Landrum's Favorite Things

Today is Landrum's 3 week birthday - right now we are celebrating weekly birthdays. She is growing and doing all the things she should be doing - eating, sleeping, and going to the bathroom! She has a few favorite things; her Daddy - he has a special ability to calm her down when she gets worked up; her Bouncy Seat - a wonderful vibrating, singing seat that can put her to sleep in a flash; her Bath - she has had three full fledged baths in her tub and each time she likes it more and more; her Friends - she recently met the 4 Speed children who were quite taken with Baby Landrum! Here are some pictures of her favorite things!

More Pics...

Here are a few more pics of Landrum and her family.


Her Mimi


Her Nanna


Her Uncle Jesse


Her namesake - Jean Landrum Yates


Her Poppy


Her Pop


Her Uncle, Aunt and Cousins

Meet Baby Landrum!

After much anticipation and excitement (and a scare or two) Landrum Elizabeth was born on April 9th at 11:29am. She is healthy and well and so is mama. Jayme was doing great during labor, but Landrum wasn't and as Jayme continued contracting, Landrum's cord continued to tighten around her neck. Her heart rate was dropping too significantly and even though Jayme was at 7cm, Landrum couldn't wait. The doctors and nurses briskly took Jayme to surgery and had little Landrum out within minutes. It was more than a little traumatic since we didn't know what was going on, but we trusted the doctors, and knew that God was in control. We have been in good care at the hospital for 3 days now and are headed home tomorrow. We are excited to begin our family time together with this great blessing and miracle of life. It's hard to not give God thanks when He displays His power through His creation in a magnificent and beautiful way.

Our Spring Chicken is Almost Here!

Well - It is true - we are on the countdown... I am 36 weeks and very reluctant to post this picture but I will - for those who are overseas and cannot see me in my current state.... Also a few pictures of the baby's room.. it is almost finished. Thanks to mom for the FABULOUS bedding which I love.. we have painted, sanded, kilz'd, and repainted almost everything that is standing still in that room - but we are happy with where we are. We don't have much on the walls as that will try to be a little more gender specific.... so now it is the waiting game. I am going to the doctor every week. Next week we should learn if this little chicken has turned itself around..at our last sonogram about 6 weeks ago (oh how i miss those every doctor sonograms from Turkey) the baby was breech.. so let's pray it has straightened itself out by now!!!

Everything else is going well - we are really feeling settled in the house and continuing to do the final touches. We are hosting Easter here for both our families - am I crazy? It will be fun and a great motivating factor to get everything ready in the house.

Okay - we promise to update with pics as SOON as the baby arrives.. hopefully between now and then we will keep you updated with the progress!

Pictures, as Promised

Here are a few pictures, as promised. The first is of our new house. We officially close on the 29th but everything is a go - isn't it cute?

The next is of me - 7+ months pregnant... I have less than 8 weeks to go and I am not sure I have much more room to grow!!!

Long Overdue Update

Well, I have to apologize for being such a bad blogger.. Jared was really great about updating while we were in Turkey.. and now the burden falls to me. You would think that I would have all the time in the world to update since I am a stay at home "soon to be mom".. but somehow my days fill up and I don't make it to the computer. So here I am - I don't have any pictures, but promise to post some THIS WEEK! I am not sure I really want my expanding belly to be broadcast over outerspace but oh well!

So what is new with us? Well lots! We have found a house and are set to close on the 29th of February, thanks for all who prayed with us for that. It is a really cute house set on a cul de sac and does not need much work - just some paint I think. We hope to move in right after we close.

Jared started work - yeah! He is the new Singles Pastor at Pinelake Church, our home church, in Brandon, MS. He loves it and is so excited to be working with such a great group of staff out there. He is learning a lot and meeting tons of new people but enjoying each moment so far! I am so proud for him!

The baby is doing great. Growing daily I think. When we first arrived home I had high blood pressure and a few other complications but with some close watching by the doctor everything has worked itself out and I am healthy as can be! I am definitely getting more uncomfortable by the day but for the most part feel great. We are anxious to meet our new baby and have less than 8 weeks to go! Thank you for praying for us as we await the arrival of our new addition.

Generally - we are getting adjusted to life back in the states and have loved being around family and friends and feeling their love and support. God has been so gracious to us to provide for us during every step in this process.

Check back soon for pics!

