Lisa's Pic's

The "180" Movie from YouTube

2012-02-07T09:46:00.000-08:00

Definitely a video that needs to be circulated continually. Please take the 33 minutes to view it and let it affect your life, possibly change your thinking about the Holocaust, Abortion, Jews and Jesus Christ. It has disturbing images from the Holocaust and Abortion so it is unfit for small children to view.

www.Heartchanger.com

"Pay It Forward" Splurge Group

2011-12-27T15:36:00.000-08:00

This past year I've had the incredible privilege to be part of a Splurge group. What fun it's been! A couple of weeks ago we had our wrap up with a Christmas celebration and an overview of the past year. Oh My! God is soooo good and what joy we had in sharing what He had done in the lives of the people that He'd touched through us. It indeed was a wonderful celebration, filled with laughter, tears, hugs, love and the PURE JOY of GIVING! What a beautiful bunch of ladies that are in this group!

I've heard of Splurge groups before and had often thought of the fun of being a part of one but never really felt led to start one up or to join one. But when Kim Dyck, a woman in my Friday Bible study group, announced last December that she'd like to start a very special splurge group, it REALLY peaked my interest and I knew I wanted to be a part of this wonderful idea. She approached our Pastor after discussing it in our Bible study group and announced it in church the following Sunday.

Last December began a number of things in our church and this was one of them. Our Pastor is often challenging us to be part of changing our world. It was December 2010, that Rick from Hands On shared his testimony at our church and told us of his ministry to kids on 20th street. He also made us more aware of the growing population of teen girls that are being prostituted on our streets, illegally and against their will. So, as a church, we were being a bit shaken to the core and many hearts were torn at realizing what was happening in our own city! It was during of all of this that Kim, and while finishing up our current Bible study on Nurture, that God gave Kim a vision of starting up this "Pay It Forward" Splurge Group.

12 ladies signed up and we began a journey of the adventure of giving away our money each month. :) It's not always an easy thing to do, but what an incredible blessing it's been when we have given! Most splurge groups, the women meet each month, collect an amount of money from each member, a name is drawn and the winner gets to spend the winnings on herself...and NOT to pay the bills or buy groceries...she must splurge on herself. Sounds Fun!! BUT, the purpose of this particular splurge group is to spend that money on someone else...to Pay It Forward. This cannot be planned in advance and must be someone that God leads you to "splurge" on. Then each time that we meet, we get to hear the testimony of the woman who won the last month and hear how she followed God's leading and blessed someone else with the money. I'd like to share parts of these very special stories with you! Kim had made a beautiful handwritten card for each of us ladies with the year in review....wow, what a precious gift. Here's what she shared: (NOTE: pictures are not all actual event shots but some are.)

January 2011 - a mom with a new baby is given help buying baby supplies

February 2011 - an electronic game was purchased and given to Hands On for an interactive activity for the kids

March 2011 - this months money is being used on an ongoing basis to provide healthy snacks for the kids at The Bridge

April 2011 - she has a son with special needs and although she receives some help from other groups, this money will help with the extra needs not covered

May 2011 - this money was given to a couple to help with an overseas adoption. When they heard that the child they were adopting had died, they were encouraged to use the money to help with needs at the orphanage, or to help with future adoption expenses

June 2011 - this money was sent to help the many starving in Africa....

July 2011 - in an emotionally abusive relationship, with no money of her own, a beaten down spirit, this money was given to her to encourage, to help build a little independence and to show that she was worthy of kindness.....

August 2011 - a woman left with several children to support on her own. She's not even sure how she'll manage to purchase school supplies. This money is given to her to help lighten the load....

September 2011 - once a prostitute herself, now a Christian, it's her desire to open a home to get the girls off the street so this money was used to be given towards this ministry....

October 2011 - ten years ago, her husband hurt his back and is unable to work. They have 2 teenage children and she works two jobs to support her family. God's leading was felt to use the money this month to bless her.....

November 2011 - some of the money given to a woman walking through a snowy parking lot, a large tip given to a handicapped worker doing his best, an elderly lady was blessed with this money to pay for her few groceries, and then also to a young mom behind her in the same grocery line whose cart was filled to the brim with baby supplies, another very pregnant lady was blessed with some of the money as well......just many random acts of "blessings" to get "rid of" this money......all led by God.....amen....and maybe some of them were angels in disguise..... :)

What a year of meeting together and hearing the testimonies and sharing the laughter and tears. Oh the people that we have prayed for, knowing that God heard every single prayer and knew our hearts for all these dear ones. We knew deep in our hearts that God had already, long ago, chosen those who would be blessed by this "pay it forward" blessing........and we look forward to another year of Blessing Others!

I'll leave you with the words of Paul in Acts 20:35, as they have spoken to me much throughout this past year..."..I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

35 Pastors tour Israel

2011-12-21T19:40:00.000-08:00

The week after we returned from Israel, there was a group of 35 pastors from Georgia, US who were touring the Holy Land. Their blog address is www.cfui.org It's an organization that John Hagee founded, Christians United for Israel, has posted a number of videos on www.youtube.com and I totally loved listening to them. Here are a few of the links to the videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZpzRaNPfEI&feature=autoplay&list=UUy67dtBsjbodwkfWJa12Z-A&lf=plcp&playnext=5

http://youtu.be/TQwbWxq7Fb8

I'm sure you were just as blessed as I was watching these videos....and feeling the passion and emotion. Going to Israel truly does change one so!

Kyrstin's 15th Birthday in Israel/Jordan

2011-12-21T12:03:00.000-08:00

So this is the 3rd time that I've been to Israel and I had the pleasure of bringing my youngest daughter Kyrstin with me. What a memorable time we had! I have enough memories to fill a very large treasure chest. The 1st time I went to Israel, our Pastor, Russ Wilson took a group of 35 people with him, including my hubby Roger, our son Brandon and myself.

in 2008 with Roger and Brandon

in 2008 when Roger, Brandon
and I are about to
board the plane to Israel
for the first time

Our tour guide, Arie Harel, had come to Saskatchewan in Spring of 2009, after that first tour, and invited me to begin taking groups of women to Israel. Well, how could I refuse? I loved Israel so much and my hearts desire was to take each of my girls to Israel as well....so this seemed the perfect way to do that. :)

in 2009 with Alysha

So for the 2nd time I journeyed to Israel in November 2009 and took a group of 7 ladies with me to Israel, including my middle daughter Alysha. Now, in November of 2011, for the 3rd time, I returned to the Holy Land with 12 ladies, including my youngest daughter Kyrstin. :) What a pilgrimage it's been for me in the past 4 years. Praise be to God!

In 2008 Arie giving supberb historial
teaching at Bet She'an with
Brandon and Roger listening
intently (top two guys!!) :)

Brandon always listened so intently to everything Arie
had to tell us at each spot (2008)

Alysha and I with Arie in 2009

Pastor Russ, Brandon, Roger in '08

in 2008

Each of the kids had been about 15 when they came to Israel, and we had the same tour guide each time. How special it was for him to meet each of us and get to know our whole family. Having him as a tour guide has been just excellent...he's become a very dear man to me, like an uncle or a grampa. :) Arie Harel is an excellent tour guide, very thoughtful and dedicated, being raised an Israeli and having Jewish parents who both survived the holocaust, having been born and raised in Israel.....well he just has a wealth of knowledge and history to offer any tour group. Thank you Arie!! This post is also to celebrate the time that each of my family has spent with you in Israel! Thank you for the many many special memories that you've had a part in giving to us! We love you! :)

gotta have a picture with a cute guy! :)

tremendous gift making sand art in jars!

hiking to Petra!!

this is pretty cool, mom! :)

the place where marriage/family vows
were made at Petra :)

group pic at Petra..except for Frances
we lost her to shopping.....again! :)
oh how she liked to shop and
was often found in any store
where there was stuff to
be sold....so if we were
missing her...well we knew where
to find her! :) LOL

goin down :)

had to enlarge this one BIG so that you could enjoy the look on Kyrstin's face :) maybe the camels were stinky?? :) LOL
LOVE the look on Judy's face to while she's getting down off the camel! LOL

say kiss kiss...and he kissed me! :)
this is the same camel that kissed Alysha in 2009 :)

hiking down from the top

Brandon would like this
cane with a sword
inside it mom! Yes I
know he would but
I'm not buying it for
him this time! :)

Well, Kyrstin celebrated her 15th birthday here in Israel....well actually, in Jordan too. We were in Eilat, Israel, the most southern tip of the land right on the shores of the Red Sea. We had a day tour to Petra, one of the ancient wonders of the world. It was a great day! Kyrstin got to ride a bus to the border, walk into the Land of Jordan, hop onto another bus to drive to Petra....well together with us ladies of course...and ride a camel and a horse there and then take the bus back to Eilat of course. :)

Everyone we run into who finds out it's her birthday...well, they of course say Happy Birthday...at the border crossing, on the bus, in Petra, at the hotel, in the elevator! :) So, she had people in Israel and in Jordan say Happy Birthday to her. :) AND...we had 3 other nice folks join us on this tour as well and they were from Belgium.

One of the fellows, Rudy, it was his birthday as well. :) So when we were at the restaurant for a late lunch after touring Petra, the manager and workers of the place came and brought a cake while singing Happy Birthday in their language. :) It was pretty cool! I posted a video of it below.

While in Petra, she also got to ride a camel for her birthday. She, of course, thought they were CUTE! :) ...but she wouldn't let the friendly camel give her a kiss. :) For someone who is constantly kissing and hugging the dog, she wouldn't let that camel get his face close to hers!! hah! I did though. There's a pic of it too to prove it! :)

It was a good day! I don't think she'll forget this birthday for a while....if ever! :) Especially the cute guy in Jordan singing Happy Birthday to her and helping her blow out her candles THAT WOULDN'T BLOW OUT! haha! That was hilarious!! :)

ice cream cake
from Arie!! :) yay!

And then coming back to the hotel in Eilat for a late supper and enjoying a very very tasty ice cream cake that Arie had specially made just for her, cause he knew that was her favorite! :) Wow! Thanks Arie!! ;) It was indeed a very special day!

me n my girl! :) Happy Birthday!

sharing the cake with the others :)

eeeeee...I gonna stab da cake!! :) hah

enjoying cake with all, even Arie!

Kerri treated her to cheese pizza
on her birthday too, for a night snack

It's been a FANTASTIC day filled with many great memories!! Thank you God for this most amazing gift of experiencing the Holy Land with each of my children. So this indeed was a memorable birthday, not only for Kyrstin, but for me as well to commemorate being in Israel with each of my kids and my wonderful hubby!! Thank you God!

ps. be sure to watch the couple of short (about 1 min in length) videos posted below to give you a taste of the celebrations on this day. :) Enjoy!

Kerri's Baptism in the Jordan River

2011-12-15T12:05:00.000-08:00

We are definitely in the desert. :) We saw some unique sites on our way to the Baptism Site of where Kerri was baptized.

Going to the baptism site was an adventure! :) We had to cross through somewhat of a border line to get there as the Jordan River is the border between Israel and Jordan. We didn't need to show our passports at all but we had to wait for someone to come open the gate.

When we were crossing the border passage, an army jeep drove up towing a rake of some kind behind it. Arie told us that they drove that trail every few hours with the rake as they knew if there were any tracks across that road, the army would know that someone was sneaking across border lines by the river. Yup, it felt kinda weird driving through here....but oh it was gonna be so worth it!! :)

This baptism spot is the more likely spot of where Jesus got baptized by John the Baptist because it is really close to Jericho and is also the place where the Israelites crossed over into the Promised Land. Definitely desert area here. Right across the murky river from where we are standing, is the baptism site on the Jordan side.

Oh what an amazing day this was! It was such an honor to baptize Kerri today...and in the Jordan River too! WOW! I can't begin to explain what was all going on in my heart. :)
Kerri has been together with me in Bible study for a number of years and I am so moved today that we get to share this very very special time together and that she has given me the honor of baptizing her!
I have watched her grow and mature in the Lord and love her immensely!

The first video posted we were a little emotional and had to begin again in the second video I posted. It will definitely give you a feel of the immense emotion and honor of this moment. :) Before the video is her written testimony and then after the video I've posted some photos for you as well. Be blessed my friends!!

"I grew up in a loving Christian home. I am so blessed to have the parents I do. We went to church every Sunday but most of the time I didn't even want to go. Around the age of 13, which would be grade 7, I started drinking and basically turned into a bratty moody teenager . All I cared about was boyfriends, friends and partying.
Every weekend I'd go out with my friends and get drunk. At that point I had no morals and didn't care about anyone else. Being a parent now, I definitely feel bad for my mom & dad. I put them through a lot of stress and worrying and a lot of praying!

