what a fun day!

When Racheli asked me to go do pottery today, I jumped at the chance. I pictured one of those little shops where you pick out a nice mug or a bowl, paint it and then they fire it for you and you pick it up in a few days. She said that you could actually make your own pottery at this place and I got really excited. I haven't thrown on a wheel since college and back then it was one of my very favorite things to do. At this point I'm still picturing a little shop. Boy, was I wrong!!!

It was so much better than a little shop, I could hardly believe it! The place was called Ein Yael and was once an ancient village that they have excavated and turned up things such as a public bath and an olive press. They've made it into this really fun place that you can go and do all kinds of crafty things like they did in the old days—of course back then it was everyday stuff and a little more practical than fun. The environment is great and we did everything outside in beautiful weather.

Racheli's sister and three of her nieces went with us and the younger girls there added a lot of fun to the day. We started the day off by making mosaics. We picked out different colored tiles and broke them with little wedge hammers, arranging our designs on these small wooden tables before sticking them in the plaster stuff. I was a little disappointed because I thought I had misunderstood and that we were only doing mosaics instead of pottery; but it was still fun nonetheless. And I was wrong again anyway.



After that we explored a little and found this wonderful road with mediaeval looking carts and these really cool looking wooden doors in some sort of building.



Then it was on to make pita or flat bread the old-fashioned way—over an open fire. It was yummy with olive oil and rosemary on it.




And then on our way to the pottery section, I saw this beautiful plant growing in the rocks and had to take a picture of course.



THEN we got to do pottery! They had ancient looking kickwheels and you could also just make something by moulding it by hand. It was so great, but I had forgotten how hard kickwheels could be. This one wasn't quite as nice as the one I used in college—when I stopped kicking, it stopped turning. Nevertheless, I was still able to make a little bowl and an oil lamp like they used in Jesus' day.



We ended the day with the younger girls doing some weaving. It was great fun and I couldn't believe we spent about 6 hours there. The time just flew by and I would love to do it all again some day. It's been so sweet to get to know Racheli—she's so creative and fun and her friendship has been such a huge blessing for me. God is good. All the time.

heart smiles

Some things just make my heart smile. A few nights ago, I wasn't smiling. In fact I was crying. I had been working for about 9 hours and was getting pretty tired. I was also listening to some of my music and it was making me very homesick. I'm often amazed at how we associate songs with people and places—REM's "Night Swimming" has me driving through Blue Ridge, Georgia, going home to see Daddy on a perfect fall day. Jack Johnson takes me back to February when, again, I was home with Daddy before he died. But the other night, it was Bob Seger and me and my brother, Mark driving along back roads in my little red Acura that sent me over the edge.

So I decided that I needed new music. The problem is that I don't have a radio; I only have what I can play on my little computer. But then I remembered that I can access radio over the internet, so I started looking for a staion. I landed on "Folk Alley" and the guy was talking about Doc Watson, who is from Deep Gap, NC—very close to my hometown. Then he played Doc's version of "Tennessee Stud" and I could totally picture Daddy's face the last time he sang that to me. You would think that that would have made me sink even lower; but in my memory, there was such a smile on Daddy's face as he sang it that I couldn't help but smile the whole time. So God gives us joy in the midst—Psalm 126:5 says, "Those who sow in tears will reap in joy." It's so true.

And God in His faithfulness gave me more heart smiles last night. Racheli had invited me to her home to experience Hanukkah with her family, and I spent a while earlier in the day painting a card for them (which is always fun). She and Dikla picked me up around 6:30 and instead of going straight there, they drove me down the Hebron road (which is the way to Bethlehem) to show me Christmas lights! It was beautiful—the street lights had a big star over a tiny outline of Bethlehem and white lights were strung from pole to pole. Even more beautiful was the view off to the west over the valleys of Jerusalem where a million lights twinkled over the hills as if God had decorated His own tree just for me. It was so thoughtful of them to take me without me even asking.

