Moving Stability

Life Pics

2011-12-27T07:05:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Wii Just Dance Party with our seventy-something neighbor. She killed it, but was out of breath in about 20 seconds.

Laura's lovely Christmas tea service.

Amazing princess cake for Selah's 5th b-day. Laura is talented.

Balcony Picnic

2011-08-13T01:40:00.000-07:00

We were all geared up for a picnic in the park when the rains came. Plan B on the balcony worked out well. Also for your enjoyment are some dress-up/dancing pics. Selah says she dressed up like a soldier.

Bed Shuffle

2011-08-13T01:25:00.000-07:00

Change is afoot. Jillian graduated from the pack and play in our room to the crib in her own room. Eden went from the crib to the toddler bed and Selah went from the toddler bed to the single bed. Everything went great the first night except for those two times when Eden fell out of the bed. Jillian didn't sleep there. She just wanted to pose for the picture.

Goldfish!

2011-04-09T02:19:00.000-07:00

It's a big day at our house. As a reward for sleeping 5 consecutive nights in the same room as Eden (without incident), Selah picked out a large goldfish at the pet store. At some point, we must have told her that fish can be a little fragile and even die. Selah has been very concerned. On the ride home from the pet store, she made us hold up the bag every few minutes to check on the fish. Here are some quotes from the last 30 minutes.

"If you stop looking at it, she will die."

"Uh-oh, she's not breathing! Oh, she's OK."

Through tears, "Oh no, the bag fell over!"

"Why is she just sitting there?"

The guy at the pet store told me the little turtles will live longer. I offered that alternative to Selah, but she said the turtles looked angry.

So here, we are. New pet owners. Her name is Sarah, by the way. We hope that she will be with us a long time, but it sounds like we are all prepared for her eventual demise--maybe too prepared.

Selah & Eden Playing

2011-02-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

Eden is old enough now that she really enjoys playing with her big sister. When Selah is gone, Eden notices and asks where she is. A friend tells me that she noticed when our babysitter takes the girls to the park, Eden plays more and seems happier when Selah is with her.

Of course, they fight and hit during the course of their play and we're working on teaching both of them how to treat people, especially loved ones. Eden seems to love the concept of time out and will give herself one if she is reprimanded for her behavior. Things she likes to do: hit in the face, pull hair, or push. Selah has perfected the art of swiping a toy and running, or holding her things high in the air when Eden is present--to keep Eden from touching them.

Ryan and I are new to the world of teaching our children how to get along, though we both had 2 siblings growing up--so we should know something from experience, right? One thing I'm trying to do is teach the girls to talk to one another about their issues before getting Ryan or me involved. You know kids, one takes the toy and the "wronged" kid whines to mom. It seems to me that these are good opportunities to teach the girls how Jesus taught us to deal with conflict. They should talk to one another first before bringing the adult on the scene. I know they're young, but Selah definitely grasps the concept. I don't know if it is effective, but something I'm trying. If any of you very wise and experienced friends have any great tips for me, I'd love to hear!

Eden Footage

2011-02-06T11:05:00.000-08:00

Two videos of Eden. She's 21 months old and talking all the time. When she wakes up, her first words are, "Selah woke up?" Every night she looks at pictures in her room and says goodnight to the people in the pictures. The first video was taken after Selah finished with the cheerleader costume. Eden put it on and did the same thing she saw Selah doing, minus the jumping around. She's saying, "Go (H)Aggies!" Of course, you'll also catch a glimpse of Selah's performance...which are never ending in our house! In the second video, Selah was helping Eden practice her words. Notice how Eden says what Selah asks her to say but not what her mom asks.

2 1/2 Weeks

2011-02-06T03:58:00.000-08:00

This is the new retro-fitted computer cabinet I told you about last week. I still like it--a lot.

This is how Eden plays with markers: coloring her face, lips, legs, arms, etc. The markers are under lock now, but she still manages to get her hands on them.

From the beginning of the first child becoming ill to the (hopeful) end of the 2nd parent--and everyone in between--we've been sick for over 2 weeks. On day 10 of being sick I finally went to the doctor and learned something new-but not about viruses or colds.

I learned that I assumed primary physician-type care functioned the same way here as it does in the States. When I was pregnant with Selah, my OB told me that she would be my primary physician during the pregnancy. So, when I decided to go to the doctor on Friday, I made an appointment with my OB. She gave me a slightly confused look when I explained my symptoms to her and told me, politely, that I should make an appointment with an ENT. So, 30 minutes and 1 "just for fun" ultrasound later, I was in with the ENT in the neighboring building of the hospital. After the appointment, I put the dots together and realized that I am almost certain that we don't see general physicians for anything here. We always go to the specialist. The great thing is, I don't need any kind of referral to do that. Different countries, different practices...most likely because insurance companies work differently here. The diagnosis: sinusitis. Hopefully we'll all feel 100% soon.
Ryan and Selah had a date night on Thursday. Both of us got excited about dressing her up for the show. They saw Aladdin on Ice. They left 1 hour early and arrived 30 minutes late due to horrific traffic. Selah fell asleep during that long drive and Ryan carried her into the ice rink. He said he wasn't sure she ever fully woke up, but did seem interested in the show. She slept all the way home.
She chose to have two french braids and her Indonesian dress and church shoes.

Sick on the couch

She looks TOO grown up in this shot...but oh so beautiful, just like a "princess"

Today, we went to the park as a family for little while and enjoyed the sun and fresh air. We stopped at the picnic tables to enjoy some spinach or ground beef or feta cheese filled pastry. The girls love the spinach filled ones.

After returning to our apartment building, Selah and I posed for a 25 (ish) week prego shot.

Back home

2011-01-21T05:09:00.000-08:00

Selah posing with the fake flowers we just bought from Ikea

We've been back in our apartment for 15 days now. It is good to be back.

After returning, the first order of business was cleaning the house from top to bottom. It took me 9 days. Of course it wasn't 9 full days of cleaning. There were very important other things that needed to be done throughout that time, like go to the park every morning, have dinner with friends, go to the store (several times), and change our t.v. cabinet into a computer nook.

Ryan worked hard for almost a week on this project. I'm so pleased with the result. No more seen computer in our living room. The printer is hidden away in the cabinet too! Ryan also installed some great speakers to enhance our music listening and movie watching experiences.

I still want to get some new curtains made for the current guest, soon-to-be baby room. Enough projects for now...back to telling you about the most disgusting cleaning job...

We have these shutter-type things that we closed over all of our windows while we were gone. We left one cracked because there were pretty flowers growing in a planter on the outside of the window sill. One very naughty pigeon made this a warm nest for himself and others. So, the entire length of the window sill was caked with poo and the windows were smeared with it. Yuck!! Ryan, while wearing a mask, spent over an hour cleaning up that mess. What a man!

Selah is at school today, for the second half-day this week. She couldn't wait to get back. She squealed with delight when Zeynep, our good friend and babysitter came last week. She is now remembering more of the language each day. Today she commented that she only knew how to say "yes" when we came back, but now she remembers more words every day! Yippee!

Eden has started eating more than I've ever seen her eat. I'm wondering if she feels back at home, even though she was only 14 months old when we left. I didn't think she'd really notice, but maybe she does. She is doing so well.

Eden trying to find the scent of the fake flower.

I am enjoying eating the food I've missed for several months. Last night I made a vegetable dish that is basically a bunch of vegetables cooked in olive oil for a while and it hit the spot! You really should try it! I added some fresh green beans to the mix as well.

Here's the link to the recipe:
http://www.turkishfoodandrecipes.com/2009/09/mixed-vegetables-with-olive-oil.html

Heading Home

2011-01-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

Our 6 months has come to a past-paced end as we've done as much stuffing as humanly possible. We've stuff our stomachs ( I think I win the prize for stuffing the most), good-bye's, and our bags. As I think about walking into the airport tomorrow, stress starts to overwhelm me. The stress isn't rooted in an anxiety to return to our home or fly a total of about 17 hours with a 4 year-old and 19 month-old while 21 weeks pregnant. No, the stress comes from thinking about how much stuff we are flying back across the ocean with us. We will ask a nice porter to load our 5 50-pound trunks, 3 50-pound suitcases, 3 carry-ons, 3 back packs, 2 car seats and strollers onto a cart and head to the check-in counter. I know I shouldn't let something like this stress me out. But I do. Sometimes, we have a nice assistant that will check our carry-ons for us at no charge, sometimes we don't. Inthe case that we don't, imagine us waiting in security lines, going through security, wondering the airport and boarding the plane with 1 car seat, 1 stroller, 3 carry-ons, 3 backpacks and 2 kids.

But....once we're on the plane, we're home free (till we change planes, at least). We are all very excited about going home, though it isn't without stings of pain. Oh how we've enjoyed the time with family...the pressure-free time with family. We've relished in the meaningful conversations, the encouragement and fun we've been blessed with over the past 6 months. We're going to miss the great state of Texas and maybe even the wind in Amarillo. My favorite part about being home was the time with family. I am so happy that many relationships were strengthened as a result of our time in the states.

As we go back to the land where God has put us, we go anticipating what is going to happen in the next three years. One big hope is that my language will continue to deepen and that I'll be able to make some close friends. I also pray that God will work on my heart so that instead of being high-strung and testy, I will be able to enjoy the next year as we await the arrival of our third child and adjust to being a family of 5.

We'll post something after the post-flight recovery is in full swing.

Thanksgiving and after

2010-12-13T13:15:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving in Amarillo. In our former life of no kids, we refused to drive there from Houston unless there was some very important reason. Now that we have kids, the price for airfare is prohibitive, so we drove from Houston to Dallas one day. Then went on to Amarillo the next day.

While in Amarillo, we spent time with my Aunt Bonnie and my cousin's daughter. They had a great time making a mess, I mean gingerbread girls. We had a great Thanksgiving meal with my mom, dad, sister, and grandparents. While there we had some family fun decorating for Christmas, Christmas shopping, and eating at some of my favorite restaurants. Grammy and Pops made sugar cookies and let Selah and my friend Jamie's kids cut them out and decorate them while the parents of said children went to Starbuck's. Oh how we will miss being close to grandparents!

This past weekend Selah celebrated her birthday a little early and had her friends over for a party. We decorated Christmas ornaments, played musical chairs and hide & seek, and decorated cupcakes/cookies.

We have less than 1 month till we go back to our home across the ocean. As our time draws to a close, we're trying to spend as much time as possible with friends and family. We are ready to get back home but sad that home is on the other side of the world from Texas because we miss our friends and family so much!

I'm not throwing the towel in yet!

2010-11-07T17:58:00.001-08:00

You might think that since I've only had 2 posts in the last 7 months, this blog thing is about to be finished. I don't think I'm there...yet. Hopefully I'll get back in the swing of things.

We've not been too busy since the end of September, but I haven't been feeling up to doing...anything. There probably isn't a good reason for a mother of 2 to act on that feeling of wanting to do nothing and I am still trying to take care of the things that I HAVE to take care of , like my kids. :)

On to the reason I haven't been feeling well. I am pregnant with baby #3. Now that I'm waiting for a third kid to come, I've learned to not even think about the theoretical due date. For me, it is just stupid since my kids have come later than that date. So, we'll just say sometime at the end of May, Lord willing, we'll welcome the 5th member into the Ryan Wolf family. We're excited. Another plus is that it is one more chance for me to go through a refining process.

Selah has been convinced since before I became pregnant that the next child would be a boy and his name will be Luke. We have chosen that as the boy name yet, though. Needless to say, she's excited and already sending hugs and kisses to the baby.

The girls (and I) are enjoying Mother's Day Out twice a week and Selah is in a gymnastics class that she loves. She has improved a lot in the past two months and turns everything into a gymnastic move as she plays around the house or on the playground. Last week, the girls dressed up for a costume parade. Selah went through her dress up clothes and decided she would be Tinker Bell. Eden was a Pumpkin Fairy.

On the 31st, we went to the church's "Festibration," where Selah proudly wore a ballet recital costume calling herself a ballerina...and the most exciting part was that she got to wear some makeup!

Granddaddy and 2 of his girls

Crossing our T's

2010-08-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

That Sunday that I described so many months ago didn't do me in, as it may have appeared. Since then, Selah "graduated" from her preschool. The day before her graduation she told me she dressed up like Santa Claus at school. I was confused about this because I thought I'd paid $15 to rent a cap and gown for the "ceremony".

The "Santa Claus" costume

Selah's favorite teacher

We've crossed one "T" and landed in another. We are now back in the place where we lived before moving overseas and settling in to a routine (or trying to). We have been home for almost 5 weeks and have been in about 10 different beds. The girls have been quite adaptable and patient. I can't say so much for myself on a few certain days, though. We've had a lot of fun seeing family, friends, and making new friends. We've eaten some great Tex-Mex and Blue Bell ice cream. The most rejuvenating activity of our 5 weeks has been getting out on some friends' boats and reconnecting with the wakeboard, tube, and learning to wake-surf.

A generous couple is allowing us to stay in their house while they're away. Selah didn't like her room at first but a trip to Walmart and a Princess-sheet purchase fixed that. Seriously, every day she'd ask if she could spend the night with Ama because she didn't like her room. I agree, compared to Ama's "grand-daughter room" her bedroom is like a jail cell. Maybe we'll find some time to get creative and decorate her room. Any creative person want to come over for a craft day and help me out? I mean, I would like to keep the investment at a minimum since we have less than 5 months left.

On Sunday we headed back to the place where Ryan and I met. We enjoyed being at that church again and Gig [ing] 'em and whatnot. Whoop! (that was for you, Laura L.)

Selah has asked me when we are going home several times now. Today we made a chain to count down the days. It has 143 links in the chain. Eden made every attempt possible to foil the creation of this chain. But, Selah and I prevailed with a determined deaf ear turned toward the crying.

Thank God it is Monday!

2010-04-26T04:41:00.000-07:00

The past 2 weeks of my life have been....harried. Most of you would be bored with the exciting details of my 2 weeks so I'll try to give the boy version....there's no hope. Sorry guys.

