FALL CAME AND WENT...

This post is very late, considering it is the end of December, but we thought our families and friends would enjoy some pictures of what we've been up to lately and some of the wonderful fall traditions we've started. Plus fall is my favorite season so I wanted to remember what a great time we had...

Andrew proposed at Sundance on the Full Moon Scenic Chair Lift, so at least once a season we try to go and remember that perfect day...

Andrew and Chana on the chair lift

Another tradition that we've had since we've been married is going to a pumpkin patch and picking out our very own pumpkins. This year our good friends Stephanie and Kyle Atwood came with us on our adventure. After picking pumpkins we bought the best apples and apple juice from the orchards and went home to carve our pumpkins...

Us on the trailer, being pulled by a tractor that takes you from the big red barn out to the pumpkin patch.

Chana and her pumpkin

Andrew and his pumpkin

Andrew carving his pumpkin.

The finished product.

(Andrew carved a weiner dog and Chana carved the owl... I told Andrew that Halloween was about creepy animals not snugly ones, but he insisted on carving a dog that resembled the one at his parents house- Amos Earl)

Fall continued with a trip to Boise for Blake's 50th birthday. It was so fun to be with all of the Alders. We had many great activities planned for the whole family, but we did make sure and have a special girls activity as well. We loved having Eric, Rachel and Lucy around and wished they lived closer so we could see them more often.

Sisters shopping at a craft bizarre

The whole crew outside the church

The Fall ended with another quick trip to Boise. This time it was for Thanksgiving. Andrew and I spend most of Thanksgiving with the Alders and had a great time. Sheryl and I watched all the boys play in the annual Turkey Bowl, we all ate an amazing Thanksgiving dinner, Andrew and I had dessert with the Allreds/Blackburns and I ended the weekend with shopping on Black Friday with my mom and sister.

Andrew in running the ball

(He was by far the best player of the whole game)

Preston, Blake and Craig

The Turkey Bowl players

Thanksgiving Dinner

"OH SEPTEMBER".....

September was a month of getting use to life in America again.  We do miss things about the Middle East (the heat, our awesome shower, long bumpy bus rides, our apartment guard Mussin, the lack of pork, the call to prayer 5 times a day, and Ahmed.... just to name a few) but it sure is nice to be back.  September was eventful and busy but lots of fun.

First, we were so blessed that Chana got a job within a week of being back in the states.  She worked hard in Jordan searching the web and emailing potential places for a job.  She hadn't heard much back from anybody until the night we got back when she found a message from The Black Goose Design on her phone that we had left with her parents.  She called them back the next morning and they wanted her to come in for an interview ASAP.  So we left Boise early and made the trek down to Utah.  Not surprisingly she rocked her interviews and got the job.  Best of all she is doing what she loves - designing!  She has to commute to Midvale five days a week but for our situation and how the economy is doing we won't complain.

Second, we got to meet for the first time our brand new (and first) niece who was born in June while we were gone.  Eric, Rachel, and Lucy came to Utah to do Lucy's baby blessing and of course mom and dad Alder came too.  Craig also got back from his mission while we were gone so it was the first that with the whole family together.  Lucy is awesome and she quickly decided that Chana and Andrew are her favorite aunt and uncle.

Third, Chana turned 23.  Chana doesn't really like to celebrate birthdays and against her will mom and dad Allred came down for the weekend to party.  The dad had tickets for us to all go to the BYU game and after that we went out to eat at Chana's least favorite restaurant, The Pizza Factory.  Chana also hates sweets, but we forced her to eat some cake and ice cream. Lucky for her though she got a brand new sewing machine as a present.

The whole family at Lucy's blessing

     

Moving back in 

Dad enjoying the game

Rise and shout, the cougars are out...

Mom and Chana frosting the carrot cake

THE HOLY LAND...

Although this is a month overdue we just wanted to write a little post with some pictures of our trip to Israel/Palestine on our way home from the Middle East. It was HOT and tiring because we were going going going, but also relaxing because Andrew was done with all of his big tests and we were pretty much just on vacation. We saw some awesome things and it was an educational experience we will never forget.

We spent the first few days up north in Nazareth and around the Sea of Galilee. Nazareth is where the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, where Jesus spent his childhood, and where he began his ministry by announcing in the synagogue that he was the fulfillment of prophecy. It’s a fun little city mostly populated by Christian and Muslim Arabs and has beautiful churches. We stayed for two nights in a convent that is run by a French order of nuns. Under the convent we got to see ruins of a first century house that is traditionally believed to be Joseph’s house.