When we got to their home we were greeted by two huge, furry, very friendly dogs, a white Samoyed and her "pup" who's father was a Siberian Husky. She had one blue eye and one brown eye and seemed to be winking at me throughout the evening. I was also greeted with big hugs and kisses from Racheli's mom which was so sweet (everybody needs a "mom" hug now and then). They welcomed me to the "zoo"... in addition to the two dogs, there were two cats and a LOT of birds. There must have been 8 or 9 bird cages with varying breeds, some big, some tiny, one who kept throwing bits of apple at me, some with the most vivid colors of green and orange that I have ever seen; one that would dance and say "thank you"....

Then her dad read the story of the miracle of the oil (in Hebrew of course) and lit the Hanukkah candles and we all sat down at the big table to have dinner—cous cous with soup and salad, then the traditional doughnuts (a store-bought version and a home-made version, which was better by far!), oh, and fresh strawberries! Yum! Then we sat in the "salon" (living room) and looked at pictures of trips to Canada and America and had coffee and laughed a lot, all the while, the big Samoyed stayed by my side—well, until she decided to lay down on my feet and started snoring until my legs went fairly numb.... I really wanted to take her home with me.

I wish I would have had my video camera; it felt so good to be at the table with such an animated family. I couldn't understand most of what they were saying, but it didn't matter. I was lost in the warmth; warmth of family love and a big, white furry dog. It was also fun when I realized that I knew the Hebrew words for all the animals present as well—dog is kelev, cat is hatule and bird is tsepor (all are my phonetic spellings, which are probably way off). They all get so excited when I manage to get out one tiny word in Hebrew—they don't make fun of my accent at all and it's so encouraging!

So I guess that the lesson of the day (or week) is that you just have to open your eyes and choose to see the blessings God puts all around you. They're always there—waiting to give our hearts a big smile.

merry, merry, merry...

So I started painting these Christmas cards to send out, since I couldn't find any here. I got four of them done before deciding that it was just taking way too long. So I decided just to scan it in (the color was much better on the original!) and post it here so you can pretend that I sent you a hand-painted one this year!

I have to confess that today I really felt bummed about Christmas. Decorating has always been one of my favorite things and I really, really miss all my red and white ornaments, my candles, tons of greenery and white lights and the big snowflakes that I used to hang by swirling wire in the dining room window. I miss hearing the Salvation Army bell ringers, the myriad Christmas programs around town, Christmas candy everywhere (well, that's probably a good thing) and seeing lights everywhere. I miss putting a red velvet bow on Cat's collar and lighting luminaries on my sidewalk.

But in the midst of missing stuff and being sad, once again God came through! I was having trouble figuring out what to get the boys for Christmas—it seemed like everything I thought of had already been taken care of and nothing was working. But Sandra met me a a local toy store and after a lot of looking we managed to find some fun things. The store was even having a "buy one, get the second at half price" sale, so that helped so much. I won't talk about the horrid wrapping paper that they used or the sloppy way in which the lady wrapped them. Oops. I guess I just did!

Anyway, what at first looked like pretty bleak prospects for gift buying actually turned out so well. It's definitely not like America—if you're picturing a nice big toy store like Toys-r-us or FAO Schwartz, or even just Wal-mart or Target, forget that notion! No, this toy store was probably not even as big as two toy aisles in Wal-mart! After looking and sorting and getting a little discouraged, all of a sudden, we started uncovering little treasures; it was like God had hidden them just for us. After leaving there, we had one more thing to pick up (a certain DVD) and were headed to a different store when we went past a place that I knew had pretty good wrapping paper (no Christmas designs, of course) so we stopped, and they had the DVD we were looking for as well! It may not seem like a big deal, but when it's 1:45 on a Friday afternoon and stores are starting to close for Shabat, not having to walk that extra way carrying all our stuff was a pretty sweet gift!

