Spring pilgrims to the Middle East!

Blessed by many visitors the last weeks, we have several pics to tempt the rest of you to plan your trip on over to the sandbox. So, without my usual rambling, here are our tales of adventure for your consideration.

Leilani Johsnon, a dear friend of ours from BU and a COHI staff member, dropped by to see the project here and Sera's growing bump. She brought lots of books, pretty stationery, and pelvic models. We, in turn, arranged a tour for her of the entire country by way of local midwives and their homes. Here is a photo journal of her quick trip through the region, and all the new friends she made along the way.

This is what Adam's life looked life, the pilot, for the last few weeks as he drove us all around, and still managed to get in a great deal of studying. Thank you, honey, you're the best!

Here are Adam and Lei out for a hike at Mitzpe Ramon, about an hour away from our place in Be'er Sheba. Its already bloody hot here; hat and sunscreen are required parts of our daily attire.

Sera, looking very mid-east dramatic here with our growing bump. Quite a view, eh?

Here is a model of Masada, the great site of on of the Jew's last stands against the Romans. It is in the middle of the desert, and one can imagine that they thought they were quite safe. The city was complete with a swimming pool, if you can imagine, filled through underwater aquifers that they tapped into.

Here is a sideways shot of what remains of the real castle at Masada. You can hike up the mountain at sunrise to catch the color and drama. Or, you can take a gondola. Guess what we did????

Lei and Adam in the Dead Sea. Lei is holding a ten pound tuperware container full of Dead Sea mud that they filled up, and sits in our shower for late night facial parties and daily scrubs. Its nice to use the local products, you know.


Accompanied by her trusty side kick and world traveling friend, Lisa Morgan, Sera's mom, Connie, made her first jump over the pond to land in Israel. They chose a great time of year: spring, Easter, and Purim. Couldn't ask for a more festive time of year to visit the holy land. The landscape is green, presenting the illusion of a country that can actually support its watering needs. The historic Christian sites were full with Christian pilgrims from as far away as Cote D'Ivoire reminding us that the Christian world is colorful and diverse. Lisa and Mom found both Israeli and Jordanian food, architecture, men to be quite nice to look at, so there was lots of oohing and ahhing along the way.

Here is Lisa, thank goodness for Lisa. She had a full agenda of sites to see, and thanks to her we made it to all kinds of places we wouldn't without her guidance. Thank you, Lisa!

And here is Lisa with posing for one of many shots with pretty local men. Ah, to be single and in the mid-east....Just kidding, honey.

The Church of the Beatitudes, where Jesus gave his sermon on the mount. Sadly, as most of my Christian training came through Monty Python movies, I just kept replaying that scene from "Life of Brian" where they get in a fist fight at the sermon on the mount because they are talking during the sermon, and that hilarious, "Blessed are the Meek, oh isn't that lovely. Its good, because they really do have a hard time of it" uttered in a deep, working class northern British accent.

Looks relaxed, eh? There were many such shots....


A nice view of the old city in Jerusalem from a neighborhood across the street where we found some shade to relax and wait for Lisa to return from Bethlehem.

My mother travels with a complete pharmacy, so don't worry kids, we were safe from just about anything that could've ailed us. Here she is a bit delirious in our hotel room in Petra, Jordan, giggling about how many drugs and such she had with her. Always prepared, thats my Mom!

This is the opening scene as you walk into Petra. Its breathtaking, surreal, and mind blowing all at once. I felt a bit like I was walking through a birth canal, but thats the midwife in me talking.

Then you encounter staggeringly enormous structures such as this one carved directly into the sandstone. An entire city, of which little is known of the inhabitants except that they once ruled the trade routes from Persia through the mid-east to Africa.

This one is at the top of a 6 mile climb. Amazing.

Here we are at the top, it was a wonderful hike, view, and we reached the top by 10 AM. We then headed down and enjoyed a marvelous buffet at a cafe at the bottom of the hill. A nice reward, to be sure.

We bid farewell to Lisa at the border as she headed onto Egypt. Mom and I headed back to spend some quality time in Be'er Sheba, resting, and watching Monty Python. Mom, thank you for coming, we had such a wonderful time with you. We are so thankful for you, for all that you do, and for all that you are. Can't wait until the next time when you come to meet your grand baby. She/he is such a lucky kid to have a Nana Connie.

And for those of you keeping track and with the interest, here is 12 weeks+, ultrasound II. There won't be another until 32 weeks, barring some kind of need, so enjoy it. Look, it has arms!!!!
Hope the rest of you will consider dropping in. We are headed back to the US for June-early August, and then we will most likely be here all through fall, winter, and spring until July of 09 when we head to the US for Adam's final year.

Lots of love from us and our bump, happy trails!