The Fresh Open Air

OK, so back to my story.

Saturday we slept for 11 hours due to Eric's incredible stress level and all the things he's been doing at work. We me at our rendezvous point-Hasan's carpet shop right at the entrance to Goreme. Hasan took us to a bunch of things we would never find on our own including a huge 5th century church, where they filled the Star Wars pod racing, and then to the other side of the valley where we saw more huge structures all of course complete with the millions of pigeon holes. Imagine me trying to blog you guys through the P.M.S. (pigeon messaging system). Talk about an increase of bird poop on the cars! Well we stopped back at Hasan's and looked at carpets. He is SO reasonable with his prices and Julie ended up buying one that we all admired.

After a lunch that was composed of every one's snack food we went to the open air museum which was immense and had lots of good climbing. You must understand that Turkey has SO many historical sites and is not able to put money into all of them so you pay an entrance fee and there may or may not be a path or signs to navigate you through a basic national park tour. We were able to get out of there and hike up a stone hill to watch the sunset before dinner.

We went to a small restaurant known for making the meal in a clay pot and then you break off the top in order to eat the contents which they put on a plate for you. DELICIOUS. We always get the jester waiters and Eric's clay pot was smashed on the ground...empty but made us all jump none the less. Dinner conversation was the best though; we talked with Hajar (the Iraqi) and her boyfriend Illius (Greek embassies' son). It was one of the best conversations I've been a part of in a long time. Just a sample of the story we heard. Hajar had to flee Iraq when she was 10 with her 2 older sisters because her dad, a general in Saddam's army was no longer tolerant of Saddam and they would be killed if they stayed the night. So they left their wealthy home and came to Turkey with the clothes on their back and money. They had to move around Turkey all the time to escape the Iraqi's who were looking for them. Back in Iraq they captured her grandfather and tortured him for a year to find their whereabouts and eventually killed him.

Then we talked about the war and if she thought America was helping and if she thought Iraq was ready to be free of our Army. It was a truly insightful and eye opening conversation.

ok...I'll tell you about Sunday tomorrow.

Let us come together

Well this weekend was 3 days for us Air Force folk and we used it up to the max. On Friday, we piled into the Goosen's van and the Houstons followed in their van up to the region of Kapadokya. There were some white knuckle moments due to Turkish drivers not needing to use headlights in the pitch black or farm vehicles relying on their reflective triangle to notify the other drivers of their existence. On the drive up we learned about the friends that we would soon meet who were driving down from Ankara. The Krauss'.

The Krauss' and Goosen's met back at Travis AFB and became fast friends 5 years ago. Starting their family off with 3 boys they were headed down life's path but when their Bible Study decided to do Perspectives the Goosen's and the Krauss' became more serious about their overseas involvement. At the same time they started thinking about adoption. So 2 years ago, 2 days before Christmas they get a call from a Social Worker telling them this story.

"We have two Russian boys here that a Mormon family just paid 10,000 dollars for and when they got back from picking them up they gave them back to me and told me they were done with them. Would you like to adopt them?" The Krauss' prayed about it overnight and the next day the new brothers came to stay forever."

After the Goosen's got assigned here in Turkey the Krauss' began to see how they could come over two and now they are stationed in Ankara which is almost due north of us. Soon after they got here they learned of another need they felt they could meet. An 17 year old Iraqi refugee needed a home after 7 years of being in this country. Her school no longer wanted to support her and she needed something more permanent after being taken out of her father's care. And then there were 8!

Back to this weekend now: So we arrived at a restauraunt and despite every one's tiredness we managed to do some get to know yous and then went to bed at 11:00. The next morning we met all met together to start our sightseeing adventure.

More later...

Peachy Keen Jelly Bean

Well Eric has been super sweet the last couple days and I'm pretty sure I know why. One I won't say outloud, or even type it, the other (option B some might call it) is because he's feeling the deployment creeping up on him. He feels differently about this deployment because now he knows what they are like. He's not so excited this time and he's been, well let's give some examples/ehemplos in Spanish (phonetic spelling). Wow if i ever say anything in the post it will be amazing. I'm like hyped up on ADD pills.

EXAMPLE 1: We have dinner outside on the porch, manicotti to be specific while the neighbors play salsa music.

RESPONSE 1: This is so nice Laura, you make such good dinners, this is so yummy and so nice to be sitting outside with you, it's so nice out tonight, and the music is so wonderful let's dance (insert Laura eyebrow raise here). We won't be able to do this for 6 months so we really have to keep taking advantage of these nice nights you know.

EXAMPLE 2: Snuggle time before sleepy time. Recently Eric's days have been so busy and he's needed a LOT of debriefing time so that he can sleep that we have been talking before we fall asleep for almost an hour. I love this because Eric used to not communicate very much and it's just fun to be a part of his transformation.

RESPONSE 2: My Laura, I am just going to soak you up because I won't have you to do this with for a long time.

EXAMPLE 3: Make your own Pizza

RESPONSE 3: Oh, Laura we make such fun things together, our friends are so impressed with the things you make and our kids are going to be spoiled by you with all your good food. Our little girls will make good wives some day because of the yummy food you'll teach them how to make.

And then there's the emails he sends: "Laura, this morning was so nice! With the great peach and the pancakes. Thanks for getting all that ready for me and for being up when I came home. (Awake after he get's done working out every morning) That’s always so nice! I wish there had been more time and that you could’ve sat down with me to eat breakfast too, but thanks for doing what you do. Thanks for going to the store last night and for making the awesome milk shakes.

and another email:

Laura, you’re my favorite wife!! The second plate to cover the spaghetti was a really good idea. I think that maybe you’re trying to win “wife of the quarter”!

Anyways, Eric has been super sweet to me and very grateful which is wonderful as my non-eternal life's worth and value comes not from being a Starbucks manager, or a college student, or a Lt. in the Air Force but being a launderer, dishwasher, cooker, baker, cleaner...So I am so glad to have a husband that gives me encouragment.

Eric, I love you too.