My New Favorite Salads

While we were in Turkey, I tried a few new foods.

Some yummy desserts... fresh Turkish Delight straight from the bakery is the best EVER... the natural version made with real Turkish honey? seriously to die for. I'll never eat the tourist stuff from the box again.

Some fish... it was huge, roasted in tin foil over a fire and tasted like steak... no joke.

Some new fruit... small green plums? delicious.

Cheese bread cooked on a cast iron stove in a hut by the beach... we waited an hour to try it and it was worth the wait.

And, some salad dressing... but wait... they did not have salad dressing in Turkey as we know it here in the US. For them, salad dressings are a few different kinds of oil, vinegar, pomegranate juice, and lemon juice. There are always fresh lemon and orange slices as well.

The salad dressings would be in separate containers above the salad bar and you could put your very own creative mix of dressings on your salad.

The pomegranate juice and lemon juice with a small bit of olive oil? So good.

Well, in coming home from our amazing trip to Turkey, I was craving lemons. Lemon juice on my salad and lemon slices in my diet coke.

I missed Turkey.

I have kept up with lemons in the 4 months that we have been at home. I buy them, slice them and squeeze them over my salad or drop them in my diet coke. (When I'm done, they go down in the disposal and my sink smells super fresh!)

Who knew lemons were so wonderful?

Well, over the last year and especially since going to Turkey, my eating habits have changed for many reasons. The newest reason is it being necessary to go gluten free.

Salads are a big part of my life now. Thankfully, I am not limited to our versions of dressings!

Another big salad favorite of mine right now is basically the same ingredients: lettuce, spinach, green pepper, tomato, lemon juice but then I add brown rice, corn, salsa, black beans and corn chips. Can we all say, "SO GOOD!"

Now, go buy yourself some lemons and make some salads!

*and yes, it is a two post day. I am allowing myself to be distracted from my study of the book of ACTS as I get ready for yet another class next weekend... now back to the books!

Before and After

Today, I'm going to participate in Monica's Before and After Blog Hop...

Before - photo taken on the Aegean Sea of the coast of Ephesus, Turkey

After - I just loved the sail boat next to the cruise ship. Such a sight in a port that is hundreds, maybe thousands of years old...

*picture taken with my Canon point and shoot, edited in PSE8

Wednesday's Walk - The Aegean Sea

The last few Wednesday's Walks have been about Turkey.

I blogged about Ancient Ephesus and The Basilica of St. John. I also blogged about the ministry side of our trip here and here.

I shared some of the funnier moments of our trip Not Me! style here.

So, I was trying to think if there was something that I'd forgotten to share on the blog... I'm sure there are lots of somethings, and I'm sure I'll think of more as time goes on.

But, for today, I thought I'd share about our day boating on the Aegean Sea.

GORGEOUS.

The boat took our group out into the sea and then into a small bay where we could jump off the boat and swim. Here is Jeremy going over the side. In this picture, he is looking down into the water, slightly upset with himself. He brought his snorkeling gear on the trip just in case he would get a chance like to snorkel.  This was his chance! When he climbed over the side, assuming his gear would float, he threw it in first so he could have both hands to hold on while he climbed over the side and prepared to jump in.

His gear sunk.

He jumped in after it and was able to dive down and, thankfully, find it.

He found lots of sea cucumbers and sea urchins. These are two that he threw up into the boat for the kids to see.

I, on the other hand, wasn't so interested in what was below the sea water as I was in staying on the top of the boat enjoying the perfect sunshine. The sunshine and this cute baby. SO cute.

See me in the middle there, soaking up the rays??

But, I did venture in once to swim with my snorkeling hubs. The water was incredibly salty and when the water dried on you, it left a white pasty streak on your skin.

Turkey is beautiful. The sea is beautiful and I would love to go back one day.

So, have you traveled anywhere tropical like that?

I can't wait to read your memories! Link up your walks today and invite a friend to join in the fun.

And, take a sec and hop over to this post to get entered for an Uppercase Living Welcome sign!

Wednesday's Walk - Beauty in the Ruins

Last week, I walked you through Ancient Ephesus.

This week, we are touring the Basilica of St. John. You can read more about the history of this site by clicking on the link.

This is the view overlooking the small town near the church. Isn't it beautiful?

This is looking up at some of the remaining structure of the Basilica.

We were able to see this model that showed us what the Basilica would have looked like when it was built. You can click on this picture to enlarge it and read the description at the bottom

This is the baptismal tank of the church. Where first Christians would have been baptised. The history down in this ancient tank... wow, it was so amazing to see in person. Those baptised here could have faced all kinds of persecution and even death.

One of our Pastor's on staff with us at Bethel is very interested in Jewish/Christian church history and he was so jealous excited for our trip. Pastor Joe wanted Jeremy to find the tomb of St. John so when our tour guide took us right to it, we were quite happy. Jeremy is always up for a challange and finding this historical landmark ended up being not so challenging at all! So, Pastor Joe, this picture is for you!

I was getting nervous towards the end of our tour because my camera battery was dying and the charger was lost with my suitcase. I didn't take as many pictures of the Ephesus Museum and the Basilica of St. John as I would have because I was saving battery to make sure I got a picture of Jeremy by St. John's tomb. So thankful... my camera battery held out for that moment!

