Arriving and First Week

Blog Post About June 2021

When we arrived in Istanbul, we were all SO tired. It had been a big week and we had such a late flight.

This is Karis and Keira after a small breakfast.

June 20, 2021

When we landed, we were finally in the same time zone as Kylie, but it would be another two weeks before I would see her. 

First, I had to get my cell phone hooked up, and then we had some shopping to do before we started traveling everywhere.

The dance studio that we have been a part of in the past told me Keira could come to their dance camp, so that helped tremendously!

After Karis and I went to Old Navy, Kohls, TJ Maxx, and two Targets, we were worn out and we hadn't found much. Selections were scarce. We decided to just go sit somewhere and order things online.

We also had a few advisor visits at Texas A&M.

After four days, it was time to travel to see my parents. This is how the six of us communicated while we were apart. Three of us in South Texas, one in Tennessee, and two in the Middle East.

June 25, 2021

We stayed three nights with my parents and we also went to church, and then we went to see Doug's parents.

June 29, 2021

We had high hopes of finding better shopping options in their town. 

We went to Target, Old Navy, Kohls, Claire's Boutique, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Ollies, Sam's, and Walmart in a two day span, and I think we found enough to get by :) The tough item to find was good, reasonably priced luggage (I was going to take some things back for a friend, and I needed some extra luggage space)

After three nights with them, we headed back to our base.

Traveling * Awards * Shopping * Communicating

Blog About Fall 2020

The week after the hurricane, we headed the other direction to Brownwood, Texas.

The house where we stayed had a lot of dress-up clothes for grandchildren, and Keira modeled no less than 7 outfits one night.

October 17, 2020

When we returned to College Station, we took Karis out to celebrate her becoming a member of the National Honor Society.

Since she attends an online school, there was no ceremony or acknowledgement. I thought back to my own induction, and told her to hold up a steak knife while she said the "pledge" (that we looked up online).

I would say this generally is not what you want to see your 16-year old daughter doing.

October 19, 2020

Two days later, my friend Shelley invited me to go antique/vintage shopping with her. I don't often get to do "girl trips," so it was so fun to spend the day with her.

One crazy thing about the day was so many reminders of Africa.

For example, this mannequin head is a similar replica of one in Kampala, Uganda, that we used to pass often and note how out-of-place it was there. I found a picture of another laughing one in Uganda that I posted way back in 2011

Also, these wood crafts, which were shipped in from Ghana, reminded me so much of all the times we went to craft markets anywhere in East Africa.

And this speaks for itself.  (the link is from Tanzania in 2010).

 

October 21, 2020

And this became our new normal in communicating with Kylie while she was at school.

What a blessing instant communication with video is!

October 20, 2020

First Things, First

Blog Post about Summer 2020

I drove by myself to Dallas to pick up the crew when they flew in, and their flight was delayed just like ours had been. 

Since I had a lot of time to kill, I called my brother and his wife, and asked if I could hang out with them for awhile. We ended up going out for a great dinner and devised a plan of surprise.

My sister-in-law, Jen, and my nephew Nolan would come to the airport with me and hide while I videoed them disembarking. Caleb and Nolan are really close, so that was a special reunion.

Also, since it was now WAY too late to drive back the two hours to College Station, we all crashed on their floors and couches for the night while Karis was back in College Station with Keira, and she said they were fine.

Very quickly, the next morning, a plan came together to leave Caleb in Dallas with my brother's family for an untold amount of time. I was a little apprehensive because Caleb had grown so much, and I knew he really needed to go clothes shopping immediately. I didn't want to put that burden on my sister-in-law, but she took it on like a champ.

I got pictures in the stores and from their house of all of his new purchases, and I really can't thank her enough for all the places she took him to get him outfitted!

July 1, 2020

And then, they took him out and fed him well!

Nolan & Caleb, July 1, 2020

Then they entertained him and showed him a good time in America.

And can you believe, we didn't see him for another MONTH!

In the meantime, we were all in College Station getting over jet lag.

Karis and I took Keira with us one day to get coffee at this little shop downtown.

