Sunday - November 16th

Jerusalem!! Our day began early...again! There was so much to see! We started with a tour of the Temple Mount & the Gold Dome. Then we were off to the Mt of Olives where I ended riding a camel! What a hoot! After this big thrill, we walked down the Mt of Olives into the Garden of Gethsemane. It was amazing to see olive trees that have been producing for over 2,000 years!

I can't believe we are coming home this week! We still have so much to see, yet we know we haven't even scratched the surface in the Holy Lands.

Please pray that we continue to have safe travels (especially on November 20 & 21 as we return home!) Blessings!

After this, we walked to Mt Zion, through the Jewish quarter where our guide treated us to a fallafel (sp?). It was actually pretty good. From there we entered the Western Wall. It was fascinating to watch so many people of many faiths enter to worship and touch the wall. Our last stop was the Southern Steps. Then back on the buses for a 2 hour drive to the Dead Sea. We arrived after dark, so we'll get to swim/float in the Dead Sea tomorrow.

Saturday, November 14

I cannot believe all the sites we took in - the Jordan River, Capernaum, Mt of Beatitudes, Sea of Galilee - then heading to Jerusalem to see the Garden Tomb. We had the chance to take a 45 minute boat ride on the Sea of Galilee (which is actually a fresh water lake). Once we were on the Sea, we stopped the motor and had a few minutes of praise & worship. I will never be able to adequately describe this experience. I've never experienced water so calm. The sun was literally dancing on the water. It was an unbelievable moment!

(The photo is of a boat just ahead of us with some American tourists (it was great to see our flag flying!).

After a delicious lunch of St Peter's Fish (wait til you see that crazy photo!), we hopped on the bus to Jerusalem. We arrived in time to enter into the Garden Tomb. This is the site believed to be where Jesus was buried and on the 3rd day rose again!! There were several groups of different nationalities having brief worship services of their own throughout the garden. At various times they were singing "How Great Thou Art" in their respective languages - this was so precious - what a moment!!

Friday, November 14th

The cruise part was finally over today - time to disembark and head to the airport. We were flying from Athens, to Tel Aviv, Israel. A tiny fiasco with the luggage and our chartered flight (many people didn't get their bags, miraculously...mom & I got all 4 bags!). We were thrilled to be leaving a country where it seems you can smoke almost everywhere :(

That evening, we were staying in a kibbutz. We were delayed arriving, and got there after the Sabbath had begun, so no pictures until sunrise, no smoking (yeah), no elevators, etc. However - the meal we were served was INCREDIBLE!! So many incredible vegetable dishes, real chicken, a kosher soup that was out of this world! It was the best meal we'd had so far. We even got to bed at a reasonable time - for the first time since arriving, we both slept about 7 hours!

Thursday, Nov 13 - Crete & Santorini

The first stop of the morning was Crete - which honestly...the only highlight was finding yet another Starbucks so mom could get her soy chai latte fix.

Then we headed to Santorini!! We want to go back for sure! We had a precious amount of daylight to get in as many pictures as possible. This is the type of city that you imagine when you think of Greece. To get to the top, you either have to take a cable car (which we did, or ride a donkey...you can guess which one is faster!). If only we'd had more time there. Tourist season would be over in just a few days there, so everything was on sale! Got to love that!

Wed, Nov 12th - My 38th bday!

We got to sleep in til about 8am - what a luxury! Most of our days have been quite packed - early breakfast, meet our group for daily instructions, be ready to travel to our destination by 7:30am, etc. So it was quite nice to sleep in on my birthday! We toured Rhodes, a smallish island in Greece. Sadly, we didn't just love the sites of the city, but enjoyed walking along the quaint streets with 2 other ladies from our group. Surprisingly, they did all the shopping! Mom & I just "window shopped". And, as most of the 'street hustlers' ( a polite term for the men trying to sell you a bazillion types of trinkets from the minute you step off the street) say, "Hey pretty lady, it's free to look".

When we returned to the boat, we both enjoyed a nice nap, then headed to dinner. That evening, the wait staff surprised me by seranading my with a fun rendition of Happy Birthday. Then they brought out a special birthday cake for just our table! Sadly, neither of us had our camera - but we'll get pictures from one of our cruisemates!

Tues, November 11th

Ephesus, Turkey! WOW! WOW! WOW! To walk the steps where Paul once addressed the Ephesians - incredible. The ruins are beautiful - they've just begun to unearth the ruins. The excavations are incredibly expensive, so it will be a long time before it is all discovered. (Mom was thrilled too to find a Starbucks near the port - so she could have her beloved soy chai latte!

Our second stop that day was Patmos - to visit the site/cave where John was believed to be imprisoned. The tradition is to build a church on top of a site where an event was believed to have occured. This picture is of the church dome on top - just as the moon was rising.

Sun, November 9th - Parthenon & Akropolis

Our first day to really explore Athens! We drove to see the Parthenon. What a hike! The weather was a little dreary - so had to be a little careful walking up to the top - but what a view!! Athens is so reach with history! Then it was time to head the ship & cruise towards Mykenos.