If you're thinking that I procrastinated with my shopping this year, you're right. It just hasn't felt like Christmas at all to me and I couldn't muster any excitement about it. But today turned out really good. We dropped the gifts off at my apartment and then headed to the souk for some last minute groceries. While we were there, it started raining and I walked all the way home in the freezing rain. But the amazing part is how much I enjoyed it—I just felt so thankful that God had provided for us today. Sandra's been feeling so homesick and waiting for a package from home with presents for the boys and it hasn't come yet, so she's worried that it won't get here on time (I'm asking God that it will be there on Christmas day— I think that God is a splendid gift-giver and He delights in giving His children good gifts at the perfect time!)

I had a lot of fun re-wrapping the gifts tonight and trying to see if I could invent new ways of making bows (some were successful, others... oh well). It felt a little bit like home again. I'm looking forward to Sunday now. I hope you are too.

Merry, merry, merry Christmas, Y'all.

Good News!

It's been a few days since I entered anything here. There's two reasons for that: 1) I was sick with a really bad cold and 2) I've been working a lot of hours trying to finish up a freelance project.

In the midst of being literally sick and then tired of working so many hours, God has given me a really wonderful gift and I thought I would share it here. Now I've been a Christian for about 32 years now, having accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was a little girl. And most of that time, I've enjoyed a close and personal relationship with my God and my King. But I have to confess something: all those verses in the New Testament telling us to go and share the "good news" (like Mark 16:15)... well, I've never really been good at that. And I finally figured out why—I don't think I really knew what the good news actually was.

Don't get me wrong—knowing that Jesus died for my sins IS really good news to ME. But to people who don't even know that they are dying in sin, or think that they're doing just fine on their own, is that really GOOD NEWS to them? I mean, first you have to point out some things that people may not want to hear about themselves or that they might not appreciate, in order to tell them there's help for them. So being the little peacemaker that I am, I have often not wanted to stir the pot and appear judgemental and accusing. And thus "friendship evangelism" has been more my style—get to know people, set a good example, let them see Christ in me and maybe cause them to want what I have.

The truth is that the words "good news" are often followed by "of the Kingdom of God". So does that make a difference? It does when you start realizing what the Kindgom of God is all about.... Like many Christians in America, I have often fallen into the trap of thinking that Heaven will be one long harp playing song and that it might actually be a bit, well.... boring. I sometimes think of the things that I love so much on earth like mountain lakes, crystal clear blue skies, laughing with my friends, really good books, cool designs, baseball, autumn leaves, etc., and sometimes it's a bit of a bummer to think about not having those things in Heaven.

One of the projects that I'm working on is a journal to go along with a book called "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn. So I'm reading the book in order to take parts of it for the journal. Mr. Alcorn has studied the subject quite a bit and his insight, totally backed up by Scripture, has knocked my "boring" view of Heaven straight out of the water. What a gift that I've HAD to hear some good news in the midst of working long hours!

So if you want to read all 476 pages of the book, I say a whole hearted "Go for it!" You deserve some good news in your life! In the meantime, here's a little excerpt to whet your appetite:

“Nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service. . . . We have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever and ever, amen. And our heart sinks. Forever and ever? That’s it? That’s the good news? And then we sigh and feel guilty that we are not more ‘spiritual.’ We lose heart, and we turn once more to the present to find what life we can.” (John Eldridge, Journey of Desire)

What a contrast to the perspective that Charles Spurgeon had on death: “To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes.”

What God made us to desire, and therefore what we do desire if we admit it, is exactly what he promises to those who follow Jesus: a resurrected life in a resurrected body, with the resurrected Christ on a resurrected Earth. Our desires correspond precisely to God’s plans. It’s not that we want something and engage in wishful thinking that what we want exists. It’s the opposite—the reason we want it is precisely because God has planned for it to exist. As we’ll see, resurrected people living in a resurrected universe isn’t our idea—it’s God’s.

Satan hates the New Heaven and the New Earth as much as a deposed dictator hates the new nation and new government that replaces his. Satan cannot stop Christ’s redemptive work, but he can keep us from seeing the breadth and depth of redemption that extends to the earth and beyond. He cannot keep Christ from defeating him, but he can persuade us that Christ’s victory is only partial, that God will abandon his original plan for mankind and the earth.

