Eilat & Perta, Jordan

Hi friends! This post should have been finished days ago. But with all the awesome SHOW US YOUR LIFE-SINGLES excitement and hosting my family today for Christmas, it has been so busy around here. Last night I grocery shopped, cleaned house, cooked goodies, and wrapped gifts. YIKES! Why did I wait to the last minute????? not a clue! But life has been so fun lately! It was great to have my family over. I love to host!


I heard from so many of you after my last post. I am so glad you choose to read. I really am. I am also THRILLED that you are desiring to travel to the Holy Lands too. I am praying that God will make a way for you. I KNOW that He can!!! And i hope I can go with you! ha!~


Ok, lets pick up where we left off. We headed to Eilat, the resort city on the Red Sea, where we stayed for 2 nights. Still no luggage. I loved our hotel!!!!

We had a suite and that was wonderful!!!! This hotel is also were we started to really get to know each other as we ate breakfast and dinner around the table.

Here is the map. Eilat is the large yellow circle. The second morning we woke up and headed to the ancient city of Petra in the Country of Jordan.

I would take pics of my journal each day so that editing my pictures would be easier.

Our guide, Yoni, had to head back to Jerusalem for a wedding so he dropped us off at the border crossing...

here i am....so tired, it was really early.

Everything went good and we walked across to the Jordan side....or the "Jor_an" side.

our guide for the day picked us up and we were on our way to PETRA!!!!!!!!! Here is what the southern part of Jordan looks like... The mountains of Edom


hillside homes




city and streets

Several movies have been filmed here. One of the Transformers movie AND...

YES, Yes friends........the great Indiana Jones and the Last Crusades was filmed here!!!



and they are still making tons of money of that movie ha

This is a picture for my dad.......Who loves Indiana Jones!!!



King Abdullah and his father.....

and here we are......obviously you can see my excitement.





ok...so let me pause here and tell you a little about Petra.

Petra means "Rock" in Greek... or Hebrew= Selah or Sela means "lofty, craggy rock, fortress, stronghold, cliff". Petra is a valley surrounded on all sides by very steep rocky cliffs, with a few narrow gorges leading inside. An ancient Edomite city, and later capital city of the ancient Nabateans and was famous for its trade and its engineering systems. Now, again not an expert and just sharing what I wrote down.

our guide talking...



Petra is mentioned a lot in the Bible especially as it concerns the sons of Isaac, Esau and Jacob. The account of how Jacob tricked Esau out of his birthright then deceived his blind father into giving him the tribal blessing (Genesis 25-27ish). Angry after is betrayal by Jacob, Esau took his wives and children and went into a land far away from his brother. He moved to a new land in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom, and Petra is Seir.....The Edomites were big time enemies to the Israelites for a very long time. The Edomites lived here when Israel came from Egypt during the Exodus, maybe around 1445 BC. Could be later...my handwriting on this day was TERRIBLE!

me before we entered....



temple..



About 400ish BC, the Edomites were driven out by the Arabian Nabataeans. These people made Petra their capital and controlled the most important trade routes between the East and the West. We learned they pretty much invented the first ATM system. You could put your money in the Treasure up North and take the money out of the Treasure in Petra. Creative! We also learned that because they could control the narrow entrances, they would tax people to pass through. That's how they made a lot of money.



But soon all their wealth would end. Their love for false gods would catch up with them. Petra became deserted and forgotten for centuries.

And God said the behaviors of Petra would not last.....



Jeremiah 49:16-18 (The Message)

"Ah, Edom, I'm dropping you to last place among nations,
the bottom of the heap, kicked around.
You think you're so great—
strutting across the stage of history,
Living high in the impregnable rocks,
acting like king of the mountain.
You think you're above it all, don't you,
like an eagle in its aerie?
Well, you're headed for a fall.
I'll bring you crashing to the ground." God's Decree.

"Edom will end up trash. Stinking, despicable trash. A wonder of the world in reverse. She'll join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors in the sewers of history." God says so.
"No one will live there,
no mortal soul move in there.

Interesting right???? What's even more interesting is there are still parts of their false gods and idols visible to the eye.....thousands of years later. Sadly, the god is still just a boring piece of stone with zero power.

And this is were it all begins. The walls of rock close in and things get exciting!!

me being silly. they kept clicking and I kept moving hahahah

is this not so amazing?????? do you see how narrow it gets????

some stone carvings

Romans moved in at one point and part of their roads are still there. AMAZING!

check this out....it's a water channel that would bring water from Wadi Musa to the center of Petra! They were so advanced!



me again...ha...trying to capture my excitement of learning all the history!!!



We walked over a mile before the rocks parted and we could see what we came to see........

The Treasury/Temple!!!!!!

oh, my heart was just a pounding!!!!!!!! all these years and it is still standing.....yall all these years later!!!!



SOOO EXCITED!!!



ok, so we are looking at the Treasury and this camel decides he is tired. Oh camels just make me laugh! I can't wait for you to see the pictures of me on a camel while it sits down!!! so scary! look at him...

ha! i heart these 2 pictures!

Here is a side view....as you move around you begin to see more and more of these temples, tombs, buildings all around.



group pics

tombs



we continued through another narrow passage way and then we saw the following.........





cave home after cave home....millions...... and more temple and more tombs..... EVERYWHERE



Really look at these pictures. This was not just a small civilization. NO! HUGE!



