Phillip and Rebecca Mefford

This year's Jack-o-Lanterns, around Halloween, long gone now. We just celebrated our 6 th Thanksgiving in Isparta, Turkey. The lingering taste of pumpkin pie married with the smell of coffee still evokes memories of past Thanksgivings at Aunt’s houses crowded with cousins, the dining table swept of pie crumbs, so a board game can be set up and of course the soundtrack of American football games in the background. It may be one of the holidays that we feel most homesick during….which is why we are THANKFUL that Phillip’s parents are about to come to celebrate with us, suitcases packed with French’s friend onion rings and Turkey brine. And yet, we have made many new memories as we live abroad that equally make us smile. Sharing the traditions of Turkey and pie—new tastes to new friends. The first year in Isparta we invited our landlady and her family over. We of course had to get a whole Turkey for the occasion, so our landlady took us to a farmer she knows,

Ezgi's Preschool Artwork Today our Turkish friends and neighbors commemorate the death of the founder of the Modern Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. All week Sofia Ezgi has been bringing home crafts of hearts and flowers surrounding the face of Ataturk. The boys will be going to school, although it is Saturday, for special ceremonies. Hudson Kerem’s class is reciting the İstiklal Marşı (The Turkish National Anthem). Students from the university are taking large Greyhound type buses to the city’s capitol to visit his memorial gravesite. Like the other heroes of history that we make sure to remind our children of, Ataturk was certainly a remarkable man and worthy of being honored. This country would not be what it is today without him, or even be at all. “Fear not! For the crimson flag that proudly waves in these dawns, shall never fade, Before the last fiery hearth that is ablaze within my nation burns out. And that, is the star of m