Day Four - Arrival in Nazareth

I have no new pictures from today, just the Israel pic(s) of the day to post, so let's get that out of the way first. :) This is Josiah in June of 2005, 9 days before he turned 3, at the church building on Mount Tabor which is the site where Barak, at Deborah's urging, fought and prevailed against Israel's armies (Judges 4).

~ oh, how I love this boy!

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Last night, I stayed up waaaayyyy too late; but I had the good fortune of running into Jeff online and we were able to chat! :) It was already morning for him, and he was checking the train schedule online so that he could know when to leave the home where they were staying, catch a sherut (a minivan taxi that usually follows bus routes but has a few advantages over the bus system: it runs on Shabbat, the Sabbath, when the buses do not...and it's a little safer than buses since sheruts have not been targeted for terror attacks in the past) to the train station, then take the train to the airport where he would meet the last-arriving member of the team, pick up the rental van, then return to Tel Aviv to gather all the luggage and the rest of the team before finally driving to Nazareth.

After hearing all of this, I was reminded of how long it took us to go places in Israel--and how much effort it required--since we depended on public transportation; and often, in order to get where we needed to go, we had to use a combination of bus, sherut, sometimes private taxi, sometimes train, and always good old-fashioned walking.

Speaking of walking, Jeff estimated during their day in Jerusalem and Bethlehem on Saturday, they walked at least 7 miles. Our lifestyle surely doesn't include that much walking here. No wonder we were skinnier when we lived there! :)

Jeff also reported that it is hot and humid there, just like I remember it. All of his comments bring so many memories back to me... Like the time we went to Israel for vacation in August 2002 when Josiah was all of 2 months old. We didn't know at the time that 5 months later, we would be moving there to live for the next few years. What we did know was that it was HOT. People thought we were crazy to go there for vacation in August...and to do it with a newborn. :) Our first full day there, I remember walking down the beach in Tel Aviv from our hotel and stopping in a restaurant near the sea; although I can't remember anything about what we ate, I do remember gulping down my drink and feeling like "I must drink more. I am so thirsty. My body has to make milk for my baby. It is so hot. I need more. Must--drink--more." It seemed amazing that I--and Josiah--survived. :)

The latest I've heard from Jeff is that he is at his host family's home, and is it ever nice! He has his own air-conditioned room on the second floor of a 4-story house with a spiral staircase in the middle. The man of the household is a doctor, and his wife is a teacher. They have a daughter and two sons (one of whom is 14 years old and will be Jeff's translator in class tomorrow). The family is extremely nice...wealthy...probably not what most people in America imagine when they think of Nazareth...and certainly not the norm for all modern Nazareth dwellers. Middle Eastern hospitality is legendary, however; and I'm not at all surprised that Jeff (and I'm sure the other members of the team) are being given the royal treatment. I'm thinking it's not going to be hard at all to recruit team members for next year with this kind of luxury! :)

Tomorrow is the first day of teaching, and I'm eager to hear how it goes for Jeff. I'm most curious about whether his Nazareth students will misbehave to the extreme that his Tel Aviv students used to do. For his sake, I certainly hope not!!!

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Highs and lows of home life today...

First, the low. Molly had chicken for dinner.

That's a low because...Molly is our dog, and the chicken was alive.

When I went out this evening to feed the animals, I noticed that one of our chicks (who are growing extremely fast, by the way) had gotten out of the pen somehow and was frantically running back and forth in front of the pen, trying to return to its comfort zone and its comrades. I, of course, tried to catch it and help it back into the pen; but being as I don't speak chicken and happen to be many times the size of that poor chick, it interpreted my gestures of friendliness as aggression and ran from me. Once, I got my hands on it, but not surprisingly it slipped out of my grasp. When I had first gone out and discovered the situation, Molly was hovering very close, just on the other side of the pasture fence from the chick who was smart enough to not get too close to that fence. Seeing that, I had high hopes that the chick would know to not go in the pasture; and I thought after a suitable amount of time in a wild goose chase (or chick chase, as the case may be), I would be able to snag the silly bird and toss it back in its pen. At this point, I was thinking things like, "I'm sure glad no one is here to see how ridiculous I look as I chase this chicken!" I decided to toss some food out for the chick to keep it in one place and keep it away from the pasture fence and Molly's snapping jaws, so I did that and then went to feed Molly and the calves. Molly soon got engrossed in her own supper of Dog Chow, and I got back to work trying to get the chicken. Alas, alas! The chick made a fatal error. In its haste to get away from me, it crossed into the pasture...and Molly was on it. The chick was fast, but Molly was faster, and there was never a chance for the chick to get away. I yelled at Molly as loudly and as sternly as I could, but there was about the same possibility that she was going to give up her prey as there would be for water to flow UP Niagara Falls. I hated watching it--absolutely hated it. I actually had tears in my eyes as I came onto the porch and told the boys what had happened...which was silly because, for goodness' sake, I'm a country girl and I know how it is in nature with the powerful consuming the weak. But I wasn't ready for that chick to die, and I didn't want to have to watch it. I didn't feel like a very good caretaker of the "farm" while Jeff is gone; if he had been here, I'm sure he would have figured out some better way to try to get that chick back in its pen! Oh, well, it's only a chick...

