War! What is it good for?

Happy New Year and all that jazz....can't you tell I am excited? Okay, so I guess I am excited, but you know, there's this little thing called a "WAR" going on right now and really, it's not all that far from us. It freaks me out. I don't like it, not one little bit. But, what can we do about it? Nada. Zip. Zilch. Absolutely squat. So, since we have no control over the situation we are continuing our lives as normally as we can.

We rang in the New Year with the usual gang. Actually, we almost missed it because we were so busy eating/drinking/chatting and there was no big lighted ball to keep us on track. It was a rather low key affair but better than sitting on our butts at home alone like last year. (Really, that was our own fault....we were invited to a party but we were also just too darn lazy to make ourselves go.) And apparently we were really lame this year because we were the first to arrive at the party and the last guests to leave. Apparently you shouldn't be either, and never, ever, ever be both. Or so some sports broadcaster so nicely informed us the night after the party. Whose stupid etiquette rule is that anyway?

What? Didn't I tell you that we recently had a baby?!?!? Okay, so we were just borrowing him for a while. That's the best deal anyway, 'cuz then you can give them back when they start fussing.....and they will always start fussing.

So for our first weekend of 2009 we broke the mold and got out of not only the apartment (that's a huge step in and of itself some days.....well, at least for me), but we actually left the city. We headed up north (because we sure didn't want to head South!) with our friends Greg and Erin to check out a national park that had been recommended to us. Beit She'an was its name and Roman ruins were its game. (Please excuse my inner dorkiness...) As my knowledge of history is sadly quite far from satisfactory (i.e. pathetic), I had no idea that I would see so many Roman ruins while here in Israel. But these were indeed impressive, the most impressive we've seen here and we enjoyed a nice day touring the ruins, enjoying a little picnic and trying not to think about the war going on just a couple hours away. Here are some highlights....

Other than the craziness down South, not much else has happened. But hey, that's more than enough excitement for me! I'm completely uninspired today so that's all you get this time. We appreciate everyone's concern and inquiries about our safety. It's a little surreal to live so close to a war zone but I guess it comes with the territory. Guess we are finally getting the true "Middle East" experience. Hmmmmmmm....I'm pretty sure I could have done without it, but thanks anyway!