There were beautiful flowers all through Ephesus. At each site, we saw different colors of new life growing in old places. Poppies, buttercups, pomegranate, roses... beauty in ruins. Such a great picture.

Isaiah 61:3 "and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor."

Can't wait to read your walks today! Link up and invite your friends to join in. Any memory, new or old, is welcome!

Ancient Ephesus

Today's walk is going to take you through the city of ancient Ephesus. We toured Ephesus during our recent trip to Turkey and I can tell you, it was amazing.

Beautiful. Humbling. History brought to life.

We saw 3 different sites on our tour. Next week, I'll share the last two sites.

Our tour guide picked us up at the hotel at around 8:30am Sunday morning. On our drive to ancient Ephesus, he began to tell us that the valley we were driving through was at one time filled with water. The bay that the city of Ephesus was built on was now filled with silt from the river and the shores of the Aegean Sea slowly receded to where they are now. It was fascinating.

If you look down the line of pillars in the picture below, you can see trees at the bottom. Those trees were once the water. Ephesus was a port city and the road led down to the harbor. I loved standing there, picturing the water, picturing the people who would have lived there and picturing what they would have seen from the top of the hill.

It is a glorious city once buried that is now being put back together piece by piece.

This Christian symbol can be found in many places around Ephesus. It is a symbol of faith. In a city filled with idol worship, sexual perversion and superstition, this symbol would mark your home or business as Christ-following. The letters of the Greek word for Ichthus make up the picture of a cross in a wheel.

Our guide filled in the letters for us so we could see the impact of this incredible symbol.

This is a small theater where the city government officials would have met. They would have had concerts here or other kinds of public performances. The lighter colored stone on the bottom is the original steps. The darker is where they have recently filled in stone to complete the theater.

The city is still being excavated. Teams from Austria have been excavating there for many years. You can read about their finds here.

As pieces are found, they are numbered, layed out and slowly pieced together.

Our guide did say that a team from Ohio State University had been over as part of the excavating process. We thought that was pretty cool.

We saw this Greek goddess and learned that the Nike swish symbol comes from her dress. Do you see it?

This is the Library of Celsus. It is incredibly beautiful.

And this is the famous Ephesus stadium. The riot talked about in Acts 19-20 when Paul was in Ephesus took place here in this stadium.

I got to stand there. In that stadium. Walking where Paul walked, where Paul struggled to preach the gospel.

It inspired a sense of awe in both of us. We couldn't quite believe we were there.

You can see more pictures of our trip to ancient Ephesus in this facebook album.

Next week, I'll post about the Ephesus Museum and St. John's Basilica.

Thank you, Grace Anne, for taking the time to visit the previous 2 weeks Wednesday's Walk entries!

I'm excited to visit you all myself today.

So, link up your memory! It can be new or old, about you or your kids or your marriage or your job... any memory is a good one to link up and share with us!

More from Turkey...

First, I need to post some Giveaway info!

I had challenged you all to get a picture of the 30,000th hit on my blog. And, two of you did!

Gotta love accurate counters, right? LOL

The first one to email me was my brother-in-law, Todd. And, since I have a crazy feeling that he sat at home clicking refresh over and over to get the right number, I'm not so sure his entry counts. Just Kidding... well, kind of. He is my bro-in-law after all so I did bring him something. It's a surprise so I'm not going to share it here... he'll get it next week when I see him. Something to do with the dirt on Jeremy's shoes... inside joke between the two of them.

The first "real" entry was from Diana!

She wins some beautiful Turkish Greeting Cards. They are so pretty. I know she will love them! There are 10 different designs in this package (one even has some birds!). Email me your address and I will mail them out this week!

Next, 2 of you won a Turkish Carpet Bookmark by commenting on a post while I was gone. These are very popular in Turkey and were sold in almost every shop.

The winners of a bookmark are...

Jen @ The Johnsons

Judi @ Living the Abundant Life

Jen goes to my church so I will give it to her tomorrow night, but Judi, email me your address and I'll mail it to you!

So, why were we in Turkey?

I wasn't able to really explain on our blog until now. For all of our safety, it was better not to say too much and I'll still be kind of vague... but you will get the idea.

Our friend, and fellow Children's Pastor, Sharon, was the one who extended an invitation for us to come be the Children's Speakers for their Area Retreat.

Sharon currently works with kids in Lithuania and it was so fun to see her!

She helped bring us to Turkey for these amazingly special kids. All of these kids live overseas with their parents.

Their families were incredible and we were blessed and challenged by their lives and their stories.

We spent time with these kids each day... learning to trust God's plan, unite with God's People, train for God's service, follow God's path and lead other's to Him. Praying for the kids, learning about their lives and helping them draw closer to God was such a huge blessing to us. We loved every minute.

A lady in our church sewed each of the kids a pillow case and the families in our church collected presents for them. We brought it all to Turkey with us and then gave it to the kids. It was like Christmas morning! Each present brought a huge smile to their faces.

Thank you for praying for us as we traveled to another country to minister to kids who will then go back to their different countries and be a blessing to the lives of so many other people groups just waiting to hear about our loving God.