We arrived home shortly after midnight last night from a week-long work adventure in Turkey!  Our first international trip of 2010 was originally scheduled to be just a work trip for Stephen, but Jennifer was able to tag along as well on the military C-26 flight that departed Naples on Monday, 18 JAN.  We boarded the small, twin engine prop plane at Capodichino with several others from Stephen's command, all heading to the same exercise conference.  After a direct three hour flight and a safe landing at Dalaman Airport, we then boarded a hired bus for the 1.5 hour drive to Marmaris.  The city of Marmaris is located on the southwestern Turkish coast and serves as a major tourist hub in the warmer summer months, attracting visitors from all over Europe and Central Asia.  However, the city is mostly empty during the rest of the year - because it's sooo cold!  While Stephen worked during the week, Jennifer took in the local shopping market and ran off on a day trip to Ephesus - the ancient city where St. Paul spoke to the Ephesians!  The trip was a great time for both of us, except for Stephen's rough spell of stomach sickness on Wednesday night.  We almost didn't make it back to Naples this weekend - the C-26 that was due to fly us home had engine problems at Dalaman on Friday night, so we had to fly commercial and spend a snowy overnight in Istanbul to wait for a connection to Rome/Naples on Saturday.  After a few delays, we finally arrived safely home last night to a grateful Lux who'd missed us both (but still had good company in our absence thanks to our Navy friend up the hill - thanks Chad!)