The Garden

We were able to stay with my parents while we were in Israel.  They volunteer 6 months of the year at the Garden Tomb.  It was neat for us to wake up in this incredible spot every day!


On Thursday, after we got back from the tunnel tour, we took a tour of the garden with my dad.  He was leading a group (that had friends of Mike and Jessica's from Germany ... small world!) and we just joined in the group.

My dad ... ready to do his thing.  We are so thankful that God has allowed this desire of his and my mom's hearts.  He did it in such a way that it was truly His desire for them too!

My dad was sharing about the garden ... how it came to be, why they believe it COULD be the place where Jesus was buried, and why he is there doing what he does.

I had already listened in to quite a few of the tours, but it was a first for these two ... they already loved the garden, but after the tour, I think they loved it even more!


At some point in the tour, my dad talked about Golgotha, which means place of the skull.  It was a spot where public deaths would have happened ... it was a spot outside the city, and yet close enough that many people could have been a witness.


After he shares that, he shows the group "skull hill" ...

... which gave me goose bumps when I first saw it 20 years ago and still gives me goose bumps today.  How like God to give us a reminder of what He did for us.  Is it Golgatha?  I don't know ... but, I know that Jesus was crucified and risen again in a place near here.

We know that Jesus was buried in the private tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.  We know he was wealthy and that his tomb was in a garden.  When the land for the garden was purchased, a man was trying to plant an olive orchard on the property.  He sold the land because he couldn't find a source of water.  He was looking in the wrong place ... because this is what the garden tomb people found ... an extremely large cistern.  Which proves there was a garden here at one time and the owner of the garden would have been wealthy.

Into the cistern ... a long way down!

A very large wine press is also on the garden property ... further proof there was a garden here in the past.

A replica of the stone that would have been used in the track in front of the tomb ... a very small replica.

The tomb.  The reason we are free.  The reason we love this place so much.  It was thrilling to be able to share this with Torrey and Dean ... to see them fall in love with it as much as I did 20 years ago.  We all continue to talk of our trip and what we saw and all that we learned ... and long to go back again.  


I know for my parents, their being in the garden has been a special gift from God, but I can't help but think how neat it was for them to watch 4 of their 6 grandchildren walk through the gate of the garden.  They loved sharing their homeland with the kids!

And, just in case you are wondering ... the tomb is empty!

The Trip Goes On ... And On ... And On ...

On Thursday morning, Chuck Swindoll arrived in the garden with his group of over 600.  He spoke and they had communion together.  We stayed in the garden in the morning to listen to him speak.  Amazing.  One thing he said that has stuck with me (maybe because I teach) was that we need to be teaching our children Bible verses and hymns ... because some day if we are the ones in the camps it will be all we have.  Foretelling?  Perhaps.  True?  Oh, yes.

In the afternoon we had a reservation to go to the Western Wall tunnels, but we thought we would have time to go to the Temple Institute to view the items they have prepared for the new temple.  Not enough time ... which is another reason we have to go back!

As we walked up the stairs to the Temple Institute, Dean was stopped by this jewish gentleman who asked if he could pray a blessing over him.  We will never say no to a blessing!

As soon as he was finished praying over Dean he asked him for some money to help the rebuilding of the temple.  Dean gave him some shekels that were coins ... he said paper money would be better!

While we were waiting for our time to go on the tunnel tour, we went to the wailing wall.  Torrey and I went to the women's side.

Inside the cracks in the stone, people put prayers.  Twenty years ago I pulled one out ... I put it back.  Torrey took one as well ... hers was in Russian or some other strange language.  She did not put hers back!

We then headed under the buildings beside the Western Wall to follow the wall that would have been part of the Temple before it was destroyed in AD 70.  Fortunately the Romans pushed the wall down from the top, thus preserving much of the bottom wall for future generations.

At this point we were under the Muslim quarter.  There were points of the tour that our guide would tell us we were in the basements of the houses above.

