The Karaffa's: Isreal

Mom is taking over the blog for the Israel trip...we will be back. 😉

What an amazing opportunity Joey & I had to go with our church on the Holy Land tour to Israel. Honestly, I don't have a bucket list, per say, but if I did have one, this would have been in my top 3 for sure. I have been wanting to go there since I was a teenager. So, when the opportunity came (with our church/pastor) and the timing worked out (not pregnant/nursing/small baby at home), Joey said I could go. Then, I asked if he was going to go. (He is not a fan of flying at all!) After realizing how much he would regret not going, he decided to suck it up for me and go. And, boy is ever glad he did. We had the most wonderful time. Seeing parts of Scripture visually...walking where Jesus (& other people in the Bible) walked before...oh, it was just incredible...for us & for our faith. We would love to go back one day with our kids to experience this. It really was the best trip...& it really changes how you read Scripture as well. We were there for 9 days, but we toured for 7 full days (arrival day and departure day make for a total of 9 days...). We stayed at 3 hotels, rode a tour bus, walked a lot, listened to our tour guide & our pastor as they navigated the trip/devotions, & experienced a truly amazing trip.

Holy Land Tour Day 1: Caesarea, Mount Carmel, Valley of Jezreel, Megiddo, Nazareth, & Cana. We arrived the day before, but started full touring of Israel on this day.

This is the view from our balcony before starting the day...

...the Mediterranean Sea...so beautiful!

This is a theater in Caesarea...Peter preached here

Our wonderful tour group...group selfie taken by our pastor and friend, Ronnie.

Then, Ronnie took the picture...you can see our tour guide, Dor, on the far right. Such a great group!

Joey & me with the theater behind us.

My dear friend (& Ronnie's wife), Marci, and me. We ended up accidentally coordinating about 1/2 the trip, which was quite humorous.

Mediterranean Sea & Caesarea

With the sea behind us...

My Mom, Art & Kelly, and Todd & Helen also joined us for the adventure. It was fun to have family along. Here I am with Mom & Helen.

Joey & Kelly

This is the place where they believed Paul was imprisoned.

So very thankful for our pastor & friend, Ronnie. He & Joey at Caesarea.

Looks right out of Bible times still...

Then, we headed to Mount Carmel...& this is the view. Beautiful.

Mom & me at the top of Mount Carmel.

Joey & me

And, not only did some of my family go, some of our small group went along, too. So, that was super fun, too. Here we are with David & Kim and Tim & Tracy at the top of Mount Carmel.

Then, we headed off to Megiddo. 22 civilizations have been built on one another, and you can see the "layers" of civilizations once you get to the top of the "hill."

Another view of the 22 civilizations built on top of one another.

Gorgeous view.

Joey & me at the top of Megiddo.

While at the top of Megiddo, Pastor Ronnie is pointing us to the valley where the final battle, the Battle of Armageddon, will take place.

Family in Israel

(yes, we talked to Art about his statue stance in a family picture after we took this one...😂)

We headed on...and this is a view of the town of Nazareth, the town where Jesus grew up.

Another view...

Throughout this trip, some of us (ok, most of us) thought it was funny to just jump into people's pictures...we were lovely photo bombers. So, here are Art and I jumping into Todd & Helen's attempt to take a picture...haha! I bet I have 50+ pictures of photo bombers or selfies on my phone from this trip alone. It was really funny!!