The First Day of School

The BYU students arrived today and this place sure feels different. It was so quiet and peaceful before, but you could sense in the air all day today that everyone was gearing up for the students. They arrived in the late afternoon surprisingly bright-eyed and excited from their overnight flights. My kids are so excited to have more people to play with, Isaac especially. I don't think he understands that they aren't here just to hang out with him.

But this last week for us has been a busy one. The kids had an orientation at their new school (the Anglican International School of Jerusalem, or AISJ) on Friday morning, met their teachers, and got to run around the campus, which is an old hospital built by the British in the 1920s. School officially started Monday, and all the kids seem to really love it. Of course, there are minor complaints: from Isaac--"my teacher's too strict so my name is always on the board;" from Mary--"our gym teacher is so mean that my experience today was absolutely horrific;" from Linda--"Mom, I want you to go to school with me." All in all, though, I am nothing but impressed by the school, its staff, and its teachers. Everyone is so welcoming and helpful, but they have high expectations for behavior and academics. There are no more than twenty in a class, and Isaac only has ten other students in his class. It's going to be a challenging year, but I think the kids will grow a lot.

I also love the school because of its international character. Many of the teachers are deeply religious people from all over the English-speaking world. The kids speak a multitude of languages, and many of them are learning English for the first time. I've met parents from Holland, Italy, Spain, Africa, Korea, America, and Britain, not to mention from Israel. All the kids dress uniquely and have unique foods and experiences and attitudes to share with one another. I'm sure that could be difficult at times for the teachers, but they all seem more than excited for the challenge because of the benefits that variety brings to their school community.

Can you tell I'm excited about their school? I really love it and I hope the kids create great memories there.

Here are all the kids attending the school from the BYU campus, sans Isaac--I don't know where he is, but I know where he was supposed to be! (On the Left: Megan, Lisa and Emily Judd; Mary and Linda, then Carrie and Amanda Judd; then Elizabeth, Adam and David Schade.)

Mary with two of her new classmates, and Amanda Judd, who is from the
BYU Center and in Isaac's school class.

Isaac outside his classroom.

Linda with her most delightful of all "Pre-Primary" teachers, Ms. Gandy.
She is wonderful to and for Linda.

While the big kids were at school, Abby and Joe and I went on a hunt around the neighborhood for a local preschool. We found it but they were still closed for August holiday. However, we did find a fun playground at the neighboring hospital, where a seven-year-old Palestinian girl from Jericho fell in love with Abby and tried to teach us both Arabic.

Joe liked to wander between the swings and push them until they hit him in the forehead.
He eventually got better at ducking.

And then we gave Joe a haircut. Sniff sniff. He looks way too grown-up. Better pictures to follow.

Before...

...and After

Jerusalem's Old City

We took the kids into the Old City on Sunday morning (Saturday is our Sabbath here, so Sunday is a play day) to see the Western Wall and the Dome of the Rock/Temple Mount. The line was too long for the Dome of the Rock, even at 8 a.m., so we decided to see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where most forms of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity believe Christ was crucified and buried. The church is fifteen hundred years old and each of seven sects owns a particular part of it. Ed says if you get there before it closes at night, you can sleep inside. But they won't unlock the door until 7 a.m., so you'd better be sure that you really want to stay.  Anyway, our kids were (un)remarkably whiny from the very beginning of the excursion, so we didn't get very far, and Ed and I didn't enjoy ourselves very much. But it was a good reminder: don't take your kids to the Old City unless you want to carry them.

Can you believe my cheesy daughters? And at the Wailing Wall, of all places!
(Standing next to Abby is Elizabeth Schade, one of the other faculty kids.)

Yes, it got so bad that at one point we were dragging Abby through the Old City. I think Ed was ready to duck into a side alley and never reappear. Good thing he loves me so much he couldn't ever really leave me.

The Garden Tomb

Many people--including some LDS prophets--consider this to be a likely spot for Christ's burial and resurrection. Whether it is or not, the evangelical church that cares for the tomb has done a lovely job of beautifying the space, especially in a way we Mormons find conducive to the Holy Spirit. It was a nice place to visit on a Sabbath afternoon with my family.

Three of the most handsome (and entertaining) men I know.

Linda standing at the entrance of the tomb. There has been a wooden door installed, upon which says 
"Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen."

Such a beautiful, peaceful setting.

