Liam's End of Year Celebration

Liam's class held their End of Year Celebration this past week.  The theme was "Down on Grandpa's Farm" and the kids dressed in costume and sang songs for us.  The some of the parents acted out a story before we all enjoyed a picnic brunch.  It was a fun morning!

The day before, we had a bit of art time at home
so Liam could make cards for his teachers.

Ms. Jill caught me trying to keep Sam still and focused before the performance.

 Then Liam came in to sit at his place, right in front of us.

I just adore that shy smile!

Then he was joined by Sarah and Bernard.

The kids began to sing "We're on the Way to Grandpa's Farm."

Some kids, including Liam's best bud, Atticus, drove the tractor,

while others acted out parts.

Liam's line was about sheep dogs:
"A sheep dog helps the farmer keep the sheep together."
before the class began to sing "BINGO."

Here's a clip:

Then there were a couple more songs, one about a scarecrow 

and then "Oats and Beans and Barley Grow."

Then came the bows.

 And then some of the parents surprised the kids with a performance of their own.

I was the Rain in "The Three Butterflies."

Clearly, my theatre degree is not going to waste.

Caesarea

Caesarea is yet another one of Israel's impressive national parks.  It is located on the coast, about an hour's drive north from Tel Aviv, and is VERY OLD.  Settlements here date from the Persian period (568-332 BC), and ruins date all the way to the Ottoman rule (1561-1917).  It was nothing less than amazing to walk a mile and witness two thousand years worth of history.  Here's some pics.

 A giant foot

 The Amphitheatre, built in Herod's time

and still in use for concerts!

 Ruins as seen from the top of the amphitheatre

 Sammy and Daddy selfie

 Mommy and Liam in an old arch

 Liam and some old marble

 Most likely site of St. Paul's hearing, 

where he demanded to appeal to the Emperor

(See Acts 25)

He sailed to Rome from this harbor.

 Herodian Amphitheatre, for sporting events like horse racing

 The beach

 Driving a chariot

 Bathhouse from Byzantine era (324-638)

 Minaret from Arab period (638-1099)

 It's too tiny to read, but towards the end of the big paragraph, 

"In 1878, the city was settled by Bosnian refugees"

Small world, huh?

 TIME FOR NON-KOSHER LUNCH!!!!

 Silly Sammy

 Silly big brother Liam

 The most delicious calamari ever

 SHRIMP!!!  REAL SHRIMP!!!

 Geoff's yummy fish

 Backpack baby!

 LOVE the Med!

 Another view of the ruins

 Messy

 Old columns are everywhere,

even used in the docks

 Medieval fortifications from the Crusaders

Homesick

I am homesick.  Yes, for the generic American things like car-sized parking spaces, consideration for others, and green vistas, but also very specifically for my home in Pell City, Alabama.

Pell City is small, and it certainly cannot rival northern Virginia for all the opportunities provided (food, entertainment, etc.), but even after all this time, Alabama is where I get homesick for, not Virginia.

I crave its dark and its quiet.  Years of living in cities with busy roads has conditioned me to street noise.  But I don't notice that until I go back home.  The lack of streetlights and and absence of continuous cars is quite noticeable, and I love it.

I long for the sounds from the lake--the long quacking of the ducks, the steady hum of the boat motors, and the soft "swish" sound of the tiny waves.  Those are the sounds of my childhood.

I want to go pick vegetables in the garden and blueberries from Mr. Jack's bushes, to go eat fried catfish and shrimp at The Ark and barbecue pork from Fat Man's and get a sausage biscuit from Jack's, and slice fresh Chilton County peaches on top of BlueBell vanilla ice cream.

I want to go to St. Simon Peter Episcopal Church and thank all the sweet souls who always warmly welcome me back and who pray unceasingly for my family, and I want to visit Camp Winnataska and feel its joy and peace deep within in my soul.

I want to talk Auburn football with my dad and brother, go baby boy shopping with Shannon, play in the sprinkler with Avery, walk next door to my grandfather's house to chat about the mess that is Israel, and drink sweet tea on the back porch overlooking the lake with my mother.  We are not fancy people who "go and do" lots of activities.  Our favorite place to be is at home, together.  And I miss that so much it hurts.  (And so do my guys--Geoff and Liam love it almost as much as I do, and I know Sam will too once he's old enough to understand.)

I know I am a fortunate person.  I have a loving, hard working husband and two healthy and happy boys.  We get to see and do some pretty cool things thanks to our crazy life.  Due to that, many may not understand my longing to get back to Alabama.  How could it possibly compare to seeing the Christmas markets in Vienna, going wine tasting in Tuscany, or living a stone's throw from where Jesus was born and where he died?  It can't.

But Alabama is my touchstone.  And I can't wait to get back there again, whenever that may be.

Sunset over Logan Martin Lake

(courtesy of James Spann's FB page)

Liam's kibbutz field trip

Last week, Liam took another field trip with his class to Ms. Yvette's kibbutz.  A kibbutz is (usually) a communal farm.  They used to be very socialist in nature--everyone working together to farm, raise the children, take care of the sick and elderly, with all farm earnings going in a communal pot.  But things have changed.  Most have privatized, with the earnings from the farm (or vineyard or factory) going right to the residents.

Ms. Yvette lives at Kibbutz Gezer, which in addition to being a working dairy, also claims Israel's only legally sized baseball field (due to its being founded by some Americans).  The teachers took the kids around the farm and the dairy as part of their last science unit on farm life, before taking them back to Ms. Yvette's house to make pizzas for lunch.  This was part of the lesson--the sauce is made from the tomatoes, the crust from the wheat, and the cheese from the cows' milk.  Sadly, Liam did not try the pizza as he does not like sauce or cheese.  So he made pizza bread and ate that.

Liam had a great time and was full of information when he came home.  He even brought us a stalk of wheat to show us.

The class in the sunflower field

Exploring the dairy

Feeding a cow

A calf trying to give Liam a kiss

Liam picking something from Ms. Yvette's garden

(hopefully she is just explaining what the kids are looking at,

and not fussing at Liam to not touch that)

AND playtime before heading back to school

Things I skipped!

There were two big events in May that I TOTALLY forgot to write about.  The first was that we finally had our first visitor--Chris Rawls!  We know we will always be able to count on him to visit us, no matter where we are in the world.  He came to Sarajevo twice, and now he has made it here.  I only got ONE picture during his visit, but he knows how much we enjoy having him!

The second big event was that we had to say good-bye to our friend, C.J.  His job here is over and he has returned Stateside for training for his next assignment.  Part of the long good-bye was our hosting the main course part of a Mexican themed progressive dinner in his and his wife, Kari's, honor.  We fed 25-30 people in our shoebox of an apartment--it was quite the feat!  We had help, of course.  We borrowed a table and some chairs from the Consulate so we could seat the majority of the guests out on the patio, we split the cooking duties with our friends, Beth and Monica, and other folks contributed beer (and wine for sangria).  Again, I only took ONE picture, but here is our pretty buffet table!  Folks could choose pork or chicken for their tacos, with homemade pico de gallo, Spanish rice and beans, guacamole, cheese, etc. as choices of toppings.  It was GOOD food.  And we all had a lot of fun.

So that's it for May.  One day, I hope Geoff will be able to find the time to post about his Jesus Trail hiking weekend that happened a while back.  Other than that, I think we're all caught up!  Love to all!