We're back from our trip to Israel and Jordon.  I hit the ground running (after getting over my nausea-jet-lag-spell that lasted about a day).  I am getting ready for our Cadets (seminary students) that are coming to the Corps (church) next Monday.  It has become more than just a Corps event, but a family event too because the kids are so excited also!  Besides that, catching up on several things at home and the Corps.  Whew! 

BUT.... with all that, I have a newfound peace admist it all.  I think it comes from the realization of just how insignificant I am in this world. I know I'm important to a handful of people, but other than that, the only one who really makes a difference in this world is God.  Even anything that I could claim, comes from Him.  

We had such an amazing trip.  It has really made an impact on me.  All of these things affected me:   group dynamics, second honeymoon with Paul, "legalism" issues, culture and attitudes of all the people we came in contact with, Muslim and Jewish religions, history, places, new knowledge, fresh understandings and soooooo much more.

I am so thankful for getting to go.  The kids had a wonderful time with their Aunt and Cousin.  I am still hearing about all of their fun and experiences.  I am also feeling especially blessed to be able to better explain and teach about Jesus to my children.  They have such an appetite to learn everything I did.  They are loving hearing about our experiences such as hiking up to place that John the Baptist was beheaded and why he was beheaded.  And about my baptism in the Jordan River (they have watched it like 10 times!) And about Masada and the Sea of Galilee and about the Muslims in Jordan and how they're not all terrorists.

Paul and I are still sorting out all of our pictures and video and souvenirs.  I do still plan to post about some of these.  I am just finding it so hard to put such an amazing experience into words.

Our Journey to the Center of the Earth- Israel

Tuesday, March 2- Depart Los Angeles for Frankfurt.

Wednesday, March 3- Depart Frankfurt, Germany for Tel Aviv, Israel.  Meet our Israeli tour guide.  Visit Jaffa beofre proceeding to Herzelya.

Thursday, March 4- Caesarea, Megiddo, Tiberias
     Today we pass through the fast growing towns and farms of the Plain of Sharon enroute to Caesarea, site of major events in the lives of Peter and Paul.  It's on to Megiddo, inspiration for James Michener's "The Source", and prophesied site of Armageddon.  Archeological digs reveal 20 layers of civilization, including fortifications of King Solomon and the water tunnel of King Ahab.  Megiddo provides a magnificent view of the fertile Jezreel Valey, at the crossroads of the ancient Via Maris.  We'll drive through the Jezreel Valley to Sepphoris, the former Roman capital of the Galilee and the famous seat of the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish ruling council, in the second centruy AD.  Sepphoris is comprised of a Crusader forttress, a Roman amphitheater and numerous impressive mosaics. Then through the rolling hills of the Galilee to Nazareth.  Nazareth Village brings to life a farm and Galilean village, recreating Nazareth as it was 2000 years ago.  It is a window into the life  of Jesus, the city's most famous citizen.  Overnight in Tiberias.

Friday, March 5- Sea of Galilee
   We will visit an ancient boat believed to be from Jesus' time found in the Sea of Galilee in 1986.  We walk into Old Capernaum with the ancient synagogue; on to the site of the Mulitiplication of the Loaves and Fishes (Tabgha), the Sermon on the Mount and the Mount of Beatitudes.  In the afternoon we  wil journey north to Caeserea Phillipi (Banias Spring) where Peter confessed "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God" (Matthew 16:16)

Saturday, March 6- Northern Galilee
   Today we will journey to Hazor originally conquered by Joshua in 1300 BC.  King Solomon began reconstruction here and King Ahab erected a magnificent palace here as well.  Later we visit  Bethsaida.  We will now be literally walking in the footsteps of Jesus.  We will take a most memorable boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, in a replica of the ancient wooden boat used in Jesus' day. 