Ezekiel 35:3-9

and say to them: I, the LORD God,
am now your enemy!
And I will turn your nation
into an empty wasteland,
leaving your towns in ruins.
Your land will be a desert,
and then you will know
that I am the LORD.

People of Edom, not only have you been Israel's longtime enemy, you simply watched when disaster wiped out its people as punishment for their sins. And so, as surely as I am the living LORD God, you are guilty of murder and must be put to death. I will destroy your nation and kill anyone who travels through it. Dead bodies will cover your mountains and fill up your valleys, and your land will lie in ruins forever. No one will live in your towns ever again. You will know that I am the LORD.

We continued to walk for a while. Then we went inside a tent store that was also part of a cave home. We got to talk with the man below for a while. He said this cave had been in his family for generations. Do i believe him????? not sure but it was neat to look around! ha!

this man to the left was our guide for the day. I have to be honest.....he wasn't that great. He talked forever about things that didn't really matter and left us with little time to explore alone.



everyone listening...



They then served us lavender tea.......here is the little kitchen the young girl made it in!



she was sweet.

it was a cold/rainy day so i was so grateful for something warm!



for some reason she really liked me. Told me I was beautiful hahahhaa. Of course I loved that and continued to talk to her. She just repeated "you are beautiful" and I realized that was the only English she knew! hahaaha! oh well. I still took it as a compliment hahahaa



William with the Jordanian head covering thing

dr. steve and ashley



ok...so then things got really interesting. That young Jordanian girl wanted me to put on the "wedding" covering. I was like "ummmmmm no, thank you".....but I was peer-pressured by my group hahhaaa. IT WAS SOOOOOO UNCOMFORTABLE. my eyes are to big for the slits and my lashes were being cut off AND i could hardly breathe!!! Praise the Lord I get to walk around FREE from having to cover my face!!!! He doesn't want me to be/feel bound up but wants me to be/feel FREED UP!!! AMEN!

Every hole you see in the mountains was a dwelling place. Just think of it as their neighborhood.



Joel 3:19

"Egypt shall become a desolation
and Edom a desolate wilderness,
for the violence done to the people of Judah,
because they have shed innocent blood in their land.



more temples to worthless gods





me and the smiths



Shelen and Shirley on the camels!!!!!!!



Shelen and Jason!!! They are sooo cute!



So then we decided it was time to climb up and check out one of these cave homes.......and this is what we found....

living room area....each room's walls been carved and smoothed. pretty nice





this is limestone......crazy looking right! Soooooooo red and Edom means "red" so i assume that all goes together.....not sure.



Here I am inside what we thought was a room....



and me in another one....





The Kims

the camel.....seriously, look at this face. do you see how snobby they are. Nose up in the air all the time! I just love them for some reason......... minus their really long, disgusting tongues!

We explored for awhile and then it was time to head out and go to lunch. I ran ahead of the group so that I could get some up close pictures of the Treasury

just breathtaking....



all that detail......





on both sides of the steps there were other entries just below. You were not allowed to go down there but could see it...

now, are tickets included a ride on a horse down into Petra and back. On the way back several decided they would ride.....i did not. At this point I had already received several marriage proposals from arab men and All they were thinking was "GREEN CARD" ha. My harassment tank was full so i walked and took pictures! Here is Dr. Steve



William being silly. Did I tell yall that he was like my little brother on this trip. 21 years old and loved to pick on me. ha! We share a common love for Brian Regan!!!! I laughed so much on this trip because of William! Silly guy!

Ashley riding...the Arabs kept trying to speak Spanish to Ashley...but she is not Hispanic so it was so funny!



We left and headed to a really nice restaurant for lunch. Side note: I love doors. My friend Judy also loves doors so I took A LOT on this trip for her. The Middle East really knows how to design them and they are ALL DIFFERENT!!!!





After our late lunch it was time to head back to Israel. There were a few issues getting across the border but no one went to jail or had to stay so that is a plus.



Israel sun set



We crossed the border and headed straight to the Eilat Mall because many of us needed a few things. It was pretty nice and super busy.

and then back to our hotel for dinner and bed.....

The next day we would see the Red sea and celebrate New Years at the Dead Sea....I can't wait to show you pictures of us floating....GREAT NIGHT!


I'll end with the verse that was from that second day....."I AM the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE, NO ONE comes to the Father EXCEPT through ME". John 14.6


I did not read that verse till late that 2nd night. I was having some much need bible time alone. When I was finished, I started to journal the day but stopped and just started writing out my prayers. At the end of my prayer I ask the Lord to bring us our luggage. I was trying to be cool about it but was starting to get annoyed.


I said "Lord, PLEASE DELIVER IT. Please. Oh please just make a way"..and I stopped..and right under "make a way" were the words "I AM the Way"....and everything became very clear to me. He is and was and will be the Way. Despite all the answers I was begging Him for....all that stuff didn't matter. He is the Way and His way is Perfect. He said to my spirit..."So stop trying to be the Way, Caroline". From that night on I never dealt frustration or anxiousness for the rest of the trip.


Don't you love that scripture speaks straight to your heart...as if it was meant only for you!!!! Oh it is such a gift to belong to the Lord! Anyway, I'm tired and ready to just hang out on the couch. I love each of you. I hope you are having a relaxing weekend! See you soon!