Istanbul

“Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it’s Istanbul not Constantinople
Been a long time gone
Old Constantinople’s still has Turkish delight
On a moonlight night”

Those are the words to my niece Sofia’s favorite song, at least it was her favorite song this summer when I visited home. I kept thinking of that song the whole time I was in Istanbul looking at beautiful buildings like the Ayasofya (aka-hagia sophia).

I also couldn’t get enough Turkish delight while I was there. In fact I am wishing that I had brought more home with me.  Now I understand why Edmund just HAD to get more.

I won’t bore you too much with details, I just want to show you pictures and say that I was truly blessed to be able to spend some time in the gorgeous city of Istanbul. To wake up to the grand site of the Blue Mosque. This was the view from our hotel balcony our first morning in Istanbul.

We spent the first day walking around and just taking in the beauty of this historical city.

There were Roasted Chestnuts everywhere.

We also did a little shopping 

The lamps were my favorite.

I just couldn’t stop taking photos of them.

The afternoon of our first day we were whisked away on a bus to another hotel for the conference, far away from the old city, but right on the water. We had a great view the whole time and were blessed to walk along the shore and collect seashells during our free time.

There were many special things about this conference. But I will share about those things for my newsletter for security purposes. If you don’t get our newsletters email me and I can put you on our list 

We had a free day on Saturday and were able to return to the old city again. The girls mostly wanted to go shopping. But we also made a stop at one of my favorite places in the world.

Here are a few more pictures from that day.

After the conference concluded we went back to the city one last time and this time we got to experience the night life in Istanbul.

The sites were even more breathtaking at night time.

And the city just seemed that much more enchanting

After walking around for a little while we went to dinner.

The last day we just walked around a little bit more and went on a little cruise.

Before I knew it I was back home with Curtis. Just thinking back on all of the special memories and solid relationships that were built during my time in Istanbul.   

Equipped and ready

I read this in my devotional yesterday and it really encouraged me about my job at the cafe.

“I take pleasure in choosing people to do my work and then empowering them to fulfill it. I create each person with a unique personality that moves them toward a certain type of work. When they heed the desire I place within them, they learn the skills necessary to do the job well. And as they choose to follow me, I bestow gifts that demonstrate their true proficiency for what I have called them to do.

I gave my people the king they desired-Saul- and provided him with all he needed to lead my people well. But above all, I gave Saul my Sp!r!t so that he could fulfill my calling. Likewise, it is my delight to equip you for the work to which I have called you, rest easy. With my Sp!r!t guiding you, you are the best one for the job.”

Birthday, new job and a cupcake recipe

Since my last post I have been to Turkey and back. Not to mention the craziness of training for my new position and celebrating my birthday along with the biggest Holiday in the country, Nauryz! I have lots to catch up, but I will not do it all in one post. Istanbul deserves a post void of distractions such as talk of birthdays and so on.

I got back the 15^th and my birthday is the 16^th. I was just so excited to see Curtis again after seven days apart. That day marked 8 years since our first date! Sometimes I can’t believe it’s been that long, other times I can’t remember life before us. My life has changed so much in these years and I am blessed to have such a man, one who is passionate for his Sav!or and who loves me more than I ever imagined, it seems that he gets better at loving me as time goes on.

I came back to a whirlwind of events, including my first leadership meeting and several birthday greetings from students and friends. As usual, I was reminded of how much love surrounds me on this special day. Dad has really provided many people around me whom I love and who return that love. I am so thankful for the friendships that I have here. He has truly provided me with a second family. Not to undermine how much I miss and love my real family. I am just very blessed by my creator as the road he has put me on can be difficult, he knows what I need and has blessed me with people that I love very much here as well in America 

On my actual birthday we had a really special event at the Cafe! We stayed open a little late in order to do a Music Preview. One of our volunteers is very talented with the gift of song. It seemed like basically everyone who has ever set foot in the cafe showed up! There were about 130 people in the cafe, it was packed and it just seemed so right. People filling the chairs, faces with smiles and joy lighting up the room. 

I celebrated my birthday over the weekend with Curtis on Saturday and with some friends on Sunday. I decided to have friends over because it was snowing like crazy and I really wanted to try a new cupcake recipe. I fell in love with this recipe for Funfetti Cupcakes :) from Eat, Live, Run which really shouldn’t be a surprise since that was always the kind of cake I would request for my birthday. It felt like old times but better and less artificial than the kind you get in a box 

I didn’t have vanilla bean, so I just used more vanilla!

