Tuesday, April 24, 2012

I'm loving it!


What can I say?
I love these kids. I love their hugs. I love when they hold my hand as we walk down the street.
I love the prayers they pray. I love the pictures they draw. I love when they teach me new things about all sorts of topics (penguins, camels, snakes and whales- just to name a few). I love when they dance.
 I love the conversations they have with one another. I love the questions they ask.





Like the shirt says- "Love."
"Do for one what you wish you could do for everyone." - Andy Stanley

Open your heart. I know you have room.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Pen-Pals

My friend over here at http://budapestbyrequest.wordpress.com/ is teaching at a school in Budapest (as you can tell from the title of her blog). Miss Stobbe and I were in the same PYP at TWU and are both far from home right now, teaching! We first met when we were SOS leaders for the first-year university students at school. Diana is famous for her hilarious stories and witnessing/ being part of very random things. People love Diana. She is just someone others gravitate to- seriously, who wouldn't?

So it turns out Diana has been teaching her class how to write letters. The kids are loving it! Diana sent an email out to her list of friends and family members asking if 20 people would want to receive a little letter from one of her students. I jumped on this! Firstly, I'd love a little letter. I love seeing kids print and hearing what they have to say. Seconly, I thought it'd be so neat for Brook and Abbie to see and receive a letter with me. So, last Monday we received our letter and were pretty stoked
 (it arrived on my birthday- how cool is that?).

 Here is our letter!
Hope Miss Lilla doesn't mind that we are sharing her letter (and that I'm sharing it with you)!

Diana requested that if we say "yes" to receiving a letter from one of her students, that we would also agree to send a letter back. So, the girls and I each wrote a letter back to our new pen-pal friend. This is a neat time in the school year where you can do something big like this and feel a sense of accomplishment for completing a big project. There's something special too about doing a meaningful piece of written work that isn't just put in the recycling, but is actually going to someone else to be received and read. I was pretty excited that our penpal was a 7 year old girl and Abbie and Brook are 6. Here's a picture of the girls with their finished letters.
 Nice work, Brook! I'm so proud of how they are reading and writing. Typical of kids this age, once they figure out how letters work together to formulate words, they just take off with reading and it actually becomes quite fun for them to sounds words out. I love this exact spot in their development because the learning is really their own. Although learning individual letter sounds is okay, a whole new realm of possibilities is opened up when children realize that letters work together to create words. I find there is so much wonder in this whole learning experience. They feel such a sense of satisfaction reading on their own and it's a great privilege to be part of this new thing with them.
I love the details Abbie added to her picture. You girls have this creativity within you that I don't know if I'll ever have in the same way. As you always say, "You're *ARTISTS!*"

Today was the big day we made a trip to the post office to mail our letters. This was a first experience for me here-- tackling the post office. I was all prepped about where it was and the details of what to do when I got there. I had to walk by there yesterday to ensure it would all run smoothly today and Yes, it did. For this I'm grateful. Another thing to add to the things I've "conqured" here. We took the minibus to the street where the post office is. We walked up the hill and ran into the Thursday market set up en route to our destination. "Couldn't go over it, couldn't go under it, had to go through it." Although I secretly wanted to spend more time there, I told the girls our priority was getting this letter mailed (priority is a pretty big word for two 6 year olds). Turns out the post office was a breeze. I'm so sorry I can't post a picture. I took two great ones on our way there today; however, I forgot to put the memory card in my camera, so now they're just on my camera and I don't know how to get them off. Anyway, I'm so glad we did the whole process- we received a letter, we wrote our letters back, we addressed the envelope and then we brought it to the post office. There's just something to me about seeing something through- seeing it through to completion.

After we did stop at the market and they each picked out something small. Then we went to the store and they each got a special chocolate treat. After I took them to my house, which they hadn't been to before. They were too cute, with questions like, "What do you do at home in the evenings?" and comments like, "Oh you really have a great house, Miss Victoria. I love it. And what a nice upstairs and balcony. It's fun exploring this place." Too cute. Seriously!

I hope that as the weather gets nicer, we will be able to have some more special outings together. I hope I can spend some quality time with each of the kids in this kind of way.

