July 2008 Archives

The day started by saying good-byes to most of our group this morning.  The Nazarene Bus came to pick up those travelling at 11:00 AM and guess what?  The driver had Dan's camera.  Yeah!  I did not believe it would happen as Efrat (the lady in charge of the rooms) was unable to get ahold of the company yesterday.  :))  Dr. Schuler was kind enough to loan me 20 sheckles to tip the driver.  Don't worry Dr. Shuler the check is in the mail as soon as I get home. 

I made Daniel French Toast this morning after getting up around 9:30 AM....mmm.... I did a little packing and cleaning and then I joined Linda and Dr. Gimbal at the Sea.  Linda left and Dan joined us.  Then Dr. Gimbal had enough sun and it was just Daniel and I.  What a lovely float we had in the Sea for at least a half an hour.  One of those times that mom and son rarely get.  It was calm and peaceful and nice.

We got ourselves dried off and headed out for lunch at the dining hall...one last time.  I don't know if it was because there are less people to feed or because tonight is the Shabbat meal, but the lunch seemed skimpy.  We were really well fed the entire time we were working here???

After lunch, Dan and I began in earnest to get his stuff together.  Andy and Dan sure had a messy room :O  I am having trouble closing my suitcase, eventhough I sent a lot of extra stuff home with Carl.  I will have to go through it and see what can be left behind or tossed out...again. Linda is checking her bag, so maybe I'll sneek some stuff in hers.  There's no one here to use this stuff now.  We are all gone or going.

Linda scheduled a massage for 1:00 today and I am having one right after her.  I decided it might help me NOT feel like I need to kick the seat in front of me all the way to New Jersey.  I am sure the passenger in front of me will appreciate it :)).  So I will get a massage at about 2:30 and shower and just finish packing and wait for the taxi at 6:00 tonight.

Speaking of taxis, ours showed up at 6:00 AM this morning.  It was here at the same time as the bus.  There was some confusion about the time since Israelis call it 18:00.  Efrat got it straighteded out for us and they will be back. 

It has been very nice writing to you all every day.  I will miss telling you all of the owies, mishaps and adventures we have.  God's blessings to you and my prayer is for you to one day see and touch the Holy Land of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.  Peace be with you all.  Love, Tina and Dan

Today was our last day on Hippos.  Very little dirt moving happened, but we had to clean up the damage done by the tractor yesterday.  (When I say we, I mean the team, not Daniel or myself.  I think we were TOAST starting yesterday.)  I told Dr. Schuler I started feeling better around 11:00 yesterday and he said I was psycho, no not really...it might be psychological.  I'm pretty sure the ones that return year after year are psycho, but that wouldn't include me.

Anyway we swept and swept and swept some more.  We swept the rocks in the whole church so that the pictures would look nice.  Arny and Christine did surveying measurements (a lot of them).  Then we put up metal poles and wires to indicate that there would be a very big drop if someone wasn't paying attention.

Dr. Schuler called the bus earlier in the morning and had it come a half an hour early.  Even so, after the fruit break about 8 students hiked down Hippos to the Kubbitz.  They were just going in the main gate as we pulled in on the bus.  Two of the girls (Liz and Christine) broke into a run and actually beat the bus.

Even though the day was not as strenuous as previous days, it was tiring.  There was no "groove" and our schedule was upset.  One happy thing was, Liz was brushing down a wall in A- 99 I think and there was a oil lamp just sitting on a rock ledge.  I am thrilled she found something so great at the last moment (it was perfect in every way, no chips or cracks).  She also killed scorpion #8. 

The big tractor was moving lots of rock for Dr. Schuler this morning and throwing the rubble over the side into the abyss (between Hippos and the Golan Heights).  All of the younger kids were throwing boulders over the side and whatta know?  A SNAKE!  From what I heard, it was about 4 ft. long and red with black on it.  Viper?

I spent most of the afternoon packing and washing the Israeli soil from the stuff I did not want to throw away, like my new boots and gloves (we've got yard work to do!)  I am pretty much set and ready to go tomorrow night. 

Daniel on the other hand went across the way to one of the kubbitz apartments to speak with some girls that have been asking for him for the past few days.  Linda knew what they looked like and took him over.  They were here at the women's house last night at about 10:30 or later asking for Daniel.  Steph told them that Dan was asleep, because he had to get up at 4:00 AM.  They asked if he was here with his mom and if she was mean. ;)) 

Anyway, I gave him 35+ sheckles this afternoon and told him to be back at 6:00PM.  It was 3:00.  The young lady's name is Nadia and she is quite pretty.  Daniel took her to the cafe and bought her a soda (I think).  I have a feeling they will hang out tomorrow after Dan is packed.

At about 5:30 I went across the street to have dinner with the old-adults, Linda, Arny, Dr. Schuler, Nancy, Jim Applebaum, Darryl, and myself.   We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and came back just in time for 14 of us to ride on a chartered boat to the middle of the Sea of Galilee at sundown (some get sea-sick).  It was very nice.  We sang favorite hyms like Sanctuary, Amazing Grace, As a Deer Panteth, etc... It was very pleasant and a great view of Hippos.  You can really tell that it was the "city on a hill" in the Bible.

We came back and Dr. Schuler led devotions.  After that Dan and I went down to the water's edge and sat in chairs looking at the lights of Tiberas.  We said a prayer and finished our day.  We are looking forward to a peaceful and carefree day in the kubbitz tomorrow. 

Good night to all, Love Tina and Dan

Last night around 6:00 PM my tummy started hurting.  Maybe it was a shock to my system to eat at the restaurant across the street.  Steak and dessert all at once ):  I went looking for a few gifts at the Fish Restaurant and had to skip dinner (not that I expected to be hungry.  Some other theorys I have are the Midol I took to relieve the swelling in my ankles, Daniel's tummy sickness stuff from 2 weeks ago jumping over on me, or maybe there was dairy in the dessert (not eating Kosher all of a sudden). 

Today I slept until 10:30 AM.  Daniel stayed with me and asked if he would have to tend to me the same as I tended to him when he was sick.  No!  But you should have heard me whining like a baby last night.  It wasn't pretty.  I was sad, because I was going to get a look at the crypt and mosaic over in the Haifa area, but it is covered up now.  Eva was going to take me on a mini-tour.  

I met the bus when they came down at 12:25 to pick up all of the pottery buckets.  I said Dan and I would clean them and get them hung up to dry.  That way the others would get a break.  It did not turn out to be much of a break though, because there were only 2 buckets. 

I finished the 2 buckets in no time and still did not feel like eating.  Darn, it was Jewish Chinese, my favorite thing to eat in the dining hall.  Anyway I went back to the gift shop and finished picking up a few things.  I had to make it back in time for my massage at 3:00 :))  The massage was nice and I am feeling better now. 

I like it better when I have dig stuff to report.  :((  It looked like it was a long, long, hot, hot day out there when the "diggers" got off of the bus.  I heard something about the tractor getting a little off track and crushing a wall in an area no one was working.  Thank God for angels. 

Tomorrow will be the last bus ride up, the last hike up and down the hill, and maybe the last time we see Sussita / Hippos? 

It has been a wonderful journey.  If and when I return, it will be in much better shape.  Everything in Israel is uphill and "all of the steps in Jerusalem go up" as Linda Miller says.  I would suggest that everyone go as young as they can, because is a lot of physical work in sightseeing. 

Funny story...  Linda, Nancy, and I were at the Fish Restaurant and Nancy wanted a root beer float.  Linda asked for a half glass of ice cream and a soda.  The waitress gave her soda water.  Linda corrected herself and said "Coke".  Nancy asked the waitress for a root beer.  The waitress was going to give her beer with her ice cream.  She then said, "orange".  The waitress gave her orange juice.  We were laughing so hard by then, we finally got the word "Fanta" (orange soda) out and the waitress declined a taste of either one.  I'm sure she thinks Americans eat weird things.  In the end, Linda got her Coke float and Nancy got a Dreamcicle float although she wanted root beer. 

