So, I've done it again! I waited an entire year and then some to catch up on my blog. Only this year I have a valid excuse for my absence.....Really, I do! January was a big month, the month we packed up all of our belongings and trusted a bunch of corrupt Turkish moving companies to take all of valuables and keepsakes for us. It was a very uneasy feeling. But, when it's all said and done we just had to tell ourselves, we have insurance and besides, it's just STUFF! February rolled around and it was time to say "Gorusuruz" to our life in Turkey. We have many fond memories of Turkey and look forward to a time when we can go back and visit. We plan to visit our Turkish family as often as we can.
As soon as we got back to the U.S. we needed a car because our one and only car was on a boat being shipped to us. We (and when I say we I mean mostly Joe!) had been looking for a car since before we left Turkey. We finally found ourselves a reliable, fuel efficient Toyota Prius! We needed the fuel efficiency especially with all the extra traveling we would be doing.
As soon as we had some time to get over our jet lag, we were off to Florida to find ourselves a place to live. We left the kiddos with my parents (ahhhh!) and took a quick trip down to Florida to meet with a Realtor. We looked for a couple days, but nothing really jumped out at us. There really was not a whole lot on the market at that time either which was difficult. We were very prayerful during this time of transition and knew that we would be blessed with the right house at the right time. Our second trip down to Florida was not planned, but was so worth our time. We met with a new realtor and fired our old one since she decided to go on a 10 day vacation and wasn't able to show us houses when we needed her to. Just to set the record straight, she did nothing wrong, but we had to find something STAT and she wasn't there. We were running out of time and we didn't live there to continue looking. Our new realtor still did not have much inventory to show us, but suggested we look into building. We really didn't know if that would be a good idea since we weren't living in the area. We looked at two builders, several different floor plans and one building property. We looked at the property and split for lunch leaving us a little time to decide. We walked around the wooded property for a few minutes. We were excited. We felt good. We went in our car and prayed together to know if the good feeling we had was meaning we were supposed to buy this property and build here. It was a deal of a lifetime. The builder was able to purchase this particular property, a waterfront property on 2.67 acres for $26,000. We knew after our prayer that this was our land and we were supposed to jump on this wonderful opportunity that has been waiting for us. We knew that if we didn't act quickly, we would lose our window of opportunity. We singed the contract that day and were on our way to being first time home buyers/builders! What a relief (kind of) we felt when we found a place to live. Of course the journey wasn't over. We still had no house! We had to decide on everything still. Whew! It was a stressful whirlwind at times, but after another few trips (can we say expensive!) to Florida, we made it happen and it is beautiful. We couldn't have asked for more. It is just what our family needed at this time. We thank our Heavenly Father for hearing our prayers and for leading us through the right steps at the right time to gain such wonderful blessings.
January
Preparing to move
I think we hit the jackpot with Turkish Rugs! We went to buy a couple rugs and look what we came home with. Yikes Mikes! We couldn't decide so we bought them all! Once in a lifetime opportunity!
The kids loved going to Grandpa Fatih's house. We already miss him.
We will miss our nanny, Ebru and her wonderful family. We definitely will always have family in Turkey. We are so grateful to all of them that loved us and took care of us while we lived there.
February
Home at Last!
Had to leave two great friends in Turkey, but gained one BEST friend once I got on U.S. soil. Two years was really hard without seeing my sister. We have become very close as we get older.
Yay! After 2 days in the air, we are finally home!
March Madness!
Since Joe's brother, Sam is a truck driver he occasionally is able to meet up with him when he is close by This was taken near Keesler AFB, MS
Lauren performed in her first and last music concert with Converse Elementary. Starting a brand new school in the middle of the year was challenging for her, but she did so well. She was behind in reading and math when they first tested her. Within a month, she was almost right up with the other kids. Her teacher was very impressed at how fast she was able to catch up.
April Showers = Lots of cousin time
While Joe was in tech school me and the kids lived in Indiana with my parents. Living closer to family called for some much needed catch up cousin time. We got together all the time. I miss it so much, but I'm so happy we got the time we did have. So many memories were made during that time.
May
Another month of fun, love, and change
Nolan and Papaw's fishing trip
Nolan was so excited to go spend time alone with his Papaw
Whew!...They do love each other!
The kids loved helping Grandma and Grandpa with their yard work. Everyday they would water Grandma's plants. Grandpa never had to worry about having company to mow his lawn either.
Silly time on the trampoline : )
Owen giving his cousin, Ava a goodbye kiss!
On the last day of Lauren's school, we packed up and left for Mississippi for our next 6 week adventure. While Joe finished his tech school we stayed in a condo on the beach and just relaxed. It was pretty much AwEsOmE!
Our view from our balcony. Not bad!
Look what's coming along! This was taken on our first of many weekend
visits to see the progress of our house
June
The Home Stretch before we move to Florida!
June consisted of lots of pool time, tons of silly fun on the beach and a couple more trips to Florida to see our house. The distance from Gulfport to Navarre was a little under 3 hours.
July
After 9 years of marriage we were finally able purchase our first home!
Joe received a gift of "52 things I love about you" for our 9th wedding anniversary
Home at last!
Our 3 precious babies
They really do love each other. My future missionaries! I sure do love those little stinkers a lot!
Blackmail!
August Rush
Joe reenlisted for 4 years
First Day of School for Lauren and Nolan
Lauren went to 2nd grade as a 6 year old. One day later was her 7th birthday
Boarding up for our first "hurricane"
It ended up turning a different direction, but we were prepared just in case
The boys love helping their daddy
September
Happy 3rd Birthday big boy!
Owen sharing with his big brother
Since Lauren was in school she had a few more than the boys
I remember pool little Nolan was really sick when we took this picture.
He as trying really hard to look happy.
Owen and Nolan went to story time at the library where they did most of these crafts
Each year the kids always have lots of artwork and projects that are really neat. We wish we had room to store all of it, but we don't. So, we like to take a picture of it before we...shhhh...don't tell them...toss it!
Donated 12 inches of my precious hair to charity. Short hair is fun, but sometimes I miss my long locks. The nice thing is, it's hair, and it will grow back!
October
Happy 5th Birthday Nolie
I thought the construction hat with no shirt went perfectly well with the theme!
New bike
Pumpkin carving time!
Nolan wanted to be Bob the Builder, but was easily persuaded to be
"a builder" when we couldn't find a costume in time
Year two as a train conductor! Gotta get our money's worth out of these costumes!
Lauren was actually a vampire, but I didn't get any good pictures of her in her costume. This was taken a couple weeks before. She dressed up for Western Day at school
November- Happy Thanksgiving
We have so much to be thankful for... this year especially
Breaking the wishbone
The spead
Joe always appreciates lots of pies for the holidays
December
Our first family guests since living in Florida. What a wonderful treat
Merry Christmas to us!
All the grandkiddos with Grandma and Grandpa Wilson
It's a boy thing....
My 3 little reindeer
Christmas Eve Pajamas
Twas' the night before Christmas....
I got all I wanted for Christmas
Our New Years Tree
Inside the balloons were some of our favorite memories from the past year.
Each of the kids had a balloon with money inside. This was a fun way to extend the holiday decor a little further. It also broke up the dreaded chore of taking down decorations since the ornaments had to be put away before I could decorate the tree again
