Spring Break, Part I

So, finally leaving our wonderful campus a half hour late, we left for Sara's house, the first of many stops! My poor little car made it up with 5 people and much luggage. My copilot was Sara, with Lester, Lindy, and Shane stuffed in the back. After stopping for ice cream to eat with homemade apple pie later, we headed for the Thomas home! Because of a lack of room in my car, Amos came up later with Sara's dad. We had a great time watching Looney Toons, eating dinner, playing Balderdash, and being "attacked" by Gracie (the Australian shepherd).

Sara's dad:
If God meant for us to be vegetarians, He would have made animals out of meat.
Us:
Uhhh, He did make animals out meat!
Sara's dad:
If God meant for us to be vegetarians, He would NOT have made animals out of meat.
Sara's mom:
That's so lame!! Where did you come up with that?!
Sara:
You should have heard the first version...

This morning Paul, Lizbeth, and Emily finally arrived at 1:12ish...Not that it mattered much...As we were about to leave, Shane and Sara disappeared into the garage. We got tired of waiting for them, so Pablo had the idea that we should leave. But, hmmmmm...they would hear our engines...So we put the Suburban in neutral and pushed it down the driveway. Well, Pablo steered, I took pictures, and other people pushed... :)

Goodbye, Suburban!
Goodbye van!

Goodbye Sara, Lindy, and Shane!

We arrived at the Ellsworth house just in time to have dinner! It was very good...mmmmm...Then Lester, Lizbeth, Amos, Bethany, Dr. Ellsworth, and I headed to Trinity Bible Church to help Pablo with his choral thing for Easter. Came back, got on the computer, had a family prayer, and got back on the computer...Church tomorrow and a flute concert featuring Bethany Ellsworth and the Hawkey girls (a family I met at Thanksgiving)...

Dum-de-dum

I couldn't think of anything to say, so I wasn't going to say anything. Then a Computer Services guy came into my office and informed me that my old, bulky monitor was being replaced with a new, flat-screen monitor! So I got a new monitor and a subject for my blog, all at the same time! How cool is that! ; ) Now if I can only make it so it doesn't appear fuzzy...

arrrrrr

It is always dumb to complain, since God has given us so many good things in life. It is even more dumb to complain about being bored...

Burger King in Tel Aviv traumatized me, I guess...

I admit it...

I am an ibex nerd. Daahhh, I love ibex, but I don't particularly like being called a nerd. But then again, it is my job to be a nerd...Wow, that's a weird thought...
Who gets paid to be excited about Israel? Yep, I do. Can you tell I like my job? I get paid to be excited about ibex (ok, and to help the profs). How cool is that?

Melyndee, myself, Bethany, Heather Zorichak, and Heather Donckels headed out to Northridge to visit the Falafel Palace, highly recommended by Dr. Behle, Bible professor and ibex staff.

All the other girls ordered falafel, and I ordered shwarma, Israeli style!

Heather got a free falafel 'cuz she is so friendly...Everyone loves her! She also got some free sesame dessert. We were all thankful... : )

Look who I found at Falafel Palace! Rabbi Schneerson! Man, this guy gets around! Many religious Jews consider Rabbi Schneerson to be the Messiah, even though he's been dead for years...how sad...

A good time was had by all! Yea for the Falafel Palace! I want to go back and buy some hummus...Anybody want to come with me? ; )

Oh, here is part of the e-mail Donckels and I sent to Todd, Bill, and Randy:

You know you're an IBEX nerd when you spend $5 on a falafel that only costs you $1 in Israel.
Guess where we went tonight?? The Falafel Palace in Northridge! It was like Israel in some ways, because Heather Z. was very friendly to the people who owned the place and they gave her discounted/free food! We even saw Rabbi Schneerson. The guy there kept telling us that we could get a free trip to Israel even though we weren't Jewish, but we didn't quite understand how that would work. Too bad. But we got cool Purim brochures and the falafels were good.

Anyway, we miss you all a lot!! And we hope that the semester is going well.

Shalom,
Heather and Jennica (and Heather Z., Melyndee, and Bethany) :o)

You're all Platonists...

Randy, talking about Platonism:
The Fall was the cause of the Split!

