Andy & Jessica

“Mommy, even though I love my toys, I have to say that I have too many.”  (He said while helping me clean them up.)

“Mommy, I love you because you get me things.”  (He told me after coming in barefoot from outside with muddy feet and I got him some socks to cover them up until bath time.)

Jude has been savings up for college for his whole life.  He asked what costs more — college or a house.  I said they cost about the same.  He said he’d rather have a house.  Then he asked if college is fun and what people do there.  When I said that college students go to classes and study, he immediately dropped down to the floor crying.  He whined, “Why do I have to pay money for school.  I don’t even like school.”

When it was time for the boys and I to go outside to ride bike tonight, the boys wanted to exit through the window.  Levi said, “Mom, we never go out the window.”  What could I say, one of my favorite memories involves entering and exiting the house through my basement window as a kid during summer time.”

I wrote the care instructions for the Olson Boys that I posted earlier in preparation for the sadly kid-free 2 week vacation Andy and I were planning for Israel in February.  We’ve been home for 6 weeks or so, but I haven’t had a chance to write about the trip.  This won’t be pretty, but it is a quick brain dump.

• The boys overall did great.  The first night we were gone, my mom watched the boys at our house.  Jude was distraught.  He sobbed at bedtime, wanting to call me, and told my mom, “I know if Mommy and Daddy know how sad I am, they will come back for me.”  It got much better from there.  We called them everyday on Facetime at least once and talked until they got bored of us, which usually didn’t take long.  The reunion at the airport when we got home was priceless.
• The trip was loosely divided into about half the time around the Sea of Galilee and Dead Sea and the last half around Jerusalem.  I think Andy and I both enjoyed the first half of the trip the best.
• The Sea of Galilee is only lake in Israel and is about 7 miles by 13 miles.  It was cool to see, swim in and boat across the lake where Jesus famously recruited some of his disciples, where He walked on water and where He calmed the storm.  The lake could be calm at times, but with wild waves at other times.  Within sight of the Sea of Galilee was the location of the synagogue where Jesus was preaching when a lame man was lowered through the roof (one of my favorite bible stories).
• The Dead Sea is “dead” because it has many inlets, but no outlets.  It is disappearing fairly fast due likely to the harvesting of its water, salt and mud by both Israel and Jordan (who each control half of it).  Apparently it is deadly to submerge your head in the Dead Sea.  I don’t quite know why.  I staged the famous reclining while reading a newspaper shot.  There was no Dead Sea mud at the beach where we were at, but we did exfoliate using handfuls of salt.
• Qumran is the place where Andy had spent 2 weeks in a hole in the ground 12 years ago during an archeological dig.  We went there and saw from afar the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found by a young shepherd boy who was searching for his sheep and threw a rock in the cave and hit the pottery where some of the scrolls were hidden.
• There was a lots to see in Jerusalem.  We saw the streets built on top of streets where Jesus walked carrying the cross; the Temple Mount (where the first temple from Jesus’ day used to be, along with the 2nd temple built by Herod the Great).

I’ll keep working on this post as time permits.

Here is the exhaustive list of foods Jude will consider eating for lunch:

• Hamburgers (ketchup only)
• Chicken nuggets
• Grilled cheese
• Corn dog
• Tony’s pizza

He said, “I used to have Macaroni & Cheese on my list, but that’s off now.”

 

“I hope God gives us another baby because Asher’s getting a little old for a baby.”

Me to Levi: “I’m so glad God gave you to us.”

Levi to me: “Maybe God gave me to you because other people didn’t want me.”

So, it turns out that Asher was not ready to be weaned after 2 weeks’ separation when I was in Israel.  We’ll do that down the road at some undetermined time.  Last night, I told Asher it was time for bed.  He wanted to run back downstairs and get his cup.  He yelled out to me, “Don’t start my milkies without me!” (Hilarious!  As if I was going to push some magic button and let my milk flow without him being there to lap it up.)