I lied all the time, would stay out past my curfew and snuck out. When I was 20 years old I moved out with my boyfriend, which is now my husband Curtis. And of course, got pregnant as my mom told me I would. I moved back home after about a month. After Brodie was born my life started to change but I still went out quite bit and still drank a lot. About 2 years later when I got pregnant with Brayden I realized my life had to change. I asked Jesus into my life and felt his presence immediately after, but it did take time for me to change. I'm a completely different person than I was back then. I can't believe I behaved the way I did, and only cared for myself.

I'm so blessed so have my 3 beautiful boys. I never thought you could love someone that much.....and to think that GOD loves us more! I've been wanting to get baptized for a long time now and after we planned to come to Israel I thought this would be a great time for me to do it. I'm getting baptized today to show that Jesus Is my Lord and Savior and I want to dedicate my life to GOD!"

WHOOOOOHOOOOOO!! Oh Praise You Jesus! We cheered and clapped and cried! It was such a joyous occasion and we celebrated what God had done in the life of Kerri! :) We gathered around her and hugged and prayed over her and her decision to follow Christ. May God give you wisdom, strength, and courage and perseverance to walk with Him no matter what and to teach your children about God.

the before picture :)

Kyrstin in the Jordan River :)

Karen stepping her feet into the Jordan

before pic with our robes on :)

Kerri reading her testimony off her ipad

so honored to stand here beside you my dear Kerri! :)

God always moves our hearts when we
share what He's done in our lives...
Praise you Jesus!

both of our hearts were so full!!!

YES! Amen! You did it Kerri!
and emotions ARE OK~ :) HUGS!

whoohoo girl....we can do this! I know the water is cold but we've come all this way! YAY!
Let's do it!! We're in this together girl! :) Praise God!

signing my first baptism certificate...
I've had the privilege of baptizing 3
women from Bible study but this is
the 1st official signing of a certificate!
Whoohoo!! What joy!! :)

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yes, it was emotional!! love our expressions! :)

I love you Kerri and I am sooooo very
prooud of you! Thank you for giving
us this great moment in time together!
God bless you and be with
you as you live for Him sweetie! HUGS!

What an amazing glorious moment to share together....forever bonded by this time together! Love you all!! HUGS!!

Hiking in Caesarea Philippi, asking THEE biggest question ever asked.

2011-12-14T14:39:00.000-08:00

As we walked along this trail that dated back to Roman time, to the time of Jesus, we imagined Jesus walking along here with his disciples. In Matthew 16:13-18 we read of Jesus teaching his disciples here and he asked them one of the most profound questions ever asked of them. Jesus chose this region very specifically. But first let's read the passage taken from the New Living Translation before we go into more of the history.

"When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" "Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets." Then he asked them, "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." Jesus replied, "You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you lock on earth will be locked in heaven, and whatever you open on earth will be opened in heaven."

an artists portrait of the area

Then he sternly warned them not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. From then on Jesus began to tell his disiples plainly that he had to go to Jerusalem and he told them what would happen to him there. He would suffer at the hands of the leaders and the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and he would be raised on the third day. But Peter took him aside and corrected him, "Heaven forbid, Lord," he said. "This will never happen to you!" Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, and not from God's." Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you fill find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? For I, the Son of Man, will come in the glory of my Father with his angels and will judge all people according to their deeds. And I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see me, the Son of Man, coming in my Kingdom."

Here in Caesarea Philippi, 25 miles north-east of the Sea of Galilee, the influence of Greek and Roman culture was everywhere and it was full of pagan temples of Syrian Baal gods, up to 14 different ones have been counted. In this region was the temple of the Greek god of Pan, it was believed to be his birthplace in a cave here. The entrance to the cave has 5 niches to the right of it where statues would have been placed. The area of Caesarea Philippi was a place where people believed the Greek gods looked down, it was the place beneath the shadow of ancient gods. Here was also the place where a great temple of white marble had been built to the godhead of Caesar, built by Herod the Great. And it is here that the most important river in Judaism sprang to life, the Jordan River. The River Jordan has 4 main sources but at this cave is the most eastern source of the river.

the Herodian on top of the mountain

Caesarea Philippi is one of the most beautiful scenic areas in Israel, 1,150 feet high overlooking a fertile valley on the southwestern slope of Mount Hermon. Joshua conquered this land (Joshua 11:17) and the children of the half-tribe of Manasseh dwelt here (1 Chronicles 5:23). In the year 2 BC, the place was named Caesarea in honor of Augustus but later caleld Neroneas in honor of Nero. After the destruction of Jerusalem, many Jews were caught and sold as slaves and many of them died in gladiator triumphal games that were celebrated here as well as Rome. (http://www.padfield.com/1996/caesphil.html)

So, it was here of all places that Jesus chose to ask the question "Who do men say that I am?" Who do you believe Jesus to be? That is THEE MOST important question of your life because your belief in Jesus Christ WILL give you eternal life. When Jesus told Peter that "on this rock I will build my church" He was speaking of a few things. Jesus is the Rock, the foundation of the church, upon which the church would be built. Peter began the church after Jesus' death and so some hold Saint Peter up to a very high stature.
But here at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus was also speaking out against all these "rocks (temples)" and declaring that He was above all of them. The cave here was incredibly deep and was often seen as a pit of hell because of its depths and people would throw their sacrifices into this cave. Some translations say "powers of hell, or the gates of hell, gates of Hades, or the jaws of death" and the people had an incredible fear of death. So Jesus was saying that He himself, and Peter continuing the church, and the confession of Faith that Peter boldly stated as Jesus being the Messiah would overcome death and hell. Whoohoo!! Jesus Himself holds the Keys of the Kingdom, the ONLY Key to eternal life. Praise God!

It was right after this incident at Caesarea Philippi that the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13) took place, most likely on Mount Hermon, which is Israel's highest mountain. Peter, James and John saw Jesus transfigured "his appearance changed so that his face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus." Both of these men had experienced the power of God on a mountain top in the Old Testament (Exodus 34:29, Exodus 31:18, Deut. 34:1-4 with Moses and 1 Kings 19:8-12, 1 Kings 18:20-40 with Elijah). Both of these men left this earth in an unusual manner. Moses was buried in a place that was only known by God (Deut. 34:5-12) and Elijah was talking with Elisha when he was taken up to Heaven by a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11).

The Glory of God rested on Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ who gave His life on Calvary so that we could have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Jesus was and still is who Peter boldly proclaimed Him to be "the Messiah, the Son of the Living God." (Matt. 16:16) Do you say this of Him too my friend? Do you believe that He is God's One and only Son, who God sent into this world to die on the cross for our sins, was buried, rose after 3 days and ascended into Heaven and is preparing a home for those who love and follow Him? Do you believe that He is the ONE Way, the Truth and the Life and no one enters into Heaven except through Him? Who do you say Jesus is? THAT is THEE most important question of your life.

A short 1 minute video clip of our hike to give you a taste of the sight and sound

Beautiful Morning on the Mediterranean Sea

2011-12-14T06:53:00.000-08:00

Such a gorgeous sunrise to wake up to so that we could enjoy a walk along the Sea. Enjoy the sights and sounds as you imagine the Apostle Paul out on these waters when he went on his missionary journeys. He would have left from Caesarrea but it was the Meditarranean Sea none the less. :) It was wonderful to walk along this shore last night, with the sound of the waves, the stars in the skies and the water against our feet. hmmm mmmm mmmm.

Photos of our Days in Jerusalem and Coming Home

2011-12-13T15:05:00.000-08:00

The 4 days we spent in Jerusalem were most precious. I really enjoyed the tour ending with our time spent here. We began with standing on the Mount of Olives then walking down the Kidron Valley and up into the Old City of Jerusalem. Walking the streets of the Old City, going through the markets, seeing the churches and singing in some of them, learning the history of the Old City of David and how he conquered Jerusalem at the very beginning, walking through King Hezekiah's water tunnels, viewing the Southern Steps and the Western/Wailing Wall, standing on the Temple Mount and later seeing the model of the New Temple that some Jews envisioning being built - as told in prophecy.....and the list goes on of the many many highlights of being in Jerusalem. Imagining the Jerusalem that Jesus Christ will reign from for 1,000 years when he returns....hmmmm....the Bible just comes so alive here in the Holy Land. Each and every step and place of the Holy Land is a highlight......but there's just something about being in Jerusalem. I know you'll enjoy the pics~
Closer to the end are photos of us on our way home and in the airports. What a fun tour we had!! :)

standing on the Mount of Olives

Arie always had so much to teach us

Connie and Danielle always listening
intently so nothing would be
missed...so much information to
contain everywhere we went

I loved the view from here...just
imagining Jesus stepping foot on this
mount and walking down through the
Eastern Gate below and up onto the
Temple Mount to a newly built Temple
for Him....love imagining that!

walking through the Garden of Gethsemane

beautiful Lillian by an Old Olive Tree

Valerie and Karen S.

Lillian, Judy, Karen B. and Kara

Connie

Karen S. and Lillian, good friends

having a snack and taking a break :)

standing outside the Church in the
Garden of Gethsemane

wooden cross standing near
the door to the Church of the Holy Sepluchre

at the open square where Jews will often pass through
on their way to the Western Wall

inside the courtyard at the Church
of the Nativity in Bethlehem

beautiful painting in the
Church on Shepherd's Field

standing on the Temple Mount...envisioning the
New Temple that will someday be rebuilt here

buying Pomegranate Juice in the market.....yuuuuummm! :)

taking a break from walking.....lots n
lots of walking! :) but it's good!

on the Southern Steps where the public, including Mary
and Joseph with baby Jesus, would have walked up
into the Temple Mount area when going to worship
God and dedicate their children to God.

in the Old City of David where David
would have first captured the city
of Jerusalem, it was too the south
of the Temple Mount area.

standing by the Pool of Shiloam

Kyrstin feeding the birdies :)

beautiful sunrise over Jerusalem

I could see the Jaffa Gate and the Dome from my balcony

you see this man with his donkey
in many photos :)

beautiful Kerri

walking down the Palm Sunday Road where Jesus may have walked. We wanted to experience walking down this road, through the Garden of Gethsemane down through the Kidron Valley and up into the Old City of Jerusalem to envision Jesus here on a donkey as the crowd walked before Him and laid palm branches on the road for Him....incredible!

continually taking in all the info Arie had to share with us

yes, Frances having to shop again :)

a typical view of a side street

I enjoyed the experience of wearing a robe and walking these streets

walking along the Via Dolorosa

many shops on all sides as we walked along the market

loved the stone walkways we walked on in the Old City

an old wooden cross we sometimes saw one carry

love the big old wall of the city

lovely ladies....Frances, Kerri and Karen

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beautiful painting at the church
on Shepherd's Field in Bethlehem

another beautiful sunrise
over Jerusalem

love love love the colors!

on the Temple Mount

standing on the Temple Mount imagining the Old Temple here and envisioning the New Temple that will someday be rebuilt and standing here in this place

so incredible to be walking these
steps going up to the Temple
Mount, envisioning the many
times Jesus would have walked
up and down these steps

I never tire of walking these
stone streets

beautiful people filled the streets

in the middle of the hustle and bustle came a man carrying a cross...made me think of Jesus carrying His Cross down these streets when daily life was happening so many years ago.

a mother holding a sick daughter, hoping for some change....an
endearing moment, I wish I could've spoken with her.

vendors always trying to sell you something :)

loved all the doors
and windows that
we walked by

very moving to see men praying
at the Western/Wailing Wall

Judy praying at the Wall

I was so moved by the
earnestness of their
prayers and the passion on
the women's faces

hearing the prayers in another language was very
moving for me. The devotion that so many have to
come pray at the wall every day

many Orthodox Jews in their prayer shawls
many come pray at the Wall 3 x a day

it was incredibly moving for me to watch, especially seeing
young children at the Wall and also soldiers coming to pray

the woman had to sit at the black table as she was
eating a dairy product and the man had to sit at the
white table as he was eating a meat product. In a Kosher restaurant/eating place, they will not serve dairy and meat together.