Funfetti Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Recipe adapted from Eat, Live, Run 

makes about 12 cupcakes

1 stick butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

3 tsp pure vanilla

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles

buttercream:

1 stick butter, softened

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tablespoon milk

2 tsp pure vanilla

For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350. Cream together the butter and sugar and add the eggs one by one, beating after each addition. Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl and in another bowl, mix together the milk and vanilla. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk/vanilla to the batter. Be careful not to overmix. Fold in rainbow sprinkles.

Pour batter into greased (or lined) cupcake tins. Bake for twenty five minutes. Let cool thoroughly before frosting.

For the buttercream, beat the butter and vanilla on high until soft. Add the confectioner’s sugar and beat well. Add milk and beat on high for about six minutes, until very light and fluffy. Pipe buttercream on cupcakes and top with more sprinkles.

We had a great time on Sunday laughing, talking and eating good food 

Monday was my first day as Cafe Manager.

It was a slow day, we were only open two days this week because of the holiday. But it was a great way for me to ease into the job. Because it was so slow I was able to get my office organized.

On Tuesday we celebrated Nauryz, the Persian New Year, with our Annual Nauryz Party at work. We work in a poor area and we invite all of our neighbors to come and enjoy a big party complete with dancing, singing and of course plov! Curtis even gave a last minute speech in Kazakh, you can see it here on facebook. Also spring finally came in our city and I think it’s here to stay this time 

On thursday we celebrated Nauryz by going to a big stadium and watching the National game Kokpar, aka “Goat Polo.” They basically play polo with a goat carcass. It’s pretty gruesome, but interesting. We also got invited to a small party (toy) and were given a small feast (dastarhan) for free.

It has been a blessed week jumping back into work and life here and then quickly jumping into vacation for the holiday. We were blessed with three days off, plus the weekend, so that gives us five days total to recover from the festivities and from my trip to Turkey. Can’t wait to tell you about Istanbul, but for now, I gotta get some sleep!

The Perfect Fit

I never realized how much Papa actually cared about what I love doing until now. I guess after watching Soul Surfer and several other videos about Bethany Hamilton, especially her documentary “Heart of a Soul Surfer,” I should have picked up on that. The way that he gave Bethany her dream of glorifying him while doing the one thing that she absolutely loves! I don’t have such a passion I guess, I mean something so clear-cut, so I guess that I doubted that he cared about the passions that I do have.

Over time, especially my time overseas, I have seen him giving me many of my hearts desires, even ones that I didn’t realize that I had. He has been revealing my passions to me, as well as allowing me to live out those passions as a part of his work.  It is a beautiful thing the way that he has been unfolding my dreams ever so slowly and placing my desires before me to take hold of.

This past week I have seen this more concretely than any other time. I have held this desire, this hope inside of me for some time now. I have thought about it and dreamed about it several times, but continued to push it back in my mind and in my heart because most of the time it seemed impossible or impractical. But now I have seen this dream realized and I couldn’t be more excited and more in awe of the Father’s love for me and knowledge of who I am and what my passions are.

I can remember two years ago when hearing about the café project thinking about how I really wanted to be a big part of it. As you know it has taken time for the opening of the café to come about for various reasons, but it did in September 2011 and since than I have been working there.  I have been loving this part of my work and feeling less and less passion for my role as a teacher and more passion for my role as part of the Café team.

But it didn’t seem practical to work in the café more full-time and there were a few different things stopping me from saying that I would do it, such as my need to spend several hours studying language. I also never expressed to my leaders that this was a desire of mine, and in some ways I didn’t realize that it was a desire or that it could even work.

You see, they have been looking for a local operations manager for some time now and they finally found one a few weeks ago since our current manager will be leaving for the states. He will be gone temporarily, but when he comes back he plans to commit more time to another project that he is working on, therefore there is a need for a permanent manager who can do what he has been doing and work along side him as he continues to lead the vision of the café.

The operations manager that they found seemed like a perfect fit! He was friendly, he spoke great English, and he loved the job… Until, he got a better offer in another city. After two weeks of training he notified us that this wasn’t the perfect fit for him, he had found something better.

