tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46672676903851574902024-03-14T04:46:15.453-04:00The Gray'sUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-41346118061380452492009-06-08T10:13:00.003-04:002009-06-08T10:18:45.173-04:00We're Back!Hello everyone. Well, we made it back and everyone survived the flight! It was a little rocky with Denyon getting motion sickness in the van ride to the airport (which left a pretty foul odor on his carseat for the remainder of the trip), security problems with our bags, having difficulty getting our stroller in between flights, and an unexpected additional layover in Montreal. Despite all the extra hassle, Denyon was excellent on the flight and we all got some good rest. Most importantly, we arrived in Detroit with all of our luggage and everyone in one piece.<br /><br />The last two weeks have been busy with getting settled back into our condo in Holland, visiting with Brad's family briefly, and visiting friends. It's been a pretty smooth transition although we are definitely adjusting to American life. Now, we are just seeking what God has next for us and we hope to take the next couple of months to discern that. We will keep you posted on our future plans and thank you for all of your support throughout this year. You are all a blessing!<br /><br />Love,<br />Brad, Shallon, Denyon, and Little G2Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-73699039909571024762009-05-07T07:16:00.004-04:002009-05-07T07:54:16.981-04:00A Few DatesOver the last week, Brad and I have had the opportunity to go on a few dates to see some last things around Jerusalem before heading back to the states. With the offer of two of our regular babysitters and a friend to watch Denyon for free, we thought we'd better not miss the opportunity. There are so many things to see in Jerusalem, so there were (and are) still things we hadn't seen yet on our list of "things to see."<div><br /></div><div>So, last Wednesday afternoon, we revisited the site of the City of David and Hezekiah's Tunnel. We had previously been there, but not without Denyon which limited us from walking through the tunnel (which we had only done once together in June 2006). The tunnel was built by King Hezekiah and it was built to create an underground water channel from the natural spring of Gihon, through the city, which was then simply called Jerusalem. It is now called the City of David because it is no longer within the old city walls of Jerusalem. It was mainly built to protect the city's water supply during times of siege. And still today it flows with water...very cold water. The tunnel is not much more than shoulder width wide at any given point, and often it's necessary to duck so as not to hit your head. It takes about 45 minutes just to walk through. It's completely dark so flashlights are necessary. At the highest point the water reached just below my hips, but mostly it was about mid-calf deep. We were glad to get our feet wet!</div><div><br /></div><div>Last Sunday, we not quite so "fun" as we went to Yad Vashem--the Jerusalem Holocaust Museum. It was an intense day and we were so glad we did not miss going to this site while we were here. The museum is extensive and extremely well done. You weave your way through about 12 rooms in the main part of the museum recounting the history of the Nazi rise to power, Hitler, the various concentration camps and extermination facilities, the final death march before the Jews were liberated, immigration patterns and difficulties after the Holocaust, personal stories of survivors, etc. At the end of the museum is a Hall of Names where over 3 million of the 6 million Jews killed during the Holocaust are remembered each in book with a report about them. The goal of Yad Vashem is to one day have all 6 million names. In addition to the main part of the museum, there was also a Children's Memorial, Military Cemetery, Hall of Remembrance with an eternal flame, Holocaust Museum of Art, and what I call a "Look what I'm doing now" Holocaust survivor exhibition. It honors the accomplishments of numerous Holocaust survivors in Israel such as the inventor and creator of El Al Airlines in Israel (just to name one among many).</div><div><br /></div><div>We spent nearly five hours there and left feeling very informed, overwhelmed, and also depressed. It is so difficult to think that any human being could do such a thing. I will paraphrase a quote that left a lasting impression on me that I read in the museum (although I don't remember who said it): It's not that 6 million innocent Jews were murdered, it's that there are 6 million murderers out there. I know I butchered it but it is hard to fathom that so many people could commit such extreme crime and not be punished. We recently watched the film, "The Boy in Striped Pajamas" which is excellent (although tragic) if you haven't seen it.</div><div><br /></div><div>On a lighter note, just yesterday we went on our third date. This time we headed to the northern part of the old city near the Damascus Gate. Here we went underground to visit Zedekiah's Cave and the old Roman Gate. Zedekiah's cave is thought to be a cave that was used during the time of King Solomon for quarrying many of the stones he used to build the temple. There were some places that even looked like you could see where rocks were cut from the cave walls. An interesting thing we saw there was our archaeology professor Gaby Barkay having a private lunch/filming session in one of the small side "rooms" of the cave. We only wished we could've inquired about what he was doing but unfortunately our class is done and we probably won't have the opportunity!</div><div><br /></div><div>The Roman Gate is directly under the current Damascus Gate and it was the gate erected during the Roman time period (approximately during the time of Paul from the New Testament). The gate is still in good shape and every time I see something like this I'm amazed at how something built nearly 2000 years ago can still be standing! I wonder what will still be here two thousand year from now?</div><div><br /></div><div>From there we went to the Garden Tomb. This is the location where we celebrated Easter Sunday this year. Although we were there before, we didn't really get to see inside the tomb or look around much because of the busyness and crowd of the morning. This time it was nice to see up close one of two possible locations for the burial and resurrection of Jesus. We even got to see the nearby skull-shaped cliff which could be the reference to the Bible's "the place of the skull". It would be so much easier if someone just left a sign that said, "This is where ______ happened" for all the major historical events that we just don't know for sure where they took place!</div><div><br /></div><div>After the Garden Tomb, we climbed up atop the old city walls to what is called, "The Rampart's Walk." This path along the city wall allows you to walk entirely around the old city (excluding the Temple Mount) from above. The views as we walked along were amazing and it was such a great perspective looking down into the city from above. We were surprised at how many basketball courts and soccer fields we saw as we walked along. And there were lots of children playing on such a beautiful day! After being here nearly nine months, we are finally starting to feel like we can navigate our way through the old city and this only helped us to get our bearings even better. After our long trek, needless to say we (especially me) had some tired legs!</div><div><br /></div><div>We are hoping to see a few more places in the city before we go, but seeing all the above was such a blessing! It is just more to add to our fabulous experience that we've had so far! </div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks for being part of our journey and see you soon!</div><div><br /></div><div>Shallon</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-11997206597171836492009-05-02T06:47:00.003-04:002009-05-02T06:55:52.749-04:00Israel Independence DayLast Tuesday night, around 8:30 p.m., I climbed up on our rooftop to await the fireworks. April 29 is Israel's Independence Day and we were told that fireworks displays would happen all over the city to commemorate this day. Our neighbors told us that our rooftop was a great location to watch them from and they were right! Between 8:30-11 p.m. I saw a total of 12 different sets of fireworks. Brad wasn't able to make it up to the roof until about 9:45 p.m. and he still saw 8 displays! The best was the last one we saw (and the one we'd been waiting for all night) because it was the one that took place in our neighborhood--Baka. These were very close and we could here them very well unlike some of the others that were quite a distance away. They lasted probably 15-20 minutes and were quite good. Denyon was fast asleep although I'm sure he would've enjoyed all of the beautiful colors. Although the fireworks were not the best I'd ever seen (I grew up near Louisville, KY where Thunder over Lousiville happened each year--at one point the largest fireworks display in the world), the location for viewing them was the best! The rooftop was great because there were no trees or people to get in the way. It was another great experience here in Jerusalem!<div><br /></div><div>See you next time,</div><div><br /></div><div>Shallon</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-68790507613020565802009-04-23T13:51:00.004-04:002009-04-24T05:45:50.717-04:00Denyon's BIG Announcement !!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-r7XmYiNuWkiR5fTULoBYVzdkZ6DoyQvf2imUsZzd6oCuoPpFnkfDukiK6d_Q25JhkMMebmfdSZARXSHaXwnCSLuA48gMSVeyIxqjRYUCjfmpGuuM6lG3ymEUf9H6lnZOlL8PjDUd1l9/s1600-h/Denyon+big+brother+shirt.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI-r7XmYiNuWkiR5fTULoBYVzdkZ6DoyQvf2imUsZzd6oCuoPpFnkfDukiK6d_Q25JhkMMebmfdSZARXSHaXwnCSLuA48gMSVeyIxqjRYUCjfmpGuuM6lG3ymEUf9H6lnZOlL8PjDUd1l9/s400/Denyon+big+brother+shirt.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327946568975381602"></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal">Well, after nearly nine months of living here in Jerusalem and my mommy always getting to write on the blog, she finally let me do my first entry. I have some exciting news (I think!) to share with you. My mommy and daddy tell me that I’m going to be a big brother! I’m not exactly sure what that means but they seem very excited about it. They keep asking me if I want a brother or a sister and I just tell them whichever one they say last to me. I don’t want them to really know what I want. They showed me these cool pictures of the baby in my mommy’s tummy so I thought I would share one of them with you too (see below). This little baby already has arms and legs…just like me! I bet I can kick and throw a ball better though! I am excited to meet my little brother or sister around November 11. My mommy seems to be the same to me except sometimes she is tired and sometimes daddy says I have to leave her alone in the bathroom because she is feeling sick. I don’t like it when mommy gets sick but she says it’s okay and not to worry. I’ll keep you posted and in the meantime, if you have any tips for how to be a good big brother, please let me know! Have a great day!</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Love,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Denyon</p> <!--EndFragment--> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-17398409440175213932009-04-23T13:49:00.001-04:002009-04-24T05:45:42.760-04:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0jN2EZPnnSadBqi-qGDC107mO-6d8qSOdmw2jkTlyTFAuctJjMvOeuNTvLSgWA7PQusSKmIc_PbxhJcRn1HV7x7n1bPJTTg8nXAOQK7POgFBpw4RehkEu7ILtbUxJeFSpEhNJUKvk9vhA/s1600-h/11+wk+ultrasound.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0jN2EZPnnSadBqi-qGDC107mO-6d8qSOdmw2jkTlyTFAuctJjMvOeuNTvLSgWA7PQusSKmIc_PbxhJcRn1HV7x7n1bPJTTg8nXAOQK7POgFBpw4RehkEu7ILtbUxJeFSpEhNJUKvk9vhA/s400/11+wk+ultrasound.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327945465369355202"></a><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-91190256203309306312009-04-21T10:53:00.005-04:002009-04-23T06:43:02.440-04:00Last But Not Least! (Eilat & Petra Trip)Last Wednesday morning, we headed out for our last overnight trip as a family while in Israel. It was definitely not the least of the trips as we headed down to the southernmost city of Israel—Eilat. This city sits along the coast of the Red Sea and borders Egypt on to the south, Jordan to the East, and Saudi Arabia is visible across the sea to the southeast. It is an amazing geographical sight to be able to view four countries at once, all the while enjoying the beautiful Red Sea.<br /><br />The drive was about 3 ½ hours long, so once we arrived, we checked into our cozy villa about a mile from the coast, ate lunch, and headed to the beach. We went to a less crowded, but no less beautiful, beach called Coral Reserve Beach. There, you could rent snorkeling equipment and snorkel right off the beach. This was great since obviously one of us had to stay with Denyon. He’s pretty advanced but he’s not quite ready to snorkel. The Red Sea has some of the best visibility for snorkeling of all the salt bodies of water in the world due to three things: 1. Higher salt content than most (3.9% versus 3.1% in other major salt bodies). 2. Slightly cooler temperatures. 