We are having an end of the season party at 7:00 tonight.  I am a bit hungry so I am going.  Daniel is already there.  We are hoping for something good to eat.  If not we have a back-up plan (sneaking across the street or going to the Fish Restaurant).  I will be helping clean up because I got extra rest today and I still feel guilty about staying back. 

God bless you all, Love, Tina and Dan  

Hi everyone!

This morning Nancy and I were sweeping and getting the mosaics ready for final photography.  She sprayed them down and then Dr. Schuler photographed them for reference.  We all got to see the beautiful colors in them before she and I covered them with a fine layer of sand.  This is to protect them from sticking to the felt-type material that comes next.  I heard on the way down the hill this afternoon, that the material is waiting for us in the Forum.  That's just down the decamanus and in the Haifa area.  After the felt comes dirt.  No one will know there is a mosaic under there and the mosaics will wait for Hippos / Sussita to become an official destination for visitors.  I feel very honored to have worked on them and to have even seen them at all.  Who knows when they will be uncovered again???

Speaking of the Haifa area, the whole forum is emptied out and that team looks like it will be done tomorrow.  We will finish digging in the last 2 open squares tomorrow and that's all the digging we will do for this year.  Before I forget, it was almost 100 degrees F today.  The bus driver told the Haifa team that he couldn't come and get us until 12:30 today.  So that gave us an extra 1/2 hour to work :O  Dr. Schuler was nice enough to give us a rest break at 10:00 (20 MIN.) 

Dan was working with Dr. Gimbal and Liz on a deep probe I think.  I helped with the mosaics and then went to a square with Chris and then Nancy.  They dug and I hauled buckets.  That Chris, he fills those buckets to the RIM.  I walk to the edge of the abyss and heave the dirt and rocks over.  I did that for about an hour to an hour and a half today and I am whipped.  I dug for about an hour, but kept running into tesserae.  We save those so every time I put the turreah to the ground, there were 5-6 little tesserae.  It really slowed the digging down. 

Dan got overheated at about 11:15, so Dr. Schuler put him on the basalt bench by mosaic #2 under the shade cloth.  He immediately went to sleep and was very difficult to wake up for the bus.  He didn't even think he could carry his back-pack. 

I skipped lunch today because I was so hot and tired I did not feel hungry.  I rested and put my legs up in the cool airconditioning of my room until 3:00.  Arnie and Linda came over and walked across the highway, just outside the kubbitz, to a restaurant.  I don't know what the restaurant is called, but it has a fantastic menu.  Daniel and I shared a filet minon kabob each and mashed potatoes.  It was about $33 US but it was worth it.  Then we each had a "designer" style dessert.  His was called a balero and mine was a blizzard.  Neither of us felt like eating at the dining hall for dinner tonight.

Dan missed pottery washing tonight.  He is fast asleep in my room on the extra bed.  He did make it to the Sea today, which is better than I did.  After digging up all of those tesserae, I had to scrub them too.  That's just not fair. 

After pottery washing today I skipped dinner and went over to the gift shop at the fish restaurant to buy some last minute things before we head home.  Shopping instead of dinner???  The tummy is still too full.

Dr. Schuler went over the schedule for the rest of the week after devotions.  Tomorrow we finish digging.  Thursday we get to clean and brush everything for final photos.  This has to be done without shade since that equipment will be returned to the Haifa team.  We return all of the large tools to a shipping container so the University of Haifa can send them back to their campus.  Then we organize all of the Concordia tools and equiptment and store them in a condemned building at the kubbitz in what was the shower stall. :()  Then we pack our personal stuff. 

A special treat on Thursday, just before sundown (Darryl's idea), is to charter a boat and go on a short cruise to the middle of the Sea of Galilee.  The "grown-ups" raised the money for that since most of the students are completely out of money.  I know that Daniel will really enjoy that part of the day. 

Please write and catch us up on what is going on in your lives.  I would like to know who is reading the Blog.  Write us at terryandtina12@aol.com

Stuff...

My sister De has won an award given by Maybelline cosmetics.  She is one of 10 women in the United States being honored in New York in September and will be featured in Self Magazine in the September issue.  She (as always) does not want to brag or gloat, but I am doing it for her.  She is being recognized for her tireless work in returning books to the children of the Mississippi Coast after Hurricane Katrina.  Way to go De!  Sorry, it's not something that you should keep quiet.  People will want to make sure to buy the magazine.  (She said,"Wait until it happens.")  "It is happening!", I told her :))  "I'm hitting the save / publish button...here goes, now everyone knows (snicker, snicker)."

Glenn went home yesterday.  He needs to get home so he can go on vacation. :)) (We missed him at the back of the line of hikers this morning)

Well 3:30 comes too quickly.  Love and kisses to all, T&D

Hi everyone!  I hear a lot of people at Faith Lutheran are reading the Blog :))  A couple of days ago when Jim Gimbal was bitten by the scorpion 3 times, I mentioned in passing that I had donated my bite cream to the first aid kit.  (He now Duct tapes the bottom of his pants every day.)  My bite is fine and has disappeared all together.  Like I said before, the Medical Center has all kinds of cream and it seems to be 12 sheckles ($4) every time.  Great deal everytime.  Anyway, remember I said they put it on his bites immediately???  That may have helped him out.

We just got great news!  We can turn in our laundry this Thursday, so we won't have to take home a whole suitcase of dirty clothes.  Yeah!  These clothes are really dirty.  They have a dry feel when you put them on because there is so much fine dirt in between the fibers.  In between the Haifa site and the Concordia site there is about 6-10 inches of the stuff and it is gray.  Linda Miller calls it moon dust.  As you step, it puffs up in the air about a foot each time you step down and our noses get clogged with it. 

I forgot to tell you yesterday, Daniel ran buckets for his crew emptying out the cistern near his original square and I ran buckets for Linda and Chris in D-3.  As the floor dropped lower and lower, I was almost lifting buckets of dirt and rock over my head onto the wall in order for them to be dumped (about 20% of the day).  The rest of the time I was taking those buckets and dumping them out into a wheelbarrow in the sun (30% of the day).  In the morning I was dabbling in the mosaic area with Nancy (about 20% of the day), and I volunteered to help set up breakfast (about 20% of the day including eating).  (French toast, YUM.)  I wonder where the last 10% of the day went??? :))

Today Dan continued to work up in his area and I worked with Linda and Chris again.  Jake stayed home after the nasty fall he took, putting ice on his sore spots.  He says he feels good enough to work tomorrow.  Just when we were slightly levelling out the floor and getting ready to move on, Chris found a curve in the floor.  It turned out to be a /tabloon/ not sure about the spelling.  It is a very large opening in the floor that was used to cook in.  It is a pit type structure (exactly circular) that is lined with clay and may or may not have a clay bottom.  The Haifa team has 2 and now Dr. Schuler is not left out!  He has one too!

Anyway, we worked on pulling out all of the dirt and "stuff" from inside.  It turned out to be about 2 meters deep, just as Dr. Schuler said it would be.  Just one tiny area turned out to be in bad shape.  After emptying it, it looks like you are standing in a gigantic clay pot.  It is about 4 ft. across.  (Sorry, no scientific, metric measurements;()  It was Chris' "lucky" day.  I was sifting most of the morning and he took over and gave me a break out of the sun and guess what?  The first bucket he sifted had a metal button in it :o  He had the magic trowl, magic broom, magic bucket, etc.... It just goes that way.  He even found a roof tile in the middle of the  /tabloon/.