In the Galilee was stayed for two nights in Tiberias in a hotel right on the beach of the Sea of Galilee. The sight from the balcony of our room was beautiful. Christ did much of is teaching and preformed many miracles on and around the Sea of Galilee. On Saturday (the Sabbath in Israel) we took a boat ride across the Galilee before church. The church building in Galilee is incredible. It’s up on a hill and behind the pulpit are a big glass wall and a balcony overlooking the Sea. After church we toured the cities and churches in the area including Capernaum (home of Peter and where Jesus spent much of his time) and the church of the Beatitudes.

The rest of our time we stayed in the BYU Jerusalem Center, which is on the top of Mount Scopus overlooking the Old City. The center is absolutely incredible and we loved our stay there. We had breakfast and dinner in the cafeteria everyday and we had sack lunches waiting for us at breakfast to take on our daily excursions. We did everything most tourists would do in Jerusalem (Temple Mount, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Garden Tomb, Gethsemane, Bethlehem, Orson Hyde Gardens, the four quarters of the Old City, Western Wall, etc.). In addition, however, almost every night we had some kind of lecture, which made it more of an educational experience. We heard from and met numerous people involved in the government and public policy including Americans, Israelis, Palestinians, an Australian, and a Brit. One of the coolest was a renowned leftist Israeli attorney who took us on a tour of the security wall and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. It was kind of surreal to be right there in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. You can feel the tension and the more you see it in real life and learn about it from both sides the more you feel like it’s kind of a hopeless situation.

On a happy note we loved Israeli. It was, in a way, a dream come true to be right there where so much history has occurred, including so much history of the three major monotheistic religions of the world. The atmosphere and feeling is like no other place either of us has been in the world. The trip was a perfect way to end our four month journey in the Middle East.

A beautiful view of Nazareth from the roof of the convent

 The Church of the Annunciation 

Chana twirling yarn at the Nazareth Experience

(It was a little museum where you got to see everything how it would have been during Christ's day.)

The view from the church building in Tiberias

The city gates of Capernaum

Remains of a Synagogue in which Christ taught

The Security Wall separating Israel and the West Bank

Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

(It was like a huge zoo in there... people everywhere.) 

The Garden Tomb- a beautiful and peaceful place

The Garden of Gethsemane

The Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount

More of the Dome of the Rock.  

IT WAS AMAZING

The view from the Orson Hyde Gardens

The Western Wall of the Temple Mount (aka. Wailing Wall) on a Friday Night

SABBATH FRIDAY...

So we thought we would post a few pictures of what we do on Friday.... our Sabbath day.  Because Friday is a holiday in Islam the Middle East has their weekends on Friday and Saturday and so Sunday is a normal work/school day.  So we go to church on Friday.  We’ve been part of the Amman branch for the summer, which consists of mostly expatriates working for government agencies and other companies, a number of Arab Christians, and for the summer half of the branch was BYU students.  There is also a branch up North in Irbid which is made up mostly of Arabs.  We went up there for a weekend to visit two weeks ago and had a great time.  It’s been such a blessing to have the church as a place of refuge and to feel the spirit of the members here. 

P.S. We leave for Israel/Palestine in two days!

Andrew with our favorite old Arab member, Solomon (Sue-lay-mon)

Chana was asked to work with the Young Women this summer.  They LOVE her and are really sad she has to leave.

We love this Sri Lankan family.  There is also a father and two daughters in Young Womens with Chana.  

Andrew and Stevey (named after Stevey Wonder) playing at his house. 

Chana and Stephanie

This is a lady we stayed with overnight in Irbid when we went to church up North.  She's not a member of the church but lets the students stay at her house 

The church in Irbid

A LITTLE BIT OF RANDOMNESS...

Since our last major trip to Petra nothing specifically big and exciting has happened.  But we have been on some little adventures, had some neat experience, and met new people.  So for this post we thought we would post a random sampling of pictures we brief explanations of what we've been up to.

Andrew playing with some Palestinian kids

Two of Andrew's teachers (Ahlam and Heeyam)

Andrew and a few other students were invited to give a presentation to a class on campus about stereotypes.  Afterward class they met two sisters (Abeer and Aya) who eventually invited them (and their wives) out to their home just outside of Amman.  The dad works for the government so they have a beautiful home and just the nicest family.  We ate more than we could handle and we will forever be grateful for their amazing generosity and hospitality. 

