The Holy Land

I didn’t sleep much last night.  I guess I should have stayed awake on the plane.  Kaleb slept like a log, even though he was on the floor.  We were supposed to have a triple room, but somehow things got mixed up and we ended up with two twin beds.  The receptionist said they’d have us a cot in five minutes.  After thirty minutes, Kaleb couldn’t wait anymore and just curled up on the floor, where he slept soundly all night long.  They came with the extra bed a little too late for him. 

We were in the dining hall half an hour before the rest of our group this morning, so we finished breakfast early and had some free time before getting on the bus.  The Mediterranean Sea was right outside our window so we went down and stuck our toes in the very clear and warm water (see photo above).  Kaleb and I collected pockets full of shells and enjoyed the warm sand between our toes.  It would have been nice to jump in and go for a swim.

Our first stop was Caesaria, one of the biggest and most impressive harbor towns in the ancient world.  King Herod built it in honor of Caesar, so it was quite grand, and still is, actually.  They do a good job there of taking the visitor back in time and showing (with digital technology) how the harbor looked and how it was built.  They also explain very clearly who occupied that space and for how long over the past centuries.  The Apostle Paul spent two years in jail in that town so it was very easy to visualize Biblical days when starting off in that place.  And our guide, Halvor, is great at stopping to read appropriate scripture where it applies.  I really could have hung out there by the edge of the sea all day long, but there was more to see and do so after a few hours, we hit the road again.

We saw Mt. Temor in the not too distant horizon as we drove along – it’s the category one sight of Jesus’ transfiguration.  Everything here is close to everything else. (See photo above.)

Our next stop was lunch (falafels) at a café up on Mt. Carmel, built just for the tourist trade – no surprise there.  Then on to the Catholic monastery at the top, that was built in honor of the prophet, Elijah.  It was on Mt. Carmel where Elijah had the contest with the hundreds of other “prophets” as to whose God was real.  Fire descended and burned up the wet offering Elijah had taunted the other prophets to burn.  The roof of the monastery provided quite the overview of the Meggido Valley and the hills of Samaria.  Kaleb spotted a natural green cross growing in the farm land below.  Cool.

It’s amazing to me how rich this land is for farming.  I didn’t know it before, but apparently the Jews didn’t have much in the way of farming skills.  Because they couldn’t take that trade with them if their land got taken away, where ever they were living, they all developed skills that were more transportable.  Once they got their country back, no one knew how to farm anymore.  The rich banker, Rothschild, started an agricultural school after WWII in Israel and provided financing to help them start farming the land again, and man is there a lot of farming going on!  We went through several valleys today that had all kinds of things growing – it was an impressive sight.  I saw peppers, grapes, tomatoes, loquats, olive trees, sunflowers, wheat, orange trees, potatoes, and many more crops that whizzed by before I could identify them.  They’ve had an unusual abundance of rain this year so everything is lush and green.  For some reason, when I think of Israel, I think desert, but what we’ve seen so far has been quite the opposite.  A land “flowing with milk and honey,” perhaps?

We left Mt. Carmel and drove on into Nazareth where we went up on a hill for an overlook of the city.  The Catholics or Greek Orthodox have built churches over all the spots in Israel where they believe certain things happened, so it’s hard to imagine just how things could have been two thousand years ago in towns that are still active and growing, but it was still something to behold.  A Greek church sits over the only spring in town where some believe Mary was visited by the angel and told she would become the mother of Jesus.  A huge Catholic compound and church is built over the spot where THEY believe Mary was visited by the angel.  They aren’t far from each other.  We didn’t go inside either church, but we saw them from the nearby  hill top and drove right by them on the way through the city.  Nazareth was just a nothing little town in the bottom of a bowl – being surrounded on three sides by sloping hills.  God certainly could have picked a more glorious place for His son to grow up, but then it wouldn’t have made the same impact.  There are plenty of gorgeous places around here, but the point was obviously better made that Jesus came from humble beginnings.