Week 1

We have been here for five days now (the kids say it feels like weeks
and weeks) and getting fairly acclimated. Ed and I ventured out
driving on our own this evening to look for baby gates and booster
seats and didn't get lost or crash into anyone. Plus we found the baby
store and some fantastic falafel, so it was a success.

Everyone is happy, no one is homesick, and the jet lag is mostly gone.
Ed heads up to the Galilee tomorrow for two days for, the kids have
their school orientation on Friday morning, then life will start in
earnest on Monday with school and meetings. Right now we are still
doing some of the getting settled things, but the center (and
especially the service couples) really work hard to have as much in
place for us as possible. Not only is the apartment fully stocked, but
they even supply laundry soap and toilet paper.

Even though the Center was built for college students, it is a kid's
paradise. My older ones are running around like madmen with the other
faculty kids and I see them less than when we were in Orem. Linda and
Abby are having a great time just playing together, both in their new
bedroom and out on the patio. Joe is still a bit cranky with jet lag,
but getting better. The apartment is small, but entirely adequate, and
the view from the patio is really astonishing. We come out and have
breakfast under the olive and pomegranate trees, and in the evening we
read scriptures out there with the sunset glinting off the Al-Aqsa
Mosque on the Temple Mount and the Call to Prayer ringing from various
mosques around us. The daytime is hot but dry, but there is plenty for
the kids to do indoors with the gym and the bomb shelter (which has
the nursery toys and foosball tables) and the playground just outside
the lower floor. Most of the time they can all run around
unsupervised, which is heavenly.

Today we went up to the Galilee because one of the other faculty's
daughters got baptized in the Jordan River. The sea was beautiful with
a cliffside home-turned-meetinghouse overlooking the whole area. Then
we drove down to a pilgrimage site where people come from all over the
world to be baptized like Jesus. It was quite the experience--my first
induction into the Holy Land pilgrimage culture, complete with prayers
carved in stone walls and trees planted by prominent people with lots
of money to have their name displayed equally prominently (including
Glenn Beck, believe it or not), a 2-acre gift shop to buy every kind
of Christian paraphernalia you can imagine (from every sect you can
imagine), and a front desk where you can rent the required white
clothing. Some of the catfish in the river were as big as Abby, but
only the little ones nibbled your toes when you put your feet in the
water. It was a beautiful baptism and a beautiful little girl. The
drive was long but we got to see Jericho and date palm plantations and
the Dead Sea and the West Bank and Bedouin shanty settlements and
little boys driving herds of sheep on the cliffs.

As for me, I'm still organizing some cupboards and trying to work down
my shopping list. I hope to find time to start studying when life
begins in earnest next week. All in all, the trip over and the
settling in couldn't have gone smoother and we are all enjoying this
new adventure.

Joe and Ed at an overlook on the Mount of Olives,  near the Center. Just below him is a Jewish cemetery filled with believers who hope to be in the center of the action at the Messiah's Second Coming. Across the valley you can see the Old City walls and the Dome of the Rock.

The family at the meetinghouse in Tiberias, with the Sea of Galilee in the background.

Baptism at Yardenit, just below where the Jordan River flows out of the Sea of Galilee.

The Big Change

Ed's history job at BYU is taking us to Jerusalem for a year. We will be living at the Jerusalem Center on the Mount of Olives in a fairly small apartment with incredible balcony views. And I have been so excited about this whole adventure until I realized that I was going to have to blog about it.

Big Joe

He's getting bigger all the time!

Halloween pictures

 Unfortunately, in the next picture Isaac is spitting. Lovely, I know.

Linda and Abby

Linda' first day of preschool this fall:




Abby's definitely part of the family, eh?



Abby in home improvement mode:



Abby loves to wear swimsuits, especially Mary's.  This time she looked so much like Pebbles, I had to do up her hair so she could foot pedal her bike around.

Home Improvement: Summer 2011

Here's the new family room. The cabinets still have a ways to go: the four sections on the middle bottom will have doors, and the center section will have a white back to hang the paintings on, maybe eventually to have shelves in. It was supposed to house the flat screen TV, but we didn't want to pay for a TV that big (60 inches was the smallest that wouldn't look ridiculous). So Ed solved that problem by buying a projector, mounted by the back wall, and installing a motorized screen. So now we have a movie screen. And let me tell you, it is ridiculously huge. We love it.

I've also included a picture of the upper right corner of the molding so you could see Ed's super-creativity.  All the speakers, DVD, projector, etc. wires all run behind the wall unit, out the side by the wall behind the molding, through the hollowed out crown molding and around the room.  Isn't my husband awesome?