We got sick while Ryan was out of town last week. I didn't get much time to get over my illness as I was tending to the needs of the others'. Ryan came back and we had guests on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I was cooking most of Friday, while people in the living room consumed much of it. On Saturday we hung out with some fun friends and went to a meeting. Saturday night we played games. Then SUNDAY happened. Wow.

I must say that I started Sunday with about 4 hours of sleep. Then we had a wonderful doughnut breakfast. After that, we came home and relaxed a bit before I took Selah to her school to get ready for their "recital". I had been asked to drop Selah off at 12 PM and the show was going to start at 1:30 PM. In the mean time, I was going to come home, let Ryan take our friends to the ferry boat and come back to get Eden and I on the way to the show.

However, when I arrived at the school, the teachers ask me to wait downstairs with her until 12:30. I think that I literally heard a record scratch at this point. I felt like we were in our groove for the day's schedule until this request was made. I knew I couldn't wait til 12:30. Our guests would be late and so would we! Reluctantly, I said, "okay", and walked downstairs hoping to find a mother of one of Selah's classmates whom I would ask to watch Selah for me while I left. I found mom that I had only been introduced to in the past, but it worked and off I went.

We made it back to the school in time to find that the show will be poolside and in the sun. I forgot a hat for my bald baby Eden's head. I coat her head with sunscreen and run for the shade. The show starts only 15 minutes late and then the gymnastics group come out one. at. a. time....doing the same routine. Ironically, the song they played for every gymnastic performance for the day had about two lines. One of them was, "time goes by so slowly."

Yes. it. did.

Selah finally came out in her costume. She looked a little odd. Oh, of course, they did not take the white undershorts she was wearing under her skirt off and just put her white hose on top of them. What were the teachers thinking? Probably that those are the weird foreign family's version of panties. Who knows? No other kids had biking shorts on with their hose. Anyway, I tried to video the whole thing, but because Eden wanted to hold the camera too, my already bad skills were even worse. I think Ryan can't fathom how he married someone with such terrible videoing skills. She was a cute, little dancing butterfly (that needed the older butterfly to remind her of the steps to the dance).

I then went upstairs to look at the display of all the kids' artwork. On the wall was a poster board of pictures of all the kids in the class.

[Background info: I had been asked over the past few weeks to bring several things to school. I didn't know what even 1 of those things was before asking my babysitter for help. It turns out that she needed a jar, a white undershirt and panty hose. At the last minute they asked me for a picture of Selah and used hand motions to show me the size they wanted. I went home and found one of Selah and Eden from Christmas. I gave it to them, explaining that they should just cut Selah's face out of the picture. ]

So, I look up at the poster board and see that all of the other 20 kids' pictures are wallet size pics.

Then I see it.

Selah AND Eden's 4X6 picture in the bottom center of the poster board. They hadn't cut Eden out. Awwww...so cute, right? Wrong. Once again, we are the weird foreigners. Sometimes, we just want to be normal...blend in. This seems to be an impossibility at this point, which is normally fine.

I run back to downstairs to watch Selah's final performance, where she did almost nothing while she looked at her dad taking a billion pictures of her. So after Selah's last performance, time starts going. by. so. slowly. again and we realize we have to leave because our church is meeting at our house in 15 minutes! I ask if Selah is finished and the teachers say she should stay for the last song and wave flags around. I take her anyway, declining to attend the expo following the performances. The teachers smiled and said, "OK," as they looked at me like a foreigner. Grrr. I wish I didn't have to leave early.

We get home and our church is waiting for us outside our building. We come up the elevator and my downstairs neighbor is waiting for me on the staircase. She wants me to come talk to her granddaughter. I go, unhappily, and sit for 5 minutes. In this amount of time, my language is a bit jumbled because I can only think of my house full of people, my hungry Selah (it's 3:45 PM and she hasn't had lunch) and my tired Eden. My neighbor then proceeds to tell her granddaughter that my language has gotten worse because I don't talk enough or go to class anymore. I get mad. Yes, my language has gotten worse and I don't talk enough. But, the reason it was bad in that moment (as far as I was concerned) was because she was insisting on me being in her house (she is quite persistent) while I only want to be in my own house. So, I respond with a cranky, "Actually, my language is worse because I got 4 hours of sleep last night and I don't ever sleep that much." I sit for 1 minute longer and leave.

Deep breath.

I come home, vent to my friend who has graciously taken on the role of house host and go nurse Eden and put her in bed. Then I realize it was my day to plan worship for church and I totally forgot. We make different plans and the evening ended with a wonderfully fancy dinner with some other ladies that wanted to treat a departing friend to a nice goodbye dinner. It was a good end to the day.

Thank you, God, for Monday.

Now, I need to go get groceries!

Worms!

2010-03-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

We went to the park and dug up some worms to put in our plants to help them be healthy. Selah thought they were really neat and got close until she saw them move.

Entertainment

2010-03-26T13:18:00.000-07:00

Eden is now almost 11 months old. She is big enough to sit in the kid swings and swing next to Selah. If she is feeling extra crazy, she’ll even let Selah push her a few times! I have discovered sand in Eden’s shoes recently, so I think she is also enjoying the sandbox when she goes to the park with Zeynep Abla. Zeynep told me that Eden has also stopped eating the sand!

Selah is starting to play with Eden a lot. She takes the time to explain the rules of whatever activity “they” will be playing and then slowly tries to teach her how to do it correctly. Selah still gets very irritated with Eden for taking things that Selah does’t think Eden should play with, like her headbands. Eden is a pro at leaning over to hug Selah, then swiping the headband off of Selah’s head in an instant. It doesn’t matter if a chunk of hair comes out with the headband, Selah is only upset about the headband.

Consistant Inconsistancy

2010-03-26T05:32:00.000-07:00

Isn't this how a lot of moms would describe their life? Their emotions?

I try to take comfort in knowing that I am not the only mom out there that can't seem to get "it" together quite like I want to. Although, I hope I will look back on this season of life with fondness and no regrets. I'm pretty sure I won't turn 50 and wish I'd kept my house more organized instead of enjoying my time with my kids. These are the things I try to keep in perspective when I'm trying so hard to just get my house picked up, keep a consistent routine, get dinner on the table, update the blog, add photos to the baby books, make a grocery list, study language, have a quiet time, exercise, spend time making friends, teach my girls about our Savior, love my husband, spend quality time with each child and husband, get enough sleep each night, put make up on (sometimes), do my hair (even less) and....well, I think I've made my point.

All that to say, usually 3 days don't go by that I don't think "I should update the blog" at least 1 time. Being that it has been 6 weeks, I've thought about it a lot of times. I've taken pictures with the blog in mind. But, here I am, with too many pictures and a small window of blog-updating time. So, here's hoping that I get back around to doing more tomorrow.

We got to a butcher shop in our neighborhood to get all of our meat. When we first moved here, we bought meat at the grocery story, but I found the quality to be inconsistent and really hated it when my beef smelled of lamb meat. Ryan started going to Hakan Kasap (butcher) to make friends with the guys, but started asking why the prices were higher than the grocery store. Up until that point, I didn’t want to go to the Kasap because it was more expensive. Bulent (the employee that does all the cutting when we specify our request) told us that his meat was fresher and tasted better. We found that we agreed with Bulent and have been faithful customers ever since. As a bonus, they even deliver!!

Hakan on the left and Bulent on the right

Videos

2010-02-18T12:17:00.000-08:00

If you're interested in the types of videos that grandparents would enjoy, click the link on the right of our blog that says, "My Videos."

Disclaimer: They are anticlimactical and my voice gets a little high-pitched once or twice.

Vacation

2010-02-12T04:29:00.000-08:00

Before I forget, I wanted to post pics of Selah after being painted. I wrote about it in the last update.

Since I last wrote, we went to Indonesia to see Jamie & Eric. I have known Jamie since middle school. It was really fun to get to see their home, meet their friends, eat Indonesian food and go to a cool resort. We spent one week at Jamie and Eric's house, hanging out. Jamie's son got sick a day or so after we arrived, which meant that Selah got sick. Subsequently, Eden and I got sick.

Guitar Hero traveled from Istanbul to Indo

Selah and Hannah entertain the passers-by

The family vehicle of Asia

During that first week, we went to an engagement party, for an Indonesian couple, ate a lot of food (including and amazing Thanksgiving dinner), and went to a really cool water park. Eden enjoyed the water more than Selah did. Selah was a little gun-shy to do anything after standing in the wrong place, at the wrong time and getting a huge bucket of water dumped on her head. Then, she and daddy went down a small water slide that didn't seem too scary from observation, but absolutely was. Selah didn't even want to ride in a tube in the lazy river after that. This was my first experience at a water park with Ryan. We both had momentary flashbacks to high school fun at the water park. We went down 2 slides, 2 times--in a double tube. It was a lot of fun. That's all we got to do this time. Maybe next time, if we can still climb the stairs, we'll get to slide a lot more.

Their oldest, Callie (8, I think)

After being at their house for a while, we flew to a nearby island, really close to Singapore, and stayed at a resort for 4 nights. The idea was to be close to a beach, have a swimming pool and other activities. But, Selah was sick the first day. The second day we got sunburned b/c we didn't think about how much more quickly we could burn being that we were practically on the equator. The third day Eden was sick, but I went to the mall anyway. The kids played outside in the afternoon and we traded off kid duty after bedtime.

Selah flies

Eden and I spent about 10 minutes at the beach, but she still found an opportunity to eat the sand.

Everyone having a good time

Jamie found the way to Selah's heart--suckers.

Their youngest--Hannah (3 1/2)

Selah and their middle child--Creed (5)

Our awesome hotel room...

With a window in the bathroom.

From there, we took a 1 hour ferry to Singapore and stayed for 2 nights. I really liked Singapore. The landscaping was incredible. Driving down the highway just felt like a smooth ride down a nice street with no lights in the suburbs. We used frequent flyer miles to stay at the Hilton on Orchard Road. Orchard Rd. is a shopping Mecca. Mall after mall with lots of bling--inside and out. We enjoyed some barbecue at Hard Rock Cafe on the first night and California Pizza Kitchen on the second night. We also bought Selah a cute Chinese dress and spent lots of time in the pool, which is on top of the hotel.

During the first day we went to the huge botanical gardens and let Selah play in the water at the children's area for a while.

wondering through the banana trees

On the second day we went to the A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Singapore Zoo. The animal habitats were second to none that I have ever seen. We got relatively close views of some hippos, rhinos, monkeys, and polar bears. It was a fun day, that wore us all out. If only we'd know that there is a kid's water playground at the zoo, we would have brought a swimsuit so that Selah could play.

Look closely, there's a kangaroo behind them!

Eden charms everyone with her smile. This is Ryan's friend holding her.

Selah's first snowman. We've had lots of snow this year, too! But not as much as the crazy U.S.

Our friends that have kids about the same age. Nate is on the left and Peter is on the right. One of their parents was fortunate enough to attend A&M the same time we did. The other (mom) had to go to t.u. ssssssssssss!

I just can't get over this picture. She looks so grown up. All of her warm pants were dirty on this day, so she decided her flannel pajama pants would do the trick.

The smile that melts our hearts.

Since Christmas

2010-01-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

all I can think is Victoria Beckham.

Eden loves the mirrors in our room

Princesses!?!

Before Christmas I hosted a cookie exchange with some friends. I made peppermint-flavored cookies in the shape of candy canes. Since there was a competition for presentation as well as taste, I decided to make a Candy Cane forest—from the movie, Elf. I was pretty excited about this idea as I find myself creatively challenged at times. I baked a chocolate cake, covered it in white icing and stuck the candy canes in the cake. I also made some tree-shaped cookies to mix in with the candy canes. I sprinkled white sugar on top of the cake to give the effect of sparkling snow. It was fun. I didn’t win because I hosted, but was definitely proud of my presentation!

We celebrated Christmas at our house with some good friends, Justin, Laurel, Hannah and Asher. We enjoyed sour cream chicken enchiladas instead of the traditional meal…and the left over chocolate cake from the cookie party.

Grammy watching over skype.

Thanks to our parents for helping us out with our Christmas present to ourselves, we bought a new SLR camera. We’re pretty excited about learning how to use it correctly. I definitely see a photography class in my future…just so I don’t have a nice camera that I don’t know how to use.

Got lucky on this one

Ryan’s sister, Rebecca, and her family came to visit just after Christmas. We had a great time visiting with Dave and Becca and playing with their girls, who are the same age (give or take 2 months) as our girls. We were surprised that Selah and Sara Kate were several handfuls of frustration, as they fought so much. Dave often commented that they had a love-hate relationship during the visit. Elisabeth was a joy to be around. She is so beautiful and is always in good spirits, beaming an amazing smile.

Eden(left), Elisabeth(right)

Love...

Hate.

Family Cay

Love, again

Sweet Elisabeth

This past week Selah was contently painting in her coloring books when I decided it would be fun to paint Selah. I certainly knew she would enjoy it. So, we painted…and we both enjoyed it.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

Selah has prepared a few Christmas Carols to spread some Christmas cheer....

Christmas Pics....

Selah, please sit still and look at the camera. [Snap, snap, etc.]

Selah, please look at the camera. [snap.....snap]

Selah please don't push your sister over and look at the camera. [snap, snap]

Ahhhh, there it is. [After taking the picture, Selah kisses Eden, causing her to fall and hit her head. ] Okay, before everyone explodes, let's get a quick family picture.

Update on the Girls

2009-12-21T12:55:00.000-08:00

Selah loves standing on the water bottle...I know, it doesn't look safe.

The other day I was playing with Selah as she built things with her Leggos. She made a tall tower of square Leggos and pointed to each one, saying, “This is Eden’s house; this is mommy’s; this is daddy’s.” At first I agreed with her without really paying attention, you know how toddlers’ imaginations work—sometimes you just agree and approve of what they say so they will stop saying it over and over. Then I looked at the “houses” and was struck with the realization that her idea of a “house” is not the same as mine. Since she has lived in this metropolitan city all her life, she thinks of houses as apartment buildings, each floor being someone’s home. I guess I need to stop drawing only houses with A-frame roofs and chimneys when we draw pictures.