Our guide is showing us one of the keystones of the temple wall.  It is tremendously long and tall.  Which leads to the question ... how did they get it there?  With no crane.  With no big equipment.  How?  Looking at it was one of those goose bump moments ... we had many of them on this trip!

Here you can see Dean and Torrey walking beside the stone.

This is the spot where they believe the Holy of Holies was in the temple .... behind the wall.  You are allowed to come to the wall to pray and there were a few people praying at this spot.  You can see prayers in the wall at this spot as well.

In some parts of the tour you felt like there was a lot of room.  Others were more like here ... close quarters.

There is one in every crowd!

Well, in this case there are two!  Guess who she takes after?!

These aren't just any stone.  They were part of the road from the Roman times.  This was part of the marketplace outside the temple area.

We enjoyed our times in the tunnel very much.  We will do this again when we return!

A Bit Melancholy

It has been a bit since I last posted.  Well, more like a long bit.  I still have more pictures from our trip to post.  There are pictures from graduation to post.  There are pictures from the 8th grade dance that show a too grown up Torrey that will pain me to post.  And, I can't.


Because I've been a bit melancholy lately.


It's that time of year again.  It always hits me like a mack truck ... seemingly out of nowhere and yet I know it is coming.  Some years I anticipate it's coming like Christmas morning.  And some years I dread it terribly.  This year I dread it especially.


Tomorrow is the last day of school.


For the past 6 weeks I have asked myself these questions.  How?  How do I give these littles away?  Have I done enough?  Were my words always kind?  Was I everything they needed me to be?  Do they know how much Jesus loves them because they saw Him living in me?


Ava asked me the question that has been on their hearts lately.  "Will our First Grade teachers love us?"  I assured her they would.  "You promise?"  With my whole heart.  


Lord, let it be so.


I had to look away when Gracie told me that "next year they would be all scrambled up."  It saddened me to think that our little family would never be the same again.  It makes them sad, too.


Serick gave me a picture of him crying, because next year he would miss me so much.  Serick, who has kept me in stitches most of the year, reduced me to tears.  


These last days have been spent remembering fun things that happened this year.


Like when the butterflies hatched and I spilled the water and each kinderfriend carried a butterfly cupped in their hands to the playground.  I close my eyes and I still see them ... in a line, giggling, walking slowly, carrying their precious cargo.  How thankful I am for a spilled cup of water and drowning butterflies!


We remembered our field trip to the beach and the long bus ride there.  And back.  They asked me over and over again if we were almost there.  Makes me smile now.  Not so much then.


We have promised to be friends forever.  They have promised to come back and visit just like all the past kiddos.  I have promised to give lots of hugs ... and to chase and kiss those that think they are too big to stop and say hi.


I am sad to say that this years class has taught me more than I have taught them.  I am a different person today than I was on that first day in August.  After a difficult year last year, they were exactly what I needed.   And, I am thankful.


Thankful for 16 littles who were mine for a minute.  Thankful for 16 littles who love Jesus with their whole heart.  Thankful for 16 littles who love each other for exactly who they are.  Thankful for 16 littles who will change the world.  Thankful for 16 littles who changed me for the better.

Why the Old City is my Favorite City

Seriously.  It is.  There is just something about it.  A beauty amidst the rough.  Aged.  Rugged.  Still here against all odds.  Jesus' city.  My city.  Oh, how I love it!

For Christmas, my parents gave us a tour guide.  Not to keep forever, but for one day.  He was the best!  He totally got us and gave us one of our favorite days in Israel! (Do you see a theme here?)

We started the day at the Damascus Gate.  Mostly because it is the closest to the garden.  I spotted this man right off ... he actually zipped by us as we were going down the steps.  For the record, if I had to carry something on my head for any length of anywhere, we all know it would end up on the ground.  This wasn't the first time I saw this guy ... and, it wasn't the last.

