day twelve. israel from the eyes of children

we are sitting in the ben gurion airport, waiting for our flight to board. the children are re-adjusting to our native time zone; they are still awake even though it's approaching midnight israel time

Ben says he remembers the trip this way:

• Playing roblox (the ipad app)
• Sword fighting the camel because he ate my sword (from our time near the sea of tiberias)
• Riding the donkey was one of my favorites (at the mount of olives)
• The battle field of david and goliath!!!
• The birds on the boat. Because I got to see a real shark. (i'm not sure that really happened)
• But we didn’t get to go swimming in jerusalem. (because the pool was closed until may)
• Chasing the pigeons. And I ate one. (I don’t think that really happened; he chased the pigeons near the western wall)
• They didn’t take my gun away (he bought a toy gun in the old city today, israeli airport security found it, they let him keep it)

Sam says he remembers the trip this way: 

• Sword fighting the camel (see above)
• Seeing the dome of the rock (there's a nice view from the mount of olives)
• The city of david was fun (the city before the city, just south of the present day old city. this is also where we went through hezikiah's tunnel)
• Zedikiah’s cave (the quarry under the old city that goes on for miles....it's where much of the stone from the old city was pulled from)
• Ceaserea that King Herod built (that was on day two. so long ago!!!)
• Going swimming at the hotel called the spa club (the hotel at the dead sea)
• Playing yahtzee on the plane (i taught the kids to play yahtzee)
• Chasing the pigeons (see above)
• Awesome chicken that the hotel had for dinner (sam really enjoyed the big buffet dinners at the hotel in jerusalem)

Ana: 

she's shopping with mommy. trying to spend the last of daddy's shekel's. i'll post her thoughts if she makes it back in time to talk to her a bit more before the plane takes off. 

[update] ana and mommy are back now. they spent all of daddy's money. mission accomplished. 

Ana remembers the trip this way:

• being with the entire family
• the dead sea; floating without even trying
• dinner in jerusalem. the buffet was awesome. the after dessert jokes were the best. (i enjoyed the after dinner wine)
• shopping in the old city. (she bought a scarf that is especially nice)
• meeting everyone on the bus
• when we first got there and we were all soooo excited. (day 1 at the tel aviv beach and running through the sand)
• jordan river (we weren't there long, just long enough to see the dark cloudy water)
• ben pressing all the buttons on the elevators (ben liked to recreate the scene from elf, where he pushed all the buttons for every floor to see all the lights light up)

day twelve. goodbye israel

we made it through the security in Ben Gurion. 

homeward bound. 

goodbye tastey treats i can't pronounce

day eleven. bethlehem.

today we traveled to bethlehem. the story is one you simply can't make up. 

bethlehem is a short distance from our hotel, but it takes a long time to get there. the realities of the conflict in this region cannot be hidden for anyone that wants to visit bethlehem. israeli citizens are not allowed. there's check points along the way. there's a wall keeping people out; the same wall keeps people in...depends on your perspective. it hasn't always been this way. 

my mother in law, vicky, is from bethlehem. she was born there and then moved to the USA as a young child. our  mission for the day was to go inside the house where vicky was born. we needed to find the key...

it turns out that most of the city is owned by her family. they own shops, hotels, cab services, restaurants. we made a visit to her uncle johnny's shop and then set off for the real mission of the day - go see the home where vicky was born. i don't know for sure if they own the star and bucks. 

on the way to the house, we stopped at the church of the nativity. did you know that jerome wrote the vulgate while sitting in the basement of the church of the nativity? either did i. 

after leaving the church of the nativity. we made for the house where vicky was born. her father was the orthodox priest at the church. so was his father. so was his father's father, and his father's father's father, back more generations that people can count. the house is rumored to be the oldest in all of bethlehem. 

we drove across the street (past the star and bucks) and went to the house. it was locked. the driver informed us that we needed the key. of course we did. our driver also knew that elias had the key. of course he does. off to see elias!!! 

we arrived at a small shop across the street from uncle johnny's shop. they sold mobile phones. vicky went in to see elias and talk to him about the key. she returned with the key...and the key bearer named essa. welcome to the party, essa!

the key worked. 

and in the house, we found an old painting of vicky's great great great great grandfather, elias. 

and we learned that the key bearer, essa, was our cousin. 

to sum it up: 
we hired a palestinian driver for the day, because israeli citizens can no longer go to bethlehem, drove through two check points and a concrete wall taller than any i've ever seen in my life, went to the church of the nativity and were able to go on the "special tour" because there was a member of the kanavati family with our group, drove to the kanavati house, learned about a man named elias, went to see elias at a mobile phone store, left the store with a man named essa; essa had the key, let us in, and we saw vicky's first house and met another cousin with a familiar name: essa kanavati. 

