2 Year Old Talk

WAY behind on posts, but I wanted to remember a few of Liv's expressions...

• Poppasicle or Poppysicle - Popscicle
• What I'm doing - What am I doing?
• Uppie - Pick me up
• Come 'ere gwirt - Come here squirt! (I say this in fun and she loves it and repeats it after me)
• Anyways, so... - she'll say this really fast
• She took the comb and was combing daddy's hair and said, "Daddy, it looks bootiful."
• We left our nephews dedication last weekend, and as we were driving in back in the van she said, "Well that wasn't too bad, was it?"

She's been fun. We attempted to start potty training this week. She was so excited to sit on the big potty the first 2 times, and then she was "all done." So rather than make it a power struggle, we stopped. She's sat on the potty a few times, and we'll just slowly keep trying :).

I'll be back to post more soon!

Overseas post #5

Here's a couple views of the city from the city center.

Happy Father's Day dad!

There was a really big, beautiful park in the center of the city. There's a lot of space to walk, a pond, some playground equipment, and a small amusement park. One thing that was really neat was how many families you'd see walking around together. Not something you see as much here.

Here's another picture of the park and my 2 sweethearts.

Overseas Post #4

Liv had her 2nd birthday while we were gone! Despite the lack of American goods, we made nachos, homemade salsa, and garlic cheese bread with dipping sauce.... and of course a birthday cake! We did alright! And to all of us gone for nearly a month at this point, the taste of home was a welcome one :).


Liv ate quite a bit! A good thing considering that sometimes a hummingbird eats more than she does.

We played some kids party games like musical chairs...

Dad and Liv won a round!

...and we played toss the clothespin into the jar... and later we played a few rounds of hangman after Liv was asleep :).

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

Here's 2 of the stint girls, Jill, and Erin (Aaron's co-director). They were all SO good to Liv. I just love this picture :).

Mom and her 2 year old... my sweet little girl.

So Liv is quite the traveler on her birthday - born in Korea, 1st birthday in S. Carolina, 2nd birthday in the Middle East! We'll see where we are for the 3rd birthday!

Overseas Post #3

We had a baptism service on the Mediterranean. Aaron baptized 7 of the students. Each one shared their testimony, then Aaron read a passage, then he went out and had each student come out one by one to baptize them. It was really neat - so memorable for the students.

Here's Aaron and Liv overlooking the sea. Sometimes Liv looks at the camera, sometimes she smiles, and sometimes she gives her cheesy grin :).

As I've mentioned, Liv attracted some attention. This girl was with her family and the only instance where someone actually asked to take a picture (though we had some people try to "sneak" one). So here's the picture :).

I thought this was hilarious. Liv in her suit and Aaron's socks pulled as high as they'll go. She's got sass :).

Overseas Post #2

Partway through our time we went to Ephesus. In the new testament times, Ephesus was a very prominent city of (I think they said) 250,000. It's fascinating to see. So much of it has been covered, but they are slowly excavating more and more of the city.


This is the front of the library, probably the best preserved part of the city.

A more close-up shot - lots of detail!

This is our whole group, and behind us is the amphitheater that seats 50,000. This was the same one where Paul was dragged into by the silver smiths recorded in Acts.

A little ways away is a church built in honor of John - they believe he's burried in Ephesus. This church was built in (I think) 300 AD. Below is the baptismal. I just thought it was so cool to see. A few of us walked through it - who knows who was baptized there!

Overseas post #1

Here's a few shots of our home overseas. Liv fit well in this cabinet and liked to look at all the DVD's inside.

We stayed in the apartment of a family that had gone back home for the summer. They had a little girl, and Liv stayed in her room. She had this mosquito netting that could go over her bed, and Liv loved to sit inside. "Read in the tent?" she'd ask. So we read in there a lot. When we get her a big girl bed we'll have to get one for her :).

Here's my dear friend Sarah. She and her husband live in a different city, but came to help us all get settled the first couple days. She was the first to discover reading in the "tent." She was a tremendous help to me. She helped me find what we'd need and to navigate in our neighborhood as well as on a few of the buses. She also gave me a few helpful phrases that I might need. One of them was how to tell people that Liv was adopted. There's little domestic adoption and no international adoption there. So, needless to say we got lots of stares (and Liv got a lot of attention) wherever we went. I definitely don't miss being stared at. You get to the point where you just don't look at people's faces cause you know they're staring at you.

