Just Checking In...

Just a quick note to check in and say that we have safely returned from a two day excursion to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan where we visited the ancient Nabataean city of Petra, and spent a very peaceful night in a Bedouin tent in the middle of the desert (Wadi Rum) where the stars were as bright as we have ever seen them, and silence was stunning.

Special wishes to Casey who is going to be starting his medical future this next week!

Both Carol and Joe are doing well, and will be catching a bus from the Red Sea port of Eilat back up to Tel Aviv next.

Many Blessings to you all...

Israel Update

Hello Friends and Family!

We've done and seen some amazing things since our Day 1 Israel post!  We spent a couple more days in Jerusalem touring around with Ulrich-- we were so thankful for his guidance!  We went to the Israeli Museum where we got to see some of the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as an amazing exhibit on Herod the Great.  That was on Friday, and in the evening was the start of the Sabbath.. so all of the Orthodox Jews put on their finest garb and headed down to the Western Wall for prayer.  We also ventured through the packed alleyways of the Old City and made it to the Wall to witness the excitement of the start of the Sabbath. 

The streets were then pretty quiet on Saturday as all the Orthodox Jews were in their homes observing the Sabbath.  We spent Saturday hiking up the Mount of Olives, visiting the Garden of Gethsemane, the City of David (which is still being excavated), and the Garden Tomb.  All were amazing...  we were especially struck by being the Garden of Gethsemone even though it may not be the exact location of where Jesus prayed his most humble and submissive prayer to God the Father: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (matthew 26:39). There was a little placard with this verse on it and below it said:

"O Jesus, in deepest night and agony You spoke these words of trust and surrender to God the Father in Gethsemone.  In love and gratitude I want to say in times of fear and distress, 'My Father, I do not understand You, but I trust You.'"

We were reminded in such a new and fresh way of Jesus's example of humility and surrender by going to the cross and the encouragement for us, as His followers, to also submit to our loving heavenly Father- even when we don't understand why.

Anyways! So many wonderful details to share BUT, I better skip ahead to our adventure yesterday to Masada and the Dead Sea!  Masada is the location of some incredible Jewish/Roman ruins that were well preserved and up on an amazing precipice.  We took a tram up (we were hoping to hike up but due to the heat they weren’t letting anyone hike up, only down) and then hiked back down afterwards.  I was able to descend about 1000ft without any knee trouble... which I am so thankful for!

Finally, last night we camped out at the Dead Sea.  Joe and I both agreed that floating the Dead Sea was even weirder than we could have imagined =)  It was such a bizarre feeling to be in water yet totally buoyant!  We enjoyed our sunset soak immensely and then settled in our tent for some rest.

I also want to take a second to just say thank you so much for thinking about us and praying for us. Everyday we see God's hand of guidance, provision and protection upon us and there are too many stories (already!) to recount of His faithfulness! (yesterday we needed to somehow get from Masada to the dead sea and got offered a free ride basically with the staff that worked at Masada who let us off their minibus right at Ein Bokek where we were camping for the night!) 
We are now in Eilat (southern Israel) and will update again when we can!

Guess this is a bit long.... all our love!!

xoxo
carol (and joe)

Israel: Day 1

This is just a quick note to say that we have safely arrived in Israel. Today was another early morning (3:30am alarm) to catch the Bucharest city bus to the airport, and then our second (and last?) Wizz Air flight out to Tel Aviv, which was about a 2.5 hour flight. After landing passport control and customs went by very quickly, and we were suddenly on a bus to Jerusalem where we have been exploring casually on foot until checking into the Abraham Youth Hostel.

More details to come, but it is amazing to be here, and we have already managed to find our way into the old City, entering through the Jaffa Gate (see picture of Carol approaching the gate), and down to the Western Wall.

Hello Bucharest!

Hi Friends and Family!

First off, thanks so much for reading this!  We appreciate any and all who are interested in our adventure and also appreciate your thoughts and prayers. Thank you!

After a very lovely two-night stay with Jenny and Brian Kerns in London (and a wonderful visit with my dear friend Emily Sloan), we headed off to the Luton Airport in London to fly to Bucharest, Romania. Luton airport is a bit of a mad house and we were thankful to get through without any trouble and to our flight on time.  "Wizz Air" successfully flew us to Bucharest and we have spent the day on a city bus from the airport to our hostel (where some very kind English-speaking strangers helped us to find our way), checking out the city and various sites including some old orthodox churches built in the 1700's, and eating dinner at a small, sidewalk restaurant.  We're heading to bed now since we'll be leaving our place at 4am for our flight to Tel Aviv tomorrow.  We are so excited for this next stage in our journey in Israel!

Much love to all and thank you for the birthday wishes.. my 31st birthday was wonderful and am excited to share it with the new Prince of Cambridge ;)

Joe and I are both healthy and doing well.. God has been so good to us with countless blessings this past week.  What a faithful God we serve!

Next time, in Jeursalem! =)

- carol

A Wedding in the Cotswolds

Writing from Oxford, we have just left the village of Bisley, Gloucestershire where we attended the wedding of Aidan and Juliet.

It was an amazing experience, and more than once we were tempted to stay in Bisley for the remaining months of our time away =). The village was small, quaint, and beautiful, and completely living up to the reputation of the Cotswolds.

We were treated to an amazing two nights at a local (the only local) Bed and Breakfast experience by the bride's family, feasted with old friends for two days straight, ceilidh danced until after midnight at the reception on Saturday night, and enjoyed the unusually sunny and warm weather by exploring around the village and Juliet's 15th century home.

Greetings to everyone back home as always!

Arrived in London

We just arrived in London!  Was an easy trip thanks to Mom Schweichler's help with flights and even scored business class seats from Chicago to London thanks to mom's passes!  It was great to start off our trip well fed and somewhat rested =)

We got our rental car and Joe is doing an amazing job of driving on the other side of the road! We'll be heading up to Cambridge soon to pick up our friend Ulrich and then we'll head to Oxford where we will stay for the night.

We are glad to be here safely and excited to be catching up with good friends soon!

- carol and joe

Olympia!

Dear Friends,

We have been spending the last few days at Stevick Central in Olympia, WA on the verge of actually beginning the international portion of our travels. This has been a relaxing but moderately busy time of taking care of loose ends, gathering together the necessary belongings (thanks to the amazing customer service at REI to whom we might possibly be related), getting treated like a pincushion at the medical travel center, and also getting some time to explore the area (the picture is from Staircase Rapids, part of the Olympic National Park where we went hiking with good friend Steve Larsen).

Other highlights have included celebrating Carol's birthday (coming up on the 22nd!), attending church at GCCC with the family, wandering the Puget Sound shoreline with Cassidy, John, Autumn and Strider, sleeping in Casey and Megan's wonderful guest apartment, and of course watching a few movies.

For those who are interested in such things, both Carol and Joe and in good health, and have been doing a good job of catching up on sleep and eating moderately healthily in preparation for the impending travel!!!

Tahoe

Still in the USA, but enjoying some time with family at Lake Tahoe before heading up to Washington. We are getting more rested and excited by the day, and also thankful for so many amazing people in our lives that have helped us on our way.
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