jet lag is just about over!

so we have officially registered!  we are poor so send us gifts...just look at these adorable faces...you know you want to send us gifts!  crate and barrel thought that we were the best looking registered couple so they gave us this free gift.  it is a heart shaped glass candy bowl and we will be selling it on ebay with it autographed by us, so look out for it later on in the week.  

in other news...i found my dress!  yes at a place called Bianca's bridal...its ok to laugh.  i would not recommend anyone to go there to buy a dress because i bought the only one in the store without tons of beading, sequence, and tulle!  it is beautiful...i really can't believe that we found it there.  God basically found my dress and the lady gave it to us half off.  my mom basically bartered with her (mom bartered with no sweat because she had so much practice in Israel).

anyways, so check, check on the wedding dress and registering.  we have only 10,287 more checks to go:)  

oh and the backyard is looking fabulous...actually there isn't anything there except dirt and fresh poured cement...pictures to follow:)

jill's birthday

here is the video that i was teasing you with in yesterday's blog.  

going home!

we are in the airport right now...waiting to board our plane.  i am excited to be going home. being in another country really makes you appreciate your own.  i think i can speak for both jill and i, when i say that we are craving some bacon or even a little meat with cheese.  it was an unforgettable trip and we are so happy we got so many memories recorded!  it is awesome to read the Word and then be able to actually picture where the people were!

i'm ready to get back home to see everyone, especially bryce.  only 83 more days until the wedding.  holy cow, we've got to get rolling!  I will keep updating you on the back yard and how it looks...it looks totally destroyed right now cause the landscaper took everything out, but soon it will look BEAUTIFUL!:)

oh ya, jill and i learned to count to 20 in hebrew.  our tour guide, Avi (Short for Abraham or "Avram") brought his 10 year old daughter Ziv and she taught us.:)  she is a very good teacher.  

well, i guess that is all for now.  i can't wait to have mexican food....we realized that mexican is about as "un-kosher" as you can get cause everything has meat with cheese.  (you can tell that i love food)

i tried to upload a video of avi singing happy birthday to jill but youtube is down right now...so that is just a teaser for later:)!

boker tov! (good morning!)

yesterday we had a free day

here is a video:)

old city Jerusalem-day 7 or 8:)

(in the tunnels)

hello everyone!! ok so it is really expensive to use the hotel's internet but we went down in the lobby and picked up a signal from somewhere else...lucky you because now you get to see more adventures of the Strands in Israel, aren't you excited?!  Sababa as we say in Israel ("awesome!")!

yesterday we went to the holocaust museum, which was really depressing, so we weren't in the funny interviewing mode.  their memorial was incredibly long and they had a vast amount of information.  we went through more than 2 dozen rooms of clothing and stuff from the days of the holocaust.  we heard countless stories from survivors which were amazing!  the room that impacted us the most was a huge circular room filled with thousands of books, recording every person who died in the holocaust.  it was overwhelming. 

today we went to the mt. of olives and to the garden of gathsemene.  it was so amazing to read John 17 and actually be in the garden (or where they say it is:)) you could see how old the olive trees were...ah so amazing!  

(the western wall)

today we also went to the old city of Jerusalem.  it was amazing to see the western wall and see people praying there.  the city is unlike any other that i've seen and you will see some of it in the videos.  it was so cool to see part of the wall that was rebuilt in the time of Nehemiah.  we were able to go down in the tunnels underneath the city right next to the wall as well!  see you tomorrow! :)

(the coolest pic of the day, looking into the men's section from the women's section at the western wall. 

photo credit: jill strand)

day 5

helllllllloooooo!!!!  you are back for more video???  well we have a special treat for you!  today we went to Capernaum and the Mt. of Beatitudes today!!!  i know!!  It was awesome!  David spoke at the mt. of beatitudes and we went through a bunch of the sermon on the mount...wow our calling as Christ's disciples is a high one.  here is a video filled with hilarious, fun filled, exciting from your american tour guides Holly and Jill Strand (p.s. holly will soon be a stavness...in case you forgot!!!)  This is our last night in Tiberias and we will be leaving the beautiful sea of galilee to head to Jerusalem tomorrow, where we will spend the duration of our time.  i don't know what the internet access will be like there, so this may be the last one for a while...but if you are lucky, it won't be long till we are back on the blogosphere! :)  Talk to you soon.  Shalom.

day 4

today we went to Megiddo and Kay taught on Revelation.  it was awesome...the coolest thing about revelation is that we know Jesus is coming back one day, the King of Kings, ruling in His awesome power.  it was such a challenging day to look at how i live my life in light of that fact. most of the time i don't have the urgency that i should have to share the gospel with others.

