Phillip and Rebecca Mefford

Turkey celebrated it's 90th year as a nation-state this past Tuesday, October 29th. The fireworks were awesome!

Today the city was bustling with families preparing for the four day "Sacrifice Holiday" which begins tomorrow. The big Tuesday pazar (farmer's market) was bumped up to Monday, roads are jammed with people driving 'home for the holidays', women are cleaning their houses and making room in their freezers for sacrifice meat. One aspect of the holidays that we have not noticed before this, is people visiting cemeteries. We now live near one and observed the steady stream of visitors. This is a special time for people to go to the grave sites of lost loved ones and pray on behalf of their souls.

Lincoln Umut refused to say bye-bye to Grandpa at the end of his and Grandma's ten day visit to our new Isparta home. At almost three he is already feeling the pangs of what it means to be a Third Culture Kid (TCK). Good bye's seem to be often and  so much harder when your loved ones are going half a world away. Hopefully he'll learn that the sweeter the good bye, the sweeter reuniting can be. 

A widow, an army wife, and a young American  mom, cook, eat, and share stories of life. An evening like this makes the work it has taken to move here worth it all. 

Though Turks decorate their homes with lively carpets and colorful furniture, typically walls are left simple and plain-- a carry-over from the predominate religion that bans imagery that could be construed as idols. As we make the final touches on moving into our new apartment (at last!) we wonder how "American" or how "Turkish" we should make our walls. What will make us feel most 'at home'? What will make Turkish guests feel comfortable? Here is a photo of a wall map awaiting our decision. 

Lincoln and Hudson are growing day by day. Lincoln is perfecting circles on his new chalk board and Hudson, at 9 months, is becoming adept at crawling and (oh no) climbing!

Clouds loom over Isparta as Autumn settles in. 

Every neighborhood has its weekly farmer's market, but Tuesday is Isparta's biggest. Fresh fruits and vegetables, great prices. This is one thing we missed when we were in the States.