Day 12 Israel - Ceasarea & Bethlehem

We left Galilee early in the morning and went to Ceasarea next.

This is an aquaduct King Herold built.  He wanted a port and they didn't have one, so he built a break wall into the sea and a dock and an aquaduct and then the city of Ceasarea.  Paul was held a prisoner here for two years.

Here's the bus were were touring around on.  It was nice and modern.  The driver owned the bus and each day had different things to sell.  He was a former tank driver in one of the Israeli Arab wars.

 This is the beach at Ceasarea and part of the break wall built by King Herold.

 This is the amphitheater.  The Romans were very big on plays and dramas.

 This was the hipodrome location.  They did chariot races here and later sacrificed Christians in the games by feeding them to wild animals.

 The foundation of King Herods palace and the outline of his indoor/outdoor swimming pool.

 Next we drove to Bethlehem to see the place where Christ was born.  To get into this part of the city you have to duck down and go in this small entrance.  They built it small so animals would not be brought in.

 Where the manger was they've built churches in memory of the spot and we saw lots of very ornate decor.

 Down in the nativity grotto.  There were a series of caves.  Don't know which one Christ was born in but it was down here somewhere.

The next few pictures are down in the grotto caves.  Some place down here is the spot where Christ was born.

 Maybe here.

 Maybe here.

 There were a lot of people down there and it was crowded.  We did stop and our educator gave us a talk.

 Another possible location.

 Another spot.

 The educator, based on what some visiting authorites said, thought it might be just on the other side of this wall in the Greek Orthodox owned part of the caves.

 Back on top there was a beautiful Catholic chapel.   We sang some Christmas hymns there.  The next few pictures are some beautiful things we saw there.

It was very interesting to be in the place where Christ was born, but I think it would have been better if they hadn't built all these churches over the top of it and left it in a more natural state.

Day 11 Israel - Capernaum & Mt Carmel

We're picking up our posts on the trip to Israel and Egypt.  I stopped some time ago while in the middle of it; but want to finish it so we have a record of the travel that we can look back on.

 This was our second day in Galilee and we spent the whole day touring places around Galilee.

 First stop was a short hike to a lookout spot at Arbell.  This was a hill right next to Capernaum where Jesus lived and so he probably came up there frequently.  It is also thought he visited there twice after the resurrection, once with some apostles and once to visit the 500 people.  It was beautiful up there.

Next we went to the city of Nazereth where Jesus grew up.  They had a restored village there that was built to look just like the small villages did back during that time period.

 We got to go in a lot of the buildings and homes and see what it was like living back then.

 These are olives which was the main product they grew there.

 A typical olive tree.

 An man in period Jewish dress at an olive press where they would grind the olives to make various olive products.

 An olive merchant.  We tried some of the olives.

 A scribe inside his dwelling place.

A lady that dyed and sold yarn.

 Then we went to Mt. Precipice where they wanted to throw Jesus off the cliff after he told them he was the Son of God, but he escaped.  From here we could also see Mt Tabo which is otherwise known as the Mount of Transfiguration where Jesus met with Moses and Elias and gave the keys to Peter, James, and John.

 Looking in the other direction we could see Har Megido and the Valley of Amageddon where the final battle will take place at the end of the world before the Second Coming.

 For the last stop we drove on the bus to Mt. Carmel.  This is where the priests of Baal had the contest with Elijah to see who worshiped the true God and who could call down fire from heaven.

It was a fun day and we got to see a lot of inspiring places.

Christmas Activities

Doranda and Tianna and their families stayed with us over the weekend and these are some of the activities we participated in.

 Caleb set up a slack line and we tried walking across the line between two trees.

 Evan did a pretty good job as long as someone was there to hold onto.  Ashton and I tried it too, and even Jacquelyn.  We had to have someone to hold onto though.

 Doranda worked on it a lot and got pretty good, even without anyone to help her.

 Once she got half way across all by herself.

 Story time for Penelope, Scarlett and Leon.  Penelope always looks kind of bored.

 Fooseball upstairs.

Tucker at the pool table.

 There was always a card game of some kind going on and at night we played Murder Mystery and a Name Mixup Game.

Bob and Tucker and Jim in the background.

 We had a contest making gingerbread houses.  Here is Doranda's family at work on theirs.

 Kickball at the church.  Ashton kicking.

 Tucker kicking.

 Penelope reluctantly kicking.

Leon joining in as best he could.

 Tucker with the ball.

 We played a basketball game too, it was Caleb and Jacquelyn and  I against Ashton and Bob and Doranda.

Penelope watched and was only a little bored.

Christmas 2015

We had a fun time for Christmas this year.  We had Caleb, Doranda, Malachi, Talitha, and Tianna, and their families up for a visit and we got to skipe/talk to Isaac, Nathanael and Joshua and their families.  We also talked to our parents down in Arizona.

 Christmas is all about remembering the birth of Christ and we had a Christmas skit to get us into the right mood for Christmas.  Tucker played Joseph and Penelope played Mary.  Scarlett and Leon were shepherds who followed a star to see the Christ.

 A little hard to see in the dark.  Doranda was the narrator.

 Joseph and Mary could not find any room at the inns.  Leon was the inn keeper.

 Finally Joseph and Mary found a place in a stable and Jesus was born and placed in a manger.

 The Woestman family sang some Christmas carols.  You can't see Doranda, but she's playing the piano.

 Then we had a meal on a blanket in front of the fireplace and ate simple food: meat, pita bread, and fruit.

 Next morning it was time for stockings.  Doranda and Tianna put out stockings for all their children.

 Tucker, James and Ashton opening stockings.

Jacquelyn and Tucker.

 The best thing about Christmas is getting together with family.  Here we are starting to open presents.  Dallen, Caleb, James, Evan, Ashton, and Scarlett.

 Andrew and Mallory.

 Jacquelyn, Dallen, Caleb, and James.

 Talitha and David above.  Tucker, Doranda, Penelope, Amery, Ashton, Jarom, and James below.

Merry Christmas to everyone.