There's interesting stuff going on in Daniel's area, but I have no idea what they are doing.  Glenn was sent in to uncover, discover, and generally do detail work in order to find out what type of building they have found that runs along the outside of the church behind the curved apse in the front of the church.  It is his last day here today.  He leaves around 9:00 tonight.  We will miss him at the back of the line hiking up in the morning. 

My sister, knowing how much I love coffee, asked how the coffee is here.  It's instant or Turkish coffee.  We make due.  I did try Turkish coffee in the wonderful restaurant in Amman.  It is like espresso with sugar in it.  I really don't like sweetener in my coffee, but it was drinkable.   Yes De, the instant is like swill :((  Dan missed fried eggs and I miss brewed coffee.  My Folgers coffee bags have gotten me through though.  There are a few things to look forward to when we come back home.

Love to you all.  I am showering and getting ready to go have dessert with Dan and some others. 

Dan and I worked really, really hard today.  Today was the first day that it was easy climbing that hill to get to work.  Maybe it was all of that rest yesterday:))

We are going to Nimrod's Castle with the Haifa team.  A FIELD TRIP!  Here is a web site you can see the castle in   3-D.  Love to all.  T&D

http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/ipix/index.asp#nimrod

It is the first one on the list.  Have fun, we will too:))

It was really great fun.  We stopped just outside the fortress and had a picnic courtesy of the Haifa group and Michael Eisenberg.  We had pita bread, luncheon meat, a red coleslaw, hummus, and every kind of eggplant spread they make here, and soft drinks.  There were a lot of bees there, but other than that it was cool, shady and pleasant. 

The castle / fortress was just fantastic.  Please look at the other blogs to see if they have pict's up yet.

One note about today.  Jake fell off the top of one of the walls when a large stone came loose while trying to move the shade.  This fall was about 10 feet down onto solid basalt rock.  He had his knee pads on and that probably saved his knee.  His angels were protecting him.  I really don't see any other reason he wasn't critically injured.  Thank God he is safe and just bruised a bit. 

Sabbath in the kubbitz is celebrated from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.  We have an extra-nice dinner Friday night at the dining hall, no breakfast served on Saturday morning, lunch is served and then no dinner.  We buy food in the local mini-market to feed ourselves breakfast and dinner.  The kubbitz gives us paper money printed on a computer that is worth 60 sheckles to use (about $30 each).  It is sort of like shopping in a 7-11 or a Circle K.

Daniel was craving fried eggs.  He must have eaten 100 hard boiled eggs since we've been here...there is no other choice when it comes to eggs.  I made him some for dinner tonight.

We actually took a whole day off from walking, hiking, sightseeing, digging, mosaicing etc... and only slept, read, and swam in the Sea of Galilee for about an hour this afternoon.  Dr. Schuler wanted Dan to take it easy for one day this week, after all it was good for our God?  Really, he said, in passing, that all of the touring was taking a toll on the group.  He is and was concerned about Dan. 

Almost all of the digging is finished for this season.  Daniel asked if he could work in the cistern tomorrow and Dr. Schuler agreed.  He will be wearing a hardhat because it is so far down.  I will be finishing up on the restoration of the mosaic #2 and going back to do some edges that have broken down due to someone stepping on it on mosaic #1. 

This coming week will be all about cleaning up for final pictures and organizing for next year.  We were asked to postpone our swimming time each afternoon so we could do "odd jobs" that need to be done. 

Tomorrow starts our work week.  After work at 2:00 the Haifa team is travelling to Nimrod's Castle.  It is a Midevial castle and Dr. Schuler says it is worth seeing.  We won't get back until about 8:00, but I think Daniel and I are going.  Dinner will be included and I think we can rest on the bus ride home.  It will be exciting to see something that is from a different era than the Byzantine era. 

Here is a picture from the internet of the type of gecko on our ceiling and the one I caught in the bathroom :)  CUTE

Other stuff...

We have grown used to people with guns walking around in crowds of people???

We had an armed guard in Jordon that travelled with us on the bus and at all sites.

One dinar (Jordanian money) = about 1 1/2 dollars

One sheckel (Israeli money) = about 30 cents

All of the pottery sherds collected on Hippos except rims, handles, bases (called diagnostics) will be returned to the site and buried.

Many mornings we can hear artillilary practice at the site.

Regular flavored Pringles are put on the shelf at the mini-market and are gone that same afternoon.  I guess it reminds us of the junk food back home. 

They call the public restroom a w.c. here just like in Europe (water closet)

 Don't forget to look at Jess' and Jake's pages from yesterday...they have pict's and are great!

Wow what a day.  We got up early and were on the bus to Jerusalem at 7:30.  We were ready to go at 7:00, but the police had the road to Tiberias blocked so the driver had to take an alternate route to get to En Gev.  The bus was the nicest one we've had so far.  The only thing that could have made it better is if the driver had remembered Daniel's camera.  :(

Anyway on the way to Jerusalem we saw Jericho from afar and the wilderness where John the Baptist hung out eating locusts.  Really the wilderness looks a lot like the Mojave Desert foothills, the Little San Bernardinos.  It was quite a climb up the hill in the bus even though it was very new.  The weather was fairly pleasant, a bit warm, but less humidity.

We were dropped off at the Gaffa gate.  I am going to try to list the things we saw and did:

Dropped off Dan and Harry's bags at the Lutheran Hostel.

Walked through the suq   /sook/  through many sections (Jewish, Muslim, and Christian)  where one could buy gifts, trinkets, and goods.

Hiked the Mount of Olives.  What a climb!  It was so steep at times you could slip on the asphalt.

Saw the church commemorating the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept".  Modest dress was required and for the first time some of our group were not allowed inside.  Luckily Daniel and I were OK.

Saw the church commemorating Jesus praying on the rock.  The garden of Gethsemene (sp.)

The western wall, AKA the wailing wall.  Touched it!  Left a prayer in it.  Men and women are segregated and in separate areas. 

Ate bagels.

Saw St. Mark's church that commemorate.s the maid that left Peter at the door to go tell other disciples, when he was released from prison by an angel.

Approximated the via delarosa.  Where Jesus walked on the way to His Crucifixion.

Toured the Curch of the Holy Sepulcur.(sp) My favorite part of the whole trip.  Dans's favorite part was when he realized he was standing on Mt. Calvary. 

Went shopping, bargining in the suq for gifts to bring home.

It was an awesome day.  Most thought it was too short.  We came home in time for the Shabbat meal.  They were serving goose and I celebrated with about two ounces of red wine on such a special occasion.  We had devotions at 7:30 and then I walked over to the Fish Rest. for a soda water or two with the girls. 

On the way back to the kubbitz we saw a full moon over the Golan Heights and I took a picture for you. 

Other stuff..

Glenn was nice enough to look up the little snake I saw and we think it is an Arabian Sand Snake.

Linda, Arnie, and Nancy found a place across from the kubbitz that has hamburgers and fries and real T-bone steaks. 

Eight Canadians, Gene and myself (Carl) left the Kibbutz at around 6am in a small bus. We put our luggage in storage at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, and caught a shuttle bus which took us out to a bus stop to catch the bus to Jerusalem. Over the last two weeks we have learned not to be passive or sensitive to other's personal space. Pushy might be a little harsh for this culture's standard, but I don't think so. You guessed it, all ten of us made it on this crowded bus. We stood (with others) for about 30 minutes. As the Canadians put it " We surfed to Jerusalem".

At the bus terminal we decided to take taxis to the top of the Mount of Olives. I have not experienced such agressive behavior. After Dr. Chambers arranged for three taxis, other drivers were trying to take our business. I mean literaly physically take us out of the car to move to their's. I'm still not sure we ended up in the original cars but we all made it to the top. I understand there was a fight between drivers, but I didn't see it.

