I was just talking to Kara bout how fast the week is flying. It may feel like our flight out of O'Hare happened over a week ago, but the days In Kusadasi are melting together as if everything happened just today.
It looks like it's too late to give you an account of today's events. And we didn't have time to round up pictures. There was alot of teaching time crammed in today with Angie and Holly taking on Ephesians 2 and 3 and then plenty of fun watching the smaller kids while their parents toured Ephesus.
Tomorrow is our opportunity for the tour and we will actually get to teach in one of it's amazing amphitheaters. The weather is turning out to be beautiful and the team is doing great! We couldn't have asked for more connections and fun times with the kids. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Kusadasi Kapers
Today we hit the ground running with our big event, the Kusadasi Kapers. This was our adventure race, not to be confused with the resort adventure race we are having on Friday. With clues prepared by Holly late the night before, six teams set out to compete with other teams solving riddles, researching facts and performing challenges. A morning storm made the day somewhat gloomy and the race-time drizzle slowed things down a bit. But most of the kids got involved and figured out most of our clues and contests. Even though most groups got through the clues pretty well, there was one clear winner who's methods will be analyzed...thoroughly! Results to be announced tomorrow.
I was able to get some uploading done on Picasa. Click here to check out the album. It is only a small fraction of the photos taken in a day. If anyone has trouble using the link, please let me know. There are new security options available on Picasa.
In the evening we had our first official teaching time with the two age groups split up. Tim gave his talk on chapter 1 of Ephesians and the younger kids continued learning about Esther. Parents feedback about the younger kids time has been HUGELY positive and the workers in that group (LEAH) are just loving it!
Our time with the older kids is also going well, though with much more craziness going on in schedules and preparedness. Very few teens seem to be uninterested and we still have alot of fun lined up.
Tomorrow is a full day of teaching (two sessions), afternoon break and them movie night with the kids. Perhaps we will have more time to talk about the families we have been getting to know!
I was able to get some uploading done on Picasa. Click here to check out the album. It is only a small fraction of the photos taken in a day. If anyone has trouble using the link, please let me know. There are new security options available on Picasa.
In the evening we had our first official teaching time with the two age groups split up. Tim gave his talk on chapter 1 of Ephesians and the younger kids continued learning about Esther. Parents feedback about the younger kids time has been HUGELY positive and the workers in that group (LEAH) are just loving it!
Our time with the older kids is also going well, though with much more craziness going on in schedules and preparedness. Very few teens seem to be uninterested and we still have alot of fun lined up.
Tomorrow is a full day of teaching (two sessions), afternoon break and them movie night with the kids. Perhaps we will have more time to talk about the families we have been getting to know!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Suffering For Jesus
The team has decided to convey the disparity of our situation with you in hope that you might better understand how to encourage and pray for us. The conditions are awful. Every morning for breakfast, a vicious gang of cats stalks Leah, just waiting for their chance to pounce. Birds from inside the hotel swoop in over your heads while you try to gather some food. Lyall and Sheila's marriage is going to require some serious repair after recent confrontations. Torrential rain has made it impossible to go outside. Power to the hotel has become iffy at best, and the team is utterly exhausted.
Truth is there's a good story to each one of those woes and the only downsides at the moment are simply that we are getting tired. Some bodies are confused and everyone has done plenty of walking and had a late night. For the rest of the week will have to fit planning sessions into every nook and cranny.
Today was a little more relaxed until our evening activities. We met families as they trickled in and we spent more and more time with them as the day went on. By the end of the day we had a full conference of over 150 people. The kid's attitudes are surprising us almost always in a good way as the younger group is not seeing any difficulties for the rest of week and the older group is looking forward to what's in store!
Our team is finally complete with Janna Banana arriving in the early evening from Prague!
Our big adventure out on the town is scheduled for tomorrow morning so it's time to sign off.
Truth is there's a good story to each one of those woes and the only downsides at the moment are simply that we are getting tired. Some bodies are confused and everyone has done plenty of walking and had a late night. For the rest of the week will have to fit planning sessions into every nook and cranny.
Today was a little more relaxed until our evening activities. We met families as they trickled in and we spent more and more time with them as the day went on. By the end of the day we had a full conference of over 150 people. The kid's attitudes are surprising us almost always in a good way as the younger group is not seeing any difficulties for the rest of week and the older group is looking forward to what's in store!
Our team is finally complete with Janna Banana arriving in the early evening from Prague!
Our big adventure out on the town is scheduled for tomorrow morning so it's time to sign off.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Walkin' On The Edge
Good Afternoon. For those who haven't checked yet, we are 8 hours ahead of our Illinois friends. So it's just before midnight here, but you're just getting off of work on the same day. You can always leave comments here on the blog. We will get them quickly thanks to a solid free data connection on one of our phones!
