I went to Leruselem wen I waz 5 (Excerpt from my youngest daughter's journal--she turned 6 while in Israel)
We returned yesterday from a trip to Israel. I took my four kids with me (husband stayed home). My parents are there on a work assignment. They figure they've lived in the Middle East for a total of 7 years if they combined all of their work assignments over there.
One of the reasons I wanted to take my kids to Israel is for the experience it would give them of seeing another part of the world. Specifically Israel because I went to high school there and it was a part of my youth, so maybe sharing a part of myself with them. And since we are Christians, visiting the sites where the Savior lived and ministered is hard to duplicate elsewhere. Also, since my parent are living there, they could be our escorts and things would be much more convenient (and it doesn't hurt to pay Grandma and Grandpa a visit).
Garden of Gethsemane:
The cost was an issue and my husband and I debated for almost a year about this, watching airline prices and looking at it from all angles. We debated who should go. All of us? Just me and the 2 older kids? Then I said I wanted them all to go, because even if our 5 year old didn't remember a thing, she'd be in all of the pictures and couldn't end up feeling left out. Also, she is a very independent child and I didn't anticipate any great deal of trouble from her. My husband and I spent several weeks in Israel when we were newly married and so he felt he'd had the experience. We ended up using about 15 years of accumulated sky miles in order to purchase 3.5 of the tickets. So that took the sting away just a little.
It's too hard to summarize a 10 day trip without posting a boring travel-log. So I'll be posting snippets here and there.
But this is a good way to sum it up for now:
I'm in Lewslum its warm at night and morning
7 comments:
How cool! I'm sure your kids, even the youngest, will never forget this. Glad you guys had such a good time:-)
Thanks, Jewel.
How great that you had all your children---even your youngest---keep a journal. I'm sure she'll remember at least a part of this once-in-a-lifetime trip. What a great mom you are!
Your youngest's journal will be a treasure all by itself. What a cool experience for them. (And you are superwoman for taking them through airports and such by yourself!)
I love your daughter's journal entries! How precious and surely something she will remember. My daughter went on her first trip (from Utah to PA) all by herself when she was five years old. She still talks about how awesome it was to get on the plane by herself and get spoiled by the airline people. And of course, the great time she had with her aunt! I'm sure you're daughter will have the same experience. Can't wait to hear more!
Heather, that's so cool. Those journal entries are priceless. Make copies of some of the pictures that you wouldn't mind gluing into the journal and it'll be an awesome scrapbook.
What a great experience! And I didn't know you did high school in Israel! Was it an American school?
Nancy--I attended the Anglican School of Jerusalem in high school, run by the British Anglican Church. The American school was in Tel Aviv--a little too far away.
Annette--the Atlanta airport on the return flight was the hardest because we waited over an hour to get through passport control, then had to fetch our suitcases and get them re-checked. Thankfully our plane was early or our 90 minute layover wouldn't have been enough.
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