At the top, we went into the Chaple of the Ascension complete with a footprint supposedly made by Jesus's ascending into Heaven. From there we went to the church that celebrates the teaching of the Lords prayer. The prayer is displayed in 62 languages.

View image

Then it was a walk down a steep hill to the Garden of Gethsemene. Just barely made it into the church compound as all of these sites close from 11:45 to about 2. Next was a long walk to the entrance to the West Wall and the old city. On the way we passed many graveyards. Apparently, many religions/denominations belive this is where Jesus is to return, and they want to be burried close by.

At the West Wall ther was a traffic jam, to many cars and buses for such a small street. And tours happening al around. Glad we were walking. To get in we had to pass through a security check point. One for the men and one for the women. Same thing at the wall, one side for the men one for the women. It was a great experience to say a prayer at the Wall, only slightly deminished by the 'Rabi' that grabbed my hand and prayed in Hebrew then asked for money. Only paper, no coins,"I can make change". I felt like I was preyed on alright.

 We then went to the old city were we had a lunch break. I can say that I had a burger in old Jerusalem now. After lunch we walked through the shops to the road tradionally thought to be the "Via Delorosa" and on to Saint Anne's Church and the Pool of Bethsadia. After checking out the traditional birth place of Mary and the pools and cisterns, we went to The Church of the Holy Sepulchure.

On the way we passed the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. It was closed so we couldn't go in and climb the tower. The tower is supposed to have an awesome view of the city. In side the Church of the Holy Sepulchure is another smaller Church which is covering a spot thought be where the Cross stood. Then, again, there is another spot in the bigger Church that says the same thing. I'm confused. We also saw typical tombs in the lower level.

After a bit of shopping, it was off to the bus station then the airport. I should have said off to the races. If we weren't running, we were at least walking very fast. Those of us with short legs were having trouble keeping up. A couple were having trouble even though their legs were longer. At the bus station we used our numbers to make sure we all got on board early. Means we got to sit this time.

At the airport, we cleaned up a little. Nothing like getting on an eleven hour flight after running a foot race. Gene and I said our good-byes to the Canadians. Then on to customs and security. They didn't have a problem with the souvenier knife in the checked bag. BUT, they couldn't xray through a book in the same bag, which meant opening the bag for a look. Otherwise, no problems.

On the plane back to the states, my stomach started bothering me. By the time we landed in Newark it was "montezuma's revenge." Try going through Passport Control and Customs with something else on your mind! Made it through ok, though. The rest of the trip was problematic. Short lay over in Newark, buy pepto bismul. Long lay over in Houston, buy Imodium, no sleep. All the great smells from the restaurants on the concourse, and I didn't feel like eating. Darn! Made all the way home by 9pm Tuesday night.

By the way, my body clock is still on Israeli time.

Hi,  today is our last day of work for the week.  It was hot and humid today.  Dan was feeling a bit queezy after breakfast so Nancy offered a Pepto Bismol tablet.  You can guess what happened next :O  Yep!  There was an orthodox priest looking at the ruins and he offered to take Dan to the kubbitz so I took him up on it, because it was only 9:30. 

Before that, Jim Gimbal (pastor) was stung on the leg 3 times by a big black scorpion that crawled up his pants leg.  I gave my bug bite medicine up to the first-aid kit and they applied that after getting his pants off and lying him on the sacra (the road that runs perpendicular to the decamanas).  Really this is a fancy name for the Roman road we walk on to get to our squares.  Anyway he was taken to the medical clinic here for observation and soon was told to drink a lot of water and rest.  He is limping and says his leg is tingly from the mid-calf to the mid-thigh. 

Harry was already absent due to a back injury, so our team is shrinking.  Jim Rodgers went home Tuesday night.  Harry and Dan (father and son) will go to Jeruselem and continue on with their sight seeing.  We will be down to 19 I think. 

We are working only 2-3 squares now with Jess drawing and Nancy and I conserving the mosaics and plastering.  I am not sure what we will be doing in the beginning of the week, because it looks like we are almost done with the second mosaic.  In 2004, they used a concrete type material to stabilize the edges of the mosaic and it is really strong.  Dr. Schuler said it was in much better shape than he expected.  We are just repairing what we can inside the mosaic and cleaning it up for photos and drawings.

Big news happened in the square with Steph, Darrell, Jim Applebaum and Nathan and Chris (C-5).  They found a stone bowl, a mortar with a fantastic stand, and a Roman incense shovel that was in almost perfect condition.  I think you can see these pictures on Jake's blog first.  Stop and look! 

Other stuff... 

Laundry day was successful and we got back all of our clothes or so it appears. 

I have heard from Carl and he is dog tired, up at 3 AM with jet lag and has a ton of problems to solve including what appears to be a water leak in the floor at my house.

Carl is going to Blog about his trip home so you can read about it.

Love you all, Tina and Dan

Hi everyone,

Daniel is feeling and looking much better.  He stayed home today, but feels like he can go up tomorrow.  A lot has gone on in his square and he will hardly recognize it.  They thought there was a crypt in his square, but it turns out to be a cistern (sp).  They also found a capital and something else I cannot remember right now. 

Nancy and I continued on the chancel mosaic.  Bless her heart, she scraped all day yesterday by herself.  Today I made two repairs.  One was a mole hole in a square of 4 squares and the other was the edge of a galoche pattern (a complicated weave type pattern).  I was happy with the outcome and took pictures,(still to come).

I had a wonderful massage today at 2:30 and Daniel has an appointment for neck and feet tomorrow, because his neck is sore from wretching :(   We got our laundry ready for the community wash tomorrow.  The air conditioner was not working and actually throwing the circuit breaker each time I turned it on.  Efrat said it was due to having it on for 48 hours straight and to let it de-ice.  Watta ya know she was right and it is working perfectly again.

Pottery washing.....gotta go, love you guys Tina and Dan

HI everyone.  Poor Dan spent the night from 10:00 PM to about 3:00 AM retching his tummy up every 1/2 hour.  The women's house echoes like crazy so it is good that our air conditioners are quite noisy.  I have him in my room on the extra bed and was up all night with him just catching cat-naps in between.  When everyone left for work, I put one of the plastic chairs in the shower for him so he could get some kind of relief. 

So far, he has been able to hold down creme crackers that belong to Jessica with a bit of honey on it.  I went to the store at about 8:30 and got popsicles, a Hebrew type of Top Ramen, mint apple juice, Sprite, and 2 oranges.  One of the packages of popscicles have 5 different flavors, each is smaller than my thumb.  That is what we started with.  So far 2 down and not back up :))  NO Gatorade here :(

It looks like today is rest, rest, and some more rest for us.  I will let you know what became of the exciting area in A-1 and any updates I hear later today. 

As far as I know Carl is still travelling right now and is probably exhausted.  I am guessing he might be as far as Houston by now on a layover,but that is too hard to calculate with a tired head and all of the time changes.

Love to all of you, Tina and Poor Dan

Check back for additions since I am writing this at 9:30 AM here.

 It's 4:00 PM here.  Dan was doing very well when everyone came back from the dig.  I was telling everyone that it looked good and we thought he was over the hump and guess what?  I heard this wretching sound coming from the room.  After he was settled and cleaned up I walked him over to the Medical Clinic and we talked to a nurse there.  Her name is Lila   /lee la/.  She told me that I was going to have to take him to the Jordan Valley to a doctor.  Yikes! 