Because Satan hates us, he’s determined to rob us of the joy we’d have if we believed what God tells us about the magnificent world to come.

*by Randy Alcorn, Eternal Perspective Ministries, 2229 E. Burnside #23, Gresham, OR 97030, 503-663-6481, www.epm.org

p.s. You can order the book at a 30% discount on his website.

my first design show in israel

Last night my friend Racheli and her sister, Dikla, took me to Tel Aviv to Design '06, a trade show for interior design. It was very much like the trade shows that I have been to in America, England and Hong Kong, except that the people seemed so much friendlier! It was probably the fact that this show was geared more toward the general public than to retail buyers, so it wasn't as cut-throat and people weren't as paranoid about having their designs ripped off!

I felt very much in my element there, collecting a lot of magazines and catalogs and taking pictures. Here is Dikla and Racheli with one of the representatives there.



I also fell in love with the work of Efrat Ilan, an Israeli artist whose work is fused with energy and color. Although it doesn't do the work justice, here are some of her images:





Her work is just so much larger than life. If you want to know more, check out her website at http://www.efratilan.co.il/
I really wanted to buy a bunch of her paintings for my apartment!

And check out this coffee table with the funky glass wheels—I love it!



So despite battling a little motion sickness on my way there AND back, I really had a great time. I'm not sure why I got sick; the drive to Tel Aviv usually doesn't bother me at all. Maybe I'm just not used to riding in automobiles any more! My stomach finally calmed down a little while after I got home, but then I woke up this morning with a bit of a cold. I guess it's just that time of year.

I think I'll go take a nap now.

a tribute to ellen

Okay, I gotta brag on my friend, Ellen. I worked with her for two years and during that time she did so many things to make my life so much better. She introduced me to the world of blogging, which has been a wonderful outlet for me. She encouraged me to follow my dream to Jerusalem. She made me laugh so much, and she gave me one of the biggest honors I could dream of by asking if I would be her back-up to take her to the hospital when she went into labor (in case her husband was at work).

One of the best things that Ellen ever did for me was to help me deal with depression after Daddy died. She has written and illustrated a book on depression that has been published on Mental Help Net at http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/center_index.php?id=329&cn=329. It is one of the best, most practical and understandible resources that I have ever seen.

So Ellen's blog is a finalist for the Weblog Awards 2005, which is really incredible because there are like 5000 blogs out there! Anyway, It's well worth a visit, just click on the title above to check her out and cast your vote for her! It has become one of my favorite forms of entertainment, and a great link to home.

So here's to you, Ellen—may your voice always be heard, your friends always love you and your family always think that you hung the moon!

sub-woofer-schmoofer

I fell victim to the spirit of yelling again today. I couldn't help it.

On Sunday, I stopped in a little electronics shop to see if they had speakers for my computer that were electric instead of battery powered. They did. The guy was all proud of the fact that these had a sub-woofer. (woofer-schmoofer; I'm just tired of buying batteries every time I turn around!). Anyway, I asked him about the sound quality and he assured me that it was great. I asked him specifically if I didn't like the sound quality, could I bring it back. Yeah, yeah, sure. No problem.

So I got my little speakers home and plugged them in. And when I turned the power on, I thought a small plane was landing on my desk! I couldn't even hear the music over the drone of the sub-woofer. Sigh. I boxed them back up and merrily took them back to the shop today. He meticulously took them out of the box, plugged them into an outlet, turned the power on and the engine started droning. There was a lot of noise in the shop so it didn't sound as bad as in my home, but it was still droning. He plugged it into a nice stereo and said, see, there's nothing wrong with this—refusing to admit that there was an issue.

I reminded him that he told me I could bring them back if I didn't like the sound. No, what he meant was I could bring them back if they were not working, and these were working just fine. Evidently in his world, music sounds better with a super loud, sub-woofing hum to go along with it. He would not give me my money back. I yelled. It didn't work. He insisted that there was nothing wrong with them. I ended up leaving the store in a huff telling the customers in there not to buy anything from this man. (I could tell they couldn't understand me, so maybe it really doesn't count as bad against me?)