Hanging out on campus  

(Andrew spends a lot of time here)

We went to a beautiful place called Ajlun and did a hike/service project with some of the Amman branch members.  In the picture Andrew is riding a donkey with Tutu.  Tutu is a member kid in primary.  He, his mom, and his little brother are from Taiwan.

We went a little place called Jerash North of Amman.  It's basically an ancient Roman city that is super well preserved.  We saw some cool ruins and had a great time just exploring.

This is an old chariot race arena in Jerash

In front of the chariot race arena in Jerash

We visited a place called Umm Qais up North.  From this view you are standing in Jordan but you can see the Sea of Galilee in Israel (top left corner) and the Golan Heights/Syrian border to the right.

Here we are playing with some kids at an orphanage 

(They loved Chana even though she doesn't speak any Arabic)

More playing with the kids

مي, L'EAU, ВОДА, WATER...

Getting water in the Middle East is no easy task. A typical Jordanian family gets water once a week. The city fills up a tank on the top of their house/apartment through a serious of pipes. The water runs through the pipes for 24 complete hours and that is it. Once the tank is filled that’s all the water you get for the week. Since we have 40+ wasteful Americans living in one building we pay to have a private water truck come once a week in addition to our weekly city fill up. The water truck looks kind of like a gasoline truck and there is always water leaking from the tank and hoses (seems a little inefficient for a country that has water issues).  

This week we thought we would document the truck arriving and filling up the tanks.  Here is a little slideshow.... (as you are looking through these pictures imagine water leaking from the hose and out the back of the truck.)

The arrival

Little boy throwing rope up to Muhsan (the guard) on the roof

Little boy tying rope to water hose

Mushan pulling water hose to roof from little boy

The final product: water hose filling up tank on the roof

(This is where the water really starts to leak. There are holes all over the hose.)

A WONDER OF THE WORLD...

This past weekend was our much-anticipated trip South to Petra, Wadi Rum, and Karak.  We left Saturday morning and returned Monday night.  That means everyone got two days off from classes – which none of us complained about. 

Saturday was an early start.  We left Amman at 5:00 a.m. and headed for Petra.  Petra is by far the highlight of any tourist trip to Jordan.  It is one of the new 7 wonders of the world and is an absolutely incredible site.  It’s basically an ancient city carved into rocks and mountains tucked away in a remote valley basin in the middle of southern Jordan’s Shara mountains.  It’s shielded from the outside world behind a huge barrier of rock.

The area of Petra has a long history and is even mentioned in the Old Testament.  It’s believed to be where the Israelites came after forty years in the desert.  In the hills just above Petra is where God commanded Moses to produce water for the Israelites by speaking to a rock.  Petra’s golden age, however, came during the first centuries BC and AD under the Nabateans with a population of about 30,000.   During that time it was a wealthy cosmopolitan city.  A hundred years later the city was passed into Roman hands and declined from there.  It was unknown for hundreds of years until a British explorer stumbled upon it in the early 19^th century.

Petra is difficult to describe in words and pictures don’t do justice.  It’s just something you have to see.  We were in the city for about seven hours and still didn’t see everything.  It was blistering hot and we walked for miles – and drank a ton of water.  We did two major hikes – one to the summit of a big mountain to “The High Place of Sacrifice” where they sacrificed animals and perhaps even humans.  The view was amazing. The other hike was up to a huge monastery carved into the mountainside.

The next day we went further south to a place called Wadi Rum.  You don’t usually think of the dessert as being very pretty but it was gorgeous (and hot).  We stayed at a Bedouin camp and slept in Bedouin tents.  We hiked sand dunes, went on a truck ride through the dessert with the Bedouins, ate their food, and watched a stunning sunset.  If anyone reading this is familiar with Lawrence of Arabia and the movie made about him, he is believed to have gone through this desert during his journey a lot of the movie was filmed here.

On the way home we stopped in Karak and went through an old crusader castle. It was really cool too but this post is turning into a novel so I’m going to end it with that.  It was difficult to decide what pictures to put up.... here is a small sample of our trip!  

The canyon that you walk through to get to Petra

The first thing you see as you walk out of the canyon (aka The Treasury)

Part of Petra

Chana wanted to marry this donkey, we saw him on our way up to the Monastery 

(no I didn't but he does look so cute)

The Monastery

The Beduin camp that we were staying at in Wadi Rum

Chana next to our tent

(it was camel hair fabric which made it incredibly and uncomfortably hot)

The trucks we rode through the dessert in

The view of the dessert from the sand dunes

Our truck group

The beautiful sunset

Karak castle