We went to see St. Anne's church (great acoustics) and the pool of Bethsada.  Sick and crippled would lie around the pool waiting for the water to move ... they believed that the first one in the pool would be healed.

I must interject here.  We were asked many times if we felt safe.  Never once did we fear for our lives or question if we should have come.  Even when we were constantly surrounded by this ...

soldiers were EVERYWHERE.  And the man standing up?  He has canisters of tear gas.  Vincent said he had never seen that before.  Which is why I took the picture ... because I had never seen it before and who knows when I will see it again?

Things were tense in the Old City while we were there.  These men had probably spent the night in the Old City keeping trouble at bay.

We did ask if we could take a picture.  One said we could if we did it "with respect." Torrey is 14 ... I daresay these young men aren't too many years older.  The things these boys have seen and will see makes my mama's heart want to break for them.  With respect?  Oh, yes.  And with gratitude ... they are the reason we felt so safe and the reason we know my parents are safe while they are in Israel.

Vincent next took us to the Temple Mount ... aka The Dome of the Rock.  We had tried Sunday, but because of the tension it was closed.  This was our one and only chance.  We were thankful to be able to go all the way up.

Not because of the building behind us.  Although, it was impressive.  We loved being up there because it was the site of the temple.  And, it will be the site of the temple again.  These pictures show one portion of the Temple Mount ... and it looks immense.  I wish I had a better one to show you how truly enormous it was.  Incredible.  Absolutely incredible!

I am a sucker for handmade things.  Each and every one of these tiles was painted by hand.  By hand.  Can you imagine?  Artisans continue to restore and replace tiles as they are needed ... they cover the entire building.

We couldn't go inside.  We aren't muslim.  However, 22 years ago I did go inside ... there is just a rock inside.  Hence the name "Dome of the Rock."  I think it was the rock where Abraham was supposed to sacrifice Isaac.  I'm not to up on my Muslim these days.

To leave the Temple Mount we had to go through the cotton market.  There is a gate at the entrance and it had this small door.  This small door is called "the eye of the needle." It was used long ago when the city was shut up tight at night.  If you were trying to get into the city after the gates were closed you had to go through this little door.  Maybe a camel could fit through ... if he was small enough.

We then went to the archaeological museum.  It is located at the corner of where the temple would have been.  When the temple was destroyed in AD 70, they destroyed it from the top down.  Basically they pushed the walls down and thus saved large portions of the temple for the future.  This is a mikveh.  A ritual bath.  You would go down one side and get clean and then come up the other side and go to the temple.

The Hurva Synagogue reopened on Torrey's 14th birthday.  It had been closed since it was destroyed during the war in 1948.  1948.  62 long years later it reopened ... on my girl's birthday.  When we celebrated her birthday in Israel.  We tried to get in, but it wasn't open.

This is the cardio.  Basically a Roman street.  Today there are shops on either side.  It is quite beautiful.  Look at the floor/street.  Amazing.

When you are 14, you might think looking at a lot of really old things is quite boring.  Two thumbs up for Tor ... she hung in there with the best of them and really enjoyed herself.  I think she dreams of returning the most!

After meandering through the Jewish quarter, we got to go up on the roofs.  We took a "Walk on the Roofs" ... something I saw in the guide book that looked amazing to me.  Without Vincent it would have been impossible ... we never would have found the staircase that led us to the roofs.

The view up there was quite incredible.

It seemed like beauty was all around us.

But, I am a people watcher.  Well, more correctly, I am nosy.  Very, very nosy.  And, I will also admit I am intrigued by the orthodox Jews.

So, it was neat for me to be able to see them, close to their home, doing what they do ... without feeling like I was gawking.  But, as I look back, perhaps I was.

We loved our time in the Old City.  We felt like we had gone back in time, however, there were bits of "today" that reminded us that although we speak different languages, live thousands of miles apart, we are much the same.  We take care of our families and the places we live with joy.

