That's me in the front row, middle!
I haven't done a Flashback Friday in awhile, so today I thought I would! Actually, I started this post
last week to post
last Friday, but then I didn't finish until like 2 days ago, so anyway, here it is!
Today's Flashback Friday post takes us all the way back to the spring of 2007. WOW! It's already been 5 years... hard to believe!
Anyway... in college, my University had what was called GO TRIPS. Basically you could apply/sign up to take a trip and where ever you went you served with a ministry... whether it was taking care of orphans, building houses, teaching people.. whatever. You could list your top 3 picks but you couldn't necessarily
choose where you wanted to go. My friend Ashley (far left) and I really wanted to go on the same trip, so we both picked the same top 3 locations but weren't guaranteed anything.
After a few weeks they have this big reveal party and make it into this huge game to find out where you're going. And I got TURKEY!!! As in "CENTRAL ASIA," as our trip was called. I remember being absolutely SHOCKED. I think my other choices were Guatemala (which I think I put as #1 because you got to work with babies!) and somewhere else NOT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD. And to make it even cooler, Ashley was going too!!! And it wasn't her first pick either, so to have both of us going together was awesome!
Turkey was not my first choice, mostly because I didn't think I'd get chosen for it but I thought it'd be crazy amazing if I did. The work we did in Turkey was teaching at a camp for English speaking children (mostly Americans) who were kids of missionaries that lived all over Asia and Europe. Now, for those of you that don't really know me -- I am NOT a teacher. Speaking in front of people and trying to explain things is not my forte. But I was ready and excited for the challenge!
So a few months later we were off to Turkey! (well.. first Denver, then Munich, then finally Izmir)
We spent a week with hundreds of missionary kids leading a "camp." I never even went to camp as a kid, how was I supposed to lead one?! I felt incredibly inadequate but the cool thing I learned is that
God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called. And honestly, I think I learned more from those kids than they ever learned from me ;) It was a very refreshing, humbling, and eye-opening week.
The camp was over on Friday so we had the weekend to do some touristy stuff. We went to the market in Izmir, ate Turkish food on the floor... but my absolute FAVORITE??
We went to freakin' EPHESUS!!!!!!!!
You guys, this was seriously one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. Ephesians is my favorite book of the Bible... and I was THERE?! I could not even believe it. How did that happen?! I walked on the streets that Paul walked. We saw the ruins, the court, we climbed the mountain (and got lost on the way down!)...
Oh man.
Definitely a life-changing trip. There's a million things I could say about it, but I just don't know how I can even really accurately describe the experience with words. It was incredible -- one I will never forget.
lola smiles & helps momma make the bed // how i feel today... monday.. blahh
once again, fresh flowers make my day :) // photo shoot with baby ava
i was in charge of the cake (carrot of course... josh's favorite!!) // cake en route to the birthday party
more birthday celebrations!! waffle cones from the homemade ice cream & pie kitchen. 
i'll be SO glad when school is over // so i can read more penguin books instead of physics!!! (ps i LOVE that penguin book!)
sorting laundry and all they wanna do is play // apparently parking at the end of the driveway is what all the cool kids (AKA josh) are doing these days ;) 
so one of my baby bird eggs disappeared!! there used to be 4..seriously what happened to it?! // baby snuggles!!! 
even though my shirt says "run" i've been doing more biking lately.. and helmet hair is a good look, as evidenced // my little furry friends waiting for me after my ride!
paleo soup brewing in the crockpot! // steak, sauteed veggies & a sweet potato.. eating paleo ain't so bad!!!
friday night we finally made it to our first bats game of the year!! it was WINDY and colder than i expected, but we still had fun... and of course ate cookies from the kizito cookie lady (really, that's the only reason we go to the games!)
i was originally planning on having a cookout this weekend with my family, but eric ended up having to work.. i was a little bummed we had to cancel but it kinda worked out since this weekend was pretty dreary anyway. so we spent a lot of time snuggled in bed with the bostons watching movies & going on neighborhood walks.
still so much devastation from the tornado // horse! i found it fitting that we had just watched "war horse" the night before.. this horse had a white spot on its head just like joey in the movie!
