Phillip and Rebecca Mefford

  The last few weeks have been a long transition to discover a new place to settle. We spent a few weeks prayerfully traveling through central Turkey looking for opportunities and then houses (or, rather apartments) and then all the things necessary to make that house a home. But on the way we could not miss visiting our old home and the friends and neighbors that made it so lovely. Our time in Isparta shaped our lives so much and now it is time to start a new chapter of our story in Afyon.

  This year we have enjoyed spending time with old friends, catching up on the years lost to distance and learning from them. Sitting with a friend from high school over fancy pastries and hearing about her career as a blogger; taking a ride in a Cessna plane over rural Colorado; seeing the beauty of cultural discovery and unlikely friendships of a friend who has been tutoring an Afghan woman in English. It has been a year of new friendships too. The Parent Teacher Association of the kids school recently hosted a drive-in movie night. We had a great time sitting in our car, munching popcorn and enjoying Lego Movie 2 with a bunch of other families. Before the movie Sofia ran around with her kindergarten friends with a huge smile on her face. After the movie she asked if one of her friends could come over for a sleepover. Particularly as Wyoming state's Covid restrictions ease, opportunities for socialization expand. The bitter-sweet side of the nomadic third-culture life is that as

We have been very fortunate this year to be in Wyoming where our children have been able to attend school and learn the rhythms of life in the U.S.  A few weeks ago we had a full-week of snow days full of snowball fights and snowmen. The children weren't back in school more than a few days before Spring break began. The snow melted away, the birds started singing in the mornings. We spent lots of time with family and capped off the break with a celebration of Easter.  Many of our friends in Turkey vaguely know of "the egg holiday." We have explained that we keep with our traditions of easter egg hunts and painting eggs, but these activities aren't a spiritual obligation or a form of worship. They are mostly just plain fun. For follower of Jesus, however they do hold a little more meaning. Over hundreds of years the Easter egg has become a poignant reminder of new life. What looks like a lifeless rock is the waiting room for life to burst forth. Much like the tomb the

Christmas music on the radio and wafting out of grocery stores, jugs of apple cider in the fridge, a real pine tree positioned in a central place in the house, making cookies with Grandma, colorful lights illuminating our neighbor's houses down the street, family. There really is no place like home for the holidays.  

A quarter of the school year has passed. Leaves on trees are sparse. Experiencing a corn maze for the first time was thrilling (we ran through it twice!). We are all excited about moving into the holiday season, and this year being so close to family makes it extra special. We even got to join in the fun of our nephew's Halloween-costume-birthday party! The kids miss Turkey and the pet guinae pigs we left behind, but are enjoying life in our home country. In school Lincoln struggles with typing and spelling, but loves math and is having a great time exploring new books in his school library. Almost every day he plays "American football" with his friends at recess. Hudson is also having a hard time with the literary aspects of school, but loves the new things his teacher is teaching him, like the ABC's in sign language and how to count to 100 in Spanish. He has a best friend at school and they spend recess playing a game they invented called "Robots Destroy."

  Have we ever mentioned that Phillip is a foodie? Not only does he enjoy a good meal from a variety of cuisines, he takes delight in trying the less conventional delicacies of the nations. For example, pigeon head soup in China, curried goat brain in Pakistan, and anchovy corn bread in Turkey. But who is to say that one cannot partake in gastronomical adventures in our very own home country? Behold, "Rocky Mountain Oysters" (if you don't know what that is, we will leave it up to you to look it up). The verdict: it tastes like chicken.