o - i left one thing out. just in case the story isn't crazy enough as it is, once we were in the house, we found an old photo of elaine's cousin chris kanavati, who we met last summer in alexandria, minnesota. it's a picture of him and his bride on their wedding. 

cane

ben found a cane. i'm not sure how, or where, and i'm assuming he didn't steal it, but ben found a cane. 

it matches his hat. his new uniform for the remainder of the trip...

day ten. peace.

today we walked the earth. and looked for things to buy.

it was a relaxing day. the old city is quaint, and if you get away from the may shopping districts, feels like you are walking through a movie set. we started our walk in the armenian quarter.

once we walked a while, we stopped at the sepulcher, the traditional home of jesus's death and burial. 

we finished the day with some more shopping in the old city. this was the highlight of the day. there are no prices on anything in the old city. you negotiate the prices for everything. ben saw a hat he liked. he walked up to the shop owner, handed him a five dollar bill and said "here's five bucks. i'm buying the hat."  negotiations were over; ben turned around and walked out. 

i wish i could make time stand still. 

goodbye pomegranate juice

today is our last day in Jerusalem. We are taking a tour around the old city to relive our favorite spots one more time. 

goodbye falafel

i was a frequent guest. they gave Sam a goodbye present. free falafel. 

hebrew

im learning my Hebrew letters via my coffee addiction. here they don't write your name on a cup, rather they slip a receipt under your glass. the system works provided you can read your name in Hebrew. 

day nine. shiloh and the valley of elah.

we started the day at Shiloh, the ancient city of Israel and it’s first capital. Before there was Jerusalem, there was Shiloh. for 367 years, Shiloh was the center of the Israel. Before David established his kingdom in Jerusalem, Joshua established it in Shiloh.

like many other places in Israel, there’s a hillside full of old rocks. if you didn’t know it, you wouldn’t know how impressed you should be with the story of the rocks. in this case, a 3000-year-old city w is still waiting for you to see it in the Judean hills.

The Ark of the Covenant, now lost to us, once resided in Shiloh. There’s two places in the world where you can go and stand in a place where we know the ark once resided: in Shiloh and on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

for elaine and i, this place is special because it's story involves the namesakes for each of our children. it was here that Ana prayed for a son. it was here that she gave her son back, God gave her a son and she named him Samuel. and it was also here that the a messenger from the tribe of Benjamin delivered news and moved the people of shiloh to end a tragic civil war. 

...it's also here at shiloh that sam and ben found a turtle and i learned for the first time the reason that turtles are so slow...because they have to carry their house with them wherever they go. that makes so much sense i'm embarrassed i never thought of it before.

following our visit to Shiloh, we travelled to the Valley of Elah, where David fought Goliath. this was a highlight for our boys; one of their favorite stories is the story of “Goliaf.”

there’s a stream that runs through the Valley, filled with white smooth stones. the white smooth stones come from rocky white cliff that the streams run through. our kids enjoyed searching through the stream to find smooth stones, just like David did before his meeting with Goliath.

in biblical times, the hill you see in the background called "Migdal Oz", which is Hebrew for "strong tower." and the thought at the time was that the rocks in the stream are smooth because when water rushes down the hill, it causes them to rub against each other, eventually ending up in the stream, but polished by years of rubbing against each other before landing in the water. 

so here's the thought to ponder for today: when david was choosing smooth pebbles from the stream before he went to see goliath, as he looked up at the hill behind the stream, was he thinking about it's name, Migdal Oz, and recalling the proverb: "The name of God is Migdal-Oz (strong tower). A righteous person runs to it and is safe." (proverbs 18:10)

yep...that's a stick in ben's left hand. he's ready for battle. 

and the winner is...

we are 9 days into our trip. i have tried every falafel vendor i have passed, all across israel, but mostly within the old city of jerusalem. important update number one: i have not fallen ill from any of the delicious street food. 

now, even though we have 3 days left in the city, i am ready to declare a winner. it takes one amazing falafel in order for me to preemptively declare a winner. but i'm ready. 

it's the shop at the bottom of the steps after you enter through the damascus gate. in the picture below, it's the shop illuminated in yellow in the middle of the shot. 

if you're ever here in the old city and like falafel, check it out. i know i will (again) before we leave. 

centipede wars

ben won. out of respect for the passed, i will not show the pictures following this epic battle. did you know centipedes are meaner than sharks? ben taught me this little known fact.