It was dark when we reached Mykenos, and really weren't able to see that much (boo hoo!). We were thrilled with the suite on our ship - a REAL shower - a big one! YEAH!!

Corinth

Corinth! Such amazing ruins and artifacts. It was so incredible to stand on the site where Paul spoke to the Corinthians! In an area where there are so many idols and gods, it's incredible that there were any Christians. We had the privelege of having a brief Bible study on site. We spent most of our time, just taking in the site and imagining what is was like for Paul.

Greetings from Athens

Wow - we finally made it! It continues to be an adventure. More delayed flights, more lost luggage. But we finally made to our "4 Star" hotel, Hotel Stanley in Athens. The view reminds us of the goat house in Mamma Mia.

But it's not all bad, just a learning experience! HAHA! We've enjoyed meeting people on our trip, families from all over the US. Our first stop on this trip is Athens, which is not the pretty site we see in films. It's rather industrial looking. We arrived in Athens on Saturday, got settled into "Camp Stanley". Sunday morning we headed off the Corinth to visit the Corinth museum. We first stopped at the Corinth Canal - which was quite a site, but horrified me (Jennifer) to stand on while taking pictures. The smile on my face is misleading - I couldn't wait to get off the bridge. It's hard to imagine that it was built over 100 years ago. Believe it or not, you could actually bungy jump off of it - that's NOT on my "Things to do before I turn 40 list".

Chatty Cathy, lost luggage & the Rockettes!

Well...our flights to NYC yesterday were...cancelled - at least the first 3 flights were. Yikes! We FINALLY got on a flight, but our luggage didn't make it. We had to gate check our carryons, and those were the last to arrive (at 5:30am THIS morning). Needless to say, we were nervous. Our regular bags arrived 3 flights after ours. We reported to carryons as still missing, and prayed, prayed, prayed. At 8:45pm on Thursday, we were finally able to join Kerri (our niece/granddaughter) for dinner at one of our fave NYC spots, Ruby Foo's. We all enjoyed some tasty sushi - then followed that up with some desserts. Kerri & I have birthdays next week, so the waiter brought our desserts out with candles glowing & sang Happy Birthday to us! How fun! We made a quick stop at the drugstore for cell-phone chargers & toothbrushes (b/c ours were on our carryons). Anywho - we finally had a few hours of sleep (and I mean a FEW). I kept calling American to check the status of our carryons - at 1am, I found out they were in NYC & they would start delivery at 8am,but couldn't guarantee delivery in time for our flight to Greece (good times, huh). So, we were on our way to the airport at 6:30am to pick up the bags ourselves, when my niece's doorman asked what apartment we were in. My darling mother - who has the gift for gab), said 19J. The doorman, OUR HERO, said some bags were delivered at 3:30am - and they were ours!!! HALLELUJAH!! What relief!!

Last on the agenda - seeing the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular!! We caught the 11am show - the first of the season. We had A-MAZING seats!! Mom & I both cried off & on during the show - I don't know if it was because the show was THAT good (which it was) or how tired we were, or the relief to have found our bags. We were just emotional! But what a way to kick off the Christmas season. One of the things that we love so much about this show is the fact that after all the fantastic dancing, songs, etc...they close this incredible show with a living nativity. How wonderful for them to acknowledge Jesus Christ's birth! THAT really moved us to tears. The final song is Joy to the World - Amen to that!!

We're about to board for Greece in just a few minutes. Blessings to you all! Next report comes from across the pond!!

Biblelands Cruise

November 6-21st Mom (Candy) & I will be on a Biblelands Cruise. Stay posted for photos, video, and daily reports about this once in a lifetime trip! We'll make a quick stop in NYC to see my niece Kerri on our way out of the country. Our trip will include stops in Greece (Athens, Mykanos, Ephesus, Patmos, Rhodes, Crete, & Santorini); Israel (Sea of Galiliee, Capernum, Mt. Beatitudes, Jericho, Garden Tomb, the Wailing Wall, baptism in the Jordan River, Temple Mount, Mt of Olives, and much more). I'm soooo excited to go on this "once in a lifetime" trip. I'll celebrate a birthday while I'm gone too! What a birthday!!

Whatchu talking about Willis?

Howdy all! I just finished the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco on October 19! It was wonderful...again! 26.2 Miles of fun and incredible scenery!! This is one of my favorite views from Mile 10 - where we first see the Pacific Ocean! My mom & I fundraised together - our final total was $20,000!! My AWESOME team of 20 gals that I mentored collectively raised $105,112!! All for Leukemia & Lymphoma Research. Next event...the PF Chang's Rock N Roll Marathon in Phoenix (Jan 18, 2009). I'm telling you, once you start - you can't stop! Thank you TEAM IN TRAINING!! Here's one more pic of mom & I at the TNT Pasta Party in San Francisco!