bethlehem.

Christmas in july?
quite literally.
this year i celebrated the fourth of July in bethlehem.
how incredible!
first we had to stop at the Herodian to learn about King Herod the Great.

pretty amazing.

then onto the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

this is said to be the spot where Christ was born.

tyson. jamie. me.

we also saw some picture of when Paul McCartney was visiting Israel and i thought it seemed like a good idea to take the twinner pic:

(Pretty great, eh?) 

we stopped at Bethlehem University for a meet and greet with some students.

then onto Shepherds field.

i love shepherds so much: hence the name of this blog.

{dear to the heart}

you can imagine my great excitement when this shepherd holding this {black} sheep game to pose for pictures. i jumped right up and was the first to take pictures with him, a real life shepherd with his cute little sheep sheep on shepherds field overlooking bethlehem on the fourth of july. like all my favorite things happening all at once.

i got a picture with this tree because i left a super special note in it.

i love leaving my mark all over israel.

it's so exhilarating to know a part of you will stay here forever.

kinda sorta like a horcrux! 

(you can tell i am super excited to see the new harry potter movie)

there it is in all it's glory, a piece of paper rolled up real small and tucked away in this trees roots in the field here.

(don't mind the dirt). 

Bible dictionary: David ::

"As shepherd he acquired the habit of deep reflection"

i think i love shepherds so much because i imagine them as people who have lots of thoughts just like i do. who love to think and really reflect on what is going on in life. they have plenty of time on their own to think about life and how to best better themselves. (sometimes i call it my curse, but i love that i have lots of thoughts. it's what makes me, Me.)

-it is written.