Easter in Jerusalem

On Easter, we headed towards Jerusalem curious as to how Christians there celebrated. Originally, our plan had been to catch a service at the Garden Tomb, but parking alone took over 30 minutes and needless to say we did not make it.

Nonetheless, as we walked along the old city, there was such a spirit of celebration and joy. It was exciting to walk around knowing that despite the many different Christian denominations represented there that day, we were all rejoicing in the living Christ. There was not a single bunny or egg in sight, nor were many people concerned in wearing their Easter best. I never realized before the extent that those things, back in the U.S., distracted us from the real celebration. I felt such pure and simple joy in my heart. Anabelle and I couldn't stop smiling and clapping every time we heard a marching band pass by (we saw at least three and heard them moving throughout the city).
Gregorian priests in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher


It made my heart happy to hear Anabelle all week talking about looking forward to Easter Sunday, and when we asked her why she would say, "that's when Jesus came back." We didn't want to take away from the day in any way and so we decided that although we wanted Anabelle to have the experience of hunting for Easter eggs we wanted to keep it Christ centered, so we added some pieces of paper with simple scriptures inside each egg along with a few pieces of candy.


Nathan did a pretty good job of hiding the eggs in interesting places around our apartment complex, but as Anabelle was trying to get one of the eggs out of its hiding place she pushed too hard and got it stuck.

Luckily I have a smart husband who figured out how to get it unstuck without having to call our local handyman, thus saving us a lecture about sticking things where they don't belong.

Anabelle's second birthday, but she turned three. Huh??

Although Anabelle had a wonderful birthday party in D.C., she wanted to celebrate with her Israel friends too. A friend told us about a new park in Herzliya and we decided to have her second party there. We couldn't believe how big it was, and yet it was free.





When it was time for cake Anabelle was quick to tell everyone that her Daddy made the cake and she decorated it (mommy helped a little too). She's been wanting a castle cake for almost nine months, since she saw a picture of one on someone else's blog. All the girls were pretty impressed, the boys just wanted to get to the eating part.



After cake the girls had fun chasing Nathan, who was chasing a little dog who kept trying to get to the cake (his owner was not too worried about it).


To finish the day everyone got a few rides on the zip line. Nate, got the last ride of the day, which was a good thing since he completely ignored the safety rules. He's such a big kid.

Say Cheese!!! Chuck-e-Cheese that is!

Several wishes came true for Anabelle during our trip to DC. One of them was to go back to Chuck-e-Cheese, since we have not found anything similar here in Israel. Actually, she got to celebrate her birthday there, courtesy of Papa-Bear and Mama-Bear (the grandparents).





There were more grown ups than kids, which I thought was hilarious, but the few small friends that came really enjoyed themselves.






































Wether a kid or a kid at heart, everyone enjoyed themselves and was sad to say goodbye.

Winter Wonderland

Another wish come true came in a very wet and cold package. Anabelle got to play in the snow and even got to try snow tubing.

Mama Bear (my mom) got a good work out pulling Anabelle up and down the hill in her mini inner tube.



But believe it or not she had the most fun just sitting in the snow making snow balls and snow angels.



I had a lot of fun just watching her interact with her grandma and enjoying the snow.

Lazy Post.... Anabelle in Illinois

Anabelle and Maria took a road trip to see Anabelle's cousins (who she hasn't seen since she was 3 months old). You can read the post by clicking here. Isn't it great when others blog for you.

Whose wedding was it?

A week ago, Maria's brother got married.
When we told them we'd come, they went out and got a mini-wedding dress for Anabelle... complete with a crown and veil.
Anabelle loved being a glorified flower girl and loved the wedding in general. In fact, she loved it too much... during the toast after the wedding, she took the mic from her uncle Sergio and proceeded to say "I love Tio Hugo and Krissy (the couple) and Mama Bear and Papa Bear (grandparents) and daddy (me)." (mothers never get the credit they deserve...)
She then tried to dance during Hugo and Krissy's dance, while I tried to inconspicuously chase her. I don't know who the 2 year old boy was, but he disappeared shortly after this picture was taken... maybe it was because I was to the side, cleaning my gun.... ;) She also had a blast during the dance and was enthralled by the smoke machine.
I think we killed her though... she's never before fallen asleep anywhere except in a carseat or in her bed.

At the end of the wedding, we came out wondering who got more attention... the bride or Anabelle...

4th times a charm...

We needed to rent a car for a couple things the day before leaving for D.C. Since we needed to go to Jerusalem anyway, we decided to try, yet again, to visit the Dome on the Rock.... Once again we prepped Anabelle saying that we might not be able to go in yet again (the past 3 times it's been closed or the line to go through security was too long to get in before it closed). To our surprise, the security line this time was shorter... it only took a few minutes to get in (I'm wondering if it's the recent policical situation that has made the tourist sites all much less crowded). Unfortunately, the mosques were closed to all non-Muslims (when I came 10 years ago we were able to go in... they were really cool). Anyway, Anabelle loved it, especially since ever since we saw a mosque in New York City before moving here, she's been sure that the Dome on the Rock is where Princess Jasmine (from Aladdin) lives. Through briefly a few months ago, she got confused and wasn't sure if Jasmine lived in the Dome on the Rock, or the Russian orthodox church (right) just a few hundred yards away.

What would you do with only a couple hours in Madrid?

This is what we asked after booking our flight to Washington, D.C. for Maria's brother's wedding. We had a 5-hour layover, but after customs and knowing we would have to come back through security again, we felt it only safe to spend 2 hours running around Madrid. I remembered how long it takes to take the subway from the airport to all the usual tourist sights, so those were not an option. Instead we got off at the first non-airport stop to go to the Parque Juan Carlos I, a big park with lots of cool modern art sculptures... I visited it once as a missionary. Anyway, it was REALLY cold and windy (San Diego and Israel have destroyed our tolerance for temperatures below 50 degrees F). Despite that, Anabelle had a blast and did very well in the 25 hours it took to get to Maria's family's house.



After our time at the park, we found a little cafe where we ate some delicious Jamon Cerrano (Iberian Ham) and headed back to the airport.


Ironically, eventhough we were in Israel for the whole Gaza war, this visit to the Campo de las Naciones in Madrid is the closest (location-wise) we've been to any violence. A couple days later at this location there was a car bombing