Israel Adventure - Day 8

Today started with a bagel, cream cheese and cappuccino.  What else? When in Jerusalem do as the community does. And my mother taught us to love bagels.

After breakfast Stephen and I took the bus to Hebrew University. The bus gave us a great ride through town. (Steve has never been here before). I pointed out German Community, the Old City, The Government Center (roads to Knesset and the Israel Museum), We passed through an Orthodox neighborhood, and then did a roundabout at the Bus and Light Rail station. From that point the bus went up hill to the top of Mount Scopus. (2710 feet).

We entered the university from the bus terminal. We went through security, and looked for information. We ended up at the Library, where the security guard could not help us, but a librarian was just entering. She gave us an orientation, took us to the Synagogue and look out point of the University.  The view was OUTSTANDING!! We could see everything with a 200+ degree view.

From the viewpoint of all Jerusalem we walked across the campus of the University to see the Biblical gardens on the east side of the campus. The gardens contain sections of plants from every area of Israel, which are all well labeled. As we walked through the gardens we came across a graveyard from the first century. The hillside was catacombed with tombs containing ossuaries (Boxes where bones are kept after the body decomposes). One of the graves belonged to Nicanor of Alexandria. Nicanor was the donor of the bronze doors of the Court of the Women in the second temple.

We continued through the gardens to the northern side where there is a vantage point in the Yitzak Rabin building looking north and east. We could see the Jordan River, Jericho, Mizpah, and Anathoth (where Jeremiah was born).

From the gardens we went to the Archeological Museum which was amazing. We saw painted walls from Dura-Europo, and findings from many other sites in Israel.

Following our exploration of Hebrew University we descended the hill through Tabatznik National Park Israel, which is part of the University. We had great views of the Dome of the Rock, and thought about what the area looked like to Jesus as he and the Disciples may have taken this path to the Temple.

We continued to descend into Emek Tzurim National Park, which contains “the king’s highway.” It also contains the Temple Sifting Project. In 1996 the Muslims illegally dug an entrance for Al-Aqsa Mosque, removing over 900 dump truck loads of soil. Although Archeologists cannot determine levels where artifacts are found, many treasures are found by people who help sift through debris to find remains of ages past from Temple Mount. We found nails, pottery, mosaic tiles, bones, glass and other items.

From our dig we descended, then ascended to the walled city of Jerusalem. We entered Herod's Gate and got lost. We wandered through the Muslim Quarter. We made it to the entrance of the Western Wall, but there was a long line to get in, so we backtracked. We paid a child 10 shillings to take us to the Jaffa gate, but he took us to the Damascus gate. I then pulled out my map, and we found the Jaffa Gate, crossed the highway and walked home. We were very tired

I ate a dinner of Mina Chicken Noodle Soup with Chelsea and Sarah and then went to bed.

Two Months & the Road

It came in September … our new car.  At first I thought life would continue as it was; but it didn’t.  

At first we went on a planned journey to Cincinnati and Kansas.  Both were fun.  We did some fix-up and sight seeing with Chelsea in Cincinnati.  (And I am looking forward to other trips).  I happened to be there for the Clifton 5k race.  We saw where my grandparents lived, visited Jerusalem (via the Omnimax theater in the museum … we will have to see the rest of the exhibits), Saw the tabernacle at the Temple and at Hebrew Union.  And we ate skyline chili, Bagelman’s best breakfasts - and other foods.

We took the North road (I-70) to Kansas to see family and friends.  It was great to see, and stay with those we have known for so long.  On our return we visited Oz in Wamego.  We took the south road (I-64) through Louisville.  The landscape changed from planes to prairie to mountains and the eastern woodlands.  We crossed the Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio and Kanawha rivers.

For my birthday Sarah flew to Cincinnati, then we met in Beckley, WV.  We enjoyed a coal mine, and the New River Bridge.  To celebrate my 39th Birthday Denise and I bought our Senior Adult National Park passes.

After a week at home, it was in the car again.  This time to take Sarah back to New Orleans.  We visited the Tuskegee Airmen along the way, a two hour diversion.  We visited Preservation Hall and heard some great music.  Then went to church in Gulfport, MS.

A couple weeks later, it was in the car again.  This time to Pawley’s Island to visit my sister’s new condo.  We had a great experience visiting both the beach near her home and Bull’s Island.  We stepped over alligators and saw birds, turtles, frogs and butterflies.  We had a great time.

The result … over 7,000 miles!  I traveled through 15 states.  The car worked great, and averaged 35.5 mpg.  We saw gas as low as $1.68.  So, what’s ahead?  Two trips to Knoxville, TN for Thanksgiving and an Ice Skating show … then who knows.

And of course I will take Advent Journeys.  Yes, my new book: on Kindle and in print (and maybe for free if you win the drawing).  I invite you to go with me, for each day during our reading, I will put extras on this blog.  Sign up and follow for a reminder in your in-box.  We will have fun together in December as we take journeys together with Zechariah, Joseph, Mary, the Shepherds, the Magi, and some Chanukah journeys.

