little magic moments

ever since i was a kid, i've been told to keep a journal. why anyone would want to read about the day-to-day life of a 6-year-old, i can't really say. and fortunately for you, i won't make you read about my cat shadow or the time that i got stung by 2 hornets when i decided to look inside of the pole holding up the swingset... but you do get to hear me rave about israel! :) 

(i can feel your jealousy from here...)

but i've always struggled with consistency. i will write really well for about a month, and then you won't hear from me until christmas or my birthday... when i feel really bad that i am not documenting all of the "exciting" events of my life... like that super hard test i just took... or the guy i think is cute... or... 

so you'll have to forgive me if i only post once a week! i'm trying really hard to break a lifetime's worth of anti-journaling mentality, and trying to find the magic in the everyday. 

i've decided that i'm in a good place to break that habit. 

my little moment of magic for today:

you know how they say that the average person will eat something like 12 spiders in their life while they are asleep? never believed it. who would want to think about something like that anyway? 

so, as i was tearing my bed apart this morning while getting ready for linen exchange, i picked up my pillow and saw a clump of hair sticking to it. no duh, since i shed hair worse than any dog or cat alive. but when i picked it off the pillowcase, i realized it ain't no hair! that there is a very flat and very dead little spider! 

*insert EEK!* 

[imagine spider being thrown across the room, followed by a "unique" dance...] 

at least i didn't eat that one. 

oh, and by the way, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY AMERICA! :D

i know that it was yesterday, but i was kind of field-trippin-it all day... 

and some days i just miss american food.

and, since today is the day after independence day... that means that it is my sister's birthday!!!

happy birthday whit!

if i could get on facebook,

i would steal a picture of the two of us, but this was the best one i could get:

aren't we so cute!?!

and she's turning 16 today!

(scary thought... i'm gonna have to start scaring all those boys away now...)

since independence day in israel happens in may, it didn't make a whole lot of sense for us to celebrate the 4th of july...

(we actually are going to have a bbq on friday! who's excited? ME!!!)

so what did we do instead?

we celebrated christmas!

my roommate put out her nativity and everything... i felt right at home. (i only think that my family will understand that statement. because i am fairly positive that my mom is the only person that spends a whole 2 days setting up all of the christmas decorations that she has. and most of them are nativity sets. and this christmas we're going to have a new one!)

we started out our field trip by going to the herodian.

this is the burial site of king herod - the king that the wise men approached to ascertain the location of the newly born "king of the jews." 

ouch.

that had to have hurt his ego.

herod had a man-made moutain and a huge pool with a fake island in the middle...

spoiled much?

me, nutmeg and ariel (not the mermaid)

here be a cistern

be amazed.

then read jeremiah 2:13 

(they would dig out the cisterns straight out of the rock, and then cover them with plaster so that they would be waterproof and the water wouldn't leak out.)

manger square in bethlehem, outside of the church of the nativity

the site of jesus' birth

shepherd's fields outside of bethlehem

behind me is the church of the nativity... good luck finding it though!

there are really no plains in israel.

the songs lie.

it should be -

"near at hand, on judea's hills... 

shepherds of old heard the glorious trills..."

but it was really cool to think that people like the shepherd boy david would have brought his flocks right over this land, and that jesus christ would have walked over this area on his way to jerusalem.

russian church of mary magdalene

dominus flevit looking out over jerusalem and the dome of the rock

russian church of the ascension

kristi and josiah

now to recap over the weekend: 

(i just caught up on monday...)

my roommates thought they would be really funny...

i didn't feel any peas though - 

my dreams of being a princess are officially dashed!

we had to get up at 5:00 on sunday to go to eilat...

i was the only one awake on the bus.

other than the bus driver...

we didn't plan this...

this picture needs no words

the RED SEA!

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can i think of just one thing to be thankful for today?

my incredible family,

amazing friends, 

beautiful jerusalem,

but most importantly, my heavenly father! 

who makes every day the best one yet!