To the Holy Land and Back

We are finally back from an amazing once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Holy Land.  Our amazing 16-day trip took us to Egypt, Jordan and Israel.  Some of the highlights of the trip were climbing Mt. Sinai (four miles up on a camel in the middle of the night, 750 more brutal steps to the top, watching the sun rise, and finally 3000 steps down), a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee while watching the sun set (the boat ride had been postponed from the morning when it was too choppy), floating in the Dead Sea (the Sea water burned William's legs and he screamed and screamed), seeing the old roman ruins at Cesarea on the Mediterranean, a night tour through Joffa, visiting the ruins of Masada, reading Matthew Chapter 6 aloud to our group on the Mt. of Beatitudes, hiking down the canyon in Petra and seeing the treasury for the first time, getting to know the people of our tour group who came from every Christian denomination possible and having them love our children and ask about what Mormons believe, the amount of attention and gifts William got, the most amazing hotel in Aqaba, seeing the Pyramids, going to church in the Jerusalem Center with an amazing view of Jerusalem, singing Christmas carols at Shepherd's Fields on Christmas Eve and seeing a single star appear over Bethlehem, the Garden Tomb sign that says "HE IS NOT HERE, HE IS RISEN," Seth's Baptism in the Jordan River, shopping in the old city of Jerusalem, spending time with family, and most of all, having my testimony strengthened.

We all have major jet lag going on and I have over 800 pictures to sort through.  I'm sure I will be posting about this trip for months to come.  I have laundry to do, suitcases to unpack, a Christmas card to write, mail to sort, and food to prepare.  But it is good to be home.