For Patty

What a joy it is to host a baby shower, now, on the other side of infertility. It has taken many years, but I can honestly say that now, I do not covet this miracle any longer. I pray for those of you who are still in the throngs of the sadness which can accompany barrenness. Whether you be barren of the womb, as I was for so many years. Barren of a spouse. Barren in your soul due to a great loss. Or barren of the spirit due to the absence of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am thinking of you today. Anytime I am celebrating, and especially when I post the pictures later, I think of all those who may be hurting today. I pray that the Lord hears your hurting heart today.

This is a baby shower post though. And while I am always selective in the pictures I put on my blog, feel free to skip this post if it is not a good time for you. 

Angelica and I threw a baby shower for my friend Patty. We had a dinner for men and women alike at the downtown Adana Hilton -- one of the only "America-like" places you can find off of the Base. What a beautiful evening it was. Enjoy the snaps:

My friend Heather (who was born in Nigeria) waiting for the guests to arrive. Heather is a nurse who works with JB and Yamil.

Angelica sporting some high heels. She makes it look so effortless -- but if you ask her, she'll tell you how effortless it is not!

Patty & Yamil plan to decorate the nursery in "Space" theme due to their mutual love of STAR WARS.

Thus the blanket Angelica and I had made for little Troy.

 Patty and Yamil were at Eglin with us and what a great time it was to spend a year with them here in Turkey! They will always be a special part of our family.

And so will they -- Dr. "Winda" and Mr. Shane.

The fact that they put candles on the cake was very Turkish. The fact that I had to do all of the communicating as well. (There were no other Turkish speakers in our group.) But the night itself was truly an escape from the life we all live. 

Patty with her co-shower-hosts.

 JB goofing around with our goddaughter Reese. The hotel provided champagne for our celebrations.

Patty is a hugger. We hug every time we see each other and every time we part. I will miss her hugs.

 Today, the truck came to begin packing up Angelica's things. She and Dan will be the first family to leave in our circle of friends. This picture so perfectly captures her beauty -- both inside and out.

With Linda, Angelica, and Reese.

Angelica made this adorable shower cake. You can barely see the "que' pasa" t-shirt in the front. Patty and Angelica share a mutual love of the Spanish language even though Patty is from Peurto Rico and Angelica from Spain.



Honored

Our friends Dan and Angelica have a family tradition of asking someone from their current circle of friends to be the godparent for each of their children. How honored we were to accept the offer to be the godparent for little Reese Summer. (Don't you love Isaac in this picture?) We hope that as she grows, we can offer the prayers, love, and encouragement that she and her family need, and that she grows up to find contentment in life and a love for the Lord.

Easter 2012

Life can change a lot in just one year -- especially with young children. Here are the boys at the Easter Egg Hunt on Incirlik Air Base in 2011: 

And here they are today, same Base, same place, one year later, in 2012:

And of course, back then, their buddy William was definitely right by their side:

And he was right by their side this time again. Look at how much they have all grown up:

And this year, there was a third little one who needed to be a part of the pictures too:

After some pictures, it was off to the races. At first, the boys stuck together:

But then, it was time to divide and conquer. Check out Isaac getting two at once:

I must say, overall, I am not a huge fan of these egg hunts. Especially when the eggs aren't really hidden at all. It seems like it is going against everything we teach them. Share. Don't take everything. Make sure everyone has enough. That sort of thing. But then we give them an Easter basket and instruct them to "get as many as you can!"

Either way though, it was fun, and it was also good to get a little break from packing!

Sometimes I don't like ...

... being married to a doctor.

I find out things. Painful things. Maybe not specific (patient confidentiality and all that jazz) but I still hear generically sad stories.

Last night JB received a phone call. He was asked to take over for the current doctor on call. Phone call. (There is always one doctor on phone call -- handling emergencies in off hours.)

Why did he have to take over? Because there had been a death. A young airman. And the current doctor on call was on his way to the hospital to deal with the details.

Here is a link to an article about the death. 


While JB knows more, and I subsequently know more, I don't want to post more until that information is public knowledge. But what I will say is, becoming a mother has made me more sensitive to these types of things. I was changing Abigail's diaper when JB told me, and all I could think was, "This young man was someone's baby. IS someone's baby."


Our Base is small. And these things hurt deeply. I did not know this man personally. But please pray for all who did.

Incirlik (and life in general) notes

• I miss Angelica and Stebbs something awful. They are both out of town and both return in the next week or so. I can't wait to see them.
• Our boys seem to be adjusting to a new little sister without too much of a glitch. I definitely feel some mother guilt about trying to split myself three ways instead of two, but I know this is just part of the adjustment.
• Baby Abigail is really chunking up. I love when little babies start getting chunky. Feeding is going so much better. She is happier. Mom is happier. We are continuing to breast feed and bottle feed every feed. I am also pumping to try and keep my milk supply up.
• Summer in Turkey is not nearly as hot as it was last year Praise the Lord! It is still warm, don't get me wrong. But more South-Florida-like instead of Middle-Eastern-like. The cool thing is (no pun intended) that it gets into the 70's early in the morning and late at night which is a nice treat.
• I thought Abigail's sleeping through the night would end when we fixed her eating. However, she has continued to sleep through the night. She goes to bed around 10pm and sleeps until about 5am. Glorious!
• Believe it or not we are planning a return trip to Germany in a few months. Not exactly what I wanted to do but getting to see JB's parents who are going to meet us there is worth going back. I can't wait for them to get two weeks of time with their grandkids.
• Now that the school year is starting again (Monday), activities on Base are starting again as well. Things really shut down for the summer as so many people travel. I am going to be involved with MOPs. I am also going to be involved with an infertility support group that is starting up. In addition, I am helping at church with the Bulletin. I think that is enough for now!
• The ATM took my debit card today. Just sucked it in. Not happy about that. I've got to figure out a way to go through all the steps written on the paper on the top of the ATM to get it back now. Bummer.
• JB is really enjoying the new doctor who has come in: Yamil. He and Yamil have really hit it off and work right across the hall from each other which has been great for JB. His wife Patty is also awesome so that is great (for me.)
• Please scroll down and participate in my blog poll if you haven't already.

