Melia and Gabby before her preschool program
On stage with her classmates
In her element... tapping!
Flowers from Mom and Dad for the dancer!
We love our sweet darlin'
Friday, May 18, 2012
Our Performing Girl
In her element... tapping!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Last full day in Israel
Matt and his "twin" Scott in Galilee. People kept mistaking them for each other the whole trip - I even did it a few times!
- Mark 1:21-39, 2:1-12, 2:21, 31
- Matthew 8:5-13
- John 6:29-71
Some of my traveling buddies Susan and Jenny!
Matt on the boat!
- Israel crossed the Jordan with Joshua
- Elijah and Elisha crossed on dry land when Elijah was carried off
- Jesus was baptized here
- Naaman was told to go wash in the Jordan by Elisha (2 Kings 5)
Our last stop of the day was at Beth She'an - which was around during the time of Saul and was also a city of the Decapolis in the time of Jesus and was called Scythopolis. It was a huge area of ruins that we were able to explore. It really gave a good feeling for what a major Roman city was like during the time of Jesus.
After this stop, we headed back to Jerusalem for our last night in Israel. For our last day, we were able to visit the Israeli Museum and see some truly amazing artifacts (no cameras allowed) and also spent some time walking around the city one last time. We headed to the airport that evening around 8:30pm to begin our LONG trip home. I was able to sleep on this flight (thanks to two Advil PM) and lasted pretty well through the hours and hours of waiting at the Ben Gurion airport in Israel and going through customs and security again at JFK in New York. Bleh.
Matt and I were SO happy to finally be home with our kids! It was such a sweet reunion - my heart was just so full being with them again! They were all happy and came out to meet us when we were walking up. I loved that moment. Melia was just happy and talking up a storm. Gabby was very sentimental saying lots of "I missed you's" and the like. Oli let me hug him and kiss him a lot. And he was happy too in his own way. It truly felt like home and there was no where else in the world I would rather be.
We are so thankful to God for the blessings he poured out on us, our fellow travelers and our family while we were away. It was a life-changing trip and has inspired me to read the Bible like never before! Thank you LORD!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Lower Galilee and Northern Approaches
It's been once again a very busy few days! I got a little behind in my updates but wanted to send another one now!
We started out our day in Nazareth! We got a great lookout over the Jezreel Valley from the North first thing and were able to orient ourselves and see the village of Nain across the valley where Jesus raised a widow's son to life when he came upon the funeral procession
We also got to visit a place called Nazareth Village which is a portion of land in downtown Nazareth that has been transformed into a village representative of the 1st century when Jesus was growing up here. We saw small herds of animals grazing here, an olive press, an original wine press, a synagogue, and many other structures. Almost everything was a reconstruction but it was done very well and we learned a lot about what life was like in the 1st century.
Donkeys grazing
Olive press
A man working as a carpenter and creating chairs using only first century tools
A woman weaving a blanket using a loom. It takes her a week to complete each blanket.
At meals we have seen some pretty extraordinary things, but to me, the bright magenta colored food takes the cake. This is a picture of bright yellow cauliflower and magenta... we don't know what. Matt tried some and it was EXTREMELY salty. Not natural.
Also in Nazareth I got to go inside of the Church of the Annunciation where Mary was spoken to by the angel Gabriel. It's not for sure that this is the spot, but since Nazareth was a small village, it couldn't have happened far from here. It is a first century house thought to belong to Mary's family.
That afternoon, we headed up to the top of the Arbel Cliffs for a climb down. This was a great place to view the Sea of Galilee and get an introduction to what we would be seeing there. We climbed down some very steep cliffs! Thankfully they had a cable attached to the rock face and some steps also attached so that made it doable for novice climbers like me! I was nervous going into it, but it turned out to be not technically difficult and was quite fun! I didn't get any pictures because I left my camera on the bus so I would have two hands available, but others did so hopefully I'll see some soon.
We ended the day at the En Gev Holiday Village on the Sea of Galilee... a beautiful place where our back door opens up to the sea. We took a swim that night and it was refreshing and not too cold.
The next day, we headed up almost as far north as you can go in Israel - right on the border of Lebanon. It was beautiful and green and we got to see some amazing country.