Well, that is an hour away and she must have taken pitty on me.  I asked her to please take Dan's temperature for me, because I could not buy a thermometer in the kubbitz store, but I did not think he had a fever.  I got to talking to her while we were waiting (37 degrees  :)) She asked more questions and I explained we had been to Jordon.  She agreed to try a pill that she had to stop vomitting.  Did I ask what it was??? No!  She brought in a cup with an inch of water and told Dan just to take a "schulp" or something like that.  We got a smile out of that word.  He didn't gulp it down, but I know he felt like he needed a gallon of water,  Instructions were, nothing absolutely nothing for 1/2 hour.  She said go somewhere cool (my room) and get broth from the dining hall.  If this doesn't work I need to call my insurance in the US and find out where they want me to go so Dan can get medical care. 

We said a prayer together on the way back to the room and waited.  The dining hall closes for breakfast at 1:30 and I got there at 1:25 and picked up lunch "to go".  So far so good.  Dan ate broth with chicken and rice in it, went back to sleep and is just fine (as fine as he can be).  The vomiting is gone this time, I just wonder what was in that pill? There was no charge for the pill or the visit. 

Oh yeah, while she was taking Dan's temperature I showed her a bite I got on the calf of my leg.  She sold me another creme for 12 shekles.  The bite is about the size of a half dollar and hot and red.  Let's hope that doesn't get out of control.  Keep praying, we're falling apart here :O 

When everyone got back I asked if there were any finds and Jim Applebaum and Glenn said they found big rocks mixed with little rocks.  Harry had to come down early with Itamar (the site coordinator) due to Montezuma's Revenge and Christine had heat exhaustion.  Dr. Schuler told everyone to drink 2 liters of water between lunch and pottery washing tonight.  I think that is all for today.  I think that is enough for today.  Love Tina and Dan

..

We

Hi everyone.  Daniel and I are on our own starting today.  Carl is making the long trip home.  I'd almost rather dig than ride that long on the airplane.  It is a long flight.  Ten people left today.  Most of them are Canadian, but there was Carl and one more American, Gene.

Dan woke up this morning with the "shivers".  He slept in his room that has either no air conditioning or it's just above freezing (no kidding) with no covers and only in boxers.  He got to stay home today.

Nancy and I opened up another mosaic today as we are finished restoring and stabilizing the first one we worked on.  I'll see about getting pictures of this one too. 

We swept away about 3-5 inches of dirt and exposed a felt-type blanket that was laid and covered in 2004 to protect the mosaic.  Then we roll away the blanket and expose the mosaic and then the work begins.  We sweep and scrape, sweep and scrape.  At this stage we are working on each individual tile most of the time.  They are about 1 cm square this time, a little smaller than the size of the tesserea on the first one. 

Before we got our shade structure up this morning, Dr. Schuler asked us to put some padding in between the mosaic room and A-1 (Daniel's original area).  They were planning on taking out that blocked door finally.  While Nancy was shaking out the felt blanket from the room to use as cushioning she found a scorpion in it.  I sent that guy to scorpion heaven :)-   I also volunteered to get a trash bag and use a rubber glove to clean up the "girl's restroom" area since some of the ladies don't understand "NO TRACE LEFT BEHIND"  It wasn't too bad and it should help us avoid e coli or such.  :O 

It was kind of different being at the site without Carl and Daniel.  Too bad Daniel was not there because his group has found something that looks like a crude crypt.  Tomorrow they should be able to get inside and find out what it might be.  (Carl, Glenn wanted to tell you good-bye this morning, but there wasn't enough time to go get you from the room.  He said you were such a hard worker and he is really going to miss you.<3 )

I am having a bit of trouble finding the new pictures on the computer, we took in Petra.  Carl will email me with instructions and I'll put them up for you all.  I can't wait to tell you about it.  It was fantastic. "Coming Soon"

We had a more international team at breakfast this morning.  Since we have shrunken in size, part of the Haifa team joined us.  There are Polish, Russian and Israeli, English, and American workers on the team.  I haven't spoken to them all yet so I am sure I've missed some.

I had a nice swim in the Galilee this afternoon with Linda from our church.  We washed a ton of pottery (mostly big pieces, a record five bucket-fulls from A-1) and had a great devotion about the miracle of the swine. 

God bless you all,

:)) Tina and :o Dan

This is a picture of Tel Dan from the last time we toured on the weekend. 

Sunday we saw the city of Amman in Jordan.  It was very busy and crowded.  We saw another major Roman City called Philadelphia.  It was also a Roman Decapolis city.           

We also saw an archeaological museum with artifacts that looked familiar.  A few were like the ones we dug up.  I used the restroom and cracked my head on an open window that had a sign that said "Do not open the window" , probably for that very reason.  No blood.

Lunch

Turkish coffee

This is a picture of the highway in Israel.  Really they look a lot like California.

All day Saturday we were in Petra.  What an awesome sight to see.  Sorry no picts yet. 

Hotel

Horse ride

Treasury

Donkeys to the top

Mohammad and brother

Turkish Bath

A sign explaining the site we are at.  The Greek name is Hippos (horse) and the Aramaic name is Susita which means little horse.  The people here call it Susita usually.

On the bus at 7:30am

Long wait to cross into border

Sammy

Jerash a Roman Decapolis city

Mt. Nebo, where Moses saw The Promised Land

Madaba, an ancient map of the Holy Lands 

Lunch

Late to the hotel

This is a picture of Dan and I on the way home from the dig today.  Niko took the picture.  We are smelly, dirty and just plain yucky.  I thought you'd like to see us right before we eat lunch :)) 

This morning I (Tina) got to work in A-1 square near Daniel with a young lady named Katie.  Our goal was to clear off the top of the wall just north of the mosaic so that weeds won't grow on top of it between now and next year.  That Dr. Schuler, he's always thinkin'.  Anyway I am digging away and I see this thing.  I asked Arnie, what is that and wouldn't you know it, it's a worm snake.  A snake the size of a worm.  It was yellow with a black stripe down the side and a bluish tail.  I caught it in a bucket and eventually tossed it along with the dirt into the abyss after those nearby got a good look.

After breakfast, I got to go back to my precious mosaic floor.  We have finished all that could be pieced together.  The middle section was difficult.  I love showing the "trauma" to the floor so I enjoyed it quite a bit.  For the spaces where there are no more pieces, we fill it in with grout and cover it with dirt to make it not so new looking.  We will sweep it tomorrow and finish up there, then who knows where I'll work?  Not really there is another mosaic to work on in the main part of the church, the nave I think.

As for the snails, there has always been a ton of leftover snail shells in all of the dirt here.  Maybe sometime during the year there is an infestation??? 

The only puppy dog tails I've seen are on the dogs here.  They are so different from dogs in the US.  They just hang out everywhere and when they are too hot they walk down to the Sea of Galilee and walk into the water for a dip.

We are always really hungry when we get off of the bus.  Here is a picture of Daniel eating his lunch.  We had Jewish Chinese food today and it was really good.  They made us egg rolls, sweet and sour chicken and fried rice.  YUM!  We could smell it before we even walked in the door.  There is always plenty of watermelon, because they grow here.  It was a good day in the dining hall.

This is Dr. Schuler leading the charge down the hill today.  He is standing because the Haifa team has grown in numbers just as the Concordia team will decrease.  There aren't enough seats, but it shouldn't be a problem next week. 

I forgot to tell you that Liat (a masseuse) (spelling???) came up to Carl and I and introduced herself.  She gives massages for 150 shekles for one and a half hours.  That's about fifty dollars.  She is the best, and I mean the best!  She came to our room on Monday and Carl got a massage first then me.  I had her come back for today and have already scheduled her for next Wednesday, 2:30.  And you all thought it was rough here :))

It's pottery washing time so I've got to go. 

Love and Kisses, T,C,& D

PS  I forgot to tell you that today after the devotions given by Daniel and Andy Viken (our pastor's son) we are going to celebrate Dr. Schuler's 25 years as a pastor.  His wife is in on it and we are going to have a drink on her (mint lemonade for me please). 