Sunday, March 7 (Paul's Birthday!) - Jordan Valley, Jerusalem
    This morning we will visit the Jordan River and I will be baptized by water in the Jordan river.  Maybe Paul too, although he's already been baptized.  We will drive along tte Jordan Valley to Beit She'an to see the expansive excavations taking place at this ancient Roman Decapolis City.  We'll stop at Gideon's Spring where Gideon selected his soldiers to do battle against the Midianites.  Then we'll go up to Jerusalem.  We will enter the city as pilgrims did since ancient times to fulfill the words of the prophet "I was glad when they said unto me 'Our feet shall stand within thy Gates, O Jerusalem' " (Psalms 122:1-2)

Monday, March 8- Jerusalem, Bethlehem
   Start the day at the top of the Mt. of Olives.  Take the "Palm Sunday Walk" to the Garden of Gethsemane, the Church of All Nations and drive across the Kidron Valley.  Enter the Old City through St. Stephens Gate (Lions' Gate) to the Muslim Quarter, visit the beautiful Church of St. Anne and the Pool of Bethesda, Pilate's Judgment Hall, and the Ecce Homo Arch.  Walk along the Via Dolorosa, into the Christian Quarter, and see the Stations of the Cross.  Drive to Mt. Zion to see the House of Caiaphas and the Upper Room of the Last Supper.  We will visit Bethlehem and see Manger Square, the Church of the Nativity, and view Shepherd's Fields and the Fields of Boaz and Ruth.

Tuesday, March 9- Masada, Dead Sea, Qumran
    Depart to Masada, overlooking the Dead Sea, the lowest spot on Earth, where we ascend by cable car to visit the remnants of Herod's Palace and where in 73 AD the Zealots made their last stand against the might of Rome.  Visit to Ein Gedi, fabled Spring of David, and proceed to Qummran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947.  We will go for a swim, rather a "float", in the salted waters of the Dead Sea. 

Wednesday, March 10- Jerusalem
    Today, we investigate the excavations at the Western Wall Tunnel.  Visit to the reconstructed Jewish Quartter, walk through the Cardo, the orginal Roman street and see the amazing remains of the massive wall built by King Hezekiah.  See the important excavations taking place at the Western Wall and the Southern Temple Staircase.  On the Temple Mount, where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac.  See the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque that now stand there.   Visit the Shrine of the Book where the Dead Sea Scrolls are displayed and the recently opened Bible Lands Museum.  End the afternoon at Golgotha and the empty Garden Tomb.   Special time is planned for worship, communion, meditation and inspiration.  Paul and I are also bringing prayers from our people to put in the Wailing Wall, the foundation of the Temple.

Thursday, March 11-  Jerusalem, Petra
   This morning we leave Jerusalem and head to Petra, Jordon.  (Jordon is a country where you most definately MUST behave yourself.)  Before we cross the Arava Bridge into Jordan, we visit the Timna Tabernacle. 

Friday, March 12- Petra
    This morning we tour the city of Petra, lost to the world for centuries, the "Rose-Red City Half as Old as Time" lay hidden in the mountains of southern Jordan.  It had been a stronghold and capital for the Nabateans.  It had a fatally vulnerable fault:  its water came by aqueduct from nearby Wadi Musa.  When the secret was discovered and the aqueduct cut, it fell to Rome in AD 106. When Rome entered, already there were Nabatean tombs, temples and monuments cut directly out of the red rock.  This afternoon we travel part of the way on horseback and the rest on foot through the deep and narrow passages which occur naturally, carved millions of years ago be erosion.  The Treasury finally appears magnificently and immediately in front of us after we emerge from what seems like a hundred turns in the ravine.  Now we'll begin our exploration of what both the Nabateans and Romans left or us to witness.  The most adventurous (yep, that'll be Paul and I for sure!) will be invited to hike up to the spiritual "High Place", site of the sacrificial alter and offering a spectacular view of teh ancient city.

