Turkey trip ...part 3

After our day off of sight seeing, we packed to travel home.  John enjoyed "helping" us pack or unpack, depending on how you look at the situation.

Although John does not have words yet, he often communicates that he will "do it myself", after all he is two!  I have been tempted to teach him this phrase in sign language but haven't had the courage to do so just yet. 

As was already mentioned, the Turkish people love children so John got to enjoy pretending that he was driving us to the airport.   I thought it was sure nice of him to check that we were safely  in the back seat of the van...smile! 

 

 Our trip back to the US is a story within itself.  Our return flight was 13 hours covering 8 time zones.  When we arrived in Chicago, John slipped and fell flat on his forehead while we were in line at US Customs in O’Hare airport.   He had such a big bump on his forehead and since we were still in line,  we agreed to have the Paramedics take a look at him.  When they came, they advised us to take him to the ER.  So we rode in their vehicle with the lights on to a hospital nearby.    John was seen by a Chinese doctor who was born in Guangzhou, China.  He was happy to meet John.  After a short examination, he wanted to see John walk.  When I put John down, he ran right over to his stroller and tired to turn it around.  The Dr. laughed and said…"I can see that your problem is not that your son is in my ER now, but it is going to be keeping him out of ER’s in the future.”   (John moves very fast…many people comment on this).   The Dr. released him without too much concern.  He instructed us to wake him up every two hours throughout the night, not give him any pain medication, and only feed him clear broth,  Jello or crackers.  

Fortunately,  we were able return to the airport in time to make our flight to Denver.  But finding clear broth or Jello in the airport was impossible.  We settled for a form of crackers (Cheeto’s) and boarded the flight.  Not 10 min. into the flight, John began to cry at the top of his lungs.  And he didn’t stop until we had reached Denver.  I will never know for sure what put him over the edge as it is very rare for him to have a public “melt-down” but there were at least five legitimate reasons to be out of sorts that I could think of.   

Overall, we were grateful for our time together in Turkey.  We know lots of people prayed for a safe and fruitful trip and we had both.  

Turkey trip...part 2

     Now before moving on, I must continue John's adventure to Turkey:

This is classic for John...he is trying to escape our hotel room with my shoes on his feet.  My shoes made a loud "clunk" on the marble floor and echoed through the narrow building. 

Slow and deliberate concentration has he makes his way to the marble stair case.

He must be thinking..."ah, victory at last, not sure where my parents are but it looks like I'm going to get away with this".

John had a great time with Mommy's friends

Our family was able to stay one extra day to see sights in Istanbul.  We toured the Basilica Cistern, an underground structure that held water and was built in 532 AD.   My disconnect with the ancient nature of the cistern happened as we exited the structure and saw the following advertisement for refreshments: 

And speaking of culture, no overseas trip is complete without a visit to the "neighborhood Starbucks!"  A little comfort of "home" on a cooler day in Istanbul. 

We did not have time to visit the famous Blue Mosque, but were fascinated by the "Hagia Sophia, which is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul. From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the cathedral of Constantinople. The building was a mosque from 1453 until 1931, when it was secularized. It was opened as a museum in 1935 (from Wikipedia)".    This feat of architecture was the largest single enclosed space for 1,000 years.

Barely preserved is this beautiful mosaic of Jesus, his mother Mary and John the Baptist.