A Bridal Box

Turkish tradition calls for women to begin preparing for their wedding from an early age. Young Turkish girls will often begin making linens for their future home, they will learn to make Türk kahve (Turkish coffee) in preparation for winning the heart (and stomach)of their husband and they will learn to cook delicious traditional Turkish food from family recipes.

Of course, as Turkey embraces modernism, some of these traditions are becoming less and less remembered. The Ceylans, I am discovering, are a really unique blend of both tradition and modernity. Both of Umut's parents were raised in villages with a strong sense of Turkish tradition. Yet they moved to Izmir, a city of 3 million, over 20 years ago and raised Umut in a modern environment.

Luckily for me, there is little to no pressure to be a "Turkish" wife. But out of respect for Umut and his family, I am learning to appreciate bridal tradition. Two weeks ago mama Ceylan decided to do some Spring cleaning and what that day revealed was memorable.

With Umut being her only son, she has no daughter to share the bridal tradition of making linens for a home. So about 10 years ago, she began making beautiful pieces for Umut's future bride. She pulled out a trunk full of tablecloths, pillow cases, blankets and lace ribbon that she had been making for years. She even showed me a white shawl for her son's bride on their wedding day. My 1st thought when I saw the shawl was, "I bet she didn't imagine an AMERICAN girl wearing that shaw as she made it!"

I don't know exactly how Umut and I will use these gifts. What I do know is that I want to pass it all to her grandchildren as a mark of their Turkish heritage and their grandmother's love for her family.

Happy Birthday, Umut!

May 17 was Umut's 29th b'day. We are officially the same age now...but for only 1 month! We were able to celebrate his birthday 3 times this week, which made for a lot of great memories.

Last Saturday we invited friends and family to join us for Taco Salad & Cheesecake. None of the Turks except Umut had eaten Tex Mex before...which was a funny experience all in itself. Everyone was very unsure about mixing both lettuce and tortilla chips on their plates, but they were all pleasantly surprised. Then on Wednesday I took Umut to eat icecream sundaes and buy him a hooka. (Hookas are really cool pipes which use both heat and water to smoke different produce like apple leaves, mint leaves, orange peel, etc.) Umut was very excited about assembling his 1st hooka!

Finally, we were both surprised with a pasta (Turkish for "cake") from our friends on Sunday as well as lots of encouraging emails and facebook messages. What a fun week of celebration we had! Thanks to all of you who encouraged him last week.

Kediler

On Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day by having a picnic in our apartment's baçhe (garden). Our baçhe is an orange grove with red & pink rose bushes and wild ivey. A few weeks ago a few families started planting veggies in the garden as well. I can't wait to see their produce!

So as baba Ceylan (father Ceylan) & Umut worked on getting the fire started for the bar-b-que chicken, I made a few new friends. I noticed 3 little kediler (kittens) spying on our picnic! They were just too cute to ignore and so I spent the next few hours feeding them bread, milk and chicken. It was a fun way to end a beautiful day here in Izmir.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM!

A Special Sunday

Sunday was a day I will never forget. Umut and I visited some friends over the weekend and attended their church on Sunday. The sermon was a great lesson on light versus darkness and one of the key points I walked away with was, "the greatest darkness is in the heart of man".

After church everyone shared in a potluck lunch, Turkish-style, which means lots of rice, veggies covered in yogurt and pickles as relish. It was delicious!

But following the potluck lunch was my favorite time. 14 of us headed to a quiet beach where the water was more clear than I had ever seen. With the mountains of Black Island in the background, a new sister was baptised. My hope and prayer is this will be one of many baptisms of Turkish brothers and sisters I witness over my lifetime.

You'll see 1 video of our sister sharing her story in church with the pastor speaking in both Turkish and English and the 2nd video is of her baptism. You'll also notice a few pictures of her new family hanging out on the beach, enjoying one of the most important days of her life.