jeremiah's trip to turkey

jerry got to spend two weeks in turkey on a study trip through the seminary.

here is getting a turkish haircut and shave complete with a burning of the ear hair.

he toured istanbul, the seven churches of the revelation

and several places mentioned in the book of acts and the new testament.

this is the ruins of a temple at assos.

ephesus was his favorite stop. see acts 19 for this theater.

here is cotton castle at hierapolis which was formed by the hot springs.

he didn't come home with many pictures of himself, so i like this one :)!

he mainly came home with pictures of greek inscriptions,

like the one below. this happens to be a roman mile marker.

i do have to say my husband has lead me into a deeper appreciation

of all things old and greek. i am thankful for his desire to learn the

greek and hebrew so that he can understand the first century and

more accurately preach the Word of God.

all things are better in koine, its what the scriptures really say....

fort worth stock show

our last night in texas we went to the fort worth stock show.

we had a great time seeing all the horses, cows and sheep.

there was a petting zoo. as you can see, emsleigh wasn't quite sure what to think.

this is my favorite picture. emsleigh got scared and clung to nate. so sweet.

a week with the hamiltons

jeremiah has been on a study trip to turkey the past two weeks. so, the hamiltons graciously flew emsleigh and i down to fort worth to spend the week with alora and the boys while mark was away for a week. here are some pics from the week.

the warmer texas weather was a relief for emsleigh and me.

we got to be outside and take walks everyday! it was such a treat.

the brookshire's came over to play one morning.

here is jace, nate and emsleigh hanging out.

emsleigh had a great time playing with the boys.

she especially loved nate who is only one month

older than her and just her size.

she even stole a few kisses....

friends

we got to play with some friends this week. my friend whitney and her two sons came to play for a morning. it is obvious from the picture below, emsleigh was excited they came!

we also went to visit our friends kristin and josiah. emsleigh has liked josiah since they first me. she decided this visit he needed some kisses. however, josiah was not too excited about it...

greeting cards

emsleigh is exploring and learning so much these days. she discovered my box of greeting cards. it was so fun to watch her pull each one out and carefully look it over, toss it aside and go for the next one.

snowed in

Pattonsburg as been snowy and ice cold this past week, so we spent most of our days at home. We rearranged Emsleigh's room so she has more space to crawl and cruise around.

Usually take pictures of the front of her, but the back of her is just as cute!

Emsleigh spent lots of time with her books this week.

and with Jeremiah and his books...

She also happily found her way into her toy box.

but had a rough time getting out!

new years eve at the bradfords

we spent new year's eve and new year's day with jeremiah's parents. emsleigh was excited about the new baby doll she got!

friends we got to see over christmas

this is a terrible, blurry picture but i wanted to document that we got to see the brookshire family. they are dear friends from college whom i have not seen in years. they live in a far away land, so it was great to catch up and hear about their work and just spend time together!

we got to hang out with the hamiltons for an afternoon. we always forget to take pictures when we are together so here is their recent family photo. aren't they such a cute family?

on Christmas Eve some of my high school friends got together at my mom's house. little zoey is only a month younger than emsleigh. and jenny is expecting andrew in april. my dear friend naomi got to come over too, but i forgot to get out the camera before she left!

jennifer spent an afternoon with us and emsleigh enjoyed playing with her. it is hard being so far away from my friends!

we stopped by to see the monden family, who are a dear family to me. chad, who is graduating from high school this year, was the only babysitting job i would take in high school and tonya's classroom was a refuge for me during my junior and senior year. love this family!

roxi, my roommate from china, came over for an afternoon. it was so fun to go on a walk together like the good old days in china! emsleigh loved roxi...especially all her fun jewelry.

Gaylord ICE!

On Christmas Eve we went to the Gaylord Texan and saw the ICE! display. It was super fun and super cold. The theme was the Grinch Who Stole Christmas with a nativity scene at the end. Here is Grancy and Emsleigh checking out all the Christmas decorations in the atrium of the Gaylord.

It was 9 degrees in the ICE! area. At the beginning they give everyone these lovely blue parkas to keep warm and to keep dry when you go down the ice slide. 

Christmas in Texas

We had a great visit to see my family for Christmas in Texas. Much to our surprise Emsleigh's first Christmas was a white one! The snow started on Christmas Eve and was gone by the next night. But we enjoyed it while it lasted!

Here is Lynden and Jen on Christmas morning. They always take such good pictures!

Grancy and Emsleigh had fun playing together. Emsleigh is pulling up and starting to cruise around just a little.

She loved the wrapping paper.

My mother in law, Kathy, always has a fun present for her whole family each Christmas. It is something we all look forward to getting. This year we got reindeer antlers! If you look closely you can see Emsleigh got some too!