Jordan

For our four day Easter break, Tim and I decided to go to Jordan!  It was a very easy hour-and-a-half flight away, and there were sights there that we were really eager to see.  Thankfully, we had a driver for the whole time, so it was a really stress-free trip, and it was easy to relax and enjoy the sights!

We started out our trip by visiting Jerash, an ancient Roman city, and it was such a pleasant surprise!  I had not expected to see such beautiful and well-preserved Roman ruins!  Even after seeing the ruins in Rome, we were very impressed.

I LOVE these old theatres!

Next, we traveled to Petra, the rose-colored city made famous by Indiana Jones!  It was simply AMAZING!  The Nabateans were geniuses to be able to carve buildings into stone like they did.  One of our tour guides said, "The Greeks and Romans built, but the Nabateans carved."  Walking through the city of carved buildings and tombs was like walking through history.  We had two days in Petra, and on our second day, we hiked all over the place and found lots of hidden gems that were off the beaten path.  Nothing in the world could compare to Petra!

Us in front of the Treasury, the most famous spot in Petra.

The natural coloring in the stone was beautiful!

Us in front of the Monastery!  It was quite a hike to get up here, but well worth it!

On the third day of our trip, we went to the Dead Sea.  We stayed at a really nice hotel with several pools and a beachfront on the Sea.  We even covered ourselves in mud and then took a dip (since it's supposed to be really good for your skin).  And you really do float in the Dead Sea!  I didn't believe that it would feel that strange, but it did!  That 33% salinity really keeps you afloat!  Thankfully, we had gorgeously warm weather on the two days we were there, so we soaked up as much time as we could in the pools and in the Sea.

On the last day of our trip, we visited the Citadel in Amman.  Seeing ruins of ancient places still amazes me every time.  I love seeing the small glimpses of how people lived and the things that they created so long ago.

These are the fingers from what was once a HUGE statue.  No one knows what it was a statue of, so it's left up to our imaginations!  

Huge amphitheater!

So, although it was a short trip to Jordan, we felt like we got to see a lot, and still relax at the same time.  We left feeling refreshed, educated, inspired, and, as always-- thankful.

Mt. Sinai

"On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast... Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire... The whole mountain trembled violently.  As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.  The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain..." Exodus 19:16-19

... And we got to climb that mountain!  The same mountain where Moses walked, where God descended, and where God spoke to Moses!!  To say the least, our trip to Mt. Sinai was an incredibly spiritual experience.

We traveled six hours on a bus from Cairo to reach Mt. Sinai.  When we arrived, we climbed the mountain with some new friends from our church, and reached the top by sunset.  After a picnic dinner, we read Exodus 19-21 as the sun slipped down below the horizon.  It was so amazing to be there at Moses' old stomping grounds!  It really made those biblical stories come to life for me.  I'm so thankful that we had this experience!

We also took some fun optical illusion pictures while in Sinai... Moses probably did the same thing, right? :)