We lived on the top floor of our apartment building (6th floor), and this was the view from the front. Pretty much picture this same view from all sides. Just hundreds of other apartments in view all around you.

Here we are with the students in the living room of our aparment having church on Sunday morning. The city we were in has 2 million people but only 1 church of 15. Their service obviously wasn't in English, and it would have been awkward to have 30 of us storm in. So we had our own service with a little music and a sermon on CD (Tim Keller - love him :). The one thing you can't see is all the cat hair on the floor - I DO NOT miss living with the cats and having to vacuum every couple days... and that just got the worst of it. There was always some amount of hair.

Well, there's a brief post. More will be coming :).

We're Home!

Hi! I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've last posted. We left our apartment on June 27th which was a busy time packing, cleaning, and getting ready to go. Then on our way home we stopped in Istanbul with the students. The students flew out June 30th. We headed to the sea for a few days to have a little vacation. One of my best friends lives in that part of the world, and so we spent the time with her and her husband. It was wonderful to have a little time to rest and swim and connect with them. We got home early this past Tuesday, the 7th. Our house is slowly getting back into shape, and Liv and I are getting over jet lag. I couldn't keep my eyes open and was out at 9 last night (and awake at 5). :)

So I'm doing a quick post because we're losing our internet tonight and will get reconnected on Tuesday. I have many pictures to post, and I'm sorry there'll be another delay. I will be back as soon as possible! Thanks so very much for your prayers while we were gone. We definitely appreciate it! It's SO GOOD to be home, and I'll be back soon :).

Turning 2

Tomorrow is Livie's 2nd Birthday! WOW! They grow so fast :). We had a little party for her tonight. We had the staff team over with some American food, cake, a couple "kid" games (like musical chairs), and overall had a great time. I have pictures to post, but our computer won't get online. So we're using our roommate's computer. I guess I'll just post a bunch when we get home.

The weather has been a little cooler (mid 80's or low 90's) and for that we're all so grateful. Thursday is the farmer's market day. The market is about 3 blocks away. I got fresh peaches - some with the leaves still one them. So good, and back in WI it's so hard to get a really good peach.

OH! And I almost forget the best news! We have a new brother in the Lord here! So amazing! We're all pretty excited. One of our students met with him a few times, and this student texted our guy yesterday morning to let him know. What joy to hear that!

I'm going to have to get to bed. I'm just so sleepy I don't feel like I'm thinking straight. I'm sorry it's so long between posts. I can't believe how quick the days can go by just trying to get the basics done. I've done a terrible job with email, etc. I'll try to post again soon! And one more random comment is we finally have a refrigerator. What a blessing! It helps so much to be able to keep food longer than a day. Thanks so much for praying for us. We love you!

Culture

I can't believe how quickly the days go by. I have many things I want to post about, but then it's nearly a week before I get back here again! Ministry has been going really well here. Though my direct involvement in it is very small, the students are doing an awesome job. God continues to open doors for students to share the gospel. We had a sharing time last week where students just shared stories of what they were seeing God do, and last Wednesday alone they shared the gospel with 21 students! It's so fun to hear about! And one of our guys has met with 2 students who are super interested in Jesus. I wish I could just write all the students are sharing about - it's incredible. And even though it's been super hot here (mid to upper 90's the last few days), they're still persevering and connecting with students. Seriously, so hot here though - and no air conditioning. From what I hear it's cold back home - wish I could give you some of this :).

So 2 brief cultural stories: We have 2 markets a few blocks away that we go to almost daily (still no fridge by the way - there's a restaurant next door that we eat from once a day and then I go to the market to buy just what I need for one meal and cook it. But the Lord's provision is that our freezer is almost as cool as a fridge - so we're able to keep things for a day or so). Anyway, so the people at the markets know us (and overall it's culturally normal to go to the market once a day). Aaron goes to one last night, and the guy waves him over behind the counter with an open container of ice-cream and a few spoons. So Aaron and him share some ice cream and chat for a minute. Would not see that in the states. Aaron apparently Aaron said there were some more spoons so the other employees were sampling it as well :).