we passed this man many times and finally a couple of us did buy some coated nuts from him...very good

in the Old City market

waiting patiently for Frances to return from shopping. We
were all on time and just waiting for her as she decided
to shop longer than the rest of us. :)

watching a 3D movie of how David captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites

walking through King
Hezekiah's tunnels

Frances loved the stone
on this house

everyone is trying to be in the sun :)

walking through the streets

I just couldn't stop taking
pictures of these quieter
side streets :)

smile ladies!! :) we had the pleasure of meeting a woman
Val knew who lived in Jerusalem

the 3 K's...Kara, Kerri and Karen :) ...not sure why these
two always ended up in pics...I guess they're just so
photogenic. :)

we went to the Temple Institute
where they have begun to rebuild
the artifacts for the New Temple

so very interesting to see the paintings
of the Old Temple and what they envision
for the New Temple

very interesting to hear the vision for the New Temple

the beautiful model of the New Temple

inside an old Protestant Church in Jerusalem

loved the simple stained glass

enjoying the sunshine

loved the old bell

at the Garden Tomb

near the Empty Tomb

AMEN!! Yes, the tomb is EMPTY!

the beautiful empty tomb

our last time together right in Jerusalem, great time for communion

the beautiful garden at night

reading the crucifixion and the ascension from Matthew

communion

viewing skull hill

lovely quiet garden that may be the place Jesus was buried

a few more laughs before getting home

more lovely ladies.... :) Kara, Lisa, Valerie

Danielle is catching a snooze :)

Frances and Kyrstin making faces
cause they're a little bored :)

keeping up the smiles in the long airport waits :)

Kyrstin and Danielle keeping busy

I think Frances is pouting cause she wants to shop some more :)
Lillian is keeping her company

we took up a bit of space in the airport :)

we didn't really be wanting to look out to the snow

my face is funnier than yours!! :)
I wonder who laughed the most?
These two or those of us who
were watching their funny faces! :)

Karen S. had a dessert wine she had
gotten in the Galilee and all these
ladies finished it up before I
got to the room :)

waiting for our bus in the lobby

The whole gang...including Albert our bus driver and Arie our tour guide.....such great guys to take us around Israel :)

our last supper together before heading to the airport

the food was GREAT

we're all 'fed up' :)

at the airport at last....yup, we had more luggage now. :)

bye Arie, thanks for another great tour!
So cool that you got to meet all of my
family...all 3 kids at around the age of 15
and my wonderful hubby too! How
special is that!! :) Love ya! Hugs!

Fun Moments from our Tour through the Holy Land

2011-12-07T20:14:00.000-08:00

enjoying a float in the Dead Sea
to celebrate after Kerri's baptism

Well, we've written and written...okay, I've written and written and 'forced' the ladies to share a bit of their times while journeying through the Holy Land. Now I'll just share a few pics with you from our fun times on the trip. :) Maybe even some bloopers..... I know this may make Karen nervous. heehee But I'm gonna be nice. :) The pics are kinda random....but at least they're on here. :)
These pics include the first 3/4 part of our tour.
I will put pics of our time in Jerusalem in another post as there was SO much to see and show you.
I know you're going to enjoy these pictures we have to share with you. :)

taking a hike at Ein Gedi where David
ran to hide from King Saul

the Anik at Ein Gedi...lots of them

the Rock Rabbits at Ein Gedi

yay...McDonalds at Masada... so
Frances and Kyrstin had to
have french fries with ice cream!

Frances was funny...
running into all these good
looking men that she
always had to say bye to :)

say cheese Kyrstin and Kerri! :)

group photo at Petra...
but we're missing
Frances cause we
lost her to shopping...
AGAIN! :)

Kyrstin got a camel ride
at Petra on her birthday...
and Judy is enjoying
every moment of it as well.

Judy with her camel :) what fun!

Kara enjoying a kiss from the camel.
You'd say kiss and he's lift his lips
to kiss you. This same camel was
here 2 years ago too! :)

Connie and Karen S. enjoying a
camel ride at Petra too! :) yay!

enjoying coffee/tea at Petra with
our Jordanian guide as the
others hiked up the mountain

it was fun to take the horse ride back

Frances decided to hoof it too! :)

Rudy from Belgium celebrated a
birthday together with Kyrstin on
this day too! Happy Birthday
to you both! How fun!! :)

YAY! Danielle is the only
brave one of the group and
going to go Parasailing! :)

Mom, Karen S., is nervously? :)
watching her daughter, Danielle,
up high above the sea and the boat
while parasailing. :)

our wonderful guide Arie, and our
wonderful bus driver, Albert :)

Kara was the only brave one to
jump in the water and have a swim :)

mother and daughter,
Karen and Kerri ...great
to have them along! :)

Valerie and Anne, sisters to Karen B.
Great to have them along too! :)

it was a little windy out on
the Red Sea and a little
louder with the group of
detectives that were on
board as well....but still
great to be experiencing it!

Captain Judy gets to stear
the boat back to the dock...
okay well not all the way :)

even though it was windy
out on the Red Sea, the
clear blue sunny skies and
water was just beautiful!

group photo on the Red Sea cruise :)

We have such incredible memories and in a way will be bonded together for years to come. A trip like this just moves a person in such a way that it changes our hearts and our lives forever. I encourage everyone to tour the Holy Land because it truly does change your life and changes how you read your Bible. Every aspect of the tour was an adventure and taught you so many things. The people we met, spoke to and walked with....such beautiful people. Everyday was a reason to smile and learn and allow God to make changes in your heart.

had to have the fun photo with the
two young 'uns of the group :)

lunch at the Jesus boat museum

Daniel Carmel demonstrating the
fishing method on the Sea of Galilee

Kerri and I on the Faith boat

mother daughter moment :)

smile Connie :)

hiking Caesarea Philippi

who's ready for a 'time out' ? :)

smile Frances! you're beautiful|!

at Gideon's Springs

haha....totally spaced out on the bus!

yay!! it's a Charlie dog! :) it's a
chocolate lab just like ours at home

fun signs they always had for us :)

sssshhhh....the others are sleeping!! :)

such a cute shepherd boy with sheep

not sights we'd see in SK, and so
different seeing girl soldiers too

aweeee...special lady!! :)

laughing and crying at the same time!

haha...love all the looks on our facess

awe...I never got to sign a baptism
certificate before....wwwwaaahhh! :)

a very special group pic after a very
very special moment of witnessing
Kerri's baptism

mudding it up at the Dead Sea :)

the kids always had big smiles!

check out them mud babes :) what fun!

haha...what a fun time!!

the two young'uns of the group

haha...Judy is havin a blast!!! :)

Val, Karen and Anne got muscles! :)

great way to celebrate after Kerri's baptism...so fun!! :)

Kyrstin and Frances...they had
loads of fun together on the trip!

Kyrstin didn't particularly want
a hug now after she washed
off the mud. :)

beautiful view of the Meditarranean

Frances and Valerie enjoying a great
talk on the plane ride over

Kyrstin and I trying to stay awake for a while :)

Lillian and Karen S. enjoying some laughs

Smile ladies cause it's gonna be
a long flight! :)

Connie and Judy smiling over
their coffee cups

internet time with our families
after supper one night

Good morning ladies! Enjoying
the beautiful view of the Sea? :)

Valerie and Anne walking
the grounds on the Mount
of Beatitudes

Karen and Danielle on the Faith
boat on the Sea of Galilee

Say cheese girls!! :)

so glad to spend this time
together with Kyrstin

mother/daughter and sisters pic! :)

a group photo with our tour guide Arie Harel, and Daniel Carmel, captain
of the Faith boat from the Sea of Galilee Worship Boats

Ladies Sharing of their time in Jerusalem

2011-12-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

In this post, I've invited the women to share something special of their time in Jerusalem. What an amazing journey we've had, beginning from Tel Aviv, driving up along the Meditarranean coast and over to the Galilee area, then down through the West Bank to the South in Eilat, including a day in Petra Jordan and then heading back up to Jerusalem to complete our tour. It's been an excellent journey!
It's so hard to say what is our favorite because there are many favorite places here. God has spoken so deeply to our hearts and has touched the depths of our souls in many of the places. He has opened our eyes to see more history and how it comes to a complete cirlce through the Scriptures.
We are definitely leaving the Holy Land with changed hearts and a new love for the people.

"Oh Jerusalem! The Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane, the Palm Sunday Road, Pools of Shiloam, the Garden Tomb - Jesus is Alive!! I will now pray more fervently for Israel. Jerusalem, an amazing, intricate, chaotic city. What an experience!" - Judy

(I loved Judy's smile and spirit! She was always so encouraging and spirit filled, quick to pray and a blessing to be with. She has a huge heart for those around her.)

"Seeing Jerusalem - what an experience. The Garden Tomb was the best way to end the tour - to see it!!! The Holocaust Museum was very solemn and moving especially when the children's names and ages were read aloud." - Connie

(and I can tell you, that Connie was thrilled to be riding a camel in Petra! She did GREAT with all the walking...what an adventure!! So wonderful to see the smiling, laughing faces of all the women! So fun!! What a blessing it was to have you join us on this tour Connie...what memories you have and such a wonderful bond to share with you!!) :)

"I liked going to the Garden Tomb on the last day. I liked that there was 2 malls/markets close to our hotel in Jerusalem." - Kyrstin

(it was such a joy to have Kyrstin with us on this tour. She often brought smiles and chuckles because of things she said and did. I love her sense of humor and her way of making us smile. She was fun to be with!...and she found out that 'old' ladies CAN be FUN!) :)

"I liked the Old City and around our hotel. I also enjoyed the visit to the Garden Tomb on our last day." - Danielle

(Danielle was Kyrstin's answer to prayer! Kyrstin prayed for nearly a year that a 'younger' person would come on the trip so she wouldn't be the only young one with all the 'old people'. :) Danielle & her mom Karen were the 3rd mother/daughter team in our group. It was great to have Danielle, her quiet spirit and beautiful smile! Love ya girl!!)

"I loved exploring the Old City, finding places where Jesus walked, tracing his journey and finishing with the Garden Tomb. I've always been emotional when imagining his pain. Being in this place made it even more real, tangible. Reading Scripture will never be the same." - Karen S.

(it was so wonderful to have Karen with us and to celebrate her 50th birthday when we were staying at the Sea of Galilee. I totally loved her laugh and sense humor and her gentle, sensitive heart. So blessed to have her and her daughter with us. Love ya both!! )

"How Great is our God and how unfathomable His ways and so amazing to realize that because His people obeyed even when it didn't make sense led to the history of what we are seeing and experiencing. I was surprised at how desolate and barren it is here and how the people were able to tunnel through and build such unbelievable structures. I am thankful for having a better understanding of the people and seeing them as also being made in the image of God.
I will never sing Jerusalem in the same way, being in the Old City was unbelievable. It was so good to have communion and a prayer in the cave where Jesus may have lain, to walk where He walked. The truth will truly set you free." - Anne

(I really enjoyed getting to know you more Anne and the short but deep talks we had. You are a walking testimony of the victory that God can work through in our human relationships. I love your heart and the love you have for God is so evident in your life. God bless you sister!! )

"Being at the Wailing Wall and praying for the peace of Jerusalem was very moving. God is so good!!" - Valerie

(having 3 sisters on the tour was great...Valerie, Karen & Anne. They were a hoot and can only say things that sisters can say but yet not be offended because they have a healthy relationship with each other. I really enjoyed having you all with us. Val, I appreciated the precious memories you shared from a previous time in Israel years ago. Hugs!!)

"I enjoyed Jerusalem. It was a fantastic experience. The Holocaust Museum was a very solemn experience. Unbelievable that it only happened not even a hundred years ago. But the best part was the visiting of the Garden Tomb. It was a very deep and moving experience! It touched my heart and soul." - Frances

(who would've ever thunk that we'd be walking these streets together today Frances! I am sooo glad you came! I loved your sense of humor, your sense of adventure and how young at heart you are! So fun! HUGS)

"Having communion in the Garden Tomb was a very emotional time. A also enjoyed learning about their ideas on the future temple." - Kara

(you made me laugh Kara. I enjoyed our talks, our texts, Facebook messages and emails about this upcoming trip. You were so excited and I know you thoroughly enjoyed this time together. I love how this deepened your desire to spend time in God's Word. Love ya!)

"Being at the Garden was overwhelming - I had Jesus bumps. I felt some kind of presence at the Garden of Gethsemane. Also coming to the Mount of Olives I was filled with emotion. The Temple Mount, the Old City and the Holocaust Museum were very emotional." - Lillian

(it's been such a blessing to have you with us Lillian! Frances was blessed as well....you two are a hoot! Love your laugh and the many times you shared how moved you were being here. So so so glad you came! :)

"I really enjoyed the Garden Tomb, it was a great way to end the trip! As much as I disliked the Holocaust Museum, I'm really glad we went. I really feel blessed for the things we have and for my family." - Kerri

(sweetie, I can't begin to tell you how special it was to have you on this tour with us. You have blessed me beyond measure by sharing a special moment on the Sea of Galilee with you and also giving me the honor of baptizing you in the Jordan River. What a bond we share! You are a beautiful woman created in the image of God and have grown immensely! I love ya tons!! )

"There were many things I enjoyed in Jerusalem. The tunnels beneath the Western Wall, the Garden of Gethsemane, The Holocaust Museum, and of course the Garden Tomb. The Temple Institute was also very interesting." - Karen B.