Saturday, March 13- Petra, Mt. Nebo, Amman
   Today we start our journey north to Amman.  En route visit Machaerus it is the place where Salmon danced in exchange for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.  Proceed to the city of Madaba.  It is well known for its outstanding Byzantine mosaics.  We will see St. George's Cathedral, including the earliest surviving original map of the Holy Land in a mosaic floor dating to AD 560.  Continue on to visit Mt. Nebo which is reputed to be the burial place of Moses.  Visit the recently opened Lot's Museum. Lastly, we will see Jerash, a very famous Roman ruins site.

Sunday, March 14- Begin our journey home.


*I keep thinking of Matthew 2:28- " a voice is heard in the desert...  Rachel weeping for her children..." .  That will be me in Israel (ha!ha!)    Missing my children and soooo wishing they could experience this with us.  Poor Paul will be getting an awful lot of attention seeing as I will need to put my mothering energy somewhere!  I don't think he'll mind though.

Paul's sister and her daughter are coming from Michigan to care for the children while we're gone. (I am so grateful!)  The kids are SOOO excited.  They are wanting us to leave. They love their Aunt and Cousin.  And Paul and I can really enjoy ourselves because we know they are in loving and capable hands.  I just hope the kids aren't too upset when we come back. (ha!ha!)

We feel so blessed to be able to go.  Thank you, Lord!

Update, Scrapbooking and Japanese Girl

Well, I'm so thankful to be feeling back to normal again.  I got caught up on a lot yesterday, thanks to my dear hubby who watched the kids for me while I ran 7 errands in 80 minutes, including vacuuming and washing the car.   (I was pretending to be in an Olympic sport)   We are desperately trying to squeeze so many things in before we leave for 16 days! 

I will be heading into the Corps with the girls to catch up there too. 

Then company this afternoon, then back to the grindingstone.

Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks:

We've started a new project around here and the kids are loving it.

Scrapbooking! 

When the Back To School Supplies were on sale last fall, I stocked up on 10 cent

spiral notebooks. 

Then I've been grabbing magazines from the free shelves at the Library.

Some glue sticks and scissors, wa-la.

Cheap, easy, fun.

The kids pull it out any time and work on them.  They'll sit there for an hour creating.  It is a God-send for sure during these winter months of being cooped up inside.  

Ann's

Elijah's

David's

Hannah mostly sticks to drawing "Space-Ships" (her new thing) on the cover and inside pages.

I've even started one.  I find it quite relaxing and decompressing.

I'm going to pull together the supplies to make this available to our Church Game Room children in the summer too.  I think they will enjoy it as much as we have.

 

A couple weeks ago when Paul flew down to El Paso, I stuck a couple of chopsticks in Ann's bun (from ballet) and she suddenly became a very serious "Japanese Girl".  Then she and Elijah and Hannah used her easy bake oven because she wanted to make a Japanese Girl dinner.  Before I knew it, we were all involved and I tried to make it special by eating at the coffee table and drinking our last bottle of sparkling cider in my most precious teacups, meant for precious people.

And then there's Mary. 

I had to strap her down in her high chair because she kept tyring to pull all the food and dishes off the coffee table and the kids were losing their patience with her.  She was content in her chair while she watched me fold laundry, visit with one of my ladies on the phone,  and co-ordinate the special Japanese Girl dinner. 

I am thankful that David still enjoys these simple things. 

I know he is getting older and I will have to step-it-up so that he can have as much fun as everyone else.  Too many boys his age just turn to the TV or video games, and believe me he tries sometimes,

but I'm not selling out.

He has an amazing mind, what child doesn't? 

Thank you, Lord, for giving us a mind that creates and imagines!

Us Sickies

All us girls in the house are major sickies.  Baaad stomach virus. Paul had to take Mary and Hannah to the ER on Monday night, Ann and I woke up with it Tuesday morning.  We've just been laying around in a stupor, with our handy barf bowls (aka the popcorn bowls).    You should see the laundry, or maybe not ;) 

Paul has his game on, I think he likes taking care of us sickies, which is so not my forte.  

