Let's Play Catch Up

So, I'm finally starting the blog I've been talking about. Let's play catch up first. At the end of last summer I had an interesting Skype conversation with Ben where he informed me we had orders to Incirlik AB, Turkey. I was a little apprehensive at first. Turkey was not one of the bases that I had been hoping for. After a while I decided to look at it as an opportunity for a new adventure. Plus, it got us overseas where we hope to be able to stay for awhile. (My apologies to any family who were hoping we'd be coming back to the States when we're done here.)

Over the next couple of months we were busy doing everything we could to prepare for the move. Ben got home from Afghanistan the beginning of November and we got even busier since we now had only about 3 months to finish everything. Passports and visas for the kids and me ended up being the most troublesome. The time came for us to leave and we still hadn't gotten them back. Ben requested an extension on his "report no later than" date, but was denied. As a result, he had to leave me to finish up everything.  Through the help of some good friends (and a helpful neighbor) we passed the final housing inspection. Which only left the actual migration...

I was scared out of my mind at the thought of traveling halfway around the world with 4 kids by myself. We started by driving to Dallas and staying the night with our dear friend Miranda who surprised us with cupcakes for Keri's birthday. The next morning we found our way to the airport and turned the rental car in. I had more luggage (and a very tired baby girl) than I knew what to do with but we made it to the plane. Actually...I think they held the plane for us. It was such a welcome blessing and a little embarrassing at the same time. We had to stay the night (more moving of too much luggage) in Baltimore and then hung out at the airport the whole next day for our late flight. God bless the USO!!! Skimming over the rest of the particulars, the kids were very well behaved on all the flights and the other passengers were very helpful (especially on the AMC flight). We got to Turkey and Ben was able to bring us to our new house right away.

So far our experiences in Turkey have been pretty positive (I'll get into that more later). The locals are friendly and LOVE the kids (especially Keri).  It takes a little bit of self control not to react when strangers touch my babies, but we've done well so far.  Lizzy and Alex enjoyed school. The weather is hot already! I'll try to post on a regular basis...and include pictures.