two years...

two years ago yesterday was our first trip to jericho. you can read about it on our blog in the archives. i hated it. in fact, i was pretty sure i hated being in palestine and would never stay here. i've come a long way.

our first trip to jericho was miserable. jason says it was an adventure - i say it was a disaster. it was soooo hot. we rode on a bus with no air conditioning, bad breaks, and a bus driver with no sense of time. we went with people who we didn't know. it took two hours to get there and like four hours to get back. we knew about four words of arabic. we had no plan, no food, no schedule, and by the end i had no intention of ever visiting jericho again.

today we went to jericho. it was still hot, but not miserable. we went in our own car with air conditioning on our own time. we went with one really good friend and three newer friends who will be really good friend. we left from our house with our child and came back when we wanted to. we went because we wanted to, not because we felt we had to. we could speak the language, or at least sort of. it was a really fun day.

if you had told me this is what my life would be like two years ago, i would never have believed you. when you finally got me to believe you, i probably would have cried. but we are really happy now. we have a good house. we have a church. we have a wonderful community of friends, both internationals and palestinians. we have jobs that we like. we have a butcher and a supermarket. it's amazing to look back and see how God has placed us here over the last two years and all that He has done for us. and it makes me wonder what in the world He has for us next...