Christmas Vacation

**Disclaimer: I am a little uncertain about exactly how much I can put on the blog about the extent of our trip… if we decide against posting everything, I will still type it all up, include pictures etc.. just like the blog, but email it out instead**

We traveled regionally this Christmas and had the most memorable, amazing trip!  We only planned this about one month before going but had been talking about it for quite a while.   It was difficult for me to be away from our families this Christmas…  the very first Christmas in my ENTIRE LIFE to be away… it was actually a bit depressing..  so this trip was an excellent distraction. Lets Go. 

We flew out of Abu Dhabi early in the morning and landed in Amman, Jordan.  Since the flight was 3 hours, but there is a 2 hour time difference, it was still early in the morning when we landed.  Charles arranged a driver for us to pick us up when we landed and apparently the company didn’t take note that we are a family of 4 and will be traveling with 4 large suitcases… After a few tries we finally got the trunk to shut and off we went.  Najib, our driver for the next few days, took us to The Citadel in Amman to look around and site see for a bit.  I had no idea the city had ancient Roman ruins! Really cool to see this in person.. you wonder, how in the world did they get those stones up there so high?!

After walking and exploring for a while we went into a small museum and got to see some really OLD stuff.

6500 B.C.!!!  woah.

this one was even older than the previous!

 

I liked this sign – I’m no geography whiz, so this was helpful to understand where everything was in relation to each other.

We left there and drove around to kill time until we could check into our hotel…. We stayed at the Dead Sea Marriott.  Literally right on the Dead Sea.  It was a fabulous hotel.  Gorgeous views, amazing grounds, lots to do.

Welcoming the kids with juice when we arrived.

The pool view – people were swimming.. nuts!. I was too cold.

The hotel had a great playground… naturally, we spent a lot of time there

We went down to check out the dead sea after we got settled in our room. 

I found some interesting facts about the dead sea on the internet for ya…

20 Quick facts About The Dead Sea

1. The Dead Sea isn’t actually a sea at all! The Dead Sea is a saltwater lake.
2. Hence the name, there is no marine life in the Dead Sea. The high mineral and salt content of the waters make it impossible for fish or plants to live.
3. The Dead Sea is the second saltiest body of water in the world, with a salt content of 33%.
4. Cleopatra loved the Dead Sea so much, she ordered that cosmetic factories and resorts be built along its shores.
5. You can lay on the surface of the water without even trying to float. The high salt content makes you buoyant.
6. Water flows into the Dead Sea from streams and rivers, but does not flow out.
7. Dead Sea salt is super bitter and not at all like table salt.
8. The Dead Sea is filled with minerals including calcium, iodine, saline, potassium, and bromide.
9. The minerals in the Dead Sea all naturally occur within our bodies.
10. Egyptians used mud from the Dead Sea in their mummification of the deceased.
11. Centuries ago, one of the popular names of the Dead Sea was “The Stinky Sea”.
12. Asphalt often rises to the surface of the water in the Dead Sea. The Greeks called it “Lake Asphaltites” after the strange phenomenon.
13. The climate of the Dead Sea region is sunny, warm and dry all year round.
14. Both Jesus and John the Baptist are closely tied to the Dead Sea in biblical writings.
15. In the Bible, it is said that the Dead Sea will one day come alive and fill with marine life.
16. The shores of Dead Sea mark the lowest elevation on earth.
17. Aristotle wrote about the Dead Sea in his writings.
18. During the 20^th Century, the “Dead Sea Scrolls” were discovered. These scrolls are the ancient writings of the Essenes.
19. The Dead Sea is 3 million years old.
20. The unique salt in the Dead Sea treats acne, psoriasis, hives, cellulite, dry skin, dandruff, stress, muscle aches, and more.

so many of the rocks were covered with salt.. looks like ice or snow, doesn’t it?

