4

((israel: day 4))

i am a northern israel type of a girl. today jerusalem was extra was cold, windy, and wet. excuse me, i thought israel was always sunshiney and hot.

today was a walk where jesus walked kind of a day. we took a break from the buses, which i thoroughly appreciated. we walked the same steps Jesus walked up to THE temple, visited the site of the last supper, and stood in the dungeon where Jesus stayed before his sentence to death.

we spent the majority of the day walking around and in the old city’s walls. fascinating to see the old stones and hear the rich history behind what we were seeing. everywhere you look there’s an old stone from the 1^st century.

most interesting moment: visiting the wailing wall. devout jews intensely prayed by the outside wall while muslims inside the temple voiced their sing songy prayers over the big speaker.  i just had to say a quick prayer for their souls. goodness, how both groups are intense about their religious acts.

after the old city, we zipped around the upper room (last supper spot) and then the house of caiaphas (dungeon). sometimes i just can’t wrap my head around the fact that Jesus stood right there! woah baby, it’s a lot to take in!

oh and did i mention we started the day off watching an israeli marathon? suzie made me flail my arms and shake my bum so i could catch a cute israeli runner’s eye. didn’t work out so well.

fun fact of the day: jerusalem is mentioned more than 800 times in the Bible.

touching the temple wall. 

wailing wall. 

 the group with our guide, uval.

upper room. 

3

((israel: day 3))

we have arrived in jerusalem! hallelujah!

we arose bright and early to make our way north to jerusalem. northern and southern esrael have a completely different look. the north is exactly how i pictured the holy land – dry, barren, and rocky. a complete switcharoo from lush tiberias.

day three was a day of ruins. we started off in capernaum, the spot that is believed to be the house where peter was raised. then we moved on to a roman entertainment spot with baths, an amphitheater, spa, and market. clearly the hot spot of town. want to know something funny? the men and women shared bathrooms – definitely don’t think i would have made it back then.

 and all this stuff was discovered a mere 25 years ago! the bonus was that we could touch, pick up, and walk all over everything.

next we visited the spot on the jordan river where Jesus was baptized by john. it’s also a division line between israel and jordan. i felt semi-adventurous because the whole area was surrounded by mines. i wanted to give one rock a little toss to see what would blow up. talk about a cool picture!

after the mine area, we traveled up one of the same roads jesus would have walked to see what is described as the valley of the shadow of death in in psalms 23.

fun fact of the day: locust is another name for a fig tree. so john the baptist may have not had to eat those sick little bugs in the wilderness. he could have been munching on fruit.

roman pottys.

i could eat a falafel a day. 

poking the jordan river.

had to.

day 2

((israel: day 2))

being the youngster on the trip, i’ve now become “the project” of the teased-hair, cole-haan women of the church. day one they found out i was single. so by golly they will die trying to match me up. fiddler on the roof anyone?

day two was better than day one. once again we whizzed past several big-deal biblical monuments. and people, i got to dip my feet in the same water Jesus walked on! i almost had a beth moore come our God is an awesome God moment.

it’s just incredible to see all these places come to life.

today i’m proud to say i: 

saw a crookedy old boat from Jesus’ time

met the man who found the crookedy old boat.

befriended a cute Israeli sailor boy (and exchanged facebook info)

visited the most holy pagan place of worship (yikes)

heard the sermon on the mount in the same place Jesus preached it

took about a thousand pictures of the scenic view

waved hello to syria

ate a dead fish with it's head still on 

and rested on the very shore where Jesus fed the 5,000. 

how’s that for an incredible day?

hanging out with these old people ain’t so bad. one lady rightly described my crew: “you people are crazy!” yep, that’s about right. we get on that bus to laugh and chit chat. and i think we’ve offended just about every israeli in israel! take this as an example.

fun fact of the day: israel is the number one exporter of fruits to europe (or so one old geezer claims). 

shalom y'all.

((israel: day 1))

shalom.
other than the fact that i spilled water all over my lap, seat, and bottom in the first 15 minutes of boarding, our flight was pretty normal. we've finally made it to the holy land (or promised land as i mistakingly called it.)

traveling with a large southern baptist church is gosh darn funny.
i'm about 30 years younger than everyone on the trip.
i've caught lots of whiffs of granny perfume.
and i've seen more mom jeans, teased hair, and cole haan shoes than ever before.

but goodness this is fun.
we blazed through the northern part of israel today, visiting megiddo, valley of armageddon, cesarea, mount carmel, and ending with a breathtaking (and chilly) view of of nazareth.

it give me goosebumps to see all these places in real life. although they aren't quite like i pictured. every things about 10 times smaller and 5 times greener than i imagined. (did anyone else picture the holy land to be dry, desert-esque, and rather flat?)

fun fact of the day: falafel and israeli coffee is DA BOMB! i wish i could squish some in my suitcase and take it home.

one week later.

working inside on your bum all day makes a girl crave the outdoors.
sometimes i get visions of my bum blowing up like an inner tube.
so i chose to spend last weekend outside in the fresh air making good use of my legs.

tomorrow i leave for israel.
i. can't. wait.
prepare yourselves for pictures, videos, and roll-on-the-floor-laughing stories.
something always goes awry when the lockhart family travels.
it just happens.

the challenge game.

one time i went to spain to study spanish.
my friends and i had an ongoing challenge game.

here's how it worked:
challenge each other to do something ridiculously crazy and hilarious.
accept and fully complete any challenge thrown at you.
fall short of completion in any way and you're out...you no longer have the privilege of challenging other members of the game.

one friend's challenge was to ask the head prof to take a jumping picture with her. sounds easy peasy right? not with this prof. he was crazy. and slightly intimidating. no wait, really intimidating.

anyways, she accepted and completed the challenge. this is the result.

p.s. if you have loads of free time and like to read a whole lot of words, visit my spain blog here. (note: it's like a mini-novel. that was pre-short-blog-post meredith)

the big buckEE

hunter was feeling a little left out on the blog. so here's a post dedicated all to you.

we call him big buckEE (landon is little buckee).
he's half man, half giant (standing at 6'8").
he likes rocks & wants to make a buttload of money (studying geology at rice).
bill o'reilly is his hero.
he's obsessed with trading stock.
he claims he doesn't want to get married until 10 years from now (yeah right).
he likes to tweet and wants more followers.
he's allergic to our ranch.
he's cheaper than krusty the crab.
mimi makes him weak at the knees.

sometimes he looks like preppy mcprepster.

other times he looks like a hobo.

and...he's my one and only twin.