Average Day

The question I get asked the most by people who don't live in Turkey is: "What does your average day look like?" The question always throws me a bit because it's hard to nail down an average day. A lot of the time things are fluid and changing. But, for those of you who are really curious, here goes:

6:30am - 9:30am - wake up with my insanely early rising children, make breakfast, try to keep them quiet so as not to disturb the sleeping neighbors below, get dressed, get them dressed, say goodbye to the hubby, and drive Eli to school.

9:30am - 10:45am - meet up with my dearest girlfriend in Turkey and chit chat while we power walk and push our babies in their strollers.

10:45am - 1:00pm - put Noah down for his nap, study the Bible, clean the house for any unexpected guests (because unannounced guests are a way of life here), do laundry, check out crafting and mommy blogs, plan dinner for the evening.

1:00pm - 3:00pm - give Noah lunch, push Noah in the stroller to our closest semi-big grocery store (about the size of a Trader Joe's....and we walk because gas is roughly $11 a gallon here. Yes, you just read that correctly), put groceries away, and play.

4:30pm - 5:00pm - pick Eli up from school, play

5:00pm - 6:30pm -Dinner prep. There aren't many foods that are pre-packed, boxed, chopped, grated, or fast here (there are some but they are gross). So, I do spend quite a bit of time each night on dinner. There is much chopping, mixing, boiling, and creating to do.

6:30pm - 8:00pm - Dinner and time at the local playground or a walk on the track.

8:00pm - Baths/clean kitchen/Zach often heads out to disciple someone or to a meeting/neighbors pop in and out.

8:30pm - Kids go to bed, blog, clean up, watch a tv show off the internet

10pm - Go to bed (while listening to the neighbors children below who still have two more hours before bedtime :)

So, that's my best attempt at writing out an average day in this foreign land.