We stopped at the remains of the town Chorazim. These remains date later than Jesus's time but we do know that this city existed in the time of Jesus because in Matthew 11 he denounces the city and condemns it as one in which "most of his miracles have been performed" and yet the people did not repent and believe. There were also two other cities that Jesus condemned in this way: Capernaum and Bethsaida. These people saw Jesus perform so many miracles yet they did not repent and believe. It was a stark reminder that we do not need to be seeking an "experience" from Jesus as that is not what is important. What is important is that we believe.
Me sitting in the wild barley outside of Chorazim.
We also visited the ancient site of Hazor which is the largest Tel in the country and was a city of significance in the Old Testament. In Joshua 11, Joshua defeats that alliance of kings that was against Israel - the head of the alliance was the king of Hazor. Above is a picture of the stables from the city.
This is a picture of the gate to the city with the watch tower on the end.
We visited the city of Dan - often mentioned in scripture when defining the border of the Israelites territory - "from Dan to Beer-sheba." Genesis 14 mentions Dan when Abraham chased Lot all the way to Dan. Above is a mud brick gate from the time of Jacob (around 1800 BC)!
We also visited Caesarea Philippi an the location of one of the sources of the Jordan River. Also, this is a likely location near where Peter proclaims Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mark 8:27-30).
We then headed to an overlook of the country of Syria. There is a Demilitarized Zone between the two countries where there is a UN base established to help patrol. Here is a picture of the U base. There were literally dozens of Israeli soldiers sitting at this overlook.
We also learned a little bit about the Druse people who live in this area of Israel. They believe that the Messiah has not come but that he will be born to a man. So the older men of this culture wear these special baggy pants so that if the Messiah is born to him, the baby will not fall on the ground unexpectedly!? (see picture above)
We spent the evening back at the En Gev Holiday Village and had a great time sitting on the beach talking as a whole group and saying out with a smaller group reflecting on the life of Jesus and enjoying thinking and talking about him as we prepared for the following day in the region of Galilee where he did most of him ministry. Here are some pictures Matt took at dusk looking over the Sea of Galilee.
One more day of teaching and then a free day in Jerusalem and then it is back home! We have learned so much but are physically and mentally exhausted and are ready to be home with our kids!!
We started out our day in Nazareth! We got a great lookout over the Jezreel Valley from the North first thing and were able to orient ourselves and see the village of Nain across the valley where Jesus raised a widow's son to life when he came upon the funeral procession
We also got to visit a place called Nazareth Village which is a portion of land in downtown Nazareth that has been transformed into a village representative of the 1st century when Jesus was growing up here. We saw small herds of animals grazing here, an olive press, an original wine press, a synagogue, and many other structures. Almost everything was a reconstruction but it was done very well and we learned a lot about what life was like in the 1st century.
Donkeys grazing
Olive press
A man working as a carpenter and creating chairs using only first century tools
A woman weaving a blanket using a loom. It takes her a week to complete each blanket.
At meals we have seen some pretty extraordinary things, but to me, the bright magenta colored food takes the cake. This is a picture of bright yellow cauliflower and magenta... we don't know what. Matt tried some and it was EXTREMELY salty. Not natural.
Also in Nazareth I got to go inside of the Church of the Annunciation where Mary was spoken to by the angel Gabriel. It's not for sure that this is the spot, but since Nazareth was a small village, it couldn't have happened far from here. It is a first century house thought to belong to Mary's family.
That afternoon, we headed up to the top of the Arbel Cliffs for a climb down. This was a great place to view the Sea of Galilee and get an introduction to what we would be seeing there. We climbed down some very steep cliffs! Thankfully they had a cable attached to the rock face and some steps also attached so that made it doable for novice climbers like me! I was nervous going into it, but it turned out to be not technically difficult and was quite fun! I didn't get any pictures because I left my camera on the bus so I would have two hands available, but others did so hopefully I'll see some soon.
We ended the day at the En Gev Holiday Village on the Sea of Galilee... a beautiful place where our back door opens up to the sea. We took a swim that night and it was refreshing and not too cold.
The next day, we headed up almost as far north as you can go in Israel - right on the border of Lebanon. It was beautiful and green and we got to see some amazing country.
We stopped at the remains of the town Chorazim. These remains date later than Jesus's time but we do know that this city existed in the time of Jesus because in Matthew 11 he denounces the city and condemns it as one in which "most of his miracles have been performed" and yet the people did not repent and believe. There were also two other cities that Jesus condemned in this way: Capernaum and Bethsaida. These people saw Jesus perform so many miracles yet they did not repent and believe. It was a stark reminder that we do not need to be seeking an "experience" from Jesus as that is not what is important. What is important is that we believe.
