The House....so far

Can I just say that I am super stoked about building a house?!?! This is awesome and I can't believe that I am even able to do this. 

I have been taking pictures every time there is some progress made on the house, so hopefully once it's all finished, I can do a fun little slideshow for you all (who are we kidding, this is really all for me).

 Just a reminder, this is the house that we based our plans off of.

And here is a link where you can look at the actual plans of this house pictured above, as well as pictures of its different rooms. We have made a few changes for our own house, and it won't be as extravagant as this one, but it will be similar. One big change is that we won't be doing all of the stone on the outside. We can't afford it (stone is EXPENSIVE!), and so we will be doing stucco instead. Here is a sketch of what the house might end up looking like:

And here is are the pictures showing the progress so far (click on them to make them bigger):

It's really starting to come along. This week we will have our walk through with the general contractor to make sure everything looks good and to go over the electrical. Our GC thinks the house will be ready by the end of July. Just a few more months!

Here is a little video of me walking through the house, so you can get an idea of what it will look like. Also, it's 3200 sq. ft. and we will be doing hardwood in the entry, kitchen and back hallway, tile in the bathrooms and laundry, and then a waffle patterned carpet throughout the rest. It should look really nice!

Thursday- Camel rides, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Masada and the Dead Sea

On Thursday we headed out to the eastern part of Israel for a nice full day of traveling. On our way to Qumran to see the caves of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we saw a gas station with a couple of camels standing out front. My mom said that they let people take rides, so we took the opportunity! The camels were so cute! They were extremely tame, not smelly, and a lot of fun to ride. It was like riding a very tall horse, with a few more bumps and jolts thrown into the ride. The bigger camel's name was Charlie, and the other one was a baby with a name that I can't remember, because it was hard to pronounce. My sister and I had our rides first, where we were basically taken across the street and back. It wasn't very long, which was disappointing, but we still enjoyed ourselves. I could tell the guys enjoyed themselves as well.

 Next stop was Qumran. It was neat to hear about the ancient Jewish sect called the Essenes. The Essenes wrote the records which we call the Dead Sea Scrolls. 

(replica of the scrolls)

The scrolls contain the oldest known surviving copies of Biblical and extra-biblical documents which date back between 150 BC and 70 AD. The records were stored in various caves throughout the desert, but about 90% of them were found in one cave. This one-

 The scrolls were found when a goat herder who was passing by decided to see if he could throw some rocks into a cave. He chucked a few rocks up and heard some pottery smash. He climbed up there to discover quite a stash of old treasures! Kind of cool, huh? The interesting thing that I learned was that the Israeli Government did not want these scrolls released because some of it contradicted their beliefs.

 After Qumran, we went to Masada. Masada is a a giant, flat mountain top where Herod the Great built a beautiful fortress. Years later, after the fall of Jerusalem, around 1,000 Jews took refuge here to protect themselves against the Romans. For 2 years the Jews fought them off as it was quite difficult for the Romans to attack them with the fortress being so high. Any time they tried, the Jews would chuck down rocks and boulders, hot liquids, anything they could to keep them at bay.

 Finally the Romans were able to complete a large ramp up to the top of Masada. The Jews knew that they were going to be caught by the Romans and rather than surrender and either be executed by them or become slaves to them, all but 7 of the Jews committed suicide as a last stand. 

(pictures below show a drawing of the Roman's ramp, and what is left of the ramp today)

 It was a long way up to the top, so we opted for the cable car.

 Here we are on top, overlooking the Dead Sea. It was SO hot up there, because we were in the desert standing on top of a mountain, but it was also the hottest day that whole week. It was almost 100 degrees!

 This is a model of Herod's Palace atop Masada. In case you were wondering, my brother in-law, Jake is pretending to be a giant.

 Before you even get to Masada, you have to make the decision on if you want to take the cable car or hike. Then you have the option of only taking the cable car one way or both up and back. We opted to take it up, but hike back down. After being on top of the mountain in the hot weather, I was really dreading my decision to hike down. It was a long way down and I was tired, but I also thought it would be kind of fun. My mom, Chad and I all decided to run down the trail. I almost sprained my ankle a few times, but it was a lot better running down than standing in the heat and going down slow. After we reached the bottom, I was exhausted and burnt!