(what a delight to have you with me to the Holy Land for the 2nd time Karen! We both brought another beautiful daughter with us and saw Israel through their eyes. You are a blessing to me!)

I can't begin to tell you how much coming to the Holy Land for the 3rd time meant to me. Seeing it through the eyes of my daughter and through my own heart that has learned so much over these past couple of years from indepth Bible studies by Beth Moore. Knowing that Beth and I share the same tour guide was really special. :) Maybe someday I'll be on one of her tours here...who knows. :) But watching how the ladies respond to different places and seeing God move their hearts and teach them new things....there's just no words to express how moved I was watching that.
Now having experienced being in Israel with my hubby and son the 1st time, our middle daughter the 2nd time, and now our youngest daughter the 3rd time here....well, that is a HUGE wonderful memory to strike off my bucket list. :) I am so thankful that God has provided the means through making my SK calendars to be able to take each member of my family here to the Holy Land. What memories to treasure! And each time I have learned so much more. But each time, I have also been at a new different place in my walk with God. Having gone through indepth Bible studies like Anointed Transformed Redeemed, Jesus the One and Only, To Live is Christ, all by Beth Moore, and also Nurture by Lisa Bevere....all of these studies have really enriched the growth and maturity in my personal life. The beauty of Nurture that I saw in our group of 13 ladies, from the age of 15 to 65, what a wonderful picture of nurture through the daughter, sister, mother and grandmother. Such a joy to be with these ladies! And an even greater joy to see them experience the Holy Land and to be stretched and matured spiritually through the life of Jesus Christ as we walked where He walked. Such immense joy!! :)

The Sea of Galilee

2011-12-06T14:21:00.000-08:00

I'd like to share a short video with you to give you a taste of what it was like on the Sea of Galilee with Daniel Carmel on his boat called Faith. He is the only one with a ministry on this lake which is an active and outspoken Believer of Jesus Christ and he shares his faith openly. He had been working on a boat on the Sea of Galilee through the Kibbutz that we stayed at. Over a period of 5 years, he heard message after message from Christians coming on the boats about Jesus the Messiah. He allowed this message to become part of his own life and gave his life to Christ and now gives that same message he heard to others who will come and listen. So amazing! He had shared his testimony with us and sang many familiar worship songs that he's rewritten in the Hebrew language. Such an incredible ministry he has here and we were so blessed to be a part of it today. God bless you Daniel and team. Thank you for blessing us so richly this day with such wonderful worship to our Lord and King on the Sea which He walked upon. Here is the link if you'd like to read his testimony http://hebrewworshipsongs.com/tm/ This is the link to his Sea of Galilee Worship Boats website as well http://www.seaofgalileeworshipboats.com/ This is also another link to his own youtube video for his ministry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu2TxswRouE&feature=player_embedded

Hope you enjoy our little taste of heaven on the Sea of Galilee worship boats.

Day 12 of Touring the Holy Land

2011-12-05T19:56:00.000-08:00

Wow! One more amazing sunrise out my window over the Holy City of Jerusalem. I can hardly believe we've now arrived on the last day of our tour. Even just posting on Facebook this morning that this was our last day, I received a couple of comments of how our journey couldn't possibly be over because they didn't want the tour to stop. I'm so glad that you've enjoyed our journey so much. :) As I finish up this last post while sitting in the Minneapolis airport, I am also saddened. We've already said good-bye to Anne this morning, Connie this afternoon and soon Valerie will be leaving for her flight home too. The rest of us will board our plane in an hour to come back to Saskatoon. The photos will need to be posted from home tomorrow. :) It's been great to spend this time together.

I've heard a bit about the Temple Museum and so I asked around and found a way for us to go for a tour there. I am grateful that Arie was able to book a time for us there so we could go on our own as it wasn't part of our itinerary. We had a free day until 3pm so we left the hotel at 9:30 took a half hour walk to the Old City, through the Jaffa Gate to find the Temple Institute.
The scriptures tell us in Zechariah 6, of a time in the future when the Temple will be rebuilt. So seeing and hearing of the artifacts that have been restored and are being restored in anticipation of the restoration was quite exciting.
I know there is controversy whether it will be rebuilt like the 2nd Temple or the 1st, or whether man will rebuild it or will The Messiah. It was still really really interesting to tour it and watch the video of how the 2 million dollar gold Menorah was built and moved to its spot across from the Western Wall. It was an important and exciting time for many of the Jews.

One of the women in our group has a family member living in Jerusalem so she came and walked with us to the Temple Institute as she had never been there before either. That was great cause then we didn't get lost walking on our own through the Old City. :) After we left there, because we were so close to it, we walked through The Herodian Quarter, which is the largest and one of the most important sites from Second Temple times. It consists of 6 houses built on a hillside overlooking the Temple Mount. In the courtyard of one of these houses is believed to be the place where Peter denied Christ and in another where some Jews believe Christ was accused.
It was amazing to stand in these places underneath the main Jerusalem streets today, that were dated back 2,000 years ago.
I was so glad to be able to see these two places with her today.
She also took us to The Christ Church, which is the oldest Protestant Church in the Middle East, built in 1849. It's a beautiful church with no ornamentation or gawdiness, just simple but elegant beauty.

On our way back, we stopped at the Arab market by the Jaffa Gate so I could pick up a gift for Alysha and my boys at home. One last chance to have some fun bartering in the market. Then we went back to our hotel and packed, weighed, repacked, weighed again, repacked and then weighed our bags once more. :) There we go, got them all under 50 lbs so we're not charged extra for bags that are too heavy from our purchases.

So the bus is packed, we took our group picture with our driver and our guide. Now we have one more stop before we leave Jerusalem. The sun was getting lower as we made our way to the Garden Tomb. This is one of my favorite places to be. As we walked in, groups were singing worship songs, and others were praying.

It was beautiful heavenly music to our ears. How could our hearts not fill up while we walked through the Garden. We listened to our guide give the evidence of how they believe this may be the more probable site of where Jesus was crucified and buried.

Seeing the empty tomb with the sign "He is not here, He is Risen" was extremely moving. I read the crucifixion account from the book of Matthew and we sang Hallelujah and had our own individual communion and prayed. Matthew ends with Christ commissioning his disciples to "go into all the world and preach the Good News".
This was such a perfect send off from Jerusalem. What a wonderful way to leave the Holy Land and go back home. We have walked where Jesus walked and healed others and preached the Good News. Now it is our turn to share His Love with others.

We had one more "last supper" together at a quaint little restaurant in an Arab town just outside of Jerusalem. What a lovely meal of falafals and meat and rice. So tasty! Arie knew just the wonderful place to take us too. :) He knew we'd need one more good meal before sending us off onto the plane in Israel to go back home. I know I'll miss this place...I think we all will. We've grown quite fond of the Holy Land and very fond of the Jewish people. Such wonderful people we've met and will hopefully continue to grow relationships with...and we know how we can continue to pray for all Jewish people. God has not brought us here for nothing. Our eyes have been opened in many ways and so now we know much more than we did when we first came here.

Now it's time for nearly 30 hours of airports and flying. We slept, read and acted silly to pass the time. Kyrstin was having quite the time of making funny pictures and videos on Danielle's computer so that we could all laugh and be goofy together. :) What fun!! It is so good to have all ages, from young to not as young :) in the group (right Frances?) :)

Kyrstin had Frances in front of the computer making silly faces too, along with others right there laughing and bein goofs. :) It was good. Yes we had to wait in the airports for a while but at least we weren't rushed to make our flights on time and we had time to get used to the time changes. It was all worth it cause we were coming home with amazing memories of walking where Jesus walked. But the challenge to us is not only having walked where He walked, but are we walking AS he walked. That is our calling each and every day.

Day 11 of Touring the Holy Land

2011-12-02T14:03:00.000-08:00

While we were up at the Church of Visitation this morning, it was very fitting to have a morning devotion with the ladies about the woman from Titus 2. Verses 3-5 say "teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or must not drink too much wine. Instead, they should teach others what is good. These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God."

These verses are packed full of wisdom for women and I can just hear Elizabeth giving kind instruction to Mary during their visit. I love the picture of Nurture that Lisa Bevere gave in her book on how important it is to have the grandmothers, mothers and daughters involved in our lives. We need each other and we have so much to learn from each other. So with visiting this church here and being a group of gals in a variety of ages, this was a perfect devotion for us. I challenged them through the analogy of a blank piece of paper with a small dot on it. That dot is our life and the rest of the page was eternity. What are we doing with that dot and how will it affect our eternity. Mary and Elizabeth left a good legacy of obedience to God ....my prayer is we would do the same.

From here we went to the Holocaust Museum. This is always a difficult place to visit. After this visit, I will have been here with each of my children. Kyrstin really did not want to come here, and part of me doesn't blame her. But it's an important part of history, especially for the Jews. It was on my heart to ask Arie, our tour guide, to share a bit of his personal holocaust story as both his parents were survivors of the Holocaust. Both of them had many loved ones who perished and they had come together out of need, but not love. Each Jew in Israel has their own personal testimony of how it affected their family. It's absolutely heartbreaking to hear and to see the evil that took place. One German soldier had told a woman from our group that he met the Devil during the war. What the human is capable of with a heart not filled with God's love is downright freaky and inhuman. That is why we need God's unconditional love to fill us on a daily basis.

But hearing Arie's personal story just made walking through the Museum so much more meaningful and real. And as we watched the numerous military youth take a tour of it as well, the importance of knowing this history became more vital, because those horrific events would have happened to their grandparents, great uncles and aunts, and their own parents would have been greatly affected by it all. Often one of two responses come from people when horrible things happen in life. Either they draw closer to God or they become more athiest in their beliefs and say there could never be a God because He wouldn't allow this to happen. So how will we respond my friends? Do we blame God or do we hold on to Him with everything we got. It's our choice but that choice will affect the rest of our life and those that follow behind us.

The last stop for us today was the Jerusalem Museum and the Dead Sea Scrolls. I always enjoy seeing the scale model of the whole city of Jerusalem. I told Kyrstin that it reminded me of the movie Honey I Shrunk the Kids. :) She thought it would've been so cool to live in there! It's amazing how a guy had originally built this in his back yard years ago. Now it's part of this museum site. And being at Qumran earlier, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and now coming here to see the scrolls at the museum was really neat.

Well that's it for another day my friends. We're beat and emotionally spent especially after being at the Holocaust Museum. It was nice to be back at the hotel earlier on this day. Some ladies were bored right away and went to the nearby mall to shop some more. I stayed back to keep working on the blog for you. :) Besides, my feet have really been feeling all the walking and have had enough. Time to rest them.

Day 10 of Touring the Holy Land

2011-12-01T21:50:00.000-08:00

"Come, everyone! Clap your hands! Shout to God with joyful praise! For the Lord Most High is awesome. He is the great King of all the earth. He subdues the nations before us, putting our enemies beneath our feet. He chose the Promised Land as our inheritance, the proud possession of Jacob's descendants, whom he loves. God has ascended with a mighty shout. The Lord has ascended with trumpets blaring. Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King over all the earth. Praise him with a Psalm." Psalm 47:1-7

As I watch the beautiful sunrise this morning and read these words from Scripture, right here in Jerusalem, my heart is again overcome. Knowing that my feet stand here on the grounds of the Promised Land spoken about right here in these words. Wow! Reading the Bible here in the Holy Land, well I can't do that without my heart being moved. Looking at the words on these pages that were God-breathed and inspired here in this land....well, I hope you get another picture of how meaningful it is to be here.

Well today we've spent the day touring the Temple Mount area. We began by entering through the Dung Gate and walking up the steps onto The Temple Mount. I was very moved being here. This was the place where the Temple stood, where Jews would come from all over Israel go worship God.

When Christ returns, He will enter the Eastern Gate, which is blocked by the Muslims but we know it won't stop Him, and He will reign once again here in Jerusalem from a New Temple which will be rebuilt here. Oh this just gave me Jesus bumps and I wanted to remove my shoes cause I felt like I was walking on Holy Ground.

We walked through the Kotel Tunnels which run the whole length of the West wall of Jerusalem. It was incredible to see the size of the huge blocks of rock that were used to build the wall and how they would have built it using cattle, pulleys and many men. What a fortress it would have been.