I will do my best to never complain about Wal-mart again. I once returned a sewing machine there after two months, WITHOUT a receipt. Now that's customer service. It seems that the locals here know nothing about even being friendly to patrons.

I should have given up after the electronics store, but dummy me had to go looking for a lamp. There's a lighting store near Sandra's and I decided to check it out. It had a couple of lamps that I was actually seriously considering buying. After about 10 minutes of waiting for the sales guy to stop yelling into his cell phone and help me with my purchase, I saw another lamp I wanted to check out a bit closer. I bent over some boxes and stuff heaped up in the floor to look at it, and evidently when I did, my empty backpack touched a floor lamp, cause the guy who had previously been ignoring me started yelling and pointing at me. Okay, okay! I moved about a half a foot away from the floor lamp, but was still interested in the other one, so I leaned over again. This time he started yelling, "Your bag, your bag..." and then a long stream of Hebrew I didn't understand. I yelled back that my bag was nowhere near the lamp and turned around and walked out the door as he continued to yell at me.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't care how much I want something—if the salesperson is rude, I won't buy it. I guess I'm just funny that way. I would think that common sense would say that being nice might drum up a little more business. But I guess not in Jerusalem. I have a small plane engine disguised as a sub-woofer to prove it.

Oh well, let's look at the bright side: I've now found a use for a couple of Hebrew phrases that I've learned lately:
Ha matose tas
and
al ha shulchan
Which, when you put them together, is probably a horrible English spelling of "The plane is landing on the table." Or something like that.

I'll never understand it

Today started out good. I colored my hair this morning and despite the fact that the instructions were all in Hebrew, the color came out better than it ever has before. So it's a happy hair day. I'm really thankful that you can find instructions in English for just about anything on the Internet — from Loreal Preference hair color to HP printers and ovens made in Germany!

I worked a bit more, then took a break to fix lunch. It was a new recipe and it turned out great! Ahhh. God must love me bunches. Back to work and making a lot of progress on my projects. Listening to great Christmas music. Yep. Life is good in general.

Then I got an email from Bonnie asking if I was okay; evidently there was another suicide bombing in Israel today. And all of the sudden, all the good just seems so stinking trivial. Obviously, I'm fine. Physically, I'm fine. Emotionally, I'm so angry. I just don't understand how a 19 year old boy can strap explosives to himself and try to take a bunch of innocent people with him. Nor can I understand a religion that rewards this behavior; or the mother that claims she is proud of her son for his "heroic" actions. I guess senseless violence happens everywhere. The motivation just takes on different forms, from religion to retaliation to drugs or money, but the motivator is always the same: sheer evil.

Logistically, today's bombing happened in Natanya, which is a town just north of Tel Aviv—not too close to my beloved Jerusalem, but of course security is on high alert across the nation now. For the past few years, Israel has been building a security fence on borders between it and Palistinian territories. It's been very controversial, but personally I think it helps keep Israel a little safer. Well that, along with the fact that God is still on His throne. And I think that the truth is that He gives us the good things to help us through the bad times.

I'm struggling for words. Maybe the only words that are appropriate are: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Please.

the heart of a faithful Jew

Yesterday morning I got up early and walked to the Old City. It was a beautiful day and I just wanted to start out the day by going up on God's Holy Mountain. More than that, I wanted to recapture the feeling that I had when I went there on last year's visit. I didn't feel it again, at least not in the same way. I stayed there and prayed a little, wondering what direction the Lord may take me in while I'm here and feeling a bit like surely He brought me here for more than what I'm doing now... surely there's relationships to nurture and people to love and help? So far my little world mainly consists of the Davises, Hanna and sometimes Racheli, my landlady. That circle is tiny for someone who loves to love people.

