A Few Random Things ... by Hannah

     ... Tommy and I are staying busy here in Ezuz, but I wanted to share a couple more photos from today.

Tommy has been spending more time with his friend Juan (aka "the digging bar"). These are some of the rocks that he dug out today.

Catherine (from Germany) and I have been working on re-upholstering the chairs outside the buses. This was the original covering.

Here is the finished product.

Naomi and I :)

As I was uploading the above photos, Avigail told me that they had just put the roses in the flowerbox, so I ran to get a photo of it.

This is the box that Tommy built several days ago.

     ... I made falafel for supper last night, but was too busy getting it finished to take any pictures! Has anyone had falafel before? Have you ever made it at home? If you want to try, I'll have to post my recipes :)  And if you don't know what falafel is ... it's a fried patty (or ball) made with ground chick peas (garbanzo beans) and spices. You stuff it into pita, and cover it with vegetables and sauces. Yum yum! Falafel in Israel is about equivalent to hamburgers in the USA.

     ... The question has been asked ... what are we doing here? What is this place that we are staying at? In short, we are in small village of about fifteen dwellings, approximately two miles from the Egyptian border. The family that we are staying with (the Hirshfelds) have renovated several buses, and made them into guest rooms. They often have people come and stay, sometimes tourists, and sometimes Israelis. You can see more information and pictures of the buses at: www.exodia.co.il. We met the Hirshfelds when we lived in Israel as a family five years ago, and Tommy and I have wanted to come back and help them since then.

     ... Tomorrow we will be leaving Ezuz on the 6am bus :)  It is the only one that leaves Ezuz during the day! We will go to Be'er Sheva, and then catch another bus to Tel Aviv. From there we will take the bus to Tiberias (Tiveria) and arrive in Poriya. We will be spending about six days with friends there, and are looking forward to it. We also plan to spend one day in Afula (Monday), visiting the friends that we made when we lived there five years ago. We plan to return to Ezuz next Tuesday, and spend another week here, and will then go on to Ashkelon, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv/Yafo. (More info on that later)

     ... Did anyone hear Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the American congress today? We were able to listen to it here on the radio. I thought he did a pretty good job, though was perhaps too polite :)  As I was sitting there listening to him talk about the danger of nuclear Iran and how Israel wants peace and the Palestinian terrorists do not, I was looking at the sun set on the desert, and thinking; "Goodness! Let the Israelis have their tiny sliver of land!" Why do the Arabs want Israel off the map? Why do the Western nations condemn Israel for defending itself and it's citizens? Why does Israel and the Jewish people get ALL the blame for EVERYTHING?  Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but really ... why is there such bias toward Israel?

     ... It boils down to the simple fact that Israel is the nation that YHWH chose out of all other nations ... this is His land and His people. As followers of Him, it is our responsibility to bless and support His people. That is why Tommy and I are here :)