Hi everyone.  I stayed home today and went to see the medic / nurse.  I told her I needed something that had hydrocortisone in it and she sold me a box for 12 shekles.  That's about 4 dollars.  What a difference.  I'm ready to go tomorrow for sure.  I got to lay around today and almost tried to get a taxi up to the site I was feeling so much better.  There is still one more day's work on the mosaic so I'll be working there tomorrow :o)

It seems that Carl overdid it today.  There was no cloud cover again todayso tit was really, really hot.  His tummy is hurting and he is resting, but it looks like he will get a day off tomorrow.  Everyone had to wait an extra 1/2 hour for the bus this afternoon because it was late.  So everyone was overheated and miserable, especially those that needed a restroom break.  Carl only has 2 dig days left counting tomorrow :O   Daniel and I have about 12 left :))

Daniel and Andy worked together again in the same square.  They work well together.  Daniel ripped the behind out of his jeans today so he's down to 2 pair.  That might get tough considering all of the work he is doing.  (I am so proud of him.) Yesterday he zonked out right after lunch, but today he went swimming after eating.

It was my turn to do a devotional tonight after pottery washing.  My text  assigned was Matthew 8:14-17 where Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law.  I asked one of the young ladies, Christine, to sing Rock of Ages for us and she did a beautiful job.  The rest of the devotion I got from the Portals of Prayer (a Lutheran devotional) for Aug 11 (Daddy you can look that up).   

I also used something that I saw in a geology class.  Carl helped me pick up about 35 stones from the edge of the Galilee.  I took the bag around before I started and asked each person to pick a stone out of the zip-lock.  They were to look at it carefully and had to return the stone to a bowl.  At the end of the reading of the gospel, we sent the bowl around the circle and each was to pick out their original stone acording to its attributes and flaws.  When the bowl came back to me, my stone was in the bowl.  (Only one person messed up and I'll just tell you his name starts with a "C" and he is in my family :))  It still worked because the person with the missing stone still knew his was not in the bowl. 

The point to all of this:

As easily as we knew our stones by their attributes and flaws, so does our Savior Jesus Christ know all of us by ours.

Then I asked that each return his / her stone to the edge of the Sea  sometime while they are here and say a prayer of healing for themself or someone else, since Jesus healed the mother-in-law we should ask for healing too.

Other stuff....

About 10 people are leaving on Monday the 14th.  All of the Canadian team and Carl and another man named Gene.  It looks like the plan is coming together for their visit to Jereuselem that day. 

After dinner Daniel practiced on a grand piano in the dining hall to keep his music in his head and he is out of money and I promised 2 shekles per song :O)

Love and Kisses to all of you over there, Tina, Carl and Dan

Hi, sorry I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday.  I stayed home from the dig and was a bit out of the loop.  I seemed to get a "female" problem and was trying to take care of it and nip it in the bud so to speak.  I tried just about everything short of surgery to take care of it, but not much relief.

Daniel said he dug. :+)

Carl said they are digging toward an unexpected area and the stairs are making less and less sense. 

I did get one small job to do back at the women's house.  I sorted out the tessarea that we could use in our mosaic from a box filled in 2005.  We are in need of black, pink and red, but also could use white to fill in.  I will add a photo of our pattern asap.  (Carl has made me a cheat sheet to add pictures, so I will go back and add them to the Blogs already made.)

We had a lot of pottery to wash tonight and the team digging to the north of the mosaic square found "tesserae heaven".  Tessarae is the correct term for the mosaic pieces.  Anyway there were thousands to wash at the pottery washing tonight. 

Our devotion tonight was done by Chris and it was interesting and well done.  Our little group from Faith Lutheran had a small devotion too, just after dinner.  It is so beautiful to watch the sun go down on the mountains behind the Sea.

Here are our pictures so far.

Hi guys,

Our day was uneventful as far as getting on the bus at 4:40 AM.  Everything is going well even with Daniel.  He has two roomates.  One is Andy, our pastor's son (16) and Ian from Canada.  Ian will be leaving next Monday and they will get a new roomate.  I've seen their room and it is quite a mess(-), but freezing cold(+).  Hope their new roomate is ready for this.  :))

We always take a breakfast break at the site at 8:00 AM.  On Sundays we get French Toast.  It's cold, but still a treat.  And there is always cucumbers, tomatoes, fish, bread, and yogurt.  Daniel does well, but some of the college kids have to take a jar of peanut butter up with them or they'd go hungry.  We usually eat a snack bar before we leave for the dig, 

Tina and Nancy worked on the mosaic and repaired about 10 spots in the floor.  (I take it back about not having experience with tile.  I worked/volunteered for a tile contractor once a long time ago.)  In the morning, Tina mixed a soft mortar, a thicker mortar and scraped a section of the tile with a scalpel the rest of the time.   We "discovered" a section of the floor near a blocked doorway that was patched in ancient times.  About 1/3 of the patch was poorly done.  The mosaic pieces are made of a different material than the rest of the floor and does not follow the pattern.  Shucks!  Someone messed up the floor.  The poorly done section had mortar left on top of the surface and not wiped down.  So I was scraping away mortar that was 1800 years old.  The bonding of the patch was far superior to the bonding of the original mosaic.  If they would have used this material to make the mosaic, there would have been no need to restore it.  It would have still been intact.

Tina's legs have been swelling (heat induced edema) and it is not serious, but annoying.  She read on the internet that it is caused by the body not being able to cool off.  When the humidity gets above 75% (according to the web) the body's ability to cool down is impacted.  Tina seems to be most sensitive to the heat/humidity.   Frozen water bottles used for cooling at the site and ice packs under the arm pits and resting with the legs up at the kubbitz seems to be helping.  She also has prickly heat rash around the lower calves.  That is letting up too.  Oh yeah, first thing this morning, we killed a very large black scorpion, before we even got the shade up. 

Daniel reports he found a few pieces of pottery today and dug.  He was moved from

 A-0 to A-2  and found a centipede.  He always makes things sound so simple.  At lunch today after he ate his food, he was listening to everyone chat and his head was bobbing and he almost landed in his leftover gravy.  Pastor Chambers suggested he take a nap.  He didn't need to be persuaded.  ,o

Carl's group discovered a cistern (might be misspelled).  It is a large hole used to store water.  The corner in his square is assumed to be rebuilt, because there is a column in it that runs beneath the floor.  It is like they just built around an existing column instead of removing it.  It is still a mystery.  They also found a new part to the decumanas, a large road running east/west.  They found centipedes and a small shrew, killing the centipede and running off the shrew.

We got great news!!!!!  We are not digging on Friday.  We are going to Jordon for 3 days.  We get an extra day off. 

Stuff...

Meals at the kubbitz are chow-hall style.  At the end of the line, we give our number.  Tina's is 22.  After eating we clear our own dishes and take them to a conveyor belt.  We scrape the food off and put all of our dishes in the trays that are moving toward the dishwasher.  Different, but fun sort of.  It's better than doing them by hand.

Pottery washing happens almost every night between 5:00 and 5:30.  We scrub each piece found with scrub brushes and then it is put in a net bag and washed and dried in the bag,  All pieces are logged in the notes for the day.

We got to sleep in again today.  7:00 AM :))  We loaded onto the bus at exactly 8:30 and headed to Bet She'an.  This was just an awesome site.  There were streets made of Basalt stone at an angle to let the water run off, bath houses and a theater.  Dr. Schuler asked one of the young ladies to sing in the theater and it was so spectacular I cannot begin to describe it. There were huge and I mean gigantic columns that have been repaired and made standing again.  Guess what?, some of the columns at Hippos look exactly like those at Bet She'an.  It is suspected that they may have been "borrowed"  from this location and moved to Hippos.  One of the historic facts about this particular place is King Saul and his sons were killed and their bodies displayed on the city walls.  I've read that!  Daniel hiked up to the top of "The Fortress Mound"  under which there is 20 different settlement layers that have been found

Our next stop was at Zippori.  Carl and I lagged behind and sat in the shade while I got my second wind.  There was a lot to see there and Daniel followed the group, taking pictures, I am sure.  There are many beautiful and complicated mosaics to see there.  They actually tell stories and the most spectacular one is called the Nile Mosaic. 

