Leaving tomorrow

We're returning to Turkey tomorrow. Here are a few pictures to get you by until we can post again.

Nate with his Aunt Liza. Nate screamed for 20 minutes after she got him up from his nap the first day we were here, but their relationship has improved since then.

All the late nights and running around have worn Nate out.

Cuddling with Daddy.

Nate still hasn't figured out how to go forward,
so he gets himself into some predicaments.

Pictures from the past month

Time to catch up on some pictures ...

Packed and ready for his trip to America.

Meet Ernie - Nate's first dog encounter during our overnight stay in Istanbul. He was timid at first, but warmed up quickly.

He didn't even mind the face sniff.

Hangin' out with Granddad.

Nate and his cousin Sam got to spend a lot of time together.
They even had matching outfits - totally unplanned.

With Erica and Sam. Sam was 3 months old, Nate was 9 months.

With Nathan and Elizabeth.
The three of us probably hadn't spent this much time together in 15 years!

Nate makes us look good.

Mom

For those who don't know, Stephen, Nate, and I have been in America for about three weeks now. We came because my Mom's illness was progressing quickly. In the last few months she experienced much pain and suffering due to her cancer. In spite of the tremendous grief that we're experiencing, we're thankful that she's now pain-free and with her Lord and Saviour. She went to be with him a week ago today.

To continue to honor my mother, and for the benefit of those who were unable to attend her funeral, I wanted to post the following speech that my brother wrote and presented there.

Sharon Elise Iles grew up in the countryside of southern Campbell County, daughter to loving parents who provided her with a strong Christian upbringing. Her brothers added to the joy of her childhood by balancing their parents discipline with the kinds of mischief all kids living in the country can generally get into.

As she went through school, my mother became a top scholar in her class, as well as a skilled musician and singer. She studied education and music in college, and her love of music was always noted when she recalled how marvelous it was to sing Handel’s “Messiah”, from memory no less, with the university choir.

As most of you know, my mother loved the Lord and accepted him as her Savior at an early age. While my mom had a career as a teacher, her love for Jesus led her to do her most important work in the Church. As a young adult, she sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, and volunteered for countless projects. To borrow a good old-fashioned Baptist phrase – “if the doors to the church were open, she was there”.

Our mom met our father while they were both teaching at Campbell County High School. They were older than most people of their time when they were married, but were anxious to start a family – and my sisters and I were born in the early years of their marriage. Together, my mom and dad provided a wonderful childhood, one that is full of memories of picnics in the park, dinner at the table every evening, clothing Mom made by hand, Holiday cheer, and of course, the annual family vacation! Looking back at those times, there is no doubt that we had our piece of Americana that to us was heaven on earth.

Then, after a brief but brutal battle with cancer, our dad died in 1989. Mom had steadfastly looked for a miracle, but it was not in God’s plan. What was in his plan though was to place a Godly woman at the head of our house.

Part of our mother’s daily ritual, in addition to beginning her day with a cup of hot tea, Bible reading and prayer time, was to faithfully keep a diary of each day’s events. She left us with nearly 33 years’ worth of memories in writing that we will treasure for years to come. As we attempted to plan this service, my sisters and I realized we could not recall the details of our dad’s funeral, but we found mom’s diary from 1989 and it provided the details, right down to what her children wore. As we poured over the details of that difficult year, we were amazed at how mom trusted in and praised the Lord even in the midst of being left to raise 3 young children, with serious questions about how she would provide for the family.

On the day of our father’s death, Mom wrote these words in her diary: “I have a great task ahead of me now.” As we stand here today, we all know my mom accomplished that great task which was laid before her. My sisters and I made professions of faith shortly after my father’s death because of my mom’s example. We continued the family vacations and created many more happy memories. We are all established adults now and each have successes we attribute solely to the way our mom raised us. And just as my mom reached the stage in life where she could enjoy the fruits of her labors – her adult children and two new grandsons – she was called home to heaven and is now safe in the arms of Jesus.

We prayed initially that if our mom was to suffer that her suffering would not be long. While we all asked Him to spare mom countless times, He showed mercy in taking her quickly. We know, and wish you to also know, that her faith never wavered and her Savior led her all the way on this short walk home.

