15 Years!

Gregory and I went out for steak for our 15 year anniversary!  It was such a blessing that the one week this summer during which the kids had a summer program was our anniversary week!  We took advantage of the opportunity to celebrate with a big lunch one day.  It was special to have that time together.  Kid-free time has been almost non-existent since March 13th!

We actually did something big for our 15th anniversary this year.  Luckily we did it in February, not knowing how timely that would actually be!  My parents took care of our kids for five days, and we flew to Spain for some time to decompress on the beach and meet with some incredible missionaries who put together an individualized marriage retreat for us.  It was wonderful to have that intentional time together.  What a gift!

Celebrating 11 Years

Sandwiched between our family's vacation in Winter Park and our GEM conference, we celebrated our anniversary in Colorado Springs.  GEM treated us to a night at the Antlers hotel.  The view from our hotel room balcony was stunning!  We spent the afternoon hiking the Catamount Lake trail outside of Green Mountain Falls.  Such special memories in that place...  What a blessing to celebrate our anniversary together in Colorado, just the two of us!

Celebrating ten years where it all began

When my parents were visiting, Gregory and I snuck off for five days

to return to the city where we met and fell in love:  ISTANBUL!

It was a difficult decision, but we kept it all a secret in order to have a true "anniversary trip", just the two of us.  It was amazing to be together without the kids for almost five days.  (I only cried once due to missing them.)

It was an interesting time to visit, in the middle of Ramadan during a long, hot summer.

We visited many significant places from the beginning of our relationship and our time lived in Istanbul.
Boat rides across the Bosphorus

Gülhane Park

Taksim İstiklal

Moda

Boğaziçi

İÜ

Starbucks

Yıldız Park

The Old City

And we made a few new memories as well.
Gülhane Park Cay Bahçesi

Süleymaniye Cami

Viktor Levi Şarap Evi

Sam Adams! (What?!  It was all over!)

Fatih

Chora Church

The City walls by the church

The beauty in this city and this culture and these people continues to astonish us.




We are thankful that God wrote it into our story.


Two more days, and we'll have been married for TEN YEARS!

9 years

Nine years ago, we said, "I do."

 We celebrated with a quiet evening and a bottle of champagne, both rarities in our home. :)

July/August Photos, Waiting and Moving

July and August were full of craziness, with waiting on our apartment, preparing it, waiting on our container, and unloading and unpacking.  My parents came to assist, for which we're forever grateful.  And by the end of August, we were home.  Here are random pictures from those two months.

Gregory and I celebrated our seventh wedding anniversary at the end of July.  We had another family staying with us (in our host's home), and they took care of Nathanael while we visited a Heuriger.

Nathanael's first very own highchair (evidence of our transitional first two years of his life)

Playing in the sprinkler on some very hot days (at our host's home)

Playing in our empty apartment; I think Gregory and my dad had been working on furniture assembly this day, and Mom and I came to visit and play.

Fun times with the grandparents and attempting to see a little bit of Vienna, in the midst of the moving chaos

 

The container arrives!

 One of our first evenings in our apartment, the view from our balcony

 While Gregory and I unpacked, drilled in the walls, and hung light fixtures, Grandma kept Nathanael busy at all the neighborhood parks!

We also discovered the Wienerberg, a large park near us with a very large pond. It almost feels like we're out in the country somewhere!