Meet our Turkish Connections

* This post mentions pregnancy.

I thought it might be important to share a little background on the people we know who are currently in and currently leaving Turkey. You will probably hear these names on the blog fairly frequently so I wanted to provide a bit of background.

When JB came to Eglin in 2007, we started attending Crossway per the recommendation of Tristan. Tristan was a third year resident when JB started his internship year. We became good friends with Tristan and his wife Shannon. They were in our Care Group (weekly Bible study). I loved Shannon!

Anyways, so Tristan and Shannon found out they were being sent to Turkey. It wasn't on their dream list. They were, in the beginning, not thrilled with the idea. But as they came to terms with the fact that they were going to Turkey, we started to share the excitement about us possibly going there and working (and playing) with Tristan and Shannon.

The following year, during JB's second year of residency, Tristan came for a visit back to Eglin and basically convinced us that we wanted to go to Turkey. (Tristan has that power.) We liked the fact that JB wouldn't deploy during his time there and that we would know people there. We liked the adventure and living in a new place. We also liked the potential to control where we went a little bit. (By ranking Turkey #1, we felt pretty likely we would get it, although, as I have learned, nothing is a guarantee.)

Tristan also recruited a resident, one year in front of JB. Nick and his wife Kristy followed Tristan and Shannon to Turkey. They have been working together one year.

Since the Turkey assignment is only two years, Tristan and Shannon's time in Turkey is coming to a close. They had a chance to "re-up" for two more years (as we will have after we are there two years) but decided they wanted to come back to the States. They are actually leaving Turkey in the near future. I can't believe we will miss each other by just a few weeks.

(Shannon recently wrote an 'Ode to her time in Turkey. Click here to read it.)

However, Nick and Kristy are still there. They are our "sponsors." This is sort of like a "big brother" or "big sister" for you to lean on. They will meet us when we get off the plane and help us get settled. The have helped us tremendously already with questions we have had from the States. They will be there for at least one more year. At the end of year 1, they can make the decision about re-upping or going somewhere else. Nick and Kristy have one son, Noah, and they also have another child on the way. Because there is no OB department on Base, Kristy will be coming back to the states for nearly two months as she prepares for the arrival of her baby.

All righty. So there you have it. The names you may hear thrown around a bit. Stay in the loop folks.