Me sitting in the wild barley outside of Chorazim.
We also visited the ancient site of Hazor which is the largest Tel in the country and was a city of significance in the Old Testament. In Joshua 11, Joshua defeats that alliance of kings that was against Israel - the head of the alliance was the king of Hazor. Above is a picture of the stables from the city.
This is a picture of the gate to the city with the watch tower on the end.
We visited the city of Dan - often mentioned in scripture when defining the border of the Israelites territory - "from Dan to Beer-sheba." Genesis 14 mentions Dan when Abraham chased Lot all the way to Dan. Above is a mud brick gate from the time of Jacob (around 1800 BC)!
We also visited Caesarea Philippi an the location of one of the sources of the Jordan River. Also, this is a likely location near where Peter proclaims Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mark 8:27-30).
We then headed to an overlook of the country of Syria. There is a Demilitarized Zone between the two countries where there is a UN base established to help patrol. Here is a picture of the U base. There were literally dozens of Israeli soldiers sitting at this overlook.
We also learned a little bit about the Druse people who live in this area of Israel. They believe that the Messiah has not come but that he will be born to a man. So the older men of this culture wear these special baggy pants so that if the Messiah is born to him, the baby will not fall on the ground unexpectedly!? (see picture above)
We spent the evening back at the En Gev Holiday Village and had a great time sitting on the beach talking as a whole group and saying out with a smaller group reflecting on the life of Jesus and enjoying thinking and talking about him as we prepared for the following day in the region of Galilee where he did most of him ministry. Here are some pictures Matt took at dusk looking over the Sea of Galilee.
One more day of teaching and then a free day in Jerusalem and then it is back home! We have learned so much but are physically and mentally exhausted and are ready to be home with our kids!!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Our weekend in Israel
On Saturday (which is the Jewish day for worship or Shabbat), we went to
our leader Todd's old church from when he lived in Israel, The
Jerusalem Assembly. The music was in Hebrew and the sermon was in Hebrew
but then translated into English. This made the service quite a bit
longer than our services at home, but it was good that we could at least
understand some of it!
After that, we had a free afternoon in Jerusalem. We spent our time eating Pizza (yum!), shopping for souvenirs, getting lost, and getting to things after they had closed or were to crowded for us to go in. It turns out, having a guide lead us around most of the time is quite helpful (thank you Todd!) We spent the last hour of our time sitting in the shade reading, resting and calling home. Then we got to spend a very relaxing evening at our guest house up on the mountains surrounding Jerusalem and truly got to have a Sabbath to rest and recover from a busy week!
Walking around the Biblical garden on the property of the Yad Hashmona Guest House.
Baby grapes!
The next morning we left the Jerusalem area and headed north to Caesarea - an ancient port city that Herod the Great built to connect with Rome.
A view of the ruins at Caesarea - quite a large city in the 1st century.
We also got to see (and touch) the Mediterranean Sea!
Matt was excited to get to stand in the rooms of the Herod's Palace where Paul would have been imprisoned in Caesarea (Acs 23-25).
We stopped a little ways north of Caesarea to see the remains of a massive aqueduct system that Herod built to bring fresh water to Caesarea from the springs of Mt. Carmel.
We then drove up to the top of Mt. Carmel and climbed to the roof of a monastery up there to overlook the Jezreel Valley. Above is a statue of Elijah in the courtyard of the monastery.
While looking at the Jezreel Valley below, we read the story of Elijah from 1 Kings 17-18 where he challenges the prophets of Baal to call on Baal to send down fire to light their sacrifice. After calling on Baal all day but got no answer. Then Elijah took his sacrifice and poured fur jars of water on the offering and the wood... three separate times! The he called on the name of the LORD and the fire of the LORD came down and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones of the altar, and the soil.
While driving down the road, we pulled over to take pictures of a 1st century tomb that was discovered while making the road. This tomb has a rolling stone next to it similar to what would have been in front of Jesus's tomb.
We then went on to the Tel of Megiddo - which was an ancient city on the southern edge of the Jezreel valley. Referenced here was Revelation 16:16 which names this valley as the staging ground for battle - Armageddon, "Mountain of Megiddo."
