Ankara in Two Days II

We spent nearly an hour in the rug shop! It was fun. We had one more hour to spend before needing to head back to school. So, we went up to the castle.

Serdar Bey was such a big help to me. Everywhere I needed to take them, he helped me drive to have enough seats for everyone.

I let Firstborn skip the morning at school to go with us.

It was a beautiful day, and they loved Ulus as much as we do!

Ankara in Two Days I

I had some little Turks who were awfully excited to see their Aunt Boo and to dig into the presents she brought. She stayed in our home, along with two teens, once we got back home.

I wanted my older girls to get to host the teens on the team. It was like one big slumber party!

They would be boarding a plane on Thursday, so I had 2 quick days to show them the town and let them volunteer with our school children. First stop, Ulus. It was Ataturk's death date, so we got to spy on a sweet little village school honoring him.

I took them into a shop where I have taken many people. They loved the rug shopping process.

Pile them.

Think about them.

Choose them.

Drink tea.

Day to Tour II

It killed me not to be able to take them to any more historical sites, but our time was so limited. We knew we wanted to see the main Biblical site, Perge. We had just a couple of hours and needed to stay near the airport. CC suggested I take them to the downtown harbor. It's beautiful, and it is where St. Paul docked.

K and I are in there. Somewhere.

 It truly was breathtaking! The natural harbor is the same. 2000 years didn't change much.

We lunched at a little seaside restaurant. Options were pide, kofte (meatballs), doner (shredded chicken).

We sailed through security, except for K's Antalya rocks. They flagged them. They told her she had to take out the bigger ones. She gave them a sad face. The security guard winked and stuck them back in when his supervisor left. We live in a "wink wink" country. And that's not all bad.

Day to Tour

I asked the team to stay one extra day at the coast. We worked hard for the weekend. I wanted them to rest up and see at least a couple of spots down there.

Most of us went to the beach for a quick (cold) swim in the Med.

The next morning we were up bright and early for one last breakfast and a quick trip to Perge.

We wanted to do a group photo. You know I have issues with camera timers. Big issues. My worst nightmare came true. Here's me. I set it up. I did not navigate my path to the picture prior to the click. Spectators said dust was flying.

Click.

 Click.

Click.

Click.

Click. We would not stop laughing.

Take two.

The teens posed at the ancient game board.

Walking the steps of St. Paul.

We toured fast, but we did make it up to the 6th century church. I found a cross I'd never seen before.

It was so fun for me to share this time with my friend S. She's been my buddy since grade 7.

My heart was blessed by this guy. He came to help with the sound system and to lead worship. I discovered over breakfast on day 4 that my mom was his 5th grade teacher. Another small message to me from God.

"Team There" all together.

Beautiful Feet 2015: Recap

Beautiful worship.

Beautiful teamwork.

Beautiful messages.

Beautiful teens.

Beautiful unity.

Beautiful Feet.

Beautiful Feet 2015: Breakout Meetings

We organized a couple of breakout sessions on specific topics. They were related to organization of the home, marriage and parenting, and grief.

We also offered a couple of art expression seminars. This one involved taking clippings and creating a collage to represent a vision for life.

It was our goal to build in time for reflection and prayer, too. We didn't want to pack the weekend so full that everyone left tired.