Back to Jerusalem (and other exciting things)

Over the past few month, my plans have gone awry time after time. Yet, somehow, in many ways, things have turned out a lot better than I could have planned them. It all started when a five-day trip to Europe for conferences turned into a three month stay in the US. First, I wasn’t able to return to Israel from Germany because of the war. Then my student visa expired, and it took me a long time to get that renewed. By then, I was back in the US with my family, and I realized that the options for flights from the US to Israel were very few and very expensive. And so, since I was enjoying spending time at home, and since I was able to keep up on my studies from home, I decided I could take my time and wait for an affordable flight to become available before I tried to head back to Israel.

I also delayed my return to Israel for another reason. When we were in San Antonio for the NEAS conference in November, my fellow TBS student/dig teammate, Clayton, and I decided to pursue a relationship. We planned back-to-back trips in January to meet each other’s families.

Petroglyphs at Buffalo Eddy

Clayton came to Idaho first. As it turned out, after a mild beginning to the season, winter arrived with a vengeance the same day that Clayton arrived in Idaho. With about eight inches of snow and temperatures well below zero Fahrenheit, our activities were rather limited. Nevertheless, we enjoyed spending time together, and I got to introduce Clayton to all of my immediate family and some of my friends. We also drove out to Buffalo Eddy to look at Native American petroglyphs.

After Clayton’s visit, we planned to fly together to Tennessee to visit his family. We drove up to the Spokane airport, allowing plenty of time to traverse the icy roads. But, flying out of Spokane turned out to not be an easy thing. We boarded, taxied, and returned to the gate multiple times. First it was because of frozen pipes on the plane. The next time, it was because an engine wouldn’t start. Then, the plane wasn’t able to get de-iced. We stood in line to rebook our tickets so many times I lost count. In the end, we spent two days in the Spokane airport. When we got onto a plane that actually took off and flew, we were astonished.

I very much enjoyed my visit to Clayton’s home region. We started with a visit to Kentucky to tour the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. There, we attended an excellent theatrical production of C. S. Lewis’ The Horse and His Boy. After that, we drove to Tennessee, where I met Clayton’s family and friends.

Puppets from The Horse and His Boy

But the highlight of the trip was when Clayton took me to a lovely state park, the birthplace of Davy Crocket. We walked among the trees along the river, and there, in the snow, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. And, of course, I said yes. My few remaining days in Tennessee passed far too quickly

We are engaged!

After my visit to Tennessee, I flew back to Idaho, unpacked, repacked, and prepared to leave for Israel. But, again, the weather disrupted my plans. The plane I was scheduled to fly out on never arrived – it couldn’t land due to fog, and it diverted to another airport. Again, I got rebooked over and over again. Thankfully, the flight was out of Lewiston rather than Spokane, so I got to spend time at home rather than sitting in the airport. I finally flew out four days later than scheduled. The trip went well, and I arrived in Israel without any problems other than that my luggage did not arrive with me.

I took the train from the airport to Jerusalem and arrived to find my apartment just as I left it, other than a coating of dust on everything. Also, I had left a window open, so it was very cold inside. I have spent the past couple of days since my return unpacking, cleaning, doing laundry, and running heaters to warm up the apartment. I have also been working on getting my car up and running again, both mechanically and legally, since the registration expired while I was gone.

Jerusalem is very quiet these days. There are practically no tourists, and the locals seem very subdued. There is a strong military presence in the streets. People are saying that the war is likely to drag out for a long while, but perhaps with less intensity. It seems that Israel has put its troops on a rotating schedule, so friends of mine who have been in active service in Gaza are now returning home for a few months. I think that Israel will try to return to a sense of normalcy as quickly as possible, despite the ongoing war. I continue to pray for peace in the land.