I really enjoyed looking at them because it tells me that my mosaic (my?) is quite simple to repair.  I could also see that I am doing an OK job.  My work is similar to what I see and that makes me feel satisfied and like I am doing a satisfactory job.  All of you know I do not have mosaic restoration on my transcripts.  :))  Speaking of which, guess what my new hobby will be? 

Once on the bus this morning, we had a vote.  We had to choose between seeing the "Jesus Boat" or going to Nazareth.  A few that had been to Nazareth wanted the boat, but it was overwhelmingly the city of Nazareth.  Side note: at the time of Jesus it was a very poor town with maybe 40 families living there.  There is very little evidence of the town, but there is a modern church called, The Basicilla of the Annunciation.  It was beautiful.  There was a communion service with singing going on.  In the center of the church, there is an area protected that houses the archeaological evidence of the original Nazareth.   This is a Holy site and men must remove their hats and cover their legs.  Women must cover the shoulders, knees and may cover the head.  Dr. Schuler calls this modest dress. 

When we came out of the church, we shopped in some gift shops just outside the door.  The shopkeeper was very nice and gave us (Carl and I) a cup of cool date juice.  Carl bought me a Jereuselum Cross for my charm bracelet there and we did a little shopping besides.

It looks like Carl may get to see Jereuselum on the day he leaves Israel.  It appears things are calming down a little.  The plan is shaping up for those leaving to go first thing in the morning on Monday the 14th and check their bags in at the airport.  Then they can ride the city bus to Jereuselem and get at least 6 hours to see the most important sites.  I hope this works out. 

Well tonight Dr. Schuler is treating all of us to dinner at the Fish Restaurant.  He will use some of the funds we would have used in Jereuselem.  It's to bed early, because it's rise and shine at 3:30 AM and dig, dig, dig. 

Some stuff...

The Sea of Galilee is called Lake Kinneret and is not salt water. 

Nazareth is now the largest city in the Galilee region, although it was very tiny and poor during the time of Jesus.

I can only look at so many walls in the blazing sun :)) 

Lots of love,

Tina, Carl and Dan

could not get my fanny to follow it.

Daniel of course had no problems and jetted past us on the way to and from the site.  He was the first one back to "air conditioning" and ice cream at the park's snack bar.  The park's entry fee is approx 3 dollars each and goes to a National Park system for upkeep.  It is our wish that Hippos will come under the supervision and sponsorship of them in the future.  People are allowed to visit Hippos even though it is being excavated, however there is concern that lookie-loos will get hurt or damage areas such as the mosaic floor that Tina is working on.  National Park system and get restrooms and such i

Breakfast was on our own today.  Daniel got ready and came over to the women's house to eat with us.  We had "Tony Tiger" Frosted Flakes with the tiger on the box, but called "Frosties" in Israel.  Speaking of tigers, I hope to discuss lions with you at some length in the blog later.

Today we got to actually be tourists.  Thanks to the Canadian team, we rode a small bus to Gamla.  There were four trails to hike, The Daliyotot Falls Trail (easy family walk), The Dolmen trail (easy family walk), The Vulture's Trail, Gamla Lookout Point (easy family walk) and the Ancient Trail (for experienced walkers, steep path).  You guessed it, we took the Ancient one of course, since we are now experienced at "walking".  I have had over 50 years experience at walking and this trail was nothing but stone steps straight down and strait back up again.  A few times I had to have Carl push from behind because my short legs

We visited Gamla which is important because it is the site of a very difficult area to reach that gave allegence to Jeruselum.  The 1st century synogogue there is oriented in a northeast / south west direction.  This makes it unusual, because most synogogues are lined up in an east / west orientation.  The reason for the deviation was to show allegiance to Jeruselum, which is southwest from Gamla.  (Synogogues are not necessarily Jewish places of worship, but is a general term for a gathering place). 

Another interesting thing about Gamla is, it is the site in the Christian fiction book, A Voice in the Wind, by Francine Rivers.  I started reading (and only got 1/4 of the way finished with ) the book some time ago.  It is about a Hebrew girl that is taken from the Jewish Revolt and is forced into slavery.  The site was the location of quite a bloody battle between the Romans and Jews.  I will now begin reading the book with a renewed and refreshed energy.  Hope you read it too.

We had intended to go to Banias and Caesarea Phillipi, but our group leader (Dr. Chambers)realized we would not have enough time :((  We had to make a choice.  Dr. Schuler suggested to Dr. Chambers that we take in Tel Dan.  The reason being, we have already seen a lot of the Roman era ruins and cities, but nothing dating as far back as the City of Dan, 1800 BC!

Oh my, the City of Dan!  It was lush and beautiful compared to the rest of Israel as far as I can see.  There is water running out of the rocks from, percolating into the ground at Mt. Hermen and headed to the Sea of Galilee, by way of the Jordon River.  It is quite a site to see.  It is shady and peaceful.  Many people visit with their children.  We saw the "Most High Place",  Israelite Gate and, the Canaanite Gate that dates back to 1800 BC.  (This is the city the Canaanite woman by the well was from; the one Jesus spoke with at the well.)

As opposed to the Gamla hike this was a piece of cake.  The signs and map told us it would When the Bible talks about the lion and the lamb it is referring to a mountain lion, not an African Lion. One of the things I am facinated with are the sheep folds.  It is a structure that is built out of the bizzillion rocks here and has a gap for the sheep to enter.  Shepherds would lay in the doorway of the fold and the sheep would not walk over the shepherd.  When "the shepherds lay watching their sheep", this is what they were doing.  The pictures in my head don't match what is in Israel.  "No btake 2 hours to hike the long trail.  What wasn't mentioned is that is with a 6 year old in tow.  We saw everything there was to see except for the bunkers used to defend the city; against Lebannon.  The city of Dan is within sight of the border between Lebannon and Israel.  It is the location the tribe of Dan settled after the tribes were created.  (Dan means judge.)  We were back on the bus around 2:00 because the Shabbat (Sabbath) begins at 4:00.  All Jewish people take Friday night until Saturday night at sundown for the Sabbath.

Stuff...

It struck me as odd that it would take only about 3 hours to drive from the northern tip to the southern tip of Israel.  It is a small country compared to it's great importance. 

Israeli soldiers take their family places and carry their weapons with them.  One of the men was holding the hand of his little son on the paths of Dan, and over his other shoulder was a M-16 type gun.   At first I didn't think it was real the two ideas were so contrary. 

We are having devotions every night by the Sea and I get to do Matthew 8:14-17 on the 8th of July.  Happy 4th of July to all of you.  We are touring all day tomorrow and I can't wait to tell you all about it.

Today was the last day of the work week for us.  Before we got on the bus this morning we had to bag up all of our clothes for the communal laundry.  Laundry for the entire kubbitz is done on Thursdays.  This is included in the price of staying here. 

It seemed a little darker and more humid on the walk up the hillside.  I am getting faster and don't have to stop, usually.  The walk has a really steep climb in the middle third and then you see the Roman road.  It is easy to imagine how ancient travelers felt when they spotted the road to a city.  I am so happy to see it every day.  

We had the usual breakfast, cucumbers and tomatoes diced, hard boiled eggs, bread and soft cheese with pepper corns in it, coffee and tea. 

