Country Fried Steak and Bulgarian Moonshine

Not until this very moment did I remember the significance of today. It is September 11^th. Weird. Eight years later and it gets a ‘weird’ in some random Florida kids blog. I am not sure what else to say.

Okay I skipped a day so a quick recap of that. Nothing really happened it was very slow, Princess Peach had a friend to spend the night and my Patrons Aunt came to stay with us to help me watch the kids? But on the plus side she is quite the character. She reminds me of the babysitter from the remake of ‘The Cat in the Hat’ with Mike Meyers named Mrs. Kwan. Well she is a bit crazy at times. Today she smacked my arm as we were leaving for a play date saying, “I said gulay gulay.” I looked at her like “and I should know what that means because why?” She told me it meant goodbye so I laughed and said goodbye. She also always has her purse on. ALWAYS. I have a few theories. One is that she caries an automatic weapon in it for protection. Two, bomb codes. Three would be tiny cats. Then last of all four, she is a Turkish spy and that bag contains secrets, weapons, disguises and tiny cats. Mrs. Kwan and I had a good conversation tonight though. I was reading a Christian book and she asked about it so I explained what it was. She asked me if I was a Christian and when I said yes she asked if I was Protestant, Orthodox or Catholic. She told me she believed in science. Science can be proven one way or the other.

One funny thing that happened was during a soccer match I taught Benny the Jet the concept of “This is my house!” So every time I would make a shot I would yell this is my house. Then when I was the goalkeeper and block a shot I would say “Not in my house son!” He laughed a lot and by the end hand a pretty good idea of when to use the two phrases.

I also have been struggling to communicate and bond with the other staff. Today we joked about their old nanny, not Caitlin, who apparently had a potty mouth. I laughed a lot because most of the time I had no idea what was going on but Mother Hen kept acting like she was dropping something and then would say, “Shit. Daisy” and then it would start again. I also was given what I think was Bulgarian moonshine. You see Mother Hen and Java are originally from there. That was laughs for everyone. For the record I finished my glass and then had some pound cake.

Today Benny the Jet and I went to Mogely’s house. The drive over was fun. The driver, Mr. Court Jester, blared American pop music as we sped around the town. Driving in Turkey is a nightmare. Pretty much all rules including lane lines are suggestions. Mopeds are always zipping around and cutting people off. It is a miracle less people die. That was a fun time. At the house I got to speak with their nanny some who is a native Turk. She is studying to be a chemist. She nannies and goes to school to help support her mother. Her father died when she was three but said it made no difference to her because she didn’t remember him, When I asked her about her life she said, “Its hard. But this country is hard.”

During the playtime Mogely’s mom came home and I talked to her some as well. The Lord seems to like to provide me opportunities to share parenting advice with these moms. But I don’t know the first thing about being a mom. But these women listen and ask questions. It has to be God. She was wondering about how to keep her kids from becoming spoiled. Too late I thought. But she was sincere and so we chatted about ways. I suggested Compassion International. What better way to teach your children about how others live then by helping raise someone who is not like you at all. She also told me it would be a waste to learn Turkish while I was here and should do something better with my time such as wood painting. Then we talked about America.

America is a magical and mystical place to foreigners. I think it could be a god. People put their faith in America as a great hope. What they don’t realizes is the greatest and only true hope is completely portable, I am thankful I was raised in America because I know that it is a broken place and it is not my hope. Christ is my hope.

Thank you for all your prayers and support. Pray for more divine encounters. Oh I almost forgot, tonight I wad country fried steak! It was the rich mans version so it was made with veil and not ground beef. I laughed when they brought it to the table. We also had potato puree. It was the rich man’s take on a southern style meal. It was yummy and hilarious.