Day Eight - One Week Down

Highlights of Jeff's day:

~ finishing the last day of English classes in this first week...tomorrow everybody at the English camp gets to go swimming--hurray!

~ cleaning oil lamps, putting wicks in them, and putting them in gift bags at Nazareth Village this afternoon (every visitor who walks through Nazareth Village is given one)--an easier job than building a mikvah :)

~ going with his host family to an Arab wedding tonight...Jeff said that the wedding party is 7 days long, and the part they participated in tonight was just the groom and the men dancing to LOUD music, with fireworks and tons of delicious food, all outside in the streets...it was all in Arabic, of course; and there were hundreds of people there...when I asked him (we were Instant Messaging) where the bride and the women were, he answered that they were all on the other side of a fence, and some were standing on chairs trying to watch...the women were eating and drinking (but not alcohol since that is forbidden for Muslims)...one woman is allowed to join in the dancing with the men...want to guess who that is?...it's not the bride--rather, it's her mother!...Jeff took a little video clip of the dancing, and I'm going to try to post that separately to give a feel for the atmosphere of the festivities...Jeff said that he was dragged into the dancing, and I'm very, very sorry that no one took a video of that! ;)

Here is a picture of Jeff and Steve Yoder in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the grotto where, as the tradition goes, Mary delivered Jesus:


Highlights of our day:

~ walking with Amy and Melanie this morning at the Waterman track while the boys played on the nearby playground...or rather, while the boys thought about playing on the playground but decided instead to try to walk along with us, ask a few dozen questions, make a few hundred comments, try to "help" by pushing the stroller, wish aloud that we had taken their bikes, ignore the inflatable dice that we had brought for them to kick around, and then--finally--to decide to go play on the playground, shortly before we had to leave! oh, well, it's all good

~ dinner at the McClay's house tonight...Julie just had a baby 4 and 1/2 weeks ago, and here she is having us over for dinner already!...I don't think I was doing that when Tobin was that old!...I always enjoy our time together, and am so grateful for Steve and Julie's example of focus on God rather than the world--and peace in spite of noise :)...it's a true blessing to call them friends

~ starting a new plan for learning US geography (in a very laid-back, fun way)...I printed out a blank map of the USA; and as we read stories that link to a certain state--whether because the events of the book happened there or for some other reason--we fill in that state on our map (and put together a list of which books correspond to which state). We started with Massachusetts with a book about the Pilgrims, as well as Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. Josiah is very excited about this; it appeals to his organized side just as much as it appeals to mine! But lo and behold, I discovered that the vast majority of the books on our shelves (and we're talking hundreds of books) are not linked to any particular state. Some are stories which could occur almost anywhere...some involve things like outer space or other countries of the world...some involve general knowledge about things like animals, but again, no specific mention of a certain state...some are fairy tales...etc. I realized that the category of books that we haven't delved into very deeply is historical and biographical--books that are tied down to a particular place. I plan to remedy that situation, and I hope to read at least one book for all 50 states. But I'd be grateful for any input about this goal, if anyone cares to leave a comment or email/tell me in person: maybe good biographies at Josiah's level (rising first-grader), or a book that is connected to a particular state? Any suggestions would be much appreciated! So far, we've got books for Massachusetts, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Indiana, and North Carolina--maybe more, but those are what come to mind immediately. Valerie, I'm particularly counting on you to help me out! ;)

Here's the Israel picture of the day: Josiah and I with the Tel Aviv beach in the background. This was taken on May 21, 2005, one month and four days after David was born. I sure wish my figure would have bounced back this quickly after I had Tobin, but then again, I don't walk several miles every day like I did in Israel as a matter of course. Speaking of my figure, I know I have some new readers who are checking in on Jeff's trip; but those of you who have been reading for a while know that I'm trying to lose weight--17 pounds of baby weight--and that I'm using this blog as a huge dose of public accountability! With everything else that's been going on, I didn't report in for the week yet--something I usually do on Mondays--but I'm happy to say that the scale registered at 150.4 pounds on Monday. The weight is coming off--yippee! :)