3. When the fish die, instead of floating to the top and contaminating the water, they sink to the bottom so the visibility is not impaired. So because of the great visibility, the snorkeling is amazing! It was one of those times I’d wish I’d had one of the cheap underwater disposable cameras. There were so many beautiful fish, colors, and coral. We were able to snorkel there both on Wednesday and Friday and both days were spectacular.<br /><br />On Thursday, we crossed the Jordanian border and headed to the site of Petra. It’s hard to describe this phenomenal place but it’s a Nabataean city that originated over 2000 years ago. The Nabataeans were ancient Arab tribes that came from the Arabian Peninsula. The city was taken over by the Roman Empire in 106 AD, but the Nabataeans left impressive structures behind. The rock there is sandstone in what seems as though all colors of the rainbow. The light of the sun also changes the colors throughout the day. The buildings are carved out of the sandstone, so basically the builders start with a huge slab of natural rock structure, and cut away to make whatever building they are trying to construct. It is so impressive and really pictures don’t even do it justice. Although in southern Jordan and usually very hot this time of year, it was ironically very cold. We were not dressed prepared for that so we bought a couple scarves/blankets in order to keep Denyon and myself warm. Brad just had to tough it out (it did eventually warm up a bit)!<br /><br />We arrived back in Eilat in ample time to have a delicious dinner at a place highly recommended by the owner of our villa. It was called the Gulf Restaurant and we had delicious fried calamari. Even Denyon liked it! It’s always so fun having new foods from different places when you travel.<br /><br />Friday was another day in Eilat enjoying the Red Sea. This time, the bulk of our day was spent at the Underwater Observatory and Aquarium Park. It was fascinating and Denyon was beside himself at knowing which exhibit he wanted to see. He wanted to go in and out of exhibits and up and down ramps and stairs. We couldn’t keep up! The park included a couple different aquarium exhibits with rare marine species, all types of fish, and coral. It also housed a shark and sting ray pool, turtle pool, children’s play area, small snorkel area, and the coolest underwater observatory. This was a large building built right in the middle of the sea that you could go down underwater and see the fish live! There are some amazing coral reefs where the structure is located so the marine life was incredible. Here Brad was able to get some pictures so it does capture some of the Red Sea’s beauty.<br /><br />Of note at the shark tank is a funny story. The sharks were going to be fed so dozens of people were packed in to see. There was a bridge over the tank that you could stand on and look down below to see the sharks being fed. We were standing there and Denyon was in the backpack on Brad's back. He then requested a snack, so I handed him his cheerios container. It has a flip lid that he can open and close, which I had opened. He closed it then and got frustrated so I opened it again. He closed it again, got frustrated, and this time threw it down and the container spilled open and a large portion of the contents went into the tank! There were signs in numerous places in the park that read, "Do not feed us. Your food is not digestible for us!" Brad told me to quickly put the container away so that we didn't get kicked out for not following the rules! Denyon just thought the sharks needed a little snack!<br /><br />We then went to the beach again, and surprisingly ran into some friends from the school. They have three children so Denyon enjoyed playing with them, and it gave both of us couples a little bit more room to relax because the kids kept each other entertained. They are the same family that we ran into at the Garden Tomb Easter service. Katie and I had said we’d wanted to organize a play date…God orchestrated two! We had a wonderful time on the beach with them, and then had another amazing dinner. This time at a place known for its steaks and we both had one of the best we’d ever had. Yum!<br /><br />Saturday, we left Eilat and visited two spots on the way home. First, we stopped at Timna, which is a reserve in the desert in the southern part of Israel which houses ancient copper mines. The climbing was incredible and we found some great rocks. Another place of interest there is a replica of the Tabernacle of Moses’ time. The guide there was so nice and actually knows some of the people we know from West Michigan that lead trips there. It was great to talk with her and remember how small the world is.<br /><br />Second, we went to Mizpe Ramon and saw (as well as drove thru) the largest natural geological depression in the world, called "Mahktesh Ramon." Many are probably thinking of the Grand Canyon but that is a canyon and not a depression formed from years of earth silting away. We basically drove through the depression, and then made our way to the top where we could look out into the depression from above. It was beautiful and well worth the stop. The drive home was lengthy but these two stops helped pass the time and allowed us to enjoy some areas we hadn’t driven through previously. Hopefully the pictures captured the beauty!<br /><br />We were all very tired upon our return and enjoyed long naps the next day. The trip was very relaxing and a great break for Brad before the big push of the last two weeks of the semester. It’s hard to believe we’ve only got another month here. The time has flown and we feel so blessed to have experienced so many wonderful trips including this one. We have created a lifetime of memories!<br /><br />Have a blessed day!<br /><br />Love,<br />Brad, Shallon, and DenyonUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-63722573883669453812009-04-14T07:43:00.004-04:002009-04-14T08:03:41.985-04:00Happy Easter!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivug_eFtBY44kSJbGQyxgAr4DE1Ak3rF1jI1oSU9DywgT9LoTag0kOflyU71tGjCOnWXrslHCb4UJUukbO-IFoWZvsP69zRATdWzDHy9z5pD95Zo2LxS4eZ6xmaqB4pv4IKqddUw2ng3Qv/s1600-h/IMG_0298.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivug_eFtBY44kSJbGQyxgAr4DE1Ak3rF1jI1oSU9DywgT9LoTag0kOflyU71tGjCOnWXrslHCb4UJUukbO-IFoWZvsP69zRATdWzDHy9z5pD95Zo2LxS4eZ6xmaqB4pv4IKqddUw2ng3Qv/s200/IMG_0298.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324516290481955890" /></a><br />Although we were quite exhausted after a wonderful week with my parents, we couldn't miss out on celebrating Easter at the Garden Tomb...one of two possible locations for the burial and resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem. The day was beautiful with bright sun, a light breeze, and warm air. The service was held outside in the beautiful garden and nearly 1000 people were in attendance. The celebration consisted of almost all singing with a small message near the end. It was amazing to worship and celebrate the resurrection with so many other Christians in the place where perhaps the first Easter was celebrated! Denyon even enjoyed the morning seeing as though the floor was a bed of rocks! We also sat with some friends from the school who have three children so they all kept each other occupied. It was well worth waking up for and probably our favorite Easter celebration yet. We feel blessed to have been part of such an incredible experience. We hope that you all had a wonderful Easter celebration as well!<br /><br />Happy Easter with love,<br /><br />Brad, Shallon and DenyonUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-81165141424509455522009-04-12T13:44:00.008-04:002009-04-14T08:00:28.030-04:00A Visit from the Bowden'sWe all went to sleep last Saturday night anticipating the Bowden's arrival in the wee hours of the morning last Sunday. At about 1:15 a.m., we got the call from the sherut (taxi service from the airport) that mom and dad had arrived. We excitedly greeted them, chatted for a few minutes, and then everyone was off the bed. My parents were exhausted after the long trek from Japan. <div><br /></div><div>In order not to waste time, we headed right up to the Galilee on Sunday morning. Due to the upcoming Passover holiday, we had to go to the Galilee early in the week so that we could get a room in the hotel without having to stay a minimum number of nights (which was more than what we'd want to stay). Denyon was a little confused to wake up and see these strange, but familiar faces in his living room. We skype with them often but it's a little different face to face seeing them again after about 8 months of not seeing them in person. It only took a few minutes for him to get over his shyness and then he was ready to play. Especially with the new bag of small stuffed animals from his gramma. They were a great car toy.</div><div><br /></div><div>We headed to the Mediterranean coast to see King Herod's city of Caesarea. I have written of this place before earlier on our blog. The city is a port city that was a man-made port. Herod reshaped the coastline and made a harbor--just because he could. He also did not like salt water so in his palace on the sea, he built in a fresh water swimming pool--right in the sea! There is an underwater dive park that you can see if you're scuba certified (something Brad aspires to do someday!). The city is also significant to Paul's imprisonment which you can read about in the book of Acts. In addition to enjoying the site, Denyon loved picking up rocks and shells and going from one side of the pier and rushing to the other side...back and forth, back and forth. He is getting very fast! Before heading out, we all enjoyed some ice cream...yum!</div><div><br /></div><div>The drive to our hotel in Galilee from Caesarea is beautiful. We drove through valleys, grassy plains, and around mountains to the Sea of Galilee. Before heading to our hotel, we visited the seven springs near the sea and also climbed part way up the Mount of Beatitudes. Here we watched as the sun began to set and the sky was so clear. We could see all around the lake. Most notably, Brad recited the entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) which was so inspiring. It is amazing to hear scripture recited right where it could have possible been spoken by Jesus 2000 years ago. What a way to end the evening! Well, dinner I suppose topped it off...we had a delicious buffet dinner at our hotel (the food is amazing!).</div><div><br /></div><div>The next day we visited the cities of Capernaum and Korazim. These are two cities where Jesus did much of his teaching and Capernaum was sort of Jesus' home away from home. Here we saw the home of Peter's mother-in-law (Mark 1). Denyon enjoyed the Korazim synagogue very much because of the vast number of rocks present. </div><div><br /></div><div>We spent that afternoon just lounging at the hotel. We did some swimming, shopping, and playing. The water in both the pool and the Sea of Galilee was pretty chilly but we did manage to all get in...well, mom just got her feet wet. Again, we enjoyed a delicious dinner before heading off to bed. Brad and I are getting pretty good at building forts around Denyon so that he doesn't think he's missing out when it's time for him to go to bed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our last day in Galilee, we started at the Jordan River. We hiked back to a beautiful spot along the Jordan where the water is faster than probably most other places along the river. The water was up higher than we'd seen it before so it was a little trickier finding a good spot. We almost had a small casualty when my mom slipped on a rock crossing a small part of a side stream of the Jordan. She was quite graceful and was okay other than some bruises. It was one of the falls that looks funny but you don't want to laugh because you want to make sure the person is okay. But then, as the week went on, we kept laughing more and more...except my mom. In fact, she's probably not even laughing now as she reads this on the blog but I just couldn't keep it out of the details! Admist the fall, we enjoyed some peaceful quiet time at the Jordan River, each taking our own time to reflect on our time there.</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>We then headed to Bethsaida, another small village where Jesus spent much time in. Also noted for several disciple coming from there including for sure Phillip, Peter, and Andrew and possibly James and John. This town was no bigger than probably 500 people and to think five of the 12 disciples came from there and changed the world! Pretty amazing.</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div>To end our day (other than a delicious dinner at restaurant called Spaghettim with probably over a hundred different kinds of pasta) we saw the large scale excavation site of Bet Shan. The city was one of the decapolis cities around the sea of Galilee and along a major travel route across the country. I'm sure Jesus passed by or through there many times during his many travels.</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Wednesday we headed down to the Dead Sea area and enjoyed a three hour hike through Wadi Arugot. The hike in its entirety was a first for Brad and I too (we'd only been able to do part of it previously due to flash floods and early closing times). It was not quite what we expected but still gave mom and dad a clear picture of what the desert was like. This hike is among an oasis in the desert called Ein Gedi...nearly the only source of fresh water in this part of the Judean desert. We enjoyed lunch by some fresh water pools and Denyon especially enjoyed splashing in them and picking up rocks. Brad even caught a small crab!