There are many things to learn when you live overseas, but some of our favorite things are the international holidays. In Kyrgyzstan, Women’s Day and Men’s Day were very big, while Mother’s Day and Father’s Day didn’t exist. It was nice, though, in a way, because all men and women were celebrated, not just the parents.
Here in Turkey, we were granted our first day off from school in months: Children’s Day on April 23. It was huge! Parades all three days of the long, sunny weekend; a carnival with superheroes, a stage, and rides set up down by the coast; marching bands; amazing discounts on toys; free ice cream or drinks; and, of course, speeches and performances and dancing. Children of all ages all across the city were being blessed.
Prince had his performance on Thursday, and then we had to attend our own school’s performance on Friday morning. (Prince is the first “N” in “Nisan,” which is Turkish for April)
After that, we were free! We took the kids to different parks all three days, enjoying everything from sand…
…to picnics and chasing birds…
…to playing peek-a-boo…
…to sidewalk chalk…
…to daisy chains…
…to new dresses (sewn by Lady Herndon using all available resources – the ribbon came off of a box of chocolates!).
We are so blessed by our kids and pray daily for all of the other wonderful children in our lives.