When I look at pictures of Eden smiling, she has the prettiest little twinkle in her eyes. They just glow. What joy she brings to my life. She is so happy, always smiling and making happy noises. She doesn’t cry very much at all anymore. We went to the doctor today to get some immunizations and she was so brave, not crying at all for the first shot and just crying for a few seconds for the second one. She is 67 cm ( ~ 26.5 inches) and 8.5 kg (~18.7 pounds). Eden just finished 7 months and is wanting to be more mobile. While sitting, she will dive forward to her tummy to reach a toy. Yesterday she started really pushing with her legs to inch forward and get that toy that is just out of reach. I have started feeding her pureed foods like carrots, pumpkin, and apples.

Zeynep, our friend and fabulous babysitter

Language Class

2009-12-18T04:12:00.000-08:00

We’ve been trying to get back into the swing of taking language classes, but it just isn’t working well for me, these days. I can’t seem to get any homework finished or memorize words. I’ve been quite frustrated with my language lately. It seems that I’ve gone backwards a bit—sometimes I can’t remember words or how to put sentences together correctly. Thankfully, I have patient friends. So, this Thursday was our last class for a couple months. Then we’ll try to do something again in February, I think.

I’m looking forward to this weekend. Selah officially turns 3 on Saturday and I turn 30 on Sunday. I’m 10 times as old is she is this year, to the day….won’t ever happen that way again, thankfully. Otherwise, I'd feel extremely old from here on out. Ryan has sweetly planned for someone to watch the girls on Sunday night (all night), so that we can enjoy a date and full night’s rest.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Selah!

2009-12-15T12:47:00.000-08:00

We had Selah’s birthday party this past Saturday. We had a joint party with another American friend’s son, Nate, who turned 2 last week. It went well, we think. Only nationals were in attendance and it was a costume party. Selah dressed up as Snow White (thanks Bonnie and Gordon for the dress and slippers) and Nate was a cowboy. Eden wore a leotard onesie with an attached tutu, which made her a ballerina.

Snow White and her daddy

The birthday boy's little brother and the birthday girl's little sister

Originally, I wanted to make the birthday cake for this party, but got a little worried that the nationals wouldn’t like the cake since I use butter cream icing to decorate the cake, and cakes here tend to be less sweet than they are in the states. The over-achiever in me can be both a blessing and a curse. I found a beautiful Snow White fondant cake that I wanted to replicate for Selah, and was going to make a separate cowboy boot-shaped cake for Nate. Ryan was also in Germany for the week and returned home the morning of the party, so I didn’t want to be stressed about finding time to decorate the cake. So, I let my neighbor talk me into ordering a cake from the bakery. She told me she thought a cake would cost an equivalent of about $35 and I decided I was willing to spend that for a stress-free week. When we went to the bakery, we found that the simple birthday cakes, serving 15 people, start at $100. I immediately decided against ordering a cake for that absurd amount of money, but my neighbor talked me into it, reasoning that the cake is very important as far as the locals are concerned. She convinced me with this reason because I sometimes just want to blend in so badly that a lot of money doesn’t seem so bad if it achieves that end (and eliminates unwanted stress for myself).

So, we ordered the cake and my neighbor told me that I should probably make an extra, simple cake just in case the “small” one we ordered wasn’t enough. I made a 2-layer round carrot cake with cream cheese icing, because the nationals seems to like the cakes that have fruit as an ingredient. Since I wasn’t worried about having a pretty cake, I decided to do a simply design on top—a pink tiara for Selah and brown boots for Nate. I was really happy with the way it turned out and didn’t stress about it. The guests at the party both liked the cake and thought it was decorated really well. Lesson learned: I can make a cake that our friends will like and decorate it up to their standards without making myself miserable. I guess the $50 I spend on the cake was worth the stress prevention. And now I know what to expect in the future.

The cake I ordered from the bakery

the cake I made

The kids had a great time coloring and eating food that various people brought. Selah received a Barbie princess doll, a princess lunch bag, a snow hat, slippers, and lots more. The funniest gift was given by my neighbor. She bought aerosol deodorant for Selah--since Selah asks for grown-up girl things all the time. This morning as Ryan and I left for our language class, she had her shirt off trying to spray the deodorant on herself—but got her hair instead.

Happy Birthday to my beautiful, smart, and loving little Selah. I can’t believe you’re already 3. It just seems like a few months ago that I was coddling you in my arms and wondering how God could have made someone so amazing. I love you!

The entire group

Thanksgiving

2009-12-14T04:40:00.000-08:00

Well, 3 weeks have passed and I've got FOUR blog updates for the week. So, keep checking in....it is my Christmas gift to our few, faithful remaining readers!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at our house this year. I volunteered to make the turkey; I regretted it after I put it in the oven and found my anxiety level on the rise. This is my 3^rd time to make a turkey for Thanksgiving, and every time I start having visions of the turkey disaster on the movie, Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation. Fortunately, the turkey was huge and tasted good, which made many full, happy guests. The members of our house church attended, as well as some others that needed a place to be on Thanksgiving.

The turkey in the brine

We get really excited about holidays here and have to plan in advance for them, so that we will have the appropriate supplies for the "I absolutely have to have __________ dish or it won't be ____________ holiday" people (I am certainly one of these people). As with anyone that is away for the holidays, they can be difficult for me. We don’t just assume that we’ll be with a certain group of people, because the same people aren’t here year after year. We have to be proactive in finding a way to spend the holidays. Last year, we realized that we didn’t have anywhere to go just a few days before Thanksgiving and called some friends and invited ourselves to their house. We try to recreate traditions and foods, but something is still missing….the spirit of the holiday, the traditions that “just happen” as a result of being in America and being with good friends and family.

After Thanksgiving dinner, in a very surreal moment, I was playing cards with the ladies and found myself joking around, Ryan calls it “sassing”. In those 10 minutes, I felt more "myself," while on this soil, than I’ve felt since we moved here. It was nice. Maybe it will seep out more often and I will start to find myself more and more comfortable in the culture, stores, traditions, etc. Maybe I’ll find a friend who is a kindred spirit, who is a part of the local culture…and she can usher me into these comforts. Or maybe I’ll just be uncomfortable for a while longer. Either way, I’m here, doing what I feel called to do and doing my best to glorify my heavenly Father.

We're back!

2009-11-21T05:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long, 1 month, lull in the blog updates. I hope to someday win back our readership with stunning updates. However, that probably won't happen today.

I'm happy to report that we had a great, low-stress trip to the states. The girls did well on the planes and Ryan and I were surprisingly alert for most of the flights--which is nice when you've got 2 kids you're responsible for.

notice Selah with the pacifier and Eden with the headphones

Grammy & Pops with us

While stateside, we were able to connect with old friends, parents, and some relatives-all in only 8 days!

Ama and Graddaddy with the girls

Before we returned, Selah and I started coughing. Eden started coughing, after we returned AND cut her two bottom teeth. All said, we returned with jet-lag, a baby with bronchiolitis and cutting teeth, Selah got an ear infection and respiratory junk and Ryan & I just felt tired and sick for most of the 1 1/2 weeks its has taken to get healthy, rested and happy.

Eden with my Meimaw and Papaw

Eden is 6 months old now, weighs 17.2 pounds and is 26 inches long. She can sit up on her own and rolls to get to things that are beyond her reach. She loves Selah, but with a little distance. Eden smiles all the time and loves to wake me up in the middle of the night. She naps about 3 times a day and eats rice cereal 1-2 times a day.

Selah will be 3 years old next month. When did I get old enough to have a 3-year old? Oh yeah, I'll be 30 next month...definitely old enough. Selah's favorite questions are "why?" and "what's a story about?" She asks us to tell her a story about 100 times a day, it seems. She is no obligated to tell us a story in between our stories... and is slowly learning the elements of a good short story. Right now, the introduction of the characters is great.

Ryan is usually napping once a day, when he is home and eats all his vegetables at dinner. He likes to play Hide and Seek with Selah or "Finding Nemo" (in which they hide Nemo).

Great News!

2009-10-20T00:33:00.000-07:00

Last week I found that I can eat a little bit of all of the forbidden foods, except peanuts, without upsetting Eden! I am so thrilled, especially because we are heading to the states in 2 weeks and I was a little sad thinking about trying NOT to eat all the delicious foods that I miss. Thank you, Lord, for this gift (at least I'll take it as a gift)...and I'm excited that Eden's stomach is maturing as well. :)

Eden is almost 5 1/2 months old now. Eden is still re-learning how to sleep all night, but is slowly getting better. She was sleeping well at 4 months, but my milk supply had a little bit of a dry-ish spell, so she started waking 2 or 3 times a night from hunger.

The girls are getting along well, and even took a bath together the other night. Eden is responding to her name and very grabby. She started eat cereal 1 week ago and seems to be slowly getting better at eating more than is smeared on her face.

Selah loves to hear stories. All day long she asks for stories and will occasionally make up one for me. I am constantly amazed at how quickly she learns and how much she remembers. She is a great helper and very polite (as long as she's had her nap). She loves to play rough with daddy and knows how to give a surprise beating from time to time. Selah also loves to chew gum. She asks for a piece everyday. She does a great job of saving it for most of the day because she only gets one piece a day. However, sometimes we do find gum stuck on her sippy cup, on the table...or worse, in her blanket because she was put to bed without someone taking the gum.

Playing in the Meadow

2009-10-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hanging Out

2009-09-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

Just a few years ago, we never would have guessed that we would be passing the time in the evening drinking çay, eating baklava, and playing backgammon. It's been very key for us to be able to embrace the positive things of the "host culture" where we live. Believe me, çay and baklava is a combo worth embracing.

A couple of Heroes

Selah took this picture of her favorite Heroes. Not too bad.

Recent Conversations with Selah

2009-09-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

Selah enjoys the pool on the balcony

What was I thinking??...the aftermath was not pretty.

Me: Come on, Selah. We're taking Eden to the doctor to get some shots.
Selah: I want to get a shot.
Me: But you don't need any shots, Selah. Shots aren't fun; they hurt.
Selah: But I really want to get a shot. I'll be sad if I don't get a shot.
Me: Okay, when we get to the doctor's office, tell her that you want a shot.
[Selah thinks for a moment.]
Selah: But I don't know how to say that in [her language].
________________________________________
Selah: Mommy and Daddy are from Houston.
Me: Yeah...Where is Selah from?
Selah: from Houston
Me: Where is Eden from?
Selah: Mommy's belly.
_______________________
Me: Selah, you can't just rip things out of Eden's hands when you want them. You can't just take things away from your friends or they won't want to play with you anymore. You have to ask for things before you take them. [As I am saying this, I am brushing Selah's hair to put it in a pony-tail and try to take the pony-tail holder from Selah's hand.]
Selah: Mommy, you can't just take things out of my hands. You need to ask nicely.
__________________________
Selah [to Dad]: Where are we going?
Dad: WE'RE not going anywhere. Daddy's going to work.
Selah: You're going to work AGAIN?
__________________________
Selah has an assigned drawer in the kitchen. This is for her cups/containers and toys...THE drawer that she has permission to play in. Yesterday, as I was cooking dinner, I notice her run into the kitchen, open her drawer and pull out a sippy cup full of water. She took a drink, put the cup back in the drawer and ran out of the kitchen. I guess this is now her special water stash.

Eden is starting to enjoy her exersaucer

She loves her changing table. Notice the chunky legs.

Selah providing toys for Eden

Update on the Girls

2009-09-11T05:45:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to the Northeast part of the country for a vacation in the mountains. It was beautiful. Selah and I tried on one of the local head-dresses. We saw beautiful, lush mountain meadows, rivers, beautiful rock bridges and lots of bad roads! On the first day, Selah wanted to go home. She wasn't so excited about the great outdoors. She quickly warmed up to it and knew what a river, meadow, tea plant, bee farm were when we left.

Rock Bridge

At the ruins of an old fortress

Eden is doing great! She is a plump, happy girl--as long as I am disciplined enough to stay on the diet. She is sleeping from about 7 PM - 6 AM without a feeding. She takes 2- 3 naps a day and usually takes a 2-hour nap in the morning and at least 2 more 1-hour naps in the afternoon. Though, today she is working on her second 2-hour nap as I write. She can stay up for about 2 hours before she loses control and melts into a wad of whine. To put her to sleep, I sing 2 songs then turn her over to her tummy and pat her bottom for a couple of minutes. If I haven't missed the "window of opportunity," she'll pop her thumb in her mouth and drift off to dreamland on her own.
She loves to smile and has started laughing at loud when tickled in the right spot. Eden is starting to grab things that pass in front of her hands, including my drinks and food. She likes to lay on her play mat and grab the toys above head but usually rolls over to her belly within a couple of minutes. Then, she doesn't know what to do with herself. Eden definitely prefers to be on her tummy and rolls both ways with ease.
We took Eden for her 4 month appointment this week. She bravely received 2 shots and Selah ate Eden's reward lollipop for her.

Stats:
Weight: 6.5 kg = 14 lbs 5 oz
Height: 63 cm = 24.8 in

Selah continues to "love strong," as Ryan would say. She gives powerful hugs and kisses and is a close-talker when it comes to talking to Eden. Selah is full of questions about life and..everything and enjoys wrestling with her daddy. She laughs a lot and has a lot of fun. She is increasingly strong-willed and likes to do things without any help--go to the bathroom, change clothes, turn the t.v. on/off, get in the stroller, put shoes on, feed herself, etc. Last night, she cleared the table and wiped it clean while I put Eden to bed. She is also happy to use the dust buster to clean her crumbs after snacks/meals.

Selah entertains herself with books, coloring, playdough, and babies. She has 4 baby dolls and finds taking care of them is a full-time job. Her favorite book/movie is currently Snow White. She has told me several times that she wants to read Cinderella and Beauty and Beast next (these books are pictured in the Snow White book). Selah's imagination is in full force as she pretends to swing her cousin Sara Kate at the park. We also regularly have dinner with Sara Kate's family (Ryan's sister, Rebecca; David; and Elisabeth). At least once a day, I think we reenact the scene from Snow White where Snow White eats the apple, falls asleep and then the prince wakes her up with a kiss. Of course, Daddy is the prince. Selah is Snow White and I am the mean queen. (Am I really that mean?) Selah loves to change clothes and wear skirts and dresses while she dances around the living room. She still spends a lot of time at the park. I've asked about preschools and one of my friends told me how much they cost....not sure I'm up for using that percentage of our income on preschool. So, we're going to put that one on the back burner for a while.

