We have Internet!

So as I wander through the garden of my home, I continue to have the same series of thoughts meander through my brain. It’s always a bit different, but nonetheless a variation of this: Thank God that this is not just a vacation. Thank God that I get to live here. Why would we ever want to leave here?

And when I pray, the words usually come out sounding something like: Thank you Lord for your provisions. Thank you God for your favor. I am not worthy of this opportunity, of this home, of the island, of Nick and Kristy’s generosity. Thank you Heavenly Father for blessing me so mightily. I feel so incredibly undeserving.

While I miss the home I left and the friends I left behind, I can’t help but feeling that this new home is exactly what I needed.

I am seldom speechless, but truly, I have been putting off trying to pen this blog – a blog that attempts to dictate via words what I am witnessing with my eyes.

I will try. But I am not sure I can possibly do this island justice.

Terceira is unbelievably green. Lush. Vibrant. From the little I saw on my drive from the airport to our home, I could only describe the landscape as something similar to Ireland. That’s probably not accurate, but I just don’t know what other comparison would be appropriate. There are rolling hillsides, plots of land separated by square rock walls, sprawling gardens, nearly manicured lawns. The houses remind me of a picture my friend Linda took while in Greece. The neighborhoods something like that in the movie The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. It’s not exactly. But maybe that helps paint a picture. Just a bit.

Our home is beyond anything I could even conceive in my dreams.

Here is what each floor looks like, for you extremely visual people (like my mother-in-law):

Floor one

• Two car attached arage with a long hallway/mudroom area leading to the house
• Huge sunroom which will be a playroom/dining room for us
• Sprawling kitchen
• Large office/library for JB
• Large living room with fireplace
• Full bathroom
• Huge laundry room
• Small office for me

Floor two

• Master bedroom with full bath
• Abigail’s room
• Boys' room
• Full bath
• Large living room and bar area
• Balcony off of living room area with stairs leading down to outside of floor one

Floor three

• Half bath
• Three bedrooms
• One small living room
• Two balconies

Outside

• Sprawling garden
• Gigantic pool
• Bathroom and three showers (located in garage for pool use)
• Covered and uncovered porch area with outdoor oven and fireplace
• Wrap around porch covering three sides of the house
• Unbelievably large driveway – you could park a dozen or more cars easily

All this and you can see the ocean from two sides of our house. I can hear the waves crashing the shoreline. It doesn’t have a beach like you might picture in your mind. Instead it is filled with tide pools and thick with black rocks that the boys love to crawl on. Isaac, our nimble little boy, frolics like a gazelle. And Elijah trudges along behind his brother, a bull in a China shop all the way.

Nick and Kristy’s home is just one block on the other side. I can see their house from our own, and in fact today, Kristy and I both happened outside at the same time, and we were able to hear each other. Their home is equally impressive in different ways.

Noah and the boys have become the best of friends nearly instantaneously. I don’t know if they remember him from a year ago at Incirlik, but they’ve immediately taken to begging to walk to Noah’s house. Noah is an incredibly verbose and precocious little man. He actually said to me that one of the boys, “is being a little obnoxious” and then later he told us we were going to go out to eat and get “corn dogs or squid.”

Kristy has already secured me a housekeeper – something that was at the top of my “to-do” list. Rita (pronounced “Heeta” and to stay true to that, I will write it as such from this point forward on my blog), speaks a very fast and hard to understand English, but we are able to communicate fairly well. She is probably in her sixties and lost her husband just a few years ago. She reminds me a lot of a Azorian Hatice. A strong, large woman who Abigail has already taken to immediately.

I have already met two of my neighbors. Fernanda and Al live across the street. They appear to be in their sixties and were heading out of town for a month when we met so we only shared a few, very friendly, words. They speak fantastic English – which is so nice! Sidanya appears much older, and a widow, she lives next door to Fernanda and Al. She speaks not one word of English but kissed Scrubs and Abigail as if they were long-lost friends. I mistakenly thought the Turks loved babies. So far, they don’t hold a candle to this island people!

Scrubs jumped up on our gate to greet Sidanya and instantly began kissing her and licking her. She seemed to almost revel in the love, and when I called Scrubs off, she insisted he return. As I got closer, I saw that Sidanya was crying. My-already-helping-me-housekeeper, Heeta came over, and I asked her to please help me ascertain why Sidanya was crying. Sidanya was crying because she loves dogs and babies so much. She lost her own puppy sometime recently, and Scrubs’ affection made her unbelievably happy. While Scrubs is a friendly dog, his love of Sidanya seemed almost unprecedented for a stranger on the street, and I can’t help but think the Lord knew she needed his licks on that afternoon.

I wrote this post on Tuesday but could only post it now that we are connected. On Wednesday we went on an Island tour. I'll write about that tomorrow!