The tunnel was long and narrow but not nearly as narrow as the what the Hezekiah Tunnels will be. It's amazing how the rock was chiseled with hand tools. Some parts of the tunnels were being worked on and so just listening to the metal pounding of the tools against the rock made me think of when these walls would have been built.

I always enjoy spending time at the Western Wall, often called Wailing Wall. Just listening to the many prayers of the people around me was so meaningful, even I could not understand the language. Seeing the devotion and earnestness on the faces of the people as they prayed was so meaningful.

Sitting on the Southern steps where the public would have walked up into the Temple in the Bible times was wonderful. Picturing Jesus walking up these steps as a young boy with his parents, or Mary and Joseph ascending these steps to dedicate Jesus as a baby....such wonderful visions to capture in our minds.

Arie shared with us how those who would ascend these Southern steps to the entrance of the Temple courtyard would sing the Psalms of Ascent from Psalms 122 - 135. Psalm 122 is one of Arie's favorites and the words were very fitting: "I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the Lord." Our feet are standing inside your gates, O Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built as a city where people come together....Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May all go well for those who love you." Great words as we sat here today.

We saw the ruins of the city walls from when it was destroyed. The stones were huge as you can see. Imagining them falling from such heights and the people mourning over the destruction. But I love how God has always provided a remnant and He remained with his people. What live He had for them and how He wanted them to seek Him.

We had some time to shop in the Old City over lunch and then ended the day at The Old City of David, where it all began. Watching a 3D movie about how David bought the old threshing floor here and captured the city from the Jebusites by coming up the water shaft with his soldiers. These tunnels were much smaller and tighter to get through. We didn't have our rubber boots otherwise we may have walked through Hezekiah's water tunnel rather than the dry tunnel. :) .....okay, maybe not.

Our time here is nearing the end. As I write these last couple of days, we are sitting at the airport in Israel. Shalom my friends.

More About Israel from the Hearts of the Women

2011-12-01T13:21:00.000-08:00

In an earlier post, the women shared some thoughts with you about what they experienced in the more Northern part of Israel. In this post, I'd like to share their thoughts with you about what they experienced in the 2nd part of our journey here, which includes the area of Mount Arbel, Gideon Springs, Bet Shean, Qumran, Masada, The Dead Sea, and then on to Petra and the cruise on the Red Sea. I guess this tour is broken up into 3 parts; Tel Aviv to the Galilee area, then the mid to southern areas of Israel, and then lastly The Holy City of Jerusalem. So in this post, it would be part 2 that they're sharing with you.

"I love Petra, and it was great to be there again. I really enjoyed Masada as well. And of course it was great to see Kerri get baptized in the Jordan River. That was very meaningful." - Karen B.
"I have enjoyed everyday; the sights, the sounds, and smells. I have grown to love the women who I am sharing every day with. The highlight was seeing Kerri baptized, having watched her grow in grace and wisdom." - Anne
"Kerri's baptism in the Jordan River was definitely a highlight for me. I really enjoyed seeing Petra as well." - Valerie

"Getting baptized in the Jordan River, hiking up Masada and having a float in the Dead Sea all in the same day, equals a great day. Wow! Then hiking through Petra the following day, these were definitely all highlights for me." - Kerri

- Kyrstin is sleeping while I type this out and I don't have the heart to wake her. But I do know she enjoyed the Dead Sea. She also really liked the day at Petra...kinda cool to be doing that on her birthday and she also got to ride a horse, and she loves horses...she also road a camel. Having lots of people say happy birthday was fun too, especially when its different people from different parts of the world like Africa, US, Jordan, England, Israel...and then she got 2 birthday cakes too! One cake was in Jordan, and cute Jordan men sang happy birthday to her :) and then she got an ice cream cake in Israel!! wow! :) That was all pretty cool! Well,THEN she found a ice cream treat the next day that had Justin Bieber wrapping on it!.... and to top that off, she was wearing her Justin Bieber shirt that day too! Well, when she saw the McDonalds at The Masada tourist centre....yup, she kinda freaked! You can guess what she had for lunch. haha.....its been a JOY having her on this trip!

"Baptizing Kerri in the Jordan River was just amazing...so incredible to experience! This was most definitely a highlight for me. We've been together in a number of Bible studies and walking alongside her and watching her grow in the Lord is such a blessing and a privilege. I am so blessed by having her here on this trip with us. I was also really moved to be a part of a wonderful Shabbat meal on the Qalia Kibbutz we stayed at by the Dead Sea. All together, every area we visit and tour, just bring the Bible to light in such new fresh and amazing ways. I am so deeply grateful for all I am experiencing here." - Lisa

"Being out on the open sea and being "captain" for a short while and steering while on our cruise boat on the Red Sea was wonderful! Crossing over into Jordan and being at Petra in all its beauty.....and so much more! The work of the Essenes at Qumran and seeing the Dead Sea caves was something else!" - Judy
"My favorite spots so far are places where Bible stories actually happened, like Ein Gedi where David took refuge from King Saul and cut a piece of Saul's robe. Or Gideon's Spring where our tour guide Arie related how he read Gideon's story to his troops during the war and it gave them courage. And of course everything else - pomegranate juice, stepping into the Jordan River, the mud bath at the Dead Sea...its all so good!" - Connie

"I enjoyed the Dead Sea and the story from our tour guide about being in the war. Stopping at the Jordan River seeing Kerri being baptized was very moving. Being on Masada learning about Herod and where Jews committed suicide was moving too. Petra was amazing and it was very interesting crossing the border between Israel and Jordan." - Lillian

"I was very touched by Kerri's baptism. It was a wonderful experience to witness this and especially at the Jordan River. I also really enjoyed the area around Petra. It was so hard to believe believe how the city was carved out of stone and the beautiful rock." - Frances

"What an amazing experience to witness Kerri's baptism. I was so moved! Then to go to the Dead Sea for a mud bath and float in the sea. It's something I never dreamed I'd have the opportunity to do. We had lots of laughs and fun! Everyday is packed with unbelievable adventure." - Karen S.
"Getting to know a new friend and meeting a family at the Kibbutz by the Dead Sea was really neat. The Dead Sea was fun and I climbed up Masada!" - Danielle

"Masada is always a place that breaks my heart. When I think of the story of the Jewish people who killed themselves so they wouldn't be captured by the Romans, only 2 women and her children survived. Seeing the structures that Herod had built are amazing. Another highlight for me was jumping into the Red Sea. There were 2 boats full of people watching this crazy Canadian. :) " - Kara

It has been an amazing tour. Each day is an adventure in itself and there is no chances to get bored. Thanks for keeping up with us on our journey. God bless you all.

Day 9 of Touring the Holy Land

2011-12-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

An incredible morning began with a gorgeous sunrise and then we drove from our hotel up to the Mount of Olives as the song about Jerusalem being the Holy City played from the stereo and we sang along with tears in our eyes. How can one not be emotional. :)

I had chosen to wear my dress of many colors again today, not knowing that we would be having our group picture first thing this morning. :) So the ladies will have a wonderful memory of me fully dressed for Israel. :) We do have a lovely group picture though. I love the color! We are standing on the Mount of Olives with Jerusalem Old City, with the Temple Mount and the Eastern Gate behind us.

The Scriptures tell us that when Jesus returns and steps foot on the Mount of Olives, the mountain will split in two and He will enter through the city through this gate. Muslims decided to have a graveyard in front of this gate to stop Jesus from entering there because a priest would become unclean if he walked by the dead. We chuckled because that ain't gonna stop Jesus.

We walked down the Palm Sunday road which Jesus may have taken from the Mount of Olives, down through the Kidron Valley and up into Jerusalem, perhaps sitting on a donkey while the people laid down their palm branches in front of him and singing Hosanna Hosanna Hosanna to the King. Wow, what a view in our minds as we walked down this road and passed through the Garden of Gethsemane.

The old olive trees in there and picturing Jesus standing up there as he wept over the city and for his people. How he wanted his own people to see him for who he really was, the Messiah, their Messiah, sent from God, His Son, to die on the cross for their sins to pay the ultimate sacrifice and rose from the dead and now living in Heaven. Oh how can we not believe....but yet he Scriptures tell us that many will not. Yes, Jesus wept for those who would not believe in Him.

We entered the Old City through St. Stephens Gate, also known as the Lions Gate. We stopped at St. Annes Church and sang a couple songs. Another group of people came, they may have been from Africa, and they sang as well. Oh my! It sounded absolutely heavenly!! Once we return home, I will post a video of it for you. The acoustics in this church are amazing!!

We walked down the Via Dolorosa towards the Church of the Holy Seplucher, but there's much controversy as to if this is the street Jesus was taken as it does not lead out to the city to the Hill of Golgotha. But it was to to walk these old streets anyway. Arie took us down below to show us the real authentic street which dated back to Jesus time. Amazing!

Walking through the Old City and seeing young soldiers was very common. All youth in Israel, once they are completed high school, muct attend military school. Girls attend for a minimum of 2 years and boys a minimum of 3 years. They didn't mind us taking their photos at all.

I must admit that being at the Church of the Holy Seplucher is my lesst favorite place to be. Here, at this one place, they feel Jesus was crucified, laid in a rock to be prepared for burial, and placed in a tomb. The whole place is a shrine, full of idols and incense. Masses of people come through here each year and worship this ground, kiss the rocks and rub their clothes on them. I love my Jesus but I do remember him telling us very clearly in the Scriptures to not make idols of any kind. Here, I feel, the rocks, the tomb, the cross (always pictured with him still in it) is highly worshipped. God is to be our full worship, not any "thing" else, including the places that Jesus walked or was at. So that always does bother me a bit in the Holy Land.

We walked through the open market square and enjoyed fresh large bagels with zatar/hissup spice. yum yum.....and then we were on our way to Bethlehem.

It was great to go to Bethlehem even though we had to have a different driver, bus, and guide. It's so upsetting to have all this unrest between all these people groups in and around Israel. Those living in the West Bank can hardly leave, it's like they're living in prison. We really have no idea what it's like to live somewhere where all your surrounding neighbors want to push you into the sea.

We enjoyed a lunch in Bethlehem and took another group picture by a beautiful painting of the shepherds in the field. After that we went to the Church of the Nativity. Again, this church was too much of a shrine and too much emphasis being put on the spot they say Jesus was born.

But being on Shepherds Field, singing Christmas carols and reading the Christmas story from Luke was wonderful. While we were in the small beautiful church there, a group from Indonesia was singing "Angels we Have Heard on High" in their language. It was beautiful! We joined in on the chorus and sang Gloooooorrr ooooooorrrr oooooorrrr oooooorrrriiiiiaaa in excelsius dao..... and we all sang that part in the same language. And then they prayed in their language yet too. It was quite amazing really! Then we sang Silent Night in English. So so so beautiful and moving.

After the amazing experience on Shepherds Field, we drove through busy, overcrowded Bethlehem and stopped at the Olive Wood Store. This stop for shopping did not fit at all with what we had experienced but it was the only time we would get a chance to go by there. So you switch gears and make the best of it. Their olive wood nativity stuff is absolutely incredible!

The sun was setting as we drove back to the hotel. It was so serene to look out the bus window and see the hillside dotted with homes and rolling fields. Almost feels like a dream being here and its still hard to believe all that we are seeing and experiencing.

At supper to tonight, we had another special guest. Anat came to speak to us about their church and ministry here in Jerusalem. Her husband is the Pastor at the Messianic Congregation. They are a very small minority and are not accepted well by any other Jews. Anat and Menno Kalisher are doing an amazing work and they need our prayers. May God continue to give them boldness and courage to bring the Good News to their fellow Jewish people. It is not easy for them to speak freely about Jesus being the true Messiah, and that He is the Son of God, the chosen One. Please pray for them my friends. It was such an incredible blessing to meet with her tonight. May God bless you!

Day 7 & 8 of Touring the Holy Land

2011-11-30T13:32:00.000-08:00

These next couple of days have been some great fun of touring some different aspects of the land of Israel and Jordan. We spent a day at Petra Jordan and then a few hours the next day having a cruise on the Red Sea.

It's been an intense teaching time with visiting the Holy sites and so having a day at Petra and a relaxing cruise on the Red Sea where a person doesn't have to work too much with their emotions and head is kinda nice here and there. Experiencing the Holy Land can definitely be an emotional and spiritual time.

Petra was so cool! This wonder of the ancient world built into the rock hundreds of feet above you is spectacular to walk through. Knowing that people lived here years ago, and also knowing that the Israelites were not allowed passage through here before they entered into the Promised Land, just brought an extra special ambiance while we walked here.

If you can see the blue jacket way up high, that would be Kyrstin and a few of our ladies who walked up there, including Kara, Judy, Kerri, Karen B, Anne, Valerie and Danielle. It's an incredible view from up there.