</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>To our disappointment (and my parents') we got to Masada only to find that it had closed three hours earlier due to the upcoming Passover holiday! What a bummer. We had no idea it would close down so early! Instead, we headed to the Dead Sea for a quick "float." It is amazing how you float effortlessly. Denyon and Brad had fun taking pictures of my parents and me.</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div>To finish the day we stopped at Wadi Kelt. This wadi system was along the ancient path from Jericho to Jerusalem so it is a great picture of the setting of the story of the Good Samaritan. The desert is so vast!</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>The last three days were spent in Jerusalem. We tried to mix the days with touring and rest. We all needed a little down time and my parents loved just playing with Denyon. The unique thing about their time here was that it was right during both the Jewish holiday Passover and the Christian holiday Easter. As you can imagine the city was packed! Although crowded, there were some special ceremonies taking place of which we took part of at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the possible location for Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection). It was so crowded but quite memorable to be there on Good Friday.</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Other Jerusalem sites we visited were the Old City, the Mount of Olives, the Temple Mount, the Western Wall, Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations, Brad's school Jerusalem University College, St. Ann's Church, and the Pools of Bethesda (John 5). Because of the holiday, the old city was packed and we were reminded of what it must have been like during the last week of Jesus' life when he was here. Pretty powerful!</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>On Friday night, the school hosted a Last Supper Meal in true triclenium style. This means the tables were on the floor, everyone ate in a reclined position on their left side so as to eat with their right hand (although I admit I could not hold the position and had to change positions often), no utensils were used, and the cafeteria was decorated in a first century style lit by the light of oil lamps. It was so cool to experience and none of us had ever done anything like it. Even Denyon enjoyed the experience although we just took turns playing with him. He wasn't really up for reclining around a table for two and a half hours!</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>The last day my parents were here we just rested. We spent some time reflecting on the week, took Denyon to the park, took naps, and had a delicious dinner. It was such a great week with them and it flew by so quickly. My mom served us all by helping out with dishes and meals all week which is always so nice for me. My dad said it was great to have the rest time and naps and said he needed to do that more often. Overall, it was a very blessed week. We were so grateful that my parents could come and they say they feel the same! It was sad to see them go, but at least this time it's only a couple months before we see them again. They will be home for the summer before they head back overseas...this time not back to Japan but to their new location in Spain! That gives us another reason to travel the world! Until next time...</div><div></div><div></div><div>Love,</div><div>Shallon</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-39757695914981587442009-03-12T08:30:00.006-04:002009-03-13T17:10:05.202-04:00Galilee Weekend (March)Well, after settling in to the second semester, we recently enjoyed a four-day getaway to one of our favorite places in the country--the Galilee. This time, it was more beautiful than ever with vibrant colors of wildflowers, bright green grass, and magnificent blue skies. It was absolutely amazing!<br /><br />We spent Friday driving to the region via a different route that took us through the Gilboa mountain range. Along the way, we stopped at the Beit Alfa Synagogue which has the oldest and most well-preserved floor mosaic in the country. It was beautiful. We drove up and along the mountain range, and upon reaching the top, there was an old military watch tower that you could climb and see for miles towards the Jezreel Valley, the Carmel Mountain range, and even to beautiful Mt. Hermon (which is snow-capped this time of year). This mountain range is where the biblical story of the battle between Saul and Johnathon took place. We enjoyed some hiking while on the mountain as well.<br /><br />We then left the Gilboa mountain range and drove around and to the top of Mt. Tabor on our way to our hotel on the Sea of Galilee. Traditionally, Mt. Tabor is where the transfiguration story of Jesus is located, although many scholars (and the up and coming scholar--Brad Gray) believe this actually took place on Mt. Hermon. Still, the view was amazing and we were coming down just as the sun was setting. We arrived at our hotel to enjoy a nice room and an amazing buffet dinner.<br /><br />Saturday we spent the day in the northernmost part of Galilee. We began our day at Tel Dan which has the largest Solomonic style gate in Israel and also a city gate from the time of the Canaanite period--almost 4000 years old and it still stands to its original height of seven meters! The ancient site is only part of the attraction as the whole place is a beautiful nature reserve. We enjoyed the beautiful hikes and Denyon loved it too. Anytime we'd get him out of the backpack he loved hiking along, with his main interests being picking up rocks. The Dan Spring is one of the main sources that flows into the Jordan River, and with the recent rains, it was flowing abundantly. There is even a natural kids wading pool (that was absolutely freezing!) that Denyon loved splashing in! He just loves any kind of water.<br /><br />From Dan we went to the Banias Falls and the ancient city of Caesarea Philippi. The falls were amazing and were extremely powerful. Just standing on the lookout you could feel the cool mist from the water bursting forth. It was great. We enjoyed some great hiking again and the weather couldn't have been better. And again, Denyon enjoyed picking up rocks and throwing them into the Banias Spring. It's definitely one of his favorite pasttimes.<br /><br />Once again, as every night, we enjoyed a delicious buffet dinner. The food is so great at the hotel where we always stay so it's always a highlight.<br /><br />Sunday, we spent the day at a place called Hamat Gader. It's a small family park with the main attraction being natural hot springs. We spent the morning letting Denyon enjoy his way through a children's petting zoo with turtles, bunnies, a fawn, a goat, and his favorite--little chicks. We even got a picture of him kissing one of the chicks! It was so sweet and brought back memories of how each year my dad would hatch chicks for his classroom and we'd get to have them at home with us. They're so cute!<br /><br />The place also had an extensive alligator farm in which Denyon walked through repeatedly saying, "Chomp! Chomp!" He loved it. He also saw an ostrich, baboons, kangaroos, and racoons. And to top it off we saw a parrot show where we saw the birds ride tricycles, roller skate, and even ride a bike on a tightrope! It was great and it enthralled us all.<br /><br />After eating lunch, we spent a couple hours enjoying the hot springs. The water felt great and wasn't too warm for Denyon. There was one small pool that was shallow enough that Denyon could stand in. It had low benches all around the water so he liked to sit on those and look for little rocks. In the same pool, were mini waterfalls that you could sit under which Brad and I particularly enjoyed. It was a relaxing and very enjoyable day!<br /><br />Monday, we spent the majority of our day at Gamla. This city is located on the north eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and was home to the group known as the zealots. It has one of the most ancient synagogues in the country. We first hiked back to the Gamla Waterfall which is the highest fall in Israel. It was beautiful and neither of us had seen it before. After lunch, we explored the ancient site and pushed our way through the overgrown path. We were literally walking through beautiful flowers even though we were on the path. The place was just bursting with life and it was great. I will admit I had a bit of a headache after the hike due to the pollen that was stirred up and probably all over our clothes. Although beautiful, it didn't due much for my allergies! Denyon even had his first taste of how flowers do not taste good...he thought he'd try one and see!<br /><br />The last place we visited was the site of Kursi. This is traditionally the site of Jesus' miracle of the demoniac and the pigs drowning in the sea. Today, stands beautiful remains of a church from about the 4th-5th century A.D. It was a small site but definitely worth seeing. And Denyon had one more opportunity before his long slumber in the car back to Jerusalem to pick up rocks.<br /><br />Overall, I think it was one of, if not our favorite, trip. The weather was beautiful and the scenery even better. We just had such an enjoyable time as a family and really cherished this amazing opportunity to just go to Galilee for the weekend. It's hard to believe that our time here is soon coming to a close. We had enjoyed our time here so much and are so grateful to have had another amazing mini-vacation!<br /><br />Until next time, Shalom!<br /><br />Brad, Shallon, and DenyonUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-52532897581169085182009-03-10T03:10:00.001-04:002009-03-10T03:12:18.416-04:002nd Semester ClassesWell, I (Brad) am beginning my sixth week of classes for this second semester. As was the case with the first semester, I have outstanding classes. I am still blown away by how much I am learning in such a short period of time. The only main difference between last semester and this semester are the number of field study days. This is largely due to the fact that I don’t have “Physical Settings” this semester. I still have a number of field studies, though, and on those weekends that are empty we (as a family) travel to different sites. So in a sense, I am in the field almost as much as the first semester … it’s just that many of those days my classmates are Shallon and Denyon (which is awesome). Anyhow, here are the titles and descriptions of the classes I am taking this semester.<br /><br />Cultural Backgrounds of the Bible ~ This class is an investigation of various aspects of life in ancient times (society, social and personal identity, forms of subsistence, economy, art forms, religious expression and the like) to help understand biblical life and customs more accurately. My professor for this class is Paul Wright, who I had for “Physical Settings” and “Ancient Egypt and the Biblical World” in the first semester, and who I greatly enjoy as a teacher.. This class is hands down my favorite class this semester.<br /><br />The Parables of Jesus and Rabbinic Meshalim ~ This class is an analysis of the genre of parables within the social, cultural, literary and religious context of Rabbinic Judaism. This course emphasizes the context of Jesus’ parables by comparing them to the Rabbinic Meshalim (parables). Essentially, we look at parables of Jesus and then look at classical rabbinic literature to see if there are helpful connections that shed light on the teachings of Jesus. This class is taught by Rabbi Moshe, who I had for “Classical Rabbinic Literature” in the first semester. Rabbi Moshe has to be one of the greatest guys I have ever met. I love the guy! And his classes are outstanding. By the way, Shallon is auditing this class.<br /><br />Biblical Archaeology II ~ This class is a survey of the results of the archaeological investigations of the Persian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine periods in the land of the Bible; emphasis is placed upon relating archaeological findings to historical records such as those of the Bible. This class is a continuation of “Biblical Archaeology I” from the first semester with the same professor, Gaby Barkay, teaching this class as well. Gaby is a brilliant archaeologist and teacher. I have greatly enjoyed him both semesters. And Shallon is auditing this class as well.<br /><br />History of the Second Temple Period ~ This class focuses on the historical, cultural and religious development of the Jewish people in the land of the Bible during the Persian, Hellenistic and early Roman periods. Focus is given on the historical framework of the period, the development of religious ideas and institutions, and the seminal influences which shaped early Judaism and Christianity. This class is taught by Yigael Levin, who I did not have last semester, but he is a brilliant man and I am enjoying him a lot.<br /><br />Historical Geography of the Land of the Bible During the Old Testament Period ~ This class on the study of the historical geography of the land of the Bible as represented in<br />ancient texts (the Bible as well as Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Canaanite sources). Emphasis is placed on the interrelationship of history and geography during the Bronze and Iron Ages, including settlement, economic, military, and communication factors in ancient Israel. This class is taught by the legendary Anson Rainey. Although the class feels a big “dry” at times, it is an honor and privilege to learn under this great scholar.