No more Abi -Bobby and other Drew Bits

One morning about a month ago, Drew began singing “Abi-Bobby” at the breakfast table. Andy and I couldn’t make out what it was supposed to be, but we were tickled at Drew’s enthusiasm in singing. Well over the last month the tune and the words have developed. Drew can now sing “Are You Sleeping?” in English and French, though despite Mathias’s best efforts the German version just hasn’t stuck. We are amazed that anything could displace “Tractor, Tractor” from the top of the charts on Drew’s Top Ten, but it seems we have a new favorite.

Drew is having a great time having toddler dinner dates with Ana Maria Lohmann. They are about the same size and play at the same speed: rough! Hugging, wrestling, running down the hill and pushing the toy baby carriage have been some of their favorite activities. It has been too wet the last two days to make it to the park, but they’ve made the most of some indoor play areas, as you can see.

I suppose the other moms will have a little patience with me if I ramble about verbal development for a minute. It is so amazing to watch!! When we arrived two months ago Drew rarely used two words together and now he is making noun verb sentences and describing things… Now, for truth in advertising, the descriptions are not always accurate – all colors are red and/or green, all food that is unappealing to Drew in some way is hard, and I’m really glad that most people who he calls funny don’t know the English language. While “Bye-bye” used to be a greeting for those arriving or departing, Drew now enjoys saying “Hi,” but often says, “Hi Drew,” to greet his friends, and may continue to repeat himself until someone else will say, “Hi Drew,” back to him! So, “Hi Drew!” to ya’ll out there! We’ll see those of you in DC soon!

More Visitors

After finishing our time in Adana, Ashley and Daniel stayed with us for a few days back in Istanbul. Here they are earlier on the trip to Antioch. We had fun introducing them to folks here and then to our house group on Sunday.

We have had an unexpected opportunity to share the guest house with some folks from the Eastern part of the country. The family needed to come into town for a medical emergency. We hope we have been able to be a little help to these new friends, and we are thankful to God that the medical issues have been dealt with very well at the hospital and that the whole family is together now with us at the guest house. It has been fun for Drew to have other toddlers in the house, and it has been good for his selfish heart to have lots of practice sharing.

That surprise meant a bit of a change of plans, since the Lohmann family was scheduled to stay with us this week. We are so thankful that Missy and Peter have graciously taken in our company. We have still had fun seeing the city and getting in some good chats together. It is a great encouragement to hear about the work Sarah and Mathias are investing their lives in and we’re so glad they could join us for a little rest!

In between we’ve been fitting in some lunches, language work and meetings as we prepare for the end of our time here. Andy has had some good meetings with other friends connected with work here in the country. Next week he’ll have some planning meetings that will hopefully help shape work here for several years to come. And of course, there are still some of Andy’s occasional meetings with a local friend to try to keep improving his Turkish.

Island Tour

Since the weather has been unseasonably warm and sunny, we decided to pretend it was summer on Saturday and head out to the Prince Islands just off the coast of Istanbul. They are a popular vacation spot for locals and tourists alike in the summer, and on warm days in the winter, they appear to be a popular with hikers. The local ferry system runs a line from our local pier that stops at the four largest islands. We had a fun ferry ride out in the morning, and enjoyed comparing each of the islands from the window. The last stop is at the largest of the three, named The Big Island.

We only had about two hours on the island, but we had a really delightful visit… and since most things were closed for the off season, we felt like the time was just fine. We took a horse drawn carriage ride to tour the island. There are no private vehicles on the island, the roads are clear for horse carriages and bicycles. We gawked through town at the Victorian villas and modern palatial summer homes with terraced lawns and landscaped grounds. Then the carriage turned up through the center of the island where a national park preserves acres of pine forest and a wonderful view of the islands and the mainland coast. At a rest stop at the top of the hill, Drew got to “ride” one of the horses- he is going to be talking about it for days!

We had time for a brief lunch right on the Marmara. The view was better than the food, but we were able to eat and make the ferry on time, and that was important so that we could get Drew down for a nap. Drew had great fun on the back of the ferry boat watching people feed the seagulls and watching the wake of the boat. We would especially recommend the trip in the summer, but it was great to get out for the fresh air and green space.