This morning we got to sleep in. Breakfast at 8am. Wooo! If you're late, you sit at the end of the table. Leaders are no exception.
The rest of the morning was spent preparing for some activities and the arrival of several families later in the evening. Plenty of goofing off as well. Before you knew it, lunch time came around again. It feels like all we do is eat so far.
The afternoon was spent in downtown Kusadasi (KOOSH-A-da-sih). We explored for fun and to seek out interesting facts and sights for the kids to seek out as we take them on an adventure race later in the week.
The most memorable part of the excursion must be the fortress island for which the town was named. Kusadasi means "Bird Island". The ruins were easy to explore without realizing what you were and were not allowed to do, like walking along the cliff edges.
Next was shopping at the local bazaar.
We finally got to spend some significant team time talking about the trip and sharing what we have learned as we studied up on the missionary biographies we had read. Late in the evening, a large group of tired families finally arrived which allowed us to meet and great several kids at a slow pace.
Again, I apologize for not being able to upload all of our pictures at once. It's late again. Tomorrow is more planning, exploring and meeting the rest of our conference families in the afternoon!
This morning we got to sleep in. Breakfast at 8am. Wooo! If you're late, you sit at the end of the table. Leaders are no exception.
The rest of the morning was spent preparing for some activities and the arrival of several families later in the evening. Plenty of goofing off as well. Before you knew it, lunch time came around again. It feels like all we do is eat so far.
The afternoon was spent in downtown Kusadasi (KOOSH-A-da-sih). We explored for fun and to seek out interesting facts and sights for the kids to seek out as we take them on an adventure race later in the week.
The most memorable part of the excursion must be the fortress island for which the town was named. Kusadasi means "Bird Island". The ruins were easy to explore without realizing what you were and were not allowed to do, like walking along the cliff edges.
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Next was shopping at the local bazaar.
We finally got to spend some significant team time talking about the trip and sharing what we have learned as we studied up on the missionary biographies we had read. Late in the evening, a large group of tired families finally arrived which allowed us to meet and great several kids at a slow pace.
Again, I apologize for not being able to upload all of our pictures at once. It's late again. Tomorrow is more planning, exploring and meeting the rest of our conference families in the afternoon!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
We've Escaped!
Thank you for following our blog! Today (er..wait, yesterday) began our week long Ephesians Escape. It's been a slow start but we hope to keep you in the loop the whole time. First, meet our team if you haven't already!
From left to right: Lyall and his wife, Sheila, Dorothy, Leah (back), Brooke, Holly, Becky, Kara, Tim, Holly, Ben and Kevin.
Note: Internet bandwidth at the hotel is not conducive of a masive Picasa album upload. Until we find an alternative, we'll give you some highlights in the blog.
Turns out Christmas day fllying is pretty light. We left O'hare with a 45 minute delay only becuase of a mistake while taxiing to the runway. The delay only made our layover in Munich short and sweet. Turkish customs is a snap compared to most countries. Thank the Lord for easy travels just after so just after so much bad weather in Illinois and Europe.
Jay, one of the conference leaders, and his family met us with a van and a car. After packing it Lyall style, we were off to Kusadasi on a 45 minute drive. The weather is a tad gloomy but very comfortable.
Good news for me as the trip blogger. We have some fellow camera fiends along with us this trip. Kara, Becky and Ben all have relatively new cameras which they LOVE using at every possible opportunity. I am not imune to embarrasing camera shots on this trip.
From left to right: Lyall and his wife, Sheila, Dorothy, Leah (back), Brooke, Holly, Becky, Kara, Tim, Holly, Ben and Kevin.
Note: Internet bandwidth at the hotel is not conducive of a masive Picasa album upload. Until we find an alternative, we'll give you some highlights in the blog.
Jay, one of the conference leaders, and his family met us with a van and a car. After packing it Lyall style, we were off to Kusadasi on a 45 minute drive. The weather is a tad gloomy but very comfortable.
Good news for me as the trip blogger. We have some fellow camera fiends along with us this trip. Kara, Becky and Ben all have relatively new cameras which they LOVE using at every possible opportunity. I am not imune to embarrasing camera shots on this trip.
The resort is very nice, as expected. It was too dark to explore the entire compound, but it's start. After checking in, we had our first hotel buffet meal and couldn't try everything...yet.
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Lyall is letting us sleep in tomorrow, so I had better not waste this precious time. Tomorrow will be full of exploring the town of Kusadasi and planning what to do when we take the kids in town.
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