We express ourselves with the written word ... although, I will admit I have never expressed myself with graffiti.  But, again, it is the handmade thing ...

And, no matter where you live, or how you live, children are just scrumptious.

I figure this little guy is probably 5 ... his brother 3.  He just walked with him all over the Old City (I saw him twice) ... no parent in sight.  We were holding tight onto our 14 year old.  After I took his picture he put his hand up in front of me and said something ... felt a little bad, but not too much!

Thanks Vincent (and Mom and Dad) for a most amazing day!  Next time we go back we want Vincent for more than just one day!

A Camel, a Fort and a Sea

On Monday night a breeze blew in and out of Jerusalem.  As it blew out, it took with it the dern khamasin.  Which meant we woke up to two great things on Tuesday morning ...

... clear skies and a 14 year old Torrey!  Can you imagine a better place to spend your 14th (or any!) birthday?!  We hit the ground running (are you surprised?!) and headed out of Jerusalem to spend the day in the desert.  

Even in the desert there was beauty.  We were in awe of the vastness of the desert ... and we are Texans who take great pride in the vastness of our state.  Texas has nothing on Israel!

We stopped along the highway for Dean and Torrey to ride the camel.  This guy stands out here every day giving camel rides.  Well worth the 15 shekels!  As you can see, we were currently at Sea Level ... before the end of the day we would be at the lowest place on earth.  And, the bedouin guy ... he lives in the hills behind us ... him and his camel.  We joked that he probably drives a mercedes compliments of crazy tourists who are willing to pay 15 shekels to ride a camel!

Clearly this wasn't his first rodeo because bedouin guy has mad photography skills.  He insisted on taking the picture ... thus ensuring we got our 15 shekels worth!

Then he took the camel (and Dean and Torrey) and posed them in front of the desert.  At this point I was beginning to think we got a steal for the 15 shekels!

And, yes, the Staples Easy button was in every camel picture we took.  Another reason we have to go back ... to get camel pictures without the easy button!  

After taking a bazillion pictures with the camel (and easy button), we jumped in the car and continued to our next destination ... MASADA.  Along the way we stopped the car so I could take a picture of the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1967.  For over a thousand years scrolls of the scriptures were protected in giant jars ... only to be discovered by a shepherd boy throwing rocks in caves as he tended his goats.  God says His Word will remain forever.  Forever.

We got to Masada and took a cable car to the top of the mountain.  Masada is a fort that at one time was Herod's summer palace ... yes, THE Herod who wanted to kill baby Jesus.  When the Temple was destroyed (along with Jerusalem), a small group of Jews went to Masada and held it against the Roman Army for over 2 years.  Soldiers in the Israeli army are sworn in at Masada, today.  It is a place of great honor to the Israelis.

From the top you can see to the Dead Sea all the way to the Mountains of Moab.  We were lucky this day ... the mountains were taking on a purple hue.  It was breathtaking.  

Dean and I trekked down a lot of stairs to go to the site of Herod's palace.  It sits in the front of Masada (in the crows nest).  Halfway down I realized that I would have to climb back UP those stairs.  Oh my.  Worth the trip.  The breezes were amazing ... which is why he built the palace there.  And the view ... gorgeous!

We rode the cable car back down.  Next time I am going to take that curvy path down ... it is called the "snake path" ... as we went down we saw many brave souls giving it a shot.  So, count that as another reason we HAVE to go back ... so I can try the snake path!

After eating lunch (yummy falafels!) and stalking Chuck Swindoll, we stopped at the Dead Sea.  So called because of the high content of salt ... nothing can live in the water.

Again ... loving the view!  

Torrey braved the water.  It was warmer here.  We were cracking up at the swimmers who would go "floating" by ... because of the salt you don't sink!  You can see the mountains of Moab right behind Torrey ... that is actually Syria.  A bit too close for comfort.  

It was a pretty spectacular birthday for our girl ... can't believe she is 14!