I'd encourage you to be intentional about seeing something through- seeing it through to completion.

For me, some of those things are:
 Reading the book of Joshua and sticking with my goal of training to run 10km.

~see it through~

Saturday, April 14, 2012

The Big 2-5!!!

Another Birthday for me.

Everyone made it Special!


We celebrated Easter together on Sunday and the team had a little something up their sleeves- A Birthday Celebration for me! It was a weekend to celebrate "Life." A time to rejoice
in the 25 years the Lord has given me so far and to celebrate the
Eternal Life He has offered us through His son Jesus.
I had to put on the Tiara and hold the Princess Wand.
Out came Ruth with another one of her Masterpieces!
Ruth had been emailing back and forth with my mom for cake ideas and settled on a
 "Hummingbird Cake" which includes banana, pineapple, coconut, peacans and cream cheese icing- All my favourites. My mom said I love flowers and bright colours!
While eating it I just kept thinking and saying, "This is all my favourite stuff!"
Of course silly, that was the point! I love how Ruth creates each cake so individually for each person!

~ beautiful pictures ~
~ remind me of where I've been ~
~ how I've grown ~
~ and continue to learn new things each day ~
~ Don't you love how Kids jump on any opportunity to "Celebrate?" ~
~ Thanks Isaiah ~ Your creativity amazes me. Jesus is using you ~ Proverbs 16:3 ~
~ Psyched about these ~
~ Wohoo, I can't wait!!! ~ How about this week Isaiah? ~
On Wednesday my friends came over to celebrate my birthday. We made a dessert pizza.
It was a collaborative effort (Thanks Nate and Lydia).

I am Grateful.

Thanks to all for the birthday messages and emails from across the globe.

Jazz Music, Expensive Tea and ME!

Happy 25th Birthday to Me-

I had a lovely birthday. The picture to the left is of my friend Neşe and I (Mel, if I were to ever get another tattoo, it would say Neşe... but I'm going to keep the classy V and just stick with one). Neşe means *JOY* and this woman radiates joy wherever she is. In her presence, you can't help but feel loved. My dear friends Mitch and Cindy introduced me to her and we just clicked right away. She has been my adopted mother here, inviting me for tea, borek, and mantı on different occasions. She is a language helper here, but to me she is a friend. I love when she uses simple non- English phrases with me that I can understand. We just chat up a storm together and often times her son joins us. He is like an older brother. He is so respectful to his mother and very polite. I ask him questions about his country, his family, his education and what he likes to do for fun. We talk about culture and we all just have a good time drinking tea and laughing together. A while ago, Neşe and I had talked about going to the Marmara Hotel to listen to live Jazz Music. We needed a special reason to go and my birthday seemed like the perfect day for a Classy outing like that! HARIKA (it means Wonderful)! I met at her house at 2pm last Saturday for this özel gün (special day). She said we had some time before we had to leave and asked me to sit down. Before I knew it she started bringing out plates and glasses and then all of a sudden... A CAKE! I had no idea we would have a little party at home first. Here's a picture of Akin and I with the cake. Thank you Neşe! I have to tell
you though, that Neşe insisted on giving me a second piece of cake (after the first huge piece she had already given me) and what could I do? I was already full, but could I decline the piece? I didn't want her to think I didn't like it, but I was seriously full. Ah! So, ok, I had to eat a second one! My belly was bursting after that! I probably ate1/3 of the cake! Akin did not object to his two pieces. Without time for the cake to digest we were out the door, on our way to the Marmara Hotel. We took the bus, then the ferry, then the Tunel and then walked. As soon as we arrived at the street where the Hotel is on, Neşe asked if I wanted to eat again. WHAT?? I just ate 1/3 of a cake! She asked me three times if I wanted to stop for food. Finally, after the third time she explained to me that the food at the hotel is pretty expensive, so it would be best if we ate dinner beforehand and then just drank tea while we listened to the music. Sure, ok, I will try to eat more food!
Goodness, I guess that's what birthdays are for!
  
