It is amazing how close Jezebel and the Shunammite women were to one another. It is no wonder that this woman of Shunam was so independent and able to care for herself when Jezebel lived so close to her and modeled strength!! I am taking the picture from Shunam and the grove of trees in the distance is Jezreel. David's beautiful "body warmer" in 1 Kings 1 is a Shunammite as well.

Here is a picture of Deborah Graf, John Egerton, Becky Thomas, and Daria Trumbo under the Czech picture of Mary at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. You can't see it, but Moravia is written in the top left corner.

Yes it is possible to get lost in a kibbutz

After a long trip and a great breakfast Daria and I went to the pool while John and Deborah were lazy! The water was perfect as it is quite warm here (to put it lightly). John joined us and took a swim while we were laying in the shade avoiding sunburn. None of us remember what we had for lunch (I believe we were still a bit delirious from the jet-lag). All of us headed back to the pool to savor our day of relaxation. Perhaps the most eventful part of the day was when Daria and I decided to walk back to the room ourselves and we ended up walking in all directions, arguing about which way to go. Logically we kept walking around until Daria decided to go back to the others and get directions.
Shalom,
Becky

On the way and initial arrival

This is Deborah Graf writing - with a few comments from Becky and Daria -
We will try to remember as much as possible, so much has happened in the past day and a half...

Becky was very pleased to have the task of schlepping Count Zinzendoll in her backpack for the whole trip.  He came out first at Newark Airport to eat some delicious Subway food.
We left at around 6:30 pm from Moravian Seminary (thanks to Becky's Aunts and Daria's Aunt Joy and mom.

Newark airport is not the most exciting place to spend 3 hours while waiting for a plane that was 45 minutes late in taking off.  The food on Lot airlines was "interesting" as Becky puts it.  (basically long pieces of bread with some meat...)  There were a LOT of children on that plane - traveling families and many older kids traveling alone.

Arrived in Warsaw - 8 hour layover... I went into town while the others stayed at the airport.  (Euro 2012 is going on, so there were lots of directions for tourists and lots of English speaking people!)

Back on the plane to Tel Aviv.  Going through security was not as bad as we imagined.  Becky went first because she brought along the paper with all the traveling information (thank God.)  All the luggage arrived quickly and mostly in tact (except for the zipper on Daria's pink suitcase.)  As we waited outside, we got to see the sunrise.

It was a relief when Deborah Appler came to pick us up. (She only got lost once on the way.)  Luckily all of our luggage fit into the dusty blue Mazda.  Drove through Tel Aviv and up the coast of the Mediterranean.  Got to the kibbutz.

Let us tell you - this is "kibbutz deluxe" - complete with the cleanest swimming pool you will find in Israel (thanks to the kibbutz's production of swimming pool cleaning machines, which is their bread and butter.)

The place we are staying is cool - two rooms - one up and one down.  Thank God for air-conditioning because the sun is very intense, even in the morning.

We got to eat breakfast (every morning they have beautiful vegetables like fresh cucumbers and peppers and tomatoes along with boiled eggs, yogurt, and cereal.)  Then had some welcome downtime.

It was Shabbat so there were not a whole lot of things going on.  Luckily we had electricity the whole day (we were warned we might not have any in the afternoon.)

One thing I will not forget is:  Drink Drink Drink!

We are here!!! Look for pictures of the group including Count Zinzendorff later today (once we get electricity).

Welcome to our blog! Saturday at 5:00 AM Israeli time, Deborah Graf, John Egerton, Rebekah Thomas, and Daria Trumbell will make their way down to Kibbutz Jezreel where they join Deborah Appler, dig directors Drs. Norma Franklin and Jennie Ebeling as well as staff, Ian Cipin and Dr. Julye Bidmead. We will begin an exciting journey as we survey Jezreel, dig at tel Megiddo and then explore the religious and cultural world of the Galilee and Jerusalem. Saturday is rest and recuperation from the flight as well as an introduction to Jezreel. To learn more about the Tel Jezreel expedition and Jezreel, see http://www.jezreel-expedition.com/ . We will continue to update you about our trip via pictures and narrative over these next few days!!