It's killing me that I'm not able to get things done at home and at the Corps to be ready for our big trip!  

I know we're getting better though.  I am just praying that my energy comes back in full swing soon!

Several people at the Corps(church) have it too.  The Dr. said it's going around. 
I hope we didn't start it.

Mother Is Not Maid

When I was  in the dentist's office the other day, I got a chance to catch up on all the celebrity magazines.  I would've never thought that admist all that entertaining trash I would find an epiphany-a-ha-click-lightbulb- went-off moment for myself, but God is infamous for turning garbage into gem!  Here's what I found.........

"Mother is not maid."

-Jonas Brother's Mom

You know when I am most frustrated with motherhood is if I'm not actually engaged in it.  I get most frustrated when I feel like I've just been cleaning up, shuttling kids around, and feeding everyone all day.

Yes, those are all parts of motherhood, but it is NOT the definition of motherhood.   I think in a lot of ways the pattern of this world says... "do not over-mother", "let the village raise the child", "don't cram things down the kids' throat", "you're just a mom, you're not capable of what the professionals are" and on and on.  On the inside I am not duped into believing these things. God is transforming me by the  renewing of my mind.  But I have to admit that there are many times when I will just nodd my head and agree so as not to look "over-bearing" and so that I will not look "foolish" because I consider being a mother the most important-eternal-world changing- legacy leaving thing I will ever do.  I have 5 little disciples 24/7.  

So I have been really pondering lately my role as Mother in my children's lives,

 how am I and will I be actively engaged in raising my children?

A Mother nurtures and takes responsbility for her offspring.    A Mother trains, guides and protects her children.  She does what she knows to be best for them.  She does not just wish, or churn things over in her mind, or simply sit in thoughtful prayer; she puts her love into action, she takes a stand, and she takes full responsibilty for being the only mother that God has given  her children.  She is fierce, but gentle.  She has her mind made up, but is open to Heavenly Father and earthly father  directed change.  She is steadfast, but knows when to take a break.   She respects her children, but is not afraid of them.  She is head over heals in love, but sensible. She is friend and foe, depending on the the child's perception! 

And more precisely:        

A mother meets the need of her child according to what he/she cannot do for themselves (much like ministry!)    A mother selflessly serves, teaches, demonstrates and helps her child do for themselves what they cannot do until they can.  Oh, how tender God has made our hearts!  How He has put these special abilities in the hands of Woman for all the world to benefit and see His glory and grace. 

Not what they won't do for themselves.

A mother uses discipline, routine, natural consequences, and sometimes punishment so that the child will eventually do for themselves what they won't do.    THIS is where it counts.  It is my intention to raise men and women, not helpless children in an adult body.  I must constantly be on my toes in this area- praying for discernment so that I will know the difference between cannot and will not.  For example:  My 3 yod, Hannah, is in the mostly "cannot" area when it comes too cleaning up her room perfectly, but my 10 yod, David, absolutley can, and perfectly at that.  My 10 month old, Mary, can not possibly make her own bowl of Cheerios, but my 8 yod, Elijah, sure can.  This also applies to heart areas.  I expect my older children to be more in control of their emotions than my little ones.  Sometimes I need to physically hold a child until their temper cools but I expect an older child to hold themselves.

What does a "will not" look like?  Hear me----it is very rarely in the form of open defiance!!   It comes more in  forms of     laziness, "not hearing", denial, moodiness, divertion, lying, sneakiness, self-justification, blame, forgetfulness, selfish acts, and more.  These  are the areas that require the heart of a mother to tend after.  Others would want to expose these sins to make themselves look better and feel better about themselves (that's my conclusion of why we pick out others' sins),   but a mother does it with un-conditional love, acceptance,  and perfect hope for the path that her child will be on.  A mother is on her child's side, not against.   

She pours her energy into the character of her child before she pours it into anything else. 

She is far more Mother than Maid!