Audrey reminded me of my sister in this picture.. they don’t look alike.. but the rock collecting and set up is something she would have done.. Audrey also found a bone a little later on in our vacation and wanted to keep it as a souvenir… ha.. this was SO kari when she was little.

Notice the sign below –415.75 meters below sea level… us Americans don’t think in meters…. so here’s the conversion  -1363.66 Feet

Day 2: Baptism Site of Jesus, Mount Nebo & Madaba

We were sooooo tired from our early morning departure and the 2 hour time difference, we wanted to sleep at 7:00 pm and wake up at 4:00 am… We were up and at ‘em so early that we needed to kill time before Najib came to pick us up…. so we walked around the hotel property and sold it to the kids as “we are going on an adventure.”  They were dying to get their winter gear on we were surprised at how unseasonably warm it was, the weather was cool, crisp and perfect!

Najib drove us to the Baptism site of Jesus. This is not in Amman, but in Bethany {they called it Bethany beyond the Jordan} – it took us about 35 minutes to get there. Luckily the next tour was scheduled to leave shortly after we arrived.  We got on a bus and it drove us to this pathway where we did the rest of the tour by foot.  We didn’t realize this or we would have brought a stroller or two, but honestly the kids did great and had lots of fun.  

Our first stop on the path was John the Baptist Spring:  The stone below says that this spring was used for drinking water… I was so surprised that there was indeed no water here… I asked the guide about it and he said that this is the dry season and in a couple of weeks the rain will come and the water will flow.

Just a little bible background on John the Baptist… his mother, Elizabeth and Mary were cousins.  Elizabeth was already pregnant with John when Mary told her she was expecting Jesus and John ‘jumped for joy’ in her womb.  Jesus’ baptism by John marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry… and actually the beginning of Christianity.  Here is a picture of the kids going down into the area of the “spring”

John the Baptist paved the way for Jesus…

click here to read: The Testimony of John the Baptist

The small windy paths were beautiful…

We paused for a family pic – our tour guide suggested that we stop and take a picture.. and so we did… Also – every time Charles would get out of earshot, he would compliment me – lets just say he was quite smitten with me LOL.. I thought it was hilarious. 

This mosaic is a picture of the following verse:

^{Matthew 3:16} As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

It overwhelmed me that the voice of God was actually audible here.. The Holy Spirit was visible here. wow.

The excavation and discovery of this site began 3 years after the 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel.  How lucky are we that just in the last 15 years this huge landmark was uncovered.. amazing.!!

Remains of an old mosaic church floor are shown on the ground.  The church was built to commemorate the spot of Jesus’ baptism built in the 5th century AD. 

As we were passing this spot, the guide let everyone else go ahead of us, made sure no one was looking and then waved for us to follow him.  He motioned to us to go down into the area that was roped off and to go into the actual site to stand where Jesus stood… UMMM OKAY!!! He didn’t have to twist my arm!

When walking down the steps, the guide reminded us that this is exactly where Jesus walked down for His Baptism.  I remember feeling choked up and overwhelmed at just the thought.  The man told us to turn to our left..  toward Jerusalem and say a prayer.

The experience was so beautiful… seeing scripture come to life and become tangible for the first time was something that is hard to describe.

We caught up with the group and headed down to the Jordan River.  You’ll see a very very narrow river and people on the other side.  We were standing in Jordan, they were in Israel.  There were guards with very large guns on both sides.   I was still on cloud 9 from our experience of walking down into Jesus’ Baptism site so it didn’t bother me too much.  Seeing the church groups across the river, yet in another country was so neat.  some were being baptized, some were singing praise and worship songs, and one in particular was wearing a hot pink string bikini… something about that just didn’t feel quite right. is that even legal here?! LOL

Our tour guide still offering to take pictures of us… The water was SO COLD!

