a open letter to the stairwells of jerusalem

i know we have had our differences in the past but now i am ready to say that i surrender. i now realize you are superior and so i wave the white flag. this became obvious to me in our encounters over the past few days. while i was on the roof of our apartment and thought i could nibley step down while caring the clothes basket and walking in my slippers, you however thwarted my plans and my busied calf reminds me of your triumph. or later that day when i tried to slip past the orthodox jewish man with the 3 foot stick in the stairwell i thought my balance and timing superior to anything you could throw at me, however after tumbling to the floor, as my money rolled across the floor, all the jewish man could say was "wow." this was much like your earlier victory when walking in the old city and falling to my knees the arab man i tumbled in front of similarly said, "wow, are you ok?"

so stairway steps and stairwells i formally submit my defeat to you. please cease and desist all hostile activity. i humbly wave my white flag.

(kristi)

purim

jerusalem has been overtaken over by what to an american would look like halloween. jews throughout the world tonight/today/this week are celebrating purim. a holiday that remembers esther and God's work in her obedience to save the hebrew people.

tonight tim and i will go to a purim service, where children and adults will be dressed up. the book of esther will be read (in hebrew - bummer for those of us who don't understand) and whenever the name of esther is read people will cheer and whenever the name of haman is read people will boo.

again flashbacks to 2001 where hillary, kristin, nico, andrea and i dressed up like characters from the wizard of oz. sarah and bekah were country folk. drew were you a 50s rock star? slightly scary memories of jonah in a toga come to mind. tim was MIA for the evening - probably roaming the mountains in search of adventure.

tonight should be interesting to say the least. tim and i were going to go as pirates (big surprise) but we think we may go as backpackers - easier and less embarrassing as we walk through the old city. pictures to come.

oh and on a totally different note - how is it that carly was in the bottom three on american idol?! in my honor will someone vote for her for me next week :)

and also - kendal was wondering about fly fishing in the jordan river - would be totally awesome. you will have to bring your rod/pole (or whatever you call it) when you make it to israel. the river is calling your name. show the picture to sean - maybe you could both make it over. (as we arrived people where packing up some kayaking gear, which looked super fun). fly fishing in the jordan river - glory to God! (shout out to beth moore and sonya).

hezzy's tunnel

first day in jerusalem - what could be better than hezekiah's tunnel (or as colin and greg like to call hezzy's tunnel).

here we go...
me, colin and greg (not sure why greg is lifting his shirt) :)

tk and i (i like this picture even though it is blurry)
all done. so fun.
colin and greg are currently exploring the galilee area, which gives me time to catch up on life. they return tomorrow. and friday we welcome calvin and his brother brent. nothing like lots of visitors. all and all my energy levels are back to normal and am thoroughly enjoying showing off israel to good friends.

home

Spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fasting and caring are ways to help us return home. as we walk home we often realize how long the way is. but let us not be discouraged. Jesus walks with us and speaks to us on the road. when we listen carefully we discover that we are already home while on the way. H. Nouwen

John 14:23-27 -
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

tired but laughing a lot

hello friends - just wanted to write a quick note to let you know we are doing well. i will post more soon. life has felt a bit like a whirlwind. tim and i drove with my parents to tel aviv yesterday and spent some time with them at their hotel. we then drove straight to the airport and picked up colin and greg (guys tim met through young life).

today we had a great day seeing different sites around jerusalem - one of which was going through hezekiah's tunnel. so fun. now we are in bed - ready to sleep at 8:00 pm. we are loving having the guys here. i hope to post more soon.

mom and dad pics part 2

here are pictures from the second half of our trip with my mom and dad. tomorrow we head to the coast for a day of exploring and to drop them off at their hotel in tel aviv. they leave monday afternoon for home. (sunday night after dropping them off we head to the airport to pick up some of tim's young life guys - colin and greg - fun visitors take two!)

coffee at aroma
garden of gethsemane - church of all nations (with olive trees in the background)

hanging out in mom and dad's hotel

we made it to galilee!

mom and dad at our hotel in galilee

mom and tim with the sea behind

day two in galilee - tim and i with the jordan river behind

capharnaum

church of beatitudes

end of the day walking back to the hotel from visiting the first century boat.
what a great day! :)

pictures with mom and dad

well mom and i are at home resting while tim and dad conquer david's citadel and the tower of the church of the redeemer. enjoy these pictures from our first few days together!

meeting on the top of massada, near the dead sea.

Massada

swimming in the dead sea

day one in jerusalem. yeah for aroma coffee! (in front of jaffa gate)

jewish quarter excavations

western wall and dome of the rock
JUC - tour of school.

the shuke - the market where i buy most of our food

Day two in jerusalem: the garden tomb started the day.

church of the holy sepulchre
yeah for kristi- the tour guide :)

temple mount excavations - dad and i sitting on first century steps. so cool.

bunches of pictures here - more to come. :)

life in the fast lane

good morning from jerusalem. so i only have a few min before i have to meet my parents for coffee - yum! we have been doing very well. i am loving the chance to show my dear parents around. we will post pictures soon. i am thinking we are in need for a bit of a rest time, which probably will come this afternoon.

please pray for energy. i think yesterday we realized there is only so much walking the human body can handle :) and pray for continued good times together.

ps. field trip was great. lots of sun, which i hear is typical for the desert. good info. glad i don't have to take the test like tim does this morning.

love, k

oh and check out drew and bekah's adoption blog (look to the link on the right). their precious one has come home!!!!

