A Few More Favorites

This is the inside of the new wall separating Israel from the West Bank. An artist named Pinksie (I'm not sure of the spelling) made several paintings on this stretch of the wall in Bethlehem. No one knows who he/she is, but his/her work shows up in prominent places around the world. Much of the wall is covered in graffiti.


Kristi, Tim, Nathan, and I went on a double date to an Italian place in the New City. This picture was taken outside the restaurant. Fun!

This is the room in Tim and Kristi's apartment where Nathan and I slept. Cool walls and ceilings, eh?

This was taken on the Mediterranean beach city of ancient Akko, or modern day Acre, or is it the other way around?


This is a picture of the ruins of Herod the Great's fresh water swimming pool, right on the Mediterranean Sea in Caesarea.


This is the ancient city of Dor. There hasn't been much archeology work, but there is tons there to discover! Lots of pottery shards, thousands of years old, just lying around on the beach.


Nathan thought this sign was very agreeable.

This is a very old olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane. I posted it because Nathan asked if we were going to the Garden of Gethsemane multiple times a day and could never remember the answer. :)

Favorite Israel Pictures

At Korazim, where Jesus healed the demon possessed man and drove the spirit into a herd of pigs.


This is Kristi on top of some tel. :)


Sadly, this is the only picture I have of the four of us, and it's just our shadows.


Tim and Kristi in Tiberias. Let's hear it for 45 shekel pizzas!

Nathan took this booty shot on top of Mt. Carmel, where Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal.
This is the cable car that Kristi and I rode up to Masada and back down again. No more Snake Path!


Floating in the Dead Sea with Nathan and Tim. Kristi took this amazing picture.


Nathan bought these cheap Puma sunglasses from a guy at a gas station in the middle of the desert. He was quite proud of them, as they only cost about $5.


This is Nathan pretending to drop off the precipice that Jesus was nearly pushed over in Nazareth.

I'm not sure what's going on in this picture. Kristi snapped this candid shot.


Yay LeCraws and Business Elite! At this point, I had dried my tears of shock and was trying to fit in.


We arrived in Israel on my birthday, and Kristi had made me a cake! What a great friend!


This is Nathan and I at the Temple Mount, where the posted rules include "no intimate touching or embracing."


This is the road up to Jaffa Gate from Jerusalem University College, where Tim, Kristi, and I studied in 2001.


This would be my sweaty, cheap husband and his loyal friend, Tim, who spent almost an hour in the sun, climbing down the Snake Path while Kristi and I rode the cable car down.

I'm Addicted to Facebook!

Augh! It's happened! I'm addicted to Facebook. I'm at my neighbor's house using her computer, and I've dicovered the joys of Facebook. As you'll recall, my sweet husband started an account for me without my knowledge. I have now taken the reigns and have been updating it for the last few hours. Can you believe that?!

Anyway, there are full albums on Facebook of our Israel pictures, but for now I'll just post a few of my favorites on this blog.

Cheers!

We're Back!

We're back from Israel! Aside from Nathan waking up at 3:45 - and staying up - we're rested and adjusted. I'm currently at the Cobb County public library, waiting on my pictures for our coffee table album to be printed at Ritz Camera . My morning didn't go the way I was planning, so I didn't bring the cords and things to download pictures here. If you're really itching to see some, click on Tim and Kristi's blog right now!

THE highlight (aside from seeing our friends, of course)...

Thanks to the LeCraws, Nathan and I flew business class BOTH WAYS on our direct flight from Tel Aviv to Atlanta. I'm spoiled for life. Even though we took off really late, I didn't want to sleep during the 13 hour flight. There were steaks to be eaten, movies to be watched, socks, eyemasks, and noise cancelling headphones to be worn! Amazing... I teared up as we were served our champagne and warm nuts and whispered to Nathan, "This is never going to happen to us ever again!"

We saw lots of stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. Between the two of us, we took over 600 pictures. Please come back and check on the blog later!

The Parker family reunion will begin Thursday night, followed quickly by Aaron and Becky's wedding on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how Nathan fares in a tux again. Pray for cool weather and fans that fit in his pants. I don't want a would-be-mid-wedding panic attack from the groomsman who happens to be my husband.

The Text

While hardly anyone ever comments on this blog, I got a random text last night from my sister, Kristen (a.k.a. Twine). "Update your blog foolio!" it read. I guess people do read this blog on occasion. I haven't been posting recently because I haven't been taking any pictures recently. I wanted this blog to be more of a scrapbook than a journal. However, I'll take some time to let you all know what's been going on lately, if only so you can create some mental pictures.

My mom has been visiting since Saturday, but I haven't taken a single picture yet. However, I've been planning on doing so tonight! You see, we're having the Parker clan and some neighbors over for dinner. Anyway, Mom and I have been very busy watching Pride and Prejudice, eating Kettle Corn, shopping at T.J. Maxx, taking walks, and generally "making memories" (as she would say). Today we hope to get pedicures and continue shopping at the mall. It's funny... I hardly ever go to shopping, but I've enjoyed going with her and picking up a few new treats. She leaves tomorrow, and I probably won't see her again until Christmas.

Right now I'm proctoring a science final exam at school. I gave my Language Arts and Spanish exams yesterday, and now I'm procrastinating on grading them all. Thankfully, my sister-in-law, Joy, is ready and willing to help me grade them. Bribing her with Starbucks couldn't have hurt. I have to finish them all by Saturday at the latest because...

Nathan and I are going to Israel on Sunday! I bought some new shoes just for the occasion. I'll have to take a picture of those too. Anyway, we're going to visit Tim and Kristi Knipp (check out their blog by clicking on their link to the right) and to scope out the land. Tim, Kristi, and I studied together in Jerusalem when we were students at Taylor. It's been seven years ago now, and Tim and Kristi went back to continue schooling there in January. Kristi and I, as roommates way back when, dreamed of a time when we would "bring our husbands back" to Israel. Well, WE'RE DOING IT! Actually, Tim was there when we started dreaming our dream, but we didn't know that they would be getting married. :)

Nathan and I are going up to the attic today to dig up all of my old study material from that semester in 2001 to get our minds prepared. Nathan has been voraciously reading the New Testament again to have it fresh in his mind when we arrive in Jerusalem on Sunday. I am just so excited to see my friend! Kristi and I were in each other's weddings, we were roommates for two years, and I miss her. My mom and I were just yesterday talking about how valuable she was just before our wedding. She literally helped me pack up my entire house and pull the last minute wedding details together.

Anyway, I'm seriously rambling now. I must go and start grading my exams! If you actually check this blog often, thanks for reading. :)