Is Advent Christian?

Recently two friends (from different churches) shared with me the saga of a man who is upset and visiting other churches because his church is promoting Advent.  It is the belief of this man that Advent is a highly liturgical invention of the Catholic Church.  He feels participation in Advent redirects people’s attention away from God and has the potential of destroying the faith.

The feelings of this man show a lack of understanding about the true idea behind an Advent celebration.  Advent in its purest and simplest form is a period of waiting in anticipation for the beginning or advent of a future, expected, anticipated event.  Advent is a season of preparing our hearts to receive Christ.  One book says the secular world is more interested in spiritual things during December than at any other time of year.  Advent makes a difference!

The dictionary defines Advent as the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.  synonyms include arrival, appearance, emergence, materialization, occurrence, dawn, birth, development; approach, and coming.  One illustration for this word given in the dictionary is a child awaiting the advent of the new school year.  Another definition which drives the current series of blogs is the world’s awaiting the advent of the Savior.  During Christmas we anticipate the coming of Christmas Day with it’s story and activities.

Historically Advent was inspired by Lent, a season of prayer and fasting to encourage preparation for Good Friday and Easter.  In 380 AD the Council of Saragosa, Spain established a three week period before Epiphany for spiritual preparation.  The Council of Macion, France followed suit 200 years later.  The first Advent liturgies are attributed to Pope St. Gelasius I (d. 496).

It should be noted that the early developments leading to Advent as we know it today were all spiritual.  These were based in prayer, scripture reading and self denial; not pagan practices, movies or commercial consumerism which fills the pre-Christmas period today.  Advent candles, Christmas Trees, stockings hung by the chimney with care, presents, holiday sales, Christmas parades, bowl games, and other trappings of the season are all late arrivals to the Advent season.

Advent ideas seen in many calendars, or as shown on my website (under Advent 2015 tab) are designed to draw people closer to the real Christmas.  The book Advent Journeys was written to take the reader back to the first Christmas.  In the pages of this book a reader will discover the personalities, desires and efforts of the cast and characters of the Christmas story of the Bible.

Advent is a season to discover God’s love … for God so loved the world He sent His only begotten Son into the world to bring forgiveness and salvation.  This is the Joy of the Christmas season.

Advent: A Family idea

Many years ago, when my children were very young, I read a book about Advent.  The author said during the Advent (Christmas) season people are more interested in spiritual things than any other time of the year.  The book gave many ideas for sharing Christmas with others.  In one chapter the book presented an idea that the best gift which could be given within families at Christmas was time.

The author said that Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year with activities, parties, shopping and travel.  Often we rob our children of the quality time they need and deserve in order to accomplish the tasks which seem so urgent.  The book suggested one way to reposition our family into their proper place of importance is to plan activites for the family and place them on the calendar as appointments.

I took the author’s suggestion, and created a calendar.  The first appointment I placed on the calendar was to eat either breakfast or dinner with my children every day. (Depending on school and church schedules this could vary … and was not easy to do.  But because I looked ahead and put this priority as an appointment, it did happen most days).  During our meal together we would read two short scriptures which were part of the Christmas story (I have a suggested calendar posted at http://www.koshercopy.com/ - look for the tab on the top bar which says “2015 Advent”).  I also placed on the calendar at least one activity per day which connected with the Christmas story.

Sometimes (when I was busy) the activity would be something our children could do with very little guidance (color wrapping paper; design and color cards for grandparents).  Other times the activities were more involved.  We went on field trips, acted out parts of the story, and every week we took one evening for a family night.

Family nights involved a dinner together.  Sometimes we tied these to the story, such as, during the week we highlighted the angel’s visit to the shepherds we built a fire in our fireplace and roasted hot dogs.  (I am sure the shepherds built a fire on cool nights - and because they had a fire, they must have roasted hot dogs and s’mores).  We also sang songs, told stories, and created skits in which we acted.  (My daughters like the skit where one of them was Joseph, the other was Mary, my wife was the Innkeeper, and I was the donkey.  Yes, Mary got to ride the donkey with Joseph leading).

All of these activities created memories.  And these memories proved to be much more powerful than the gifts we gave on Christmas day.  The end result: Christmas is about Jesus.

I have placed on our website the pamphlet with activities.  These activities are linked with our new book Advent Journeys.  The Journey diaries of Zechariah, Joseph, the Shepherd, the Magi and the Maccabee can be understood by most children in third grade and above.  The scripture (Calendar) along with the journal and activities shared with family members can lead to a most memorable Christmas.  Plan ahead and give it a try … starting the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