Selah's Stats:
Weight: 15 kg = 33 lbs
Height: 92 cm = 36 inches

In our cabin

Picnic in the mountain meadow

A few more scarfs

Head Band over the Swim Cap

2009-08-24T04:49:00.001-07:00

Selah has a head-band thing. She likes to wear one day and night. When she wakes up in the morning, she calls for me, asks for milk and cartoons then does a head-band check before getting out of bed. Sometimes it falls off while she is sleeping (imagine that) and we have to find it before anything else is done.

This week pics

2009-08-22T05:53:00.000-07:00

Eden spits up a lot

Selah and Daddy try to ride about twice a week. If you'll notice a white thing on her helmet, it's her headband. She loves to wear her headband, even if it means going over her helmet.

Fun with friends.

The BEST homemade brownies ever!

2009-08-07T06:09:00.001-07:00

(I couldn't get the camera to focus on the brownies--someone in the background was too distracting)

I don’t often find recipes worthy of sharing with anyone that might visit our blog, but this one is the best recipe for homemade brownies that I have ever made or tasted. Those that live in places where brownie mixes are not available will be very excited to try this recipe. I can barely taste the difference between these brownies and the classic box mix. And just when you thought there couldn’t be any better news than this, let me inform you that this is a VEGAN recipe…so I can enjoy as many of these brownies as I want, which is many more than I should eat. I found them on a vegan website

I’ve made these brownies 2 times in the past two days. They’re easy and quick—if you have ground flax seed on hand. Try them and let me know what you think.

Vegan Brownies

1 cup organic sugar ( I used regular)
1 cup organic unbleached flour (I used regular)
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
¼ cup canola oil (I used sunflower oil)
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup unsweetend cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Mix wet ingredients, then dump in all the dry…don’t over mix.
Bake in a greased 8X8 baking pan at 350°F (180°C) for 20-25 minutes.

They’re supposed to look gooey!

Aunt Aleshia came to see us!

2009-08-07T05:46:00.000-07:00

Eden says 'HI!'

She started rolling onto her side from her back this week...using an arched back to maneuver her way around.

This is how she looks at something that is above her head...with the arched back.

Selah excited about going swimming yesterday. She was the most uninhibited she has ever been while in the baby pool yesterday. She walked around without holding anyone's hand and jumped to me (without holding my hands before jumping).

Aunt Aleshia (my older sister) arrived on Saturday. Selah has enjoyed playing with her, reading new books together and pretending to drive to Bible study using the dining room chairs as a car. She sets them up in 2 rows of 2 and using the steering wheel that goes with the Wii. In the above picture Selah has fun pretending to be a unicorn with the water noodle, while Auntie Lesh sports a new necklace--which can also be used to look at Eden in the backseat from the rear view mirror in the car.

Things you'd know about babies if you were a national here...

2009-07-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

1. Mommy and baby don't leave the house until at least 30 days after the baby is born.
2. Baby cannot be anywhere close to moving air or s/he will get sick.
3. The wind here is very dangerous; its not like other wind. (I can't type the sarcasm in my voice, but read with much sarcasm.)
4. Don't make the baby sit up until she is at least 6 months old or it will injure her hips.
5. If the baby sucks his fingers, he or she is obviously still hungry and needs to nurse more.
6. If it is hot outside and the baby is crying, she needs a drink of water. Water is very important for babies.
7. If you are holding the baby and walking around, the baby should be stretched over your arm, face down with head at the elbow and baby's feet at your hand. This is most comfortable and helps with gas.
8. You should put the baby in bed as soon as he falls asleep so he won't get used to sleeping in your arms. Nevermind that it is perfectly okay to spend 30 minutes rocking them to sleep until they are 3 or 4 years old.
9. The baby should always be wearing a hat and a sweater, no matter the temperature outside.

I'll add more as I am reminded of them by some helpful bystander--teenager, man, woman, grandfather, etc.

We're all still learning!

2009-07-30T05:07:00.000-07:00

Eden is 12 weeks old now and she is so happy! I love talking to her, seeing her huge grin and hearing her gurgles in response. She's lifting her head up well, putting herself to sleep, sleeping between 8 and 10 hours without waking at night, and she smiles every time she sees her big sister. She is nursing a lot better now and her stool has turned back to mustard yellow--most of the time. She still spits up like crazy; so I'm thankful for my husband who finds some small pleasure in hanging laundry on the line!

Here she is posing for me as best as she can, but it is obvious that she feels like she's stuck in a corner.
This is how I found Selah yesterday while she napped. There is a long, ugly story leading up to this naptime--suffice it to say that I am never going to get used to disciplining my child. It breaks my heart every time. I can't stand to hear either of the girls cry; it makes every nerve in my body send terror signals to my brain--which then requires an awful lot of mental energy to combat the urge to give in and do whatever will make her stop crying.
In the end, I know it is better in the long-term to not give in. For example, yesterday Selah screamed "No" at me, which earned her a punishment. This sent her into another realm of angry while she lay on her bed screaming. I told her I'd come back later when she stopped crying. This is the first battle of the war in my heart and mind. I just want to hold her and stop the crying, but I can't let her control me with her crying. She's so smart that she'll use crying to accomplish all of her goals instead of using words or coping mechanisms when things don't turn out her way. So, I come back after she settles down, hug & kiss her and read a book. It was naptime...but she thought for a second and realized she needed a kleenex.
If you've been around our house lately, you'd know that this habit of asking for things at nap/bed time is getting out of control. She's obviously trying to delay our departure from the room. I said no to the kleenex and left the room. She proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs for about 45 minutes before passing out in exhaustion, as I imagine it went. I can't count the number of times I thought, "I could just give her the kleenex and this would be over." (Don't forget how I've already described the pain I endure when she cries.) But the smarter part of me speaks louder reminding me that I can't just give in. In the long run, she has to learn some lessons so that we'll have a happy family and so she can cope with life.
The list of things that we learn and endure as parents is longer and more over-whelming than I imagined. It's all worth it and I couldn't do it without 4 biggies in my life: a God who strengthens and teaches me, a supportive and encouraging husband, parents that were great models for me and support from friends that have already walked this road or are currently walking it with me. Thanks everyone and praise the Lord for His love endures forever and He is always patient with me!

Saying good-bye

2009-07-20T10:04:00.001-07:00

We've now said "hello" and "good-bye" to Pops & Grammy, Stacie, Granddaddy & Ama, and Mark and Stephanie--all since Eden was born almost 10 weeks ago. We still have a 2 more guests coming, and one is my sister, whom we affectionately call "Auntie Lesh." We're excited to welcome Aleshia to our home for the first time!

Over the past few weeks, we have had a lot of happy things happening...namely, Eden is so happy and sleeping well. Actually, she sleeps well as long as I am not cheating on my diet. I admit it, I'm weak when it comes to food. All those oreo's and brownies and cheese that were specially ordered from the States are just sitting around waiting for me to eat them. But, I am trying to be strong. I haven't touched those (dare I add a "yet" on the end of that statement?).

Eden liked her pacifier in the beginning, but after a few weeks it was obvious that she wasn't such a big fan. I thought that surely if I found the right pacifier she'd fall in love. But she didn't. You see, I love the pacifier. It was a beautiful beautiful assistant to me in soothing Selah for the first year and a half of her life. Selah didn't fight very hard when we decided it was time to say good-bye to the pacifier. So, I was eager for Eden to discover all the greatness that a pacifier holds. I tried 6 different pacifiers to no avail. She decided the greatness lies in her own thumbs. In spite of all my trying, she is a very avid thumb sucker. As I say good-bye to my hopes of finding the perfect pacifier, I am happy that my little girl uses her thumb to put herself to sleep, making my job much easier. In the end, I'm happy she found something to sooth herself with and the great thing is that she'll never lose her thumb in bed--we hope.

I also had to say good-bye to almost 1 gallon of precious breast milk. Since I am quite certain that Eden has a rather sensitive digestive system, I had to get rid of all the milk I had stored in the first 2 months of her life. During 6 weeks of that time I was eating a lot of the things her body doesn't like. Too bad. It was hard to pour it down the drain. Now, I have 8 ounces of milk stored in the freezer. It's a start!

How many minutes of pumping does this add up to?

Mark and Stephanie did a great job with the kids. I give them our stamp of approval for starting their own family! Notice Selah is wearing a grocery sack. It makes a grate water-proof swimsuit (?) or over-alls.

Ama & Grandaddy Visit

2009-07-12T01:46:00.000-07:00

We had a great visit with Ama and Grandaddy. Ama was a great help for 4weeks! We stayed on an island, played in the park, swam and just had a good time. In other news, Eden is doing much better since Laura has adjusted her own diet to exclude milk products, beef, eggs, and nuts. So, Eden probably has an allergy to at least one of those things. We'll eventually figure out which one I'm sure.

In Ama and Gradaddy's hotel room on the island.

Plenty of room in our elevator.

Swimming.

Hiking on the island.

Ama doing some shopping.

6 weeks old - Eden

2009-06-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

Bathtime

Sisters

Pool Day

2009-06-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

Most pools around here require swim caps for all females.

Chillin'

2 Happy girls--snacking and napping

Sisterly Lullaby & Pics

2009-05-30T00:41:00.000-07:00

Trip to the consulate for Eden's passport

Eden Faith Wolf

2009-05-09T05:29:00.001-07:00

Praise the Lord, He allowed it to go just as I'd hoped...and better!

I was scheduled to go to the hospital yesterday morning at 9:00 to be induced. However, yesterday at 3:00 AM, I started having contractions. They were initially about 10 minutes apart and I timed them for about an hour to make sure it was going to keep going before I woke Ryan up. Poor guy, got a sinus infection and hasn't been feeling very good. I woke him up at 4 AM and he immediately went to work...turned on soft music, dimmed the lights, and prayed for me or read scripture while I breathed through each contraction. I remember telling him that these contractions weren't building up at all. Rather, they seemed to hit me at the peak then gradually eased off.

Around 5 AM, my water broke and the contractions jumped from about 8 minutes apart to 4 or 5 minutes apart. I told Ryan we should head to the hospital, but he said he thought we should wait a little longer. When the next contraction hit a couple of minutes later, I told him we were going to the hospital and he obliged. We woke my parents up to give them the news as we rushed out the door. Of course, I had another contraction while we waited for the elevator to come to our floor, just before getting in the car and several on the way. In fact, I started being able to feel the sensation to push as we were driving to the hospital. We left the house at 5:20 AM and arrived at the hospital at 5:40.

When we walked into the emergency room, the nurse walked up to us casually and said something like, "How can I help you?" Ryan thought he wouldn't have to explain what was going on, being that I was doing the breathing exercises and such, but politely responded by telling him that I as in labor. He wheeled me to the maternity ward.

The nurse on duty immediately hooked me up to the fetal monitor and told Ryan she'd call my doctor after 15 minutes of monitoring the baby and contractions. I honestly thought she'd realize that my contractions were literally 3 minutes apart and call the doctor. But she didn't. There was probably some language issues involved--mostly on our end. :) I was able to endure about 10 minutes of this on the bed; all the while Ryan repeatedly asked if I could get off of the bed because I was in a lot of pain. She kept telling him to wait for her test to be finished. Then it occurred to me that I should tell her about this increasingly strong urge to push--that ought to make her take this more seriously! At this point, she hadn't even done an internal exam to check my progress. As soon as she heard that I wanted to push, she did an exam and immediately paged the doctor on call.

The doctor on call came in and told us the baby would be out in 5 or 10 minutes. I really needed to hear that because I was laying there telling Ryan I couldn't do it anymore...it hurt too bad! I was trying so hard not to push because no one had told me to push yet, but it was like my bodily did it involuntarily. Fortunately, the nurses and doctor were able to get everything ready just as I had to push the first time. Ryan was so encouraging, praying for me through each contraction and telling me what a wonderful job I was doing. I was sweating, crying and regretting having no pain medication. At some point during all of this I told Ryan that next time I would be getting pain medication. That's what every woman probably thinks at this point.

After that first push, Ryan told me that I probably only needed to push one more time, and he was right--out came our precious Eden Faith. She was born at 6:22 AM on May 8, 2009. She weighed 4.21 kg (about 9 lbs 3 oz), 51 cm long (about 20 inches) and has light brown hair. Honestly, we couldn't decide on a name for another couple of hours...it's an important decision. I chose Faith for her middle name because this pregnancy and delivery have taken me on a spiritual journey, drawing me closer to my Father and really testing my faith. And my journey doesn't end here. I keep looking to Him as I am overwhelmed at the thought of raising 2 girls and teaching them about the God of the universe. I am reassured knowing Him, who is faithful and that He is able to do more than I can ask or imagine. I rest in His promises to give me everything I need to do that which He has asked of me (and to protect my kids when I mess up).

All in all, I think we did pretty well communicating in the language while in this tense situation...well, Ryan did really well. After trying to communicate a few times in the midst of the contractions, I changed to giving orders to Ryan to tell the doctor or nurse. Other interesting parts of the story were that the nurse was trying to fill out paper work as I was really close to pushing. She kept asking us questions and for my i.d., etc. After the initial check on Eden, the nurse allowed me to hold her for a few minutes. I didn't know why Ryan left the room at the same time, but it turns out that they had asked him to step into the hall and pay the bill. Can you believe that? He was irritated when, while he was paying, they wheeled Eden by to get her full examination in the nursery. He asked if they could wait and let him hold her for a few minutes and they wouldn't let him. The hospital was beautiful and the nurses and doctors were extremely professional and helpful. I think I rate the experience as highly as I rated my first birth experience--but that time I had two really great friends that were also Selah's baby nurses.

Selah loves her little sister and is very excited about changing poopy diapers, bringing toys, and holding her. She keeps saying (in a really high-pitched voice), "Eden is an iddy bitty tiny baby!" We are very thankful for all the help that grammy and pops are providing!

