Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! While I was away from my family in Seattle, I spent the day with wonderful people here in Antalya who have become my surrogate family!

The day began somewhat early with a "sunrise" (8:30) service on the new property that the church owns and is planning to expand onto within the next year. Apparently this was a very appropriate and special time, because St. Paul's was started exactly 10 years ago to the day. It was nice to sort of break ground with another Easter service on another new property. And the first song we sang was "Christ the Lord is Risen Today", one that I was hoping we would sing. It's one that we always sing at UPC, so it was a nice reminder of home. This was followed by a delightful potluck breakfast in the church courtyard, and then the regular 11:00 service. I sang in the Easter choir, which was a lot of fun. Besides the Christmas choir, it has been a very long time since I last looked at music and tried to sightread... far too long!

The service I attend is the International (meaning English) service, and afterwards we quickly clear the sanctuary for the Turkish service. Ben and Karn attend Turkish church, so after that we all gathered for an early dinner at one of Verna's favorite restaurants. It's in the new marina, right on the water, so we got to enjoy the sun and the breezes off the water while looking at huge yachts. It was a really fun group of people, and once again, I felt really loved and included. Ben and Verna are such a blessing - they take such great care of me! It was a delightful Easter Sunday.