Moving on

Well, I have this job. And I'm getting trained tonight (which i'm not that excited about), but I've decided to have a positive attitude because I don't like living my life in anger and negativity. So there.

But last night I had a cool experience where I got to participate in a presentation on the Holy Land! A couple from church did a tour last year and they were organizing a presentation and since I just got home, I got to help!
It was so fun! I got bring most of my souvenirs and set them up for people to see, and then I got to show some pictures and talk about my new favorite place ever! Oh man, I miss Israel. But it was so wonderful to talk about this land that I am so passionate about and tell about some of my experiences.

I loved it. And then I went and hung out with friends! Yay social life! I guess I've been missing being with 80 of my favorite people all day every day. Not that my parents aren't great...they're just not quite the same.

But thankfully, my Easter candy is almost gone.

And I went running yesterday. Yay me!

Cheese and Wine

Guess what?

I think I got a job.
Unfortunately I'm not that excited about it, but it's a summer job right? Who gets excited about those?

It is a hostessing job at a cute little restaurant called Preservation Kitchen in downtown Bothell. I think it could be fun...I just need to get past the first few days of messing up and making mistakes, and then it could be OK.

Sometimes I just want to go back to school for Summer term. That would solve my laziness problem. And it would distract me from thinking about Jerusalem every 5 minutes.

One more problem: I LEFT MY IPOD ON THE AIRPLANE. How am I supposed to go running without music??!! The only solution is getting a job and earning money to buy a new one all by me onesies.
How many hours will I need to work to earn enough?...........I'm bad at math.

But its OK! Because it is good to be independent and earn things on my own! I'm going to have a positive attitude. Enough of this complaining and negativity!

In the wise words of a dear friend, "Would you like some cheeese with that whine?!"

I may or may not be having Abby withdrawals. 

LOVE

Screaming

In the words of Troy Bolton "I want my own dream, so bad I'm GONNA SCREAM!"

Well. I'm not really worried about my dreams, I think they're pretty good. But I think I can understand how this High School Musical star is feeling right now.

I knew this might happen, but I didn't expect to be so soon. I've been home, what, 4 days? 3 1/2? Do I need to get a job? Yes. Do I want to get out of my pajamas and get it the car and go job hunting? No. Do I want to keep sitting here in my pajamas, sorting through Jerusalem pictures and eating Easter candy? No.

See, that's the problem. I'm too lazy to get where I need to get so that I don't feel this way anymore. Lets be honest though, what I really want is to be back in Jerusalem with all my JC besties romping around the streets of the Old City.

FACE REALITY EMILY, ITS OVER.

OK.....its over. I can deal with that. I can accept it. But then again...I am sitting here on my bed, in my pajamas, listening to High School Musical and eating Easter candy...

I need a job.

Too Much

How do I begin?
1. I'm really behind on blogging
2. I'm leaving TOMORROW
3. I'm depressed
4. I'm excited to eat Cafe Rio
5. I'm excited to see my family (and especially my nephew!!!)
6. I.....am exhausted, and tired of crying and being emotionally drained

Here's the thing. I love home, I always have. And I always love going home, but Jerusalem has become my home too. So how am I supposed to feel? Conflicted. Frustrated. Brokenhearted.... Excited and Hopeful.

If there is anything that I have learned here (I feel like I say that phrase a lot), it's that I am a changed person. This experience has rewarded me with a great responsibility. I have learned more than I thought I could have, and I have never loved so deeply. I now have 80 brothers and sisters, and several sets of parents. That's what they will always be to me (of course my real family can never be replaced ;). So I get to go home and share it. Share my love, share my knowledge, and share my testimony.

No matter how many words I use to try and explain how I feel, to explain what this place has done to me....it's not sufficient. They always say a picture is worth a hundred words right? Well, here are a bunch of pictures, hopefully they can explain this better than me.

Jordan

Abby, Britt, and I at the top of Machaerus (the Roman Palace where John the Baptist was beheaded) overlooking the Dead Sea

Petra - Jordan

Standing in front of the Monastery.

View from the hike up to the Monastery.

The Royal Tombs at Petra.

The Treasury. Yes, this is where Indiana Jones goes to find the Holy Grail in The Last Crusades. And no, the Holy Grail is not inside.

Jerash - Jordan

Jerash, old Roman city.

A Black Iris - Jordan's National Flower.

Jerash, overlooking the plaza

In the theater at Jerash, while we had a dance party with a bunch of school girls, and these awesome musicians (playing the bagpipe and drums)

At some castle...I forget which one.

The biggest Roman theater still standing - in downtown Amman.

The Jordan River.


Eilat - Snorkeling at the Dead Sea

Floating at the Dead Sea

Dead Sea mud anyone?

Tel Aviv

The Mediterranean and Tel Aviv in the background.

Abby and I wading in the Mediterranean.

Mallory, Whitney, Britt, Me, and Ashling :) Chillin at the beach

Galilee Comes to an End.

Well, I am now finishing up Galilee. And then I'll get on to Jordan. 

In this post we have pictures from church at the Tiberias Branch. The building looks over the lake, gorgeous! We also went west to the Mediterranean Sea at Acco where this was a huge crusader fortress. And we also went to this awesome castle called Nimrod's Castle and we got to explore for an hour, it was so fun!

Church at Tiberias - Sea of Galilee

The Jordan River

Abby and I at the Mediterranean Sea

Well, we were at the top of a large hill to look out over Syria, but it was a bit cloudy...

Nimrod's Castle, the clouds were awesome!

The Sea of Galilee

Our bungalows on the beach.

My trip to Galilee was amazing. I will never forget it. 

"Each cooing dove and sighing bough. That makes the eve so blest to me, has something far diviner now, it bears me back to Galilee. Oh Galilee, sweet Galilee! Where Jesus loved so much to be; Oh Galilee! Blue Galilee, come sing thy song again to me."

Galilee: Gamla, Tabor, and Chorazin.

Next up in Galilee is our hike to the biblical city of Gamla, which may be the city referenced by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as "a city set high on a hill cannot be hid". The small hike was absolutely gorgeous. Green fields covered in wildflowers. The synagogue at Gamla was almost surely visited by Christ.

We also visited Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the Mount of Transfiguration, and tel Chorazin.

My beautiful ladies Brit, Abby, and Ally.

Snow capped Mount Hermon is in the distance; the tallest mountain in Israel and the source of the Jordan River!

Donovan, Alexia (my teachers daughter), and Brit. The pointy hill in the background is Gamla.

Hiking to Gamla, surrounded by wildflowers.

View from the top of Gamla.

Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the Mount of Transfiguration.

Church of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor.

Hazor, just another awesome biblical city, attacked by the Assyrians/Babylonians. I just really like the clouds in this pic.