Baby Update

Just wanted to give a quick baby update. We had our first doctors appointment here at home on the 2nd of January and were pleased to have a sonogram. The baby is growing, weighing in at 2 lbs right now and looking very healthy. There are a few things the doctor is concerned about with me, but we are running some more tests and I am resting as much as possible. I feel good and am healthy so there is nothing really to worry about, just some precautions I think. We will keep you posted as the time get's closer!!!

Nothing Says Welcome Home like the Wyndham

We began our 24 hour trek home at 4 o'clock in the morning on Sunday, December 30th. Our sweet friends the Varners took us to the airport and bid us farewell. We saw that all of our 7 bags were checked through to Jackson and we were each lugging two very overweight and oversized carryons as we left Adana one last time. Unfortunately, our flight over the water was an hour late leaving Istanbul as they had to check everyone's passports three different times, empty each of our carryons and a few unlucky individuals got the full pat down behind the curtain! The pilot was unable to make up any time and we landed in Chicago an hour late. We knew we would be cutting our connection close under the best of circumstances so needless to say our late arrival had us a little worried. After politely asking folks in front of us to let us off the plane first, and throwing a small child or two out of the way we were first in line at the Immigration Desk. Only to be greeted by Mr. No Manners and Mr. I Take My Job Too Seriously. (let me just say for those of you who have traveled out of the country for any lengthy amount of time - you always imagine that the immigration officer will say something polite like "Welcome home Mrs. Yates" and you will feel all proud to be an American and so glad you are home.... but this never seems to happen.. no one cares that you have been gone a long time and are so glad to be standing on US soil - why do I continue to expect it??) Anyway - we speed through immigration and get our three luggage carts situated right next to the carousel ready to accept our 7 bags. We wait for a while, then a while longer.. as the time goes by we realize that we are probably not going to make our connecting flight to Atlanta. A few bags come, of course not ours, then we wait some more... in all we waited an hour for our bags to be unloaded off the airplane. Thankfully all seven bags did come off the carousel at 3:45, our connecting flight left at 3:30. So now the fun begins, after going back and forth between the domestic and international terminals, the Delta desk and the Turkish Airlines desk, we realize that we will be staying the night in Chicago... there is no way to get out of Chicago that night. So that brings us to the Wyndham. Fortunately, along with our free night stay we got food vouchers for room service. Let me just say that we used every penny of those vouchers and ordered 3 entrees, two desserts, a fruit plate and two big glasses of milk. By 8 pm I was comotose and could not move, not to mention my feet had swelled so much from all of the walking between the terminals.

We were up and out the door before 4 a.m. the next morning to catch the first flight out to Atlanta. Our plan was to be in Jackson by 10:30. We left an hour late from Chicago as we had to wait for the (one and only) de-icing truck to refill it's fluid. We arrived late in Atlanta and I tried to keep up with Jared as he sprinted through the airport to our next gate (2 terminals over). We made it to the gate and found out our flight had been delayed 30 minutes - I was SO THANFUL.. until 30 minutes turned into 3 hours! We sat in the Atlanta airport waiting with all the masses as almost every flight was delayed.
We finally made it home on December 31st and 1pm, 41 hours after we left Adana. Only the fun did not stop there.. instead of 7 bags waiting for us - there were 2. Two bags full of summer clothes and books. We waited four days until the rest of the luggage arrived - but we are so thankful to say that it all arrived safe and sound!
We are so glad to be home and are floating between my parents and Jared's parents as we figure some things out. Please continue to pray for us!

Where in the World... Part 2

Okay okay.. so I am sure you thought we would never finish our where in the world series.. but here you go. So we left you hanging in Venice and I am sure you are dying to know where we went next. We got up Christmas Eve day and drove through Lake Como (always on the look out for the Night Fox) and stopped for a great lunch at a quaint family owned Italian place. We drove on and stayed the night in Luzern, Switzerland. It was a beautiful town right on the river and completely decorated for Christmas. Unfortunately almost everything closed early on Christmas eve, but we managed to find a great seafood restaurant for supper. We also stumbled upon an English speaking protestant church that had a midnight service. We had a wonderful Christmas eve and woke up to a great buffet at the Best Western :)! We ate our Christmas day feast courtesy of McDonalds and hit the road about noon headed to Germany. Our last major stop was Fussen, Germany, the home of two of King Ludwig II's castles. The larger of the castle is the model for the Disney Cinderella Castle. We toured the castle on the 26th along with 5,000 other tourists. We spent our last night in Munich where we tried to catch a movie but to no avail... however we did find a Subway and devoured a couple of six inch subs and some cookies! It was a great vacation, a once in a lifetime opportunity for sure, but it definitely wiped out our travel budget for a good while!
Check back soon and I will post pictures as soon as I find our camera!