At the other market, the check-out girls know me and LOVE Livie. They're super friendly to children here in this culture - men and women alike. My favorite was one of the girls sneaking up behind Liv and picking her up. Liv just had this look on her face like, "What in the world is going on?...." And if I go in without her, they ask where she is. It's so sweet - they're such sweet girls. I wish I had more language to talk to them better. And on the busses, people ALWAYS give up their seats if you're older, pregnant, or have a child. So they always let me sit with Liv. On Sunday night a grandson was sitting with his grandpa, and the grandson gave up his seat and let me sit there. He stood right in front of us and kept talking to Liv, and the grandpa was talking to her as well. They're just so sweet to kids here. I used a little of my language to talk to him a little bit. I kept trying to get Liv to say hi, but she's so shy in those situations.

So I'm super tired and need to get to bed. Thanks so much for praying for us - we need it and the Lord is working through those prayers. Much love from the Joneses!

Happenings

It's been pretty warm here the last 2 days. I don't know how some of the "covered" women do it. They'll have scarves wrapped around their heads and be in long sleeves and pants and sometimes even a long jacket too. It was 90 or so this afternoon, and a mother comes on the bus with her tiny newborn bundled up for a blizzard. Anyway, the fridge is still broke. We finally got a repairman in here yesterday - here's a glimpse of the culture: call on Friday, will be here at 1. Call at 3:30, will be here on Monday. Call on Monday, will be here at 2. Call at 4, will be here on Tuesday. They actually came on Tuesday! When trying to get a picture of just how "broke" the fridge was with limited language, the repairman said, "maximum broke." So the people who live here have ordered a new fridge which will be coming soon.

Aaron and I went on a date tonight - there's a really nice mall a 20 minute bus ride away. We ate at Burger King in their food court which cost us between $15-20. I'm amazed at how some things can be so cheap here and others so expensive. I can get 2 Wal-mart sized bags of fresh produce for $4 but a pound of beef is over $5 (they eat little beef here). And refrigerators go for well over $500 just for a basic model. Anyway, overall we're doing just fine.

As far as ministry goes, it's been really fun to see how the Lord is at work through the students. They're having great opportunities to share with the nationals here. I was on campus today with 2 girls (my one afternoon on campus a week), and we got to talk to 3 really sweet girls. I wish there wasn't such a language barrier sometimes cause I really connected with one of them. Even with the language difficulties, we seemed to get what the other was trying to say. The conversations didn't really turn to topics of faith, but a friendship was made, and hopefully the girls I was with will have contact with them again. Most of my time here is just taking care of Liv, trying to help Aaron a bit, and loving on all of our students as they come in and out of our apartment for our meetings in the morning. It's a great group of students, and it's been so fun to watch them grow, struggle through a new culture, and take steps of faith in the midst of it all. It's so incredible to me to watch these students (in some ways) have no idea what they're doing (and no language), but yet the Lord still uses it and opens up incredible opportunities.

And the Paw is becoming more social and active. I think she's definitely re-injured that foot, but she seems to be doing okay... Again, HOW do you fall 6 stories without more injuries?!?! So there's some random bits from the last few days. I'll try to continue to update and let you know what's going on. Happy June everyone!!! Summer is here! (can't wait to come home to grilled hamburgers and brats and the farmers market :).

Switch Off

Our hot water is back on - it was fixed on Wed.  However, we've now lost the fridge.  That started not working yesterday morning.  They were supposed to come fix it today (I held that expectation that it would actually happen loosely).  Aaron called 3 hours after they were supposed to be here, and they said they'd come Monday.  So we'll be eating out a lot or fixing simple meals for the next few days.  Again, holding that loosely but am hoping none the same.

The men here are very affectionate towards children.  So Olivia gets a bit of attention.  We went out to eat tonight, and the 2 waiters kept talking to her.  At one point one of the waiters was holding her and showing her to another table.  She was a little unsure of that one :).  But she's doing just great!

Oh, and a brief update on The Paw.  She's still pretty slow.  I'm afraid that her paw is re-injured.  The girls that live here may take her to the vet.  I'll keep you posted :).

I'm currently at the women's apartment and will be hanging out with the girls :).  They're a fun group.  I'm so proud of them - they're really initiating and making a lot of new friends here with some opportunities to share the gospel with them as well.  So there's another brief update.  Thanks so much for keeping us in your prayers.  We're so grateful!

3 Adventures for the Day (With a bonus from yesterday)

One of our roommates, The Paw, courtesy of our roommate Jacob. See story below.

