Christmas! . . . well, sorta.

Because Bethlehem is in the West Bank, we are not able to go there on our own,

but today we all went as an organized fieldtrip to see it all!

  

 On the way there we sang "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" as part of our morning devotional.

I sat next to Abbie (the daughter of Bro. Harper) who joined us for the adventure.

 Our first stop was King Herod's Palace about 12 km south of Jerusalem

(see pictures above).

One of the most interesting things about this stop?

CATERPILLARS! 

They were seriously everywhere.

Jason calculated that as a group we probably killed AT LEAST 102 caterpillars

(some people by accident, others on purpose).

(it says: > 102 *dead caterpillars*)

 hahaha. 

Personally, I thought Jason's "dead caterpillar" face was spot on,

 but other people apparently don't see things as clearly as I do.

 This is what happens when Tucker (aka Paige) 

and I discover that both of our mom's names are "Jennifer Lynn Ca-"

He exclaimed "SISTER!" and then tried to give me a hug. 

 

 

(Bon was in love with that sand/chalk stuff.)

Candid laughter always makes for great photos.

 Especially when you have "coookies." 

;)

 

 Lunch at the "Tent Restaurant" was fantastic!

Erin asked for more hummus so when the guy came back he brought a plate of hummus for the table 

and then another plate exclusively for her.

She was in heaven.

 

After lunch we went to a Shepard's field

 where we talked about the birth of Christ 

and sang Christmas carols.

 

As you can see, Huntsman gets pretty animated when he lectures.

It's great.

 Bwahahaha.

Yes.

Yes I purposely wore red to Bethlehem 

with the hopes that a guy in the group would wear green

 so that I could take a Christmas card photo 

like the one you see above :) 

(the fact that David was even wearing green stripes today was just superb.) 

I guess I really am my parents' daughter
when it comes to planning Christmas Cards wayyy in advance ;)

 (hahahahaha.)

 Oh what a life I live

 :)