We took an unscheduled trip to Tarsus...You know I'm such an optimist, I thought I could just drive in and there would be signs directing me to All Things Paul. Well, as you can guess, in a mostly Muslim country, they don't care about Paul, and there are not many tourists coming through Tarsus. I guess Wing-It-Howie needs to learn to plan these adventures a little bit better. We did enjoy a picnic lunch in a nice little park...Paradise right!

Max is enjoying music, the older girls are having fun in art. K as them if they would like to go to public school...they both said no. I'm sure that was a blessed relief when the no finally came out of their mouths.

I'm starting to get a grip on my job...I'll probabily say this twenty more times this year...but there is really no precident. Evidently the position was neglected for the past few years. I was really surprised the sped dept at district was not more deliberate with operations at the school level. I've been left on my own to develop a plan of operation...which is time consuming. It will help me if/when we move on. Not that having a glamorous resume is very important in education these days. I don't want to be promoted, only hired to teach. That's ok, I'm not serving man, I'm serving God!

A fellow teacher led us to some beach that starts with a Y. It's to the southeast of us. It was a clear day and we could see syria across the Med. We splashed in the luke warm water, rented a paddleboat, and went out to see the old fortification for the town. It was a glorious day. My students told me that you can find starfish there...I can't wait to go back!

O decided to scream for the first ten minutes of the boat ride...She did not like it at all! She calmed right down and had an enjoyable time. She/we splashed in the water...It was very shallow for a long way. A local friend of mine commented that she had a beach house on the Med. She paid annually what most of us would pay for a week in O.C. That being said..Mi Case et Su Casa...Just let me know so I can find a place to rent.

We got a little sideways last week. Sideways like a car on a rain-slickened road. I don't think our eyes were on Christ. I think we were glancing in the mirror and focused on ourselves. We decided we need to utilize our gift (well K's big gift, my little gift) of hospitality. We invited two families over to the house for dinner who were at the Inn still. We know how hard that is and you know what, we slid right back into our tracks and had a wonderful time. It's amazing how much damage is caused by self-centeredness and how freeing service is. Faith is more about the direction you face than where you are. Hopefully Christ takes up more of your view the closer you draw to Him.

We went to the local international church yesterday. It was bi-lingual, and warm, and wonderful. A friend of K's sisters goes there. It was really wonderful to be worshiping with so many believers from so many countries. I believe in three years people from 26 different countries have worshiped there. We sang in the local language (yes I'm avoiding the word..a little paranoid...Maybe). It is legal to worship, but I swear there was a policeman at the door...Probably for our protection...But still...Wow! I can't wait to get back, but that will probably be a special treat, as we feel called to the base chapel.

K took this picture one morning on the way to the gym. It's amazing how much we can complain about our circurstances, when in fact, we live in paradise.

For a year or two we've answered our phone "hello, paradise." This is a reference to a song about everything going wrong, but those things do not change the fact that we're blessed to be right where we are....things could be far worse. We answer the phone this way to remind ourselves of this fact. What person has not dreamed of waking up everyday to a view like this. Yeah, there are a lot of miles between us and ya'll, but it's still paradise.

K took this picture one morning on the way to the gym. It's amazing how much we can complain about our circurstances, when in fact, we live in paradise.

For a year or two we've answered our phone "hello, paradise." This is a reference to a song about everything going wrong, but those things do not change the fact that we're blessed to be right where we are....things could be far worse. We answer the phone this way to remind ourselves of this fact. What person has not dreamed of waking up everyday to a view like this. Yeah, there are a lot of miles between us and ya'll, but it's still paradise.

This is more of an experiment for us to see how to upload images to our blog. Hopefully it works. This picture is of the children in the underground city in the Cappadocia region. There are more than 32 underground cities in this region. This specific one goes down approximately 60 meters. There are two more levels below that still need to be excavated. This specific picture is of the children in a wine press. People would stand where the children are and step on the grapes. You can see a bowl shaped area off to the right of the picture. There was a hole in the wine press area that led into this bowl. This is where the juices would drip. Amazing!!

We got back from the Fairy Chimneys on Sunday. K got violently sick on Saturday night. She had chills, chills and more chills. In all sincerity..IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!! We were walking in the steps of people from thousands of years ago. Max was having a blast in the underground city (we all were to be honest). Liv stayed with Chelly (my sponsor) who did not wish to go in...So she (liv) ate ice cream. I love the food, everyone else is so/so on it. K likes it, but this weekend she could not handle it. The kids lived on 25 cent loaves of fairly good bread...man cannot live by bread alone...but how about kids...well...close. The lamb is fabulous. It doesn't even taste that lamby and I actually eat rice here, you almost have too...although, with 25 cent bread...

I of course did not bring enough lira or gas. These are issues you have to learn about. Trying to convert my thinking from gallons to liters is tough. I will definitely over compensate next time. It was a blast making three lanes out of two, going up a mountain, in a diesel van (not turbo diesel Scott), following gas cars (k had her nose and eyes in a book to avoid looking out), but oh the views.

The climate was a blessed relief to the heat we had been experiencing down here in the south. A front came through and blew us out of a terrace restaurant. The nights are getting cooler and the days more tolerable.

So we're at round two with this blog. Oh well, we'll get it right...maybe.

We're here! We have a house! We have a van (rented)! Yeah!!!!!!

We live near the base commander, so we have to keep up our appearances...Thank God for maids and gardeners! Yes, we have both. Ilhan, the gardener, stole us from his competition. We did not know any better, so we said O.K. (we were told they had divided up the housing). Fatma is the Maid/nanny/cook. K only has her for 1.5 days/wk. We took advantage of it and went to lunch on Thursday...Sweet!

Max is playing soccer, and he is blazing fast. I believe he can out-run Marin already (thank God for those Cloud genes). I only pray I don't become one of those fathers who lives through his sons success. Marin has been in a play already...Yes! Sophie is either going to play soccer or do gymnastics. We visited the stables the other day. It's only $55/month for the family for unlimited riding. You do need to work some around the stables...but what a great opportunity!

We're going to The Fairy chimneys (sp?) up north this weekend with a group from the school. This should be a blast. It's 4 hours so it will be long...but we'll be in the country...Yeah!

My job is going well. The dynamics of a small school vs. the large school I came from is interesting. We're a week in and we may shut down one of my classes, and I'll start another...that would never happen in PG.

The heat seems to have broken. It's only 90 today (very pleasant).

We'll try to get pictures up as soon as we figure out how to do it. I'm sure K will add some female softness to this rigid (factful) start I've created.