and she came to JERUSALEM: A much needed update: Bethlehem, 4th of July,Dome of the Rock

Oh man has it been ages since I last updated my blog... sorry about that. I have had a spectacular past month and have been blessed beyond all imagination. I have learned so much and experienced even more. So here we go! This post is an update concerning our trip to Bethlehem, the best 4th of July in Jerusalem, and one last trip to the Dome of the Rock.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY? Bethlehem was spectacular. There is something special about that small city. Bethlehem is actually only about five miles south of Jerusalem located on a small hill. We were able to visit a lot of places but my favorites were the church commemorating where Jesus was born and Shepherds Hill.

This is Anna Marie and myself setting at the place where Jesus was most likely born. It has now been all decorated by the church that owns it but it still was amazing to be here.

Me, Lane, and Lauren on Shepherds Hill. It is right between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. We had an amazing devotional here and sang a bunch of Christmas songs and thought about if we would have been willing to go see the new baby Jesus. Would you?

While in Bethlehem, I picked up one of my favorite souvenirs of this whole trip... a white baby blessing blanket. This means that I will get to bless all of my own kids in a blanket that came from the same town that Jesus was born in! Pretty cool huh?

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!!!

As the 4th quickly approached, a bunch of the students here got a little bummed. The 4th is that time of summer when all the family gets together, you play games, swim, eat yummy food, and watch fireworks. Definitely a time to feel a little homesick. But no worries, thanks to the Ludlows, and wonderful kitchen staff, and our FHE committee, the 4th over here in Jerusalem was one of my favorites of all time!

After classes in the morning, I headed over to the Ludlow's to make some 4th of July cakes! Sister Ludlow, Lane, and I headed to the store (in a real car) to get all the ingredients while Brother Ludlow stayed home and baked the two cakes (he is pretty domestic if you ask me)! We then spent the afternoon playing games, getting our nails painted by Marissa, watching movies, and most importantly decorating cakes!

Here is one of them! Isn't pretty? Melia and Marissa helped with the decorating and they did such a great job!

Here are all of us with the cake: Chloe, me, Brother Ludlow, Sister Ludlow, Natalie, Hannah, Joe, Lane, Marissa, and Melia.

Little did we know, the best part of our day was yet to come! Akhmed (the head chef) had prepared a DELICIOUS meal for us! We had REAL HAMBURGERS!!! They were so good. In addition to the hamburgers, we had corn, potato salad, salad, and pie and ice cream for dessert. A pretty "4th of July" meal if you ask me! Thank you, Akhmed!

Lane and I were so excited for our Hamburgers (come to find out, when you don't eat real hamburgers, due to Kosher laws, for almost three months, you get really excited)!!!

Oh how I love the Ludlows! Joe, Josh, and Marissa (she broke her poor little ankle jumping on a trampoline).

This collage is for David Cramer! We realized that we had not taken any pictures together this entire trip so we pegged the 4th as the day that we would take a pic or two or three together! Here you go Cramer (aka... funniest kid here)!!!

We ended the day with "Minute to Win It" games, flag cakes and the National Anthem, a massive dance party, and fireworks over the city (there are fireworks every night here so we all sat outside waiting for someone to light some!) HAPPY 4th!

DOME OF THE ROCK!

As our trip comes to a close, a group of us girls decided that we would make one last trip to the Dome of the Rock! Oh how I love this building!

Brooke, me, Lane, and Lauren at the Dome!