Up, Down and All Around!

My parents left Friday after a great, roller coaster of a visit! It was sure hard to see them leave but I’m happy about all of the wonderful new memories that we will laugh about for years to come. Despite a couple of obstacles that came our way, we had an amazing time together. A little recap of our last two weeks…

Just before they arrived I attended a luncheon with someone I’ve always been a little curious about, the woman who wrote the Once a Month Cookbook that I love. Turns out she used to live in Jordan and was back here visiting. It was fun telling her what I tell many people, how her book revolutionalized my life! : ) If you are like me and don’t feel like spending an hour in the kitchen every afternoon this concept is for you! She was amazing! I’ve always been very grateful to my friend Gloria, from Germany, for sending me a copy of that book. She must have known years before I had K that seeing a freezer full of meals would give me great satisfaction!

Then, off to the airport to pick up my parents, Pep was in a happy mood because like J’s folks, she was bumped up to 1st class. I think visiting us is good luck! She said they had to drag her off the plane- 13 hours was just not long enough, haha! The next day we headed to one of my favorite resorts in Jordan on the Dead Sea, stopping at the site of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River along the way. We spent the rest of the day floating in the Dead Sea (awesome, much more fun than I could have imagined!) and baking ourselves in the special mud that is supposed to have healing powers.

In the evening, we had a blast sitting outside with my mom and watching a very elaborate wedding reception take place. Although we were not invited guests, surely we had as much fun as those who were! From our grassy spot on a hill overlooking the festivities we made some new friends, three guys that were hanging out so they could listen to one of the wedding bands and generously supplying us with the beverages so we could celebrate along with the “real” guests. The wedding was over-the-top expensive and a great treat to watch the wedding procession as they marched around the resort grounds dancing, banging on instruments with musicians traditionally dressed leading the way. We even heard that Sadaam Hussein’s daughter was in attendance but unfortunately, we didn’t spot her. We saw enough fireworks that night to make up for July 4th. The only really crummy part was that the LOUD music did not stop until after 3am which must have kept the hundreds of guests at the hotel awake (including us!) for most of the night. I can’t imagine a hotel in the US would ever get away with such a thing but there was no use in our complaining because this wedding took priority over us getting a good night’s rest. At least it did cure their jet lag!

A couple of days later my parents got a tragic first-hand view of the Jordanian traffic situation when I was driving them home from the mall and we all witnessed an elderly man (crossing the road on a v. busy highway) hit by a car. I saw him just ahead of me and was able to hit the brakes in time but sadly, the car on my right did not. I saw the whole thing thru my rear view mirror, which was awful. I’m sure the man was killed instantly and our hearts broke for everyone involved in the accident. There was nothing we could do but pray. Although it used to annoy me when I saw people walk out into busy streets (all of the time) now it just makes me angry. I guess I can only chalk it up to the unique sense of fatalism that they have here. I continue to pray that we will make it thru an entire year with no major driving incidences.

Another day I took my parents and K on a sightseeing trip to a couple of Crusader castles, Petra and also down to Aqaba on the Red Sea. We had a fantastic trip and they enjoyed the scenic drive and fun stops along the way. Aqaba was beautiful and we spent 24 hours doing nothing but swimming and relaxing. Our room had a view of Israel, Egypt and Saudi Arabia not far off. What a cool lookout spot that was! My only fears about the trip were getting lost or having car trouble in the desert. On our way home (it’s a four hour drive from Aqaba to Amman thru the desert) my dad and I were celebrating the fact that the trip had a been a breeze! We had no problem getting everywhere and the car had been running great. I swear, no more than 5 min. after that, I was going up a huge hill (in the middle of nowhere) and my car died! Amazingly I was able to quickly pull off the road in the ONE SPOT that actually had a place to pull off (there is no shoulder on this part of the Desert Highway because of the mountain). I was pretty much in shock at that moment given that it was the middle of the day and VERY hot. We were still 3 hours from home. The car had given me no notice, there wasn’t a light or a smell or anything it was just all of a sudden (we later found out it was an electrical problem in the Jeep’s computer) My dad led us in a quick family prayer and I called J for advice. While he called the tow truck, I wished for a taxi because I did not want to spend the next 4 hours sitting on the sand. A minute later, I saw a taxi in my rear view and I was able to flag it down. The car was full but the driver called his friend who reached us five minutes later. Amazing! We filled the car with our luggage and hit the road for home. J on the other hand was heading south with a tow truck so we were able to meet up with him another hour and a half up the road and told the tow truck where to pick up the Jeep. The entire thing only got us home 30 minutes later than we planned, can you believe that? All we could do was say thank you God!