God’s plan is perfect – we are not meant to understand it, but we can see him at work. Each night before bed in the hospital, Elizabeth would read mom some of her favorite passages from the Bible. In addition to the 23rd Psalm, the last passage my mom heard on Saturday evening was Proverbs 31 which is a mother’s description of the characteristics of a virtuous woman. On Sunday we spent one final mother’s day with our mom. Today, as we lay her to rest—on our dad’s birthday, nonetheless—we, her children, rise up and call her blessed as declared in that famous Proverb.

Over the past weeks I asked the Lord (and I know my sisters did as well) to provide me with just a little of the strength He gave my mom in difficult times…and He has provided abundantly. As we worship together, we hope you will find strength in Jesus as well.

More Nate and Ava

Nate and Ava are eight months old now. They're so big! They got to play together Saturday evening. Ava couldn't keep her hands off Nate. He is pretty cute, but we hope she has a little more self-control in the years to come. (Just kidding Sheryl.)

Chocolate

The other day I was drinking tea with my neighbors and we were enjoying the usual snack foods that go with tea, one being a wafer cookie layered with chocolate cream (a lot like the ones in the States). There’s really no standard for what babies should and shouldn’t eat here, so my neighbors told me that these cookies are great for babies to suck on because the wafers dissolve immediately with their slobber. It didn’t matter how many times I said, “No, please don’t give it to him. I don’t want him to have it.” It was as if I wasn’t even there. Here, the word no doesn’t carry much weight, to say the least. To stop them I would have had to grab him, get up, and walk out. In the states I think I would have done that, but here that would have been the most culturally inappropriate thing for me to do and I would have so greatly shamed myself that my relationship with them would have screeched to a stop. Besides, these are my neighbors who live right outside my door and who I see several times a week without even intending to. So, to continue the story, they gave it to him and I watched in horror as he smeared chocolate all over his face. When small pieces began breaking off in his mouth I forced it out of his hands and began digging pieces out of his mouth, which made him scream because he loved it. What 8 month old wouldn’t love chocolate? Because he screamed they gave it right back to him and began instructing me on how to raise him. “Give him whatever he wants. If he asks for it, give it. It doesn’t matter if it’s sweet, all kids love sweets, so give it to them …” My poor baby Nate suffered through his first taste of chocolate at 8 months of age. I’m sure one day I’ll laugh. Just not today.

Standing

Nate loves to stand, but I get tired of holding him up all the time, so I've started putting him up against the couch for some relief. He thinks he's SO big! He's also starting to work on his crawling skills. I don't think it will be long now before he makes his first moves.

Laundry

Stephen has been toting Nate around in the laundry basket all week. He seems to like it, and it keeps him occupied for a while.

If you look closely you can see Nate's two bottom teeth.
Click on the image to enlarge it.

Bath Time

Nate may not appreciate these when he gets older, but I bet his wife will.

7 Months Old!

The older Nate gets, the more fun he gets, and the more pictures we take! He was seven months old yesterday. What a big boy!

Nate has become pretty good at getting his pacifier back in his mouth by himself. Most of the time he gets it in any way he can, which often means upside-down. He doesn't seem to care.

Sometimes it helps to get on his level.

Nate and Ava

Nate and Ava finally got to play together the other day. Actually, they mostly just stared at each other and grabbed for the toys, but hopefully play dates are coming soon!

Out and about

Happy mom, sleepy baby. Nate and I got out of the house yesterday by ourselves for the first time in months. It has finally warmed up here and besides coming home with mud-covered shoes from the melted snow and ice, we did really well. He was obviously a bit worn out, but I think we'll be doing it more often!

Nate is doing really well sitting up, but he doesn't quite have it down yet. He still falls over quite a bit - hence the pillows surrounding him.

Happy Anniversary!

As Stephen and I celebrated our first anniversary with a child on Saturday, we realized once again how much our life has changed since Nate came along. Stephen worked most of the day - Saturday is his busiest day lately. So we made plans to go out for dinner (a rare occasion these days) to the nicest restaurant in our city. It’s so nice that the average plate costs about six dollars (including bread, salad, and a salsa-like dip), and if you sit next to the windows you have a fabulous view of one of the busiest roads in town. Of course we chose a window seat. One of Stephen’s friends is a waiter there, so we sat in his section. He immediately came over, took Nate from us, and began walking him around the restaurant for all to see, kiss, and pinch his cheeks. This remained the theme throughout dinner. He would occasionally return to wheel him around the restaurant in his high chair, or someone else would come up and ask, “ Bebeği sevebilir miyiz?” or “Can we love the baby?” It was probably one of the least romantic meals we’ve ever eaten together!

