The time has come...

The time finally came that I had to return to Turkey.  I was so looking forward to it, but at the same time sad to leave friends and family behind, yet again.  Like my mom told J-Twice...by time he retires, I should be pretty darn good at "goodbyes", which I prefer to call "see ya later"s.  It has been quite a while since I have posted a blog. And because I know I have so many followers, ya'll are deeply saddened by this. ha!

Since my last post, my family went on vacation to Myrtle Beach and we had a nice, relaxing time. Made me miss the days of my extended family going..aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents...I couldn't help but reminisce about those days as I laid on the beach catching rays, watching the waves crash. But it also made me miss the days of when our friends would tag along as well. One of these summers we will relive those days. I can only hope.

Watching the waves crash

View from the pool

 After we returned home from that trip, I was in Ohio for 3 days, did my laundry, packed my bags again,and headed to KY! This was my last trip to KY for this long trip home to the States. It was finally time for Shawna Joy to get married!!!!!! I headed down on Wednesday morning, we had a bridal shower for her Thursday night, rehearsal and preparation Friday night and the wedding festivities on Saturday.  Talk about a busy couple of days.  One of the best parts of that weekend, besides celebrating the wedding of course, was seeing a friend that I haven't seen since our wedding, 3 years ago! That would be my lovely friend, Nikki!!!  I was sooooo excited to see her! Even though it had been 3 years since we had seen each other, to me, it seemed like we just picked up where we left off. It was so good to see her and meet her boyfriend, Brett. We all had a great time together. This is where I wish we were Stateside so we could all vacation together. One day, my friends. One day.


Nikki and Brett

Carter, Shawna and Collin



Shawna and I

Cake Cutting!!

The lovely Nikki

One of the best friends a girl could ask for, Bethro!!

Now after spending 5 days in KY, I was heading back to Ohio to do laundry, pack my bags and head back to Turkey!!! My time home flew by, it was so great to be able to be home as long as I was but it was so great to be getting on a plane and  heading back to my "home".  My home where my husband,friends and life were waiting for me.  I felt like I was missing out on a great deal by being home in Ohio for so long, but at last..here I am! Of course, by great deal I mean traveling! lol We have lots of places we still want to visit during our short 10 months left here so we're looking forward to all of that.
Needless to say, I over packed my bags, said my "see ya laters" , shed a couple tears and was on my way to Turkey! But not without a little bit of stressing that I wasn't going to make the flight...as only seems typical of traveling back overseas on Space Available flights! I swear there has GOT to be a less stressful, easier way to do this thing! :)

 Until next time, America!



Dad and I before I headed out...