Where in the World...Part 1

Well - the question might really be where haven't we been... in the past 11 days we have traveled to 6 cities in 4 different countries. We have had a wonderful Christmas vacation in Europe - definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity. We started out this vacation with the first half planned - a week in a chateau in the Austrian Alps. Craig and Jared had a great time skiing while Katie and I shopped and kept house. Despite the temperatures that never went above freezing - we were warm and cozy in our chalet. From Austria we decided to go to Italy, we could not be that close and forego such a romantic destination. Our original plan was to go to Milan, the closest big city, for at least one night. One the road however, spontaneity got the better of us and we switched routes at the last minute and ended up in Venice!

While we all knew it was a city built on the water, we were a bit surprised that you could not even take your car into the city.. you had to go in by boat. Well, we had no reservations and did not even know where to begin looking for a hotel. So after speaking with the lady in the tourist office at the parking garage we decided to just head in to the city and find a place for the night. The only problem was - our luggage - we had too much! We were not really prepared for our spontaneous change of plans and therefore had not bothered to simplify our packing.. so there were were on the 10th floor of a parking garage in Venice with all of our clothes strewn about as we tried to consolidate our things into one bag per couple. Things were touch and go for a few minutes as the wives were not too excited about consolidating on such short notice in the below freezing temps.. not to mention in the middle of a parking garage. But after a little work we were on our way. We hopped on the water bus and headed for St. Marco's square. We found a great little hotel right off the square and hit the town for some much anticipated Italian cuisine. We were not dissapointed!

The next day we wandered through all the little alleys, markets and shops. We did museums, churches and palaces. We stopped for pictures and pizza and of course... gelato - Italian Ice Cream. Even though it was freezing outside, this proved to be one of our favorite treats. Venice was amazing - although a little on the pricey side - every restaurant charged us for the use of the silverware, needless to say this was not something we had anticipated in the vacation budget! We had a great time and are so glad we made the last minute detour (although it was painful for Jayme to break away from the pre-prepared maps and plans).. as this is a spot we may never get to see again.

So where did we go next - you'll have to wait until we can post it to find out.

Cold, Christian, Christmas Vacation

For the holidays this year we decided that we would like to go somewhere cold and somewhere that celebrated Christmas as a Christian holiday. So we came to where it all began. Sunday we flew to Munich, Germany and drove down to a beautiful ski resort in Kitzbühel, Austria. We realized quickly that we had taken car of the cold part as the temperature hovers between 15 and 28*F, with snow everywhere. We also took care of the Christian and Christmas aspect as well as there are churches everywhere along with Christmas decorations and shopping markets in every little town. Craig and I plan to hit the slopes everyday while Jayme and Katie check out the markets and the shops. After losing our friends Craig and Katie to the island life, it has been nice to spend some time with them before we head back to the states. It is also a good time to get in some R&R as we will hit the ground running once we get home. When we leave Austria on Saturday, we hope to make stops in Italy and Switzerland before returning back to Germany to do some sightseeing. And then it’s back to Adana, where we will have 2 days to finish packing and saying our goodbyes before making the flight back over the water to the homeland.

Turkey, We Will Miss You

We have certainly enjoyed our last 12 months in Turkey and will be sad to leave, but we recently realized that God was leading us in a new direction. And just as it was hard to leave home and come here, it is just as hard to leave here and come home. But we realize it is our responsibility to be obedient, no matter how hard it may be or whether He is calling us to leave home or return to it. We know that this earth is only our temporary home anyway.
We have had several weeks to reflect on our time in Turkey and have compliled a list of things we will miss, along with a few that we won't.

We will miss

• Adana Kebap
• Food (mainly Jared) and yes Adana Kebap is food, but it deserves it on classification
• Warmth of the People
• The Van Man (Our friend Remze who sells the freshest fruit and veggies out of his van)
• Full Service Gas Stations
• Our Wonderful Turkish Friends
• Intermission during movies
• Free food from neighbors at anytime day or night
• Çay with every meal
• Helpfulness of the people
• Our A-team
• Special attention at hospitals and doctors office
• Bargaining

We won't miss

• The drummer during Ramadan making his 3am rounds
• Adana drivers
• The bullhorn (Turkey's favorite advertising method)
• The blazing summer heat
• The ATM (i.e. full-service banking)
• Hanging our clothes out to dry
• No central heat/AC
• The call to prayer

Turkey, you've been good to us over the past year and we will certainly remember all the incredible things we got to see and experience within your great walls. Thank you for taking care of us and providing a wonderful home away from home. Türkiye'yi özleyeceğim!

