Out at Sunset

For as long as I can remember I've been partial to evening's light and the fading of it.  I think we all find beauty in that soft light.  I remember watching the sun set into fields outside our farm and then scrambling to the highest limb I could climb on our big tree just to see it set again.  It was the warm wash of light and the coolness that then came with it's absence that was the reward of a long days work.  I, with time, found myself always looking forward to each sunset and stopped to take them in as much as I could.  By the time I got to college it was a habit so I'd inevitably go for a run around evening time.  At a small college in rural Kansas I was able to run a route that took me out of town and running west for the setting of the sun and back east again with the orange glow on my back and on the whole scene in front of me for miles and miles.  When I ended up in the city (St. Paul, MN) for my last two years of school I faced a problem for the first time in my life of not being able to get past buildings and trees to see the sun set.  You can't walk out of a city.  I remember trying to drive out once only to be stuck in traffic surrounded  by glory in the clouds above, my only indication that I indeed missed a good one.  So  seven years later when we moved back to my home town after having our first baby, I was thrilled to be out of the city and back in a place where small towns of a thousand fit in a square mile and I knew I could walk to the edge of the mile road and get a view.  I didn't always do that, but just knowing I could meant something.

When we moved to Istanbul four years ago, I thought sunsets were over for me.  When we were looking for apartments we happened upon one that was a five minute walk to the seaside.  That was an answer to prayer for a country girl like me.  That horizon on the sea was a place of refuge for me and I walked there often just to see the sun set.  That piece of sky was free of apartment buildings.  It ushered in a fresh breeze and gave the eyes a place to rest.  Not just for me but for lots of other people who ended up there for a walk or came just to sit out on the rocks.  The seaside (sahil) was not a place of solitude from people, but from the city scape.  So those first two and a half years I had a place to watch the sunset. In a city of 15 million it was a miracle for me.  A personal answer to prayer.

A year and a half ago we moved to a new part of the city.  Aaron rode the bus for one and a half hours out to this suburb of Cekmekoy and he walked many miles scouting out apartments.  When he had a few good leads we rented a car and came out as a family for the day, driving around, looking at different places and our present apartment was one of those.  I remember Aaron and I coming out on a bus when the kids were in school to make our final decision.  We had seen it once and wanted to take a second look.  Then we walked the neighborhood and thought it through.  I remember being sold on the location more than the apartment.  It was literally on the edge of Istanbul.  We could walk out of our neighborhood (two blocks) and be out to the hills and forest.  It was hard to pass that up.  It has proven to be worth more than a superb location near the forest and with access to sunsets.

Here in our new place I have a special route I like to run or walk.  I just got back and thus the reason I'm writing about all of this.  My route goes through a park and back, out past the edge of the army land, back west into a little neighborhood and then out onto a road that skirts the edge of a villa with the whole view of the forest to the north.  I always stop there to take in the view, the forested hills to the north and the city to the west.  The sun sets on the city and washes the hills with a golden light.  There is something that seems significant in standing on the edge of such a large city and watching the day close upon it.  On the edge there I can hear the silence behind me and the noise of the millions of people before me.  The noise is like a buzz and you wouldn't even notice it if it weren't for the moment the footsteps of someone approaching walk somewhere out of that buzz and into the silence you're in.  Simultaneously you become aware of the noise and the silence.  And from my hill the sun sets not on the corn fields of my youth, or the sea of two years ago, but on this city that has strangely become home.  It's funny how the sights you know will be scarce you start to miss.  And so this sight of the sunset over this immense city of 15 million is endeared to me and I will miss standing in that significant spot.  Significant for more than words can say.

For a young girl who vowed she would never live in a big city, to now be grown and living in one of the world's largest cities is ironic.  That I will miss this place says much about everything that happens to a heart willing to let go of preferences and little about my love for cities.  All I can say is that the Lord always knows best and I'm lately amazed at how much I'm going to miss.

Year in Pictures - Week 3

Jan. 15 -  View from the back bedroom.

Jan. 16 -  Sonora's Kindergarten assembly program.

Jan. 17 - Night time snow.

Jan. 18 - Sonora's day home.  Havin comes to play.

Jan. 19 -  Off to school in the morning.

Jan. 20 - The outside of the kids' school.

Jan. 21 - Malachi and I out for a "date"

Letter Writing

Last year I didn't really make any New Years resolutions.   If there was something I intentionally worked at and and actually did , it was writing more letters.  Handwritten, with a nice stamp (if we go to the right post office that has stamps).

When my Grandma died last February I lost one of my faithful letter writers.  I really have missed that standard envelope with the neat cursive writing, always the same.  I was pleasantly surprised this winter when one of those standard envolopes came, only this time written by my Grandpa.  There were so many things Grandma did for the both of them, letter writing being one of them.  So this was the first letter I've recieved from him in his handwriting (after he tried typing a portion of it) and I will treasure it always.  It was so good of him to write.

