There and Back Again, with Photos

Overlooking Jerusalem from the Mt. of Olives

The travelers are home. They arrived in time for lunch after being on a plane for twelve hours and another couple of hours driving in from Newark, NJ. The jet lag hit late in the afternoon, and little Pearl is all tucked into bed, snoozing her way back to Eastern Standard Time.

I'll just share some photos they brought back.

Pool of Siloam, where Jesus healed a man blind from birth

The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem

Petra, the crescent valley

En Gedi, Pearl's favorite place because of the waterfall; this is the area where David and his men hid from King Saul

Fitted out for the narrow, watery, dark Hezekiah's Tunnel, Jerusalem

The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem (1st century tomb with rolling rock)

Atop the Temple Mount, in front of the Dome of the Rock

in the Jordan River, near where John the Baptist baptized Jesus

Bean-worthy

One way we prepared for Pearl's trip to Israel was by reading the passages from the Bible connected to the places she would see.  Through this study she discovered that her favorite Bible passage is Matthew 5:1-12, the beatitudes.

When we got to the beatitudes she paused, blown away by its message and beauty. She spent a long time thinking about it.

Last week I was thrilled to hear that she had an opportunity to lead the tour group's devotions while they were actually at the Mount of Beatitudes. Here she is reading the scripture aloud right where those verses were first spoken.

Their first stint was in the northern area around Galilee, and Pearl and her daddy were able to walk down to the Sea of Galilee from their hotel each night for an evening wade. They ate fish from the Sea and toured the area before heading into Jordan. They were a little nervous about leaving Israel, but their first night in Jordan was glamorous. Instead of telling me about the sights, they spent our Skype time telling me about the fantastic food and desserts the hotel had.

Today they woke early to drive the three hours to see Petra. This was the day I was most excited about.  In case you fear we overlooked it, we did watch Indiana Jones, The Last Crusade in preparation for the grand stone cut facade of the Petra temple. A woman on the trip is posting short blog entries and lots of pictures of my daughter.

Meanwhile, back here in PA, the little girls have been working to earn their way to the Hands on House in Lancaster. This requires bean-worthy behavior, which, I have to say, had been a little sparse up until today.

Whenever they do a particularly loving sisterly act, they get a bean. This has resulted in some sweet moments, so maybe they are learning. You can see the little sisterly love adding up in those pint jars. Oh for it to run over!

Today Ruby requested a 'stay in our jammies' day. This is probably the only day we'll be home during this fortnight of family separation. Tomorrow we are going to see "Little Red Riding Hood" performed on my campus stage.

Congratulations for finishing. You earned a bean!

The Journey Begins, Israel 2014

Pearl and her daddy began their journey to Israel Monday morning. They will be gone for seventeen days. I was told that Pearl was brave throughout the journey, though she only slept forty minutes on the plane. When she woke up the first morning, she did not remember she was in Israel and was very confused.

That first day they saw Jaffa, the port city that is called Joppa in the Bible. The group is pleased that they have a very knowledgeable tour guide.

I was proud to receive this note from one of the women from our church on the trip: "'Pearl' is an absolute delight to be with!  She makes the trip even better.  Seeing her this morning is one of the things I'm looking forward to." I have always thought so, but it is nice to hear from someone else!

And we have soldiered on in our busy week here too. The little girls are looking forward to the seeing all the teenagers who will be babysitting them.

Yesterday we had our co-op, and I taught my class of girls about colonial writing and postal history. We used the quill pens that I have reused time and again and the black walnut ink we boiled down in November. The new sealing wax I had ordered was a hit too. Each girl had to go to the 'tavern' to see if any emigrants had brought her a letter from the old country. This was before Ben Franklin revolutionized the American postal system, of course. Pearl had helped me to write and seal all the letters before she left.

One of my fondest dreams: daughters reading to each other.

The little girls admit to missing their daddy and big sister when I ask, but otherwise they are powering ahead through days of play.

Crafting in the New Year

 

The Christmas break is really over now and we are back to school here. We've begun testing some projects for our upcoming co-op semester, including candle dipping. It did not make nearly the mess I anticipated, but it does take a long time to melt wax.  The two big girls *loved* it. Sapphire ran around holding her little unlit, lumpy candle all evening.












Pearl asked to learn more about the Holy Lands since she is going to join her daddy's tour group in a few months. We're making a unit study out of it, so she is learning the science of the Dead Sea's salinity, the geography of the region, and the history of some of the sites she will see.  We also used this as an excuse to watch Ben Hur.







We have a few other projects knocking around, including this fun Christmas gift. The girls like delivering mail to themselves through the mailbox. 

And this is a gift I made for myself. I've wanted Victorian-style silhouettes of the girls for ages, and I decided it was time to make them before their little girl chubby cheeks had all disappeared. 

For those of you looking for an update on Sapphire's prayer life, I asked her why she felt the need to pray for unpoisoned food. She said she thought maybe some Bad Guys would sneak into the house and poison our food.  I am relieved that she wasn't suspecting me. 

 
 

Quiet Week with Pneumonia

Daniel's recovery is going well. We're monitoring his activity, but he feels great, and it is wonderful not to have that aneurysm hanging over our heads any more.

Ruby, meanwhile, decided to develop pneumonia in her left lung, so her ear tube surgery has been postponed and she is on a hefty regime of medications. She doesn't act sick and is just as feisty and bouncy as usual, just with a rumbling cough.

We took a family walk to identify trees on Tuesday despite the recovery and the pneumonia. We had a relaxing time searching for the perfect picnic spot along Trout School Road. Pearl is collecting tree information for a book she's making following our unit on trees.

Later in the day Sapphire asked if we could make chocolate chip cookies "like we used to do." I'm not sure why she was feeling so nostalgic about them, but we made a batch and somehow I was left spooning them onto the cookie sheet.  They have such entertaining ideas that take a lot of prep from me, then they rush off to asking for something else while I am still cleaning up. No wonder I seem like a killjoy sometimes. I can only manage so many messes on my own.

If you have watched the girls you know that there exists a healthy sibling rivalry between Ruby and Sapphire. This has meant two kiddie picnic tables on our porch because the greater the space between them, the less arguing we hear. They also often have to go to separate floors of the house to give us a break from the fighting, though they are always drawn back together like two fractious magnets.  This morning I learned just how deep it goes. Sapphire had climbed into bed with us in the night and fell back to sleep. I awoke to hear her arguing with her sister in her sleep: "No, you can't Ruby!"

Daniel's trip to Israel is filling up, and he will be giving a talk about it this Friday at the Forks of the Brandywine in Glenmoore. See HolyLands2014.blogspot.com for the details of the trip.