Quit My Job, Moved Out of My House and Headed to Turkey

When Jamie and I first got married we dreamed of a life abroad and just three months after getting married we were teaching English in China! Those nine months were some of the most interesting and educational of my life and I love that I shared that experience with Jamie. After getting back to the states we continued to dream of living abroad but I wanted to do it with a proper job, like the State Department, so we kept taking the foreign service exam until I gave up and eventually jamie landed a job on the civil side of the State Department. Fast forward 16 years and we are finally doing it, thanks to Jamie's had work and determination. He put in a good decade at State and earned an assignment to Turkey, complete with language training. He studied a very difficult language during the most difficult year of our lives with true grit and the kindness of a loving God and my mom cheering us on from above, Jamie passed his Turkish test on the same week I quit my job of 13 years and we drove to Utah.

I am excited to take my family to Turkey for three years and experience what a new culture and place and tone will offer us. I am so happy that I don't have to work while we do this and that I can focus on my kids and their transition while also planning three years worth of adventures. It's a dream gig.

Back in 2013

I just found this old montage and had to post it! 

Minigif Swap

My friend's husband was hit by a car riding his bike home from work earlier this year. He suffered severe brain damage and was in a coma for weeks and then in a rehabilitation hospital for longer and now he's home continuing to recover. It has been a harrowing experience but I marvel at how quickly and beautifully the community has rallied to support Jessica and her family. 

Her two boys love Legos so when I learned that the Lego store in Tyson's does a minifig swap once a month I picked up her boys and off we went! The kids had fun and everyone got something they wanted and we rounded out the evening with the traditional stop at Elevation Burger for fries and a shake.

Lady Hair

Ang is always doing magical things to Maeve and Sloane's hair. She has a gift.

Park Play

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ONe day after school I took th ekids to the park in OT and met up with Brit and her kids. It was the best. The kids had fun running around and chasing each other and eventually Maeve and the other kids ended up in the mud and I'm certain Asher never wore those shoes again. Sloane had fun tickling my face with a HUGE stick. Life.

Louis CK

OUr best buddy Kgordee came for a visit after he needed a break from the stress of losing his dad, helping his mom recover from surgery to remove cancer and the trials of building a home. He treated us to tickets to see Louis CK in Baltimore! It was amazing. We found parking RIGHT in front of the theater and used Jamie's handicap sign from his surgery. Kgordee gave a very compelling act of walking with a limp but quickened his pace once we were inside and it didn't seem like we were exploiting the system.

The show was hilarious and we love it so much.

Cultural Outing

Shortly after school was out for the year, I took Asher, Soren, Maeve and Maxine to the mall for a hit of art and the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival! We had a grand time! There were several exhibits at the Hirshhorn that I wanted to see and as we were driving to the city I told the kids about creepy 'naked man' and if you could have seen their horror and my shock when we came up the escalator to find his RIGHT in our faces. The kids were scared and embarrassed and curious and it was amazing. They were so curious about much of the art we saw and it made me so happy.

We then watched a muscial Basque performance and the kids tried playing a basque handball game. We saw a creepy Mexican-American concert with men in masks and in general we had a great time! The weather was perfect and the mall is such a gift. Afterwards I took the kids to Wendy's and Maxine had her first frosty!