With Love from.... Israel!

See what I've been working on?  Yep... a new blog design!  I didn't think it would make a whole lot of sense to be posting from Israel on a blog that is called "With Love from Ukraine."  Might get kind of confusing.  So, while we are here, this will be my header.  When we go back to Ukraine, I'll just change the wording of the new design back to what it was.  

{My four lovelies are standing in front of the Mediterranean Sea, which is just blocks away from our apartment here.  But more on that later....}

I have really gone around in circles about the direction of this blog.  I seriously considered just closing it down for three months.  Even more seriously, I thought about starting a completely second blog, but then reconsidered for fear I would lose about half of you with the address change.  I looked into turning this into a private blog, but FeedBurner does not support private blogs.  Feedburner is the service that delivers my blog posts to your inbox, if you are among the nearly 500 {really incredible} people who read this blog that way.  But why all the fuss? you ask.  {Whew, I'm so glad you asked!}  Well, in this part of the world we have to be careful when posting about our faith and work on a public forum.  We have already spoken with our close family about this and asked them to be careful in telephone conversations and in e-mails to us in regards to this.  I am trying to be as discreet in my explanation as possible, so please be patient...  Okay, here we go...

Do you remember my {fairly} regular Monday posts I have been writing about hubby's line of work?  Well, I will not be writing such posts until we return to Ukraine.  So, the next 2 1/2 months of this blog will be dedicated only to blogging about Israel and the things we are learning, seeing, and experiencing here.  If you are still clueless as to what I am talking about, I ask you to please just keep wondering about it silently.  I will not be able to e-mail you an explanation.

We are living in a modern-day version of the Old Testament.  The Old Testament laws and rituals are still faithfully practiced and our neighbors are still eagerly waiting for the Messiah.  Have you ever stopped to think about what that really means?

Anyway, for those of you who do understand what I am talking about, I really felt like I owed you an explanation.  I know that you have come to expect a certain amount of content about our labors, and I just didn't feel comfortable continuing posting without explaining why some things are going to be left unsaid (hence, the recent silence).  I really think a lot of you are intrigued to see why our Father sent us away from Ukraine temporarily.  I am pretty intrigued myself, to be honest!  However, opportunity abounds all around and it is not hard to understand just what He might have in mind.

Thank you, sweet friends, for your understanding.  We are all settled in, terribly behind on e-mails, missing Ukraine like crazy, but gearing up to post more than ever before over the weeks that follow!  We are soaking things in daily and I am just dying to start sharing with you some of what we are experiencing.  So, gear up, my friends, and invite your pals on over.  We are about to start touring the beautiful holy land of Israel, and I don't think you are going to want to miss out!