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-91420843125023222232009-02-24T07:51:00.000-05:002009-02-24T07:52:27.056-05:00Weekend GetawaySince we’ve been here in Israel, Brad and I have only been able to go on dinner dates or a few half day dates without Denyon. It is a little trickier going away overnight because we don’t have family around to stay with him. However, this past weekend we were able to find a great girl to stay with Denyon for an overnight! Shantra is a new student this semester and is about our age and is absolutely great. She was so excited when we asked her if she’d like to stay with Denyon for a couple days. We were thrilled too. So, we had a little post Valentine’s getaway!<br /><br />Friday morning we headed down to Ein Gedi (an oasis in the desert near the Dead Sea) and began our “date” hiking in Wadi Arogot. We had hoped to do a little bit of a different hike than what we did, but due to the warning of flash floods, we weren’t able to do the particular hike we’d planned. Instead, we did the most difficult climb we’ve done here in Israel and climbed a total of 1470 feet. It was rough, rocky, slippery terrain and it gave us quite a workout. We definitely could not have done this one with Denyon on our backs so it worked out great that we climbed this mountain just the two of us. The view from the top was amazing with the Dead Sea and the country of Jordan in one direction and the desert everywhere else you could see. After coming back down, we hiked back to a hidden waterfall where we refreshed ourselves in the cool waters of the natural spring and waterfall. It was great!<br /><br />After that, we hiked through another wadi called Salvadora. It’s named this because at the end of the hike there is an El Salvadora tree that is from South America. It’s the only one in Israel and no one really knows how it got there. It is a massive tree and definitely looks out of place in the desert. Brad had been there previously and wanted me to be able to see it. I’m glad I did.<br /><br />We then made our way to the Masada guest house where we were staying. We enjoyed the best shower we’ve had here in Israel (you see…our shower in our apartment sometimes has no hot water and the pressure is very weak so we’ve learned to appreciate a really nice shower). The price of the room was worth just the shower! We had a delicious dinner and enjoyed a relaxing evening just the two of us.<br /><br />The next morning we had big plans to enjoy a day of relaxation and rejuvenation at the Ein Gedi Spa. We were planning on getting a massage, bathing in the hot springs, covering ourselves in Dead Sea mud—the whole bit! Little did we know nature had something different planned for us. On our way to the spa, about one mile from the spa, we were held up by a major flash flood through Wadi Hever. See, in the desert, when it rains in Jerusalem and the hill country, about once a year or every few years, all of the wadi’s (dry riverbeds essentially) flood. It is something you can’t really imagine without seeing because the majority of the time everything is completely dry in the desert. The water was rushing forcefully across the road and there was no way to pass. We missed the beginning of the flash flood by maybe 3-5 minutes because there were only a few cars stopped ahead of us. So for the next two hours, we walked along the raging flood and saw nature’s power at its best. It was so cool to see the water surging from the wadi. It was so powerful. It was easy for us to understand now why flash floods are the number one killer in the desert. It could take you away so quickly if you were caught in the bottom of the wadi! In addition, as we looked north along the Dead Sea, we could see evidence of three or four other wadis also flooding at the same time because there were lines of brown into the Dead Sea from the water flooding into the Sea. We’ve uploaded one of our videos of the flood to the internet and you can view it at <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4217776326350396833" target="_blank">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4217776326350396833</a>.<br /><br />Needless to say, we never made it to the spa. Had we been on the other side of the flood, we would have been stuck between two floods for probably the rest of the day and possibly overnight. The whole weekend Jerusalem was getting hammered with thunderstorms so the floods were not likely to let up for hours and hours. In order to get back home, we had to take the long-cut through the desert and the shephelah…a trek that was almost triple the time it would’ve taken us on typical route.<br /><br />On our way home, we experienced rain in the desert…another enigma. That just doesn’t happen very often. We also stopped at a site called the stalactite cave which was incredible. As a child, I grew up in southern Indiana where we frequently went to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky on school field trips where the same sort of formation occurs. The phenomenon of limestone stalactite and stalagmite caves is quite incredible and this cave was no exception. Brad had never seen anything like it and I was equally impressed.<br /><br />We did make it home at about the same time as we’d planned, we just weren’t quite as relaxed as we thought we’d be. All in all, it was a fabulous weekend and we were so grateful to experience something that most people in the world have never seen. Many Israelis have never even experienced a flash flood so we were pretty fortunate. To top off the weekend, we went out to eat at a delicious restaurant that has amazing wings and the best hamburgers we’ve had in Israel. A good hamburger is hard to come by here so Brad, Shantra, and I had no problem downing the whole burger! It was a delicious way to top off and incredible weekend!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-39660261423135318862009-01-31T07:26:00.008-05:002009-02-01T02:24:29.185-05:00Denyon's Walking!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV1n-xu_kLKqJtNu0KxLFUb4NtrQ5IioPUm9zccV47GxcwlnqBunjqbOGdZZWtVLk-EG3v10KdNVu39wVc3aB3P3nejBe41VGg7c_OCMO1Lq6kqst3cN9panKuKIRoIdvwgbURytvNufF5/s1600-h/IMG_5767.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV1n-xu_kLKqJtNu0KxLFUb4NtrQ5IioPUm9zccV47GxcwlnqBunjqbOGdZZWtVLk-EG3v10KdNVu39wVc3aB3P3nejBe41VGg7c_OCMO1Lq6kqst3cN9panKuKIRoIdvwgbURytvNufF5/s200/IMG_5767.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297726074816220546" /></a><br />Well, the big day has arrived! Denyon is walking! Before today, he was only taking a few steps toward us, but wasn’t brave enough to really take off. We knew that he was capable of doing it if he wanted to and today he finally decided it was time. It happened just like that and all of a sudden he decided to walk through our entire apartment. I quickly grabbed the video camera so we captured this special moment. He walked from his room, to the living room, and back again to his room! It was so cool and we’re so proud of him. He was pretty excited himself too. We hope you enjoy watching this special moment by copying this link into your internet browser: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3523911448225821001</span> (until we can get it figured out, the video is in low resolution). Have a great day!<div><br />Love,<br />Shallon & Brad</div><div><br /></div><div>P.S. Click on the image of Denyon to enlarge!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-72035308951798572732009-01-31T07:19:00.001-05:002009-01-31T07:22:16.961-05:00A Visit from the Gray'sLast week we had the privilege of spending the week with Brad’s family. Brad’s parents, Gary and Cindi, along with Brad’s brother Doug and his girlfriend, Valerie, came to visit us for the week in Israel. We had a wonderful time and built many memories while they were here. Although they claimed they were equally excited to see us all, it’s just not true! They were most thrilled to visit their one and only grandson/nephew—Denyon! He was continually the life of the party and wowed them with his many new sounds, words, and abilities. Denyon loved every minute of the attention too. Cindi couldn’t say her famous phrase, “It’s me Nana!” enough and Denyon didn’t seem to mind. Denyon enjoyed riding in the backpack carrier on GPa’s back (instead of just his daddy’s). He loved playing with his uncle Dougie (and also looked great sporting the coat Doug got him last Christmas for this year). And to my surprise, Denyon enjoyed cuddling more with Valerie than he did me! Needless to say, he loved having his family come to see him and they loved him too! Even if we would’ve just stayed at our apartment in Jerusalem, I think they would have been very happy. However, we did enjoy some sightseeing as well.<br /><br />We spent about a day and a half touring around Jerusalem. Among the sites we visited were the Western Wall and the Western Wall tunnels, the Temple Mount, The Church of the Holy Sepulcher (remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus), The Pools of Bethesda (John 5), and St. Anne’s Church. We also did some shopping through the Old City and the family found many treasures for our friends and family back home.<br /><br />We also spent about three days touring through the region of Galilee. We visited the triangle cities where Jesus did the majority of his ministry in Chorazin, Capernaum, and Bethsaida. In addition we summated Mt. Arbel (which was a little bit of a challenge but we knew they could do it). We saw the Ancient Galilee boat at the museum at our hotel (as well as did a little shopping there). We were able to experience the beautiful Jordan River and among our family’s favorite experiences was listening to Brad recite the entire Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5-7) on top of what could have been the location for this event. It was very powerful! Upon leaving the Galilee region, we visited the large Decapolis city of Bet Shan—one of the largest excavations in Israel.<br /><br />We also spent a day visiting the site of Masada—the remains of Herod’s palace in the middle of the Judean desert. Everyone was particularly happy to experience the 70 degree weather since coming from the well-below freezing temperatures in Michigan! We then headed to the beautiful oasis of Ein Gedi where we hiked to numerous waterfalls. GPa and Denyon had a great time splashing in the pools of spring water as well. We ended that day with a quick “float” in the Dead Sea—something that just has to be experienced firsthand.<br /><br />In addition to the above, we enjoyed lots of delicious meals, great conversations, tired feet and minds, playtime with Denyon, and more. It was a great visit and we are so grateful they were all able to come. It definitely was extremely special for us and we are pretty certain they felt the same (although they didn’t realize how hilly the terrain would be---something their feet weren’t expecting)! We are so blessed to have family like them and bless God for such an amazing visit. Thanks for coming Mom and Dad, Doug and Valerie! We miss you already!<br /><br />Love,<br />Brad, Shallon, and DenyonUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-40406017074774225332009-01-11T06:42:00.000-05:002009-01-11T06:43:01.259-05:00A Trip of Ups and Downs (Greece)Any of you who have done any traveling know that traveling in and of itself can have its difficulties…you know car trouble, late flights, being lost in a new place, not speaking a language, tension between family members, different food, etc. Well, most of the time just a few things go wrong on a trip, but occasionally you have the trip that wins records for how many things can go wrong on one trip. Our recent trip to Greece could be classified as on of “those” trips! We had some great moments and saw some beautiful places, so I’ll try to highlight those and mention more briefly all of our difficulties.<br /><br />We flew in to Thessaloniki, Greece on Saturday December 27. The flight went smoothly and we had no trouble getting our rental car. Despite having horrible windshield wipers (which turned out to be pretty scary driving through rain and snow in the mountains on our way down to southern Greece), the car was great. Since everything was in Greek and it took us driving around for about 45 minutes before even finding the street signs on the sides of the buildings (instead of on the street corners like here in Israel and the US), it took us at least an hour once we got into town to find our hotel. Talk about stressful for Brad driving in extremely congested traffic on very narrow streets and me trying to give directions reading a map in Greek! Even if we wanted to pull over to look at the map together it was nearly impossible because the streets were so crowded there was no where to pull over or park (one night we looked for a spot for an hour for dinner, then gave up and went back to our hotel and walked the distance to eat). That scenario was repeated several times on the trip but we always did eventually end up where we needed to be. Nevertheless—very frustrating.<br /><br />We spent one day in Thessaloniki and visited two museums---a Christian Byzantine museum and an Archaeological museum. Both were excellent and free because we went on a Sunday! The ancient sites consisted of an agora including a theater, roman palace complex, large archway, and several large churches. The weather was very cold so it was nice to be able to be inside the museums…especially for Denyon’s sake. We thought we’d miss out on snow for the winter but Thessaloniki gave us a little bit of it and also lots of Christmas décor!