SADLY, I WROTE THIS A MONTH AGO AND NEVER PUBLISHED IT. BETTER LATE THAT NEVER.......
This past 3 day weekend, the Gormans got out of town - at least for part of it. Friday was Veteran's Day and so Brian was off work. We went to Julia's swim lesson with her preschool in the morning and then took off for Ein Gedi after lunch. The park is a little over an hour away. You have to drive into the West Bank and then south along the Dead Sea. You get back into green-line Israel and then get to the national park. We got started later than we expected and didn't get there until a little before 3. Unfortunately, Julia fell asleep about 5 minutes before we got there. Awesome. I knew the hike to the first waterfall was about an hour round trip so I wasn't too worried about getting there in the later afternoon but I didn't realize that they closed the entrance at 3. Since we got there slightly before 3 it wouldn't have been a problem, except that when I got out of the car to get Thomas from his car seat, I found him covered in .... poop. It was everywhere - car seat, clothes, hands, face, etc. It took me a while to get him cleaned up and I left Julia sleeping for another 10 minutes or so. When we finally got to the entrance, the woman told me it was closed so what did I do? I begged. I wasn't proud of it, but after the drive, the poop, and waking up Julia, I didn't want to get back into the car and drive home. Luckily, it didn't take much begging to get her to let us in the park since we were about 5 minutes late. We had to promise to be back by closing - a promise we kept and even had some time to spare. The hike was quick but so fun and we will definitely be back to spend some more time. The ibex and hyrax were all over the place. We had to keep Julia from trying to run up and pet them. The waterfalls were beautiful and we'll be back to swim in the natural pools when it is warmer.
Saturday was a quiet day - we took a nice walk with Bob the dog and enjoyed the nice fall-like weather. We had some friends over for dinner and Julia was so excited! I think she just collapsed after they left from playing so much with their kids.
Sunday, we skipped church and drove up to the Sea of Galilee. We stopped off and had lunch in Tiberias on the water and then we continued on to Capernaum. I tried to explain the historic significance to Julia - this is where St. Peter lived and Jesus came to visit here, etc. I should have been prepared but I wasn't ready for the whole list of questions:
"I don't see Jesus. Where is he?"
"He's was here a long time ago."
"Where is he now?" Uh oh.... here we go.....
"He's in Heaven."
"I want to go to Heaven."
"We'll go but it won't be for a very long time."
"Where's Heaven?" Oh Boy.....
"With God" Now I'm looking at Brian for help.......
"How do you get there?"
"God lifts you up to be with him." I am definitely avoiding the whole death/dying topic for now.
Thank God that was then end. How'd I do? For a 3 year old, I think the answers were ok and she didn't ask for anymore explanation.
We also made it to the Mount of Beatitudes which overlooks the Sea of Galilee and then headed home.
Before we left, we stopped for a treat. Julia got ice cream and Brian and I both got a drink of fresh OJ. Thomas grabbed an orange from the counter that he immediately put in his month - peel and all so that was his treat. He is beginning to communicate more and show that he understands more. He now wants whatever Julia has and so the orange wasn't sufficient and he wanted her ice cream the whole time she was eating it.
Ok. I am procrastinating from studying Hebrew - and I have a test to hand into my teacher. It's time to hit the books while Thomas is napping.
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