The picture of it is below, and when we walked in, Keira said, "Wow! They really need to fix this place up. It is falling to pieces."

I guess this look isn't for everyone ;). Keira was a little nervous about walking in.

July 2, 2020

We celebrated the first Fourth of July Keira could remember at a subdivision outside of town.

She was definitely not impressed. 

The fireworks were okay, but she couldn't get past the loud noises, so she ended up covering her ears the whole night.

Funny enough, one year later, in 2021, she and I celebrated the Fourth in Mississippi on the Bogue Chitto River, and we didn't last 3 minutes outside, before we went inside the cabin to get away from the noise.

Anybody else have kids like this? :)

Karis and her friend Emma reunited.

Emma flew overseas to see us February 2019.

Meanwhile, the messages on instagram from back home read: "Government offices will reopen at 30 percent capacity on Sunday to Wednesday from 9am to 1pm, with strict health instructions. This decision does NOT include the health department, police, Asayesh or security apparatus and service departments.

Other places including language teaching centers, public and private parks, children playground areas, cinemas, party halls, night clubs, bars, shisha venues, gyms, swimming pools, massage centers, and public baths are also to remain shut.

New measures are imposed until July 11 midnight."

I had no idea we had public baths.  Hmmmm.

Lockdown...One More Time

2020 continued...

We needed to re-stock a bit for the lockdown, but we decided to walk, and it's a good thing we did.

I wish you could have heard the honking and craziness of what this picture represents.

People went kind of crazy (again) the day before this lockdown started.

This is what one taxi driver gave Doug to use as a mask.

Yes, that's a paper towel.

This sign was at the airport as a notice for people to stay healthy while traveling:

*Eat only well cooked food

*Avoid spitting in public

*Avoid close contact and travel with animals that are sick

And this posting...I don't know what the punishment was, but it was a big deal around here for a while that people were saying the corona virus was fake.

 

The End of Life as We Know It

February 20, 2020, was Keira's last day in a brick and mortar school until February 2021!

Keira's school was the first to tell its students not to come back, but that is because they had a natural holiday break starting the 20th. The rest of the country shut down its schools on February 26th.

We felt so blessed that the city didn't go on lockdown until March 14th because we were able to renew our visas on time (February 24), and the girls were able to get their braces off (March 8).

This sign (and others like it) was the beginning of the government taking notice and trying to make the people aware.

Anti-bacterial soap was the first item for sale as I walked into this grocery store.

And this man's basket was filled with sanitizing items.

February 26, 2020

I actually thought people were going a little overboard, but at this time, the death rate was very small, and I wasn't seeing how it was going to reach our country.

So, we continued on with life for a very short while.

On the 18th, some friends of mine and one of their mothers had breakfast together and then went shopping at a bazaar.

February 18, 2020

And Kylie and Karis taught their last ballet class on February 29.

February 29, 2020

Searching for a Magic Carpet in a Middle Eastern Bazaar (plus a birthday)

Doug's birthday came and went without much to-do.  This year it fell on a Saturday, which is our busiest day as a family.  I take all the girls to the dance studio in the morning so the older two can teach and Keira can go to ballet class.  After a 2 1/2 hours, I take everyone home, where Keira has 25 minutes to eat, and then I take her back for gymnastics.  After gymnastics, we go home where I start cooking dinner, and Doug and Caleb prepare to go to soccer in the evening. They get home around 9:30pm, and that's when we have dinner.  I think this is why I don't have any pictures of his birthday this year. Sorry.

Of course, Doug has never required pomp and circumstance. He is solid, strong, bold, full of integrity, confident, and a truth-teller. He loves his family well. Our well-being, health, safety, and spiritual growth are always at the forefront of his mind.  He gives freely to others but never at the expense of us, and we know that.  Thank you and happy birthday, Doug!

As an example, he gave to others two days after his birthday when he cleared his calendar to take two single ladies to the rug bazaar. They moved here last summer, and with winter coming, they wanted to get some carpets for their floors.  I got to go along.