<br /><br />We drove to Philippi for the day and had a great time. In the course of the day there were probably less than a dozen people at the site. The site is very large and includes a large palace area, several temples, a large agora, a theater that is very well in tact, residential dwellings, and even remains of the old roman road which would have most likely been the road that Paul traveled along during his tours. The acropolis of the city offered a magnificent view of the surrounding areas and we had a great time climbing to the top. The weather got into the 50s in the afternoon so it was perfect for climbing. Once on top, we even got to climb part way up into an old watchtower that allowed you to see for miles. The sky was clear blue that day so it was an amazing view. This day was one of our favorites. It was also very meaningful because our church Mars Hill in Grand Rapids just finished a year long series on the book of Philippians. What an experience to go there and see remains of what Paul must have seen!<br /><br />We had one travel day where we drove from northern Greece to southern Greece where we would end up just outside of Korinthos (present day Corinth). The scenery was absolutely amazing and we did some amazing detours on the way. First, we took a scenic path to and partially up the base of Mt. Olympus. The area was completely snow-covered and was a winter wonderland. It was one of the most beautiful things either of us had ever seen. We did not go to the top of the mountain because the road conditions did not seem safe enough to us. We didn’t want to risk being stuck in the middle of no where…especially with Denyon. We captured some of the beauty in our pictures although it’s one of those places that pictures don’t quite do justice. After Mt. Olympus, we continued on heading towards Delphi. In order to get there, we had to go around and through a mountain range and actually drove through a snow storm in the mountains. It was incredible. The mountains were snow covered and the view amazing.<br /><br />We did arrive at Delphi but only 30 minutes before the main site closed. We quickly visited and saw the large temple to Apollo and theater. There was another section of the site that was open another couple hours so we did stroll around the temple to Athena and roman gymnasium area. Delphi is in the mountains so again the view was amazing and we had come down enough from where we were that it was bright and sunny and probably mid-40s as opposed to a snow storm.<br /><br />After Delphi we continued our way towards Korinthos and arrived at our hotel in the small town of Loutraki, just about 3 km north of Korinthos. Here, we actually found our hotel and a place to eat, all within 30 minutes (this was somewhat of a record because all during our trip we had trouble finding our hotel and a good place—or a place—to eat dinner!). The hotel was one block from the sea and although way to cold for swimming, it did make for some nice pictures in the morning. We got in pretty late and left in the morning to head out to find the ancient site of Corinth.<br /><br />You would think that such a large site like Corinth would be easy to find and well marked, but that was not the case. Finding the site was quite an adventure and although we left the hotel by about 8:30 a.m., we didn’t get to the site until almost 10:30 a.m. even though it was only maybe 15 km away from our hotel! It was very hard to remain patient in these kinds of moments. The site itself including a museum including the remains found from the city, the lower city including a large agora (marketplace), several temples including a large Apollo temple, a large palace complex with an exquisite fountain system, a theater, and our favorite part—the acropolis.<br /><br />As with many of these sites, they are not just from one period in time. What remains on the acropolis today is largely from the medieval period and little from the time of Paul. That being said, this was probably our favorite site on the entire trip. We drove part of the way up and then hiked through the ancient city gate and up the rest of the way. On top were extensive medieval walls surrounding the entire city including a large Hellenistic tower and monumental gates. We felt like we were in some medieval movie just waiting for the battle to begin. There were even openings in the walls where archers could release their arrows from the small opening. We followed a path that went all the way around the city and kept us away from pretty much all other visitors. When looking at the site from below, it was like a large castle. It is amazing what previous civilizations were able to build in order to sustain themselves and stay protected. And we also had a great view of the lower city of Corinth from the top.<br /><br />Just as we were getting ready to leave Korinthos and head to Athens, and thinking that the day had gone pretty smooth, I noticed the stroller wasn’t riding quite so smoothly. Since the weather was cold, we tried to keep Denyon in our stroller as much as possible. It has a cover so we can keep him enclosed and wrapped up to stay warm. We have taken the stroller everywhere…ancient sites, dirt roads, in the woods, etc. If it’s too rough of a climb or there are no good paths, then we use our hiking backpack to carry Denyon. However, at this particular moment, we were on the smooth asphalt in the parking lot and I looked down and our tire was completely flat! Why not? We looked more closely and I had actually run over a tiny nail in the road. We didn’t know what to do so we thought we’d go into the town and try to find some place that could repair the tire. We knew we had to get it fixed otherwise the remaining three days (what turned out to be six) and the airport would be very difficult and somewhat miserable. We were unsuccessful finding a place in Korinthos and only wasted about an hour. So, we headed into Athens, only to have difficulty finding our hotel and a place to eat again. This was also New Year’s Eve but we were too exhausted to stay up and celebrate. We figured when we woke up in the morning around 7 a.m., the ball would be dropping in Times Square and we could celebrate it then. Sure enough, as I was getting dressed in the morning, Dick Clarks’ Rockin’ New Year’s Eve celebration was in full swing!<br /><br />Despite being New Year’s Day, we figured the main sites in Athens would still be open. We assumed it would be like closing Disney World on New Year’s Day. We assumed wrong and pretty much everything was closed! We then wished we had stayed up and celebrated since we could have just slept in. It turned out to be a somewhat relaxing day and we did get to climb the areopogus…aka Mars Hill, see Hadrian’s Arch, the temple of Olympian Zeus, and climb a hill just opposite of the acropolis where we were able to take some amazing photos of the Parthenon. Probably our best pics of our time in Athens came from atop that hill. It was a beautiful clear blue day unlike the other days in Athens which were cloudy and overcast. The other bright spot of the day was that we actually found a tire repair shop a couple blocks from out hotel. They insisted that they only fix car tires, and Brad insisted that they please help us fix ours (it’s similar to a mountain bike tire) and eventually they repaired it free of charge. It was amazing!<br /><br />So, our last day of the trip, Friday we tried to pack in the sites seeing the acropolis and lower city of ancient Athens, the Roman Forum, the ancient agora, Hadrian’s Library, the National Archaeological Museum, and even made it to the Piraeus port. We had a complete and full day and even ended it by eating that the Hard Rock Café. We even bought some wings to take to the airport because our flight was at 1:30 a.m. on Saturday morning…we figured we’d need the food. We did need the food but not for the airport.<br /><br />We had already checked out of our hotel earlier in the day, but our car was parked outside of our hotel. We needed to rearrange some bags to get them ready for the plane, but the backpack carrier in our check-in luggage, etc. So we pulled out our bags---right in front of our hotel in the bright lights. Just before we were ready, we needed to change Denyon and I was just getting the last of our carry on bags in order. Brad was changing Denyon in the trunk and I turned to put something in Brad’s carry on bag. It was only about 10 seconds and I looked down and my bag was gone! This was the bag that included my purse, wallet, keys, both our cell phones, our Ipods, my eye glasses, Denyon and my passports, Denyon’s blanket and “Mr. Froggy”—pretty much everything that we had that had any value. Brad went tearing down the streets to see if he could find anyone but nothing. This guy must have been a professional…it happened so fast. Looking back, both of us can vaguely remember someone walking sort-of close, but that’s it. And this all happened Friday night after the US Embassy had already closed.<br /><br />So, we spent the rest of the evening calling to cancel credit cards, change our flight, called the embassy (which they told us they couldn’t do anything until Monday when they reopened), etc. So we were stuck in Athens at least another three days! It was awful and the worst feeling. We were all so ready to come home. Luckily, Brad had his passport on him and he did have a little cash and one credit card that I didn’t have so we didn’t have to cancel. Saturday we did absolutely nothing (other than file a police report) and just relaxed. It felt like a bad dream.<br /><br />On Sunday morning, just as we were heading to breakfast, we got a call from Brad’s parents. They gave us the number of a couple in Athens who offered to come and pick us up. This couple was the parents of Cindi’s (Brad’s mom) roommate from college’s daughter-in-law’s best friend! Did you follow that? Anyways, they came and got us and allowed us to stay in a suite at a college in Athens that they direct. They are a missionary couple who previously lived in Athens for five years, then Russia for 17, and just moved back to Athens. They were absolutely a God-send and made our last two days so much more bearable. It was wonderful to be around people that cared, have home cooked food, and a nice place to stay. We don’t know what we would’ve done without their rescue!<br /><br />Fortunately, on Monday when the embassy opened, we were able to get in with no problems and have our passports reissued. We had scheduled our flight for Tuesday morning at 1:30 a.m. so we would be going home. What a relief. Our flight went well, other than none of us really slept much. Denyon only slept about 5 hours over the course of the evening when he’s used to getting nearly 12 and Brad and I got less than an hour. All we wanted to do when we got to our apartment at 5:30 a.m. was go to sleep. But, that did not happen.<br /><br />We had emailed our landlord and asked her to leave a key for us in the mailbox. She said she would do so, but she did not. So, we were locked out! The only thing we could think to do was to wake our neighbor who was in charge of the building. We thought that perhaps she’d have a key to our apartment. We felt awful for waking her (and her two young children) and she didn’t have a key either. Because our phones were stolen too, we didn’t have our landlord’s number and we tried to find it via old emails, but that was unsuccessful too. Just as we were getting ready to go to a friend’s house in the neighborhood to see if we could crash on the couch, Brad had an idea. The back balconies from our neighbors and ours are close and he thought perhaps he could either jump the distance or climb over. Turns out he was right so he climbed over and opened our back door. The main lock is broken so we just use a bike lock for which we know the combination. We then passed Denyon over (we were careful), passed a few bags over, then I climbed over. It definitely could have been a scene from a movie. But we could now at least sleep in our own beds. The problem now was that we were locked into our apartment because you also have to unlock the door with a key from the inside. Later, our landlord came over with what she thought was the right key and it wasn’t. So we had to call a locksmith and pay for a new lock! What a mess.<br /><br />So, overall, we were able to see some amazing things and beautiful scenery. It is always incredible to see places of the Bible so for that we are very grateful. But despite that, I’m not sure we’ll be disappointed if we never return to Athens. Bless God we were all safe and we are back to Israel safely (by the way, the conflict in the Gaza strip has not affected us at all and here in Jerusalem we don’t hear, see, or even know anything is taking place…we are too far from the conflict). What happened is one of those things that we just don’t understand and know is a result of a broken world. We are blessed that we are unharmed and have the means to replace what we needed to. Thank you always for your love and support as we continue our journey here! This was just another part of the adventure!<br /><br />Happy New Year to all!