Adventure #1 - We're living with 2 cats. One is a fat (somewhat mean) calico and the other is one with a broken paw (it's broken just above its paw and it sort-of limps along on the part that's broken. I think it was a stray that this family took in.) The one with the broken paw I call "The Paw" and always think of the line from Toy Story where they're in the vending machine where the alien toys all say together, "The claw decides who will stay and who will go." And I obviously sub in the paw for the claw. Anyway, a number of us are allergic to cats. And since all the students meet at our apartment for large group meetings, we put the big cat in the bedroom and The Paw out on the balcony. We have since discovered that The Paw can jump from the balcony through our roommates window (they don't use screens here) and into their bedroom. Keep in mind that we're 6 stories up. So today we notice that the balcony is minus The Paw. We look and look. Our roomate's window isn't locked but the wind has blown it mostly closed. So Jacob (roommate) and I leave the meeting to go and see if the remains of The Paw are to be found on the ground below, and we see a cat running! He ran under a car, and sure enough it was The Paw. HOW ?!?!?!? did this cat get down 6 stories! Then we lost him, then they found him under the hood of that same car. As our other roommate Steph said tonight, "He's been laying down for a long time. He's had quite a day."

Adventure #2 - I'm spending one afternoon a week mentoring 2 women and going on campus with them. So Wednesday's are the day. We're still very much learning our way around. We take a bus, then get on a large van which takes us the rest of the way. As we were leaving we got on a large white van that seemed to have the correct direction on it. So we board and are weaving farther and farther into this neighborhood. I'm thinking that campus must be on the other side. But our driver stops at the edge of this neighborhood and basically tells us to get off. Um, okay - where do we go? So I used my little language to say where we want to go. He said to wait at the corner and another would be coming. This is not so comforting when you don't know where you're at and you're waiting for a van to hopefully come. We asked 2 more vans that came by and they told us the same. Fortunately we only waited a few minutes, and the correct van came - Phew! Thank you Jesus for taking care of us. But we DID make it home just fine. We got to meet a few women and have coffee with them and talk with them. That was pretty fun. It was my first time over to the campus area.

Advnture #3 - Aaron and I went on a date tonight. I had him take me to the city center so I could again learn to navigate another bus and see where it went. We got to eat at a really traditional, really good restaurant. Our neighborhood (though all apartments) is relatively quiet. Being more in the middle of things you really see that, yes, millions of people do live here.

Bonus adventure - we've had no hot water the last 2 1/2 days. It did get fixed today - Yay! But last night Livie really needed a bath. So I heated water on the stove and mixed it with cool water in a plastic bowl, and we scrubbed Liv right in the kitchen :). (our sink is really small) A bit of water to mop up, but we did okay. Glad I don't have to do that all the time, though - definitely a 2 person job.

It's just crazy, though, to look out just about any window and see hundreds and even thousands of apartments around you and in the distance. The city is beautiful as it's sortof located amidst hills and mountains. So you can really see around quite a ways. But it's so sobering to think that in a place this size there's only a few dozen known believers. I feel like a very small candle in a very large, dark room. I'm so grateful to know, though, that in Him our light is sure. Keep praying for us :).

Happy Memorial Day

Hello again. It's been a FULL past few days, but Monday is the day off for everyone. And I think we're heading into a normal week and should hopefully start living in more of a routine. We're getting a little more settled. Aaron, Liv, and I took the bus today to the mall which has the large super Wal-mart type store in it. So now I know which bus to take there and back. I didn't want to try to figure that out by myself. But now I think I could tackle that one. At the mall they had a few little kiosk type food spots. One was like a Dippin' Dots place, but instead of selling ice-cream, it sold corn. Not sure if that's a novelty here or not. Don't be jealous - everyone wants to go to the mall and walk around with a cup of corn :). But the other one is awesome - it's a chocolate fountain! You can buy a cup of fruit and they'll pour chocolate over it. Yes, that IS something we need back home!

One thing that can be disconcerting is how freely people stare here. It's pretty obvious we're foreigners not to mention the fact that we have an Asian daughter. So they don't hesitate at all to study you. I need to get in the habit of looking around and not looking at people's faces, cause when I do they're always looking at me.

The students are doing great. We're had a lot of meetings the past few days just helping them get orientated, but now we'll start on campus this week. But even in the midst of a lot of meetings, the students are talking to nationals and making connections. Liv is just taking it all in stride. It's amazing. She knows which building is her house. She's content on the bus. We were riding back today and she says, "Whee! Here we go!" Such a sweetheart. So I'm thrilled at how well she's doing. However, sleeping is not going as well. When we put her down at night she just cries. It's so sad. We pray for her, we reassure her that we're right here, hold her, sing to her, but she still cries when we leave. And if she wakes up in the middle of the night, I just sleep in the little girl's bed next to her pack-n-play so she won't freak out. So if you could pray for Liv to have peace and be able to go to sleep, that would be much appreciated.

