Time's A Flyin'

We are about two weeks out from turning our eyes and hearts back to Texas!  We all find ourselves talking about it often enough that we have to remind ourselves to stay present in the moment and enjoy ourselves in the here and now.

Update:  Last Sabbath we spent the day at the Jerusalem Pool with the Oppenheim's.  James, Rachel and kids are fantastic!  We laugh, listen and seem to have formed an immediate bond.  Really hope they make it over to our side of the pond one day.  And we hope to keep in touch over future visits here if possible.  Our kids have become fast friends as well.  Love us some Oppenheim's.

Rachel!

Sunday was another great day.  Our fake VPN didn't work out as well as we had hoped.  Or maybe it was NBC, but to our disappointment, we only got scattered pieces of the Olympic opening ceremony.  That evening we went to Joel and Cathy's home in Abu Tor, an Arab/Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem.  (American fam that has lived here 5 years.)  We attempted walking there from the Old City.  Ended up in the Valley of Gehennah which is where we get the biblical images of  "Hell", and that's exactly where we found ourselves - lost, hot, pushing 2 strollers up major hills.  I relented and finally told Scott that the Cramer's had offered to pick us up in their car.  So, we called our new, sweet friends and they rescued us from hell!

Had a great dinner with them after our tour through hell.  Cathy is an amazing mother to 3.  She home-schools in a foreign country - enough said.  Joel is pursuing his Masters while making powerful films on faith.  Fascinating.  We have a few of his films if anyone would like to see them.

In the US, he had done a film on Mormonism.  He compared the dependability of the bible versus the book of Mormon.  The outcome is jawdropping.  While there is a detailed story in the book of Mormon about its people and beginnings, there is zero archeological evidence.  Scott told Ryan it would be like hearing about Jerusalem all your life to find out it never existed! The films approach the issues in a very non-confrontational, factual way.  We are bringing them home for conversation.

They are wonderful to open up their home to people passing though and share their experiences.  Incredibly grateful we got to meet them!