The Long Road Home

We drove several hours back to Tel Aviv, packed everything into 5 check in bags and 4 carry on items, returned the rental car, and boarded the airplane without a moment to spare. 12 hours later, we were in New York clearing customs and grabbing bagel snacks for our next 6 1/2 hour flight back to San Francisco.

Asha asleep on the plane


We couldn't find anyone to pick us up, so we somehow were able to consolidate baggage enough to take 2 BART trains, a caltrain, and a Hwy 17 bus back to downtown Santa Cruz.








After each transfer of our towering piles of luggage onto the next train/bus we would give each other a high five and shout, "Team Brown!" It was actually a wonderfully bonding experience and we decided to take public transport every time we fly from SFO. Our housemate Alison picked us up from downtown, and within minutes we were home sweet home!!!

We still aren't sure what those bites/hives were about, so just in case we left everything outside the house for de-contamination.
Ian is going to bug bomb the non-washables in our tent, and I'll be doing loads of laundry continuously for the next week or so..

We had a wonderful and rich time in Israel, and now we are back in our wonderful home with the four wonderful aunties. We love it here. We also miss our dear friends in India. Ian is in full power work mode, getting his iphone app business off the ground so we will be free to take trips like this more often. We are open to whatever God has for us and thankfully content with where He has us now. We are blessed!!!

Rainbow Revisited

Our last day in Israel, we packed up our things and headed back out to the gathering! We knew it would have to be a quick visit, but felt it was well worth it and figured a hike would do us good before sitting down in a car/airplane for over 24 hours...

The moment we arrived was sweetness through and through. Everyone embraced us and said how much they missed us and wondered what had happened to us. We felt so loved and appreciated! They had been looking for someone who knew Cate to give some shekels from the magic hat for purchasing a huge mosquito net for the gathering, and had even been using sesame products separately the whole time we were gone in case Cate returned, as she was allergic to sesame. I was able to pray with one of the Mamas and her child who had been on my heart the whole time. I passed out some stickers and had some sweet connections with friends old and new. We finally met one of Cate's good friends and her daughter about Asha's age who had arrived after we left, who we had been wanting to meet up with the whole time. We felt at peace, like we had ended this chapter well and had a perfect closure to our time in Israel. We ate our final meal at the food circle and then hiked out singing spirituals and smiling contageously. We were now ready to start our long journey home...

Back to Galilee

We were getting pretty lonely in Jerusalem without Cate and Chinua, and we were really missing the four aunties we live with back in Santa Cruz. We were ready to come home. But we still had a couple more days before our flight, so we headed back up to the Sea of Galilee. This time we stayed at a nice simple kibbutz guest house called Nof Genosar that was clean and restful...Just what we needed for the final leg of our journey.

Asha riding the luggage cart at Nof Ginosar


We took a day to visit the Mount of Beatitudes where Jesus gave his sermon on the mount and Capernaum (Hebrew: Kfar Nahum) where Peter's mother in law lived and Jesus made his home base during most of his ministry.

The ancient villiage of Capernaum




View of the Sea of Galilee from Peter's home



On our way up to the church built above Peter's home and the ancient church there, a group of Indian tourists came through. Asha was so excited to do the "namaste" to them and receive a multitude of namastes and blessings and smiles and photographs in return!



Inside the church




Walking among the gardens at the Mount of Beatitudes


A Family Portrait


After these adventures, we took a trip to the city of Tiberias for dinner and free internet access. In the parking lot, we ran into Elad, one of the rainbow elders. He saw us and said, "Oh this must be a divine appointment!" as he needed help to jump start his car. We found out that the gathering kept growing after the full moon and was still going on full power, which gave us a wonderful idea...

Jerusalem and Eilat

Ian and I were stoked to spend a day with Chinua and Cate in Jerusalem before their flight back to India. Chinua took Ian on a whirlwind tour of the city:



Tower of David




Ancient Temple Walls


The Wailing Wall




Dome of the Rock


Before saying goodbye, we all went out for lunch at Lena's (a hole in the wall place famous for its hummus) and then to Jaffa's sweet shop for dessert...




After saying goodbye to Cate and Chinua (sniff, sniff - we REALLY miss them!) we headed down south to Eilat on the Red Sea. There we stayed at the coolest little Christian hostel called "The Shelter."







Oh yes, one thing I forgot to mention earlier. The night we arrived at the rainbow gathering I started to break out with hives or bed bugs or some pestilence sent to torment me night and day for weeks. My legs and arms were covered with itching, burning, evil little wounds that made daily life incredibly...challenging. It was a battle not to scratch my skin off and scream and complain and be a super grump the entire time we were there! They kept spreading and in Jerusalem they started to spread to my face and chest. Not good. I frantically sounded a call to prayer to my family and friends and while we were in Eilat they seemed to begin a slow process of healing rather than spreading. Thank you Jesus!!!




We also met up with Leilah's good friend Racheli. She took us out snorkeling and (bless her heart!) watched Asha so Ian and I could go out together. AMAZING!!! The moment we put our faces down into the water it was full of life!!! Asha really wanted to go scuba diving with Abba, so he took her pretty far out with the snorkel and let her see fish and coral. She was so excited!




We also took Asha to an aquarium there in Eilat that is comparable to the one in Monterey Bay. She was able to see all the fish we saw down there and so much more:




They had HUGE sea turtles and rays and sharks and even a fish we had never heard of before...

Behold the "frecked frogfish"



We spent a few days enjoying the restful sanctuary of The Shelter and then made our way back up north to Jerusalem. We stopped by Sde Boker again to see Leilah one last time. Oh how we love that girl!!!!






With Sita, Leilah's Nepali neighbor. Asha shocked her by doing the "namaste" and speaking Nepali


In Jerusalem we stayed once again at Petra, our favorite seedy little overpriced hostel by the Jaffa Gate. We learned from another guest that Mark Twain had once stayed in that very building. It wasn't a hostel at that time, though...



The view from our room



Our little yogi



Cuddle Momma time



We visited a couple museums our last day in Jerusalem. Ian watched Asha and took some sweet pictures in the courtyard while I walked through Yadvashem, the Holocaust Museum. It was a heavy experience, to say the least. What a contrast to find their smiling faces at the end. It forced me to face the dark side of human nature once again as well as see the many blessings I so often take for granted...

Place Jesus Born!

When we first told Asha we would be going to Israel, we explained that it was the place where Jesus was born and spent his life. She was so excited to go to the "place Jesus born!" and our entire trip she would point to a building and say with confident excitement, "Jesus born...right THERE!"

Well we never did make it to Bethlehem, but we did get to visit Jesus's home town of Nazareth. One of my favorite memories of our trip is from the church there commemorating the annunciation of Mary. It is a modern building that incorporates structures from previous eras and includes an active archeological site. Along the walls of the church are a series of mosaics of Mary and Jesus contributed from all over the world, each with utterly different style and texture and flavor. I loved the creative, multicultural family of Christ that it portrayed. And the service that was currently being held inside when we walked in happened to be an all Indian congregation! It was so beautifully Messianic...that He would be a light to the whole world, drawing people from all nations to worship the God who had revealed Himself to and through Israel. Who else but Jesus could bring fulfillment to this prophecy?





As we left the church, the sun was just about to set and the clouds and colors were glorious: