Picnic in the Park

The weeks are flying and as August approaches, there will be many changes at the Jerusalem Center. The Spring/Summer semester students leave, all 3 of the professors and their families will be moving back to the states and Dr. David and Tina Whitchurch (who have been here 3 years) will also be leaving. With that said, that means that Dr. Dave and Chris Heiner along with Garth and I will be those who have lived here the longest. It will be up to us to help the newcomers feel at home in Jerusalem. No pressure, right? After 5 months, we are just learning to navigate around the city but that's about it! A whole new crop of professors are coming along with a new director so there will be lots of changes around here. We will also be moving into a larger apartment mid-August (the 4th floor) and I have mixed emotions about that. Why? We have the best rose garden of all the apartments right off our patio and whenever I look at the flowers, I think of the two moms in my life who loved their roses. We are also on the same floor as the laundry room and that is super convenient and we have fewer stairs to climb than most of the other residents. Oh, well, change is good.

Our roses are still in bloom and the gardeners at the JC work hard to prune and care for them so all we have to do is find time to "stop and smell the roses."

Photo: Kathy and Mary Mitton, JC student. Her life changed when she received a concussion in Egypt in a freak accident. Therefore, she was left to return home so she could recuperate the rest of the summer. Her great aunt, Linda, was a friend of mine from Boise, Idaho. Small world!

Photo: James Fellows (who has worked for the US Consulate for the past three years) and his family were moving back to the states so we had a farewell picnic with friends. We had a very enjoyable evening at a park southwest of the city. It was a beautiful evening and there was a slight breeze which made it very pleasant.

Photo: Men turn into little boys when you give them darts to play with.

Photo: Park

Photo: We were surprised when a horse came running across the lawn. I grabbed my camera but only caught a glimpse of the beautiful animal.

Photo: Picnic with friends.

We left the park just before it got dark after a great evening with some wonderful friends. Someone once said, “What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.”