A number of the ladies also had a short camel ride here at Petra too, as well as having a horse ride for the last leg of the walk back to the entrance. On this day, I will have you all know, that us ladies each individually walked over 22,000 steps. We know this because Karen Sperling had a step counter in her purse. :)

After Petra, we had a late midafternoon lunch at a wonderful restaurant. Here Kyrstin was brought a beautifully decorated cake with sparkly things on it and a few Jordanian men brought it to her singing happy birthday in their language. It was really quite special and she had a huge grin on her face. :) Then on our way back to Eilat we saw the sun set over the mountain range in Jordan.

And then when we had our late supper back at the hotel, Kyrstin got yet another cake, this time an ice cream cake specifically ordered by Arie. He's the best tour guide. :) It was a good day!

The next morning began sunny as well. We climbed into a large beautiful wooden boat for a 3 hour cruise on the Red Sea. It was wonderful to be on the open water and to smell the fresh ocean air and see the bright blue water and sky. Such a blessing to be here. But this time we weren't alone on the boat, there were a number of people on the boat with us. A whole group of police detectives from one of the forces in Israel was on board with us. Well you get a bunch of guys together and things can get a bit rowdy....but we managed alright and had to ignore some things.

It was still great to be on the Red Sea. It was just another reminder for me of how easily and quickly one can get distracted by the things of this world by allowing our thoughts/attitudes/actions to shift off of keeping our eyes on Jesus and living a life that honors him. Even though we're in the Holy Land, the Devil is still very much at work in things all around, in every corner of the country, to fill our time and our heads with stuff that is just not of God...from an over abundance or focus on food or lust or materialism or legalism/traditions or alcohol or money.....you name, it just never ends. That's why it's so important to stand guard over our hearts, to constantly be alert and aware of our surroundings and the enemy's tactics and to stay in the Word of God and in prayer to remain close to His side. Going through Jordan, Israel, The West Bank...wow...just seeing all the different people groups and how each of us has lost our focus at times. It's time to refocus and stand our ground in following Christ and His ways. It's not just about walking where Jesus walked, but are we walking how He walked.

Anyway, back to the joy of being on the Red Sea. :) Danielle was the only brave one from our bunch that went parasailing and loved it...I would have liked to have gone but it was too windy for me and that freaked me out. I honestly would like to try it sometime. Kara took a swim in the water and found it quite refreshing. It has just been great all around to walk the shores of the Mediterranean, worship on the Sea of Galilee, baptize in the Jordan, cruise/swim/parasail on the Red Sea and float in the Dead Sea....it's been sweet how we've experienced all the bodies of water in the land of Israel. And then arriving in Jerusalem after that and seeing the view from the city out of my hotel window....wow....it's breathtaking!

The Ladies thoughts on Our Experiences in the Northern part of Israel

2011-11-28T14:26:00.000-08:00

Well I've been writing a lot in this blog, so today I invited the gals on the tour to share some of their thoughts with you about what being in the Galilee meant to them. Here they are....enjoy as they share their personal experiences:

"Being on the Sea of Galilee was so moving. You could feel the presence of God and just picturing Jesus walking on the water. With the music our captain was singing and feeling the Lord's presence just brought me to tears." - Kerri

"I loved Nazareth. It was a very interesting and busy city. Being in the Old Nazareth Village made me feel like the Bible came to life! I also find the agriculture very interesting; the orange, olive and pomegranite groves." - Frances

"The boat ride on the Sea of Galilee was so moving. Worshipping as we floated on the water where Jesus walked and envisioning him walking along the shore was very touching." - Valerie

"Before I came, my Bible study group looked at Abraham and his life. Seeing the Abraham Gate at Tel Dan made him really come alive for me." - Connie

"Highlight was being on the boat on the Sea of Galilee. The music with Daniel Carmel was very touching....also the Old village of Nazareth." - Lillian

"I was awed at the thought of walking where Jesus walked and I was most moved being at the Old Nazareth village. It was a step back in time, picturing what Jesus' life would be like as he grew. A lot to contemplate." - Karen S.

"At the Sea of Galilee we sang, we prayed and met some wonderful people. It was so peaceful and emotional. As the boat captain fished we remembered the stories of Jesus on the water." - Kara

"It was great to realize the human side of Jesus from walking and playing with other children, seeing the type of house He would have lived in, the terrain he walked on. The goodness and kindness of God showing us that Jesus had to rely on His Father and the Holy Spirit for everything here on earth! Just as we do, I am sure this will become more obvious as we near the end of his life." - Anne

"My favorite thing so far was eating pomogranates on the jeep ride and I'm really looking forward to the Dead Sea." - Kyrstin

"I really enjoyed the hike at Caesarea Philippi." - Danielle

"Sunrises over the Sea of Galilee so spoke "the Father's love." The experience of Jesus is so powerful on the Jesus boat and the Banais Reserve. Being stirred by the outside influences on Judaism reflected in Zippori and Bet Shean. Villages dotting the hilltops or sides of valleys and their twinkle at night on the rolling hills. Pomegranate juice, orchards of all kinds - so lush. Just amazing!" - Judy

"A couple of my favorite places was the boat ride on the Sea of Galilee with Daniel Carmel singing and his demonstration of fishing off the boat." - Karen

"Experiencing The Holy Land for the 3rd time and now with my daughter Kyrstin has definitely been a highlight. I also really enjoy watching how it affects each woman individually and seeing God move their hearts in places like the Sea of Galilee and The Mount of Beatitudes. It's been really incredible." - Lisa

Day 6 of Touring the Holy Land

2011-11-27T23:41:00.000-08:00

Waking up on a Kibbutz by the Dead Sea in Israel with the cows and roosters singing, the sun rising over the Moabite mountain range just beyond the Dead Sea, was so incredible! I woke up at 5 and couldn't go back to sleep. So I took my camera and went outside to walk with God through the lush garden paths on the grounds. My heart was full of emotion, hardly believing I was where I was. Why God chose me to experience this, I do not know but I am extremely grateful!

I knew it would be a fabulous day today. This morning was going to start with driving over to the

Jordan River, the more likely site of where Jesus was baptized and close to where the Israelites would have crossed over the Jordan towards Jericho. Kerri wanted to get baptized here today. She shared her testimony while we stood with our feet in the water. It was such an honor to baptize her today.

We have been in Bible study together for a number of years so this was very memorable for us both. What a super way to honor the Shabbat! It was the best Sunday morning on a Saturday service EVER! :) And no, it didn't matter to either of us that the water was murky. :) After we all prayed together and sang Praise God from whom all blessings flow. God is so good!!

After the baptism we drove to the Ahava Factory and then over to take a float in the Dead Sea to all celebrate with Kerri. What fun putting mud all over our bodies, of course the black of it reminded me of the sin that continually threatens to envelope us daily. We all walked into the Dead Sea and washed off the mud and came out cleansed.

Such a great analogy of what Christ did for us on the cross, and when we accept Him as our Lord and Saviour, He washes us clean and gives us eternal life. The baptism this morning was a great rededication of that. Thank you Kerri for letting us experience this in the Holy Land with you.

Next came the hike up Massada....well for Kerri and Danielle. The rest of us took the cable car up. At the entrance, a man stopped Kerri and I and said "weren't you the ones in the Jordan river this morning? wow were you ever brave. and you're not sick at all?" It made us smile and I thanked him for his encouragement. Yes the water had been murky but it definitely didn't kill us. :) But back to Masada, The mass suicide that happened up on that mountain is really quite disturbing but we were thankful to hear of the mother with small children who chose to hide and live, rather than take their life.

It made me think of the verse, "choose life and not death." Thank you God for courageous people who live to tell their story.

The 2 hour drive to Eilat was quick. We were happy to settle into our hotel for a couple of days.

Petra will happen on the next day.....another great adventure!
Thank you God for another fantastic day today!!

Thanks for your patience and prayers. It means so much to us all knowing that you are following along with us and praying for us. God bless each one of you!

Day 5 of Touring through The Holy Land

2011-11-26T20:02:00.000-08:00

We were off bright and early this morning. It was our last night in the Galilee. What a wonderful time we had here.

Our first stop was Mount Tabor where Judge Deborah led the soldiers of Israel out to battle. What a brave, courageous, God-fearing woman she was. Such a great legacy she left. So as we stood on top of this mount, we contemplated on what type of legacy we'd like to leave, how are people around us going to remember us as. It was a good thing to think about today. I also really liked the church up here, not to gawdy looking but very tasteful in it's decor.

Then we stopped at Gideon Springs where God took Gideon and his soldiers to choose the 300 who would fight in battle with him. God won that battle for Gideon because of his obedience and faith. My favorite part of being in this place is how our tour guide, Arie, shares of his own personal courageous and successful war story which included him reading the story of Gideon from Judges 7, over the war tank speaker to all his 30 tanks that he was in charge of. The battle was fierce and his soldiers were afraid but after he read this story of Gideon and prayed with his men, which by the way was against the rules to be doing this over the radios in the tanks, Arie and his team of men took on new courage and were at the front lines as the Israel soldiers pushed Egypt back to their own land until they were 6 miles from Cairo. It was another emotional time as Arie shared this personal testimony of being of great courage and having faith in The Almighty God that He was with them and going before them in battle. WOW! SOooo moving!

Our next stop was the old ancient city of Bet Shean. It was in this Gilboa mountain range that King Saul and Jonathon were killed in battle and their bodies were hung on these walls of Bet Shean. This city showed how much of the Roman world infiltrated the Jewish culture with all it's gods and goddesses and it's focus on the human body, rather than keeping the focus on living wholeheartedly for God. Again this is often the struggle with us nowadays, filling our lives with so much other things that we feel are so necessary and therefore it is a continual challenge to living a life that honors and pleases God. We allow so many things of the world to demand our attention that we don't give ourselves time and devotion to God in prayer, meditation and studying His Word. Yes we need to live and life has its responsibilities but we can begin and end each day with God and involve Him in each aspect of our day rather than go throughout the day living as we please as if there is no God.

After lunch we continued on down the road away from the Galilee towards the Dead Sea, passing herds of camels and sheep with their shepherds......how fun to see them! :) Qumran was where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. It was quite something to hear of how the Essenes lived in those days and how they wrote and hid the scrolls. What a rich history!

We arrived at a beautiful Kibbutz on the shores of the Sea. What an oasis of a humble community with cattle, and horses, a hotel that was all spread out ground level in small cottage like rooms. We all loved staying here! The grounds were filled with sidewalks through palm trees and blooming bushes. The cows, roosters and dogs sang in the background and the bright open sky glistened above us. In the valley a short distance below was the Dead Sea. What a wonderful place to be. It's a perfect place to have a ladies retreat sometime.....oh wait, we are having one right now. :)

At 7pm we entered the dining area that was partially filled with some guests like us, but mostly he Jewish families that lived on this Kibbutz. As the Father of the Kibbutz rose to give the blessing over the meal, commemorating the bread and the wine and reciting the Jewish words, my heart overflowed and my eyes filled with tears. I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly meaningful this was to be included so intimately in this age old tradition. Friday night is the beginning of Shabbat and the whole family gathers together to celebrate Shabbat. Arie, our tour guide, drove for 2 1/2 hours back to Tel Aviv to be at home with his family for the Shabbat meal. He said the long drive is always worth spending Friday nights with his whole family.....it is the greatest joy of the week. I wish we had more of that in our culture, in our families. Truly enjoying the Sabbath and spending wholesome time together as a family. What an wonderful traditiin and celebration. I was so deeply grateful to be a part of it. Us ladies enjoyed walks, visiting and playing Skipbo while Kyrstin and Danielle were invited to go spend time with the youth on the Kibbutz. What an incredible memory we have this day.

GOD IS GOOD!!

Day 4 of Touring in the Holy Land

2011-11-25T10:58:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a time we've been having on our tour of the Holy Land. Each day is so full of new adventures and even though I've been here 3 times now, there's so much to take in. Everything is seen through new eyes because of the different people that are on the tour with me. There's also the different Bible studies that I go through in each season that bring a new growth in my Christian walk that open my eyes to the Scriptures in a new way so that when I do come back here, I'm seeing through a newer lens each time. What a journey it's been!

This day started with driving to the old city of Zippori where there are may ruins from the Roman time. The synagogue that was there had all the Jewish symbols and stories on the mosaic floor but then smack dab in the middle was the sign of the Zodiac. Now how mixed up is that? Already back then, the things of the world were infiltrating the church which is no different than today. Where's the line of mixing the things of the world into the symbols/traditions/teachings of the church? So it was a good lesson that we had today right at the beginning of the day.

