This year has been a year of change (I guess we all could
say that). We have lived in two different houses, been to 6 countries, 25+ flights,
thousands of miles, we have enjoyed the Atlantic Ocean, Marmara Sea, and the
Black Sea. We have slept in apartments, caves, hotels, castles and cottages--places
with views, places in the middle nowhere, places with history.
We have had moments of unexpected changes, we have laughed
until we had tears, we cried when we had to say goodbye or make hard decisions,
and we, most of all, enjoyed our Lucky Dragon and his fun personality.
In this year we have watched him crawl, then walk, then run.
He has gone from being satisfied with a cheap elephant rattle to being able to
copy what we do, including sweep the floor, vacuum, and get his own bath ready.
He loves to laugh, hug and kiss. He is beginning to say more words and neigh
like a horse or roar like a dragon. Some of his favorite phrases are “What’s
that?” “I didn’t do that!” and of course, “No!” He loves to dance to any music
that he can find—he may dance like his dad (poor guy) but he loves every minute
of it.
We have been so blessed in so many ways. Here are some
highlights of our year:
JANUARY
We enjoyed our little guy turning into a toddler. He is
happy as ever. Some of our favorite memories were working on projects with our
Activity Day Girls at Church.
FEBRUARY
We continued to watch our little guy grow up. Lady Hiva started
to make homemade baby food. He starts to cry and raises his head like a Dragon,
hence our little Lucky Dragon. We also kept enjoying the amazing museums in DC.
MARCH
We celebrated Lady Hiva’s birthday! A Turkish woman we metat Church decided to be baptized.
APRIL
DC in the Springtime is AMAZING! We loved exploring the
Cherry Blossom Festival and areas around DC. Including the day in ShenandoahValley. Dustin passed his Turkish test! We also made one of our most difficult
decisions ever.
MAY
We made our big move across the Atlantic Ocean to Istanbul,
Turkey. It rained for the first several weeks here. We learned how to push
hundreds of pounds of groceries up steep hills in a stroller. (It was a great
calf work out). We also found being tourists in such a historical place. There is
great food, great sites and amazing experiences.
JUNE
Dustin’s second book, COUNTING CANDLES was released! We
learned to love traditional Turkish Breakfasts and to appreciate Turkish rugs. We
also learned to love the fresh fruits and vegetables from the bazaars every
week.
JULY
We spent the weekend on the beach of the Black Sea, toured
more of this fabulously historical city. The best part of July was havingfamily here—the Millers! Our Lucky Dragon turned 1! He keeps getting bigger and
bigger! We celebrated that birthday in
England! We traveled through London (we loved the city, it loved all our
money!). We went through the amazing quaint countryside and saw castles,
dungeons and Stonehenge.
AUGUST
We explored more of Istanbul’s food life. Then we made a mad
dash to Italy to celebrate our wedding anniversary and Dustin’s birthday. It
was amazing food, amazing scenery, and some wonderful people. We saw Rome,
Tuscany, Verona, Florence, and Venice. We loved it.
SEPTEMBER
We continued to enjoy Istanbul and then made a surprise tripto Utah. Not only did the trip change our time change clocks, but it changed
our lives for the future. Who knows where this next road of adventure leaves. Tau’aho
loved seeing the animals and fun experiences in Beaver.
OCTOBER
We found a few new places in Istanbul to shop! Then we put
that to use and threw a Halloween party for our friends at Church. Lady Hiva
loves Halloween so this was a favorite experience of the year.
NOVEMBER
The Christmas tree (well one of them at least) went up! YAY!
We had a visit from the Bidens and Dustin was busy with that. We had a true
Thanksgiving dinner with some amazing friends—with homemade pies and all!
DECEMBER
We rounded up the year with a surprise trip to Germany and
then a second one to Cappadocia. Both were cold trips but we had so much fun. Of
course there was Christmas and we had so much fun making gifts and treats to
pass out to friends. It was also fun to see Tau’aho have his first Christmas.
So here is to seeing what 2015 brings—it is bound to be full
of more changes and adventures.
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