Here are few pics. You can see more here.

Dr. Deniz and the girls

Ready to hit the road

Buckle up for safety

In front of the horse pistol

Here's Selah loving on her "Little, itty-bitty, tiny baby"

Trust

2009-05-05T22:53:00.000-07:00

Last night I realized that though I feel a Spirit-led leading to wait for the baby to come naturally, I may not see that reality. I feel a complete peace about being induced on Friday, if the baby hasn't come by then--and will proceed in that plan.

The verses on the men in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 have come to mind--the men were faithful but never received that which was promised.

Verse 13 "All these men died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth."

Though I still have until Friday before the scheduled induction, I need to be okay with waiting, and the possibility of not getting what I am hoping for. The past week has been quite a spiritual struggle for me as I wake up every morning disappointed and frustrated. I want this baby to come--like a week ago--because I'm tired of carrying her, my parents are here waiting too, I want to be able to get on the floor and play with Selah again, and I just want to hold this little girl in my arms. I have been blessed to have lots of friends calling regularly to let me know they are praying for me as I struggle through the waiting. And I know God is refining me in the waiting. So, maybe the goal in all this is for me to trust and obey, when it is very difficult to do so.

I know this might seem to many (and even to me in a few months) to be such a small struggle that I'm blowing up into a big one. I mean, its really just waiting for 2 weeks longer than the supposed due date. But, I've struggled through many emotions, fears, and thoughts over the past weeks and months. I've heard lots of advice and had to trust God in many moments of fear, etc. Regardless of whether this is actually a big or small issue now or later, I do know that I've been weak and left with nothing but my faith and trust in the Lord. Praise Him for that. I do hope that my selfishness has not hindered His glory in and through my life.

Like Father Like Daughter

2009-05-03T12:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, my parents brought Selah a new pair of shoes. She thinks they are pretty cool. The funniest part of the whole afternoon for me was watching her try the shoes on. After she put them on, she stood up and did a little dance. It was sooooo similar to a little dance that Ryan sometimes does when he puts his shoes on...and I don't think he has done it for Selah yet, so it must have just come naturally to her. Her personality is very similar to Ryan's--and I love it!!

Still cozy.....

2009-05-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

The baby is still cozy. I, on the other hand, am feeling....I'll let you fill in the blank.

41 weeks, 2 days

We had an appointment with Dr. Deniz on Thursday; she's a big fan of Selah. Selah was working on drawing a picture for her when we took this picture.

Grammy and Pops arrived yesterday afternoon with much ado. They brought lots of treats and smiles! Selah was very excited and so were we. Now, everyone is here, waiting on the baby to come!

We've had a good time over the past week playing Wii and entertaining ourselves as we wait. Last night, every time I "threw" a bowling ball I cramped up somewhere. We were hoping my birth story could include the "Wii natural induction method", but it couldn't finish the job.

If there is no baby by Friday morning, we think we'll be more than happy to bring her out via induction. We'll see....

No baby yet.

2009-04-26T03:10:00.000-07:00

My lack of communication does not imply that I have had a baby and am busy tending to her, sorry! It means that I've been lazy and feel like I've got nothing to post.

A wrap up of this week will have to suffice for this post until baby news comes.

A little over a week ago, my grandpa's nephew's granddaughter, Lindsey, came to visit. She's studying in Switzerland. We spent a lot of our younger years together. She came to visit Istanbul and we were so happy to get to spend some time with her!
Last Sunday, I walked a few laps around the park across the street, approximately 3 km. The parks are flooded with people on Sundays in this country, so I think my size, and the fact that I was walking alone, was quite a spectacle as heads were turning and following my waddle the entire time I walked.

On Monday, I woke up with a pretty bad ache in my side and "worked it out" via a work-out video, but only ended up in more pain with a severe back-ache. I tried to push through and take Selah to a McDonald's with a playground (so I could sit and she could play in a contained area) and succeeded. But later I had to call Ryan home because I really couldn't move around anymore and mostly just needed distraction from the pain. My backache stopped on Tuesday around noon and I got busy with some deep cleaning that needed to be done.
Thursday was the World Children's Day (according to this country) and we wanted to go watch a parade, but it was canceled because it was chilly outside--and everyone knows that you don't take children outside when it is chilly, right?! We went to a mall instead, confident we would find some sort of entertainment for the holiday, and we did! Selah enjoyed playing in the play area with other kids the most.

We went to the doctor Friday and were told that the baby looks well and probably wasn't going to come for at least a few more days. I aslo had a "non-stress" test done, where the fetal heart rate monitor and contraction monitor were hooked on my belly and I just layed on the "bed" for a while. After the doctor was satisfied that the baby's heart rate was changing with her movement (I think that is what she was looking for), we were given the okay to come back next Thursday, if the baby still hasn't come forth. I was most relieved that the doctor didn't want to discuss induction and even told me that after next week (41 weeks), I'd have to come in every 3 days. Praise the Lord, that is an answer to prayers!

Selah wanted to ride the boat, so after getting home from the doctor, we rode the train to the ferry and across the sea to Europe. We had dinner under a bridge, where we could watch all the boat traffic and returned home to have an enjoyable evening at some friends house playing games.

Yesterday, some other friends came over and cooked dinner for us and played games. All in all, I think the waiting is easier this time. Selah is a good distraction and I am not feeling pressured to make decisions about induction. I am very thankful. BUT...I AM really, really ready to give birth!

2009-04-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

I guess a new post is in order. No news. Can that be the end of the post?

Actually, I go to the doctor tomorrow and we'll see how things are progressing. According to the count down clock on the right side of the blog, I'm ten days from the due date. Last time I went to the doctor, I was finally convinced of the legitimacy of the margin of error on the measurements. Baby sister's head and other body parts measured smaller than 2 weeks prior, so I'm going to let that comfort me. We're still praying to be blessed with a birth that isn't brought on by anyone but God. Selah was just asking baby sister to come out an play again today, as she wrapped the present she plans to give her when the baby comes out....a new pink pacifier!

We celebrated Easter at a park about 100 feet from the Sea. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit cold, but the worship, picnic and Easter Egg Hunt were fun. Selah also enjoyed a nice candy bracelet from her Grammy & Pops.

Good news!

2009-03-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

Praise the Lord, she turned! Now, we can pray that she'll stay that way!! You can also pray for wisdom over the next several weeks as we prepare for baby Wolf's arrival and prepare Selah for her arrival. Pray that we will trust the Lord more and more every day.

According to the ultrasound that was done yesterday, I've got approximately 7 pounds of baby in there right now and 5 weeks til my due date. Her head really is huge....maybe her head had a growth spurt and the rest of her body with spend the next 5 weeks catching up!

Almost 35 completed weeks!!

2009-03-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

We went to the park last Sunday morning to take some pics of my pregnant belly and the family one last time before our second little girl arrives. Selah required some bribing with Red Hots to participate at times, but I think we got several good shots. These were taken at 34 weeks. I was trying to get them at the same time that we had them made just before Selah was born. There are more on flickr, if you want to see them....just click on the link on the right that says "Our Flickr pics."

We're also all ready for baby sister to arrive. I went to the doctor last week and she said, according to the ultrasound machine's measurements (and many very, very sophisticated calculations and guesses) that the baby still looks healthy and on target for the April 23 due date. However, we've got a big one....her head is measuring about 4 weeks ahead of the actual gestational age (based on averages, of course) and she probably weighed in at 2.5 kg or 5.5 lbs. The doctor's prediction is that we'll have a 9 pounder....oh Lord, help me! Also, she has turned and is NOW breeched with her head poking my ribs on the left side. If you want to pray for me, please pray that I'll trust God's sovereignty and His provision for all of our needs over the next weeks/months.

In other news, Selah, Ryan and I are absolutely, 100% ready for spring/summer to arrive. Since we returned from the states in early January, it has been rainy, cold and cloudy about 95% of the time. Last week, after Selah woke up from her nap she immediately started talking about going swimming at the beach or the swimming pool. Then she asked to put her swimsuit on. So, we put everything on (including tights under the suit to keep warm) and went swimming in the bathtub. She had a great time splashing, "just like in the pool", and swimming, "like Michael Phelps."

One more great piece of news. Our second niece was born last week. Her name is Elisabeth Grace. She's a beautiful baby and apparently a great sleeper. Lord, can I have one like that too?

Granddaddy with his 3rd granddaughter

Selah Guitar

2009-03-08T14:08:00.001-07:00

Just when you think Selah has done it all, she proves that she can be a musical instrument.

A week already?!

2009-02-27T06:05:00.000-08:00

Since we have started our most recent language class, it seems like I blink and a week has gone by! This week Ryan went to a nearby mountain and skied for a day. He went with his supervisor and another friend. He said it was a great mental health day. I am also very happy that Selah seems to be getting back in the swing of regular napping. Maybe the excitement of the toddler bed has finally worn off. She has officially napped 7 days in a row for the first time since the middle of January.

Selah is more and more clearly asserting her independence lately. She wakes up every morning and insists on choosing her own clothes. She changes her dolls' clothes multiple times a day and makes sure that they are fed, walked, napped, ect. I keep telling her what a great big sister she is. She regularly offers her baby sister (still in utero) a blanket, a drink or just talks to her and asks her to come out and play. Earlier this week I decided to see how well she knows the letters of the alphabet because she always wants to watch her "Letters" video. We looked at the letter magnets on the refrigerator and I grouped 4 letters together, asking her to show me a specific letter in the group. I was surprised and so proud to find out that she can identify every letter in the alphabet, except X, E, and H....at least on that day. I think she really knows all of them because she has showed me those letters on other occasions. She also grabs the 'M' and gives it me, saying, "M for mommy" and gives daddy the 'D' and herself the 'S' saying each person respectively.

This week we went to dinner with one of Ryan's friends whom we've encouraged to speak the national language with Selah. She wouldn't say much back to him, but when another one of Ryan's national friends called while we were at dinner, Selah told him that we were eating dinner and drinking tea in the national language. I was so excited to hear her speaking the language and actually responding to the questions she was asked.

No news on the pregnancy front...though we are waiting for news from Ryan's sister as she should be giving birth any day now to her second little girl. I'm also very thrilled that the Lord blessed us with the opportunity to use some frequent flyer miles to fly my best friend, Stacie out to stay with me for 9 days a few weeks after the baby is born. Ryan has to go out of town in late May for a few days and I wanted someone to come stay with me. Praise the Lord that we were actually able to use our miles on the days we wanted!!

It was a happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-17T11:31:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday, Selah and I, along with another young mom made Valentine's sugar cookies. Selah mostly enjoyed playing in the flower and sneaking pinches of dough to eat. It was fun to introduce her to making cookies.
On Saturday, we enjoyed our weekly Skype calls with Ama & Granddaddy and Grammy & Pops. Selah received a candy necklace and bracelet from Grammy & Pops--which was a hit. She mostly enjoyed wearing the necklace, and did manage to break it at least once. We gave her a heart-shaped lollipop, which was also very exciting being that she has fixated on the the "Lollipop" song over the past 2 weeks. We have listened to that 2 1/2 minute song SOOOOOO many times!
Ryan bought me some great chocolates, flowers AND cooked one of the best dinners I've had in a long time. It was chicken cordon bleu with real ham and swiss cheese, a great cream sauce, whole grain rice and spinach/orange salad. I am blessed!

Selah enjoys watching Mickey Mouse on mommy's iPod.

30 Weeks Pregnant....I know. My belly has grown a good bit.

We went to the doctor yesterday and apparently there's a big girl growing in my tummy. She is almost 4 pounds right now, and I still have 9 weeks to go. In other words, as far as averages go, I'm measuring in the 34th week when I'm actually in the 31st week. The doctor said that I can try to cut out extra carbs to try to make a difference in her rapid growth. It worries me a little because I had really hoped that this baby would not be bigger than Selah, but I am very thankful that she seems very healthy. Ryan joked that I could take up smoking....

Cute Selah Stories

2009-02-08T10:45:00.000-08:00

As we sat around the house yesterday morning, Selah wanted to watch the "Tiger" movie. For those of you who are curious enough without anymore intro than that and are thinking, what children's movie has a tiger in it?....it is obviously Madagascar, the animated film. However, to my recollection, there are no tigers in the movie.
Anyway, after the movie, Selah wanted to see pictures of a zoo, so we got online and looked up the zoo right here in the area. Next we heard a sweet little "go to zoo???" petition and couldn't resist, being that we had nothing else on the schedule for the day and we'd been talking about the zoo for a couple of weeks with Selah. After driving about 45 minutes, we arrived and set our expectations very, very low. There were 3 reasons for this: a friend told me that it wasn't a very good zoo, we could hardly find the sign on the entrance and were the only ones in the parking lot when we arrived at 11:15 AM.
After wondering around for an hour, we started finding every animal Selah was hoping for: tigers, lions, zebra, peacocks, ostriches, every kind of monkey and bird, bears, emus, llamas, camels, miniature ponies, turtles, snakes, fish, goats, sheep, ducks and even prairie dogs. I have to say, being from Amarillo, seeing prairie dogs at the zoo seemed a little comical to me, but when I thought about it a bit more, it made sense. There's not a lot of "prairie" in these parts! Selah was tenative about getting too close to any of the cages, but did want to share her fish crackers with the lively monkey that we saw at the end of our visit. He appreciated the fish cracker and raisins, but not Ryan's poking the end of the umbrella through a hole in the fencing. He hit the cage kind of hard in response....which only encouraged Ryan. According to what I hear from Ryan's parents, I think this part of his personality hasn't changed much since he was young.

Recently, Selah has been asking us lots and lots of questions: "what's this, Mommy? what's that, Daddy?, etc."