Incirlik Connection

Incirlik has had a resident from Eglin Air Force Base here for the last four years:

First it was Tristan (not pictured), then came Nick (who just moved to the Azores), then JB, and now Yamil (center)

Here is a picture of Yamil and his lovely wife Patty. They got here a few weeks ago! We were sad to say good bye to Nick and Kristy and their kiddos Noah & Jonah but are excited to have new friends here.

A bit more Easter

Wanted to share a few pics my friend Kristy got of Elijah participating in one of the two hunts that the co-op moms put on for the kiddos.

Also, here's a fun video featuring the Easter Egg Hunt our boys attended on Easter. It shows the community we are a part of here at Incirlik (even if you don't see our boys in it!)

What a Difference a Year Makes!

Last year, I attempted an Easter Egg Hunt with both boys, by myself, while JB was working. (He worked a lot so going as a family wasn't quite possible.) The boys didn't really "get it" but we still got a couple of fun pictures:

Look how little they are!

Is that not Elijah or what!?

This year, my hubby is no longer a resident and so we were able to head over to Arkadas park as a family for an Easter Egg Hunt. The boys are much older and definitely "got it" this year. They also have had two mini hunts at co-op during the last two weeks that have allowed them to "get it" even more.

The Base did a great job of preparing for this hunt. They separated the park into sections based on age group, and, being the smart people they are, allowed the 0-3 year old group to go first!

JB explaining to the boys that they have to wait to cross the line until the lady says "Go!"

Posing with their truck baskets from Joni. Aren't those the cutest things?!

They kept holding hands while waiting for the lady to tell them they could start.

Elijah spots an egg that might be close enough to sneak in his truck before the gun!

... with one of their best buddies William.

... with one of my best buddies, Stebbs!

He's following the family rule: only jump in puddles if you have boots on.

Look at that face (Isaac)!

And look at that face (JB)! What a great husband and father he is. I love this man!

And we are off!

Elijah faces the forces of gravity yet again -- poor kid is so top heavy.

A bit muddy ...

... but he recovers quickly.

Great fun!!!!

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

There is something called "Club Membership" here on Base. If you are a "Club Member" you can participate in all these extra perks on Base. I think this is something that most Bases have, but only on a small Base like this do you actually participate in enough events to make it worth while. (And here, they give you an Internet discount and it is basically equal to the monthly cost of membership.)

This morning was the monthly Club breafkast. We made sure to go, especially because Santa was going to be there!

Isaac telling Santa all about his little "fire dog" cars that he got from Uncle Ray and Aunt Gabbi. We thought he'd want nothing to do with Santa, but he actually thought Santa was a very funy idea!

Is that a bit of a smile from Isaac for a photo? Could it be?

Elijah, who has not been feeling well, did not want to take a picture with Santa. So JB sat down with him on his lap and Santa snuck in behind him!

Medical Christmas Party

Well folks, as mentioned in a previous post, Saturday evening was the Christmas party for the medical group here at Incirlik. It's amazing how many people are involved in people's health. I am not good at numbers but I would estimate there were between 100-150 people for the event. It was a very fun evening! There were games and activities and food. What else could you want? We also won one door prize and at my prodding, JB agreed to participate in a game which resulted in a quite snazzy digital camera. (All he had to do was imitate an owl and a penguin and find his matching person who had the same animal. How easy is that?)

As I also mentioned earlier, I had no idea that this was a formal event until just a few hours beforehand. I dropped-in at the Turkish beauty salon on Base and pulled out the black dress from my friend Michelle's wedding and made the best attempt I could at looking put-together in a very short period of time.

This will be the last time I wear this dress for quite some time. It is true that baby #2 starts protruding much faster than baby #1. The dress will need to be retired for at least a year.

I think it is quite obvious (to me at least) that I already look a bit pregnant here.

This is a great friend of mine, Tina. She has five children. Her oldest daughter, Hannah, was babysitting for us that evening. She is a wonderful Christian gal with a lot of parenting knowledge that I am always willing to "steal"!

This is Tina and her husband Mark. They live just around the block from us. It was so fun to sit next to them for the dinner.

This is Andrea, a fellow doctor, with JB. Nick couldn't make it due to his family just returning from the States and Linda was out-of-town. So Andrea and JB held down the fort.

Not the best picture of us, but an attempt at least. (And I wanted to show you the cool thing this guy did with my hair.)