The Wrap-Up

Some things I do not miss:

1. Having everyone in the Jerusalem Center see my failings as a parent, like when Joe tried to burn down the Center twice in three days, first by turning on the stovetop and melting a plastic lego container, and second by microwaving a roll of paper towels until it erupted in flames.

2. Trash. Everywhere. Except at the immaculately kept Center, there was trash everywhere in Israel and Palestine.

3. Trying to keep the kids reverent in our apartment on the Sabbath when anyone who walks down the hallway can hear them screaming at each other.

4. Not having Mexican food.

5. The tiny apartment.

6. The crazy drivers.

7. The call to prayer so loud, so often.

Some things I miss a lot:

1. Pita, fresh from the factory. Prepackaged, week-old pita from the grocery store is inedible. And since we can't get pita, we can't eat schwarma or falafel or just pita and hummus.

2. The students.

3. The directors, Eran and Tawfic; the security and housekeeping guys. They were always helpful and always kind.

4. Having someone else worry about all my home and garden and auto maintenance.

5. Being able to drive crazy and not look it.

6. The call to prayer reminding me of the people of faith among whom I lived.

These lists are short and incomplete, but nonetheless true. I'm grateful to be home for now, but grateful I get to go back in five or so years.

The Final Countdown

We tried to hit some of our favorites in the last couple weeks, in an effort to "say goodbye" to the Holy Land. To be honest, though, we had all our bags packed pretty quickly and spent a lot of days just marking time until the day to head to the airport. As much as we loved our year in Jerusalem, we were all excited to go home, too.

One of my favorite Jerusalem landmarks, the Church of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives

A very bright day on the Haram el-Sharif, the Temple Mount, the Dome of the Rock

The view onto the Western Wall Plaza from the bridge to the Temple Mount.

We didn't have a lot of occasion over the year to use the Piggyback Rider, but Joe seemed to like it.

Here's Isaac trying to give Joe a ride. Joe weighs 30 lbs, but Isaac kept him on for a pretty long time.

The view of the BYU Jerusalem Center from the Dome of the Rock.

Because it was Ramadan, there were a lot of tents set up to accommodate worshippers. Joe liked running around the tent poles in the shade.

One of the metal doors at the Dome of the Rock.

The Dome of the Rock is actually closed to most everyone, especially non-Muslims during Ramadan. But since Abby always seems to melt hearts, we decided to try to use her wiles to see if we could get inside. Ed and I coached her to go and ask the doorman for permission. At first he said "No, no." Then one of the elderly gentlemen sitting by the door beckoned to her, and she went over and gave him a hug. After that, the doorman swooped her up and took her just over the threshold into the sanctuary for a three-second look. Then he brought her out, set her down, and shooed the rest of us away. I guess that's what we get for trying to use our daughter's charms to work the system. 

Some of the beautiful architectural elements of the Dome:

Wandering.

As for the rest of our time, the swimming pools continued to be a hit right up until the very end, or at least they were for Abby and Linda. One afternoon I discovered them pretending they were dead and floating, decorated with jewelry and rose petals. The similarity to Millais' painting Ophelia was startling, I actually asked the girls if they had seen it before. They said no.

Ophelia, Sir John Everett Millais, 1851-52

Abby, by Linda Stratford, 2013

Don't forget to hold your rosebuds!

What's a floating funeral without a goodbye kiss?