<br /><br />Love,<br />Shallon, Brad, and DenyonUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-11197152996767024282009-01-11T06:38:00.000-05:002009-01-11T06:39:27.164-05:00Brad's Trip to EgyptOne of the classes I took during the first semester was called “Ancient Egypt and the Biblical World.” We spent the majority of the class learning the history of Egypt and all of its related aspects: pharaohs, dynasties, pyramids, burial customs, texts, religion (beliefs, gods and goddesses, etc.), daily life, etc. The final two weeks of the class, we spent our time looking at all of the connections between ancient Egypt and the Bible. It was incredibly eye opening to see all of the parallels and connections. Much of what the Israelites did had its foundation in the customs of ancient Egypt. Some examples … the pharaoh used to make journeys with a “tabernacle” … the Temple of God was of a similar floor plan to that of the Egyptian temples. In fact, Thutmose III (ruled about 450 years before Solomon) decorated the inside of his temple at Karnak with images of floral and fauna from the land of Canaan. Solomon did the exact same thing. Furthermore, Solomon’s government structure was directly borrowed from Egypt. And the list goes on …<br /><br />The culmination of the class was an eight-day field study to Egypt at the end of the semester (December 6-14). It was a remarkable trip. We got to do many things that I did not do on my only other trip to Egypt (April 2007). So a lot of what I saw was new to me. Even the things I got to see again, they made so much more sense to me. I didn’t know anything about anything the first time I went to Egypt. But having been to Egypt and then having an entire semester learning about Egypt, this return trip was unbelievably rewarding. The pieces of a giant puzzle began falling together rather quickly. Now, since it is hard to describe everything I saw and did in Egypt, I have included many pictures of my trip in the picture slide show entitled, “Field Study to Egypt.” It should give you a good idea of how much I experienced in just over a week. Enjoy!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-85394815557346799042008-12-21T08:52:00.002-05:002008-12-21T08:55:46.121-05:00Merry Christmas!Hello everyone! We just wanted to say Merry Christmas to all of you! We will be celebrating here with some friends and just enjoying being here in Jerusalem during this special time. We will greatly miss our family and friends back home. This week we are preparing for our trip to Greece and also just relaxing a bit. Perhaps we'll do some sightseeing around the Old City and maybe even the zoo. Once we return from all of our travels, we'll give you the full update. Brad also plans on sharing his Egypt trip with you. Until then, have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!<br /><br />Love,<br />Brad, Shallon, and DenyonUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-89687835012835209452008-12-11T13:46:00.003-05:002008-12-11T15:27:04.463-05:00Our Semester Break Begins!Another semester is complete and now it's six weeks break before the next semester starts! Brad is currently in Egypt for a week to conclude his class on the History of Ancient Egypt. He is going all over the country to see various temples, pryamids, and museums and also has enjoyed floating down the Nile several times on boats to star gaze! Perhaps he'll write more about his adventures in Egypt. <br /><br />This particular absence of Brad has been harder on Denyon and me because our good friends Erica and Lylah have now gone back to the states. We miss them very much already. Fortunately, I have made some other friends so that helps. One friend, Winona, has two children and they live just a couple blocks away. We had a park playdate and also had dinner at their house while Brad was away. We're also a part of the same playgroup that meets on Tuesday mornings at a local park. A large portion of the group is a singing time which Denyon just loves. It's so fun to see him interact with the music and the props associated with the songs. It's good for both him and me to socialize with other kids and moms so we've really enjoyed this Tuesday morning adventure. <br /><br />Today Denyon and I spent the morning at the zoo! He just loves it and it's good for me too. It is a great way to get out of the city and enjoy nature. The zoo is beautiful and so well kept. Today the tigers were especially entertaining. There were two right up by the glass for proabably ten or so minutes. Denyon just smiled and giggled as he watched them. He also again enjoyed the petting zoo and tried to tackle the goats. He's definitely not afraid. Given the opportunity I think he would have tacked the tigers too. The penguins were quite enjoyable again. Denyon is becoming more and more vocal now so after every animal exhibit we viewed, as we were leaving he's say "bye bye!" As if to say good-bye to the animals. It was so cute!<br /><br />Speaking of being more vocal--it's amazing what Denyon is learning. He can now say, "mama", "dada", "book", "bye-bye", "ball", "Lylah",and "bonk!" As if he's "bonking" his head! We have also been doing signs with him for quite some time and they are really starting to catch on. He can sign the following words: milk, more, help, please, hat, all done, and has good attempts at thank you and play. It is so helpful for us in our communication and so much better than whining for something! And he is enjoying making animals sounds including a lion, sheep, cat, dog, and pig. It is just so amazing what his little brain knows.<br /><br />As mentioned above, we have about six weeks before our next semester begins. During that time we are planning to spend a week in Greece. We will travel to Thessaloniki, Philippi, Mt. Olympus, Corinth, and Athens. We are also hoping to go to Eliat--the southern city in IsrUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-42650877173633081742008-12-02T13:48:00.001-05:002008-12-02T13:50:26.667-05:00Park & ZooAfter a whole semester of enjoying days at the park, we finally have some proof to show how much fun Denyon has when we go. Whenever Denyon and I go somewhere (like the park), for one of three reasons we usually don’t have the camera: one—Brad has it on a field study; two—I forget to bring it; three—it was broken and we were waiting for our replacement camera to arrive! So, this past week Brad and I went together to the park (only a block from our apartment) and Denyon played around on the equipment for at least an hour. He loves to crawl along the bridges and through the tunnels. He loves to climb up the stairs and peek down the slide, although he’s not brave enough to go down by himself yet. He has to know that mommy or daddy is there to catch him at the bottom, which is actually comforting to me. I’m sure it won’t be long before he whizzes down by himself when I’m not expecting it. The park is so close that we usually make it there every day, even if it’s only for a short while. It’s so nice to be outside here still and Denyon loves to play. Unlike at home where most of the parks are covered with grass, here, the playground sits upon sand. So the sand adds another fun aspect of play to the park.<br /><br />In addition to time at the park this week, Brad and I, along with our friends Erica and Larry took the kids to the zoo. I mentioned it in an earlier blog but the zoo here is great. Last time we were there Denyon had so much fun watching the penguins, although this time the penguins didn’t put on quite the same show. They weren’t swimming like they were last time. Denyon is getting into making some animal sounds including a lion, cat, dog, and sheep. So, when he saw the lion—he roared, and he “baaaaed” when he saw the sheep at the zoo petting zoo. He tried to hug a goat while his friend Lylah gripped onto her daddy’s leg because she was a little timid. He cracks us up! He also tried to climb up the fence to get into the cage with the bears! He was a long way from success but he still thought he’d try. There was also an exhibit of molekats (sort of like groundhogs) where there were tunnels you could crawl through and then pop your head through clear plastic bubbles right inside the exhibit. It was quite entertaining for the kids and they had fun crawling through the tunnels. Overall, Denyon had a great time exploring the world of animals, much of it riding on top of his dad’s shoulders. I remember riding on my dad like that and loving it…Denyon does too. And both times we’ve gone to the zoo, the next morning the first thing Denyon pulls out to play with are his little stuffed animals. I think there’s definitely a connection!<br /><br />This is Brad’s last week of school before his trip to Egypt so he’s preparing for finals. We’re already grieving the fact that our friends Erica, Larry, and Lylah will be leaving on Sunday. Denyon has had so much fun playing with Lylah and often says her name with so much excitement! We bless God for these wonderful friends and will be so sad to see them go. <br /><br />Until next time, seasons greetings!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-51393907989706755092008-11-22T07:23:00.001-05:002008-11-22T07:27:30.786-05:00A short recapDespite the typical rain Jerusalem usually receives this time of year, the past several weeks have been beautiful. I know back home many of you are experiencing the winter wonderland of the Midwest already so it’s difficult to say that here the sun is shining and it’s currently 74 degrees! That has been pretty typical lately and it’s been great. This morning did feel a bit like fall though with a cool, crisp breeze. We definitely missed the beautiful colors of fall and we will miss seeing the land blanketed white, but we are enjoying this break from the harsh cold and winter for a season.<br /><br />To take advantage of this beautiful weather, Denyon and I have been getting outside a lot. Brad spent four days in Jordan recently so we had to keep busy. One of Brad’s classmates, Larry, has an amazing wife (Erica) and daughter (Lylah) who we love to get together with when the guys are gone. Lylah is one month younger than Denyon, although much bigger, and she and Denyon just love playing together. During Brad’s time in Jordan, we had lunch at a couple different parks, dinner at our house, walked and shopped in the old city, played in a fountain in the new city, and enjoyed Shabbat meal together. The time passes much quicker when we all get together and play. Another friend, Winona, and her two children Samuel (3) and Elyanah (1) join us often for play as well. Her husband attends Hebrew University—another university here located on Mt. Scopus.<br /><br />Awhile back, when the guys were in Galilee, we spent the day at the zoo and the kids loved it. Jerusalem has a great zoo with elephants, lions, tigers, camels, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, bears, rhinoceros, and many other animals. They even have a petting zoo for kids and one exhibit with kangaroos where you can literally walk right next to them in the yard where the frolic. It’s great. Denyon especially loved the penguins. It was one of the exhibits where you could see above and below the water. Denyon loved standing right along the glass to watch the penguins swim by and do tricks and flips. It reminded me of how much I used to love the otters when I was a kid for the very same reason! We got a membership to the zoo so we’ll be going many more times.<br /><br />Brad only has two more weeks of school left for the semester so it’s rapidly coming to an end. He is busy finishing up papers and studying for exams. The beauty of this semester though is that he is loving everything that he is learning and benefitting so much from all of the assignments. I have tremendously enjoyed my two classes as well and because I’m auditing the classes I don’t have the pressure of final exams and papers. After the semester ends we have six weeks before semester two. During that time we plan on traveling to Greece for one week to do a Biblical study tour of that land. We are also hoping to visit Galilee again, Eliat—located on the southern tip of Israel and the Red Sea, the zoo, and the old city. Brad will spend four days with an Israeli guide (one of the best in the country) and friend that will personally show him places and sites he will need to know about for his future of leading trips here in Israel. And finally, Brad’s family is planning to visit in January so I’m sure we’ll be heading to many great sites to give them the grand tour! It will be amazing having six weeks together to travel, rest, explore, and enjoy being together as a family.<br /><br />The sad part about our semester ending is that our great friends Erica, Larry, and Lylah will be heading back home to continue their education. We will miss them so much and it won’t be the same without them. They will be living in Chicago so they won’t be too far when we get back home. They have really made a difference in our time here and we’ve developed a lasting friendship with them in only a few months. What a blessing they have been to us!<br /><br />There are some things to be praying for as well. We have some friends who recently miscarried twins so please think of them. Also, a friend’s dad is battling cancer. Denyon has been a little under the weather this week as well so please pray for his recovery. Otherwise, we have felt very safe, healthy, and well taken care of during our time here. Thank you for your continued prayer and support. Until next time!