All Things Drew

Well, every now and then we need to have a little update for the grandparents, and other Drew fans! Drew is getting a lot of head rubs…I hope he will manage to still have hair when we leave. Anyone on the street may stroke his hair and say “Mash-Allah” (meaning something like - Allah is generous)… which is really just code for “You are so cute!” but they don’t want the evil spirits to get jealous and come after the child, so they praise Allah instead.

Drew is also getting a lot of credit for being Turkish. His love for Ayran (the salty yoghurt drink) wins big points. His pronunciation of the English word “kitty” sounds far more like the Turkish version, “Kedi,” and there are lots of the little furry guys around, so many people get to share in Drew’s delight in spotting (and chasing) them!


We also get lots of input into Drew’s care on the street. Today Andy was managing Drew, the stroller and some shopping bags on the bus. A well meaning woman wagged her finger at him for not holding onto Drew tightly enough, then scooped him up onto her lap until the ride was over. Later, despite the fact that it was in the high 50s, several grandmothers stopped and put Drew’s hood on, and told us that it was too cold for him to be without it. Never mind that the poor kid was sweating from running his little legs off because pushing his own stroller is a great thrill.

Happily Drew is also learning real truth here in Turkey. We are so thankful for his attachment to his Big Picture Story Bible. The fact that he sometimes throws a temper tantrum when we will not read more to him is irony that is currently lost on him. But I am really excited by some of the little connections he is making. The first story, of course, is that of creation. While Drew has not been able to put together the two word answer “All Things” to the question, “What did God make?” he will quickly and excitedly tell you “moon” – which is a true answer if not complete! But my favorite moment today was when we were reading again that God gave Adam and Eve good words to obey, and that they were to obey because God is king. Drew looked up and me and said, “No bite,” and just went back to looking at the book. I was so excited. Drew is having a very hard time with obedience in that area, and it was exciting to hear that he understands part of our discipline and other instruction. We pray that God will be at work in Drew’s heart, that he will soon desire to obey God, and will live out his design to glorify and enjoy his maker.

Turkish Breakfast - Yummy!

In celebration of a full week of study, I made Andy a Turkish breakfast this morning. One of my goals is to learn a little Turkish cooking while I'm here, so it was a study morning for me. The goal, a sort of cheese lasagna that we have purchased before in bakeries as a tasty breakfast treat. Translated, its name is water pastry, but don't let the title dissuade you from the cheese laden dish. With the help of two English language Turkish cookbooks - both of which tend to leave out some pertinent information that the other can often supply - and the prepared pasta sheets from the market (see last post) we had a very fine meal! I look forward to being able to make it in the States, though I'll probably have to make my own pasta there, so this will be an occasional treat when we get home.

Andy's lessons continue to go well. He has successfully purchased cell phones- at a great price, and discovered a new tea house where he can study and chat with people. It has been hard in a lot of places to find people who have time to chat, so that is a really great find! We had the joy of spending an evening with Ronna and Robert and their 4 girls in their home over dinner last night. It was wonderful to pray together for our family and our own specific concerns as well.

Ephesus

We had a fun weekend excursion to Izmir and ancient Ephesus on Friday and Saturday. We were able to stay with sweet friends from home, Darrin and Christina Donovan, in the port city of Izmir on Friday night. We had a lovely time meeting their baby Justice, in fact Drew is still asking to see Justice and to play with his soccer ball! Many thanks for making room for all of us friends!

We would have waited for a visit until my parents had left, but just down the road from Izmir are some of the most incredible remains of the ancient world! Going to Ephesus is really impressive! I hope the pictures do a little bit of justice to the place, though I would recommend looking up some professional shots online if you’d like to see more.

The 25,000 seat theatre you see in the first photo is where the people of Ephesus rioted against Paul. The library in the next photo was built after his time, and has been reconstructed out of the ruble as an example of what the city was once like. There were also incredible mosaics, homes, public baths and beautiful marble roads. Drew saw it all from behind his stroller – which he insisted on pushing through the entire city. Thankfully he was willing to accept a little help on the streets that aren’t as smooth as they were 2000 years ago or so.

