saw it grow,

For she knew before the flowers came that she would have to go.

But she left each garden gladly though it cut her like a knife,

For she hoped it might bring some comfort to another military wife.

To the hardships in her married life she brought one simple truth,

A promise that once was spoken in the ancient words of Ruth:

"Wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you lodge, I will lodge;

Thy people shall be my people and thy God shall be my God."

She shared his joys and sorrows as they made their way through life,

For she was proud to love a soldier and to be a military wife.

She bore the weight of worrying what fate might hold in store;

And the wordless fear of waiting when her soldier went to war;

And the nights that she spent fearing that her waiting was in vain;

And the pain of wanting someone she might never hold again.

But she bore his children gladly through uncertainty and strife,

And they never heard her crying for she was a military wife.

She raised a military family with the faith her love had taught her;

And she gave the pride she had inside to her son and to her daughter;

And she taught them to love freedom and to know what it was worth,

As they helped her plant her gardens in the corners of the earth.

And she never wished for better than the road they marched through life.

Because she was as much a soldier as she was a military wife.

Izmir Visit

Last weekend, we took a trip with a Photo Hunters Group here on base.  We went to places like Ephesus, Virgin Mary’s House, Priene, Miletos, Didyma’s Temple of Apollo, Pamukkale, Hierapolis, and Kusadasi. WE.HAD.A.BLAST!!!! A trip like this was all I needed to remind me why, exactly, I moved here to Turkey (minus the obvious reason of NOT being seperated from my husband for the next 15 months!) I was telling J-Twice in the middle of our trip that I was always kind of jealous of people's pictures from different places in the world, and now I get to be that person in those pictures, visiting those places.  What a great experience.  

On our way to the airport!

Temple of Apollo

Virgin Mary's House

Ephesus

Pamukkale-Hot Springs
These are just a few pictures we took, I think we took over 600!!  It was awesome to be able to climb through the ruins and see all kinds of history.
 The only thing we weren't huge fans of, was the food we were offered! Ha Ha! Breakfast and Dinner was included in our trip, and it was hotel food so it wasn't the best but it was something!!! For breakfast our choices were bread, cheese, some kind of meat, hard boiled eggs,cucumbers, tomatos, olives...the first morning that was okay, but the next 2 mornings we weren't too fond of it! LOL Thankfully, our second morning we had found a Starbucks, so J-Twice and I had that!! :) The way to this girl's heart! Lunch our first day-we were on our own for and we found a cute little restaurant to enjoy (and it was prob. the best meal we had all weekend!!) I ordered what they call meatballs (and mom asked if I knew what kind of meat it was-NO, and I prob. prefer not to find out!) and J-Twice ordered Doner..which is a specialty here. (and I was trying to put the pictures up, but this thing doesn't want to work with me!) The pictures are on my Facebook too, if you are friends with me! :)

Where we had lunch!

We are already looking forward to our next opportunity to travel, so stayed tuned to see where our adventures take us!