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-75326951881154070672008-11-10T14:49:00.001-05:002008-11-10T14:50:56.874-05:00Lachish Field StudyBrad and I have enjoyed taking two classes together this semester: The Gospel of Matthew and Biblical Archaeology. This past Sunday, we were able to enjoy a field study together for our Archaeology class to the ancient site of Lachish. Our professor is world renown archaeologist—Gaby Barkay. He spent nearly fifteen years of his career excavating at Lachish so he basically told us everything he knew. Well, actually, it seemed like he told us everything he knew, but in reality, it was probably only about 20 percent—if that! He has so much knowledge stored away in his brain about the subject it is amazing! I don’t know how he keeps all of the information straight. Anyways, the city dates back all the way to the Calcholithic period through the time when the Babylonians conquered the city in the 605 BC. Although the site is quite overgrown, we saw impressive excavations and structures. Having someone there who knew what seemed like every stone on the site was such a great experience. <br /><br />My purpose for writing this short bit isn’t to give you all the details, but just to say what a blessing it is to be learning from the best. We both feel very fortunate to have the experiences here that we have and this was no exception. It was also nice to spend the day together just the two of us (well, us and a bunch of other classmates…but no baby). Denyon enjoyed his day very much with his beloved babysitter, Miss Laura. She loves him dearly and they had a great day together! Who wouldn’t love a day with someone as cute as Denyon! Have a great day!<br />Love,<br />ShallonUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-24755249525433217702008-11-10T14:30:00.002-05:002008-11-10T14:37:47.487-05:00Off to the Desert!Well, this weekend lent itself to yet another outstanding week of travel. This time, it was off to the desert to the locations of En Gedi and Masada. Again, we rented a car on Friday afternoon after our archaeology class and headed down to En Gedi.<br /><br />En Gedi is a desert oasis located near the southern part of present day Dead Sea. I say present day because in antiquity and even just 50 years ago, there was a whole other southern basin of the Dead Sea that is completely dried up today because of lack of rainfall. We stayed at a youth hostel right near the park…pretty much the only place to stay there other than a campground. On Friday, by the time we arrived at En Gedi, we only had a little over an hour because of darkness, but we made the most of our time by playing in the waterfalls and small pools in the oasis. It was a wonderful way to cool off and as my dad would say, “…very refreshing!”<br /><br />The oasis is home to a number of wildlife species including the Nubian ibex and little rock badgers (aka conies). These two species we saw in abundance. The ibex are amazing in their ability to climb the cliffs and mountains with grace and ease. The badgers scurry around on the paths, trees, and cliffs and are quite cute. The plant life is beautiful as well and the oasis is visible from quite a distance away because it’s the only green you can see for miles and miles within the desert. The En Gedi spring is what feeds this oasis and it runs off into a series of large waterfalls which are beautiful!<br /><br />Unlike some of our other trips, this one was more relaxing and low key. Because we were in the middle of the desert, when the parks closed, that was it for the night pretty much. We enjoyed relaxing in our room as a family, watching the sunset and seeing the beautiful colors painted by the sunset on the mountains across the Dead Sea in Jordan. The meals at the hostel were delicious and I especially enjoyed them because it gave me a break from cooking!<br /><br />One of the challenges of staying in a one-room hotel room is getting Denyon to go to sleep at his bedtime when we’re not going to sleep. It doesn’t work if he can see us. Typically we have to come up with some sort of contraption made of chairs and blankets/sheets to make a wall so that he can’t see us. Even then, he can hear us and we don’t like to turn out all the lights either, so it’s definitely a challenge. He just wants to know exactly what’s going on. So Friday night, he actually found a way to reach the sheet that we had put up and pull it back and play peekaboo! He thought it was hilarious and we actually couldn’t help but laugh either. He was just so happy that he’d finally found us! What a silly little guy! We made some modifications to the contraption and he did eventually go to sleep!<br /><br />On Saturday, we headed south about 17 km to Masada…Herod’s large desert palace and city in the middle of the desert. The city was taken by the Romans in 74 AD after the Romans were able to build a siege ramp into the city. As Josephus tells it, to the Romans surprise, all of the people of the city were already dead by way of suicide once they entered the city. This Zealous group of Jews believed it was better to commit suicide than to die at the hands of the enemy. What remains today is one of the most impressive sites of antiquity and some say the most impressive site in Israel. Herod built two palaces here with a large bathhouse, including pipes and underground heating systems to create what we would call a sauna room. The palaces also included large storehouses, guest rooms, meeting rooms, and watchtowers. Many of the walls and floors were plastered and elaborately painted, some of which still remain in tact even today. Also, some of the floors were decorated with tile pictures. The tiles were tiny pieces of colored stone (maybe one square centimeter each) that were arranged in a way to make whatever picture desired. They are incredible and Herod was the first person to bring this type of art to Israel. In addition to this, Herod built enormous cisterns for water (one large enough to hold one million gallons of water) and was able to channel rain water to flow directly into the cisterns. Adequate water supply is obviously the biggest challenge to surviving in the desert and Herod was able to sufficiently supply water for the whole city (and even had enough left over to have a swimming pool that was 550 cubic meters)!<br /><br />We spent the majority of our day at Masada before heading back to En Gedi. Again, we didn’t have too long at En Gedi, but enough to play again a little bit in the water, enjoy the beautiful cliffs and landscape around us, watch the animals, and just enjoy ourselves. After the park closed, we headed back to our hotel to rest (Denyon definitely was ready for a nap…we always seem to really mess his nap times up when we travel but luckily he just goes with the flow and does pretty well with adjusting), shower, watch the sunset, and eat. It was another relaxing night for us in our room.<br /><br />Sunday, we got up and out the door as soon as we could to spend several hours hiking through En Gedi. We explored some areas that took a little more time and hiking to get to. We discovered one area that we remembered from being here two years ago. We looked for it the previous two days but didn’t really have time to explore well enough. One thing that Brad does when we go to places is scout out areas that would be good for teaching, hiking, and leading trips when he (Lord willing) gets to do so in the coming years. This is definitely one of those locations and the place we went to was a beautiful area in the cliffs with small pools and a cave tucked back under a waterfall. The place is absolutely gorgeous. We did some other hiking and happened upon a temple from the Calcolithic period (4th & 5th century BC), a tel that we weren’t sure about it origin (tel is a man-made mound made up of city upon city remains), and an ancient synagogue from 3rd-6th century BC. We are continually amazed at how these structures can still remain after all this time.<br /><br />We left En Gedi at about noon to head back to Jerusalem. Brad had a short field study at a local museum that we had to get back for. The weekend was ever so enjoyable and quite relaxing. We were grateful to spend time at such a beautiful location as a family. I’m sure we’ll be back!<br />Until next time…ShallonUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-26487734166823457562008-11-03T12:51:00.001-05:002008-11-03T13:00:16.725-05:00So What Have I Been Doing?Over the last couple of months, Shallon has been doing a wonderful job of keeping you all updated on what’s going on. We kind of joke around saying that she is responsible for the written updates and I am responsible for all of the pictures (and their captions). For those of you who have been following the blog, you are aware that I have made a couple of “written update” contributions, but it has been some time since my last contribution. So I wanted to give you all an update on what’s been going on … and I am going to focus in on my Physical Settings of the Bible class. My other classes have been going exceptionally well, but it has been my Physical Settings class that has ushered me all around the country throughout this semester, and the class you may find the most interesting.<br /><br />So what’s the class like? Well, we generally have two classroom periods in the course of the week. In these classes, we look at a particular area of the country and discuss all the various aspects of the area – such as history, archaeological evidence, climate (seasonal patterns), geological composition (rock type, associated soils, etc.), physical layout (mountains, valleys, wadis, water sources, natural passes, etc.), ancient routes, ancient and modern cities, and pertinent biblical stories. After we have become oriented to the particular region, we spend a couple of field study days in that particular region. We do these fields studies on the weekends. Thus far, we have had thirteen days of field studies and we have four days left for this class (in the country of Jordan). [I also have a total of thirteen additional field study days with my other classes, including an eight-day field study to Egypt at the end of the semester.] We average about four to five sites per field study day. So I have been to roughly 60 sites thus far with this class. As you can imagine, we (my class and I) have been all over the country! Nearly every major site or location you can think of, we have been there. Needless to say, I am gaining a good working knowledge of the biblical landscape here in Israel. It has been an incredible journey thus far. The Bible becomes more and more alive every day … and it is making so much more sense. I am daily reminded of the necessity of understanding the geography of the Bible in order to better understand the stories of the Bible … not to mention the brilliance of the writers and God’s intentionality with placing Israel in this land.<br /><br />Anyhow, I just put together a picture slideshow entitled, “Brad’s Field Studies (Pics)” that captures a lot of the places I have been to this semester. I will be frequently adding more pics to the slideshow, so keep checking back. Enjoy!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-5395158095688996282008-10-29T09:50:00.001-04:002008-10-29T09:52:09.535-04:00Happy Birthday Denyon!Happy Birthday Denyon! Our little buster bunny turned one on October 18 and what a special day. Since we were out of town on his actual birthday, we celebrated a few days later on October 23. We hosted a party at our apartment. I made white chicken chili and potato soup for the main meal and everyone else brought sides. For desert I made chocolate chip cookies and brownies. The food was all delicious and our guests were even better. We planned it so that family could call in from skype during the time to wish Denyon a Happy Birthday. What a blessing skype is! Denyon was able to chat with his Nana (Cindi…Brad’s mom), JimPapa and Gramma (Jim and Carol…Shallon’s parents), Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Gray (Brad’s dad’s parents), Uncle Blair (Shallon’s youngest brother), and GPa (Gary…Brad’s dad) and Uncle Doug (Brad’s brother) and the whole GIFT community (GIFT is a post-graduate program Gary administers which includes three onsite seminars in Adrian…the final seminar of the year took place during Denyon’s party so as part of the program, they called in on skype and all (nearly 100) sang Happy Birthday to Denyon…they also watched him devour a small piece of his brownie!). We felt so loved with all of our newly acquired and special friends here (including Denyon’s special babysitters Laura and Melissa whom he loves…not to replace any of our special sitters at home) and the privilege of speaking with and video chatting with family from back home.<br /><br />We had been awaiting a birthday package from both of our parents and they finally arrived on the day of our party. Due to all the holidays in the month of October, the mail was slowed down. Denyon was enamored with all his new books and balls and is loving playing with all of his new goodies. He is definitely one loved little child! He not only charms everyone back home, but he has made his way into the hearts of many here too. It was such a special celebration for Brad and I to see our little Denyon be the life of the party. He loves life thoroughly and is a social bug. We couldn’t have felt more blessed on this special day. Denyon has been such a blessing to us and fills our hearts with so much joy. We just can’t believe how fast the year has gone and how much he has grown and changed. Thank you all for making this day special by keeping us in your hearts. We love you all!