Shabbat Shalom

It is Saturday morning here and we just finished a late breakfast of little Israeli sweet rolls.  Scott and I smile sleepily at each other over our mug of instant Nescafe coffee - with what we believe to be cream added : )

That green gate behind Ryan leads to the courtyard of our apartment.

The kids have been amazingly resilient.  I am so proud of them.  Yesterday we loaded up the strollers and made our way to the Old City - a little over a mile from the house.  Everyday has been cloudless, sunny and breezy - perfect!  Highs right now in mid-80's.

We arrived at the Jaffa Gate to realize Scott's normal route down David's Street towards the Western Wall involves steps every 5-6 feet.  We were re-grouping with a picnic under an olive tree for shade when we actually heard someone shout, "Scott!"  It was Scott's old friend Marshall.  They had travelled together to Turkey years ago and Marshall was just finishing up his 3 week course at the JUC - where Scott starts on the 11th.

Marshall walked us over to the JUC - very near the Jaffa Gate and just outside the Old City.  The JUC is housed in a beautiful building, built in 1853.  I can tell it's going to be so much fun for Scott to meet people from all over the world while studying.  Now that we know we can get there, we can go meet daddy for a picnic lunch sometimes.

We acquired some Sabbath candles in a funny little way.  While walking yesterday a Jewish woman was handing out candles and literature for the Lubavich.  (A portion of the Lubavich believe that a Rabbi named Schneerson is the Messiah.  So she was trying to convert Jews to follow when she stumbled into us.)  I told her we would take some and she looked at me and said, "You aren't Jewish.  You don't have to celebrate Sabbath."  I told her we chose to celebrate Sabbath, that as Christians we were here to learn about and celebrate our Jewish roots including sabbath.  She said, "Roots, what roots?"  We talked longer and in the end she held up her hands in resignation and handed me two little candles!  Scott was proud of me for hanging in there with her.  I'm pretty good at this fighting thing - something normally suppressed in Western culture is an everyday expression here.  Which is healthier I wonder?

Inside the JUC.  Em wasn't feeling great.

So our day shifted and we didn't quite make it all the way into the Old City, but believe God directed our day.  We finished the day by purchasing our Challah bread for Sabbath, and stocking up on supplies since all is shut down today.