I'll continue to keep you updated on our adventures. I'm still just grateful I haven't had a breakdown :). We're doing okay!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (literally)

We're here! Sorry it's taken me a couple days to post. We're just finishing day 2. On Tuesday morning (CST) we took the light rail from downtown Minneapolis to the airport, then caught our flight to Chicago. At O'Hare we had a 3 1/2 hour layover. Then we had a 7 hour flight, 2 hour layover, and a 3 hour flight. It took us 2 hours to get out of the airport in country by the time 3o of us got through customs, got our luggage, and exchanged money. We met the stint team who got us to our bus. Then a 5 hour bus ride to our final destination. By that time it was 2:30 CST on Wednesday. So 30 hours of travel - we were absolutely tanked! It was 10:30 here when we got here. So we got Liv a quick bath and to bed, and we hit the hay at 12:30. Praise the Lord she slept through the night like a rock and so did we. A solid 8 hours really helped.

I have to say, Liv traveled like a trooper. We had a few meltdowns - mostly having to be strapped in her seat during take-off and landing, but she really did great. I just feel like in these first few days, the Lord has granted extra grace and we've been doing really well. One of my dearest friends lives here. She and her husband also met us at the airport and rode back with us. My friend Sarah has spent the last 2 days specifically helping me and Liv settle in. Again, the Lord has been so good in his provision. We live in a super great apartment with plenty of room. There's a great little market with all we need 2 blocks away. Then 2 blocks in another direction is their version of an Aldi. I almost laughed when I walked in. Some of you know of my great love of Aldi - of course the Lord would provide one here :). I was walking around with Sarah yesterday just thinking of how much the Lord was providing for us. I'm back, my language is coming back a little, I'm not having a break down... we're doing okay!

I've hardly seen Aaron, but we should be getting into a routine soon and things will settle down. I think last night we finally really talked when we went to bed at 11:30 - and even then I could only keep my eyes open for a few minutes. These first couple days have been super busy - especially for him. I've hardly really unpacked.

So my friend left this evening and I'm a little more "on my own" now. But I at least have my bearings in the neighborhood. Next steps are to try to figure out the bus that goes by my house. I haven't been into the city center or campus area at all yet. I'm sure that'll come in the next week.

So, I'm excited to keep you posted on the adventures here. The students are settling in and we're gearing up. The girls had to come home to a nearly bear apartment with almost no water and not hot water. They had a bit of a break down after 30 hours of travel. But things are getting resolved, and we're doing well.

And a little P.S. to those that have emailed... I'm not having a ton of time to get on the computer (but what's new :). But I'll try to be in touch as we get more settled!

Much love from across the ocean :).

Revolving Door

The Jones home has been hopping lately! We had 4 women staying here last week who were home from Brazil and their one year stint there for visa reasons (they'll be going back to Brazil next week). It was fun to see Londa, our dear friend who was one of them, as well as get to know the other 3. Livie kept calling them the "girls" and kept tabs on where they were throughout the week. They left on Friday at 5:30, and Aaron's parents came at 8:30. We had a really relaxing and enjoyable weekend with them. Aaron's brother, sister-n-law, and our nephew came too. Liv is just captivated with her cousin Cai. She can't help but be near him and watch him and touch him. It's so cute. I'm pretty sure they're close to the same size :). He's such a sweet baby though, and it was fun to love on him a bit :). Then the fam left on Sunday morning and our new roommates moved in Sunday night! So we have new "family" here. They're a married student couple who have one semester left this fall. We've worked with both of them the last few years, and now this is real life discipleship! They're also coming overseas with us! So we'll live in an apartment there together and fly back home to live here together :). But we really love them and are looking forward to the next months together.

And so now this week I'm doing my best to get us ready to leave the country next week! A week from now I'll be on a plane over the Atlantic. And a huge thank-you to God is that Liv's passport came in the mail last Monday! Whew! We sent it in quite a while ago - so grateful it got here! So things are coming together. I don't know that its real to me yet that we're leaving in a week. We've known we were going for nearly a year - hard to believe that year is gone! So I'm trying to take it one day at a time and trust the Lord for THIS day. I know that the Lord wants us there this summer and am looking forward to what He has in store for us.