Just up and over the ridge from Nazareth is the town of Canaan where Jesus turned the water into wine.  We drove through that town and I guess it’s quite the tourist stop for those interested in buying wine.  I would have preferred a bottle of water.

Our destination today was the Sea of Galilee (photo above) so we drove on through the Valley of Megiddo in order to get there.  Some believe that valley will be where the final battle is fought in the end times - at Armageddon, but who knows.  We drove right by one of Herod’s chariot cities that held tens of thousands of horses, back in the day.  I visited that sight in 1996 when I was first in Israel, but it wasn’t on our list of places to see this time.  There wasn’t much to see anyway – just the foundations for all the stables.

As we approached the Sea of Galilee we could see Mt. Hermon in the distance, to the north.  Our hotel is right on the coastline of the lake, which is really more of what the Sea of Galilee is, as it’s not that big.  It almost seems possible to swim from one side to the other.  It’s a warm night but a nice breeze makes it all quite tolerable.  After all the rain we’ve had in Norway this Spring, I’m not complaining!

We had dinner in the hotel with our group and then chatted with them all in the lounge afterwards.  There are ten guys and five women, with one newlywed couple and us being the only married ones. Rune, our fearless leader, told us of some horrific stories from his trip here last year while spying out the land.  It only confirmed my long held idea that this is not the place to visit, UNLESS with a tour group. 

Rune and Pastor Mark had made hotel reservations last year, but didn’t know the full consequences of it being during the holiest period of the year (kind of like being in Norway on a Sunday.)  Everything was closed.  When they showed up at the hotel after midnight, it too, was closed.  No one was working the front desk because it was forbidden to work on that day.  They had to break into their room in order to get some sleep, but then the police showed up with machine guns pointed right at them and they had to leave, even after explaining they had reservations and all.  They ended up driving over three hours in search of another hotel room, but as Mary found out, “there was no room at the inn” because of this special day.  They spent over $400 on that taxi ride, but eventually found a place that had a vacancy - at seven in the morning.  It wasn’t funny at the time, but he was sure laughing about it tonight.  He learned from that experience to never come to Israel during any of their Holy days.  So here we are, free from Holy days and no complaints so far.  Just good weather, pretty good food, and hopefully a good night’s sleep ahead of me.  Hallelujah.

  

Our First Day in Spain!

Let’s just say this weather here agrees with us. Tante Berit thinks so too, and even though she may miss her family and friends in Norway, the weather in Southern Spain is so spectacular year round near the Mediterranean Sea, she just can’t live anywhere else. It’s understandable – she has a pool in her backyard, the beach just a short distance away, and good food at every restaurant in the neighborhood. I’m glad she invited us here.




We had breakfast out on the patio this morning, then took a long walk with the dog along the shore. Kaleb and I found ourselves lagging behind collecting sea glass. We must have gotten about five pounds of it before Kory and Berit turned around and came back our way.



Sandy beaches in this town are rare, as uneven lava coats this coastline. It is nice to look at, but difficult to walk on without shoes. Kaleb was excited to get his feet wet in the Mediterranean Sea and I was excited there were so many beautiful things to take photos of all day.



We spent the afternoon at Berit’s house and sunned ourselves a bit too long. We are all red as tomatoes, but no one is complaining. The heat felt good, the cool pool felt better. Being the handy man that he is, Kory offered to do any needed household maintenance things for Berit. She did need a few light fixtures replaced, so after a while, we headed into town to go shopping. Spain recognizes the afternoon Siesta time where all businesses close for several hours, then open again in the cool of the evening.