I won’t make us sound too pitiful. We did get some time to ourselves. Our friends, Jack and Sheryl, graciously offered for us to put Nate to bed at their house while we tried out the newest joint in town –an ice cream place called Mado. It’s the first chain restaurant from the West to come to our city since we’ve been here and it just opened a few weeks ago. After going there I’m not sure how successful it could be here. But we’ll enjoy it while it lasts!

Just for memory's sake here's a picture of Stephen and me in front of my dorm room door before one of our first dates. It's crazy how much has changed - including our hair! Mine isn't nearly as curly, and Stephen's just isn't.

Tummy Time

Nate does really well with his tummy time lately. He's stopped rolling over again, but at least he's not screaming every time we put him on his tummy!

Nate Latte

Nate hasn't had his first taste of coffee yet, but I'm sure it won't be long. He's obviously dying for a sip.

Wild Man

Nate's hair seems to only be growing on top. Doesn't he make the mohawk look good?

Last week

We spent last week at a conference on the southern coast of Turkey. We made it outside for about ten minutes one day - long enough to take a few pictures and for Nate to see the Mediterranean for the first time.

Nate obviously is in awe of the beautiful Mediterranean.

Relaxing after a long, hard day in childcare.

The many faces of Nate

Stephen took these pictures a couple weeks ago, but put them together in this collage yesterday. Sadly, this isn't the Nate we've known this week. He's been sick with some kind of infection (some things get lost in translation) and pretty lethargic. Hopefully he'll be feeling better soon. In the meantime we can look at these pictures and be reminded of healthy Nate. You can click on the image to enlarge it.

Six months old!

Our little goober will be six months old tomorrow! Some days it seems like he should be off to school by now, but other days it seems like just yesterday that he laid next to me in the hospital bassinet with his eyes wide open all night long! Nate is becoming more and more fun each day. He loves to laugh, watch the fish swimming on the TV music channel, play with the musical fish on his play mat, put anything and everything in his mouth, and his newest trick is rolling over from stomach to back. We thought he'd never do it! His first tooth even popped out last week, and Stephen is so sad that the sweet toothless grin will soon be gone. Here are a few six-month pictures of our growing little boy.

Just chillin'. We don't always dress him this funny.

Playing hard with the fish.

Our little contortionist - in the middle of rolling over.

Super Bowl Sunday

Stephen had very good intentions of getting up at 1 am to watch the Super Bowl here. We get a sports channel that showed it. However, after a very exhausting week, when the alarm went off at 1:15 am I wasn't about to drag myself out of bed and Stephen gave in as well. Evidently he missed a good one! We did dress Nate up for the day though. Thanks for the Bengals outfit, Grammy. Who dey!

Nate and Bengi Bear

The next Bengal Cornerback? Okay, so he was just falling over,
but he'd still be an upgrade for that sorry Defense.

My two biggest fans - Bengals fans that is.

Nate's second meal

Since Nate had been eating rice cereal for a week I decided it was time to try a new food. I settled on avocado - chock full of healthy stuff, not sweet to turn his taste buds towards sweets, a pretty green color, etc. Here are some pics.

Excited to be sitting in his new booster seat...

Excited about the pretty green color of the avocado...

Not excited about the non-sweet taste of the avocado.

Cute Picture

My sister took this picture the day we left America. Sadly, Nate has been sick for almost two weeks now. He has a terrible cough and I'm wondering if he will ever be the Nate he was in this picture again. In the meantime, he ate his first rice cereal today and couldn't seem to get enough. He didn't spit it out or anything, so the video is pretty boring. Maybe once we get to the sweet potatoes we'll get some action!

Dukies

Nate and Stephen are getting geared up for another Final Four run. Thanks Camo and Kate for the hand-me-downs. Nate will wear it well. Go Dukies!

Hoş Geldin Umut! (Welcome Umut!)

Our friends were much more excited about seeing Nate than they were about seeing Stephen and me. The kids even made gifts for him to welcome him home. Remember that he goes by his Turkish name, Umut, here.

Welcome Home

We arrived back home today, and this is what happened to my pretty pink Crocs within just 5 minutes of being here. I knew that not doing my normal cleaning in the winter could be dangerous, especially for over a month, but I didn't realize just how bad it could be. Evidently my house is covered with layer upon layer of coal dust. I don't think my shoes would be this black even after wearing them outside for months in America. Welcome home!