 We ate a little lunch inside, and then made a short stop in Ein Gedi. Ein Gedi is a beautful, lush place with waterfalls, wildlife and pools all around. This is where David hid from Saul, in the scriptures. Chad and I were party poopers and decided to only check out one pool and then head back to the information center where we could cool off in the air conditioned building. This is my sister and mom enjoying one of the pools.

And last, but certainly not least that day was the Dead Sea. Can I just say that this was one of my top 3 places to go to the entire trip. It was SO much fun! When you walk down to the shoreline (which is 1,388 ft below sea level, the lowest point on earth for all those interested), it's covered in sharp, salt crystals that can cut your feet if you're not careful. Once you get in, you think you might have to tread water, because that's what your reflexes tell you, but then you relax and realize that you are bobbing in the water with no effort at all. You could literally sit in the water without touching the ground. It was actually hard to get your feet underneath you because they kept wanting to bob back up. The one downside to the Dead Sea was if you happened to get any of it in your mouth!!! YUCK!!!! The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest body of water on earth made up of 33.7% salt, and it is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. Let me just tell you that getting even the tiniest drop in your mouth is horrendous. It's like salty acid. I would hate to know how it feels to get any of it in your eyes or in an open wound. Yikes!

 After you get out, you have a weird oily film on you. If you wait too long, the film turns to a dry crust on your skin, so you want to wash it all off after you're done. There were only a few showers where we were at, so you waited in a line and then got off the salt the best you could.

 It was a pretty great way to end the day!

Wednesday- Temple Mount, Garden Tomb, and Jimmy's!

 Early Wednesday morning we woke up and went out to Jerusalem again. We wanted to see the Temple Mount a little bit closer, although you are not allowed to go inside, just on the grounds around it. The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism and the third holiest site in Islam. It is believed by many to be the place where God gathered the dust used to create Adam, where Abraham bound his son Isaac in order to be sacrificed,  where Muhammad ascended to heaven, where Solomon's first temple was built, where the 2nd temple was built which was Herod's temple, and the site for the third and final temple to be built at the coming of Christ.

 Before entering the grounds, you have to go through security.

While we were taking pictures, we were told that you are not allowed to hug on the temple grounds. Whoops.

 The temple overlooks all of Jerusalem, and in this direction it looks out to the Mt. of Olives.

 After the Temple Mount, we decided to head on over to the Garden Tomb. On the way there, we took some back alley short-cuts and I found it to be quite creepy. The old cobble stone streets, the pitch black tunnels, the poor people laying on the roads. It was definitely an experience.

The Garden Tomb is believed to possibly be the garden of Joseph of Arimathea in which Jesus was buried after His crucifixion. The Garden is owned by The Garden Tomb Association, which is a trust based in the UK. Our tour guide was the Chairman of the Board for the association and he was awesome. Because this site is owned by the English, it has been preserved instead of building a giant temple over top of it. I LOVED it and could really feel the spirit strong there.

This is believed to be Golgotha or Calvary's Hill because of the skull like appearance on the rock (Golgotha means "the skull"). It was interesting to find out that the idea that Jesus was crucified on top of a hill is actually quite out there. Back in those days, the Romans would execute people down by the roadside so it could be viewed up close and publicly by all. The Romans also had to place the wooden cross beam in the ground for each crucifixion, and they would not have wanted to have to carry it all the way up a hill each time. The idea of a hill is just an image that has artistically been thought up through songs, paintings and poems.This Hill of Golgotha has an area below that is perfect for a large crowd to congregate, which is another reason it is believed to be the location of Christ's death. It's sad that the area now inhabits a bus station as you can see in the picture below.

 The garden was beautiful and quiet. The only sounds were the birds chirping a couple of soft voices. For all of those who are wondering and because a friend of mine asked, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has not officially made a statement that this is the correct location of Christ's death, burial and resurrection, although there is a lot of evidence pointing to it, and there is no question in my mind which location I felt the spirit more strongly. If you are interested, click here an article from a BYU Center teacher about his beliefs on why this is the true place. It's quite an interesting read.