All along the shore, in the center of town, is a wonderful walkway, not all of it is made of wood like the boardwalk in Atlantic City, but some is made of terrazzo tile, (a kind of a mosaic pattern.) It was very special, and beautiful. I was surprised by how modern this city is and how many new buildings and public areas there are. Tante Berit said they have gone through a big building boom, but now it’s a bust as they are experiencing a 20% unemployment rate since the economy collapsed nearly two years ago. A lot of building projects just sit half finished, but there are plenty that were done before the downturn. Near where Berit lives is a very modern desalinization plant that cost over 28 million Euros. It takes the water from the sea, pulls out the salt and sells it, then sells the fresh water to all the farmers in the area that grow citrus trees. It’s a real win/win business, but it’s kind of odd to see mountains of salt piled up all over the place. How would they clean the salt if a bird pooped on it? It’s not like they can wash it.



In town, I managed to buy a few small souvenirs while walking around, and I even bought a new light for the bathroom in our condo in Norway. I’m sure I can fit it in my backpack for the trip home. It was only $12 (10 Euro), and the same thing in Norway would be at least a hundred dollars. Kory just shook his head, but he didn’t believe I could fit a bathroom sink in our luggage the year we brought that home from Norway, either. Berit found lights she also liked so tomorrow Kory will install them. I was so impressed with all the beautiful light fixtures available here. I never thought of Spain as being so hip and artistic, but there are several things I’ve seen so far that are very impressive. They have some cool fountains and incredible gardens and artistic designs in the center of the large roundabouts on the main highway. They also have plenty of graffiti and unkempt looking places too, but overall it’s not at all what I was expecting. It’s much better.



In the neighborhood where Berit lives, all the yards have stucco fences and gated entries for both the car and people, right at the edge of the sidewalk, so each yard is very private and blocked off from public viewing. The houses all have bars on the windows just to be on the safe side, and nearly every house has a pool. Many Norwegians live around here. It’s their version of the snowbird migration to Arizona we have in the States, plus, it’s MUCH cheaper than Norway. We went out to dinner tonight (where we coincidentally sat next to a Norwegian couple from Bergen who told us it snowed today there) and we enjoyed a four course meal (which included a bottle of incredibly good house wine) and it was only 12 euro a person (about $14). That same meal in Norway would have easily been $150 per person, and in the States, maybe about $40 a person. I’d never cook again if I lived here. What a treat.



I took years of Spanish when I was in college, but boy is it hard to remember now. Kory caught me saying a sentence using half Spanish words, half Norwegian. Kaleb keeps correcting my Norwegian grammar, when I’m talking to Tante Berit, which I appreciate, but I’m thankful he can’t also speak Spanish because I’m just downright embarrassing. When we were at the lamp store, we kept flipping between Norwegian, Spanish and English. The Spanish employee that was helping us spoke quite a bit of Norwegian (which is quite telling as to how many Norwegians actually live around here). He heard me trying to communicate using all three languages and I was pretty proud when he complimented me on my ability to speak English so well. He had no idea where we were from.

Double Woo-Hoo Day!

Two good things happened today, and I’m not sure which one I’m happiest about because both of them make me want to do the Happy Dance. I got my laptop back from repair and we finally rented out our vacant apartment in Seattle! Double Woo Hoo! I was getting oh so tired of Kaleb’s laptop with its Norwegian keyboard and painfully slow response time, plus the fact he believed it gave him the right to control me and how much time I spent on it. That was getting old. I guess now I know how he feels. (Being a kid isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.) And as for the apartment, we are thanking God we have a tenant because this weekend another one of our apartments goes vacant and having two empty at once is a huge financial drain, so we have been shoutin’ Hallelujah all day long. God is rarely early, but He’s never late.

I was home all day by myself, just having prayer and Bible study time. It was a good day to be indoors because the sky was a dark gray with a little rain off and on. I enjoyed the peace and quiet and time alone with God. I so miss my every other day off I used to have at home when Kory taught Kaleb one day and I taught him the next. But soon enough we’ll be back to that routine so I don’t want to wish any time away now. That kid takes up a lot of energy, so my ability to get anything done goes away once he’s home from school. God bless him. He had a fine day at school, but he’s now counting down the days until school is out. I think we both are done around the 20th of June.

