Cockroaches and...... blue skies?

This is what happens when I wake up my very strong husband in the middle of the night to kill a HUGE cockroach for me......

Poor roach - didn't stand a chance.

And this is what the view from my bedroom looked like this morning. The air was especially nice after a recent rain....

On a much different note, very soon I am going to post some pictures of some Bethlehem baby blankets that you can buy to help out a friend of ours. They're beautiful, so stay tuned!

Where did we go wrong?

Tonight after dinner Tom took the kids over to the little playground here at the dorms. Right next to the playground is a little convenience store with some basic groceries.

Tom was trying to get a little reading done while the kids played. Suddenly he looked up and didn't see Jackson. He asked Joni, "Jojo, where did Jackson go?" She replied, "I don't know dad......oh, wait, there he is, he bought us something!!!"

Tom turns towards the little store and Jackson is high-tailing it out the door with an enormous bag of pretzels in his hands, so large he could hardly get his arms around the bag. Tom has never seen Jackson run so fast. He was trying so hard to get a clean get away that his little legs couldn't keep up and he face-planted it, falling right on top of the bag. Tom hurriedly grabbed Jackson and the bag of pretzels and quickly walks into the store, where there are four college girls laughing their butts off.

He used to be such a sweet, honest little boy. I never saw this coming. :)

Church of the Visitation

The Church of the Visitation is said to be built where John the Baptist's parents lived. It is here that when Mary visited Elisabeth, the unborn John leaped with joy in his mother's womb.

This has to be one of my all-time favorite statues.

Different pictures taken of the outside.

A few beautiful pictures taken from the inside of the lower church. Top right: an ancient cistern that Zacharias and Elisabeth would have used.

Tom reading the scriptural story to Jackson. :)

The rock behind them is supposed to be the one that Zacharias and Elisabeth used to hide from Herod's soldiers.

Picture of the fam

We recently went and saw the Church of the Visitation with some friends.  My plan is to share some pictures of it soon, but in the meantime our good friend Brooke was nice enough to take a picture of us there...

My baby boy Jackson is 2!

Two years ago today I went in to get my second c-section.

Two years ago today I heard Jackson's cry for the first time.

Two years ago today I became the mommy of a handsome little boy.

Two years ago today my heart doubled in size to fit the love I have for my sweet little man.

"Yay!!!"

He had a great day today (despite that horrible looking cake - don't even ask).  We didn't even get through all of his presents, he was having so much fun playing with the first few.  I love this little boy more than I ever thought I could.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACKSON!  WE LOVE YOU!

Gan has started!

Well, Joni has officially started kindergarten here (called gan - sounds like "gone").  She has had two days of it so far, and *most* of it has gone well.

First, she had a back-to-school night the night before where she got to see her classroom and meet some of the kids.  Just before that we had a "special dinner" just for Joni.  I let her pick what she wanted to eat and she chose pancakes and soda.

 

 

I'm mean and I made her eat eggs first. But she was so thrilled to have a fancy glass of orange soda, she didn't seem to care too much. :)

  

One of the boards in her classroom.  All in Hebrew of course.  The blue sign says, "Shalom to all".  I assume the little ties on the kites have the childrens' names, but I wouldn't know.  I'm illiterate here.

  

 Joni's first first-day-of-school picture.  She's right outside our apartment.

  

 Out on the sidewalk in front of the gan.  We go through a huge gate, then down three sets of stairs to get to it.

  

 After school I took her to the mall to get a new dress, which turned into a new dress, a balloon, and a soda.  She was on cloud nine.  While we were sitting there chatting we had a pause in the conversation.  She then asked, "So how was your day, mom?"  To which I replied, "Actually, it's been a very, very good day!"  She responded, "Yeah mom, that's because you got to spend the day with ME!" :) So true.

  

 Here is a highly requested picture of inside her classroom this morning (your welcome, mom).  Joni runs straight over to the fish when she gets there.

As far as her adjustment has gone, it hasn't been too bad so far.  She doesn't seem to mind that her teacher doesn't speak any English.  She just follows what the other kids do.  There is one other little girl in the class that speaks English, although I'm not sure that will be a purely positive experience for her.  Apparently today the other girl really hurt Joni's feelings.  So all through this afternoon Joni has been telling me that she can't go to school tomorrow because now that she doesn't like her new friend, she won't have anyone to play with and she will be "SOOO bored!".  I keep telling her that tomorrow will be better.  I hope it is!

I'm so proud of Joni.  Starting school is a big adjustment for any child, let alone starting school in a foreign country and in a foreign language.  She's so brave.