A Week in Progress

Monday- We went to the Portland Zoo, using our membership.  Fuuuun!  The weather was just right, it was not overly crowded (I expected worse with President's Day and all) and we all really enjoyed ourselves.  Hannah was more into it than ever.  The Zoo is one of my favorite places to be.  I love being outside and I love animals.  David's favorite are the snakes, Elijah's favorite are the giraffes, Ann's favorite are the elephants, Hannahs favorite is the bobcat , Paul's favorite is me.  Then, we're all looking at the bats, and of course, we run into another family we know from The Dalles.  Small world! On the way home, we wanted to eat at a mongolian grill called Chang's (the kids call it the noodle place) but it was closed.  We don't know the area real well, but ran across an Outback.  Okay, let's give it a try.  I'm thinking big bucks here, but... as we all gathered around the table, the waiter told us it was Kid's Eat FREE Monday! SCORE! 

Tuesday- Office, Errands, Office, Errands, Errands, Chores,  BEAUTIFUL weather and we all played outside at dinner time so I just heated up some HotPockets and Sliced up some apples for dinner.

Wednesday- Office, Home League, Office, Chores, Haircuts for the boys and a trip to Walgreens to buy a new chess game because the chess pieces from the old one keep vanishing, Chores, and some Olympic watching.  Then after the kids went to bed, I stayed up late to do a crash course in finishing my CBS lesson. 

Today-  CBS (Community Bible Study), I hosted the ladies luncheon for my group at home with baked potato bar (the ladies brought toppings).  I was so glad and excited to do this because in my 5 years of CBS, I've only been able to go to the monthly luncheon 3 times because it is normally scheduled when I have Advisory Board.   Chores (my middle name), an unusual disciplining for poor Ann, who learned a very big lesson today, and bedtime for the kids when I can do my own thing, which will probably be some things toward getting ready for Israel.  Oh me, oh my, it's getting close!   Or hmm... I wonder if The Office is on tonight....  I LOL everytime I watch that show!!! It drives Paul nuts to hear me ga-fa over and over again, but I catch him giggling too from the dining room table.  I open the blinds so that I can watch his reflection in the window, and then I can see if he's looking at the TV or not, but shhhhh....  I don't think he knows!

Tommorow- go to boy's school to watch David anchor the school news, then to the Office to finish getting ready for Sunday and check on Sally (our hamster) and take care of some other things.  I should have an easy afternoon because a visitation cancelled.  I'm looking forward to just puttering around the house with the kids.  I bought a new 1000 piece puzzle that everyone's dying to start.  I might hide a few pieces to make things exciting (jk!).

Saturday David has a chess tournament.  It is SIX hours long.  Ugh!  Paul has already said he would go and just bring some work with him.  God bless that man.  I don't think I could do it (and still keep my sanity!).

Everyday Life Pics

Sunday morning,  heading out the door. 

Notice the girls with their "bump-it" hairdos.

They are so proud with their hair all big.  It's so funny!

Mary and you-know-who.

This is the sort of stuff the kids do while I'm at the Corps (church) working on stuff.

I think I was finishing getting ready for Sunday School or something.

Hannah LOVES this.

Round and round and round we go....

where we stop, nobody knows.

We are so blessed to have a game room.  My kids are always free to run and play and the Corps kids get to use it a lot too.  (I like to use it as a reward in our discipline arsenal!)

Hannah dropping her birthday pennies on the drum with Captain Paul (Daddy!)

Ann and Elijah leading a Sunday School song.

No,we don't only pick our own kids!! ha!ha!

(I'm just not putting up pics of our Corps children who are also eager little helpers.)

The girls like to load up EVERY one of their dollies on Ann's stroller that she got for Christmas.

When they go around the house with it, they literally remind me of the bag lady that used to hang around my home Salvation Army in Vallejo, CA.  

I call Ann and Hannah the bag ladies and they get all mad "NO! We're mommies Mommy!"

This is Mary's first hairdo with a bow.

It' didn't last long and then her hair stuck up funny all day.