Israel Tour

Leroy has always dreamed of going to Israel. A few years after we were married we told ourselves we would go as part of our 25th anniversary celebration. That seemed a long ways off at the time. Well, that anniversary came sooner than we thought possible. The year of 1992 came and went without us setting foot on Israeli soil.

My dream trip was to go to Europe to see the places our ancestors lived before they came to America in colonial days. Things worked out so we were able to go to Europe in 1997 with my brother and sisters. Leroy doesn't get as deep into history as I do, but we made a deal that if he goes with me to Europe, I will go with him to Israel. We had a wonderful three weeks traveling through Germany, a corner of France, Switzerland, Austria, Lichtenstein, and Holland. He enjoyed the trip as much as I did.

After the Europe trip I kept waiting for Leroy to make the plans for his Israel tour. Nothing happened. After Christian Aid Ministries started taking tours to Europe and Israel several years ago, we knew that is the group we want to travel with. We considered going last year but the dates overlapped with the trip we wanted to take to Florida to attend my sister's graduation at Pensacola Christian College.

This year, everything seemed to be clear for us to go at last. We are celebrating our 40th anniversary instead of our 25th. My brother and sister (and spouses) are going on the same tour, so that will make it more fun. We sent our reservations in right after Christmas. The tour leaves on May 27 and returns June 6. There is an option for a one-week extension to do service projects for the elderly and needy in Jerusalem, which makes the return date June 13.

We did not know if we could afford to stay the extra week until we got our tax returns back. We picked those up last Friday and this week made the big decision. We're staying. My brother and his wife will have to return to Canada on June 6 but my sister and her husband will also be staying for the work project. I don't think we will ever get there again so we may as well make use of the opportunity while we are there. Staying the extra week might make us run a pretty tight ship, but we are going to go on faith everything will hold out. Leroy thinks it will be an opportunity to soak up more of the culture and get a better feel of the way the people live. Now that the decision has been made, I'm at peace about it and ready to go help make his dream come true.