My furthest venture yet

Today was a big day.

Stebbins and I decided that we needed to do something today. Not just something little. Something big.

There has been some sad news amongst our church family on Base this week. While we don't have all the details, we have enough to know that our Chaplain's wife, Deborah, (pronounced Deb-or-uh), went in for emergency surgery to find the source of pain in her abdomen and found out she has cancer. We've all been hit hard by this news. On a Base so small, you have an incredible sense of community. Ch C. is an amazing man. His wife is fantastic. Their daughter celebrated her 6th birthday yesterday. Please keep this family in your prayers.

And while praying, we decided we needed a distraction.

How 'bout the M1?

The M1 is the big mall in Adana. I have only driven off Base a handful of times. And the farthest I have driven is the Sunday and Monday markets. This is much farther.

Like I said: big. Any trip off Base in Turkey is big.

If you saw the roads in Turkey, the drivers in Turkey, the directions in Turkey, you would agree that this is big too. Real big.

So after spending an hour socializing with Hatice, I packed the boys up in the van and picked up Sarah and William at her house. So glad we have our van as they easily fit on Board!

This was a day littered with accomplishments and disappointments. The first accomplishment was actually getting all three boys in their car seats and on the way. But the first disappointment was missing the exit to the M1. This means going miles and miles and miles out of the way. In Turkey, the entire highway is lined with a guardrail which means you can't turn around (unless you find a rare spot where there is no rail and you break the law and make a u-turn.) Exits are few and far between. And just because there is an exit on the right side does NOT mean there is an entrance on the other side.

If I had a dollar for every Turk I have seen backing up down an on ramp, I'd be able to redo the roads in Turkey. And after driving in Turkey, I don't blame them. I'd do it too. Try getting off a highway in the middle of nowhere and not being able to get back on and not knowing where you are. That would be bad.

So as we realized we passed the exit, Stebbins and I were determined not to let that happen. As long as we were on the Interstate, we would know where we were. We wouldn't be technically lost. Just a bit misplaced.

We finally spotted a service plaza on the right hand side of the road. We stopped. Stebs rolled down her window and in only the way Stebs can, informed me that I would do the talking. Stebs jokes about the time she tried to ask a Turkish person to practice Turkish with her and after hearing her start they just shook his head and said, "Please. Don't." Since then, Stebs has decided I will be her default Turkish voice.

Here is where another accomplishment came in to play. I successfully spoke to the gas station pumper guy in Turkish. I remembered to first tell him that I do not speak very much Turkish. I have found that it helps to start a conversation this way. Jumping right into what I wants makes them jump in even faster and leaves me completely spinning in circles as I attempt to tell them I have no idea what they are talking about. After telling him my Turkish was limited, I asked him where the M1 was. He didn't know what I was talking about. Finally we realized that in Turkish the M1 would be the Mbir. Okay. A look of understanding filled his eyes.

For the next minute he gave me directions, in Turkish. By watching his hand gestures and paying attention to the moments he said right and left, I was able to actually figure out what he was telling me! I followed his Turkish words right to the M1. Okay so we had to make one more u-turn. But still! Success!

Once at the M1, Stebs and I decided to visit this toy castle which is actually in the building next to the mall. We found a special gem. Okay so the castle is basically a glorified toy store. But it also included some cars and bikes that the boys could climb on (they still don't know that you can put money in these) as well as an outdoor cafe complete with a playground and small zoo. There were ducks, monkeys, quail (we think), and rabbits.

Here is where one of the disappointing moments crept in again. Isaac and especially Elijah wanted to play with the rabbits. It is so hard to remember that Turkey doesn't have safety precautions like we do in America. Just because it appears to be safe to pet the rabbits doesn't mean it is. As they giggle and squealed and put their fingers in with the rabbits and felt the rabbits tickling their fingers, I felt that familiar check in my spirit. I turned to Sarah. Should I allow them to continue? It's so hard. They are laughing and just in a total state of innocence. You know you should stop them. But you don't.

And Elijah gets bit.

Suddenly he's screaming and his finger is stuck in a rabbit's mouth, and I am trying to pull it away and he is bleeding. He doesn't scream for too long and Stebs and I start conferencing. We know that dog and cat bites or scratches in Turkey are an instant series of rabies shots.

But rabbits?

With no cell phone, I can't call JB and ask him if I have just made a small boo-boo or a very large boo-boo, so we continue on with our day, the rabbit bite nestled at the forefront of my thoughts. We head over to the actual Mbir and go to McDonalds. This is the first time I have eaten at McDonalds since we left the USA, and I enjoy my double cheeseburger immensely. It's a crazy lunch, as you would expect a lunch with three toddlers to be, but Stebs and I continue to gloat about our successful day -- coming to the mall by ourselves! Who would have thought?!

Sad side note. Stebs accidentally got an ARYAN drink when she wanted milk. Oh folks these things are just hideous. It is salty yogurt water. That's the only way I know how to explain it. The Turks love them. The Americans hate them. Blah. But Stebs did practice asking for a burger with no pickle (love my Turkish phrase book) and the boys got balloons and all was well with the world.

In the midst of gloating about our success, we missed the exit on the way back too. You might think we weren't paying attention, but we definitely were. It is just so hard to read signs and figure out which way is which. The time it was probably 20km until we could find a turn around. We saw one exit ramp but we wisely skipped out on going off of it. There was no return entrance ramp to the highway in sight!

We made it home right at nap time and even managed to keep all three boys from falling asleep in the car (thanks to a myriad of songs -- who knew that Stebbins and I both had the same fairly poor voice abilities that when put together don't sound absolutely horrid) and ruining naptime. Stebs had a stellar day. In fact, most of the times we messed up on were because I failed to listen to what she was suggesting. But I did come through with my Turkish! So at least I contributed in some ways to the festivities of the day.

As for the rabbits, a call to JB when I got back to Base left me nearly in tears. He was pretty sure that Elijah was going to have to come in, today, for the first of a five day series of shots in his nail bed, arm, and leg. I felt terrible! But after JB double-checked with public health, we found out that in fact rabbits are not "on the list" and we were free to escape the shots. Praise the Lord!

The only other semi-funny thing to report from the day was that while I was changing both the boys diapers in the women's tuvalet, Elijah handed Isaac a clean diaper. Isaac, thinking he was helping, threw it away in a bathroom stall. I couldn't go grab it since Elijah was laying on the changing table and by the time I could, a woman had used that bathroom and thrown stuff on top of the clean diaper. Oh well.

In addition, as soon as we got home, Elijah walked in, picked up Hatice's duster and stuck it in her bucket of water and then twirled it around getting water all over. While that was occurring, Isaac decided to unpack Hatice's folded laundry.

... and then it was off to naps! I have moved Elijah into the crib in the "office" during naps. There is just too much playing going on at nap time (despite removing all toys from their room.) So bedtime is in the room together and nap time in the office. It's a good arrangement and one that helps keep me sane instead of spending two hours trying to get them go to sleep and stop playing.