Christmas Season

Never thought I would say this, but can I have my morning coffee please?
I like my coffee strong with lots of milk and brown sugar! 

       Thomas and I took an overnight trip to Jerusalem last week and chose to stay at a lovely Bed and Breakfast in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. The following morning we were invited to eat at a local Jewish Bakery with some friends whom we had met the evening before. I am officially in love with Jewish Bakeries! see for yourself :) As we sat down one of our friends picked up a newspaper that was on the table next to us and wouldn't you know, Thomas Sanders was on the second page of the sports section!!! I was so excited, I had to take a picture :) and of course we packed it away to bring home with us! We have no idea what it said as it was all in Hebrew but just seeing him in the Jerusalem newspaper was cool enough for me!

 Headed to the Bakery!

 Would you like Carmel? Chocolate? or Powder Sugar?

 My favorite were the lovely croissants with every kind of filling you can imagine. I choose apple filling :) 

 Thomas in the local Jerusalem newspaper!

Walking through the Old City is quite the adventure with luggage, cobblestone pathways, and passing cars!

          John and Kathy Makinson are family friends of mine for many years, and when they heard I was moving to Israel they put me in contact with a dear friend of theirs who happened to be living here in Israel.  The Niebur's have now become dear friends to us as well. Mike and Alis, currently live in Jerusalem have four children, all of whom have all been raised in Israel and also served in the Israeli military. We were honored to have Mike give us a morning tour of the old city. 

          The most interesting place we visited was called the “Southern Wall”, which has just recently been excavated. Virtually every tour that comes to Israel visits the historic and famous Western Wall.  This is for good reason, in that it is one of the holiest sites in the world for Jews and is also part of King Solomon's original temple mount.  However, mike took us to the much less famed "Southern Wall".  This wall is significant for several reasons.  The first is that on this face of the wall there are steps that also lead up to the Original Temple Mount, similar to that of the western Wall.  However, after recent excavations these steps are now believed the same steps that King Solomon would have had carved out of the stone over 3,000 years ago! 

          Skip forward 1,000 years to Christ' time to this same Southern Wall.  History tells us that only the religious leaders and priest would have been allowed to enter the temple through the Western Wall, and so the "common people"  such as Jesus and his followers would have regularly entered the temple from the gates on the Southern Wall.  Therefore it is presumed that this is one of the few un-touched places in Israel where one can actually walk in the places where Jesus would have walked.... on the same steps, in the same places! Truly fascinating! 

          Skip forward another few decades.  On the steps leading up to the Southern Wall is again the probable spot for another famous biblical event.  This is the believed site where Peter preached his message at Pentecost and 3,000 were saved that day.  less than 20 years ago excavations revealed that on these steps are hundreds of small cleansing pools scattered all through the stairs.  In Jesus' period any Jew wishing to go onto the temple mount would have first needed to go cleanse and purify themselves  in these pools, to be "baptized" before proceeding to the Temple Mount to offer their sacrifice.  So the Southern Wall, being the place where "commoners" entered would have needed many of these cleansing pools.  The excavations revealed just that!  The book of Acts records that Peter spoke to a large crowd, and that 3,000 were baptized that day.  this would be the only place in the ancient city that could realistically support this number of people, and that would have enough running water and pools to baptize this number of people!  needless to say this was an amazing stop for us both.  

          Just to imagine that King Solomon designed and walked these steps 3,00 years ago, only to have Jesus and his disciples follow on these same steps, through the same gates.  Then for one of the greatest events in history, and the founding of the modern day church to occur at this same location!  I truly was Amazed!  so much history in such a small place!

"Southern Wall"

 Thomas in one of the cleansing pools.

 Hundreds and Hundreds of ritual baths, and cleansing pools were discovered during the excavation.

Mike reading from Acts2 and  teaching Thomas and I about the history and significance of the Southern Wall. The gates closed off behind us would have been where the common people entered into the temple.

       Christmas has been slowing approaching and only in our home do we feel it. Also, the sunny typical days have been in the low 70s which don't help to bring the Christmas spirit either, but we are enjoying lots of time outside and grateful to have such nice weather! Hanukkah is the traditional holiday that is celebrated here in Israel. Our neighbor kindly shared some of the traditional doughnuts they had made for Hanukkah yesterday evening. We had eaten three of them before I managed to get a picture to post :)

      Thomas and I did manage to find a few Christmas trees that probably total in height, half of your trees, hahaha but we are happy to have something to remind us of the Christmas spirit back home. As newly weds experiencing holidays for the first time together, Thomas and I have been discussing lots of traditions we hope to keep for our family in years to come. Christmas time is a time in which we honor the birth of Jesus, which led us to a nativity set. We have traveled through many markets while here and always find ourselves looking at the olive wood nativity sets. Thomas and I discussed that this year we wanted to get something very special and unique to Israel that we could keep forever and would always remember. During this season what better gift to get than a nativity set!! We were delighted when we came across the prefect one in the Jerusalem market! This is a gift we will always treasure from the Lord's Promise Land!

                                    Our Christmas gift to each other! 
Blessings from Israel! Have a Merry Christmas! Let us all remember the reason for this season-Our Savior, Jesus Christ was born!