"To See Where God Lives"

Reese has been really excited to come here for some time (though we thought in her mind she really had no idea what she was talking about). Well, on her last day of preschool Reese went up to her teacher and told her, "I'm going to Israel to see where God lives." We never told her that, it's really cool to see how her brain works.

It has been a full two days since our last post. With Jeff's class not starting until Tuesday morning we've had some time to adjust here with the family and also see a bunch of sites on our own time and agenda. Yesterday started with a walk around the ramparts - the top of the Old City walls. It was amazing to have a higher view of the Old and New City. It was about a kilometer walk and we all did great. Reese deteriorated going from happily saying ‘’This is such a fun adventure’ to grumpily blurting out ‘’My sunglasses stink & I think we should throw them in the garbage!” It was kind of funny to watch actually.

We then walked a bit of the Via Dolorosa and found ourselves in a couple of places - first the garden where Jesus was beaten by the soldiers, given the crown of thorns, and had the cross placed on him to carry. It was surreal to be there, and you weren't really sure what to feel. On one hand it was very cool, but you also felt a sense of sorrow and awe. We then headed to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the place where Jesus was crucified, taken down from the cross, and placed in the tomb. Once again a wide range of emotions were felt, the biggest probably was a sense of somber reflection. We capped the day off with a Dora popcycle enjoying the sights and sounds of the Old City.

Today was a day of adventure! We woke up & headed to Hezekiah’s tunnel. For those who are unfamiliar with this Israeli wonder it is .5 km long tunnel carved 701 BC during the reign of King Hezekiah. It was designed to bring water into the city from a spring located outside the walls, as an impending siege was coming from the brutal Assyrians who intended to cut off their food & water supply. The tunnel is no more than shoulder width and sometimes as low as 4 ½ feet. Armed with headlamps we descended into complete darkness for a 40 minute trek through the stone. We were a little nervous about bringing the kids into the tunnel but were surprised at how well they both did. Reese lead us with her headlamp walking in knee deep water. She loved it!! Besides bonking his head a couple times, Carter seemed indifferent to the whole excursion. While in the middle of the tunnel, with chisel marks all around, it felt very Indiana Jones-ish. It was a very cool moment as a family. Reese wants to go back tomorrow! (we’d show pictures but we forgot our camera – dang!).

A funny incident took place on the way back to the hotel…we were looking for a taxi to take us back up the big hill. We asked a person who showed us a public bus to take, so on we went. Well it so happened to be an Arab bus, filled with Arab people and Arab Hezbollah propaganda. This bus so happened to take us to the Arab side of the Old City. Then our bus driver so happened to get into a minor fender bender, tried to flee, and so happened to get into a fight with the driver of the other vehicle. This was our cue to get off the bus (don’t worry, mom, it was all safe – we promise!). We ended our day walking through Ben Yahuda street (the Robson st. of Jerusalem), retreating to the familiar sign of the Golden Arches for dinner which the kids loved.

Hope everyone is doing well!