Israel Trip: Day 2

On Friday we visited many early Christian sites along the Galilee. These included the Mount of Beatitudes (see picture of the church above), the ruins of Chorazin, a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, the “Jesus Boat” exhibit (a recently excavated fishing boat from the time of Jesus), the site of Peter’s primacy (see John 21), and finally, Capernaum, where Jesus and Peter based their ministries.
The social highlights of the day were these: singing “Fairest Lord Jesus” in the Franciscan Chapel on the Mount of Beatitudes, Chum Alexanian modeling a tallit (Jewish prayer shawl) at the Chorazin synagogue, and group dancing during the boat ride on the Sea ofGalilee (i.e., “What happens on the Galilee stays in Galilee!”).

 Picture above is of our friend, Chum, wearing a prayer tallit in the excavated Chorazin synagogue.
Picture below is the boat that our group got to ride on at the Sea of Gallilee.

 The guys running the boat cast their nets to try to catch fish as Jesus and his disciples would have done.

 Ken and I enjoyed the boat trip!

 Below is the boat that has been uncovered in the Sea of Gallilee from the time of Jesus.

 Church of Peter's primacy:

 Beautiful shores of the Sea of Gallilee:

 Capernaum-the spaceship-looking building is a church built over Peter's mother-in-law's house (excavated). 

Israel Trip: Day 1

 Ken and I recently had the wonderful privilege and opportunity to take a group from our church on a 10 day tour of Israel.  We arrived safely in Israel on Wednesday evening.  The flight was delayed by an hour because President Obama was apparently in Philadelphia (the location of our connection).  We merged with the rest of our group in Tel Aviv, then we traveled by bus up the Via Maris, and stayed in Caesarea for the first night.   I was able to dip my feet in the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. 

 This picture above was taken from our hotel room in Caesarea.  Since Ken was one of the leaders, we got the nicest hotel accomodations with the best views.  Definitely different from our usual Days Inn experiences!  On Thursday, June 14 we had our first full day of touring.  We visited Caesarea, Mt Carmel, Megiddo, and Mount Precipice (Nazareth Ridge). We hada tasty lunch (falafel) at a Druze restaurant.  Below is a statue of Elijah slaying the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. 

 This is the valley of Mt. Carmel and we spent some time looking at the story of Elijah.  I was especially excited to go to this site since this is Brad's favorite Bible story right now.  It was amazing to learn that there is still a lot of New Age/mysticism on this mountain.  It seems to still be a stronghold of Satan.

Fun at the Firehouse

 Last week our MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group toured the local fire department. 

 The kids had a blast climbing on the trucks and learning about what firefighters do.

 The best part was when the firefighters got a call and went speeding off with their lights flashing and sirens blaring. 

Early Father's Day

 Since Ken and I will be in Israel on Father's Day, the kids and I decided we would celebrate Ken early this year.  Ken is such an amazing dad and we wanted him to feel special and appreciated.  Sooo, we made garden stones for him and we got him some doughnuts and spelled the word "dad" with them. 

 Then we took him to a place called Prehistoric Pets.  I had been there a few years ago with Brad and baby Lila and knew then that this would be a place that Ken would enjoy.

 Growing up, Ken had a wide assortment of animals, including a newt and iguana.  This place has an amazing display of MANY reptiles-a 2 headed snake named Thelma and Louise, the largest albino boa in the world (named Twinkie), and a tame monitor that roams the store, just to name a few. 

 We fed the turtles and tortoises...

 The turtles ate live meal worms while the tortoises ate veggies.

 They allow you to handle a few of the reptiles...  Everyone enjoyed this part. 
They host birthday parties here or you can have them bring some reptiles to your party at your house. 

This place also has loads of fossils all around the store and Ken enjoyed looking at those too.  They were very unique and unlike any that we have seen anywhere, even in museums!
 All told, Ken enjoyed his day and we did too!