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-55226425215839874672008-10-29T09:24:00.002-04:002008-10-29T09:31:38.358-04:00October...a month of Celebration!Well, the past month has been quite festive because of the many Jewish holidays. The month of October started with Rosh Hashanah—the Jewish New Year. This is basically two days of celebration, time with family and friends, and reflection of what God has done over the last year. It also commences the high holy days leading up to Yom Kippur. For the first ten days of the month, every Jew analyzes and searches their heart to see if they have wronged anyone and still need to ask for forgiveness. It is also a time of great repentance for any personal sins. It is also a time to forgive others that have wronged you.<br /><br />These ten days are the window of time that each Jew has to make all right in their own heart. For a very righteous person, it is believed that God grants entry into the book of life on the New Year. Likewise, for the very wicked person, God rejects one from the book of life. For everyone in between, it depends on what is done during the ten days before Yom Kippur. On that day, God will judge everyone on what they have done for the year and either grant or reject entry into God’s book of life. (As most of you know, we believe Jesus is the key to entry into God’s kingdom. No matter how righteous or wicked, we all need Christ. What I admire about this season is how seriously the Jews take making amends during this period. Just think of what a better place the world would be if we could all sincerely seek out forgiveness in ourselves and extend it graciously to others. That would be beautiful!)<br /><br />Literally everything in Israel is closed on Yom Kippur (even the airport) and absolutely no one drives, works, etc. The children love it because they do not yet have to recognize and participate in the rituals so they all love to ride their bikes, scooters, skateboards, etc. right in the middle of the street. It really is a big treat! We all went to a Jewish synagogue service the night of Yom Kippur and overheard this conversation: “(mom)…The kids just can’t wait to get home because they all brought their bikes to ride…(daughter)….Yeah! In the middle of the street!” And as we walked home, there were children of all ages all over the streets! It was cool. We’ve also heard that it’s one of the worst days for children’s accidents and injuries which also makes sense. We saw a young girl crash on her bike just outside our apartment and her friends were consoling her.<br /><br />After Yom Kippur, another celebration begins. For five days, everyone prepares for the festival of Sukkoth by building sukkoth…aka temporary dwellings outside of their homes. If you read Leviticus 23 and Numbers 29, you will read all about this festival. For the most part, the traditions and sacraments are pretty much the same. It is very interesting for me to read these sections of the Bible and experience people practicing exactly what is commanded. The animal sacrifices are not so much practiced anymore, but most other things are. Many of our neighbors built sukkoth outside and wherever we walked, it was neat to see the various types. All were built from natural elements and outside but the shapes, colors, décor was all different.<br /><br />After the five days of preparation, the festival of Sukkoth began. For eight days, the city celebrated how God was with the Israelites in the desert. It is a time of remembrance that God brought the Israelites out of Egypt into the promiseland. So, during this time, all sorts of things are happening. People celebrate with family by visiting, talking, and dwelling outside in their sukkoth. Brad and I enjoyed sitting on our balcony and listening to our neighbors visit. There was the parade of nations where people from all around the world marched in a parade through the streets of Jerusalem. The Bible speaks of all the nations coming to Jerusalem for this festival and the parade is a representation of that. There were also concerts, singing and dancing, and even a circus—which we attended.<br /><br />The circus was more like a big fair with street performers, clowns, acrobats, and of course—cotton candy! We went to a show that was one of the coolest things we’ve ever seen. I’m not going to do it justice by describing it but I’ll try. It was dark outside and performed in a small outdoor theater. There was one male and one female dancer and they used a combination of neon lights, neon ropes, balls, and just each other. They performed a sort of contemporary dance style but used the things I mentioned above as part of the routine. In one section of the dance, the two remained attached almost entirely but went through a series of different lifts, motions, and maneuvers that almost made it seem as though they were a machine with all the pieces churning and working together. At another section, it was as if they were fighting through a wall of ropes and twisting and turning to get free, and as they did, the neon ropes would form different shapes such as a flower, tree, etc. At another section, they danced with the balls in a ways that made them seem as if they were floating. Still another section, the man moved and positioned the woman as if she was robotic or statue-like and she just assumed whatever position he put her in. Like I said, I didn’t do it justice but we all loved it! Denyon was glued in the whole time and it was so cool to watch him watch the dancers. It’s amazing how even at such a young age our minds can be so fascinated.<br /><br />The festival concluded on the eight day with lots of celebrating, dancing, and reciting Torah at the Western Wall as well as at a park in town. We decided to go to the park conclusion and ended up getting to hear both the president of Israel and the Chief Rabbi of Israel speak briefly. I regret that I don’t remember either of their names, but it was neat to be a part of it. There was lots of loud music and dancing in between the speech sections and it was a great experience for us.<br /><br />Sounds like quite a month, huh? It was and I’ve definitely never been a part of nearly a month long holiday. There were more days when businesses were closed than open it seemed. We feel blessed to be a part of such a great celebration and thankful to experience this culture firsthand. Like they say, it’s all part of the experience!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4667267690385157490.post-48410943044342998602008-10-20T15:32:00.002-04:002008-10-20T15:38:51.592-04:00Just up the mountain!So after visiting the location where the prophet Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal and Ashera on Mt. Carmel in northern Israel (I Kings 18), watching a beautiful sunset on top of the mountain overlooking the Jezreel Valley, and telling Denyon the story about how and why we chose the name Elijah (which was indeed an extremely special and cherished moment), we called our hotel to get directions. We knew the address and the general area but neither really helped much. It seems that here in Israel, it is more common for roads to be unmarked and very atypical to have street signs of major road numbers. So, the receptionist's response to our inquiry about how to get to the hotel was, “Just get up the mountain, near Moriah, and go right at the fountain!” After further pressing for better instructions, that’s all we were left with. She didn’t even know what the main road was called to get up the mountain. By some miracle, we did find the hotel (after calling a couple more times), and sure enough we did get “up the mountain and turn right at a fountain!” So for the rest of the weekend the joke when we couldn’t find some place was, “Just get up the mountain!” If any of you have seen the movie Blood Diamond, you’ll understand the phrase that we’ve adopted and modified slightly—TII—this is Israel!<br /><br />We rented a car and spent two nights in Haifa this past weekend. Haifa is the main industrial port city located along the northern coastal tip of Israel. This central location allowed us to visit Mt. Carmel (much of Haifa is actually located on the Carmel Mountain range); Akko—another city along the coast and known as the most well-preserved crusader city in the world; Caesarea—a large port city built by King Herod along the Mediterranean; Tel Aviv—another large city on the Mediterranean Coast.<br /><br />Friday night we watched the sunset on Mt. Carmel as I mentioned above. It was a very special moment for us because this is the location that inspired us to use the name Elijah for Denyon’s middle name. We learned the story and experienced it here two years ago and the passion of Elijah stuck with us. It was very cool to tell Denyon the story too, although he just wanted to cruise around on the rocks. He’s already wanting to rock climb!<br /><br />Saturday was Denyon’s first birthday! He was so excited to celebrate that he woke up early 6 a.m.! He briefly fell back asleep then and some books and toys were able to hold him off until about 7 a.m. until we got him up to sing Happy Birthday! It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year already and yet it also seems that it was so long ago the day I gave birth. Funny how time works, isn’t it? He is doing great and growing strong. He has eight teeth now and is moving fast all over the place. He’s not walking yet but cruising, climbing, and crawling freely. He loves to play chase with his dad (he will get into crawling position, look back in anticipation, then take off panting with excitement as he tries to escape his dad’s reach…it’s great fun!). So, he enjoyed some playtime with dad before getting the day started.<br /><br />We spent most of the day in the present day city of Akko (Acre). The city is now an Arab port city but was once a thriving port crusader city. At one point it was the most important port city in the country. In the city are the impressive remains of the crusader citadel with numerous great halls, courtyards, underground tunnel systems, palaces, city walls, moats, and more. It is so amazing that people could build these structures hundreds of years ago. Napoleon and his army tried to conquer the city in the 1700s I believe (don’t quote me on my history, dad) and the city changed leadership often. Its decline was much a result of the great city of Caesarea flourishing (the city we visited on Sunday).<br /><br />We ended our day at the beach in Haifa watching the sunset. It was beautiful and so peaceful. You can never get tired of beach sunsets, can you? We ate at a delicious pub in downtown Haifa and indulged in one of the best crème brulees that we’ve ever had. We figured it was Denyon’s birthday so we should have some dessert! Denyon will have his special dessert when we have a small party next week!<br /><br />Sunday morning we drove down the coast about an hour to Caesarea. This city was built by King Herod as the main harbor of the day. The stones used to build the city were brought from all over including southern Egypt, Syria, Greece, Rome, and beyond. Many of the structures were inlayed with a scintillating white marble which made the city sparkle in the sun from a distance. Even today, you can find pieces of the stone that washes up onto the shores as you walk along the site. Brad and I found and kept several pieces of the sparkly stone. Herod built the harbor out into the sea and under the water. Today, it is possible to scuba dive at the harbor and see much of the remains of the harbor (we of course did not do that but Brad would really like to some day if he ever gets certified to scuba dive). The city includes a large amphitheater where all sorts of athletic events and competitions took place, a performance theater, palaces, an extensive Roman bathhouse where people would just relax or even conduct meetings and business, and a fresh water swimming pool built right in the middle of the sea (that is no longer standing). Also at the site, is a large aqueduct that brought fresh water to the city that came all the way from Mt. Carmel. Herod’s building projects were always extraordinary and this is no exception.<br /><br />To end the day, we headed down to Tel Aviv for one last indulgence. When we were here two years ago, we stayed at a hotel in Tel Aviv for a couple nights in between the two study trips that we participated in. During that short stay, we found an amazing restaurant called the Manta Ray where we had the most delicious fried calamari we’d ever had. The restaurant sat right on the beach and was amazing. So, we took our chances in finding the place on the way home and we actually succeeded. It took longer than we’d expected, but nevertheless, we made it. We arrived just in time to enjoy another sunset on the beach and even did a little swimming this time. Denyon loves to swim and splash so he had a blast. After drying off and changing, we enjoyed our delicious calamari and one of the best salads we’ve ever had. Yum!<br /><br />The only downfall of the evening was a big scare from the little guy…he dropped his cup and we looked down to get it…before we knew it he had pushed his feet against the table and flipped his chair completely back. The booster seat attached to the chair stayed completely in tact and he stayed attached to the chair, but it was so scary. He cried and cried but eventually was okay. I think we were more scared than anything and he recovered quickly. I can’t believe he was strong enough to push himself back. Bless God he was okay!<br /><br />So that’s our weekend. It was a wonderful time and we are so grateful for all of the places we’re getting to see and all of the things we’re able to do. It’s been a great adventure!<br />Shalom,<br />The Gray’sUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1