We inherited the couch and tables from Ed's maternal grandparents this year, and Rachel is in the process of stripping the tables so we can paint them a matching wood color. We picked up the chairs secondhand and were pleased with how well they seem to go with the set. It's all a bit more ornate than we had planned (we were originally planning to go modern), but it's starting to grow on us. Some day we'll reupholster, but we figure we'll go ahead and let the kids destroy this fabric first. We also won't have the large cabinet in there long term--right now it's a bit crowded.


Here's our new garage door. We had a lot of fun knocking down walls for this one. And for the first time in my adult life, I don't have to take my kids out into the rain to get them into the car. It's so fantastic.

Family Time

These two photos were taken on Memorial Day in Pocatello at the Sutton's place, my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Tom. They have five boys, all of whom are married, all with children or expecting them, and living within an hour radius. As a result, Ruth and Tom have a permanent playroom and are well set-up for visitors with young kids. On Memorial Day they pull out all the stops for a barbecue, lots of ice cream, games, and even motorcycle rides around the property. Isaac thought he died and went to heaven; Linda just thought she was really cool. And Uncle Tom's looking rather Harrison Ford-esque, don't you think?


This picture below was also taken on Memorial Day with my mom's mom, Jean Nyberg, who also lives in Pocatello. She lived in my hometown while I was growing up, so I was lucky enough to always have a close relationship with her. She is a great lady, and I sure wish I saw her more often.



Labor Day, swimming at the hotel pool where my parents were staying when they came for Mary's baptism. Mary wasn't baptized in the pool...

After the baptism, Mary and I with my mom, Linda, and my Grandma Jean. I think Mary and Grandma have nearly the same expression!

Isaac's Christmas Program

The first grade classes put on a really cute program this year, devoted to their grandparents. They learned and sang over a dozen songs, so here is just a taste. When he found me in the crowd he spent the rest of the program waving and winking at me. He was awfully sweet. Grandmas and Grandpas, he has some gifts he'll be sending to you since you couldn't make it.

Random photos of the last few months

Here are some fun photos of my crazy children. Do you like Linda's new sense of fashion?

This is Linda with our neighbor, JT. He has a child development class at school, so he invited Linda to come for an hour last week for a special Christmas party. I don't think I've seen her so excited in a long time, and when I picked her up she had such a huge smile. One whole hour of undivided attention from one of her favorite people in the world, doing crafts and eating treats--sometimes I think she gets lost here at home being a middle child, and this was a good reminder for me to be a little more careful to spread my attention around.

Bath Dancing:


Isaac usually has his tongue out in photos, but he doesn't usually look so much like he's possessed......


Abby is firmly into the Adorable Stage, although she likes to pull the Christmas tree over, eat crayons, and climb on the kitchen table.




I feel bad that I don't have any photos of Mary, but she got her own post about the baptism, right? Usually she's at school, or reading Turkish on the couch, or sitting at her desk working on her book--a grammar of Egyptian hieroglyphics. You might think I'm kidding but I'm not. She also begs Dad to teach her calculus.

Halloween

Despite the trauma of choosing a costume, Mary finally settled on a BYU paleontologist, Isaac picked his dinosaur costume again, and Linda was a princess.


Mary is holding her paleontology brush and a styrofoam replica of a T-Rex tooth. Thanks Aunt Rachel, for the tooth and for the dino head on the cougar body.

Isaac decided his costume was too hot, so he took it off for the school parade. At least he carried it, eh? What a silly boy!


I think the mess on Abby's chin here is just some chocolate, I swear.



Linda has a wonderful preschool teacher who goes all out for everything. Here is the tail end of their Halloween parade and program:

Mary's Baptism

The baptism was a wonderful day. Mary was well-prepared and seemed to understand exactly the covenant she was making. She looked beautiful in the dress her aunts Sarah and Rachel Stratford had been baptized in. Her two Grandmothers gave the talks, Rachel and Sister Budge gave the prayers. She was adamant that it should all be girls. Thank goodness she relented and let Dad baptize and confirm her!

I told her she could pick a dress for her special day and I would make it for her. This is the pattern and fabric she chose. She loves China and loves unique colors and designs. Hence the neon dress. I realized about a month after the baptism that I cut and sewed the skirt with the Chinese characters upside down. I wouldn't be so embarrassed except that a Chinese family just moved into our ward. Oops!