A definite favorite spot today was our journey through the Old Nazareth Village. That was an emotional time for many of us. Stepping across the doorway brought us back 2,000 years right back to the time of Jesus. My heart soared and flowed to overflowing while we walked the pathway past people dressed in Bible times and the sheep in their pens, seeing the olive trees and old clay jars, entering the house of a carpenter and seeing him working with his tools just like Joseph and Jesus would have, watching Hannah weave her wool into a blanket, seeing the stone walls of the homes, and then sitting in the synagogue with an old scroll and oil lamp on a small table in the front.oh my, my it was like we were right there alongside the people of that day. I just can't get over how real everything felt and the atmosphere was just so sureal!! Thank you God that we can share this amazing experience together!

The visit that we had last night with Ibtisam at our hotel made being here at the Old Nazareth Village real personal. Ibtisam's husband is the Pastor at a Baptist Church in Nazareth. They are also ministering in a Baptist College in Nazareth. Their work is so important here!! Their church is associated with the gift shop at the village and members of the church work in it as well. The founders of the Nazareth Village are also members of the Baptist congregation. A few of us on the tour are from a Mennonite background so meeting this couple last night who are from a Baptist congregation was real special. Whether we are from a Baptist background or not, it again reminded us how we need to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ across the world. Oh, I so love the personal aspects this tour has brought to us. Thank You God!

After a good lunch in Nazareth and driving through it's busy streets, we made our way to Hamat Gadar - the popular Hot Springs of the Jordan/Galilee area. The road that took us there ran along the Jordan/Israel border and it was a ride full of quite beautiful scenery. The water was wonderfully warm/hot but not too hot, other than the Hot pool. It was a neat experience being here, imagining the ancient Roman baths they had years ago. I am thankful for my own bathtub and shower at home. Not everyone has the privilege of having those luxuries, especially in the older days. The hot pool had a stone/pebble bottom that kinda hurt my feet but felt good at the same time cause they were so warm. This place also had an alligator farm and a petting zoo of different types of animals and many types of parrots. It was nice to be there. Another new experience in the land of Israel.

Tonight was our last night at the Kibbutz Nof Ginosar here at the Sea of Galilee. I sure enjoyed the quietness of the area, away from the busy city of Tiberius. Watching the twinkling lights of the city and the surrounding communities along the Sea of Galilee at night was delightful. The sunrises and sunsets were gorgeous and I'm thankful for the pictures I could take.

In the morning we needed to leave 1/2 hour earlier than usual.....yes we had to be on the bus by 7:30 am to be on the road in order to get all our stops in, so it was off to bed earlier.
So glad you're journeying along together with us. It is so encouraging to everyone in the group to hear your comments and hearing about your enjoyment of seeing us in the photos. Even though it's not always easy updating the blog each day, it's so worth it when I hear feedback from the ladies family and friends that they love seeing them in photos and reading about their day. It brings tears to my eyes, this world is so small and technology is simply amazing at times. I know what a blessing this blog with photos each day is to some of you and that is why I am writing this. It is so cool that you can be reading this close to the end of your day while we are already asleep. :) That is just SO cool! I am honored, my fellow readers, to have you join us in this personal journey. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement! Love you all!

Day 3 of Touring through The Holy Land

2011-11-23T22:01:00.000-08:00

It was another beautiful sunrise again this morning. Oh how I love to watch that sun rise over the Sea of Galilee. Truly breathtaking each morning.

Today we started with a Jeep Ride from a Kibbutz up to the Golan Heights. The Kibbutz that we drove through had cattle, dairy, and many vineyards/orchards that grew limes, pomagranet (that may be spelled wrong :) and pears. The fresh pomagranet we got to eat right from the tree was delicious!! The ride itself was through very rough terrain in the Syrian war zone, with volcanic rock and bunkers all over. The view of the lush Hula Valley from the heights is amazing. It was a bit sobering climbing down into the bunker and looking through the viewpoint over the land below.

We enjoyed touring through the Olive Factory and a Winery in a town in the Golan Heights. So yes, the Israeli economy was much supported by the women of the group once again. :) A favorite was purchasing the olive oil.....ya okay and tasting a bit of wine from the winery. Both of those companies truly do have amazing products. We also had lunch at a food court and Kyrstin said that was the best lunch ever here cause she got to have cheese pizza, fries and a coke. :)

We had a hike through the region of Caesarea Philippi in the North part of Israel. Knowing Jesus walked here with his disciples and taught the Scriptures. It was here that He asked them the most important question, "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of God, The Messiah." The Lord said to him that only The Father in Heaven could have revealed that to him because Jesus had not told him that. So my friends, that is the question for us today too. Who is Jesus to us? Is he just a prophet, a fable, a human who lived long ago....or is he Jesus the Messiah who came to take away the sins of the world. Who he is to us is a question that has our eternity attached to it.

After the hike we went to Tel Dan which is very close to the Lebanon border. Dan was the city that King Jeroboam had a pagan altar built so that the people would stay in the area rather than going to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple of God. When we read in 1 Kings, we see so many kings that led the people astray because of their horrible choice to follow the pagan gods rather than worshipping the One True God. So to me this completely falls in line with what Jesus had asked his disciples. Are we going to see who Jesus really is or are we going to allow the gods and idols of this world overtake living for Him and draw us farther away from God.

Also here is a new gate that they were unearthing which takes us back to Abrahams time. This gate could possibly have been the gate that Abraham walked through when he entered this area. It was pretty cool.

On our way back to our hotel at the Kibbutz,we stopped at the Naot Shoe Factory. Arie said he had a couple of shoes to pick up and that we could stay on the bus and wait. Well that didn't go over well.:) So yes, some shoes were bought and Arie gave the ladies a hard time for taking longer than he did. haha.

When we got back from our hotel, we had special guests waiting for us. Ibtisam came to meetwith us and share about her life with us as a Christian Arab living in Nazareth. The Christian Arabs are a minority group and if you are one living in the West Bank, life is very difficult and its almost like living in a prison as you are not allowed to go in and out freely. If you are Arab and Christian....oh that is a huge no no so life can be real difficult at times. It was incredible to hear her testimony and it sure made our tour much more personal. We all enjoyed meeting her very much! That was a definite highlight for me today. Please pray for the Christian Arabs in the Holy Land.

The days have been long and full, but it's been good. As I was on my way back to my room, a man started talking to me about Israel and why was I here. He was from Africa but lived in Toronto. It turned into a very interesting conversation about the red light district in Amsterdam, the sex trade and the things that break the heart of God and how a Christian who grows closer to God continues to have less and less of an attraction to the things of this world and more to live to please God. We had differing opinions but I told him that I would pray that his time here would bring him to a new place in his journey with God and that he would see the things that break His heart. It was really quite the conversation but obviously one that God had planned out for some reason. I just hope I was saying the right things. Please pray for Fred.

Well my friend, we hope you've enjoyed travelling with us another day. God bless you all.

Day 2 of Touring in The Holy Land

2011-11-22T12:14:00.000-08:00

It's been such an amazing day! How can one walk through the Holy Land and not be incredibly moved in the depths of your soul. Wow! At the moment the sun began to rise, I knew it would be a very special day indeed.

We began our day with a fantastic breakfast after a gorgeous sunrise. Our tour started on the Mount of Beatitudes. Yes we definitely experienced Jesus Bumps while reading the passage from Matthew of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus taught how we can live, truly live a blessed life, and from here He taught about being the salt and light, about fasting and tithing...and many other ways to truly live the best life ever...truly following him. Picturing the multitudes filling the hillside. Wow, what a stunning and moving moment.

Traveling to Capernaum, know as Jesus' own town, where the Apostle Peter lived and where Jesus often taught in the synagogue. The magnificent limestone pillars and floors of ancient days. What an experience! Jesus came here often to teach but He also grieved over this town as well as Chorazin and Bethsaida because the people would not believe that He was The Messiah, God's own Son sent to be their Savior, even though He performed many miracles and wondrous signs. Oh I pray that we would believe even though we haven't walked with Him physically on this earth but we have the Scriptures that are God-breathed and written by followers of Jesus Christ who lived on this earth WITH Him.

The boatride on the Sea of Galilee was a definite highlight for all! Daniel Carmel is a Messianic Jew and has an amazing ministry on the Sea, captain of the Jesus Boat Ministries, he translates many of our modern worship songs into Hebrew and blesses you with praise music on the boat. He shares his testimony of how he came to know the Lord as his Savior and believing Jesus is The Messiah, God's Son. Oh my! How extremely moving. Truly a Holy moment on that boat!

A number of years ago, two brothers found an ancient fishing boat in the Sea at the bottom, that dates back to the time of Jesus. It was cool to see how they built boats back in The Bible times and to picture Jesus in that boat, or one like it.

Hiking Mount Arbel brought a complete new meaning to Jesus going up to the hills to pray. Walking through the terrain of the Galilee area imagining the great distances He walked with His disciples from town to town...wow! A great experience.

We stopped at a lovely chocolate factory and sampled wonderful chocolate.....and then purchased some of course. :) Perhaps some would say it was heavenly alhough being on the Sea of Galilee was truly heavenly.......but topping that off with some chocolate was quite delightful. :)

We ended the day by stopping at one of the baptism sites... (but I couldn't believe how many catfish were in the water, right close to shore...blah) :) ....on the Jordan River. Lots of people were there and many purchased their white robes to have a dip in the Jordan. I prayed for them, as I have for many people that they, and we, would not be focussing so much on these "Holy Sites" but keeping our worship and focus on Jesus himself. It can be easy to get caught up in the surroundings but it's always a good reminder to refocus on Jesus Christ himself.

One of the women would also like to be baptized here in The Holy Land on Friday. Please keep her and the rest of us in your prayers as I know this will be amazing to experience and a great moment of her life to celebrate.

Kyrstin has been doing a great job at scrapbooking a page for her album each day. I have shared one of her pages with you.

And yes, we are a group of women and there are those who really appreciate the opportunities to shop. :) So that we have done as well. heehee The Jesus Boat Museum and The Baptism Site were great places for shopping and there will be more places as the days continue. :)

God bless you my friends.
Thanks for enjoying the journey along with us.
Hugs and prayers from Israel.

Day 1 of Touring The Holy Land

2011-11-21T20:28:00.000-08:00

What a day! We started from Tel Aviv and made our way to Jaffa...Joppa in the Old Testament. Jonah fled to Joppa when he was to go to Ninevah. Peter had the vision of the unclean animals. Tabitha was healed and we were told of Dorcas here as well. The place had some lovely old buildings.

The sunrise was incredible on the Mediterranean Sea this morning. Such a lovely walk taking in the sights and smells. Just imagining all that had gone on by this Sea in the Bible times...and of course Kyrstin telling us how the largest great white shark had been caught in this Sea :)....but she still dipped her toes in the water last night.

I was going to enjoy the day today being dressed in a robe of many colors all day to fully experience a day of walking in a robe. Gave a person a different perspective. :) The kids loved it, I immediately became Jacob's friend at the restaurant but Kyrstin didn't really be want to seen with me at first. :) She warmed up by the afternoon.It was a good experience, I quite enjoyed it. I don't know if I could do it day after day though the way they wore them all the time back then, and some still do.

The school kids were great! They loved to read our nametags and talk English to us if they knew it, and also greeted us with Shalom to see if we'd greet them back with it. :) They loved having pictures with us. Standing by the large 3,000 seat amphitheatre and hearing a woman sing was beautiful, how the voices carried without microphones is quite amazing. This amphitheatre originally seated 9,000 back in Herod's time.

The sea port that King Herod had built here so many years ago was magnificent. Arie does such a great job explaining everything to us. We loved seeing all the old ruins here.

walking down the long stairwell
through the watershaft at Meggido
- it kind freaked us out :)

After watching a video, we walked through Meggido. This is the place in the middle of Armeggedon where the last battle will take place. It was amazing to stand in this city gate, imagining the 3 gates and the large stone walls towering overhead. The cobblestone walkway is 3,000 years old.

Arie and I standing in the city
gate of Meggido...I think I
kinda fit in with the surroundings :)

The school kids loved us and enjoyed
having pics with us. The teachers
thought I looked lovely. :) I took
that as quite the compliment as they
were looking very lovely themselves!

chilling with our electronic toys
and touching base with family
after a great supper meal :)

We've Arrived in The Holy Land of Israel!