Last Thursday

Sorry to be so long in writing, but we'll catch up here on the last few fun-filled days! Thursday was a fun day of touring with mom and dad for me, while Andy and Drew got to know the neighborhood a little better. We were all grateful to finally see the sunshine, but not as grateful as the people of Istanbul who hadn’t seen the sun in three weeks! You can see Mom and Dad here at the gate to Topkapi Palace, where the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire ruled.



We were properly impressed, as I’m sure was the intended effect! The tour included seeing the private living quarters of the sultans’ families - called the Harem, the public reception rooms, a collection of items from the royal treasury and the sultans’ collection of artifacts from Mecca, Medina and personal effects of the prophet Mohamed. It was certainly a place of power and intrigue - fratricide was a common part of determining ascension to the throne, and the Valide Sultan, the mother of the reigning sultan ruled the Harem, including which of the ladies of the Harem would see the Sultan...



In the evening, we were able to take Mom and Dad to one of our favorite restaurants in Istanbul, pronounced Chi-ya, to celebrate Andy’s birthday together. The food was excellent, and we were glad to finally have some lavash – a yummy bread that arrives at your table puffed up with steam fresh from the oven. Today, Jan. 12 is Andy’s actual birthday – Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Our New Place

We are so glad to be settled into our new apartment. The guest house we have rented is so nicely appointed, we even have a dishwasher and washer/dryer in the unit, which is more than my poor sister in Philly can say! Drew loves running up and down the long hallway that connects the rooms together and checking in on what everyone is up to and he has lots of room to play in the living room/dining room. There were even toys here – what an unexpected help!
Today we took it slow after a long night of baby jet lag. Our prayer tonight is that Drew would sleep well – for everyone’s sake. We are so pleased that Andy’s first language lesson went really well – and I was glad that my first foray into marketing and making dinner, including spaghetti sauce from scratch, ended with a tasty meal. We are also really thankful for a neighbor who brought us dessert. We pray that as Andy becomes more conversant we will be able to get to know her more!

Children Adapt Quickly

Ayran is an acquired taste.... or so I thought until we offered some to Drew. Last night we had some at a restaurant to introduce my parents to the drink that my husband has called: salty buttermilk, cottage cheese juice, and better than fermented horse's milk. I can't say that I have developed an enjoyment of it, but Andy occasionally has some, and since all the kids we know here love it, we offered some to Drew. He could not get enough! He was really sad when the straw made that last gurgle slurping noise at the bottom of the cup. Today we put some in his sippy and he literally chugged the whole thing, then asked for more. But that seems to be in line with Drew's general reaction to Turkey. He loves the tram, the trolley, the boats, the taxis - it's like we've been living Richard Scarry's "Things That Go" book out on a daily basis! And of course, his Mimi and Bomp are here, so life is really good for Drew!
Tomorrow we move our apartment on the Asian side, and Andy begins his language study in earnest on Wednesday. Pray that we will fall into a good routine quickly that will serve his learning goals and bring glory to the Father as we seek to love and serve one another.

Arrival in Istanbul

We enjoyed our first full day in Istanbul! The weather is cold and wet, but we were really glad to get out and moving and try to walk off our jet lag today. We are staying in a fun little suites hotel in Sultanahmet, the neighborhood with most of the major attractions in Istanbul for the next few nights until our apartment is ready on the Asian side of the city. It was just a short walk up the hill to tour the Blue Mosque, The Hippodrome and the Aya Sofya this morning. We are so blessed to have Lee and Lynn Riggs with us for the first ten days of our stay. They have been so helpful in caring for Drew already! And Andy loves to be the tour guide, so we hope to give them the full tour of Istanbul, rather than just the highlights we usually have time for on smaller trips. Maybe by tomorrow Drew will be the only one taking an afternoon nap, but that will depend on whether he sleeps through the night, or needs a playdate at midnight again.

Packing Week

We're back from Christmas, and we now have 4 days to pack for our 2 months in Istanbul, Turkey. We'll work on some pictures of Chritmas later, but for now, a few pictures to show you where we are headed. We'll spend our first couple of nights in sight of these amazing wonders, touring and doing our best to get over jet lag with Drew. Please pray that we will have wisdom in using our time well the next few days and that our thoughts will be focused on encouraging friends in Turkey, not on our ease and comfort.