Traveling to Turkey and our first impressions

The Journey:
The flight from Chicago to Istanbul was very pleasant. The boys slept for about 7 hours of it. We each had our own T.V. and we were able to choose movies to watch. Also, my mom discovered that on Turkish Airlines they serve free alcohol. So, she drank a lot of wine with a nice man that she was sitting by. He was Turkish and lived in Istanbul most of his life, but he's been in Miami for several years and he has a Cuban girlfriend. So, Mom enjoyed talking to him. He told her that Turkey has the best olive oil in the world, so she wants to bring home a barrel of it (actually, 3 small bottles).

When we got to Istanbul we were able to get our visas very easily. They didn't ask any questions - we just paid our 20 dollars each and they were happy to let us in. Our first impressions of the Turkish people have been very positive. Everyone at the airport was very patient with the ignorant American tourists and a man even gave us some money so we could get a cart for our luggage. It turns out we probably could have used quarters to get the cart, but we didn't know that until later. It took us a couple hours to get out of the airport because one of our bags was missing, so it took a while to get that sorted out. They'll deliver it when they find it. The good thing is it was the bag with our winter clothes, so we don't need it now.

First Impressions of Istanbul:
The weather has been perfect. It's a little muggy, but not as bad as Florida or Kansas. The air smells like salt because we're right on the Marmara Sea - which was such a pleasant scent to wake up to this morning.

Istanbul is huge - much bigger than I imagined. It is split by the Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Marmara Sea to the Black Sea. Because of the strait, driving by car takes longer to get across the city than by public transportation because there are only 2 bridges and the traffic on the bridges is slow. The strait also divides the city into Europe and Asia and we are in a neighborhood that is on the Asian side of the river. It is very nice with a wooded area nearby that I want to explore. I imagine it has great paths for walking - and if I'm brave enough I may even try running. There is a grocery store, bakery, park, and many other amenities walking distance from our apartment. We also discovered that there are many restaurants that deliver food and you can order it on-line. Plus, you can call to have water delivered (for drinking) and someone comes and picks up our trash everyday (a courtesy of the apartment building).

Mark, Mom, and I were very tired last night, but the boys did not sleep much. Ian slept from about 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., but then Jeremy crawled in our bed and woke us up and we never went back to sleep. The boys were wide awake and I did my best to be patient because I knew how crazy it is to switch time zones like we did. But, by 4:00 a.m. I was a wreck and needed sleep. I finally got Ian to be quiet and lay still and then the call to prayer and chanting over loud speakers came on at about 4:30. They have the call to prayer 4 times a day and the first one is at first daylight.

The boys are now napping and have been for several hours. We've tried waking them up, but they refuse. I managed to feed Ian some cookies and while I was getting him milk, he laid down in the hall and went back to sleep. He's still there. So, we'll probably have another difficult night tonight. But, hopefully we'll get adjusted soon.

Today we went shopping at a mall to buy groceries, get a cell phone, and get some fans. It was very beautiful inside and looked like a typical mall anywhere in the U.S. I've been watching people's mannerisms, clothes, etc. so I learn what is appropriate and what is not. I had heard not to cross your legs in front of people because it is disrespectful, but I saw many people sitting with their legs crossed. There are many women who are covered, but there are also many women who are not covered and wear short sleeves. I only saw one woman with exposed legs wearing a skirt above the knees (she may have been a tourist). Everyone else wore either pants or long skirts. And, I definately saw no cleavage, which is a plus. :)

That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed the first blog from Turkey.

Surrendering the Pen

I've always wanted to write a really good novel. But, the problem is I just can't think up a really good story - a story so exciting people won't want to put it down - or so inspiring that people walk away completely changed. That's my dilemna - I just don't have a good enough imagination.

Tonight we watched the movie The Brothers Bloom. A quote from the movie was (I'm paraphrasing since my memory isn't perfect): "There is no such thing as unwritten lives. There are just lives that are badly written." That got me thinking about the stories of our lives. Who writes these stories?

I think we make a choice. Either we write the stories or we let God write them. Writing our own stories could be beneficial to us. We can manipulate the story to do what we want, get what we want, and be who we want to be (with some limitations of course - no, you cannot be Superman). Writing our own stories can be an exciting task at first...deciding where I want to live, what job I want, what lifestyle I want, etc, etc. But, the problem is our stories never turn out the way we intend. A few things happen. One is we realize we can't control our own stories. We try to, but external factors always end up getting in the way. The other problem is our stories become too predictable and we get bored or frustrated (or both). Our imaginations are just not sufficient to meet the longings of our hearts.

What happens when we surrender our pens and let God do the writing? At first this is a scary thing because we don't know what He's going to do on the next page. We don't agree with Him. We see what He is writing and we argue and say, "No, that's not right! That's not my character - I don't want that!" But, if we keep going, keep reading, allow Him to keep writing, we suddenly become lost in the story and can't wait to see what happens next. Yes, we're still terrified, but we can't deny that God's imagination is so vast, so deep, so perfect, that we are constantly amazed with every new chapter. And, we realize that this story is what we were made for - and we would have never known if we hadn't had the faith to give up the pen and turn the page.