We then stopped at Ein Herod (spring of Harod) where Gideon trimmed his army down to 300 men before going in to battle so that the victory was truly God's (Joshua 7). It was so amazing to be standing at the site where this historic event took place!
Matt and I in front of a bougainvillea plant like we had in our back yard in Phoenix - good memories of it's beauty, but bad memories of it's thorns!
Next we went to Tel Jezreel and talked about a number of stories from 1st and 2nd Kings that took place here. One was from 1 Kings 22 when Ahab & Jehoshaphat fought the Arameans. We also read about King Jehu from 2 Kings 9 where he has success in battle against the town of Jezreel.
We ended the day by driving up the mountains into Jesus's home town of Nazareth. We were tricked by our leader into believing that our hotel was kind of a run down one, but as we pulled out were pleasantly surprised to find we were staying in the nicest hotel of the trip. The luxury Golden Crown hotel on the outskirts of Nazareth. It was a very nice treat and a relaxing night. We got to Skype with our kids and my family who was staying with them and it was great to see everyone's faces. Only a few more days on the ground here until we head home. We are tired and mentally full but still loving our time in the land of Israel!
After that, we had a free afternoon in Jerusalem. We spent our time eating Pizza (yum!), shopping for souvenirs, getting lost, and getting to things after they had closed or were to crowded for us to go in. It turns out, having a guide lead us around most of the time is quite helpful (thank you Todd!) We spent the last hour of our time sitting in the shade reading, resting and calling home. Then we got to spend a very relaxing evening at our guest house up on the mountains surrounding Jerusalem and truly got to have a Sabbath to rest and recover from a busy week!
Walking around the Biblical garden on the property of the Yad Hashmona Guest House.
Baby grapes!
The next morning we left the Jerusalem area and headed north to Caesarea - an ancient port city that Herod the Great built to connect with Rome.
A view of the ruins at Caesarea - quite a large city in the 1st century.
We also got to see (and touch) the Mediterranean Sea!
Matt was excited to get to stand in the rooms of the Herod's Palace where Paul would have been imprisoned in Caesarea (Acs 23-25).
We stopped a little ways north of Caesarea to see the remains of a massive aqueduct system that Herod built to bring fresh water to Caesarea from the springs of Mt. Carmel.
We then drove up to the top of Mt. Carmel and climbed to the roof of a monastery up there to overlook the Jezreel Valley. Above is a statue of Elijah in the courtyard of the monastery.
While looking at the Jezreel Valley below, we read the story of Elijah from 1 Kings 17-18 where he challenges the prophets of Baal to call on Baal to send down fire to light their sacrifice. After calling on Baal all day but got no answer. Then Elijah took his sacrifice and poured fur jars of water on the offering and the wood... three separate times! The he called on the name of the LORD and the fire of the LORD came down and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones of the altar, and the soil.
While driving down the road, we pulled over to take pictures of a 1st century tomb that was discovered while making the road. This tomb has a rolling stone next to it similar to what would have been in front of Jesus's tomb.
We then went on to the Tel of Megiddo - which was an ancient city on the southern edge of the Jezreel valley. Referenced here was Revelation 16:16 which names this valley as the staging ground for battle - Armageddon, "Mountain of Megiddo."
We then stopped at Ein Herod (spring of Harod) where Gideon trimmed his army down to 300 men before going in to battle so that the victory was truly God's (Joshua 7). It was so amazing to be standing at the site where this historic event took place!
Matt and I in front of a bougainvillea plant like we had in our back yard in Phoenix - good memories of it's beauty, but bad memories of it's thorns!
Next we went to Tel Jezreel and talked about a number of stories from 1st and 2nd Kings that took place here. One was from 1 Kings 22 when Ahab & Jehoshaphat fought the Arameans. We also read about King Jehu from 2 Kings 9 where he has success in battle against the town of Jezreel.
We ended the day by driving up the mountains into Jesus's home town of Nazareth. We were tricked by our leader into believing that our hotel was kind of a run down one, but as we pulled out were pleasantly surprised to find we were staying in the nicest hotel of the trip. The luxury Golden Crown hotel on the outskirts of Nazareth. It was a very nice treat and a relaxing night. We got to Skype with our kids and my family who was staying with them and it was great to see everyone's faces. Only a few more days on the ground here until we head home. We are tired and mentally full but still loving our time in the land of Israel!
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