 I am lucky to say that I have two "penpals" left.  Both are old friends of mine who have been writing me letters for the last 15 to 20 years.  I'm thrilled to have them.  One has nearly always written from California, where she has lived most of her life.  The other has written me post cards and letters post marked from literally all over the world.  I hope to be writing them another twenty years from now.

So last year I wrote more letters.  I wrote more letters to those other than my "penpals," and tried to surprise a few old friends with a real letter in the mail.  The rewards of writing letters is getting mail in return.  We have been so blessed to have our parents write to our kids or to have their cousins try their hand at scrawling out a letter or sending an original drawing.  I know it takes effort because we are trying to do it on this end as well.  Sometimes it is hard to get the kids to sit down on my prompting to sort out their thoughts and write something meaningful.  And sad but true, we have written many many letters that never got sent.  I find them quite regularly.  Mostly they are started and not finished.  Sometimes they are even put in an envelope and sealed and then wait a month to get to the post office.  That frustrates me!  But it won't stop me from writing more.  It's become a habit that I am not in a hurry to replace with the ease of emailing (though I still do plenty of that).  Call me old fashioned.

This year, besides continuing to write letters, I hope to send out more Birthday cards. . . to family members. . . on time (or at least close).  These last four years in Turkey my sister-in-law (yes that would be you Lisa) hasn't missed a single bithday or anniversary and I'd really like to do the same.  She isn't the only one good at sending cards on Aaron's side of the family.  Aaron's mom has coined the name "letter Grandma" in our home because of all the postcards, letters and cards she sends.  In fact I'm probably the only one who isn't good at sending cards.  But my kids love getting those cards so I think it's time I get my act together and try to do the same for all my neices and nephews.  It will take a huge act of organization and forthought but I know I can try my best!

So, the reason I'm writing this isn't just so that I can remember that I wrote letters and to hold myself publically accountable to sending out those cards.  I will have my boxes of recieved letters to vouch for my letter writing efforts, and my concience will be either pricked or proud depending on my success (or unsuccess) of getting those cards out. I'm writing this post to encourage you to write a real letter to someone you care about, or someone you haven't written in a long time, or ever!  There is no better surprise than a letter in the mailbox to be opened and read and read again.  And you may find the writing is good for you too.

Year in Pictures - Week 2

Jan. 8 - Getting ready to catch a dolmus home.

Jan. 9- Reading before bed.

Jan. 10 - Construction site outside our window.

Jan 11 - Rainy day.

Jan. 12 - Sitting in a dolmus (minivan taxi) waiting for it to fill up.

Jan. 13 - Seeing a friend off to her home town.

Jan 14 -  Lapa lapa snow.

Symetrical

This is what a play picnic with Sonora looks like:  neat and symetrical!  Every Wednesday Sonora is home from school while the ESL students in her Kindergarten class get a day of extra English focus.  I've come to enjoy Wednesdays with her where we sometimes meet with another family for a play date, stay at home and work on projects, or go to visit her downstairs neighbor friend.  She seems to think it's her special day to play.  We usually have a good time together. 

Sonora is my social girl, my little helper, my creative thinker and go-getter.  In her play set-up always takes as long as the game itself.  I wish you could've seen her set up this picnic, the way she would put something in place, tilt her head to the side in desicion, adjust it a little and then step back to see if it was perfection.  It is very interesting to watch kids.  Each child has his or her own way. 

Year in Pictures- Week 1

Jan.1- Last day before taking down Christmas decorations.

Jan. 2- My dish cubboard.

Jan. 3-  Setting out the trash before the garbage truck comes.

Jan. 4- Sonora's day home.  We got a package!

Jan. 5-  View outside my kitchen window.

Jan. 6-  Friday night is pizza night.

Jan. 7-  Reading to my two feverish kids.

Welcome 2012!!!!

Well, it's a new year and will be a year filled with lots of "lasts" and lots of new "firsts" for us as a family.  We have some big changes coming up.  I have had the thought of trying to take a picture every day this year.  I don't know if I will be able to do it, and loading them up daily is already out of the question, but maybe every month I can put up a collage of the month's pictures.  This is not a resolution, just an idea that came to me that I'd like to do and am willing to try.  We'll see how long it lasts.  In case you are wondering, I still have to take one for today.  I have 1 1/2 hours left.  Very telling of how well I plan things.

Well, I brought in the New Year across the hall at my neighbor's home.  Aaron had such bad allergies he was in bed with the kids by 10:00pm.  So I went back over to their house and my friend and I chatted until it was midnight.  It literally went that fast.  We ran out to their terrace and stood there in the sprinkling rain to watch the fireworks go off around the city.  Then we went downstairs to wish her husband a New Year and they called their families.  We all watched the news a little then I bade them both goodnight and walked out their door, took four steps to mine, and was home.  I will sorely miss this across the hall neighbor thing.  It is convenient in many ways.  Our kids are  always running across from their house to ours, running back to get a toy, etc.  We are so close yet I always have to lock up and have my keys on hand.  That's city life for you.

Happy New Years!