When I heard this, I was thinking, “What are we going to do our manager is leaving in a few weeks for the states and we have no one to do it, except… ME!” This seemed like the only easy solution and the more I thought about it and talked with Curtis about it, the more I realized that this was my dream. We also found quickly that the timing was perfect because we had just gotten a new teacher from the UK who could teach my class while I work in the Café.

As quickly as I realized this, my dream was realized. I talked to our manager the next day about it and everyone in leadership agreed that it was a perfect fit and that it was most definitely orchestrated by our father in he*ven. They know me and understood that this role fits with many of my passions.

I could not be more thrilled about what Dad has me doing. I really feel that this has been perfectly orchestrated and that it truly fits who Dad made me to be. It suits many of my passions including: coffee, baking, decorating, socializing, loving and communicating with people, creating new things and the list goes on and on. I am also a good point with language and will be able to do much of the needed communication in Russian, which will give me even more practice than I am getting now.

Please talk with Dad for me as I enter into this position. I am so excited about it, I know that I love doing most of what it takes to fill this role, but I am sure that it will be trying in some ways too. I am also entering into a leadership position and that is no small thing, so I could really use your chats in this area.

Thank you all so much for your continual support! I cannot tell you how excited I was to share this news with you. I am in love with being in the cafe, working with people there, helping with the vision and coming up with new food and drink ideas. I love the café team, our excellent baker, magnificent barista and two energetic young volunteers. I love the atmosphere and want to work on communicating the vision through the design. I am just so excited and couldn’t think of a better place for me!

A few days of rest

Can make all the difference. The last couple of days have been so refreshing and wonderful! I have been reminded of all my blessings. Mostly my wonderful husband, my best friend, whom I treasure above all earthly things. I continue to see more and more how great he really is, how he treasures me and truly sets a g*dly example for me and spurs me on towards good things.

We had such a great time together just doing whatever we wanted to do! I started by making blueberry muffins (Thanks grandma   on Tuesday morning

After being greeted with beautiful roses and a loving note from Curtis.

Once we ate we decided to work out together. I have been doing THIS workout and I asked Curtis to join me, he danced around the house while I did the first eight minutes on the bike and then we did the rest together. It was so much fun, we were both so worn out in the end, but ready to relax all day!

After that we started our two-day campout on the living room floor! We began by watching “Letters to Juliet.” About half way through I decided I wanted to bake something sweet to eat after dinner, so I made these: Peanut Butter Cup Marshmallow Blondies! Delicious! (Note: I changed the Marshmallow fluff to regular marshmallows and they turned out great)

After that we finished the movie and when we turned off the movie we saw that “Dumb and Dumber” was on TV in Russian. It was so funny! I forgot about all the classic lines in that movie. It was fun to watch together as we both reminisced about our obsessions with it when we were younger.

By then we were ready to take a walk. The weather was nice and sunny, so we walked to my favorite Italian Restaurant for dinner. We had a lovely dinner together and then returned home to watch more movies and play cards.

It was a special Valentines Day, but the fun continued on to Wednesday. For breakfast I made fruit smoothies for us and they were so delicious! They had practically no added sugar but were delicious nonetheless, just natural yogurt (Kefir), milk, fruit (frozen strawberries, peaches, berries, banana and pomegranate seeds) and a couple teaspoons of honey.

We had another great day of relaxing, watching movies, playing games and just remembering how much G*d has blessed us! I also made this hummus for dinner 

Today I was sad to see him go to his language lesson, but I ended up having a great day again! It was really relaxing just being by myself and doing whatever I wanted to do. I ended up calling some friends that I haven’t talked to in a while, painting my nails and making this granola.

Then sat down to watch “You’ve got mail,” which I decided is one of the greatest romantic comedies ever! And I don’t care if I showed “Sleepless in Seattle” on Monday at movie club, I am still going to show “You’ve got mail” next week. I seriously love Tom Hanks as an actor, but I was thinking, “Who is actually attracted to Tom Hanks?” I don’t know many women who are, but man, is he lovable! He is really up there as one of the best.

Tonight we also had a great time with some friends. Our language is really moving along because I didn’t think twice about asking our friend and his wife over and I knew that neither of them spoke English. We had a great time with them and their precious daughter.

Well, I hope that you all had a Happy Valentine’s Day and were reminded of the love that surrounds you, especially the everlasting love that is offered from above.