Love the Lord your God, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him, for the Lord is your life! Deut. 30:20


Sunday, June 5, 2016

Turkey from the air

After our crazy 2 hour sleep, it was time to get up!  
We met the rest of our group at breakfast.
Off we went on the bus to the airport to catch a flight to Antalya.












Kudos to Belgin, our Turkish guide who got boarding passes for all 42 of us ahead of time!

The scenery was jaw-dropping for me 
and I just have to share the beauty of Turkey!

I am so grateful that I had window seats on all our flights.
(thanks to you who prayed!)
Not only to take pictures, but I am claustrophobic
              and it helps me to have that open space to look out at!






Amazing!!  Mt. Ararat is in far eastern Turkey, but can't you just envision the ark coming to rest on mountains like these?





 Antalya, Turkey
 Look, Eli!  A shark conveyer for our suitcases!

And then we were off and running to the next thing...

Friday, June 3, 2016

Leaving for Turkey

When we went to Israel with our friend, Dr. Jim Martin of Bible World Seminars (Al and I in 2013 and Al with our son in 2014), we told him that when he did the study tour of Paul's Missionary Journeys again to please let us know.


As a child, my mom had us study Paul's missionary journeys.  
We had to fill out charts and everything!


Last fall we were told that a trip would be happening and we signed up!  
The much anticipated time finally arrived!  

We packed on Saturday.  Only carry-ons because who wants to risk lost luggage!?  
My parents traveled the world and my mother's rule was:  
         put everything you want to pack on the bed - 
                   then take only half of that amount.


Of course we had to take Lortab along!
Lortab has his own Facebook Page.  Check it out!
(Lortab Newton)
























Sunday morning was just gorgeous!
I was reminded of the song 10,000 Reasons.

Bless the Lord oh my soul, Oh my soul
Worship His Holy name
Sing like never before Oh my soul
I'll worship Your Holy name

The sun comes up It's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes



 Jill and the girls skipped church to take us to the airport.
(I think that's an ok excuse for a pastor's family to miss, right?)

Claire loved the sparkly fancy dresses on display at the airport.


Good-bye family!!  See you in 2 weeks!
Good-bye Wichita!

We arrived in Atlanta and had a 3 1/2 hour lay-over.
At least that was the plan.

We boarded the plane and then there was a problem so we had to de-plane.
And wait some more.  Another 3 1/2 hours.
I would rather have plane trouble on land than have something go wrong over the ocean!
Perhaps it was an answer to prayer!
And at least they let us de-plane! 
My parents once had to sit on the tarmac for 4 hours!!



We arrived in Amsterdam and missed our connecting flight to Istanbuhl.
We were going to have to wait all day long for an evening flight!
We debated putting our luggage in a locker and taking a tour of the city, but the airport personnel told us that it was a holiday and that there were lines everywhere.   
They did not recommend our leaving the airport.

I had been reading about Daniel in the Bible and how Satan had thwarted him for 3 weeks.  
What is a few hours, right?  God knows best.

I found a massage kiosk.



And also found a pub to eat at with our other Wichita traveling companions.

We didn't get to our hotel in Istanbuhl until 1:30 am!  
It was going to be a very short night!
In fact, only 2 hours to sleep before we were going to need to get up!

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there Your hand will guide me.
Your right hand will hold me fast."  
                                Psalm 139:9-10

What a good word that I am never separated from His care!

Monday, May 30, 2016

Community Life end of year

We finished out our "year" with our community life group from church (aka small group or care group).  We were sad that 2 of the couples ended up not being able to come, so we will have to have one more summer get-together!

 (I wonder if the smoke kept the hummingbird from coming for his supper?)

 We had a good spread!


Stephanie's recipe for stuffed peppers:
Bag of sweet mini peppers
    (won't use all)
8 Oz. Cream cheese
Green onions 
Garlic
Sriracha sauce
Evirgin olive oil
Cilantro
Bacon
Melt all together and stuff
Bake 375 20 min.
Broil additional 5.



 After dinner, we got out the potatoe gun that Uncle Mahlon made for us.  Always good entertainment!



 More fun!

 Sleeping is her style.




 


Saturday, May 28, 2016

Dave and Sarah's birds

Our dear friends live on a farm.


Sarah and I were visiting on a bench overlooking their garden.



I brought my camera along to capture some of the beautiful birds they have.
The last time I was there I captured this from inside their livingroom on my camera phone.


I came prepared this time!



Come a little closer, Mr. Nuthatch!


 Hello, Mrs. Cardinal.

I LOVE the bluebirds!
 They don't live in my neighborhood.  So sad.
 Mr. Titmouse
 

Thank you, Sarah, for the wonderful visit!