What Sea is this?

A trip outside of our country always gets the children talking about what western foods the country we are visiting has...this was a hilarious answer to my question during our wade in the Sea of Galilee...

Trip to Jordan and Israel

Amman, Jordan (the old city)

This year, many foreign families where we live have had difficulty getting a one-year visa. We are one of them. After six months of dealing with this, the country where we live denied our one-year and we were asked to leave the country. We decided to use this exit as a time to get away and enjoy a vacation.

We are blessed to have friends in Jordan and haven't seen them in years so we gave them a call. They were so helpful in getting us a cheap place to stay and show us around the city. We had such a great time reuniting our families again after eight years!

The Tower of Hercules

"Look, mom, no hands!"

A different view from what we see in our city. Amman is a city of hills with lots of small square apartment buildings.

The Jordan River...just feet away from the Israeli border. We were able to see the site where many scholars would say Jesus was baptized.

Floating in the Dead Sea (Jordan). It was really amazing to experience this. Merril tried to help Isabel float but she just couldn't understand why she didn't need to kick her feet to stay afloat! The water is so salty that if you even touch an eyelash with your wet hand, it is like pouring salt into your eyes. I am pretty sure Merril's eyes were on fire after helping the kids.

Just relaxing in the Dead Sea...Look, kids, no hands!

Jerusalem

After crossing the border by bus from Jordan to Israel, we finally made it to Jerusalem! What an amazing city! The Dome of the Rock is in the background and the Western (Wailing) Wall is just below it.

We hired a guide for our family and spent several days in the city exploring inside the old city walls. We stayed at a guesthouse inside the city walls and had a wonderful experience. The steps behind us are some of the original steps from 2000 years ago!

Original Street of Jerusalem...where shops, fruit markets, animals to be bought for the yearly sacrifice would have been.

The Women's Side of the Wailing Wall...If you look closely, you can see written prayers stuck in between the cracks of the wall.

Merril and the boys walking away from the Wailing Wall. Maybe you can spot them in their hats.

Christian Quarter of the old city

The Garden where Jesus prayed "Not my will, but yours" before his arrest and crucifixtion.

The Garden Tomb

"He is not here, for He has risen!"

Posing with some soldiers

Traveling outside Jerusalem was a huge highlight of our trip. We visited Nazareth, Capernuum, Tiberias, and the Sea of Galilea.

The Sea of Galilea

Celebrating 14 years of Marriage!

Little did we know when we met 17 years ago while attending UGA, what an adventure our lives would be. Four months after we were married, Holly's dad passed away. We lived in Rome for seven years while Merril worked as a pharmacist.

We then felt the Lord leading us and our two children to move overseas and work in Thailand. This was another growing time for all of us emotionally and spiritually. We found true contentment and strength from the Father during our time there. Our third child was born there.

After returning to the States, we lived and prayed about where God would have us next. Our fourth child was born and two years later, we ventured out on another journey to our present home... Central Asia. We have been here over 2 1/2 years now and have had challenging but yet rewarding experiences. We have made many friends and have grown to love the people here.

We are so blessed to have each other and have 14 amazing years together as husband and wife. It has been a great adventure thus far!

Trip out of the city

We all enjoyed a day trip outside the city. The last time we drove outside the city was in October so this was a much needed trip just to get away and enjoy some view without buildings, people, and pollution in the air. The kids loved climbing the rocks and picknicing. We were all amazed that we could actually smell the sea water.

Boulevard Fun

Caleb and Merril brave The Human Wheel


Tilt a Whirlllll...a family favorite!

Construction always seems to be going on in the city. The sun shining is always a wonderful feeling after a cold and windy winter.

Hold on Boys!

What can we ride next?

Waiting for the pirate ship ride to begin...Caleb is several rows behind us trying to get as high as he can. I was very content to be in the middle with Benjamin.


My neighbor, Seva and her daughter, Mushgal came over after our time at the boulevard to present a gift of food and sweets for Novruz.

Delicious sweets for Novruz

Bowling Fun!

This Spring Break was our third year to take a trip to the city bowling alley. We caught it on the day they were having a huge party for Novruz (the holiday to welcome Spring) with lots of students, music and dancing. No one was interested in bowling so we had the lanes to ourselves.




Isabel even rolled the ball down the lane with her cast on!