Sea of Galilee

One of my favorite things we did during our trip was spend a morning on a boat on the Sea of Galilee. Our ride started off with sunshine, but ended with some rain. So much Biblical history surrounds this body of water (Jesus walking on water, Jesus calming a storm, Jesus' teachings/parables, Jesus calling some of his disciples, etc), and that made our boat ride so much more special. I love that I now can picture these sites as I read my Bible.

The Buster men (our good family friends), with Nate and Paul

Our wonderful Israeli singer.

Being taught how to dance "Israeli style" :)

Getting Started

Since we were with a large tour group, each day had a very full schedule. We ate breakfast around 7:30am and were on the road by 8am. We usually did not return to the hotel for the evenings until 5:30-6pm. We normally bathed Micah and then headed to dinner at 6:30pm. Since Micah was not getting his usual daily nap times, he went to bed pretty easily after dinner. After the little ones were down, Paul, Tim, Anna, Nate, and I would normally hang out in the hallway outside our rooms, or in Granddaddy and Lottie's nice suite area. A few nights Lottie and Granddaddy tried to stay up with us, but they usually crashed pretty early too. :)

Our tour began in a beautiful part of Israel, next to the Mediterranean Sea. To be honest, I was not expecting Israel to be so pretty. I guess I was expecting it to look more like Jordan, with all the white rocks, etc. Some parts of Israel are definitely like that, but there was also gorgeous bodies of water as well as GREEN areas :)

Our first stop was at Caesarea by the Sea. This was where Herod the Great built his kingdom. For over 500 years, the Roman government was placed here and Caesarea was also the largest port of New Testament times. Unfortunately, I cannot find some of the best pictures from this site...so these will have to do :(

The amphitheater.

Under an aqueduct.

Next, we went to the Valley of Armageddon, where the final battle between God and Satan will take place. It was pretty awesome seeing this place and definitely gave me great hope as it reminded me that our God is victorious!!

Micah playing in a manger :)

Tel-Aviv

We arrived in Israel a day before our actual tour started. We spent one night in Tel-Aviv and then the tour began the next morning at 8am. Since most of our tour group was arriving by plane from the States, we were the few who were not jet lagged. We decided to venture out and explore the area around our hotel, which basically led us to the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. We also quickly found a GIANT playground that was tons of fun. I think we all enjoyed it more than our little ones did. It had all kinds of cool swings and was right on the water-it made me really wish that we had somewhere like this to go to everyday. I honestly could have spent a few more days in Tel-Aviv (partly because I absolutely loved the hotel we stayed in). From what we could see, it is a really cool city...although sadly we were told that it is known as the most pagan city in Israel.

Welcome to...Israel

After Christmas, we had the wonderful opportunity to spend a week touring Israel with the Akin family. What an amazing trip! We joined up with a larger tour group where Dr. Akin was one of the hosts. Since we were coming from Jordan, we were able to just drive to the boarding crossing-which took about an hour from where we live. The boarder crossing going to Israel wasn't the easiest-we had to switch buses from a Jordanian bus to an Israeli bus, they questioned us about anything and everything, and they checked and rechecked our luggage. One of our bags did not show up at the luggage claim, and we found out it was because there was a fan packed in it. Haha. Even though it was annoying to me and was a drawn out process, it makes sense why security would be so high coming into Israel.

While waiting to receive our last bag, Micah was running around and fell and hit his head on a metal pole. A HUGE goose egg immediately popped up on his forehead-it probably looked worse than it was. He was pretty upset, until we got to the bus and the driver let him sit in the driver's seat. He was pressing every button and making me a little nervous, but it wasn't bothering the driver at all. All that to say, here was our "wanna-be" driver for the week!

Eating yummy phalaphel sandwiches before driving to our hotel (well, Paul had chicken, I think)

The buildings are a Palestinian area, but the huge wall surrounds it in order to keep the Palestinians out of Israeli territory.

The view from our hotel in Tel-Aviv with the Mediterranean Sea in the background

Petra, Take 2

Even though we had just visited Petra with my family, it was definitely necessary to visit again with Paul's family. It is just something you really cannot miss when visiting Jordan. It was a long day as we drove there and back the same day, but it was well worth the adventure. I think everyone was exhausted when we got home-I went to bed around 8:30pm mostly due to a toddler boy kicking my booty that day :)

There are about 50 horses offering rides for people along the way, but ironically Micah got carried in by the same horse and driver that had carried him the previous time. This time Micah was not scared and acted like a pro!

The mile hike or so through the canyons to see The Treasury

Taking a family picture on a rock right before getting yelled at by a tour guide for standing on one of their "gods".

The wonderful Daddy's carrying our little ones

Finally making it to The Treasury

Some of the tombs in the midst of Petra

Nate and Granddaddy hiking up to see The Monastery (Lottie and I opted out of the hike this time as we both had seen it. We did childcare since the boys were napping and so the rest of them could hike the mountain with a little less weight on them)

Tim and Anna in front of the Monastery

The Best Time of the Year

How I love Christmas Day! What a special time celebrating the birth of our Savior while enjoying time together as family. This year was extra special for us as we had the Akin crew invade our home for the holiday. It was a blast, but went by a little too fast. Paul's Dad, Mom, and older brother (Nate) arrived from America on Christmas Eve. It had been a year since we had seen Nate, so it was fun to catch up with him. Needless to say, the 3 of them were a tad jet lagged on Christmas morning, so our day got off to a slow start, which I enjoyed...except these little munchkins were up bright and early :)

Anna and I had made some Christmas breakfast casseroles on Christmas Eve, so we enjoyed a nice brunch together. Poor Nate was starving and patiently waited for brunch, as my oven cooks extremely slow...and I mean slow-the hottest it gets is 300F! I know, I know, I really need to get our oven looked at!

Micah showing off his new Toy Story boots-that we ended up giving to Levi because Micah's feet have grown a lot lately.

This year it was fun watching Micah open his gifts-although he was a little selfish and did not share his new toys with Levi very well. It was a "truck-filled" Christmas for our little boy. He is obsessed with trucks and tractors lately-yes, he is ALL boy!

Of course we had to get a family picture...I just wish it had been in front of the tree. Oh well!

Paul and Nate

We decided to go out for dinner that evening and save ourselves from cooking and the cleanup. The little boys especially enjoyed the children's play area...and Mommy had to join in on the fun too!!

The whole crew (we missed Paul's other brother, Jon, and his family of girls!)

Hope yall had a Merry Christmas too!

Tim, Anna, and "Wuh-die"

A day or so after my family left, we had new visitors arrive from Turkey! Paul's brother, Tim, and his family (Anna and Levi) all came to spend Christmas with us on their way home to the States. We had several days with just them before the other Akin's arrived and it was a lot of fun. We mostly toured our city, cooked, ate, watched our boys, and played games together. Micah is pretty much obsessed with Levi (or "Wuh-die" as Micah calls him). They are finally at an age where they can play together and it was so cute-although, both of them are still learning how to share toys! It was a good test for both of them since they both are expecting another sibling in May. We are so thankful they chose to stop here on their big journey/move back to the States!!

Enjoy a few pictures...

Levi snoozing in his stroller as we ate breakfast.

Micah chatting away.

Bath time with cousins is so fun :)

None other than Chili's...those Akin boys love this place.

And a trip to the mall. Micah usually doesn't like strollers, but he loved his "rental car" that the mall had for him. He even ate his entire lunch in there-which is very unusual! I guess he felt like a big boy.

And then the boys went to the play area and had fun while the girls did some grocery shopping. I don't know who enjoyed it more...the big boys or the little ones!?!