Tired of adventure, we were hoping for a “boring” trip to Jerusalem when we left a couple days later. We were excited about the trip because we were bringing our housekeeper, Jane, along. This was Jane’s DREAM to go to Jerusalem so for the first time in my life, I had the opportunity to make someone’s’ dream come true. Sounds like a reality show doesn’t it? We left early that morning because we knew that the border could be a pain and take awhile. We had already called both borders a few times just to double check things and we felt like our trip was as organized as it ever could be. We got thru the Jordanian border with no problems but at the Israel border, they decided that J, K and I would not be allowed to enter because we didn’t have the special stamp in our dip passports. This especially stunk because we had previously sent our tourist passports (that don’t need a stamp) back to the US to obtain a Syrian visa and we hadn’t gotten them back in the mail yet. We were all kind of in shock because all of a sudden our trip was ruined. Since this was my parents and Jane’s only chance to go to Jerusalem, I told them they HAD to go on without us. We found them a taxi, gave them the hotel info and the city guide and sent them off. We were SO sad to turn around and head back to Amman alone. Talk about depressing! We also knew that taxi’s in Jerusalem were going to cost them hundreds not to mention, they had had no time to plan what they wanted to see or do.

On a whim driving home, J decided to check his mail box just in case our other passports had been returned from the US. Surprisingly, they were sitting in the post box and we turned right around to head back down to the border. Unfortunately, when we got to the Jordanian border, the office was closed for the day but right before we were about to turn back in defeat, someone decided to be kind and helped us get across the border. We breezed thru the Israeli side and were on our way up to Jerusalem to meet them by 2pm. Of course, knowing me I insisted on surprising them! What I hadn’t anticipated was the SHEER NUMBER of tourists/cars that were in the Old City that day and even though I had found out where they were (discretely) when we got there, there were thousands of people! After about 15 min. of sitting in horrible traffic J growled that it would take a miracle to find them and we should give up trying to surprise them. At that VERY moment, I looked out the window and saw my dad! It was awesome! They were shocked and SO thankful we had shown up when we did because they couldn’t find the shuttle bus they had been looking for and were feeling kind of lost. Again, we just had to say thank you God!

We ended up having a great time touring Jerusalem together. We saw the Dead Sea Scroll book of Isaiah that will only be on display for 3 months in celebration of Israel’s 60th anniversary. My dad’s knowledge of history and the Bible far exceeds ours so he kept us informed along the way and we often joked that he was spoiling our fun with his cynicism or reality checks like King David probably wasn’t really buried in the tomb we visited. It became a funny inside joke everywhere- at least we all agreed that Oskar Schindler probably really was buried in his grave so that visit was worthwhile! That’s the problem with Jerusalem, so many amazing things to see but being able to tell what’s legitimate and what’s not is another matter. The best part for all of us was indulging Jane and making sure that she had the time of her life. It made it so much more fun and special for all of us to see it thru her excited eyes.

After we returned from Israel, J and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary! Although our church wedding was on the 4th of July, we spontaneously eloped on the 27th of May. I’m sure it’s the most spontaneous thing I’ll ever do, I was wearing cut off jeans and a t-shirt! We stopped at the mall afterwards to buy J a ring and celebrated over dinner at the Olive Garden. Too bad we couldn’t find an OG here for traditions sake, ha! After 9 moves in 10 years, it feels like we’ve been married a lot longer. One thing is for sure; 10 years ago, we would have never imagined that we’d be living here! I’m grateful that thru the many zigzags of life, God has remained faithful. Kind of makes me look ahead to the next 10 with absolute wonder.

My parents finished out the rest of their visit in great spirits. A few side trips, many games of whist and spades, and more hummus and pita than I needed (aren’t you sick of that yet?) Now we all just can’t wait to go back home for Christmas.