Paul:
My dad told me that when I broke my arm...

*The Platonic Split is the idea proposed by Plato that there is a difference between what is perceived and what is real, the real being ideal. This came about because of the Fall. The dichotomy really should not be there, but because of sin.......all is not as it seems....

Think about it

God does not call us to understand someone before we love him or her.
So simple, yet so hard.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.”
Philippians 2:3

Hehe and hmmmm

Check out the post...Both serious and hilarious...The one and only Todd...

http://www.toddbolen.com/

A year ago today

A year ago today I was in Israel, visiting Jericho, Michmash, Nebi Samwil, and Wadi Qilt...

Jerusalem in the distance; you can tell by the three towers on the horizon...

A Bedouin shepherd in Wadi Suwenit, I believe.

Old Jericho, now under the Palestinian Authority...

The pile of dirt that was Jericho...not too impressive...

Josh reads about the Israelites marching around Jericho as Zach demonstrates their blowing on rams' horns...

Heather gets a kiss from a camel for Valentine's Day...

Remains of an aqueduct in the bottom of Wadi Qilt...

Proof that I was there...

The ultimate expression of love, the cross...
May I cling to it ever more tightly...

P.S. I miss Israel...

Johnny Mac

I am convinced that when our president, Johnny Mac (aka, Dr. John MacArthur), is asked to give a sermon in chapel, he thinks it up overnight before delivering it the next day. Some very interesting comments come out of him that you won't hear anywhere else...

"I wanted to irrigate him with my track shoes!"

"Stuffing weeds in your face and setting them on fire makes no sense to me..."

Sushi...hmmm

Well, we had quite the interesting night on Saturday. A certain friend of ours loves sushi, so we had sushi! It was all very fun...Thanks, Shane!


The man who started it all, with his beloved salmon...


Laney and Mika taught us how to make sushi...It was fun...and sticky...

Ginger and wasabi...

We each chipped in some money and bought some special sushi so we could try different kinds...

Lindy tries the sushi...she at least looks happy...

Japanese Currency was not sure about the sushi...but she ended up liking it...even the fish part...

Allegra liked the sushi "taco" Laney made for her...

Paul was very happy to sit on the side, faaaar away from the fish...Nice haircut, Pablo!

Laney and Kai taught Naomi, Shane, and James a Japanese song-and-dance routine...

Sushi has a bad effect on Peter...His mutant side comes out...

And his vampire side...

His Story of His Life's Adventure

Many things in my life have changed since I spent a few short months in a little tiny country on the Mediterranean. One of the things that changed was my favorite author (formerly Louisa May Alcott). One of my favorite authors now is Richard Halliburton, world traveler and "rogue." (I don't usually use the word rogue, for whatever reason...that is a nod to Elizabeth...sounds like something she'd say : ) ) Any way, I really like reading about all the adventures of Richard Halliburton. Here are excerpts from letters he wrote to his parents.
I hope you enjoy!

“Routine of Life?” Life is not life if it’s just routine, it’s only existence and marking time till death comes to divorce us from it all. Oh, to live a life that is not routine, not in a rut so deep one can’t see over the sides to the limitless horizon beyond. Only to grasp the thrills and inspirations now instead of when I’m “settled” and uninspired with the energy of twenty…He [his traveling companion] doesn’t realize the difficulty will be half the fun. He doesn’t thrill at the hope that the conditions are not usual. All the more adventure if the traveling is the more difficult.

I’ve taken advantage to some extent of my opportunities but the important thing is that I realize that the reaches of life are infinite, and that a door has been opened from a room with four walls to the great outdoors. With this realization I can continue to experiment instead of hibernating in one confine.

That is certainly sound advice…about the maintenance of individuality by each party in matrimony. I wonder if I shall ever have the experience of reconciling my eccentricities to the eccentricities of a wife.

(He never did...)

Of all the things in the world I hate, most of all is to be a tourist.

If a man does not sing, actually or theoretically, when he works, there must be something wrong either with the man or the work.

When I look at the map of the world, the miles I’ve traveled already can’t be found. It appalls me to begin to realize what enormous distances await me, but the greater the distance, the more to see.