I hadn't been to the rug-portion of the bazaar since we bought ours back in 2016, and back then, I didn't have much language to use.  These ladies are learning a different language, so Doug was the spokesperson and bargainer for the day.

This particular bazaar sits at the foot of the citadel that is the center of our city.

(this was taken from the bazaar, looking back up to the citadel)

It's not a beautiful bazaar, but it does have a lot of nifty things.  This is where we have had kitchen sinks and cabinets made. There are desks, lamps, bedroom sets, dishes, vacuum parts, car parts, and pretty much parts for everything.

Unfortunately, you might have to dig through piles like this.

This was a pile of re-claimed plastics, and I really don't know if anyone ever goes through this stuff, but who knows?

This is one of the "carpet roads." It's not glamorous from this view, but each shop you go into is well-maintained, clean, and the men in there can unroll and re-roll any carpet you want to look at faster than you can say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."  

Sometimes, when you walk in, the space opens up into a large warehouse that would hold 50 cars, and it's all full of carpets!

It's apparently very important to be able to buy balloons for not-so-happy children almost everywhere you go in this city.  I don't understand it, but seriously, I've never seen more balloons for sale anywhere except maybe a State Fair.

The man beside him is waiting to "trolley" someone back to their vehicle or taxi.

It's pretty amazing how small they can get giant floor carpets when they fold them.

The carpets are still heavy, so we hired a guy to get the ladies' rugs back to our vehicle. 

Well worth it!

November 4, 2019

Garage Sale on Fire

Last fall, one of my favorite places to shop for treasures was destroyed by fire.  Historical and cultural significance were not anywhere near the scale of Notre Dame, but it was just a cool "garage sale" to wander around in.

I've written about this bazaar before, so if you look back at pictures, you can see that there was plenty in there to feed the fire.

Reports of the rescue effort were just as sad as the fire itself.  One news station wrote about shop owners beating up the firefighters.  Each shop owner wanted their shop's fire extinguished first, and in their anxiety and selfishness, they couldn't see that the firefighters were doing the best they could.

With rain falling steadily, the fire department requested help from a helicopter.

But sadly, you can see how little of a difference it made.

This bazaar is a FULL CITY BLOCK of small shops connected by brick walls and tin roofs.

The fire started in the early morning hours, before opening time.  Shopkeepers who arrived early tried to drag their belongings out; however, the bazaar is made up of about 2,400 shops, with long, long walkways far away from the edge.  It was reported that about half (1,200) of those shops were destroyed.

The good news is that they are re-building.

With brick this time.

And it's almost finished.

Garage Sale on Steriods

Well, I've shown you pictures of the bazaar near our house, but I don't think I've shown you pictures of a bigger bazaar in town. 

I have been there over seven times, and I STILL haven't seen the whole thing.  It goes on and on and on.  

Some of the items are used, but most are new.  I find it a fascinating place to go.

For example, we weren't sure we could find roller blades in this country, but here they are.

Who knew this even existed?  We were shocked to see Kylie's name all over the place.  I'm guessing this is "in" in America...

Sports shoes/gear

Overwhelming sometimes.

Well, if you're gonna sell one item, make sure it's a cute shirt...

What in the world?!

One of 6 or 7 toy stalls. 
It's basically hunt and find. 
There's always a man sitting in the shop trying to fix broken toys he's received.
Most of these toys have been owned and loved by someone and now they are up for re-sale.
The one exception is the LOADS of McDonald's toys that somehow make their way over here.

That is Doug's hand, and one giant fish!

Need some pots?

The one thing that does drive me a little crazy is the lack of organization.
It's like shopping at TJ Maxx or Ross, which are also not my favorite.

Why build shelves when you can use the floor to display your merchandise?

I didn't even photograph the curtains, fabric, bedding, children's clothes, kitchen wares, dishes, camping equipment, cobblers sewing shoes, plastic flowers, baskets, food, under-clothes, high heel shoes, carpet, etc. etc.  It goes on and on and on.

Let me know if you want to go sometime, and I'll be glad to take you :)