Well, I left the Temple Mount feeling a little disappointed, yet satisfied that I had been obedient to do what God wanted me to that morning. As I was walking back through the Jewish Quarter, I was thinking about a teaching letter from Bridges For Peace that my friend, Jean, had forwarded to me right before I left the states. It was called "The Heart of a Faithful Jew" and was written by a man that owns a shop called Shorashim in the Jewish Quarter. Now this article is one of the most insighful teachings I have read or heard in years and in it, he talks about how groups of Christians often come into the shop and sometimes they just shut the door and talk about God stuff.

So as I was wondering about the shop, I looked to my right and I was walking right in front of it! It was closed though, and since I had not had any breakfast yet, I went into the little cafe right beside it to get a muffin and some iced coffee. The lady who was working there was the most friendly shop person I have encountered in my experience here. I asked her about Shorashim and she said they usually open at about 10:30. It was only 9:00. I went to one of the tables outside to enjoy the quiet of the morning, the beautiful blue sky and perhaps one of the best muffins I have had in quite a while. I kept thinking that it was too much of a "coincidence" to just leave without going to the shop, but didn't really know what I would do while waiting. The friendly lady came to my rescue once again.... She said that the shops along the Cardo were wonderful, even just for window shopping.

She was right. There were some wonderful art and jewellry places and I managed to not spend too much money there! When I got back to Shorashim, it was open and there were no other customers there yet, so I got to have a little chat with the owner, Moshe Kempinski and his brother, Dov, when he came in. And there I found a little more of the Presence of God. I think that for the first time since coming here I actually felt a warm welcome to the land. I told him about going on the Temple Mount that morning, looking for God. And he was so encouraging, telling me that in Israel, I would find God in the most unexpected places. He confirmed what I had felt from the beginning—that in Israel, especially Jerusalem, you are physically closer to God. This is the land that He has chosen for Himself and His people. He encouraged me to come back and to just ask if I needed help with anything. I hadn't really realized that I hadn't felt welcome here until that point.

That afternoon, I looked up the teaching letter on the Bridges for Peace website to read it again, and what I discovered there was that BFP might just be what I'm here for. When I read their opening paragraph, I thought THIS IS WHAT I'M CALLED TO. Maybe this is the route I'm supposed to take. I looked at the volunteer positions that they have open and there it was: Graphic Designer. I called them to talk about it, but the lady said they had already closed for the day and I could call back tomorrow. She did tell me where they are located though, and that's right by Sandra & Jon Mark's house! There's a lot to pray through and process, but there's definitely a stirring in my heart. We'll see what happens.

Now back to the original goal of the day, which was being in the Presence of God. Looking back over yesterday, I see His footprints all over the day, and I smell His fragrance everywhere. He was there as I was sitting by the Beautiful Gate beside the Mount of Olives, asking Him to come back soon. He was there in the little orange Tabby that looked just like my beloved Cat. He was there in the little toothless Arab man that wanted to give me the history of the Mount, and whom I will keep praying for. He was there in the beautiful, ancient olive trees. He was there in the lady of the cafe, in the art on the Cardo, in the Hebrew people crying out to Him at the Wailing Wall. He was there in the shop with Moshe and Dov. He was in the Christian bookstore as I was able to replace my favorite book that I had lost. And He was there as a guy asked me what time it was and I was able to tell him in Hebrew!

Last night He was there in the laughter of the boys, the joy of a meal shared with friends, a wonderful study on God's word and there in the midst of chatting with a friend. Today He was there as I walked to the souk, there as I found fresh-popped popcorn (haven't had any since I've been here), there in the guy who made me laugh by asking if I was from Mississippi. There in the fact that I'm starting to understand a little more when they tell me prices in Hebrew; there giving me grace for the crowd and all the bumping into. There on my walk home and there in the sounding of the Shabat horn. There in a single phone call from Sandra and an invitation to dinner.

Look for God in the unexpected places — what simple, yet beautiful wisdom from the heart of a faithful Jew!

***You can read the teaching letter by Moshe and see more about Bridges for Peace by clicking on the title of this entry.****