 The blocks to the right of the opening are not original. They were placed there in order to keep the rock from crumbling after the opening was destroyed over the years. Also, the opening to the tomb used to be much smaller, but has been kept larger for easier access when they placed the blocks to fix the destroyed parts of the tomb. The smaller opening would also make sense since we read in John 20:4-5 that the disciples John and Peter ran to the tomb and had to stoop down to look inside. Here is a drawing of what the original tomb would have looked like.

If you notice also, the trough that is below the doorway. That is where the original stone would have been rolled into place. The picture below is not the original stone, but it gives you an idea of what it would have looked like and how big it actually was.

 When you walk inside, off to the right is the gated area where the tombs were. They believe the tomb on the far left to be the one that Christ's body was laid in since it is the only one that is actually finished. The other 2 are not.

 As you exit the tomb, a door has been built to the opening and it has a sign citing this scripture. It was an awesome place to be right before Easter Sunday!

 After our trip to the Garden Tomb, we went to a shop called Jimmy's Bazaar. The owner, Jimmy (or Jamal) is a woodcarver. He makes beautiful olive wood carvings and sells them all over. He is particularly popular with the LDS community since he makes lots of LDS figurines and travels to places like Utah to sell them. We bought a gorgeous statue of Christ knocking at the door for Chad's parents, a small nativity for his mom (forgot to get pictures of those!), and then a Liahona for us.

 The Liahona

 Jimmy gave us some free gifts as well. Here is an oil lamp that would have been just like the one that the 10 virgins used in the scriptures.

 And here is a wooden box holding a piece of an original mite. Here is the scripture from Luke 21:1-4

41	¶ And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.
42	And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
43	And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:
44	for all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

Tuesday- Carmel Market and the beach

We were all pretty tired from the last few days of go-go-going from early in the morning to early evening. We decided we needed a slower paced day. We all slept in and then headed off to Tel Aviv to check out the Carmel Market there.The markets are such fun places to spend your time. All of the people smashed in these little alleys and streets, yelling in different languages to buy their stuff, the different smells around every corner (some good, some REALLY not so good). It was fun! There was even a section of the market that was all handmade stuff from local artists in the area. I ended up buying some stuff there for souvenirs.

 After the market we decided to take advantage of the beach that was seconds from the apartment. It was always pretty windy, which made it not quite as warm as we would have liked, but it was nice and relaxing nonetheless. Chad and my brother in-law both took my parent's boogie boards and tried to catch some waves. Jamie and I later got in, but it was just too cold for me to enjoy, so the sand is where I stayed.

Monday- Megiddo and Caesarea

On Monday we went to Megiddo and Caesarea. The Megiddo ruins date back to somewhere around 7000 BC to 586 BC. When they excavated the area, they found 26 layers of ruins. Famous battles throughout history have occurred here, but the greatest battle of all has yet to happen. Megiddo's Greek name is Armageddon, and in Bible, the book of Revelations tells us all about the big battle that will occur there when Christ comes again. It was neat to see all of the history right there in front of my face and then to think about what is going to happen.

 Chad and I overlooking the Jezreel Valley

Here is Chad and my mom heading down a deep shaft that lead to a tunnel that was built for their water supply.

After that we went to the Caesarea Aqueduct and the Caesarean ruins.

This was the aqueduct that King Herod started in order to bring large quantities of water to the hundreds of thousands of people who lived there.

Caesarea was a town built by Herod the Great about 25-13 BCE as a port city. Herod began construction of a deep sea harbor and built storerooms, markets, baths, temples to Rome and Augustus, and large public buildings^. Every five years the city hosted major sports competitions, gladiator games, and theatrical productions in its theater overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. All of the ruins were beautiful, and it was nice to just walk around with the breeze hitting you from the sea.

 After Caesarea we went to eat lunch at my dad's work. He gets free lunch and it's good food, so we decided to take advantage of that. When we got to his work, it was funny to see the parking garage. In order to use the space efficiently, they park cars on top of other cars. When you need your car, it rotates down and the other one goes up. Interesting.

 After lunch we left the car with my dad and walked home. My mom said it was about a 3 mile walk, but we all had to laugh at that. It was definitely more than 3 miles! We had to walk over the freeway, through a field, wind around the hills and down to the beach and then from there it was maybe 3 miles ;-) Needless to say, we were tired after we got home.