   OY! no matter how much you try to get it right ... a totally correct manuscript is only an illusion or a pipe dream.  An error free book is an impossibility.  But it is a goal worth attempting.
   In it's first creation Advent Journeys was submitted as a book.  But when the proof arrived, there were several problems.  The cover was too busy, the font was too small, and of course there were a few things forgotten.  We took the option to re-submit.
   And the book was better.  With the increase of font each section extended a partial extra page.  At first I worried about too much blank space.  Then I decided to insert photographs.  And I think the photographs add to the final project.  The pictures taken in Israel add to each section giving more substance through the image.  And a picture is worth a thousand words... so they say.
   I resubmitted the book, which was much better.  The book is now available for purchase:  http://www.amazon.com/Advent-Journeys-David-Levine-Simon/dp/1516841735/
   In it's second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh creation the book became electronic.  And yes, there were multiple submissions because no matter how many times I submitted the manuscript I always found an error.  First there were the pictures I added.  Two of the pictures displayed a big red error message.  I took them out and re-inserted them.  Results were the same.  Big red error messages.  Then I re-created them.  It did not help.
   I contacted Kindle, and they told me what to do, and it worked.  The picture size was too big.  When I formatted the picture according to instructions, the file worked.
   But in the suggestion, Kindle also told me how to get a couple other images to look better.  With the broken images corrected, I went in to improve the existing images (maps).  It worked.
   The good thing about pictures is they contain no spelling or grammar errors.  I long ago gave up on those.  I thank the proof-readers of the book.  There were at least four of them.  One of them says the book is perfect.  But I know it is not.  Even books distributed by big name publishing houses with highly paid proof readers contain spelling, grammar and formatting errors.  I took an extra look, and the kindle preview looked good.
   I thought everything was fine, and submitted the book.  Two days later I proudly looked inside on the Kindle display page: OY! Horrors!  In setting up the table of contents (linked) I wrote Advent One, Advent Two, Advent Three, Advent 4, Advent 5.  It was right there glaring at me.  I said Oh no!  And then I think I heard it laugh.  "gotch ya!"
   I put up the "final" document, but then again I saw some things out of place.  I worked to improve the book.  And with only a few quirks, it did look better.  One more attempt.  The book is up.  http://www.amazon.com/Advent-Journeys-David-Simon-ebook/dp/B0178KO7FS/
   Please, take a look at the book.  Let me know what you see.  Self-published, I can still correct it.  But I hope all I hear is how much you enjoyed the book.  You can order the print format now ... but you might wait until Saturday for the Kindle version: a surprise is coming!

New Book Release

   Advent Journeys, our new book is out!
   This book will take you places you have never been before!
   Through this book you will join Zechariah (husband of Elizabeth and father of John the Baptist) as he serves in the Temple; you will join Joseph and Mary as they travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem; you will spend seven nights with the Shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem; and you will travel with the Magi from their observatory to Bethlehem.  And there is more: for interfaith families (and others who are interested) we share the journal of a Maccabee.
   Are you interested?  Take a look at the listing on CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/5669825
    Also on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Advent-Journeys-David-Levine-Simon/dp/1516841735/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445982747&sr=1-1
   The book will be coming soon on Kindle.
   This is a great idea for a Christmas gift ... or even better, a Thanksgiving gift so people can join the Journey each day of Advent.

A Dyslexic Author

The fact that I can proof my own book (sɘɘ yɘsterday’s blog - I am awaiting a proof copy of my new book Advent Journeys) is an amazing thing, for I am dyslɘxic and ɘxcept for early intervɘntion just rɘading (not to mention writing) would bɘ with great difficulty  I “was” backwards so my reading “saw” incorrect.  What I “was” “saw” always a great problem.  

OOPS! did it again.  I always had problems when a word appeared with those three letters: “asw” and read the word I “was” incorrectly 100% of the time.  And sometimes what I “was” could not be detected correctly by context.  This “saw” always a problem.

I “bah” problems with other words also, and sometimes with the letters “d” and “b”. How do you know which way they are pointing when your eyes won’t tell you.  I like the word “ɘyɘ” because there is no way to see it backwards.

I knɘw I “bah” qrodlɘms dɘcausɘ by thirb gradɘ I spent more tiɘm in the princiqal’s officɘ than in the classroom.  By fourth grade my parents “bah” mɘ in a spɘcial school.  I learned to typɘ in the spɘcial school (thɘy colored the kɘys by where my fingers should hit) in ordɘr to sloooowwww down my rɘading to hɘlq me see lettɘrs in thɘir proqɘr order.  I attɘnded the spɘcial school for tow yɘars, and it hɘlqed immɘnsely.  I began to see words properly, and slowly began to rɘad. What I “saw” “was” corrɘct.

By sixth gradɘ I “was” enrolled in rɘgular classes.  But was vɘry bɘhind in English.  I learned the diffɘrence betwɘen nouns and vɘrbs.  I coulb genɘrally idɘntify advɘrbs and pronouns.  But to this day I do not know which participlɘs are hanging and which arɘ sitting or standing.

Which rɘally doɘs not matter, bɘcause I have friɘnds with grɘat patiencɘ who proof-rɘad most of what I right in ordɘr to hɘlp me gɘt words writɘ.  The main point of all this is, when I was young people laughed at me, so I learned to laugh at myself, and have fun.  I have tried to includɘ this fun in my latest book: Advɘnt Journeys.