Armutlu Summer Program 2010

In craft class the kids made masks one of the days!
English lessons
Berke and Beytullah learn some English in class
More English lessons

Mother/Daughter Retreat 2009

Brianna and friends, Dove, Anna and Mindy enjoy our walk on the beach on the Black Sea near Şile.

Emirgan Park

Like always, we went to Emirgan Park. It was the last day of the Tulip Festival. We had church and ate lunch at the park. We walked around the park to see the tulips. Other pictures are in the "Family Photo Album."

Austin's Activities

Austin has been joining a soccer club near our house with his friends, Umut and Cengizhan.
He has been going on Sunday and/or Saturday depending on which day we have church. He has been also joining the school's baseball team. Which practices on Saturdays and Wednesdays.

Spring Break

Over the kids' spring break we went to Bolu. Bolu is two-in-a-half hours out of Istanbul. We went to Bolu Termal Otel meaning Bolu Thermal Otel. They had a swimming pool and some thermal baths that we would go to during the day. We stayed at the hotel two nights. For other pictures visit "Family Photo Album".

Ashley's Birthday

The birthday girl, Ashley, the Queen, sat on her royal, pretty, pink throne with a crown on her head, her pretty flowers behind her on the table.
Ashley invited 6 friends. The party was very international. There were 2 Americans, 2 Koreans, and 2 Turks that she invited to the party.

Ashley decided that she was the "Queen", her friends were the "princesses" and Ashley Thain, Brianna, Carissa and Austin were the "servants". They dressed up like princesses, put makeup on, painted their fingers and put on "patik" slippers. They had pizza and pink lemonade. Afterward, we opened presents and had chocolate cake with pink dye colored "Krem Santi". Then only the two Americans slept over at our house. The girls had a great time at Ashley's party.

Ashley's B-day Eve

The night before Ashley's Birthday we bathed her then Gina started to braid her hair. In the morning...

her hair was curly and very wavy. This is a picture of her at breakfast with her mickey mouse pancake with her nice, pretty clothes on before going to school. Also with a "Special Plate" in front of her with her pancake on it.

Macedonian Trip to the Türks

To see Türks in Macedonia was a culture shock for Brian and I, but it was a pleasure to serve the people through translation to improve their medical and economic situation. This is one of the favorite part of Gina's trip was talking to these young girls. They are all 18-20 years old, have only a 4th grade education, and are waiting to be married. In the meantime, they live with their families and help on the farm. They were so sweet and curious about us, and really open to talking. Please pray now for the Türks in Macedonia!

Brian and Gina took a trip to Macedonia to help with translation work for a medical team. Brian also assisted with an agricultural project to help Türkish farmers begin to learn to care and raise sheep for income. Here is one of the shepherds and his wife.

At a Turkish home in Macedonia, Gina helps a little girl, Sibel, walk with the help of her mother to see her new wheelchair. Many Türks left from the Osman Empire live scattered throughout parts of Eastern Europe. They are Türks according to culture, language and religion. The Türks in Macedonia live in small villages near or up in the mountains and live as farmers or growing tobacco.

Budapest, Hungary...

We went to visit Hungary for Brian to celebrate his 20th year friendship with Richie. We had a great visit during our time in Hungary.

We had seven days of fun with our friends who live in Budapest, Hungary. We toured around, went swimming and had a very nice vacation in Hungary with our friends Richie and Edit.

IN Sophia...

ON our way to Hungary we stopped at Sophia in Bulgaria. We took a tour around the city visiting churches and other musuems. We had a fun time with our frineds who toured us around the city.

Yaz Program 2008- Armutlu

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." When he placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
For the second year we were privileged to serve our community and the children living in Armutlu through a summer program. We provided sports, art, and English lessons to the children. The goal of our time with the neighborhood children was to show unconditional love as an incarnate witness of Jesus' love for all of us. Thanks to our teammates and the volunteers from Cornerstone Community Church in Iowa, for providing a time of love and fun for the children in our neighborhood. We pray it will provide 'open doors' to proclaim the name of Jesus to our neighbors. Thanks to the rest of you who provided prayers for our ministry in our neighborhood.
(If you go to the right side of our blog, click on "Family Photo Albums" and you can view more pictures)

Kalkan Vacation June 2008

After school, we headed for the Mediterrean Sea in southern Turkey. We spent a week there and vacationed with another family, and we were accompanied by Gina's mom. This is the second year we went to Kalkan and we enjoyed many adventures there along with relaxing at our villa and swimming in our own outdoor pool. See our family photo album at the side, click on it to see more pictures from the photo gallery.

Turkish Folklore Festival- May

Ashley gets ready to perform with her classmates in Çınarcık, Turkey. She had a great performance and we were very proud that a blond American girl could dance like a Türk.

Ashley and her classmates perform in a Turkish folklore festival. They were honored by being picked to perform and all the kids and mothers had a fun experience together.

Mother-Daughter Retreat April 2008

Gina and Carissa spent a weekend together in Şile, Turkey.

Ashley, Maggie, Kaitlin, Carissa, Aubrey, and Victoria at the Black Sea for Passport 2 Purity Retreat.

Christmas in Uludağ

We enjoyed some time in the mountains in Turkey.  Ashley learned to ski this year while we skied with the kids.  Grandma Sue enjoyed time in the lodge with her coffee and watching Ashley.

Black Sea family picture

Last September, we took a trip to the Black Sea with our team. We welcomed our newest member to our team, Susan, Gina's mom.
Grandma Sue has been regularly watching the kids on Sundays to allow Gina to join the Turkish group we meet with in the afternoon.
She regularly sees Carissa and Austin at the same school and spends the weekend with us, and rides the service bus to the school with them.

Our 'outdoor' cats, Yeşim and Maviş

Summer Program 2007- Armutlu