Hanna has arrived!



Sun tanning in the winter!

 Meet our new treasure!

Hanna Tikvah Bantseev
(Grace Hope)

Born at home -

January 19, 2014

7lbs 7oz 20 inches

Cuddles with Papa

Out with Mama - asleep again

Baba Nela and grandbaby #24

Hanna loves her Papa

Auntie Amanda's cuddles

Little wonders and Significant Places

I wish I could share every detail, but with all the photos taken by my brother and myself, there is no way we could post them on here, especially with an internet that is not very high speed. :) If you are interested, come on over when we get home, and we can share our whole collection!

This little sweetheart is called Liel (Lee-El) "to me from God". She was born with Downs and her mom shared with us her special story. It was touching, and especially her mom's determination to keep her and not have an abortion, even with the pressure from her own father. She is perfect, born with no heart complications that are normal with Downs children. She is going in soon for a check up to make sure that everything is still okay at her 2 years. I was so drawn to her. She and her family attend the congregation in Nazareth. I was so blessed to meet her!

Jerusalem - we visited for the first time and I can't describe very well the feelings of being in this significant place.

Almost there! 

Supply trucks from the 6-day war

Arrows monument from 6-day war, pointed toward Jerusalem

Bridge that resembles David's harp outside of Jerusalem for streetcars

Approaching the city

A spectacular view - graves on the hillside of the mount of Olives. Everyone wants to be buried here, though it's quite expensive to have a plot. This is because this is the place where it is prophesied that Messiah will return and His feet will stand on the mount of Olives. The dead in Messiah will rise...it is believed that that those buried here will be the first to rise.
And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. Zechariah 14:4

The walls! 

Another view of the graves and mount of Olives, with the city on your left.

More pictures to come soon!

Translation and heights

Misha has done some translating from English to Russian here in Haifa, as the congregation has had a guest speaker from Ottawa, Ontario Canada. The speaker has been teaching on family and marriage issues, and Misha has been translating for the Russian-speaking congregation. I must say he has done an excellent job! It's been challenging at times because he is not familiar with the style of speaking of this guest speaker. Sometimes the words and phrases are hard to translate. But, Misha has been learning to not lean on his own understanding, and to be more dependant on the Ruach HaKodesh. The meetings have been Sunday evening through Tuesday evening - both last week and this week. 

A week ago, on Shabbat, we went to Nazareth and spent time with a little congregation that is a daughter congregation to Return to Zion. Misha and I shared our stories - both about his car accident and my battle through cancer - and were able to reach out to many people in the congregation. 

 Looking out over Old Nazareth

Mount of Transfiguration

Following the service, we were taken to see Mount Precipice, the place where Yeshua was dragged by the Jewish leaders to be thrown down a cliff, but He escaped from their hands. It was an awesome sight! It has a complete panoramic view of many sights, including the Mount of Transfiguration, the Valley of Armageddon, and many other beautiful sights! Wow, it was breathtaking!

Food and feet in Haifa

22 October
We went out for lunch with Leon and Nina, Isaak and Lena to a restaurant downtown Haifa that we walked to. We had an enjoyable lunch, and had some conversation on a casual level. My feet and legs were bothering me quite a lot this day with the swelling. I'm growing and baby has become more active than I have ever imagined! Swelling has been a part of my pregnancy big time since being here in Israel!

 I felt overheated and exhausted by the time we arrived home, so much that I became very emotional. I was able to lay down and get a good rest.

 I ate a banana today that was twins! The bananas here are super sweet, and it's hard to eat a whole one. On our way to Haifa on the train on our first day here in Israel, we went by many banana plantations. They were all under an interesting kind of mesh to keep the birds away from the fruit. We later learned that when the plants begin to grow fruit, the owners place thick, plastic bags over them to protect them from the leaves on the plant because the leaves are extremely sharp. When the bananas are harvested, the harvesters wear full-body suit as protection against the banana leaves.

More adventures in Israel

21 October
The soup kitchen is one of the practical things that this congregation does to reach out to needy people in Haifa.  The food goes only to those who have been approved to receive it. There is a list of names, and once the food is prepared, it is then given out only to those written on a previous list. These people are ones who are somehow mentally challenged, or in one way or another are not permitted to cook their food at home on a gas stove. Nathanael wants to go to culinary school after high school, and also likes to help people. He was able to help our friend Lena prepare some food for the needy, and really enjoyed it. On another day he was able to help them put up some shelving for the kitchen, as they have recently moved in to a new place.

The small stove from an aerial view

Nathanael helping Lena cook

Putting food into packages for the needy

All Ready! 

Trying to catch up...more at the sea

Wow, it's so hard to keep up with my blog. I have a feeling I will till be blogging about the trip when we return home. It's hard to believe that it's already coming up this week that we return to Canada. :( I will be sad to say goodbye.

If you don't mind, I am going to go back again, this time about 2 weeks ago.

20 October
We were part of a prayer meeting this morning at 9am where we joined hands with our brothers and sisters to lift up needs in the congregation, in Israel, and individual needs. It was a special time of prayer. I even stepped out of my comfort zone and joined in prayer in spite of the language barrier.
In the afternoon, we again went to the Mediterranean sea, though this time we ventured out on our own and made it there quite easily! Nathanael went swimming this time, and battled with the waves :) I waded a bit deeper, and Misha cheered us on from the shore.  It was later in the day this time we visited the sea, so was a bit cooler, and there was a beautiful breeze that actually turned quite chilly by the time we left in the evening with the setting sun.

Nathanael in the waves

The guys at the sea after one got wet and one stayed dry :)

Little brother and me :)

Misha and I - do I look pregnant here? I can't believe how big I've gotten. Baby is growing!

Here is our shadow :)

Carmel mountains in the distance with the setting sun.

Having fun with shadows :)

On our way home, we stopped for pizza! We enjoyed practicing speaking Hebrew with the owners! They were very interested in us and where we were from. We loved the pizza too!

Here is one of the guys who served us - part of the family-owned business. We had cheese pizza with olives...mmm. I have to say I enjoyed it very much!