When I talked to Julie the week before our big trip, she mentioned that she enjoys walking, and she hoped to walk everywhere in Tel Aviv. “Perfect, I love walking!” I said. But then, as I got to know Julie better, I began to realize we were not exactly on the same level with the physical fitness. She walks, and she runs, and she exercises. Julie is what we call fit. Super fit. I am more like what we call….not […]
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Tel Aviv is gorgeous. It is a huge bustling, modern city, on the Mediterranean Sea. It has everything you could want or need, with the unique Israel flavor to it. We stayed in Tel Aviv for our entire week in Israel. Other cities we visited were just day trips. Most Israelites are Jews, but not necessarily religious Jews. We heard that often in our time there, not just for Tel Aviv, although it is definitely more secular than many parts […]
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By the time we made it to Ein Karem, it was after a long day of exploring Old Jerusalem, so I hope you are good with short explanations. I was quickly losing brain battery power at this point. This church marks the spot where experts believe John the Baptist was born. It is also near the Church of the Visitation, where Mary visited Elisabeth. I thought we visited both churches, but I could only find photos for the church of […]
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While Alan was at OBC (military training) in Oklahoma, and I was finishing my degree at Alabama, Alan had this spontaneous idea to meet for the weekend in New York City!! New York City!! Y’all. To fully understand why this was such a big deal, I should explain that I was not accustomed to this sort of thing. We did not take annual vacations or move from state to state. I lived in Alabama my entire life. But for […]
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Bethlehem has a few important distinctions. 1.) It is the birthplace of Jesus. 2.) Rachel is buried there. Rachel was the wife of Jacob. Jacob is the ONE who God re-named Israel. “Your name will no longer be Jacob. You have wrestled with God and with men, and you have won. That’s why your name will be Israel.”[ Genesis 32:28 Now if you want to understand that story better, ya just gotta go read Genesis because an awful lot of […]
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Alan and I were so excited to pray at the famous “Wailing Wall.” Truthfully, I was not sure exactly about the history of this wall. I went into our Jerusalem tour thinking the wall was the only remaining wall from the ancient Jewish temple. That’s almost true. That entire temple was completely destroyed. The Western Wall is what remains from the retaining wall that was built around the temple. It is considered holy because it was the outer part of the […]
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After we left Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, located now within the Church of Holy Sepulchre, we headed down the Via Dolorosa. All day I had the song Via Dolorosa, in my head. Okay, sometimes I couldn’t help but sing a little of it out loud. I’m one of those people. I usually have a song in my head that occasionally accidentally comes out for others to hear. The Via Dolorosa means “the way of suffering.” Jesus did not get to […]
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Welcome back to the Jerusalem tour. I cannot wait to take you to Calvary in pictures, also known as Golgotha! Where did we leave off? Ah yes, walking through Old Jerusalem. In Part 1, we saw the Mount of Olives and entered Old Jerusalem. The first thing we saw there was the Upper Room and David’s Tomb. Let’s stroll on over to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre now. This church now sits on top of the site where Jesus […]
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Jerusalem Tour Part 1: The Mount of Olives and Old Jerusalem Day one of our Jerusalem tour took us from the Mount of Olives down into Old Jerusalem. We walked through the Jewish Quarter, saw ancient ruins from Roman roads, and wove around to the Upper Room where Jesus had the Last Supper. I’m going to show you all of it. Psalm 122:3-5 3 Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together,4 to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord,as […]
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The beach is my favorite place to go in the summer, but it can be expensive and dangerous for a family full of pale skinned people. This year we actually managed to take a thrifty trip to Miramar Beach without getting sun-burned! Alan and I are always dreaming up fun things to do together as a family, and our efforts are often met with …….resistence. One of our fellas actually lamented, “I don’t want to go to the beach. I […]
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