It is time to say goodbye……..

Our time here in Israel has come to an end! We are flying back to the UK tomorrow morning and we would appreciate your prayers for us. It is bittersweet leaving. So many friends have been made, so many places explored and so many memories impressed on our minds. I pray that we shall never forget the places we have seen nor the people we met. The blessing of being able to visit for such a long time is that we have had the privilege of meeting believers in the land and hearing about the work that they are doing for the Lord. One very sweet family that we have felt very connected is the Goldberg family. Joel is an Israeli citizen and his wife Leila is actually from Scotland but grew up in America. So you can imagine how well we connected. They have a daughter who was recently married and we were invited to attend their wedding which was so different from western weddings. The girls loved seeing the Bride and have not stopped talking about it!

The Goldberg's! (One of the boys was sleeping and also pictures here is Joel's Mum who is so lovely)!

Worship time!

The Bride and Groom; Itzik and Abigail with Eliana.

They also have three boys the same ages as our two older ones and they really enjoyed getting together. I cannot tell you how many times we went to their home for dinner and fellowship. Their home became our second home while we were here! Leila and I had coffee one morning too which was a treat! We went to the Grand Cafe and sat outside in the sunshine drinking cappuccinos!

There are so many people here that are faithfully serving the Lord and it has been so encouraging to witness. It is not easy being a believer here as you can imagine. We know that God has allowed Jeff to work this job for a reason and while we feel that we are at a cross roads right now and waiting for instruction from God, we do believe that our connections with the people here shall continue somehow.

There has been some unrest here since last week regarding the death of an Israeli baby girl and several who were injured. Actually one of the injured has since passed also.  You may have read about this in the news and it was believed to have been a terrorist attack. As a result there has been rioting in east Jerusalem in the streets and we did hear fire crackers late on Friday evening. We had hoped to visit the Garden Tomb one last time so that we could all leave with our thoughts upon Jesus but decided against this because it is in the arab section. But we did manage to visit the Temple Museum which is in the Jewish quarters . This is the place where the Orthodox Jews are preparing all the articles for the Temple just as they would have been during the time of Solomon. It is an interesting place to visit but very sad at the same time because their eyes are so blinded. Their beliefs are very mixed up; some things they believe are from God's word and other things have been passed on from the Sage's who have added to God's word. They have the altar all ready, stacked brick by brick ready to move to the Temple Mount as soon as they have the word. We were told that it will take just over 3 hours to transport it there. It is a museum unlike any other because all the artefacts are new, made during the last 20 years.

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the museum but there are plenty on their website.

The 'famous' King David Hotel.

I have shared before how Israeli's park their cars wherever they choose. I don't think they give tickets here for this.

 This is a picture of the van we have been blessed to use here. Yesterday when we went into the city, we could not find a place to park and drove around and around! Finally we decided to park in a somewhat available spot! When in Rome……..

Walking in Mamila Mall for the last time.

 
Another incredible meal; skewered salmon salad at Cafe Cafe.

These four 'crazies' went on a bike together!

We feel that we have done almost everything we had desired to do while we were here. There is just so much that it is impossible to fit it all in…. even in two months! But the main thing was to spend our time with as many people here as we could and we certainly accomplished that! It has been a refreshing trip and we are so thankful for our time here. God has spoken to us clearly and revealed many things to us personally so we praise Him for that! While we wait upon Him, we do know that we must continue to take steps and move forward and so just two days after we return to the UK, we shall be flying to Italy for a week where we shall stay with some very dear friends! We are seeking the Lord as to whether it is His will for us to move there! So we would appreciate your prayers for us during this time.

The apartment is almost clean and our bags very close to being completely packed. The children have been doing some school knowing that we shall be taking a vacation while in Italy! Homeschool has not been as consistent as it normally is, but we have managed to stay on track and much of our focus has been on Israel, of course!

Eliana even made doughnuts for her class, Beyond Five in a Row.

We are heading out to our favourite restaurant (which is Italian….. mmm), "Focaccia" for dinner tonight. Tomorrow morning we shall be rising very early and heading out the door by 6:30 for the hour drive to Tel Aviv. We shall be saying goodbye to the beautiful sunny weather here, dry heat, no humidity and lovely cool evenings……. for some very cool weather in the UK! But it is time to move on and we are ready for the change of seasons now because it has been summer for a long time now. Please do pray for me that I have victory as I fly and overcome my fear!

UPDATE: Pictures of ''Focaccia" in case you are ever in the area and want some great Italian/Israeli food!

Eliana's last bite of their famous Chocolate Souffle! 

Thank you for sharing this journey with us and for praying for our family along the way! I shall continue to post here about our trip to Italy!

“And the Lord spoke to me, saying:  ‘You have skirted this mountain long enough; turn northward."

Deuteronomy 2:2-3

The Beach at Netanya (Beit Yanay)

Beaches are beautiful here. The Mediterranean is warm, the sand is golden and the sunsets over the water are glorious. While we have been in Israel, we took Mercy and Elijah to the beach….. for the first time. It was the first time that they have both been in the sea and they had a wonderful time! Elijah was not as scared as I expected him to be. He splashed around in the waves and cried when we had to leave! I have to admit that I do not love the beach because of the sand but it was actually quite pleasant the two times that we went. Both times we went with our friends, the Rosenberg's who are blessed to live near the beach. The first time was about a month ago and the water was much warmer than when we went yesterday! The breeze was lovely and so relaxing although a little cool by the evening and a flask of tea would have been ideal!

This is my idea of the sitting on the beach! Just need my tea;).

The next pictures were taken during our first time on the beach. 

The summer is almost over and Israeli's are now all wearing their boots and winter clothes! Apparently after the holidays are over, the women start wearing their boots. They LOVE their boots! We are all still wearing our summer clothes because that is all we brought, but to be honest, the weather here right now is like a British summer ;)!! 

Just two more days to enjoy this weather and then we shall also been wearing our boots and warmer clothes but only because we have to!