Happy Halloween

The second best holiday of kiddom was here! Halloween was a HUGE success this year. Bella was Princess Aurora(Sleeping Beauty) and Sophie was a cute kitty cat. The girls had a pretty fun packed week. It started with Valerie's school carnival on Wednesday. Bella had a good time and hit every booth. Sophie participated in the cake walk with Emma Daniels, unfortunately they didn't
win.

Friday, Bella was able to participate in her preschool's parade. They walked around the block and ended at the library where they were read several Halloween stories. Bella has made quite a few friends this year and enjoyed the day immensely.


On Saturday, the BIG day, when Bella woke the first words she said was "is it Halloween, can I put my dress on?" The day was a little cloudy, and the weather report called for rain. We kept our fingers crossed the weather would hold. As night fell, the lightning lit up the sky. We had dinner with the Recksiek's. As the first trick-or-treaters knocked on the door the rain started to fall. When dinner was finished , Bella, Sophie, and Emily, bundled up in their jackets, got the umbrellas, and headed out into the storm. What a storm it was! It rained, and rained, and rained. We went around the neighborhood and had to call it quits. The people were so generous. In the short time we were out the girls were able to fill a grocery bag about a quarter of the way. All in all it was a good day. The rain put a damper on things but we still had fun as a family.

The older I get, and I do realize I'm getting old(er), the more I grow to love the simple times spent with my family. We have so much fun doing the simplest of things.

Bugs in, or on, a rug

We have a little saying that goes, "She is a bug in a rug". I'm not quite sure what the actual meaning is, but I infer it to be mischievous, but very cute. That is how I would classify our girls on any given day, mischievous, but very cute. I thought this would be a good opportunity to show our rugs/carpets.

These rugs are all hand made on old looms and take ruffly a year to complete. They are all hand tied, meaning every little speck on them has been tied, trimmed, and shaved, by a human hand.




These two rugs were made in Turkey, in the Cappadocia area. They are wool on wool, meaning the foundation and the pile are both made of wool. These are typically made by people for personal use. They "usually" sheer the sheep, dye it, and spin the yarn themselves. The boarder of the blue and red carpet has Christen churches next to Muslim Masques that represents the blending of two cultures (so I have been told). I have also been told this boarder is very typical of the Cappadocia area. They measure about 3x5 feet and are very soft.
This is a Bukhara (Boo-car-ah). It measures 7x9 and has around 640 to 700 knots per square inch. This is an amazing carpet. It is 1oo% wool and made in Afghanistan. The wool is so soft it almost feels like silk. Same as the Turkish rugs, Bukhara carpets are made by people that will sheer the sheep, dye it, and spin it into yarn. The dye's are vegetable dyes so you will get a little variation in the color. They say these are some of the finest carpets you can buy. You can tell a high quality Bukhara by the size of the "elephant footprints". The footprints are the circles. The smaller the print the finer the quality. These are about 1 inch round.

This is a Tabriz Gumbet. This is the one that started my fascination with carpets. Unlike the other rugs, the Tabriz is a "sweat shop" carpet. This means it's sole purpose in life is to be sold. These are commercial carpets. From my little bit of knowledge I know these have been dyed with chemical dyes and the wool is commercially produced. They are still very fine hand made carpets. They are made in Iran and are wool on cotton with silk highlights and have 400 to 500 knots per square inch. This rug is signed by the family that made it. The small medallion on the bottom center has Arabic writing which tells the family name and the city where it was made. This design is of the roof of the Masque. I guess all masques have a domed ceiling and that is what is represented here. The squares on the boarder are the windows of the masque. This carpet will be hung on the wall. With the girls I think it might get trashed.

Well hoped you enjoyed my little history of "Persian" rugs all be it as limited as my knowledge is.

Come to Turkey, but beware, you WILL get bitten by the carpet bug!!!

In Their Sunday Best

I believe this was the 2nd Sunday after the Wilsons left for Italy. Valerie and the girls had completed their beautification rituals before me and actually had some time before church.






As you can tell the day was pretty windy and Bella wasn't in the best mood. She was a pretty good sport though and let mom take these pictures.






In the background you can see our new digs. It's a pretty nice house and will serve us well this year. There is plenty of room for the girls to roam and, as much as I hate to admit it, ride their bikes. Bella has mapped out a course of sorts. She can race from the playroom, down the hall, through the kitchen, out onto the patio, back in and through the living room, back down the hall, and finally end in the playroom. She and Sophie get such a kick out of it it's hard to tell them, "NO", as much as I would like to.

I think the house is around 3,500 square feet. There are 4 beedrooms, 4 bathrooms, study, playroom, Turkish bath, mudroom, laundry room, and Val has her Deluxe size closet. I think it should have been a bedroom but it's pretty small for that and we had enough bedrooms. The kitchen is nice and large, as is the living room, and we have a dining room. Each floor has a great balcony and the first floors has a small fireplace/Turkish B-B-Q.

Time for change

The big move has come and gone. We are now in Turkey! Things happened so quickly we didn't have time to breath.

We are very happy to be here and are enjoying some of the sites. Val is up to her eyeballs with work and the demands the Turks have for living in their country. Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. Did I mention the paperwork we have to do?

We moved into a very nice house about a half mile from the front gate of the base. It takes Val about 5 minutes to get in the parking lot of her school, depending on the gate situation.

Bella has started preschool and ballet. She loves them both. She really loves being a ballerina. She has all the necessary gear and loves to get dressed up.





Sophie is having a good time "hanging out" with dad. She is such a good girl and loves her big sister.









Val is so busy she can't see straight. She leaves the house before 6 am and doesn't come home until after 4. The challenge of 4th grade has been fun and exhausting. She likes the kids but loves the time off. She is amazing at everything she does and this will be no exception. She has enjoyed our trips to the Mediterranean sea, it's a 45 minute drive. We have spent 5 Saturdays there so far. It is a great place for her to clear her head and play with the kids, me included.

Dad, well dad is good. Life has taken some pretty drastic changes for us these recent months but, hey, it's what we have been praying for. I am happy to be here but will be happier when our house hold goods arrive. That reminds me. The Turkish Government has put a hold on all incoming house hold goods. It could take a couple months, that's right months, before we are able to sleep in our own bed.



Stay tuned!

Well, it has been a while since I posted anything here and thought I needed to update. Life has been crazy the past few weeks and sadly it has taken a toll on all of our health. Over the presidents day weekend we all were sick but Sophie took the brunt of it. She was so sick we thought she would need to be admitted to the hospital. I took her to the doctor twice on Tuesday, found out she had croup and a little phenomena, she received an oral antibiotic. She continued to get worse and on Thursday we took her back and she was given a shot.

We were told to watch her over night and bring her in the next day for another shot, but if she hadn’t had a drastic improvement she would need to be placed in the hospital. Luckily the second shot

knocked the bug out. We all are on the road to recovery and things are looking up.

Anyhow, for a little bit of good news. Bella has been in a gymnastics class on Wednesday afternoon’s and is having the best time. She is really getting the hang of it! She is the youngest in her class by a year and a half and gives the other kids a run for their money.

She is still lacking a little in the strength area but makes up for it in determination.

She could also stand to gain a few pounds. On the tramp she is lucky to get three inches. Oh well she sure loves it!