One more low of the day (more significant than the just-mentioned low): I heard both David and Josiah (at separate times, but referring to the same person) calling someone on the church playground a "big bully." Frankly, I was shocked. The individual about whom they were speaking was not close to them and I'm hopeful that he didn't hear what they said, but I was so sad that they had responded to someone different than themselves in that way.

I need to think about more cheerful things! OK, here are a few:

~ Josiah being so excited that I was one of the helpers for Children's Church today...he held my hand as we walked down the hallway and wanted to be in MY group. I know he won't always express his love in such an open, affectionate way, so I cherish this stage.

~ All the love and support of our church family was so encouraging today as many, many people asked how Jeff was doing and particularly how the boys and I are doing. And while we're on the subject of support, someone gave us an anonymous $300 gift today, to help with household expenses while Jeff is gone. Wow! I was so blown away! If the giver ever happens to read this, please know how grateful we are from the bottom of our hearts!!!!!

~ Tobin was asleep when I got him from the nursery today, so I got to hold him in my arms for some time as he slept. Normally here at home, I simply put him in his crib while he's awake and he goes to sleep there so I don't often get to hold him and watch him while he sleeps. It's always a treat when I do.

~ Josiah and David played SO WELL together this afternoon. I was exhausted from my late night, so after I got Josiah and David set up for quiet playtime in two different rooms, I laid down for a nap while Tobin was sleeping. Well, it wasn't too long until J & D "met in the middle" and sat on the floor of the hallway whispering together. They were having so much fun and being so loving to each other that I let it slide--I'm sure my fatigue contributed to that as well! Really, for the whole rest of the evening, they acted so kindly to each other and had such a good time. When times like that come along, I appreciate and rejoice in it, knowing that their relationship is not always so peaceful!

One other thing I want to remember from today: while I was napping this afternoon, I had a dream about Josiah. Most of my dreams--if I even remember them clearly enough to recall facts about them at all--are crazy, mixed-up, topsy-turvy types of dreams. But the one today was very clear, and I sensed a spiritual meaning behind it.

In the dream, Josiah was running a race on a track with some other children. He and little curly-haired Anna from church (who is not really little at all since she's actually older than Josiah, but she's so cute that I always think of her as little curly-haired Anna!) were out in front of the other kids; and because Josiah wanted to win so badly, he was reaching out his arm to her and actually trying to hinder her progress. I was cheering him on and yelling to him to stop doing that, but instead to just focus on his race and running as fast as he could. It was actually slowing him down to shift his body sideways to try to slow her down. Almost at the end, he seemed to hear me and started running with all his might without hindering Anna; and when they crossed the finish line, he was ahead of her by just a smidgen (a nice scientific measurement, isn't it?).

I don't think the dream had anything at all to do with him beating Anna in a footrace. The impression I got is that it was a reminder that he needs to focus on living his life, doing the right thing, following God's call and commands for him, rather than being so concerned about what everyone else is doing and whether or not they are lining up with the rules. I cannot count how many times Josiah has been the policeman in our household, usually informing me about the antics of his little brother David. Over and over I remind him that he is only responsible before God and me for his own actions, and he needs to obey my words to him without worrying so much about what David is doing. I will deal with David individually, just like I will with Josiah. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to David when I tell him something that he needs to do and immediately Josiah repeats that instruction to him.

Tonight before bed, I took Josiah on my lap and told him about the dream and the impression I had of its meaning. He was very attentive to my words; and less than 5 minutes later when he popped out of bed to get a drink, he reported to me that he had already begun to do what I said, to focus on his own "race," etc. The proof? He had NOT told me when David was messing with the blinds in their room...he had NOT told me when David was swinging on the bedposts...and there was something else which I can't remember that he had NOT told me about! :)

I'm so grateful for the shepherding part of Josiah's nature that wants to make sure everyone is OK. I know God can use that in mighty ways. But learning to balance that and not tattle on everyone (and not carry too much weight on his thin shoulders) is vitally important, too. Being able to share this dream with him was a great discussion-starter and a vehicle for teaching an important principle: run your own race.