(the four of us on top of a mountain in Megiddo)

day 2 video

this is a video of a fruit from the tree that they used the branches of to make Jesus' crown of thorns. our guide said that people ate them but i think they eat them when they are ripe:)

enjoy! more video action to come!

day 3

hey you all!  here is a video of the day...we started out at Mt. Carmel where God pretty much powned the prophets of Baal and then went to Cesarea by the Sea where Paul stood in front of Agrippa!  SO AWESOME!  enjoy!

(overlooking the valley from Mt. Carmel)

(the roman theater where Paul stood before King Agrippa)

day 2

hey everyone!  we are all so very tired.  we went to chorazin, one of the cities where Jesus preached and did mighty deeds and yet they rejected him.  in Matthew 11:21 Jesus says "Woe to you, Chorazin..." because they saw Jesus act and yet did not repent.  in Chorazin there was a ruin of an old temple.  it was pretty amazing.  (we have a guide from the country explaining each place that we go)  Kay taught a basic overview from Genesis through 2 Chronicles.:)  Then went on to overview pre-exilic, the exile, and post-exilic periods so that we understood a simple background of israel and the surrounding nations.:)  She did such a great job in such a short amount of time.  Then we went to Tel Dan where the evil king Jeroboam in 1 Kings 12:27-33 builds 2 golden calves, one in Bethel and one in Dan.  He builds these so that the people would not go to Jerusalem to the house of the Lord to sacrifice because then the people would return to the Lord and Rehoboam and kill Jeroboam.  

Kay taught on sin and how the sin of Solomon carried on to Jeroboam.  She started with Solomon and when the Lord told him that He would tear away the kingdom from him and give it to his servant (1 Kings 11:9-13).  It was amazing to see the ruin of the altar in dan and read how the sin of a man led the people away from the Lord to build an altar to a false god.  it was a great reminder of how far sin will take you and how much we want to flee from it.  we were reminded why we read and study the word; we study to not be captured by the lies of the world and to know our savior more and more.  

we also stopped at Mt. Nebo, where Jesus told Peter that upon Himself, Christ would build the church.  this place we stopped at was sort of anti-climactic.  it is a big touristy spot and so they were selling ice cream at the bottom of the mountain...it was very disappointing.

then we went back to the Sea of Galilee and rode across it in a boat.  it was so neat to be on the Sea and think of all the time Jesus and His disciples spent on the Sea.  

oh, and the food is AMAZING!  i really could eat this food all the time.  they eat so healthy, there are no fat people at all, they walk everywhere, it is wonderful!  the whether is beautiful right now, although i do hear that it gets hotter.

first day!

shalom!  we are in our hotel right now along the Sea of Galilee!!  yes folks...the same sea shore that Jesus called James, John, Simon Peter and Andrew to be His disciples (i'm sure they were standing right where our pool is).

so our plane rides were ridiculously long and so i had to buy a bridal magazine:))))) but i left it on one of the planes...just like my mother...it's because bryce wasn't there to remind me if i had everything.

this picture is of us getting off of the plane landing in Israel...these are our tired faces.

and this is all of us at our hotel!! ok i have to go to dinner...weird cause we just woke up at 3pm and now we are eating dinner....more to come...we miss you lots!!!!

Here is our first video:)

israel

so i've read a lot about this place in the middle east thanks to my old testament professor dr. mooney and my new testament proferssor dr. mobley.  i hear it is hot and very sandy.  i am so excited to finally get to see the places i have studied.  i'll let you know if i see lots of people with "jesus sandals" on.  if there is anything else you want to know...just ask.  i'm sure that after 2 weeks there i will be an EXPERT!  (actually...you should just ask dr. mooney)  anyways, hopefully i'll have internet at the hotels.  sometimes we are supposed to and sometimes we won't.  

oh i almost forgot to tell you what i'm going to be reading on the plane!  since we have 1,362 hour plane ride i will be reading Before you say 'I do' (premarital book...ya super exciting!!!), Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman (thank you tim cahill for recommending it), and finishing up the book unchristian by David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyon (this one is pretty fantastic so far).

and jill and i will be practicing our hebrew on the plane as well.

shalom (we will see if we can master any other words...doubt it)

or as we say here in america....peace in the middle east.

graduation and kenton jacobsen

so you are reading from a graduate right now.  yes...i've arrived.  yesterday i graduated from california baptist university in riverside, ca.  i don't know when i will be going back there.  i will miss it though.  i will miss the people and my professors.  i will miss the caf (those of you who complain, you should just fast from the caf for a while and see if you still think the caf has no variety).  

here are a few pictures of graduation.  my family came down as well as Paulette (a friend from Biblestudy back home) and Bryce...of course.:)

also, about a week ago our good friend Kenton Jacobsen took a photo shoot of the roommates. he is wonderful.  you should hire him!  here is the proof...we are pretty fabulous looking if i do say so myself:)

i love this one of lauren, monica, and rissa with kenton

(photo credit: yes you guessed it...holly strand!  kenton you should hire me!)

here is one of kenton and me looking pretty fabulous