Lazarus Tomb

We were up for another adventure, and going to Lazarus Tomb was a definite adventure. Lazarus tomb is located in Bethany, where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived. Jesus spent a lot of time in Bethany. It is only about a mile out of the old city of Jerusalem on the North side of the Mount of Olives. But now, because of the devision between Israel and the PLO, we had to drive around the wall, into the West Bank into the Palestinian city of  al-Eizariya or al-Azariya , which means "The Place of Lazarus." Fortunately before we left I had done some research on Bethany, learning its Arabic name, so at least we made it to the right city. BUT,  once in the city, we could not find Lazarus tomb. We saw one sign the whole time for Lazarus Tomb, but it gave no direction. I think this was the sign below. It was Friday, which is their Saturday, meaning their weekend, and there was barely anyone in the streets. Seth said it felt like he had been put in an apocalyptic zombie film and around any corner we would encounter a pack of zombies. Not true, but it made from some very funny conversation in the car. 

Finally after asking three different people and getting three different answers, we found the tomb. It was a bit creepy because no one was there. No one. Just us. You can see Sam poking his head out the tomb.

This ended up being one of my favorite sites. I think it was because we were the only ones there. We talked with the kids about how Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb and we were un-rushed by the swarming crowds like other sites. Afterwards, I wondered if we had actually been in an unsafe area, but we didn't feel like we were in any danger, and we just hung out there and at the store next to the tomb. The only thing I noticed is that the shopkeeper was unusually grumpy, only because they are usually so overly friendly. That's all. We bought some things, so that should have made him happy. 

Here is Jake and I climbing down into the tomb.

The stairs were really steep.

Then once you were at the bottom of the stairs, this was the entrance into the tomb.

You can see how small it is by how much Sam fills the space. I was a bit nervous about going into it. 

But Jake wasn't nervous.

Now you can see how little is was once in the hole to climb into the tomb. You would  think it was creepy, but it wasn't.

Here we are in the tomb. Grandma Janny took this picture from a hole in the wall above the entrance. It was quite a small space. 

These were most likely the tombs where they lay the bodies. There was room for more than just Lazarus.

The entrance that Jesus would have called Lazarus out of is the archway next to Janny and Jayne.   There was a mosque built beside the tomb, so the new entrance was built and eventually this entrance was blocked. 

You can see the minaret of the mosque beside the tomb.

The funnest story was retold by Jayne the next day. Seth has been trying to convince Jayne to pull our her 'snaggle tooth'. Her front tooth is super wiggly but she can't and won't pull it quite yet. So Seth tried to convince her to pull her tooth and leave it in Lazarus Tomb. Then she tells the story of how her mouth is the tomb and her tooth is Lazarus and Seth calls to the tooth, "Arise and come forth!" Not to be sacrilegious, but I listen to her retell this story to a friend, and I thought how funny it seemed that she could make that analogy. But the tooth still remains. No tomb for her tooth. She wants to pull it before leaving Israel because she wants the tooth fairy to bring her shekels. :)

Here's a semi good picture of Jayne's snaggle tooth with some awesome bed-head jammies going on as well. 

Here is another set of the beautiful iron door that I love. They are all over. I am obsessed with them.

As we left the city of  al-Eizariya we pass by this giant mosque that is under construction. It is going to be very beautiful when it is done.

And of coarse we have to end with a "Jacob sleeping"from exhaustion picture. I love that he folded over his ear to sleep. Such a great kiddo. 

 This was our last great adventure with Grandma Janny. She loved it as well, and we were so blessed by her coming with us to Israel. She brought extra hands, which lightened the burden, and really helped reduced our stress. Before we came I was telling her that we were going to be brave and go see all the sites with the kids. She said that was fine, but when she had the kids "she was going to lock them in the house." I had to laugh as I thought of the lockdown in Jerusalem by Grandma Janny. But she was brave too. She took the kids to the zoo and some parks by herself. No lockdown. 

We have missed her presence and fun laugh since she has been gone. She offered to stay longer, but we felt we were OK. The day after her arrival home her Uncle Leo passed away in California and she was able to go to his funeral. Again, sometimes we just have to follow what we feel is right and then we will find out why afterwards. A shout out to Grandma Janny- we love you and we are very grateful for all of your help.