I'M ENGAGED!!!

Ok, I know I haven't blogged in a really long time but until now I haven't had a reason to!

Now I'm engaged! Yay! It's so surreal! Don't be mad but I'm not going to tell the story. Instead I'm going to send you to my fiancee's blog because he already told it!

CARLY IS HOME!!!

I'm so happy!

My Friend Carly...

I know it's been way too long since I last posted but I've been super busy and haven't had a lot to share, but now I do. So just now I was looking at the map of the world I have on by blog (it's on the right side-you should look at it so you know what I'm talking about) that shows all the different places that my blog is being read. (Thank you Bess and Brandon for the great idea)! Anyways as I was looking at it I noticed that there is a new red dot in the middle of nowhere! Who would be looking at by blog from way over there? Then it hit me...IT'S CARLY! So because my friend Carly is looking at my blog all the way over in Thailand, and because I love her and miss her, I'm blogging for her sake. All of you should go to her blog and check out the amazing ministry opportunities that she has there (she's one of my friends to the right-it's just one click-do it)! And keep her in your prayers!

These are some of my favorite pictures of Car...







I love you Car!

I'm Home!

Sorry it's taken me so long to let you know, but I'm on family vacation (we left about 20 hours after I arrived at the LA airport) and we don't have Internet service. So I'm at a local Starbucks (actually sitting in the car outside because it closed right before we got here) using their Internet. All that to say I'm home and I'm happy!

Leaving Turkey was definitely bitter-sweet. There are so many things and people that I will miss! At the same time I don't feel like that will be the last time I see Turkey. You never know!

Being with my family and Jon is just a really good way of getting back into the swing of things here. I always have so much fun with my family. It's nice because most of the time it feels like I was never gone, like I didn't miss out on a thing with them.

To sum up my feelings right now....I loved my time in Turkey! And I love being home!

This is a picture of my family on vacation (minus my brother of course, he's a workaholic).


P.S. Billy and Elizabeth, I looked everywhere for Settlers and NOBODY has it! I'm still not over it, and I don't know if I'll ever be! I don't know what I'm going to do without it and it's all your fault! Maybe I could make one...I'll let you know how it goes!

5 Day Count-down!

That's right, I have five days left in Turkey. Technically, I have four full days left because I leave on Friday morning. I know I haven't blogged in a while, I've been pretty busy. I've been spending time finishing up the day camp I posted about before and working with different volunteers. I survived without Ally! Although my trip is not yet over, it's been amazing! It is a very bittersweet thing leaving Istanbul. There is definitely a family here that I love!

So this next few days I'll be spending time tying up loose ends, running around getting last minute souvenirs and saying my goodbyes :( ! Pray that I won't mentally leave Turkey before physically leaving, and that I will never leave spiritually. I have brothers and sisters here I need to continue to pray for!

Thank you SO much for your prayers during my journey, they mean more than you know!

The Ritz...

As some of you know, yesterday was my birthday. Ally and I had to work yesterday so we decided to celebrate today instead. So the wonderful person that Ally is took me to the Ritz Carlton for breakfast. It was the most amazing experience ever! We ate really good food in a beautiful place with a wonderful view of the Bosphorus. And the service was like nothing I've ever had. At one point I had to use the restroom so I asked one of the waiters, he didn't just tell me where it was, no, he walked me to the restroom. Amazing!

The beautiful dinning area..


Ally and I satisfied after our great meal...


And our wonderful view...


I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!

The Little Things

This past week we did a day camp for the kids of a local neighborhood. It was amazing! We did crafts and played games and taught English, we basically just loved on these kids, and man did they love on us! They were so cute and responsive to us being there. I hope that we were a blessing to them, but they were for sure a blessing to us!

These were some of the fun times we had...

This is the majority of the kids that came. We had 50 to 60 kids every day...that's amazing!


I did the games with them most of the time. It was pretty entertaining!










The girls didn't always like to play...


This girl just took my heart...she's so beautiful!


The twins dad has cancer and a couple from our team were able to pray with him which is amazing. Keep his health and this new relationship in your prayers. This could be a way for his eyes to be opened.