Maps on the Wall

Part of our preparation for our trip is making sure we have a good grasp on the geography of the Holy Land. Looking at maps is awesome and helpful, but we wanted to make it a bit more "hands-on".

We started by making a "Post-it Note" map back in July 2018. It was incredibly generalized, and not at all perfect:

Em reviewing about the cities (orange notes) and water bodies (blue notes), July 2018

We learned the major seas ("The Dead, the Red, and the Med"), added the Sea of Galilee, and talked about some of the major cities, both past (Caesarea Maritima and Capernaum) and present (Dan, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem). It was helpful in figuring out basic directions, such as the Galilee is north of the city of Jerusalem, the Jordan runs down in the east side, or the Red Sea is farthest south. And we started becoming familiar with the names and general locations of places in the Holy Land.

Post-it notes being what they are, this was a ephemeral map. Eventually, all the notes were removed, displaced, or lost--which was okay! It was expected. But as we approach the T-18 months mark, it is time to do something different. And slightly more permanent. (Imagine the mom in me getting excited and cringing at the same time.)

Bring out the permanent markers and a video projector!

 Here Gee is using a laser pointer to indicate different countries surrounding Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

 And here are my five children, from 15 to 8 years old, writing on my wall with black permanent markers. (Cringe!) (But awesome!)

 More jostling, drawing, and complaining when a sibling got their shadow in the way.

 There were surprisingly few arguments, though.

Here is the finished product! (Click to make it bigger)

It's pretty faint, which is okay by all of us. There are no names, no cities, no lakes or rivers (except as delineated by a border). But this is the blank slate on which we can talk about ancient events, Biblical events, more recent events, physiographic locations (mountains, rivers, valleys), and current events. We'll use paints (maybe), more post-it notes (definitely), and (probably) even more permanent markers. And when we are done, we'll paint it over with marker-blocking primer and paint--and maybe start on our next great adventure!

Field Trip Reports: The Jordan River

(We have asked our children to prepare field trip reports for our trip--they are doing these all on their own, so keep that in mind as you read!)

Jordan River (Yum, age 8)

The Jordan River is the most important river of Israel. It passes through the Huleh Valley (the waters of Merom), then goes down to the Sea of Galilee, 682 feet below the level of the Med. Passing out at the south end of the lake, the river makes its way through a deep and very hot valley, 66 miles in length, called the Arabah, and finally enters the Dead Sea. The two most important events that happened are (1) this is the way the children of Israel came into the promised land by crossing the Jordan river after escaping from Egypt. (2) this is where Jesus was baptized. The Jordan river is 50 to 200 feet deep. As you can see, the Jordan river is a very important part of Israel.

Field Trip Reports: the Via Dolorosa

(We have asked our children to prepare field trip reports for our trip--they are doing these all on their own, so keep that in mind as you read!)

The Via Dolorosa (Hebs, age 10)

Location, history, and backstory

The Via Dolorosa is near a place where Jesus walked on his way to being crucified. The Via Dolorosa is where some people (mostly bad and wrongly accused) were crucified. Crucifixion is when a bad person (other than Jesus and good people) are hung on crosses there feet and hands are nailed to a cross and then there is a little pad where people can rest a little but if they want to drink, they have to reach for a drink of vinegar in a sponge (I know, this is very gruesome, it's true though)



This is part of the Via Dolorosa (not a place where Jesus was crucified) there are other places like the Via Dolorosa but this one looks cool. This is not really the Via Dolorosa, it probably feel apart a long time ago, this is a replica the locations of the Via Dolorosa is in Jerusalem by: Temple Mount, Jewish Quarter, Armenian Quarter, Christian Quarter and the Muslim Quarter.



Temple Mount, a place around the Via Dolorosa. This is a place around the Via Dolorosa, it is a place where all sorts of people hold meetings, consoles and other things. Jesus went to the temple multiple times. 



This is the Christian Quarter (look at the pigeons!) this place is where lots of people lived and maybe Jesus walked through...

Field Trip Reports: The Garden of Gethsemane

(We have asked our children to prepare field trip reports for our trip--they are doing these all on their own, so keep that in mind as you read!)

The Garden of Gethsemane (Em, age 13)

The Garden of Gethsemane is where Jesus was before He was captured and crucified. It sits at the foot of the Mount of Olives. The word "Gethsemane" itself means "oil-press". The garden is very frequently visited by many people from around the world.

Planning Airfare

We've been thinking that October would be a great month to make our trip, since we figured it was a "shoulder season" time when prices would be more attractive. However, looking at this flight trend tracker from Kayak, it looks like October is the second most expensive month for air travel. Looks like we'll want to look at late October or November to get a better deal on airfare. With 7 people in our family going, the price difference will really add up.