Kory gave his two week notice today as he wants to be done with work early so he can help Odd finish his remodel project before we leave. Kory’s bosses want to give him a going away party, so that’s nice. He has so enjoyed working for them and according to cousin Kari (who is the aunt to Espen, one of his bosses), Espen is “taking his Christianity more seriously” because of Kory’s influence on him – so it was nice to hear that Kory has been a good influence on him. I’m sure they will miss the “Hallelujahs” at work too, because Kory is sure to holler it every time someone on the job site says a swear word. He likes to get in a little counter balance to such a thing to “clear the air” he says.

Tonight I attended another “Jesus Kvinne” meeting (Jesus Women) at Filadelfia Church. It’s such a great venue I’m wishing I could bring it to Skagit Valley when we get home. It’s a multi-denominational monthly gathering of women that’s fun, entertaining and informative. It reminds me a little of the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group I was involved in when Kaleb was a toddler, only this is for women of all ages and in all walks of life. I really like the program and can see it working at home with the right group of women making it happen. We’ll see if doors open.

I went to the church café afterwards and sat with a woman I met last week at the Bible study I attended. When I prayed for her at the Bible study, it was clear to me that she needed some wisdom and guidance about a few things so I told her how to lay out a “fleece” by setting up certain criteria as a “yes” or “no” from God and waiting to see how God guides. It’s a method mentioned in the Old Testament in Judges Chapter 6, but she’d never heard of it. I asked her tonight if she’d laid out any fleeces this week and she said she asked God that night as she was driving home from the Bible study if this really was a way He wants to communicate things to her, and if it was, then she would need to see a seagull standing in the middle of the road by the time she got to her house. She drove all the way, looking for a seagull and didn’t even see one in the sky, then just as she was turning the corner to her street, there stood about 50 seagulls right in the middle of the road. She said that was all it took for her to believe. She told her husband about it when she got home but he said, “God doesn’t speak to people like that.” So I reminded her tonight that YES He does and when she gives it a try and her husband sees how it works, he’ll believe. (Kory was skeptical at first too but now he knows better.) I believe God is a gentleman, and He waits to be asked before He intervenes. And just like any good parent, He loves us and only wants the best for us. He will lead and guide, He will give wisdom and clear direction, and His timing is always perfect. God is so faithful. I love that about Him.

We Have Housesitters!

We’ve had two beautiful spring days this weekend so it was tough to be indoors packing. I opted for yard work and I THINK my body is glad, but it’s been moaning a bit more than usual. I have 5 yards of beauty bark to get down in the next several days in preparation for Kaleb’s big half birthday party on June 7th. Uff da.

I talked with Ryan today, the guy who will be house sitting for us. He and his (soon to be) wife are thrilled. I called his cell phone the minute I hung up the phone from the Norwegian Consulate and they gave us the green light to go. It seems that Ryan was sitting in a restaurant in Chicago with his fiancé and soon to be in-laws and they were just asking him about his plans for the next year and just where he would be living. So many things in their life have also been in the realm of the “unknown,” so God’s timing was impeccable as his phone rang just in the nick of time. He said he wouldn’t normally answer his phone while out with his in-laws, but he saw it was me calling and thought he just might want to get it. He sounded quite relieved when I told him that we’d gotten approval to move and he could live in our house for 14 months. (He’s been waiting since last November to know FOR SURE if we were going…). So he’ll be moving in on the 9th of June and we’ll have a few weeks to go over things with him before he takes off to the mid-west to get married – and then he’ll come back just before we leave for Norway so we’ll have a few days with his wife to go over things with her.

We really wanted to just bless someone with our house while we were gone, so he fit the bill. He’s a worship intern at our church and is well loved, so they extended his contract a second year. We just asked them to keep the yard up and pay the utilities so we know the house will be in good hands while we are gone. And it’s not a bad place to spend your first year of married life either!