Eretz Israel - at last!

Israel - a beautiful country, and I am here finishing my seventh day in Haifa. There is so much to share. So many experiences we have had already that I don't want to forget. Let's start at the very beginning.

My husband and I have been praying and waiting for the day when we would be able to visit ha Eretz Israel-the Land of Israel. We didn't know how or when it would happen, but we trusted Him to open the doors to what we felt that He had promised us. Because of this, we know that our Father made possible this entire trip, and that is what makes it so special. So many circumstances have just all fallen into place to get us to this point. Truly He is the creator of all good and perfect gifts! As we came to a point where we had dates lined up and contacts here in Israel to connect with, we began to pray and ask our Father for a companion for us to help us with the load of making such a monumentous trip - a quadriplegic and his 6-month pregnant wife going overseas to a land where we had never been. To us it was not an impossibility, as Father had shown us with "many infallible proofs" that He is a miracle-working GOD. We knew practically that it was not wise to try to make this trip without extra help. With all that said, we asked among our trusted friends and mishpacha in our congregation to see if there were any available hands and willing hearts. One was willing, but unable; another was able but not ready at this time to make such a trip. We ended up deciding to step out blindly and ask my parents about my younger brother Nathanael going along with us. We felt this might be a far stretch, but to our amazement, my parents were quite willing to send Nathanael to help us, and he was also quite excited! He has been a part of a couple mission outreaches within the USA, but never had opportunity to travel abroad. Nathanael was recovering from a break in his hand following a game of football with friends. We were unsure if he would be able to physically help us. It turned out, we were granted great favour in this also. His doctor gave Nathanael a clean bill of health, and by the time the trip came around, he was so far advanced on the mend that he had no issues coming along. As it worked out, it was a tremendous blessing that my brother came along. So far there have been many instances that have really required his help physically where I would have not been able to help in the situation at all, primarily when in relation to Michail's care.  Before leaving on our trip, my brother got a crash course in transferring my husband from his wheelchair manually, and it really came in handy at the airport. We would have really run into trouble had he not been with us. We are so grateful!

Okay enough background, I think :) After picking up my brother a few days before our trip from the Port Huron, MI train station, we prepared and departed from our home on October 15 early in the morning, making the trip to Toronto to catch a non-stop flight to Tel Aviv. We arrived with only one incident on the highway where another vehicle and I chose to change lanes at the same time - eeek! Praise Adonai my response was quick and was able to swerve back into the lane I was coming out of!
At the airport, we were able to get right in line to where we would normally check our bags and proceed to our gate for security and check in. This time, we were flying with an Israeli airline, El Al, and we discovered that their security is unlike what we have experienced before in overseas travel. First, before we approached the counter, we were asked a whole bunch of questions regarding our purpose for our trip, and other random questions about ourselves. They were very thorough, and though had to be very stern with their security, I found them very friendly. I was even able to share about our miracle pregnancy with the security personnel! (They wanted to know why Nathanael was going along when he was from the US, had never been to Israel, etc. They even asked him why Michail's wife couldn't take care of her husband on the trip instead of Nathanael going along.

We were happy to share that I was pregnant, and this was the reason why!)   Praise Adonai, after about 45 minutes of questioning, we were permitted to proceed to the counter to check in our bags.

Our next hurdle which we easily overcame was transferring Michail from his power chair into his manual chair. The power chair would go on the plane with the luggage, and Michail would get transferred two more times before getting to the seat of the plane. Oiy vey! Nathanael and I worked together to do these transfers and things went fairly smoothly. Before we boarded, we were called to the desk at our gate. The security wanted to know if we had sent a cardboard box with the wheelchair to be loaded on the plane. They even had a picture of it on an iphone. No, we didn't have a cardboard box with the chair, and we were just as surprised as they. It turned out that one of the security officers had disengaged one of Michail's batteries on his chair, removed it, and placed it in a box on the seat of his chair - unknown to us, as it was done after we left the chair in their hands. Of course we didn't recognise it!  They figured it out though, and the journey continued with another transfer to a narrow wheelchair, called an aisle chair that fit on the plane to get Michail to his seat. Wow! We finally got on board! We brought along two long straps with Velcro on the ends to wrap around Michail's chest and the seat to keep him upright. It worked beautifully!