Blizzard of '09...Day 2

(Yep, that's Mia, sportin' daddy's hat, yes, without a shirt on, and yes, that is a blizzard you see in the backyard. Mother of the Year award goes to ME!!!)

And the fun times continued Saturday, even though the snow started melting VERY quickly!

Yep, LOTS of snow

A snow drift on the front porch roof, and thankfully Jody didn't loose an eye by being on the phone outside when the drift actually fell off the roof, inches away from his head!

Building snowmen with Daddy.

Mia built two snowmen/snowgirls, one's name was Mia, the other's name was Eisley.  

Mia could have gotten lost in those drifts.

Then we made snow icecream for my first time ever...it was really pretty good. 

Eisley liked it.

And so did Mia.


It was fun, even though it melted way too fast.  Looks like we have another chance of snow on Wednesday, but this time it shouldn't be a blizzard.  Crazy Amarillo!  (Or, maybe its a true April Fools Joke.  We'll see)

Blizzard of '09...

Yep, you read that right. We were in a BLIZZARD yesterday in Amarillo. It was so great! It did remind me that if we ever move, a fireplace is definitely a requirement! I love having a fireplace!

This was the first year that Mia actually enjoyed the snow instead of being scared still of it, literally! She had so much fun playing in it. Today is the part of snow that I don't like, the ugly melting process.

So, here are some fun pictures of our Snowy Spring Day.

Yep, going down the slide.

Helping Daddy carry in firewood.  (we didn't get enough the night before.)

Funny face.  We all (minus Jody) wore our Christmas pjs the night before, it just seemed appropriate.  She's watching Mia and Daddy in the snow.  

Before the snow fun.

After the snow fun.

Making Snow angels.

The snow fight begins.

Making Snowballs.

Not fair!  (Mia LOVED it!)

This was round 2 after lunch...Front Yard.

It looks like Jody is just dragging Mia through the snow, he's actually swinging her around in the air.  

The snow drifts were taller than Mia.

Watching her sister and daddy, once again, while she's in the warm inside.  She didn't seem too jealous.

Peeking over the shrubs.

Round two ended with Mia realizing she had a ton of snow on the skin of her back, she was mad, and ready to call it a day.  

Tour Day 3 in Israel...

Day 3 in Israel was great. We got to go to the ancient fortress of Masada (I can't really remember the history of it, it was pretty impressive though, I'm just not good with details.) After this hot time in the middle of the desert, we went to En Gedi (this was where David hid out for a while. This place was a GORGEOUS place in the middle of the desert. From waterfalls, to pools of water, to wonderfully beautiful caves where he hid out, wow, not too bad for a king in hiding.) We ended the day with a quick 10 minute swim in the Dead Sea. (Any longer can seriously dehydrate you.) This was such a crazy experience. You seriously float without any effort. Actually you have to use a LOT of effort to NOT float. We also got to cover ourselves in mud. (People pay lots of money for this in the states. Little did we know that we should have really let it dry for over an hour. Oops. My skin still never felt softer.) We had a great time on this day.

We had to take a cable car up the mountain.  I was kinda nervous.  I never realized I was a little scared of heights.

View from the top.  Thats the dead sea in the distance.

Looking down.  Nope these aren't ant hills.  You can still see the piles of rocks that made out the Roman campgrounds before they attacked Masada.  Its not recreated.  Its the originals.    

The "kids" on top of Masada.

A miniature scale of Masada.

Jody and Chris walked down the mountain.  This is their self portrait.  It took them about 45 minutes to walk down this very steep, very HOT mountain fortress.  

This is just one of Several waterfalls at En Gedi.  This place was GORGEOUS!!!!  David had a nice, relaxing hiding place.  

Jody in one of the waterfall pools.


Megan and I at one of the waterfalls.  The water was too cold for us to get in.  

Floating in the dead sea.  Chris in the background, Linda behind us (you had to be VERY careful on your belly, it would dunk you fast.)  It was effortless to float.  It was like you were on a raft.

Getting mud masks.  It was so funny!

These caves are all over the place.  It finally made sense to me why everyone in the Bible hid out in caves.  They were nice and cool, plus they are everywhere so it would be hard to find you in them.  




Once again, another fun-filled, eye opening day!

Day 2

On the 2nd day of touring Jerusalem, we visited many sites of where Jesus himself walked.  We started off at the Garden Tomb of Jesus, then went for a time of worship on the Mt of Olives (here we sat on an overlook of Jerusalem, where Jody led us in a time of worship and we were able to sing out and pray over Jerusalem, it was one of the most powerful times in Israel for me.), and ending the day in the Garden of Gethsemani.  This was such a wonderful day of picturing Jesus himself in each of these places.  I will never read the Bible the same again.  (oh, we also got to go to a Holocaust museum today, it was also quite moving.)

Jody leading us in worship in the Garden.  We also had communion here.  I could have stayed here for several hours.  It was a beautiful Garden.

"Excuse me sir, He's not in there.  He is RISEN."  :)  

Quite possibly Golgotha, where Jesus hung on the cross.  Can you see the skull face in the rock.  (Kinda hard to see in a picture.)

Jody and Chris are so Spiritual.  Ahem...

The tomb entrance.

Where possibly Jesus was buried. Wow, can you just imagine????

Jody leading worship on the Mt of Olives.  POWERFUL!

Looking out from the Mt of Olives.

The Holocaust museum.  

The Golden Gates.  Wow!  Where Jesus will re-enter His City!

Garden of Gethsemani

Cathedral at the Garden of Gethsemani

Quite possibly the exact Olive Tree that Jesus sat and prayed under, while the disciples slept.  (Yes, these trees really do date back to Jesus' time.)

This was one of my favorite days in Israel!  Ah, the history I learned!  This transformed me!

More days to come...