2011-11-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

absolutely gorgeous sunrise on
the plane!

we had extra time in Minneapolis
but the rest of the time was a rush!

so blessed to be able to experience
this trip with my 3rd child now!
God is good!

our huge plane with 400 passengers

Yes we have arrived! Even after sitting on the plane for an hour and a half in Saskatoon, and also for an hour longer in Minneapolis AND an hour longer in New York City.(Delta had mechanical issues each time we wanted to take off).....we only arrived 45 minutes late in Tel Aviv. :) We literally ran from one gate to another in New York to catch our Tel Aviv flight. haha! It was an adventure!

we have arrived! our 1st group pic!

totally LOVE the sign on our bus!

a market on the street in Tel Aviv

street view coming up to our
hotel in Tel Aviv

haha..Kerri & I got better
WiFi reception in the hallway :)

snowing lots in Minneapolis but
we still got off the ground even
if it was an hour later

It's 17 degrees and we will go for a walk along the Mediteranean Sea after supper. We're a little tired but so glad we have all our luggage and happy to have a little rest before supper. We have a great, comfortable brand new bus to travel on. yay!

had a fabulous meal at our hotel

the plane was HUGE - 400 passengers
and 2 levels! :)

the sights and smells at the
Mediterranean Sea are lovely!!
there's good ice cream here too! :)

After a FABULOUS meal at our hotel we went for a walk to grab some shekels from an ATM and enjoy our first sights and smells of the Mediterannean Sea! It was so beautiful!

dippin our feet in the
Mediterranean Sea! :)

But now it is 4 am, I got down here at 3 am cause I was wide awake and couldn't sleep. :) I slept for about 7 hours on the plane, not super solid but I felt very well rested after I woke up.

Early today, I ran into a glitch with my blog cause apparently I had maxed out my space for loading pics! OH NO! What could I do from here? Weeeeellllllll, my wonderful hubby was able to go on from home and purchase 20 MORE GIGS for me on my blog and now I have only used 4% of my space! haha!! What would I do without pictures!! :) So, here's pics for ya'll now!! Sorry for their scattered look today....maybe I am a little overtired, undertired, wide awake but should be sleeping. :) Anways...Enjoy the blog and pics!

So friends, our journey has begun and we will all enjoy it together! :) Shalom!

And the Anticipation Rises! :)

2011-11-15T12:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, it is now only 4 more sleeps before 13 ladies board a plane for The Holy Land, Israel~ :) I simply can't wait....but I know I have to. :) The longing in my heart to step foot on the "Homeland" is making it very difficult for me to focus on things in the here and now at times. :) But, I am getting stuff done, believe it or not.

Here are two photographs that were taken, the left taken in September, when Anne and Valerie were here visiting from out of province, and Connie could be with us as well. The one on the right was taken in early November with the rest of the group who couldn't be present when we met in September. These dear ladies will be joining me on a tour of a lifetime. It is a spiritual investment and their lives will forever be changed. Yes I am excited to go back but I am almost more excited to walk alongside these dear ladies as they walk where Jesus walked and experience the atmosphere of the Holy Land of Israel.

Ready ladies?? Only 4 more sleeps and we're off. WHOOHOO! :)

Welcome to the rest of you as you journey along with us in this blog. I hope to be posting photos and journaling each day of our tour. Feel free to add comments below and to share your heart with ours as we journey along together. I've posted our names in the photos so that you can pray for each of us individually and so it makes the photos I post a little more personal as well cause you'll know our names. :) We covet your prayers for us over these next couple of weeks. Pray that our health would be good but mostly that we would allow God to transform our hearts in great ways through this journey. I know we will be well looked after while we are in Israel....God has already gone on ahead of us and has prepared the way. YAY!

Feel free to watch the short video in the post below from Ayelet Tours. It will give you a great overview of what a tour to the Holy Land with them looks like. You'll enjoy it!

Shalom!!

A Trip to the Holy Land with Ayelet Tours

2011-11-15T11:33:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QUVzFKxkm8&feature=youtu.be

I thought you'd appreciate seeing a short video by Ayelet Tours that gives you a brief overview of what a tour of the Holy Land consists of. If you watch closely, you will see our tour guide Arie Harel, in the video.
Each time I have gone to Israel, our tour company has been Ayelet Tours and our guide has been Arie Harel. Their knowledge, hospitality, guidance and direction has been so very much appreciated! They take care of you very very well. Thank you so much Ayelet!!
Perhaps it will put a yearning in your heart to join them someday. :)

Hitting Close to Home

2011-11-15T11:16:00.000-08:00

For the past 3 months, I've been journeying through a study on the Apostle Paul and it's called "To Live is Christ" by Beth Moore. It's been an amazing in-depth study of his life, of the Book of Acts and some of Paul's letters to the New Testament Church. So many of parts of his life have hit really close to home for me. Originally called Saul, he was a devout Jew who grew up in the church and kept the law to it's fullest extent. He was so against the followers of Jesus Christ that he had them persecuted and killed all the time, he would even go in search of them to have them killed. After Paul met with Jesus on the Road to Damascus, he became a believer and began sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ, but he was persecuted in many ways. The hatred that his fellow Jews had for him now was taken to great extents. From his own people, the religious leaders and even his family, he was flogged and beaten, imprisoned, and even stoned (2 Corinthians 11:21-31). But he stood on the solid truth of God's Son, Jesus Christ the Messiah, who came to earth, died on a cross and rose again and is now living in heaven preparing an eternal home for us there. He continued to preach the Good News no matter what. I pray that my faith will be as strong as his was.

Back in March 2006, I had the opportunity to go to Bolivia to find some of my dad's family living on the Mennonite Colonies there. It's been wonderful to meet with them. But at the same time, the stories that I hear of my own relatives have been no different than what happened to Paul so many years ago. In 1995, a young man in Bolivia had been severely beaten by the elders of the church for proclaiming that he was a Believer and that he knew for certain that he was going to heaven. They made his younger brother watch and wanted them both to deny being confident in their eternal heavenly heritage. Are you willing to follow Jesus even when it hurts and others persecute you?? I pray that I will be able to. You can read the story of Paul Buhler here: http://www.jeanettewindle.com/the_way_of_the_cross_following_jesus_when_it_hurts.htm
What has been done in the name of religion or the church is heartwrenching.

Here I am with dedicated
Missionaries Jake & Dorothy
Fehr near Santa Cruz, Bolivia

relatives on a Mennonite Colony

Recently, a relative from Bolivia came to visit, one that I had met back in 2006. I prayed for this man. Knowing that his own mind has been twisted with the legalistic ways of the colonies, my heart was heavy for him before he left. I didn't have anything to lose, so I stopped in and prayed for him. My prayer for him is the same as it is for my many relatives who are caught in those same religious ways in Bolivia. I pray that their hearts would be changed, that the Love of God would overtake his hardened heart and that the work that dear missionaries are doing in their country would not be in vain. I know that many Mennonites are becoming Believers, in spite of the persecution by their own people, and choosing to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what the cost. But it's not easy hearing of these things and to also watch others reap things in their latter years of stuff that they had sown in their earlier years. Oh how we all need the Hand of God in our lives.

On Sunday morning, our sermon in church was about "who am I living for" and "what would I die for." Paul chose to die for Christ..."To live is Christ, to die is gain"...were his words. Am I willing to die for my faith? If my child or a family member asked me to deny my Christ in order to live, or in order for one of my other children to live, would I be strong enough in my faith to say "No, to live is Christ, to die is gain." If someone were to knock on my door and take me to jail for living my life for God, would my faith be strong enough to go through any kind of persecution? I pray that it would. That's why it's so important to be in the Word of God and developing a daily relationship with God and getting to know His Son Jesus Christ more and more....so that when those times of persecution come, which they will, then we will be able to stand on our firm foundation of faith in God. Ephesians 6 tells us that we need to put on the armor of God daily so we can stand with our feet planted on God and His Word.

synagogue at Capernaum

The hatred that can live in human beings is downright scary. The Jews were "livid" when Paul kept on preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ and their hatred controlled them so much that they dragged him out of the synagogue and began to stone/beat him and left him for dead (Acts 14). We can fast forward to the 1500's when the Anabaptists broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and the severe persecution many believers went through at the hands of angry religious leaders of that time because they simply wanted to step away from infant baptism and have voluntary church membership and they believed in the separation of church and state. http://www.anabaptists.org/history/what-is-an-anabaptist.html What is done in the name of religion is absolutely heartbreaking! The religious leaders on the Bolivian colony kept whipping the young 18 year old boy because he knew and proclaimed that he was saved. Yes, this study has hit close to home. What happened to Christians in the Bible is still happening today and has happened throughout history.

The Garden Tomb

Even closer to home yet, is how much closer I feel to the Apostle Paul. What a testimony of a man who, in the early years of his life, thought he had all the right teachings, had been brought up in the church and yet he missed the mark of believing that Jesus was the Messiah. What a testimony he has of being brought to know the Truth and to share it with others through the remainder of his life. As I prepare to go back to Israel in a few

at the Wailing Wall

days, all that I learned through this study is so fresh in my head, just as it was when we journeyed through the study Jesus the One and Only. Each study we do, I get to know The Bible better and better and I get to know the Heart of God better and better and changing me from the inside out. As Paul was writing his letters to the different churches, it was full of love and affection for the Believers and a longing that they would come closer and closer in their relationship with Jesus Christ and to know the Scriptures. He also longed to meet with them to share about the Good News with them in person, face to face. I am feeling that same way today. I have been able to connect with a couple wonderful Christian women in Israel and we will be meeting together with them while we are there. My heart longs to see their face, give them a hug and to hear about all that God is doing in their lives and through the lives of the Believers in the Holy Land. I know the trip this time will be even more personal and enriching because of meeting together with these women personally.

God is at work! Hallelujah! Each day is so exciting to find out what He is going to do TODAY! What is He going to give me to add to my Testimony TODAY! Yes, I hope and pray that each day, each week, things will hit close to home, to soften my heart, get me to pray harder, to open my Bible more often and to draw me nearer to the Heart of my Heavenly Father. AMEN!

Thanksgiving in Alberta

2011-10-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

We just spent an amazing weekend in Alberta! Even leaving at 5 am was doable and didn't make anyone overly grouchy. :) The sunrise was beautiful coming up behind us around 8 and the golden rays followed us for quite some time making the horizon around us exceptionably picturesque! I loved the drive...the fall colors made everything so breathtaking!

The kids made us laugh many a time! Recently I bought myself a Blackberry Tablet and as you can tell, the kids had an enjoyable time taking pics of themselves and putting them onto scrapbook pages. :) Oh it makes for memorable times alright. haha! As family we've always enjoyed family drives.This one has definitely made it into the great memory book. Our kids are growing up and there's not too many times when we're all in the same vehicle driving together anymore. I'm so glad we got another trip in, even if it was a short one.

My nephew Tristan got married to a wonderful gal named Lisa :) The wedding was at Camp Caroline in Alberta. The location was breathtaking and the event itself was superb. We're so glad we went! After the reception we drove to Mike & Carmen's, Roger's cousin. We got there at 11 pm and just knew we would wake up to breathtaking beauty in the morning.....but it still grabbed my heart and my emotions big time! I had never seen such beauty! I could not believe the portrait God had painted for me that morning! WOW!

The tears came freely as I drank in the sight My Lord had given me this Thanksgiving Sunday! My heart was overflowing with awe as my finger snapped away photo after photo. Oh God is so good! Again I must say wow!

Roger and the girls had gone for a walk before we got ready for church. It was quite funny cause Alysha just wanted to go down to them there hills. The hills were much farther away than she thought. :) But they walked down to the valley down below and back up. Well I must say they were a little tired. But what a beautiful morning to do that.

We had a wonderful morning attending Mike and Carmen's church singing worship songs of God's creation. After experiencing such an incredible time experiencing God's creation and then singing about it to was almost too much for my emotions to take. Wow! What a morning of worship! I LOVE the opportunity to worship together with other Followers of Jesus Christ in a Bible believing church. One of the major highlights of traveling is worshipping God with others in their church. Such beauty in the Family of God all over the world.

After church we went to a really cool 50's Diner in Black Diamond where the food was very very good and we chose songs from the 45's jukebox....really cool. The candy aisle and the ice cream was out of this world! Then we took the MOST AMAZING Sunday afternoon drive EVER! They live a half hour away from the Kananaskis Valley.....oooooh such amazing beauty to behold!

We drove to the falls and had a lovely hike and took some amazing pictures. Both the girls had my cameras and I had this Blackberry. :) What fun we had!

The views were breathtaking! It truly was the best Sunday afternoon ever!

Waking up to another beautiful breathtaking sunrise was absolutely glorious!

I could have spent a week sittin on this porch taking in the beauty each day! Wow!

Thank you God for this incredible opportunity to spend time in your creation like this!.