 Along the way we also stopped at two Catholic churches. Since it was Easter Weekend, it was especially meaningful to pause and think on the work of the Cross and our salvation and hope in Jesus. We remembered this nation and all the people walking by who need to know that Jesus offers us hope, reconcilation and salvation. Finally we reached the Hotel. We sat down and ordered our Chai and a cute little sürpriz came with it each time. We got comfy and sipped our chai as the musicians played. The jazz combo consisted of a pianist, clarinetist and vocalist. I thought it was pretty cool to hear a clarinet player in the trio, since usually Sax is more often a "Jazz instrument."  They did such a good job! It brought me back to my highschool days and
playing in the Jazz Band at Hansen. To our delight the musicians came around to meet the audience during their intermission and we were all happy to capture the memory together with a picture!

Turns out each cup of chai was 7 Lira and we got 3 each! Sheesh- it's usually 1TL/ chai.
 (guess we could have had 21 cups of chai elsewhere... but it was an özel gün, so it was justified)
Here we are- Neşe and I.
May the Saviour fill our hearts with *JOY* each day.

Inside smiles


I love when you know God has orchestrated something just for you.

It's as if He is saying,
 "Victoria, here is a little something from me to you. My hand is upon you. I am with you."

Here are just a couple of moments where that has happened to me lately,
where if you could look inside me, you would see a heart full of smiles.
 I may just limit my "smile moments" to the last 2 weeks. Wow He is faithful!

On Tueday I had wanted to bake banana bread; however, I didn't have any measuring cups/ spoons, nor a loaf pan, but what do you know Ruth had just baked some that day and said,
 "Here you go Victoria. Please take a loaf of Banana bread home with you."
 Did she know I had been wanting to bake bb? No! But my Father did!

On Monday (my 25th birthday) the women totally surprised me! I was planning to go to Matt and Ruth's for dinner that night. It was about 5:15 and I was at a staff meeting. I was counting down the minutes until I could celebrate with them. Seriously. We were praying to close our meeting and Sarah gave a loud, "AMEN!" At that cue, 3 of the loveliest ladies appeared at the door and said, "Surprise. Happy Birthday Victoria. You're coming with us!" And what did they have in mind? A special birthday dinner at Sushi Co. We actually didn't end up eating Sushi. We had Thai food instead. Loved it! They sure know me well. I couldn't help but think of my girls back home and eating at Panang or Banana Leaf restaurant. I am grateful for all of the wonderful women
in my life, who shine so brightly and tell the world that Jesus Loves them.

One of the things about the birthday dinner that stood out for me was when they gave me my Birthday Card. What was so special about it? What made me smile on the inside (and maybe on the outside too) was that Bindu's birthday message to me was was written in handwritting
and looked just like my mamma's handwriting. I couldn't help but feel a special hug
 from across the globe as I read her message to me and knew that from afar
 my mamma was wishing me a happy birthday too.

I  took last Friday off- a "recharge day" to myself. I had been feeling low last week, discouraged, homesick, had had a lingering cold for a couple of weeks and had just moved. I needed some time to do something for me! As I was praying last week, I felt dry and was asking the Lord to breathe new life on the dry bones I had. So, Friday came... was started off skyping with my prayer group from home and then I headed off to the European side of the city to hang out on this street called Istiklal- I wanted to find the one thrift store I had heard about (found it and ended up buying something. yay!). As I was making my way back down the long street, a woman approached me. She tapped me on the shoulder and said in English, "Here, you dropped this" and handed me some money. I looked at her confused becuase I didn't think I had dropped anything. But she looked at me and was intent on giving it to me. I walked to the side of the street and looked in my hand 50 Lira, about $35 dollars! A significant amount. I grabbed my purse, and it was still closed, and then dug out my wallet and it too was still zipped up. All this to say that I will never know if it was mine but I
really think it was an angel who gave it to me. I think it was God saying,
 "Happy Birthday, Victoria. My hand is upon You. My Favour is upon you. Be refreshed."
  I never saw the angels again, but I think they were sent just for me.