Dr. Schuler treated us to an extra hour off this afternoon and we got to listen to Dr. Arthur Seigal of the University of Haifa talk about the site he is working on.  Dr. Schuler said we worked so hard all week we deserved some time off!  We sat in the forum area to listen.  Dr. Seigal sat on the podium and explained that it  (the podium) was very important in determining that Hippos was indeed  a city, "a city on a hill".  (It indicates there was an official government in place.)  Hippos is the only city located on a hill in all of the Galilee.  It is most definitely the city our dear Jesus was speaking of in the Bible.  You would be able to see the city from anywhere around the Galilee.

When we got off of the bus this afternoon, we needed to pick up our laundry.  It was organized chaos.  Eventually I think we got most of our laundry separated from the other 35 peoples' clothing.  What a riot.  I did not know what to expect so I kept out important things such as underclothing and expecially our precious wool socks that keep our feet from being damaged, blistered or sore.  Those socks are worth their weight in gold.

Lunch here is the big meal.  I had a hamburger/meatloaf patty, garbanzo bean salad, cherr;y tomatoes, bean soup, banana squash, mashed potatoes with olive oil in them (no dairy with meat) and kool aide.  We eat kosher every day.  The only time I really missed our American way of eating was when I wanted butter on my potatoes.  You cannot get it because meat is being served at the meal.  There is no problem getting the required servings of fruits and vegetables here to eat.  I have noticed there are very few overweight people here.

We were given kubbitz money (paper money printed on a computer) today to spend in the little store.  It was so much fun just looking for things to take on our picnic tomorrow.  Oh yeah, the Canadian team announced they had arranged for a bus to take them to Gamla (a 1st century synogogue that was destroyed in the Jewish Revolt), Banias-Caesarea / Philippi, and Tell Dan (the home of the tribe of Dan dating back to 1800 BC).  They had some seats left over on the bus so we are going but getting up late, 7:00 AM.  Wow, it will be so nice to sleep in :)) 

Notable...Our sweet Daniel is the youngest person to be on the dig EVER!

Love all of you and think of you occasionally ;)

Well it was another day at Hippos.  The only thing different was waking up to the sounds of artillery practice over in the Golan Heights in Syria  The shelling went on most of the day.  Just like our military, the Syrian government needs to stay "sharp".  The Golan Heights are so close to the dig site you can see them in the background in almost every picture taken toward the north.

I am writing this a day late because I wanted to attend the emergency meeting in the women's house at 4:00, before writing to you all.  We were notified that Dr. Schuler was not taking Concordia students into Jeruselem due to an attack by a Palestinian heavy equiptment driver on some Jewish people in cars.  It is expected that things will be very tense for a while in the Holy City.  We would be allowed to go if we decided to, but it is just wiser not to.  We don't feel comfortable on our own, an expecially when there is tension.  We have lost the money for the hotel, but Dr. Schuler arranged for the bus to take us to an alternate location.  This is just another reason to come back next year :))  I will let you know about them as we visit.

The Dig...  a few of the highlights...

Daniel was lifted upon Dr. Schuler's shoulders today to cut a tie-wrap in order to move shade.  This was quite an undertaking and after Daniel was up in the air he mentioned to Dr. Schuler that he is afraid of heights.  The shade needed to be moved because Dan's team found yet more walls in unexpected places.  During the work on that new portion of their area there were a record "7" scorpion kills.  Daniel was successful in cutting the tie with a utility knife after careful instruction by Dr. Schuler.

Carl's group meanwhile, was busy filling in their square with dirt.  Not really!  But that is what it must have felt like.  They were removing debris between stones and then replacing them back into the wall in a more secure manner using a wedging type method with smaller stones.  Hope that makes sense.  Carl said it almost felt like they didn't accomplish much because of all of the material that fell into their square.

Tina's group is slowly, ever so slowly, piecing the mosaic together.  When the roof came crashing down (way back in history) it damaged the floor, pushing the small tiles into the earth.  It is Eva's desire to "record" the "trauma" to the surface.  We have the entire area uncovered and you can easily see the beautiful pattern.  (Carl is working on putting pictures on the site :/  They will be up soon.)  Today while working, Tina took off her boots and began working in sock-feet.  When Dr. Schuler came by to check on progress, he said it was a very good idea.  What a cushy job compared to the guys. 

Interesting stuff and trivial facts...

The Sea of Galilee gets very choppy in the afternoon.  There is a tatoo parlor here???  A woman from the kubbitz is a massage therapist and approached Tina and Carl after lunch to see if the diggers might be interested in massages.  Her price is 150 sheckels for an hour and twenty five minutes.  That is about $50 in the USA.  Coca Cola is easy to come by, but Pepsi is not.  Daniel made an appointment to get his hair cut.  Laundry day is on Thursdays.

Israel is cool.  Israel is cool.  Israel is cool.  Israel is cool.  Israel is cool.  Israel is cool.

Our bodies are getting used to the time change and the climb up the steep side of "Mt. Hippos" :0  It seems to be getting easier to rise and shine in the wee hours of the morning and even a bit easier to climb the climb in the morning.  I am thankful that there is just enough light to see, because climbing in the heat would leave most of us without energy to accomplish anything.

Daniel's team had a big happening today.  They found a soil change and that merited a call to Dr. Shuler to "come see".  They proceeded cautiously and guess what?  They found a wall that was unknown until today.  Everyone was energized and worked their heads off to begin exposing the wall.  It is not a wall of the church, but it is thought to be a wall for the "compound" running behind the church, parallel to the chancel area.  Daniel worked hard today, but he was happy and ready to swim in the Sea of Galilee after lunch.

Carl's team worked in the "jacuzzi" and found some more interesting stuff.  Another "out of place" column and some steps.  After Dr. Seigal from the University of Haifa was summoned, there was great excitement about finding the fourth corner of this "room" over in the Israeli site.  Early on today, Carl was stung just under the armpit area on the left side.  There are scorpions here (we saw one in the mosaic area this morning), but apparently whatever got him, he is not allergic to it.  They also came across a rat or a vole that was living, but nearly died of fright.  Tommorow will hopefully provide more excitement for his team.  They deserve it. 

Tina was mixing mortor all morning.  It is a special combination of white cement, lime, lye and marble dust.  This mixture was left here last digging season.  It was in a 5 gallon bucket with the lid on it.  All of the water rose to the top.  Tina's job was to dig and scrape this out and remix it.  It had to be lump-free before applying it to the mosaic. 

After breakfast she was shown how to stabilize the edges of the mosaic where it either ends or there are missing pieces.  She worked on that first.  She was situated in the west entry door that was unblocked on Sunday due to instability.  Near the end of the day, Tina worked on a pattern in the entry that had black, rose, red, and white tessera in a striped-type pattern.  It appears that during one of the earthquakes here, a  basalt rock about the size of a softball came crashing into the room and "dented" the mosaic.  The tessera were smushed down into the earth, still in the pattern.  The rock was removed and the tessera were lifted (oh, Tina was using a scalpel most of the time, and a paint brush) and cemented with mortor into the right place.   The intruder rock was then placed below the tessera to provide a foundation for that part of the mosaic.

Daniel is allready talking about coming next year.  Tina was speaking to Eva about the mosaic asking her what will happen with our completed project.  She explained that the site is in a National Park and it must have public restrooms, be entirely safe for visitors, etc...  There is a question about funding.  (This really sounded familiar (USA?))  So it looks like it will be stabilized, photographed, then covered with about a foot of sand and it will wait for funding, safely below. 

Eva also said that the permit to dig on the site will expire next season at the end of July.  So Tina is with Daniel,  thinking we had better return while the digging is good. 

God bless you all, and lots of love from us,

Tina, Carl and Daniel