Shephelah, day one of 3 day trip :)

the shephelah are the lowland hills west of the hill country of judah before one gets to the coastal plain

also, talked to kristi's parents, they made it here fine!

safe in jerusalem

thanks for all you who have called or emailed us to check in and make sure we are safe and okay. for those of you who don't know, there was a shooting in jerusalem yesterday. it was at a jewish school a hour and a half walk away from us. honestly, many of you heard about it before we did. we are safe and sound where we are at, the only real difference where we are at today is that it is on a heightened state of security.

pray for the families that lost loved ones.

pray for the peace of jerusalem.

trash man

how do you change the trash system in a compact city that doesn't respond to change all that well?... very carefully and with patience.

yesterday as i was visiting francswa she explained to me the whole trash system in the old city was changing tomorrow. ok. she explained at 7:00 am i needed to have my trash by the outside door of our complex and the rest would be explained. she even told me they had installed cameras in the old trash collection places in case anyone put their trash there and if caught people would get a fine. she mentioned something about a bucket - i think at this point we were no longer understanding each other...

so this morning i woke up at 6:50 - got the trash together and wondered how all of this would work. elena was already up and about, running here and there. with the outside door open. almost as if someone very special was coming or something very exciting was happening. she showed me where to put the trash, she went and gathered hers. francswa headed down the stairs with her trash. and then we waited for the man to come...

i think the waiting was the hardest part for elena :) the trash man finailly came. gave us some trash bags, which i am not exactly sure what to do with (as there is nothing very special or sturdy about the bag he gave)... and now we know. trash out by 7. no longer put trash on the street in a special place (like we did before) and all and all the city will be cleaner. i wonder what the cats will do now for food...

3 DAYS!!!

3 days. that is how many days until my mom and dad are in jerusalem!!! YEAH!! tim and i will be on a field study when they arrive. a three day trip to the shephelah, negev, jezreel valley, dead sea. they will join us monday, the last day of the three day trip. they will meet us at the top of massada - herod's fortress - so cool! we will spend the day exploring the area around the dead sea.

also tim and i are super excited that we will see joel newton on friday, as he begins a tour here in the land. we will miss hillary not coming along.

random thought (who only those here in 2001 will understand). today as i was walking from the garden (as it is a BEAUTIFUL DAY and i was enjoying the sun) i walked past the door to the tomb room and had a vision of jonah coming out and yawning. for some reason i often saw him emerging from the room, stretching and giving out a big yawn. i guess he took a lot of naps.

so i don't know what the connection will be like on the field study, but i will try my best to post some pics as soon as i can. and soon and very soon pics will contain anne and geoff. :)

(also thanks to jason who is watching faith dogg while they are away!!! and congrats on getting engaged!)

... ok lots of exclamation points in this entry. guess i am just really excited. :)

dad

thank you for your continued prayers for tim's dad's health. ken had his third round of chemo last thursday. and despite feeling a bit tired - and a weird taste in his in mouth - his body held up well. he continues to amaze us with his regular workouts and keeping up with his work schedule. please pray for him as he has much on his plate in these next few weeks and desires (as always) to be fully present with the energy he needs. he has received over 30 hats in the mail in response to a great idea vickie had and they all find great joy in people's generous (and funny) gifts. we are thankful for skype and an ability to talk with them weekly on the phone. there are days when it is still hard to be away, but we are incredibly thankful for the way the Lord has used the community to communicate His love and support to them. we are also thankful beyond words that the cancer is responding to the chemo. the Lord continues to make Himself know to our family through this process, for which we are grateful. we covet your prayers and are abundantly thankful for your friendships.

with love, kristi & tim (and the greater knipp clan)

caves

today we went and checked out some caves under the old city. many people think they were the quarries used by king Solomon to build the first temple. they are also called Zedekiah caves. either way they are very cool. the quarry was certainly used at some time for building supplies for the city.

day of rest

whelp. no trip to the beach. hopefully soon. decided staying at home to rest would be better. this is our last weekend in a while where we won't be busy. we are getting super excited for our visitors. my parents arrive saturday. we will be out of town on a field trip, but they will join us for the last day of our field trip on monday at the dead sea. crazy that we will see them for the first time at the top of massada. how cool is that?!

tim and i are loving this season of Lost. we watched the latest episode with some friends last night. tim had his first archaeology class on friday. 3 hour class. no breaks. the prof is a very well known archaeologist in israel - extremely smart. tim enjoyed the class, even though it is pretty intense taking 14 pages of notes in a 3 hour span. no papers, reading assignments, nothing. just one big test at the end, which decides the grade. i am sure tim will do great!

today we relaxed. did some laundry. watched some tv. started a new book - loving it so far - "the memory keepers daughter." played our new favorite game with kurtis and erin. tim spent the last few hours of sunshine playing soccer. we came home to dinner on our steps. yeah francswa!! one of the greatest joys/blessings of being here is coming home on a regular basis to delicious food.

tomorrow we are going to church with jamil and his family - an Arabic Christian service. the singing will be in arabic, but the sermon is translated - we will just have to wear headsets. reminds me of nepal. back to church with headsets. :) we are hoping to check out some sites around the old city tomorrow afternoon.

lately i have felt challenged to live in the present - thankful for each moment. not rushing to the next thing. when i was reading "ruthless trust" a few months ago Brennan Manning talked about living in the present being one of the greatest steps of trust in Christ. trusting Him for the provision and grace for today. releasing to Him the worry of tomorrow. being filled with gratitude for the day we are given. this certainly isn't easy for me. but i am finding a contentment and subtle joy that is difficult to describe. whatever encouragement it may be - know that Jesus desires for you to live presently - to show you His abundant love today and to allow you to participate with Him in His work today.