The Wall of Wishes

As I've written in earlier posts, whenever I vacationed with my father, we always stopped at the local church to take in a service. I've been to churches all over the world and witnessed faith in many variations.

Every morning and several times throughout the day in Istanbul, we would hear the singing voice of the imam at the mosques throughout town as he called his people to prayer. The first morning we both woke at sunrise to the singing. Heber turned to me and asked if he should get up and do something, like to show respect. Jet lag can do some crazy things (I can definitely attest to that).

What it sounded like.


This was the view from our hotel room.

One of my favorite mosques - the Blue Mosque



It was so interesting to see women and men practice Islam. We saw women in the headscarf everywhere and the occasional burka. I didn't feel uncomfortable about women having to cover (ok, a little about the burka's. It's disturbing to see but the scarves, no problem), instead, I felt their faith and respect to Allah as they wore the colorful scarves. I wondered if I could show my faith in such an outward way.

Hagia Sophia with what people looked like there (VERY few Americans but no problem for blondies)

In a quick visit down to Ephesus, we visited the site that some believe was the home of the virgin Mary during her later years. I'm not sure if it was because we had been in a bustling and noisy city for the past 10 days and it was woody, peaceful scenery but I felt very peaceful there.

Below the foundation with a church built on top is a wall where people hang their wishes or prayers to Mary. On the wall were thousands of items, each one left by an individual with their deepest desires and hopes for their life. I left my prayer on the wall, the one that I yearn to be answered.