Audrey was a grump for a little while because she thought we were going to put her in the water.  She saw the other people in the water and all the talk about Jesus’ Baptism sparked a conversation with her on the topic… She was curious and surprised to find out that daddy and mama had both been baptized – mama twice (once as an infant, later as an adult).. and for some reason she thought we were going to make her get in the water.  We explained the best way we could to a 5 year old what we believe baptism means and that she will decide when she is ready for baptism…and it is not scary!! it is a good thing! Here is daddy trying to explain it to her.. Just the thought of a daddy explaining what baptism means to his baby girl at the Jordan River is pretty amazing in and of itself.  Here is Will.. oblivious. ha!

 

Can you spot the girl in the bikini..? behind the lady in purple.. she is bending over to dry her hair. so funny.

This church was just up the hill from the Jordan River.  It was a beautiful turquoise blue inside, very small, but gorgeous.

Once we left there we headed back on buses to meet Najib.  We asked him if he would take us to Mount Nebo.. and off we went!

On the way we saw Bedouin people.  These people live out in tents nomad style.  We saw them all over Jordan.. I cannot imagine living like that!

These two travelers had been up since 4:30 am and pooped out on the way..

When we got out, we randomly crossed paths with a turkey. ha!

click here to read about the biblical reference to this place:Deuteronomy 34:1-8

The view: Stunning!

Pope John Paul enjoying the view:

This little guy was trying to get some rest, so we made it quick

Back in the car we go.. and Najib suggests we see Madaba.. Ok. sure. but first, lets eat!

That is Najib in the background of the picture below, nice guy, but man he loved to smoke.. see the cigarette he’s lighting up right now?   Not sure how much second hand smoke we took in those few days.. Thankfully he didn’t smoke in the car with us.  He brought us to a local restaurant – the food was really good!! Arabic home-cooking. Delish.

Since Najib wasn’t a Christian, he didn’t really know what to tell us about the places we were going. well, he might have known, but his english wasn’t stellar so maybe he just couldn’t communicate it to us.  I looked stuff up afterwards to connect the dots.. we visited this church called St. Georges Church.  I remember seeing a big map that was made of mosaic tile on the floor.. very, very old.  I later learned that this map was discovered in 1886 and it was a map of the Holy Land done in 542 AD.  This is sort of a present day treasure map for Christians since many historical biblical sites have been uncovered and located exactly where this map suggests they are.  Good thing I snapped a picture of it – at the time, it just seemed like an old mosaic.. as you can tell, they are everywhere in Jordan – but I didn’t understand it’s importance until we got back home.

Here are the remains of the map.. Can you believe that whoever built this church covered it up?!?!

The map also included the site of Jesus’ Baptism.. here’s another angle:

I lit a candle for our families during Christmas time.  I don’t exactly remember what the rule is on lighting candles.. is it for dead people? or for prayer? I just decided to say a prayer and light a candle because they were there and it felt fitting.

There was amazing artwork here – I was shocked at how out in the open it all was.. If this was in the USA it would be in a museum, behind thick glass, 10 feet away, roped off.

More mosaics and ancient art

This was a typical street in the city of Madaba.  Lined with vendors.

We were ready to head back to the hotel so we got in the car and went back to the Dead Sea…

Najib disguised a photo op for his smoke break.. also he stopped on the side of the road for Turkish coffee.  ha. I think we were a bit much for him.

 

These coffee shops were the roadside Jordanian Starbucks

We scored some wine from a shop while in the Mount Nebo area and brought it with us to dinner in the hotel. they didn’t seem to mind..really really good wine. too good. we each had a glass at dinner and then another on a walk around the hotel property.  We could see Jerusalem and Jericho’s city lights as we tried to keep the kids up.. but they crashed before 7 again. danggit!

Sorry if it is a bit blurry.. those night pictures are tricky..  AND I did have two glasses of wine..lightweight, I know.  Jerusalem was directly across the Dead Sea and Jericho was off to the right.

Good Night! Tomorrow I will try to post about Petra.. SO amazing!