Here's tonight's exchanges:
"Where's Selah's car?" (in the shop getting body work done because its broken)
"Mirror on car broke." (yes, honey, the mirror broke when the icecream truck hit the car)
"Where's the mirror?" (in the road somewhere)
[a bit of thinking]
"Where's the road?" (ummm, by our house)
"Daddy sad."
[turns to Daddy and pats his arm and gives a him a kiss]

A few minutes later, we had another great conversation. She accidently pulled a tea candle over early tonight at church and got hot wax all over her hand. She is fine, but remembered her own sadness at this point.
"Selah hurt hand." (I know, baby. Everyone kissed it and its all better now.)
"Selah sit in mommy's lap?" (Okay, you can sit in mommy's lap.)
[Selah lays down "like a baby" in my arms and cuddles close and puts her lips on my collar bone]
"Selah drink milk." (I laugh and never really know how to respond in this situation. She's been weaned for a year now, but we've been reading some books about having a new baby at home and I think she gets the idea for how baby sister is going to eat!)

A few minutes later...
"Selah is baby Levi. Mommy [is] Anna. Daddy is Tim." (This is a family we know in our city. We meet with Anna and Levi once a week for play group and we never forget to pray for Levi before going to bed! As we're walking into our apartment building and wrapping up these insightful conversations, she runs up to Ryan and says...)
"Hey Tim!"

I find this hillarious on several levels, but mostly that she renames everyone in our family, then proceeds to call us by our new names for the next 30 minutes or so and she remembers to pretend to be baby Levi for most of that time.

Then, as we were putting her in bed tonight, she looked up and saw the lamp was still on. She said, "Turn the lamp off" in her sweet, little requesting tone of voice. As I walked to the lamp, she closed her eyes tightly and said, "turn light off with eyes." Brilliant. She is one brilliant little girl, if I do say so myself.

My first attempt at basic video editing:

Scrabble

2009-02-03T11:02:00.001-08:00

Last week we had a friend from another part of the country visiting. One evening we decided to play scrabble in the national language. It was quite difficult (in my opinion) because there weren't many long words played which gave us very few options for new words as our turns came around. We were pretty proud of ourselves when we finished (we didn't use all the tiles, but were within 10). Our brains were mush at the end.

Ryan and I started a new language course this week. We are actually taking the same course from the same teacher. We're both looking forward to it and already enjoyed our first day. However, this means that I will be spending about 3 times as much time studying language every week.

I wanted to share a funny story about Selah. On the night of the Presidential Inauguration, Ryan asked Selah if she could say, "president". She confidently said, "present" as if she nailed it perfectly. Ryan and I laughed and she thought for a moment. Then she said, "If you poo poo in the potty 2 times, you get a PRESENT. " Hilarious. You can tell what stage of training we're in right now. She has a gorgeous, high-tech toy helicopter waiting for her in the bathroom...waiting and waiting. Two weeks ago I took her to the toy store and let her play with toys for 1 hour. I simply observed and introduced her to new toys every now and then. After much playing, we went witht he pretty cool helicopter. It has buttons, noises, colored balls, and teaches numbers and colors! Now, if we can just get her to poop in the potty!

T-minus 3 months

2009-01-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

We have not taken nearly as many of these kinds of pictures as we did the last pregnancy. I'm guessing that will probably be a continuing theme.

This pic is hilarious to me b/c my language tutor is a retired colonel and has been a very straight-laced language professor for many years. He is playing with the Etch-a-Sketch and Selah is reading one of my textbooks. Perfect

Profile view.

The 4D Ultrasound shot. See any resemblance to any of us?

Texas and Back

2009-01-11T12:18:00.001-08:00

Well, it seems like you blink and it's been a month since the last update. We were busy going to Houston and Amarillo I reckon. We've been back for 8 days and really just in the last 2 days we've completely gotten over jet lag. This has been the longest jet lag recovery for any of us. We were all a little sick when we got back so I'm sure that didn't help.

Now that Selah has adjusted back to GMT +2, we decided to let her try to sleep in her big girl bed. We've had the bed for several months in her room. We bought it at Ikea when the dollar spiked. Well, I thought for sure that she would get up a bunch of times since she wasn't confined by her crib. But she only got up once. I made good on my threat, she went back to bed, and that was that it seems.

At any rate, here are a few pics from Texas.

Blue Dog--Selah's new best friend in Amarillo

Wacky Uncle Chris and Selah's static hair in dry Amarillo

Pretty sweet birthday present from Grammy & Pops

An Elmo birthday party

Back from the cold

2008-12-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

I have a hundred pictures and at least that many memories from my trip last week. I met so many people and, really, it was so easy. I learned a lot about the different peoples out yonder.

Mt. Ararat

Selma, a very cute village girl

Pushing a bald-tired car up a snowy hill

Dried goose-heads anyone?

Village dude

While he's out...

2008-12-10T12:54:00.000-08:00

Selah wearing a dress I wore on my 4th Birthday. Is she that big? I know I wasn't that small.

Ryan left town for the week and I want him to come home!!! I got a cold last weekend and it was at its worst on Monday, the day Ryan left. My good friend had already offered to come to the park with Selah and I, so I decided to ask her if she would take Selah to the park while I stayed home and rested. Graciously, she and her husband played with my precious girl for over an hour at the park. Selah took her nap soon after getting home and I was able to rest some more. My head hurt SO BAD but I didn't want to keep loading up on the Tylenol because I just like to keep medicines at a minimum during pregnancy and already take a lot of Benadryl because of my horrendous allergies--but that's a different story. Anyway, as time neared for Selah to wake up, I decided I needed to call someone to help me out for the evening. Oh how I wished my parents or Ryan's parents were just down the street because I wouldn't feel bad about calling them and having them take care of me. I called another good friend and she happily came over, played with Selah, cleaned the dishes after dinner, gave Selah a bath and put her to bed. It was a blessing, but I did feel bad sitting on the couch while she did all that.
Yesterday the babysitter came, so I went to the grocery store and worked on writing a paper on the importance of family and marriage that I will start translating into the language here as soon as I finish this post.
Today, I am feeling almost 1o0% and took Selah with me to meet my walking partner this morning. After walking 4.5 km, Selah and I played at the playground for about 30 minutes before returning home. When we got home, I decided to do a holiday craft and make a Christmas clove ball. I've never made one, but seen them. We poked holes in an orange with a toothpick then put whole cloves in the holes. To finish it off, I made a ribbon hanger and bow for it. Selah was most excited about poking holes in her orange and even gave Minnie Mouse (a stuffed animal) her very own orange and toothpick.

The orange-clove ball. Look at that beautiful bow!

We also had time to see "Two Selahs," as she calls it and go visit our neighbor for 2 hours. Now, I must get back to work. I hope someone out there is thrilled to know what I've done with myself for past 3 days.

Two Selahs

Decorating and Road Trip

2008-12-05T23:35:00.000-08:00

This last week we decorated for Christmas and Ryan took a trip out east. Here is some relevant footage.

Here we are decorating for Christmas.

A lake in the southeast.

The ferry across the Euphrates River

The sweet van we drove back in.

November in Pictures

2008-11-22T00:11:00.000-08:00

18 weeks

Reading in Selah's big girl bed, though she doesn't sleep in it yet.

Sunset out our window.

Friends watching the world together.

Gifts

2008-11-19T10:35:00.000-08:00

We have some great neighbors! The other night a downstairs neighbor that we rarely see showed up at the door with 2 gifts for Selah. Selah was thrilled to receive a porcelain baby dressed like a joker and a stuffed dog holding a bag full of miniature Toblerone bars. We let Selah have a bite and sent the rest with Ryan to work. Selah was thrilled about her gifts. I think she'll enjoy Christmas and her birthday this year. She is quite experienced at opening packages, thanks to our great mothers and friends.

Keep checking back, I'll force myself to put a pregnancy photo up next time I look presentable. :)

Drive-Thru McDonald's

2008-11-11T04:19:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we were driving home from church and I decided that I'd prefer NOT to prepare lunch so we decided to stop by one of the few DRIVE-THRU McDonald's in our city. When we pulled up to the window and Ryan placed our order, I caught a glimpse of the look on Selah's face as she looked out the window....it was though she was thinking, "What is going on here? Why is daddy pulling up next to this building and talking to that lady? Why are we just sitting here?" Then she started pulling on her seat belt saying, "Out. Get out." I laughed as I realized this was one of her first drive-thru experiences as a conscious human being. She was confused by the entire situation but relieved when the french fries came. Ryan and I also laughed about how nice it felt to pick up food from a drive-thru. It was a momentary familiarity that brought a nice warm-and-fuzzy.

We also want to announce that we found out the gender of our next child. Drum roll please.....

GIRL!

We are really excited that all of Selah's adorable clothes will get to be worn again and are suprised that Ryan's sister, who is due with her second approximately 7 weeks before us will also be having her second girl. Lots of girls are coming to Granddaddy and Ama!! Here's the newest picture of the little bun in the oven.

Fun at the Wolf house!

2008-11-03T20:38:00.000-08:00

Sorry we haven't updated in so long. I couldn't get on our site for a while because the government here had blocked it. Now we're back in business.

Selah enjoys being drug around the house as a "burrito". It is kind of gross b/c I feel like she mops the floor with her head, but its a father-daughter thing as you can see.

Selah trying on her Amarillo Christmas dress.

About 3 weeks ago, we decided Selah was ready to be potty-trained. After we received the exciting Minnie Mouse and Cinderella panties in the mail from my mom, I was ready to give it a shot. I really didn’t do any research but decided from things I’d read or heard somewhere that I’d give her a gummy bear every time she tee-teed in the potty. About 2 weeks ago I decided that Selah was going to wear her panties all the time except for naptime. It only took about 1 week until she stopped having accidents in her panties and she now tells us every time she needs to go potty. I’m very proud of how quickly and easily she did it. Well done, Selah! Initially, we needed to get her to sit for a few minutes to relax, so we pulled out a magazine from the time of the Olympics that featured stories on Michael Phelps. Now she’s in a habit of looking at Phelp’s pics every few days while she relaxes on the potty. She asks over and over again, “Micheal. Micheal Phelps, mommy….Micheal.”

Last week Selah and I got out some construction paper to make paper pumpkins and begin talking about Thanksgiving. I ended up making two Jack-o-lanerns b/c it was so close to Halloween. I’ve added the second picture to remind myself and other moms like me that I do have to put some things off in order to have fun creative moments with Selah. While we were having fun, the kitchen and bedrooms all remained in disarray. Its okay. They’ll get cleaned up eventually and I like playing with Selah more!!

Last Friday, for the first time since we’ve been married, Ryan and I went to a costume Halloween Party. After lots of thinking (which started less than 24 hours before the party), we decided to try to be David and Victoria Beckham. We didn’t have much time to acquire our costumes, but Ryan made it to the pazar and bought me some big earrings and bargained to get himself a Beckham soccer jersey. I put on lots of makeup and had Ryan give me a “tattoo” starting at the base of my neck, going down the spine. I gave Ryan a great tattoo on his right arm and he gave himself a few others. It was fun to try to dress up as someone and go out for the evening

Selah in her Halloween outfit opening a gift from Grammy....an exciting new tea set. And, yes, she is very excited about it! She fell a few days before this picture and her lip took the brunt of the fall. There was a lot of blood. Mommy doesn't get rattled easily, but lots of blood coming out of Selah's mouth rattled her!

And then there were 2...

2008-10-11T23:49:00.001-07:00

Praise the Lord. He has given us another kiddo. He or she has been cooking for 12 weeks now. The estimated due date is April 24. Laura has been feeling a little nauseous in the afternoons for the past several weeks, but no puking, which is good. We are hoping that the beginning of the 2nd trimester will mean less sickness. We have had two appointments so far and everything looks to be going well. There is only one baby. Please pray for a healthy pregnancy and a healthy kiddo. Also, we decided that we are going to find out the sex on this one (not like we did with Selah). We should find out in about 3 weeks. We will let you know.

Two Helpful Pieces of Advice

2008-10-09T03:13:00.000-07:00

One more comment about the video Ryan posted...if you think a 1 1/2 year-old naked dancing is too revealing, I have one better. While we were at the beach, where mostly Europeans were vacationing, a girl that couldn't have been younger than 9 years old ran around the beach completely naked. She had a faint swimsuit line, but she didn't seem fazed by her own nudity at all....I guess it was just Bethany and me that were a little concerned.

I wanted to share two great pieces of advice I have received in relation to parenting. Well, one is advice and the other is a pointer, but they have both been tremendously effective in making things flow smoother with my ever stronger-willed daughter.

The first is to have regular quiet-time for Selah. Of course, it would be great if she were sitting in her bed reading her Bible and praying for 30 minutes most mornings, but, as smart as she is, she's not quite there yet. I started putting her in the bed with a few special, quiet-time only toys and some books and told her she had to play alone for 10 minutes. She didn't really like it the first week and called for me almost the entire time or whined. As time has passed we've worked up to at least 30 minutes in the mornings on the days we're home. She gets excited about her quiet-time now and always takes a small snack and cup of water with her. She also seems to do a little better job of playing by herself throughout the day on the days we have quiet-time. It really is helping her learn how to play alone. I love it because I get a few minutes to rest or have my own quiet-time.

The second "trick" or pointer we recently learned from the Leathermans. When their son refuses to eat something they know he likes or hasn't ever tried, they offer to do the "[insert food name] dance" if he takes a bite. This is simply amazing. The dance involves a little jive, while sitting in the chair, with our fingers shaking about and we use a made up tune to say "Do the [insert food name] dance." repeated about 4 times. Since we learned the dance, Selah eats those last bites on the plate when she just wants to go play; she tries more new foods and rejects food less often. I don't mind trading a 3 second dance for dinner-time harmony. I'll try to get a video demonstration up for you to view.

Potty Song Exclusive

2008-10-06T23:29:00.000-07:00

Selah is growing up. She has pooped in the potty twice and tee-teed several times. We bought a little potty about a month ago, but we haven't really started trying to train her on it yet. It looks like we might not have to try so hard. In recognition of this important milestone, I give you this special edition song, recorded live last night.

Vacation with the Leatherman's

2008-10-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

We had a great time over the past 2 weeks with our good friends from home. They arrived on Thursday night (2 weeks ago) and the next day we flew down to a villa close to the beach. Everyone enjoyed the beautiful beach a lot....I just liked it. I love to see beautiful beaches--I just don't love sand all over everything or getting cold when I am wearing my swimsuit, which I tend to experience on beaches. Selah was scared of the water the first day, but by the last day she was walking out ankle deep all by herself! She liked being buried in the sand and finding rocks. We tried to go to a near-by island where I'd heard the Greek Salads were awesome, but there was a port-workers strike all week so we couldn't get out to the island.

