One of the most beautiful beaches in the world!!

Great little sea side getaway!!!! Taxis always at your service-for a price, of course.

More photos from our outing with friends. Here we are visiting a local cami. The following photos are the incredible details from this cami. We also went to visit a friend of ours at the local spice market. I took pictures of the beautiful lamps and ceramic he sells. I love all the colors but have No where to hang them!!!

Since most of you have either already figured out where we are or have googled every image we have photographed or mentioned to try and figure it out, we decided to show you our host country's most famous landmarks in miniature. Enjoy!!!!!

No, its not the Parthenon! Pretty cool though!

Leapin lizards!!! There were so many of these little guys at this park crawling in and out of the "buildings". I can just imagine that they have the best time inside the miniature landmarks.

Man-these are the tallest tulips in the world!

You can hardly tell where the fake city ends and the real city starts. (Hint-the real one are a little more modern)

In this park-the flowers are as tall as the buildings!

Yes, I finally felt REALLY tall!!!

My friend Ahu posing at the bowling alley. There were a couple of university groups that visited our city in March and we were able to all go bowling together at the end of each trip.

International bowling at it's best. An American, A Russian, and one of our own!

Great form-I think it was a strike!

Isn't bowling Fun!!!!

End of game -end of a great week together!

Would you still check the blog even if there were no new photos? I have to admit that I only read articles that contain photos unless they really reach out to me. So, I can't blame anyone for skipping this segment and waiting till we take pics of something really interesting, like vacation! (Coming in MAY...) I might have had some pictures to take of our first Easter in Central Asia except that I was in bed with some random bug. (And you really don't want to see pictures of that!!!) Anyway, Brian went on to our house group which was celebrating on a nearby beach -not a problem for me knowing that it was cold and really cloudy. I spent the time in needed rest and reflection in the Word.
I was drawn to a passage in John 21. This event took place after the resurrection. Everything about the situation in this event is amazing to me. On the beach, out at sea, looks a little like the first calling of the fishermen when they were asked to lower their nets on the other side. Here they were returning to work after a possible 3 year hiatus. They had labored into the early hours just like before in Luke's gospel. Someone on shore hollered for them to cast on the opposite side of the boat. Someone they should have recognized but didn't. They obeyed, and (just as before), the harvest was huge. Only this time, John records two new things that occur. First, he mentions the number of fish gathered in the net. Second, he notes that the net didn't rip or tear even though the catch was very large. I have read a number of commentaries on this passage and it's significance. Details really fascinate me. I'm glad God thought it was important enough to have it written down as well. The commentaries I read were a little vague on the significance of the number of fish mentioned in verse(if anyone knows or would like to shed light on this , please respond in the "comment" section) . However, the fact that the net did NOT break symbolizes complete restoration in the lives of all these men and that can only come through obedience to a resurrected Savior. This whole event was centered around restoration and new direction. Every part of it was designed to cause them to revisit their first calling in Luke 5. Only now there is a marked difference in the conversations that follow this miracle. They are all changed. Perhaps in those first hours of dawn on the shore with the Lord, they were able to reflect on the last 3 years as Jesus served them breakfast and broke bread. What a beautiful picture! I imagine there were a few moments of awkward silence as they remembered past failures and as they realized that He could see their thoughts. Everything has come to light in those moments of reflection. Now it is all brand new. But Jesus isn't finished yet. He knows what Peter is dealing with as they gaze into the fire. He then begins to restore Peter so that he is free from guilt of past failures. Free to honor and completely serve Him as Lord. Being completely emptied in order to bring Him the most glory. Peter and the other disciples experienced this in an amazing way. Once again He invites them to "Follow Me." This time within the power of His resurrection. Completely emptied, completely empowered. That's how we should answer His call to follow Him.

Welcome to our winter wonderland! It was great fun to watch our neighbors really enjoy their families in the snow. It seems like a dream because the temperature actually hit 62 today!

I'm in there somewhere under all those clothes!

Our little snowman . Funny, I don't remember making snowmen being considered work. This little guy was all we could do before we were worn out!

Brian thinks he is going to hit me with a snowball!

One of the kitties enjoying the sun and snow in the park. We are not able to have pets but there are PLENTY of cats and dogs that are strays in our city.

Park pets in the snow! For those of you who frequent our blog, you will see several more snow photos that will be posted in days to come. We are having trouble with the site uploading photos.

Snow!!!

More Snow!!!

Our street covered in snow!!! What a wonderful sight for us Southerners!

Break time on our back patio at the office with our class language teachers in the snow.

It's been 15 years since I have been able to create a snow angel!!! (The snow on our ski trip was packed like ice-this snow was light and soft)

Down the street from the house in the snow

During the last week of January we were able to attend a retreat on the northern sea coast. The teaching and time of rest was timely and uplifting. Being in a town that was mostly empty was a nice change from the 15 million(+) we live with every day.

You can't tell from this picture but the waves looked to be about 4 feet high. It was really windy and even snowed some over the ocean. Even though the weather kept us inside most of the week, we welcomed the change from our Big city life. We drove throught the town and only saw 2 people.

These are some Cliffs on the Northern sea shore. These pictures can hardly come close to showing the power and verocity. I wish you could have heard the roar of these waves. It was really hard to stand where we were because the wind was so strong!

This Christmas we gave each other some much needed retreat time. We went to a ski resort near our city to enjoy some "R and R' and got to see some SNOW! I also celebrated my 40th birthday on top of the world-well not quite but it was way up there anyway.

Snow, Snow Snow! We haven't ever seen this much snow in Alabama!

It was so cool because driving up the mountain there wasn't much snow at all. About 3 miles or so from reaching our hotel the snow just appeared!

The view of the slopes from our hotel room balcony.

The snow may look soft but it was packed and iced over. Brian has the bruises to prove it! He hasn't skied in almost 20 years but he was able to pick it back up. At night we were both able to enjoy the slopes on a sled. We wiped out a couple of times but it was great to be a kid again. The only problem with being a "kid again "when you are 40 is that the next few days remind you that you are Not a kid anymore!