Back from Israel

We finally made the trip back to Israel on August 18th. Hope, in tow this time....she loved Israel! She loved the beach and the waves so much. She just came alive with even greater joy! She even used a Hebrew word in it's proper place. When she spoke that word, OUT OF THE BLUE, it was a fantastic moment. She had figured out herself, where that word fit, during a conversation that Chanan and I were having. WOW! She is not 3 years old yet....but tomorrow, Sept. 8th, she turns 3. She has heard Hebrew from Chanan and I since she has been home. But we never use that particular word in our short usage of the language here in the states. It was so much fun to have her in Israel with us this time.

It has been 4 long long years since we have been last. With the adoption process, waiting to get Hope's papers all final in the states and then applying for her passport has been a long process. Then Chanan's mother, who lives in Israel, died last march (2010), so we had to wait for all her paperwork to clear every department before Chanan could come and sign anything. Meanwhile our house finally sold and we moved in with my mother, put our stuff in storage, with thoughts of finding work in Israel and moving there.

We just returned from Israel yesterday. In the last minute, the day before we were scheduled to leave, we were told about a job opening. Chanan had already looked at several other options. But this was a lead from a friend in Israel and in the area close to our home there. However, in the end there is no real promise of hire. The man was very interested in Chanan and was willing to test him out for a few days. But we were scheduled to leave the next day by this time. In the end, we realized that if this tip had not presented itself, (just the way GOD does these things....) Chanan would have always looked back and questioned himself. He told me that he was kicking himself for not going back to the local places he had talked to on our last visit 4 years ago. Had GOD not showed up like he did, Chanan would have always questioned WHY, WHAT IF! I love that GOD has answered all our questions and that he even made sure that we didn't leave out or miss anything.

At the end of the day....we could live in Israel mortgage free...most people just moving there couldn't say that. BUT the location does not provide for our needs since we have Hope now and for many other reasons. Not for greed or material reasons, but for real important reasons. However, if we were suppose to take this offer, move there and wait until the house sold and then move to another location. We still may not find something we could afford to own or rent. We checked a few options, but we could not afford them. The housing there is so very expensive and they are all high rises, except for the Kibbtuz and Moshav's organizational communities, which are like our Amish communities here. But they have acceptance rules that mostly disqualifies us.

In Israel I would prefer to live on a Kibbutz or moshav. This is more like a close neighborhood that I am used to. There we can go outside our door and not only walk on grass, but walk for a long distance in a closed shared community. We can meet and talk to people every day and also do things with them everyday. There is a cafeteria that all the community come to for dinner. There is a school, store, hair salon etc... However, it is hard to become a member, to be accepted into a kibbutz and or Moshav. However, the Moshav is alittle different than the Kibbutz organization and requirements. Our ages, on one kibbutz, was not accepted. With the mindset to pro-create the kibbutz for the future, they wanted young married couples that could produce Kibbutz offspring. Along with many more requirements. Etc....

However, we feel that basted on what these employers want to pay Chanan, we just would not be able to afford to live in Israel. Chanan would start, with 30 years of experience, at the very bottom or the next up. The companies would totally benefit, but we would not be able to afford all of our NEEDS and NONE of our possible wants.

IN this moment we are still not settled. Chanan is going to look into the absorption information for the rights and benefits of returning citizens. From there who knows we may decide to go back. We surely now have an idea of what is required to live there and what we would have to accept on all sides of living in ISRAEL.

Something that came to my spirit as I focused on the thought of living in Israel......while driving thru the land...

ISRAEL'S BEAUTY is not found on the outside. IT is a rocky desert place, unlike what I am used to seeing in America. Also litter is a common sight in Israel. The people are very hard there and you can hardly get anyone to crack a smile. Smiles are not contagious there! I was told that there are only 2 kinds of people who smile in Israel. One who believes in the Messiah and the other one is a tourist!

As I pondered the possibility of this place being my home, I realized that it did not have the outward beauty that I was used to in America. It had a profound hidden beauty and it was HIM! The ROCK...the ROCK of my Salvation. ...the LORD gave me this profound understanding about HIM in the land as I pondered and questioned the lack of beauty there. I couldn't imagine that Israel had no beauty at all...because it is HIS LAND all HIS. It had to have beauty but why wasn’t it noticeable to the eye? It came to me as I really pondered this whole element of what my eyesight was capturing in this land that is owned by the Messiah Himself and what I would be seeing all the time if I lived in Israel. I realized that in comparison, America is the beautiful, unlike what is to be seen in Israel. (It crushes my spirit to even speak those words...but there is a great point, it is about HIM!) The scripture says that "Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting" (Proverbs 31:30.) No matter where I looked at any given location, it all looks the same. White rock high rise buildings, pitted white rock and deserty type landscape everywhere, with occasional random flowering bushes and noticeable trash. But this came to me:

Isaiah spake of one who had "no form nor comeliness"-"no beauty that we should desire Him"-"despised and rejected of men", and "as one from whom men hide their face, he was despised and we esteemed him not" Isaiah 53. There is a Hidden beauty and when you know HIM you are swept away by the land of Israel. If you know HIM you can see! IT IS HIM and because it's HIM, Israel is the most beautiful land in the world.

The common Jewish person is raised to reject and not see Y’shua as their prophetic Messiah, they cannot see HIM..HIS beauty is hidden to them. Without HIM in your heart, HIS light of truth, there is only a deserty view. Hard dry land! Hard dry people! But still it is a fertile land with plenty of food, brains, high tech and a booming economy.....

Interesting that Y'shua said those who seek for HIM will find HIM. As I kept trying to find beauty in this land, HE showed me that it is not seen with the eye, but with the heart alone. When I saw the white pitted rock...He reminded that “HE IS MY ROCK.” The rock of my Salvation Psalm 62:2 . The rock in Israel is white...HE is our white sinless passover lamb full of pure glory and saving grace for you and me. The white rocks noticeably have small crater holes all over them and it reminds me of how he was beaten, speared and scorged. Then there is the SEA and the water always reminds me that HE calls HIMSELF "THE LIVING WATER." If you have HIM you can see Israel's beauty, it's beauty is only seen with the heart!

Psalm 50:2
From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.

Isaiah 33:17
Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.