Goodbye

Have you ever had a goodbye that just seemed too easy? Today Esh left to go back home to Israel. Esh's Aunt, Uncle, and I all went to the airport with her and sat and chatted and laughed for about an hour. No tears were shed, though I think Esh and I came pretty close during the goodbye hug. I came home, at lunch, read the Bible with my family and napped. I missed her all day long and kept thinking of things I wanted to tell her "tonight when we hung out." More than once I had to remind myself that that night we'll hang out together won't be for a while. She called me from Houston for about 3 minutes, she texted from New Jersey and then she was gone. Thankfully we had dinner at some friend's house tonight and were still there when departure for Tel Aviv took place. On the way home I made a bad decision. I listened to her Israeli CD that we often listened to together. Ouch! I got home and the big cry came. I don't wish she was still here. More than anything I wish I was on that plane to Tel Aviv with her. I miss her, I miss her family and I miss Israel. I miss everything about that place. The hard things that grow you stronger, the yummy things that make your tummy smile, the view that make you smile, and the people that make you laugh and cry. It's such a wonderful blend. I guess I'll have to just agree with the card I gave Esh for the plane: Out of sight out of mind really is a big lie. Someday, someday, someday. . .

Sorry It's been so long!

So much has happened since I last updated. I'm sorry but time flies by so quickly.

We spent the last three nights on the Sea of Galilee away from internet access. The funny thing is when you don't have access is the only time that you have the time to use it.

On the way to the Sea of Galilee we stopped at the Jordan River. It was interesting because the first thing we did was read the sign in Spanish. After you've seen so many signs in a foreign language and alphabet you're very thankful for signs in a language that you can at least understand better. Most places also have English so it wasn't that big of a deal but it was something that our family would enjoy!

We went on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee which was interesting. It was a boat taking a bunch of young school children out and we were just add ons at the last minute. It was neat to think that this is the place that Yeshua was and spoke from and this is where the disciples went fishing. . . We've noticed though that it can be difficult to reflect on things here because people are always around and it's very common to them.

I've been contemplating this blog entry all weekend but it's now 2:15 am and all thoughts that I had have vanished. I am going to post some pictures finally!

Oh, dad did get a guitar in Tiberias and we've very much enjoyed that. It's great to have Dad's music around again.

Last Saturday night a friend of our friends stayed here for the night. He's an IDF soldier scheduled to get out of the army in 15 days! He's rather excited about that but has enjoyed his time serving his country. We were blessed to meet Alon when he was in the States about a year ago. It's rather a rather comforting thought to have a M-16 under the same roof as you. We feel VERY safe here but you feel extremely safe with a gun like that not too far away. Tonight Alon and his sister came for a visit so I got some pics of me lugging the M-16. No worries guys because Alon was holding the ammo I just had Samantha (the gun).

We went to the grocery store without any fluent Hebrew speakers the other day. It was an adventure but very exciting and fun. Dad and mom have both also driven all over the northern parts of Israel and done very well. We drove all along the Syrian border and that wasn't so comfortable but not too bad either.

Well, it's late and I would like to get some shut eye before our travels tomorrow.

Sorry this was so random and out of order!

Shalom and we miss you all!

Mel and Family

P.S. Sorry, blogger's being slow or something and won't load my pics. I'm too tired to keep messing with it. Maybe when we're in Jerusalem I'll have time to figure it out. Sorry! If not then just stop by our house when we're home and we'll show you the pics.

Strike Averted!

Just popping in real quick to say that the strike was averted so we should be on to Israel tomorrow! This is exciting but we were fine with it either way. We'd made plans to stay with friends in Wisconsin if our plane didn't leave Chicago for several days. Truly we were just trusting that God was totally in control and we'd be where we were supposed to be when we were supposed to be there.

Well, I must get back to packing!

The time is near!

We leave for Israel in less than 48 hours!!!!!! Can you tell I'm a bit pumped?

Yesterday we had some airport victories and some concerns come up. We found out that we will be able to check our luggage through to Chicago from here. At first that was up in the air and we didn't really have time during our layover to pick up our luggage and recheck it. The concern is that Israeli government employees are threatening to strike on Wed. or Thurs. If they strike we might not be able to fly in and if we are able to fly in then we may be without our luggage for a few days. Please be praying with us about that.

Another thing that has us excited is some friends David and I met on a Homeschool Alumni forum are planning to come down from Wisconsin to keep us company during our layover in Chicago. They have a foot or more of snow right now but are expecting the roads to be clear enough to drive down. They're definately not Texans! Here if we get more than two snowflakes the entire city shuts down because we don't know how to handle it!

My plan is to keep updating my blog while we're gone but I can't make any promises since I really don't know how busy we'll be. I will take pleanty of pictures and share them!

I'll miss all of you but will be home just in time to turn 20! Time really does fly.

Blessings!
Mel