We spent the last 5 days in our city doing some site-seeing and relaxing around the house. Selah loved playing with Tye and learned lots of words from him. She is now giving us more commands in English than the national language--which is a change from 2 weeks ago.

The nationals in our city have been celebrating a nationwide holiday over the past few days and we let Selah enjoy it like we would if it was Halloween. she ate several pieces of chocolate in one sitting when we visited a few friends along with some chocolate cake. She has filled up on junk food right before dinner the past 2 nights in a row!

New Hair

2008-09-18T04:53:00.000-07:00

I got my hair cut again. I think I like it a lot. Ryan likes it, so that's good. I took 2 friends with me to make sure that the guy didn't do anything crazy because this was a real test of bravery for me. The great thing is that I accomplished the style this morning with 10 minutes of blow drying and 2 minutes of spot fixing with the flat iron. Looking at the pictures, it reminds me of one of my best friend, Stacie's hair styles.
Here it is:

Selah 21 months

2008-09-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

Selah is sporting a cool outfit that just came in the mail from Grammy. When we receive packages we have to pay about $1.50. But it's worth it to try to hear the delivery guy pronounce my name.

Selah was being a good girl helping mommy out making a cake. She enjoyed the spoils of her labor. She also enjoys Kool-Aid and a sugar-free popsicle everyday after her nap. She knows that she only gets one a day after her nap, but that doesn't stop her from asking for one 20-30 times per day. Also, we think she just said one of her first sentences the other day when we were looking at old pictures. "I see Daddy!" She is learning so many words so fast. It's hard to keep up.

Spaghetti Anyone?

2008-09-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

We don't get too many of these kinds of things over here. But I saw this in a gas station last night and had to pick it up. Looks like some delicious spaghetti indeed.

Year in Review

2008-09-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

August 2007

August 2008

She can't help dancing anytime she hears music.

Today my language tutor is out of town so I decided to do some studying at a place that serves good coffee (for a high price), has good music and a good view. Some days it seems my life is so different than it was 15 months ago. Some of those days, I'm okay with the change and some days, I really long for quality stress-free time with family or friends. I know that, for me, the U.S. will never be quite the same again and that I must accept the fact that my citizenship is not of this world. In spite of all those serious thoughts, I still like to come to Starbucks to sit in the AC, have a nice drink, study and listen to eclectic music. Today, I think the CD is a 50's hits compilation.
"All my love, all my kissin', you don't know what you've been a-missing..." just started. Is that from the 50's, Dad?

I had a request to make a review post of the last year. The first thing that comes to mind is that things are starting to feel familiar--smells don't seem odd anymore and the tall apartment building in our concrete jungle are starting to NOT seem so stark and cold. I can understand about 75% of what people say to me...not word-for-word, but the paraphrase....I get the "gist" of what people say to me. A year ago, I could tell people that I am an American and so is my husband. I could tell them I was nursing (women ALWAYS asked); I could tell them how long I have been here and sort of tell them how old Selah was. I could use a lot of nouns, but like Selah speaks now, I didn't put a sentence around those nouns. Now, I have a lot of grammar in my brain but not enough nouns, adjectives and verbs.

Ryan and I both spent most of our time over the last year learning how to do things. He learned how to look over the shoulder of those that are doing any sort of work for us and make them do things to his standard. We've both learned to drive in a city of the world's most selfish drivers (That's the best way we can describe the traffic issues here). We know how to get to a lot place and we have quite a few acquaintances. We are still learning the language and plan to be doing so over the next few years. Ryan is so blessed to be frequently told that his Turkish is perfect. Apparently I speak too slowly and need more confidence. Though, I have learned from a friend that mumbling, in fact, helps you to be understood better. Enunciating less apparently makes a difference. Selah is learning tons of words everyday and currently counts to 10 (with a little guidance) in the national language, but not in English. Selah has a few friends that she meets with the babysitter, but I haven't gotten their babysitters/parents to talk to me very much yet.

In summary, we are thankful for all the ways God has provided for us over the past year. He has allowed us to be blessed in many ways, make some friends, start learning a language, and more.

Fun stuff!

2008-08-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

1) Selah brought her little training potty into the living room, 20 minutes later she asked to take her diaper off, sat on the potty and peed!!! We haven't been trying to train her but bought the potty to get her used to the idea...maybe she'll do this on her own.

Selah entertains herself at daddy's expense

2) At our anniversary dinner the other night, our waiters correctly assumed that we spoke English and spoke English with us for about 30 minutes. Then, I asked for a lemonade in the national language (but with a really good grammar combo) and the waiter smiled because he was surprised that I spoke so amazingly well (well, maybe not "amazingly well"). He proceeded to speak to me rather than Ryan for most of the evening...in the national language. Ryan and I think it is because the waiter assumed I was the one with the language and Ryan was not (definitely a 1st).

Happy 6th Anniversary!

3) Last night we had some national friends over for dinner and watched a bit of Phelps in his races. At the exact same time the man and I said, in the national language, "There is no fat on Phelps!" The amazing thing was that our sentences were constructed exactly the same!! I'm pretty excited about that.

I don't seem to have enough responsibilities in my life....thought I'd add some.

Beach

2008-08-08T00:05:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a trip to the beach yesterday with friends. The water was still coldish, but not as bad as it was in May. I would call it refreshing. Selah enjoys being thrown in the air, so don't worry: There were no toddlers harmed in the making of this cool picture. Life is going pretty well here otherwise. It's not as hot as it was last summer, which is certainly nice.

Back from Finland

2008-07-23T23:20:00.001-07:00

We had a great time in Finland. We arrived back home last night. We have a mountain of laundry and I have a long to do list. We have been traveling since June 30. We have a whole month in our own house until we go on our next trip for a week. Here is the whole group at the lakehouse in Heinola.

Museum Dance

2008-07-18T00:48:00.000-07:00

Here is Selah in a Museum in Ephesus last week. She's a ham.

Finland!!

2008-07-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

After a great trip out east and then a seven churches tour, we came to Finland. In fact, we were only in our apartment for 10 hours after getting back from the airport from one trip and leaving for the airport for the other one. We didn't intend for that, but yesterday was one of the only days in the month with the cheap airfare.

Anyway, we are so glad to be here with some great friends from when we lived in San Francisco. We are here with two other families at Mikko's father's lakehouse about 1 hour outside of Helsinki. We've only been here about 24 hours but already I'm ready to book our tickets to come here next year. It has been so relaxing. Here are some pics of the accommodations. We're looking forward to a great time. We'll be here for 10 days!

The view from the couch.

On the porch

The lake is about 100 m from the back door.

How many days left?

2008-07-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

This is the question Laura just asked me. We have been away from home 6 days and we have 6 days left. We are enjoying some amazing sites and people way out in Eastern Turkey. And in 2 days we will fly west w/ my parents and some others to do a 7 churches of Revelation tour in W. Turkey. Living out of a suitcase (and pack and play w/ Selah) has not been the highlight, but it has been bearable as the grandparents are helping out a lot. And the people and sites we have encountered have been amazing. Here are some pics. Also, I am uploading pics and videos as we go to our Flickr and YouTube sites, so click on those links on the right side.

Laura translates in the village.

A 500 yr old fortress

Selah splashes water from the river border Turkey-Armenia

Grandaddy takes Selah for a ride in the village.

Cousins!

2008-06-28T07:31:00.000-07:00

My mom, Rebecca, and Sara Kate are here visiting for a week. Selah is only 7 weeks older than Sara Kate. They are both about 1.5. They have enjoyed going to the park and playing together, sometimes nicely, sometimes not so much. The visit has been really great and has afforded us a needed break, before we embark on a trip to the eastern part of the country and then our vacation to Finland after that. We will try to keep up with the bloggery.The cousins in a rare moment of stillness.

Ama and Selah on the couch

The Texas two-step. Click on the Our Videos link on the right to see the video.

A civilized meal together

Pool Fun

2008-06-16T11:33:00.000-07:00

We don't have a pool at our apartment, but our friends do. Selah enjoyed dumping a bucket of water on her legs and tentatively walking in the baby pool with mom or dad.

Selah & Kaden play nicely

Can we go to the pool already!

2008-06-15T22:49:00.000-07:00

She's ready to go to the pool today. Summer is here. It's been getting hot. I broke down and turned on our air conditioner the other night. It felt wonderful. At night we just sleep with our windows open and fans on, which is usually good, until the national soccer team wins on a last minute goal at 11.15 pm and Laura feels like she's in the middle of the stadium when the whole city, watching their respective TVs, erupts into synchronized yelling and honking. I, of course, slept through all of it.

The Hiawatha

2008-06-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon cruising the Bosphorus on the Hiawatha. This boat, owned by the US Consulate, is allegedly the oldest boat on the Strait. 100ish years old. I haven't been able to find the exact history of the boat, but regardless, we had a great time on it (her). The occasion was some friends who are moving back to the US. We cruised up toward the Black Sea for about an hour and swam near the shore. The water was a beautiful blue-green. It was a little nippy, but refreshing.

Tepreş!

2008-06-10T03:17:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a fun trip to Eskişehir. We had a great time meeting new people and attending the Tepreş festival. We learned a whole lot about the culture and made some great friends. Selah slept well in her pack and play, but only would eat crackers and carbs the whole time. Now that we are home she is eating better. We've got several more trips coming up, so we will keep the blog updated. For more pics click our Flickr link on the right side.trying (poorly) to do the dance

the lovely dancing ladies of the dernek

Ayküt and Önder

More dancing

Gentlemen in the village.

Little warm and fuzzies

2008-05-30T04:21:00.000-07:00

Ryan's warm and fuzzies...

...okay, they are my warm and fuzzies too.

I'm happy to say that things are slowly starting to feel more and more familiar. The morning smells radiating from the bakeries are starting to smell good as I walk to the bus and even tempt me to stop in at times. When we came home from our last trip our house felt a little like home. I've stopped in on my neighbor a few times and she's starting to learn that I don't like injecting my daughter with sugar so she gave her fruit instead of cake (yea!!)

Last Saturday I went to the grocery store where there is actually a parking lot so I can take the car and buy a lot of stuff (warm and fuzzy #1). As I was walking around the store I spied some bottles of lemon-lime and orange Gatorade in the sport bottles (warm and fuzzy #2). I didn't buy them because there was no price tag and I am pretty sure they would cost more than I am willing to spend without a specific order from Ryan. I made a pass down the imported food aisle just to keep it real (warm and fuzzy #3)--saw campbell's soup for almost $4, salsa for about $7 and other fun things. Ryan and I were going to the movies that afternoon so I bought some peanut m&ms (which can't be bought everywhere, warm and fuzzy #4) for a movie snack. As I stepped up to the check out I knew that I knew the first thing that the cashier would say to me (warm & fuzzy #5)...its the same thing they say at Randall's and Kroger, well not exact. "Carrefor kartınız var mı?" Of course I have my Carrefor savings card, so I get it out of my purse to prepare for the question. The greater thing about this is that my language ability has nothing to do with this one...I just know what he's going to ask for! As the person in front of me was finishing up and the lines were getting longer, one of the clerks came and starting bagging groceries (warm and fuzzy #6). Generally we have to bag our own groceries as they cashier scans them. For those of you that shop like me, this is frustrating because I like to watch the prices as the items are scanned to make sure I am paying what I thought I was paying for the item and because I like to get excited if I am getting a good deal. However, when I'm hurrying to bag all of my groceries, I don't get to watch the prices.

Today I thank the Lord for the little warm and fuzzies He gives.

Helper Girl!

2008-05-26T04:10:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday morning I was in the kitchen cooking. Selah was playing in the living room. I noticed her run in to and out of the kitchen and then didn't hear anything for a few seconds. Wondering what she was up to, I called her name and she didn't come running. As I walked into the living room to check on her I noticed a kitchen towel on the floor. My eyes found Selah with a cup of yogurt in one hand, a spoon in the other and yogurt all over her face, hands and the floor. I asked what she had been doing as I took the cup out of her hands. It seemed as if the yogurt had been rubbed into the carpet and then the light bulb went on in my head. The towel was laying on the mess of yogurt and Selah had probably spilled the yogurt as she pulled the cup off of the table. She ran into the kitchen to get a towel to clean up the mess and tried to clean it up, but instead rubbed the yogurt into the carpet. She continued her cleaning efforts as she bent over the yogurt soaked carpet and tried to scrape it with her spoon.

I wish I had gotten a picture because it was too cute. I was a little frustrated but mostly proud of how smart our little girl is proving to be. I appreciate her effort to try to clean up the mess. She has also tried to put keys in the locks, opens the front door and has started showing interest in puzzles and shorting shapes. She helps mommy with the dishes, some cooking and will help us put things back where they go (for about 5 seconds).

Yesterday we went out to the islands with our house group and enjoyed a beautiful view and nice time with our church. Selah got to ride a horse, not for the first or second time, but for the 3rd time. Her first time was a few months ago with Ryan. Last week my babysitter told me that there was a horse at the park that day letting kids ride for free, so they took advantage.

We're heading out of town again this week. Hopefully we'll have some good stories when we get back.

First Day at the Beach

2008-05-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

Her first day at the beach was at none other than the Black Sea. It took her about 1.5 hours to get used to the whole idea of sand, but she really enjoyed it after that. The water is still a little cold, so we'll work on easing her into that.
We dug a little baby pool where the water warmed up, so she liked that. Mommy and Daddy are a little sunburned, but Selah, came home unscathed--though I think she did eat a little sand.

Where have we been??

2008-05-12T23:07:00.000-07:00

We spent last week in a town about a 5-hour drive from our city. A group of brothers and sisters from Virginia came with us. They did a great job of meeting people and learning a lot about the culture of some of the people living in that city. Selah warmed up to them really quick and they were a tremendous help in easing my burden of chasing her all over the place as we traveled around to different places. It was so evident that they loved the Lord, so we were definitely blessed in many ways. We were really encouraged by being in a group of people that will sing with us and bring some American culture to us!