Not Meant To Be

You know sometimes when you are in the middle of something and you get the feeling that, "it's just not meant to be." Well, I had that feeling several times this afternoon, but as always, I pressed on to see if it was true. It was.

Last night we asked our neighbors if they wanted to go to a movie with us tonight. They had relatives in town and couldn't go until next week. We opted to go anyway and it was a bad decision. The main reason we wanted to go today is because our cellphone company has a 2-for-1 program at the theater on M & Th's. You must text message the company to get a special code that is required by the cinema. On the way, we texted several times but never received our code. We knew we were going to be pushed for time, and possibly miss the best part; the Previews. So we rushed to the counter and asked the lady to help us. After several more failed attempts to get the code, she told us the tricky (and new) fact that we had to have over 100 prepaid minutes on our phone; we only had 88. So, we ran to find a Turkcell store and up our minutes. Granted, it may have been easier, faster and cheaper if we had just bought 2 tickets and not worried about the "deal", but we were determined. After reloading the phone, we raced back, bought the tickets, stopped to buy a Coke and M&M's; only to find out they cost more than the movie ticket itself. No go on the M&M's. Finally, sitting in our seats, we caught the last preview before the movie started. We made it five minutes into the movie, when everything went dark. And the inside of a movie theater is very dark. Turns out the power in the entire mall went out and after waiting in the pitch-black for 15 minutes, they informed us they would not be restarting the movie. Remarkably, we got a rain check and will try again another day. On our way home we realized that we might have been waiting for hours as power to half the city was out.

Turkey in Turkey

Holidays in a foreign country aren't quite the same, but we always do our best to make it feel like home. Thanksgiving, even though it is strictly an American holiday, was no different. Jayme, Jessica and Melissa (and Chris and John) went all out to prepare a feast the pilgrims and Squanto would have been proud of. With this being our first turkey we were a little apprehensive as we put the 14lb, $40 bird in the oven. However, three hours later, he was crispy and brown on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. After dinner we feasted on the usual pies and football. All and all it was a great day.

In keeping with tradition, Friday was a wonderful day of leftovers and more football. Fortunately, through a Thanksgiving miracle, we were able to see MSU create a miracle of their own and beat Ole Miss in the final seconds. Even though we weren't with our families at home, we enjoyed spending time with our Turkey family.

Christmas Came Early!

Well, it seems only fitting that Christmas has come early in the land where St. Nick was actually born. It is a little known fact that Father Christmas or St. Nicholaus was actually born in Turkey! Christmas has indeed come early here as you can see in the picture below. I know, I know it is not even Thanksgiving yet.. but hear me out. First, Jared's mom kindly played Santa this year and carried all of our gifts across the water. Second, it is always more fun to decorate with more people here to help. Third, we are leaving December 16th for our European Christmas vacation and in order to have the tree up at least a full month (which I believe is a requirement) the tree had to go up by the 16th of November. So up it went and we are so happy! Also, in Turkey Christmas is vastly misunderstood, even the commercial aspects are only celebrated at New Years. People even put up trees for New Years. So in order to help dispel that misunderstanding, we will take all of our Christmas decorations down before New Years. Jared and I will be celebrating our Christmas day on the 15th of December before we head out, but apparently that is not even early enough for some... Jared made us open one gift before his mom even left. I had to point out that it was only November 13th.. but that did not stop us! Thank you Mama Yates for bringing all the goodies and helping us put up the tree etc!

Fall Open House

With mom being here Jayme decided to take advantage of another cook in the kitchen and host a Fall open house for our American friends in Turkey. They worked hard all day Friday cooking delights such as ginger snaps, pumpkin dip, pumpkin cookies, quiche, vegetable and fruit trays and pesto pinwheels. Jared was only allowed to make the drinks and he whipped up some incredibly delicious teas and ready-made pink lemonade. The weather was a perfect 65* and so we were able to open all the windows and doors and make use of the balcony, which was needed to accomodate more than 30 friends in attendance. The party was a smashing success and everyone had loads of fun. We even had a crew from Istanbul come down and take part in the festivities.