I lived with Lydia for the first four months of living here. It had been a good time together and I really liked our apartment (despite the funky smell that came and went as it pleased and the not-so generous shower that only gave me hot water for 2 minutes). We enjoyed having friends over for dinner and I loved cooking and baking up a storm in the kitchen. Well the time came and went and we both had to leave our cozy home at the end of March. I was so nervous about my big move! I can't even describe it to you. I NEVER really get nervous, I just take things as they come, but this was different. There was a little idea in my head that living with a local family would extrememly difficult because of the language barrier and it made me so nervous about moving. I was delaying my move as long as I could because the whole thing just scared me. Finally the day came to move. I was wrestling with this yucky cold and was not feeling the greatest but I had two strong men come and help me! Funny how something very small (and maybe trivial) can put you at ease. But when I was led to my new room, a smile came to my insides when I saw my bedspread. Funny I know! But just the fact that I liked the bedspread that had been set out for me reassured me that the move would be ok! I'm beginning to become more and more confident in the fact that my Father wants to give us good things. Psalm 84:11 says, "For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows
 favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly."

Thank you Father that you are our satisfaction and that you bring sunshine each day. Thank you Jesus that you orchestrate these little things to remind us that you are there, all along, orchestrating these little sparkles that make us smile 1000 times on the inside (and hopefully on the outside too).

Drakeford, you put it really well when you said, "I will be your satisfaction; I will be your bread and wine; I will take all of your troubles and turn them into life; I will be your daily portion; With these hands I will provide. I will be meet your every need and I will keep you satisfied."

Check out my friend's music. Drake, you inspire me!
- Thanks Drake for the special DVD,
you don't know how much the words to your songs speak to me!

You are our satisfaction. You give us life. You are with us! Thank you Lord!


Thursday, April 5, 2012

A Taste of Home

Although that sounds *So* cliche I couldn't resist putting that as the title for this post! It's during the holidays when you're away that you tend to really miss family and the special things you do together to celebrate with one another. But I think back to Christmas, and remember how memorable it was here. Of course, I missed home, but I think it will be a Christmas I will never forget because we made it as special as we could- and when you're away from family, you do what you can to ensure that you are still together with those who are around you and CELEBRATE as a[n extended] family!

The last few days I found myself a little down because of a bunch of factors, but primarily because I won't be home to celebrate Easter and My Big 25th Bday with everyone.

All this as a prologue to say that Today was a brighter day- literally the sun was shining and we had a high of 20 degrees, but also R and I had a blast baking PASKA together- Easter Bread.

In my family, Paska is just part of Easter. Some years Grandma has even decorated this special Easter Bread to look like a bunny! So, last week when R and I were talking about Easter, I asked if she bakes Paska. Although she had never done it before, she was up for trying something new! We both did our research; we emailed family memebers at home asking for "THE RECIPE." We compared recipes and we looked over ingredients to ensure we could find them all here [or slightly modify if needbe] and settled on this one (http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/2009/03/paska-lovellas-recipe.html- thanks Lovella ) in the end. We borrowed a blender from a friend and it worked really well. We had so much fun. Of course, I couldn't have Paska without the Pineapple Cream Cheese Icing our family makes to go with it. So, my grandma emailed me the recipe as best as she could describe it (because she doesn't really follow a recipe for it) and I bought the ingredients that would be as close as possible (we don't really have the same cream cheese here, but we can find something that tastes pretty good). Here we were, baking up a storm:

~Orange and Lemon Rind ~


~ It worked really well to use the blender ~

~ Here she is... one Amazing Baker! ~
~ How does she do it? Makes it look so easy ~

~ Kneading wasn't as easy for me! ~ More experience kneaded! ~

~ Two happy ladies, Friends forever ~

~ Here they are ~
~ We used half sized tins and loved how they turned out. ~

~ Perfect! ~ Delicious! ~ Happy Easter! ~


"The sun comes up; it's a new day dawning; It's time to sing your song again;
Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes...

Bless the Lord Oh my Soul, Oh my Soul, Worship His Holy Name;
Sing like never before, Oh my Soul, Worship Your Holy Name."


Special shout out to my Grandma and Auntie Dianne. Love you!