This man is responsible for feeding Selah her first Kit Kat bar. :(

On the way home from the city we stopped in a city that is probably at least 2000 years old. The city wall is still pretty much in-tact and there is an old church were some important decisions in the history of the church were made. I talked Ryan into buying me a beautifully hand-painted vase and big plate.

Just before we left town, we had a national friend and her daughter stay with us for a week. It feels crazy to have another child around and I was honestly ready for a break when they left. We continue to have guests staying in our spare room--God has blessed us with much so we desire to be generous with what He has given us. I'm thinking of naming our home...Laura's Bed and Breakfast. I'm sure I could come up with a better name.
Also, I decided it was time to wean Selah from her pacifier about 3 weeks ago. So, I cut the tips off of 2 of them and sent her to nap. She fussed for about 15 minutes then went to sleep. She did well that night as well and only fussed for 20 minutes. But as she was fussing I began to think of the implications of pacifier weaning for my summer. We are going to be traveling A LOT and traveling isn't the funnest thing for my energetic toddler. In the end, I decided that I AM not ready to leave the pacifier behind quite yet. So, I went out and bought a new one. Hope she lets go as easily the second time!

Sliding w/ Grammy and Pops

2008-04-24T14:06:00.002-07:00

We had a great time w/ Grammy and Pops this past week. We did several fun things together. As usual, the park was one of the highlights. One thing that I love about Selah's personality is that she is pretty fearless. I know this is something that will probably get her in trouble and will trouble me later in life, but for now, I enjoy.

The following video is not for the faint of heart, but rest assured, no Selah's were harmed in the making of this video. It sounds like she cries after the first one, but I think it was more of an excitement/fun noise. And she kept coming back for more!

Cute Spring Girl

2008-04-24T14:06:00.001-07:00

Grammy & Pops Apr 08
Originally uploaded by ryanandlaurawolf.

Pops found her!

2008-04-24T14:05:00.003-07:00

Grammy & Pops Apr 08
Originally uploaded by ryanandlaurawolf.

Grammy & Pops Visit

2008-04-24T14:05:00.001-07:00

Grammy & Pops Apr 08
Originally uploaded by ryanandlaurawolf.

They brought so much cool stuff for Selah!

Single Parenting

2008-04-13T12:32:00.000-07:00

I am always aware of how much Ryan helps me with daily tasks and am very thankful for him. However, when he goes out of town, I am amazed to realize how much more he does to keep things running smoothly in our home. I realize things that I never noticed until he wasn't here doing them. I list just a few of the reasons I needed him here in the past 24 hours:

I needed to plug in the microphone to talk skype yesterday. It took 30 minutes of trying to figure out how to make it work then a 10 second phone call to Ryan to get the mic working.
The skype phone is not working and, again, Ryan had then answer immediately.
The stray cat that likes to sleep in our building pooped on our doorstep AGAIN, but the doorman didn't notice til 9 PM tonight when he came to get the trash. Ryan gets that taken care of as soon as he sees it.
I needed gas on the way to church today but didn't know which of the 6 options I am supposed to request to be put in the tank.
I had a tough time carrying everything for church (food, diaper bag, toys, pack'n'play, birthday present) plus Selah to the car. Thankfully I have a car b/c I probably would have stayed home if a bus was my only option.
Last night as I tried to fall asleep, I heard a loud noise in our apartment and got pretty scared. My hubby wasn't there to be my lookout. Everything was fine, but I definitely wished he was here.

I have always had a solemn respect for single parents because I can't imagine how difficult it is. I am certainly not equipped to be a single parent even for a week! My husband knows how to get things done. I am so thankful because I tend to fall on the other side of the spectrum. I over commit myself and often wish I hadn't committed to do anything. I want to do a lot of things, but I don't do such a good job of getting them done.
I started to think about how much I take for granted--especially from the Lord. What if He "packed his bags" and left for a week. What would my life be like? I can't even imagine. I don't even begin to understand all that He is doing for me and my family. How much more desperate would I be without a relationship with the living God and hope through Jesus? Are the angels fighting spiritual battles around me right now? As me and my national friend like to say, "Life is hard, but God is good." He's really good....so good I can't even begin to wrap my brain around His goodness alone-and there is so much more to Him than that.

I'm including a video of Selah from 1 week ago. She is talking more and more everyday. She has a sound for raisins, bubbles, beans, cheese, shoes and some others. Honestly, I don't think I talk on the phone THAT much, but Selah loves to talk on the phone and try to rest the phone on her shoulder while she talks. Enjoy the footage.

Sick

2008-04-07T11:34:00.000-07:00

We think Selah had rotavirus last week. I can give the messy details if you want. It was pretty gross. Both ends. One lesson learned: if you think your toddler might want to throw up, don't give her a nice tall warm glass of milk. It will come back still milky and still warm. Mainly it was just sad for us to see Selah so lethargic--and lacking her usual spark. She would look at me with the saddest eyes, as if to say, "What's happening to my body? Help!"

For the last 3 days, she has been improving. She is slowly regaining her appetite and should be 100% in a few days. Here is a pic of her with her sick sadness. The lower pic was taken a few days before she got sick. Our neighbor is helping her acculturate a bit.

Happy Easter

2008-03-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter

Pretty Flowers

I found one!

Our crazy life

2008-03-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

Not that our crazy life is that interesting, but it has prevented me from updating for almost 2 weeks. We apologize. Ryan's parents came last Friday and we had a wonderful week watching them beam with pride as they played with and watched Selah. She has changed a lot over the past few months. She says "da-da" and tries to say many other things that she hears us say. When the phone rings or someone knocks on the door, she gasps with excitement and runs in the direction of the sound. She has learned to dance quite a jive and do a sweet little turn in the midst of it. It was so difficult to let Ryan's parents leave...or was it more difficult to stay here while they left. Either way, I am reminded that the hardest part of living here for me is not being able to see family on a regular basis. We are so blessed with supportive and loving family and I want Selah to have the rich relationships with family that Ryan and I were blessed to have as we grew up. As I pour those painful feelings out to God, He reminds me that I should delight in Him and my desires will become His desires and He will give me the desires of my heart. I know God will bless Selah with relationships with family but I so wish that we could be near our dear family and friends right now! You are welcome here anytime!

We are probably going to be slow to post pics and, possibly, updates for a while because our computers were stolen last week when our thieves decided to enter our home while we were out sightseeing with Ryan's parents. Fortunately, they didn't take a lot and they didn't ransack our house. I am also thankful that Ryan's mom was here to feed, bathe and put Selah to bed while Ryan and I talked to neighbors, police and friends. We're hoping that my parent's arrival in a few weeks will also mark the arrival of our replacement computers....I don't know how long I can put up with this non-MacBook. :)

We spent a fabulous day outside today. My friend took us out to the countryside today where we grilled our lunch, relaxed in hammocks, and Selah and daddy rode a horse. Selah wasn't too sure what to think of the horse, but it was fun none the less. Tonight we dyed eggs for the Easter Egg Hunt at church tomorrow. Hopefully I can get some pics up soon...as soon as I figure out how to do it on this computer....

May we all soberly remember Christ's sacrifice so that we might be cleansed of our sin and able to approach the throne of grace with confidence as we celebrate our Risen Savior and Lord tomorrow. Happy Easter.

Mug Shot

2008-03-10T13:45:00.000-07:00

I'm amazed that I'm about to do this....but I know a blog update is necessary and I have an update, so I'll do it. What am I doing? I'm putting a great mug shot photo of myself on the blog. I took this today immediately after I got home from having my hair cut and styled. It cost me as much as Ryan's haircuts cost him....but I wasn't 100% thrilled with the outcome, though I know it could be MUCH MUCH worse! I like it.

(Notice that the layers on the right side became very Rachel'esque from Friends. Fortunately, the stylist decided not to do the same thing on the other side so I think I can minimize the dramatic layer that it is with a bit of styling.)

Selah is quite an entertainer! She always likes to play with things that are not toys--like daddy's goggles or pens or electric cables or glasses or...

Mondays

2008-03-03T05:21:00.000-08:00

On Mondays, Ryan and I both go study language. I have to leave the house by 8:15 AM to get to the bus and to my teacher's house by 9 AM. Ryan stays here until 9:00 when Selah's best friend (babysitter) comes. I leave my lesson at 9 AM and go to a cute little area of the town where I practice with a young lady that is a secretary at an art studio. I was introduced to her when I first arrived because she was my first language teacher. I grab a sandwich on the way (or Hot Shots at KFC if I'm splurging) and chat with her for about an hour or so. Then I head home...but stop at the outdoor market (pazar) that comes to our park every Monday. Lots of vendors set up shop on a street that borders the park. Even though I go to the market almost every Monday, I still get anxious...not because I won't understand language but because I don't want to be charged high prices because of my language inefficiencies or I don't want them to find out I'm an American--because a few people have a bone to pick with the President and think I can give him the message. Really, its not a bad experience at all. Then I head home, hope Selah is still sleeping, and chat with our babysitter for a while. By this time it is 3 PM and Selah is ready to play.

Selah has made a lot of friends at the park. Every time we take her, we get the same questions: Who are you?(they know Selah and the babysitter, but not us) Where are you from? Is your husband a national of this country? As we approach the playground we usually hear several people saying, "Selah!" Last Thursday I took her to the park with her little ball. As she was kicking it/fetching after she threw it, a stray dog (rest easy....he's tagged so the authorities know he is there and he's supposedly been vaccinated) came and took it....almost as she picked it up. He ran away with it and popped it. I was mad at the dog and Selah was mad at me because I wouldn't let her chase the dog to get her ball back. Unfortunately the tag doesn't make me rest so easy. :) Memories of being bit by a dog as a child came back to my mind and I was really scared that my child, who seemingly fears nothing, was going to try to get her ball back from this mutt.

Selah is definitely getting to the age where she is letting her will be known. Pray for wisdom for us in how we respond to her. Recently, she has been testing out screaming to see if it accomplishes anything for her. Fun stuff.

This picture is from the window of our apartment looking down at the crazy intersection off of our street on Mondays. Driving in our neighborhood is a terrible experience on Mondays....don't do it.

I also attached some pictures of us playing a game with American friends last night. We were basically playing charades at this point in the game. Look at Ryan and think...great female vocalist and Titanic. Can you see it? As for me, it is so obvious that I won't even give you a clue. :) Any guesses?

Happy Dance

2008-02-25T12:09:00.000-08:00

Selah has started saying a few words that we can actually understand. Her first word was "Hi" and she says it so well; "hi-ee"--it is adorable. A few days later she started saying, "baby" when looking for her baby doll. And, as of yesterday, she says "no no no" and shakes her arms vigorously back and forth when we are doing something she doesn't want to do. Everytime I read a book that shows an animal or person sleeping, I say, "shhhh...they're sleeping." Today, she put her finger to her mouth and said "sssss" right after I did it.

She also has taken to doing little dances pretty regularly. My favorite is the bathtime happy dance. She gets excited when we ask her if she's ready for a bath and runs to the bathroom and looks in the tub. As soon as the clothes come off, she does the happy dance. Of course, as any good dancer knows, she must move to the tile to be able to strut her stuff.

If you'll remember the footage of Uncle Don dancing at Stephanie's wedding in November---I think she may get some of her moves from him. Enjoy.

Good Trip, Inconvenience Averted

2008-02-18T10:07:00.000-08:00

We just returned from a very enjoyable working vacation of sorts from a nearby city. We stayed w/ some very good friends. Our flight home yesterday morning was delayed and then cancelled. We didn't find out about the cancellation until we had already waited for about an hour and the terminal and Selah was getting antsy to say the least. I was not looking forward to trying to use all of my language ability to arrange a different flight home. I had pictured a difficult conversation followed by my understanding that we were going to have to sit in the airport all day waiting for an empty flight with a tired and hungry kiddo. Thank the Lord that the conversation was easy and we got on the very next flight that left about 15 minutes later. It's important for me to not overlook that kind of blessing when it comes to acknowledging God's purely good providence in our lives. Thank you, Lord.At the park, Selah enjoys a teething biscuit all over her face.

Sevgililer Günü

2008-02-14T03:47:00.000-08:00

We also celebrate Valentine's Day in our new home!! I don't know how to say it correctly but I'll give it a shot:

İyi Sevgililer Günleri!

Love,
Ryan, Laura and Selah

Moving Stability

Life Pics

Balcony Picnic

Bed Shuffle

Goldfish!

Selah & Eden Playing

Eden Footage

2 1/2 Weeks

Back home

Heading Home

Thanksgiving and after

I'm not throwing the towel in yet!

Crossing our T's

Thank God it is Monday!

Worms!

More stories on Selah...

Entertainment

Consistant Inconsistancy

Videos

Vacation

Since Christmas

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

Update on the Girls

Language Class

Happy 3rd Birthday, Selah!

Thanksgiving

We're back!

Great News!

Playing in the Meadow

Hanging Out

Recent Conversations with Selah

Update on the Girls

Head Band over the Swim Cap

This week pics

The BEST homemade brownies ever!

Aunt Aleshia came to see us!

Things you'd know about babies if you were a national here...

We're all still learning!

Saying good-bye

Ama & Grandaddy Visit

6 weeks old - Eden

Pool Day

Sisterly Lullaby & Pics

Eden Faith Wolf

Trust

Like Father Like Daughter

Still cozy.....

No baby yet.

Good news!

Almost 35 completed weeks!!

Selah Guitar

A week already?!

It was a happy Valentine's Day

Cute Selah Stories

Scrabble

T-minus 3 months

Texas and Back

Back from the cold

While he's out...

Decorating and Road Trip

November in Pictures

Gifts

Drive-Thru McDonald's

Fun at the Wolf house!

And then there were 2...

Two Helpful Pieces of Advice

Potty Song Exclusive

Vacation with the Leatherman's

New Hair

Selah 21 months

Spaghetti Anyone?

Year in Review

Fun stuff!

Beach

Back from Finland

Museum Dance

Finland!!

How many days left?

Cousins!

Pool Fun