Starting to Show

Well Jayme is finally starting to show a little and she is excited because she can begin wearing some of her maternity clothes that have been sent this way with the last few groups. We went to the doctor Thursday for her 4 month checkup. Everything looked good and we were thrilled to find out that the baby is...going to be tall! Not that we had any doubts about that, but its legs measured in the top percentile for its age so we are expecting a big one. Jared almost cracked under the pressure of his mom being there and told the doctor we could find out the sex. She thankfully couldn't tell and didn't really look too hard as she knew we really didn't want to know. One thing we do know is that it is an active baby already. It was waving its arms and kicking its legs all around while looking at us the whole time. It even sucked its thumb and put its hands over its ears because it didn't like the high frequency the ultrasound puts out. All in all it was a good visit and we are glad momma and baby are healthy.

Rugs, Caves and Brits

Underground City

We just returned from spending 3 days in one of the most interesting and unique places in the world - "Turkey". We couldn't have mom come all the way from home and not take her to see the incredible chimney-like rock formations that cover Cappadocia. On our way we stopped at an underground city where we got a guided tour of where and how people lived thousands of years ago when escaping enemies. From there we checked into our cave hotel and quickly embarked on finding the perfect rug. Over the next 3 days we looked at over 200 rugs from Afganistan, Iran, Iraq and Turkey before finding the right ones for the right price. We also spent time in a pottery shop where Jayme and I attempted to make our own pottery from scratch. We were unsuccessful and had to resort to buying someone else's creations. As our money became slim we decided to check out some of the free landscape Cappadocia had to offer. Neither rain, nor snow deterred us from our exploration through the caves where previous inhabitants lived and worshipped. It was amazing to see the beautiful frescoes that were still in great shape from the Byzantine Empire. One of the highlights of each day was the breakfast at the hotel where we were joined by a lovely British couple, Dez and Dot. They provided a great start to our days with their funny British words and accents, which became even funnier as Mom and Jayme, unknowlingly, began to talk like them as the meal wore on. Over all it was a wonderful trip and we were able to do and see everything we had hoped and more.

The Yates w/ Dez & Dot

Mama Has Arrived!

Well today is finally the day and Momma Yates has finally made it to Turkey. We didn't think today would ever come and here it is and here she is. She is such a trooper; due to her travel partner, Corinne needing to stay home and take care of her husband and his busted foot, she came all by herself and had no trouble. (We miss you Corinne, Get well John!) Mom didn't waste any time in getting unpacked and throwing us our first baby shower with the items she had recently purchased. She also brought goodies and surprises such as cake mixes, muffin mixes, pepperoni and my favorite, Beth's chocolate peanut butter balls. We have a lot of stuff planned for the next two weeks and we aren't wasting any time. We are headed to the vegetable and fruit bazaar right now and giving her the Adana tour tomorrow. We also look forward to making a few trips out of town along with introducing her to all our friends, Turks and Americans. We are so thankful that she is here and we appreciate all of you that send encouraging words and hugs with her.

Encouragement from Home!

Last week we had a visit from 7 friendly faces from, Pinelake, our home church. We had been looking forward to their visit for sometime and it definitely lived up to all of our expectations! The group arrived a little weary and worn from their trek across the water and time zones, but otherwise ready to get involved and see what our life looks like. We had a jam packed schedule for them as they came along side us and did some of our normal every day activities with us. We introduced them to as many friends as we could and we ran them ragged each and every day and then had wonderful times of fellowship each night. We can say that while we were tired when they left we were filled up with encouragement! Jared took the crew on one long day of seeing the sights along the coast, including the infamous Heaven and Hell (a cavern with over 350 steps down into it), a crusader castle, as well as Tarsus.

The group was also able to see Turkey show some of its 'Turk Kası" or Turkish Muscle as they put out their most patriotic/nationalistic foot on Sunday night. The night exploded with horns honking, flags waving, people in the streets, lots of chanting, lights flickering and general merriment that goes along with a rally. These 'parades' if you will, continued each night while the group was here (as you can see on the posts below). While at first a little intimidating, the group did great adjusting to our new schedule as we all learned to be flexible when some of our plans changed.

One of the highlights of the trip was when we took the group to our English class on Tuesday evening. The students loved having all of those English speakers to chat along with and they all hit it off right away. The night was filled with lots of laughter, a few minor miscommunications and several email addresses being exchanged.