Category: Uncategorized
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Rainstorms and Jordan
After weeks of no rain our luck changed. I absolutely love rain, it just makes things a little awkward when most of your days are spent outdoors. The thunder in the night was a gorgeous sound, and we woke up to a wet world. Quite a relief for Abu Dis, as they have been in…
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Jerusalem
And so things changed. Instead of waking up to Dalen and Karen making coffee and breakfast, we woke up to James making a more complicated espresso drink for the four coffee junkies in our group. Instead of large breakfasts involving eggs, meat, hummus and pitas, we ate toast and butter. Copious amounts of butter. We’ve…
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On the Jericho Road
The only good thing about feeling really sick is that at the moment you don’t give a hoot that you’re missing a party. Later it’s a different matter. The house emptied early, and I woke up to silence, sunshine, and a fun note on table from my clan. I brewed some chamomile tea and proceeded…
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Sick as a Dog
I started to feel crummy in Eilat, so immediately quit sharing water bottles, and by morning I knew I was headed for a full blown strep infection. Not something you want to have interrupt your vacation! The hotel had moved us due to renovations, so as a consolation prize they offered us the ENORMOUS breakfast…
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Rest Between Adventures
“You want some weed?” We were hanging out on the pier at Princess Beach, gazing into the clear blue water and watching a rainbow of fish swim around. Its by far the best place to see the fish when your at the Red Sea, so despite the fact that there are large signs warning against…
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Sunday
Sunday in Israel is like Monday at home. The weekend is over, school is back in session and, unlike home, the traffic is at its thickest. Our destination today was Tel Aviv Port and ultimately Joppa. There is a small boat club called Sea Time that rents out sailboats to people like us, so we…
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New Places
It was after today that our group started asking before each outing, “have you been there before?” It was a valid concern. We had heard of Horkanya, but never been there. It’s the ruins of one of Herod the Great’s palaces out in the desert not too far from Abu Dis. The site is completely…
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In Jesus’ Steps
The road from Abu Dis to Galilee runs along the Jordan River valley. To the left are the grassy hills of the West Bank, covered with small rocks, and smiling wildflowers. Nearly camouflaged herds of sheep and goats dot the hillside, with their watchful shepherds nearby on their smartphones. Caves in the hills are used…
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Best Friends
We should have seen it coming when the day started with a motorcycle wreck right next to us. A truck was quick sneaking through the traffic and the biker never saw him. He flew and we all groaned with horror. It was a sobering start. Destination: Ein Gedi, the beautiful oasis in the Negev where…
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Traffic
There is no such a thing as sleeping in while on an Israel tour. Or should I say, sleeping in as you know it. Unless you want to waste literally hours in traffic, you really need to be leaving your house before 6:30. Even that can be too late if you’re headed to the Mediterranean.…
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Back to Canaan
And then we were back. Back to the land of almost eternal sunshine, insane traffic and endless security checks. Back to breathtaking hikes, cats, and pita bread oozing goodness all over your fingers, sweater and lap. The bustle of the airport felt like home and I breathed the cigarette smoke laden air with deep contentment.…
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Christmas at the Mission
Christmas was supposed to be different. Heath and I were supposed to be languishing in Deridder, LA, trying desperately not to pig out on praline pecans and soaking up warm temperatures. Enter Bomb Cyclone Elliott. Flights cancelled. Warm weather canceled. Praline pecans canceled. The kids were all out of the country and frankly, it seemed…
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Back to Normal
I knew we were back with USA people when I was standing in the boarding line at Istanbul and a guy barely brushed my shoulder, then apologized profusely. By Chicago, the average weight went up significantly, all gender bathrooms started to appear and there was affordable food every few feet. Signs in customs kept warning…
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Final Day in Iraq
We left Karbala early ish and headed back to Baghdad. Close to Baghdad we ran into a large thunderstorm. It was totally delightful, hearing the rain pound on the car, seeing the lightening and listening to the thunder. In fact I fell asleep. Baghdad was a flooded mess and men were frantically trying to clear…
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Holy Day In Iraq
Thank goodness our hotel had beautiful clean bathrooms, as last night was the hour for our first fit of travel sickness. Apparently there’s some Iraqi germs we haven’t encountered before. The hotel had shared bathrooms, but as I was the only lady there I had one all to myself. It was maybe 5×5 with a…
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Babylon and Ur
In spite of the noisy street and pillows of stone, we slept well. We were sitting in the lobby, munching on Buffalo cheese and bread at 6am while our driver, Hadaifa waited outside. Today we’re off to fulfill a long time dream and visit Babylon. From there we’ll head to Ur and spend night in…
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Exhausted in Baghdad
Wow! It had been a long time since we had gone to a completely new country, and I am on serious sensory overload. It doesn’t help that the last few nights have been extremely short. Anyway, I’ll try to give you a small picture of Iraq as we’ve seen it. It took forever and a…
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Traveling again
The plan was to leave the guesthouse at 3:45am but there was the incident of the key. Heath had pulled our key out of the door and had absolutely no idea where he had put it. That didn’t exactly surprise me, as we had been almost looney with exhaustion by the time we went to…
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Headed back
We left the house at 5:30am and already the roads were full of kids headed to school. It’s a five hour drive from Sengera, Kenya to the Uganda Border and then five more to Kampala. That’s all very approximate in Africa, and the border was a huge unknown. Needless to say we left with prayers.…
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Sunday
I woke up to the realization that we were almost slap out of clean laundry. Luckily the house had a washer so I tried to throw a quick load in. Turns out nothing is simple here and the washer had no water pressure, so I was stuck hauling bucket after bucket from the outdoor tank.…
It’s a Small World 