A Day in 'The Holy City'

The 10 day countdown has finally started! I am so excited to get on my plain home, and have already put together my "Coming Home" playlist! But I can't listen to it until I start packing, or until the day of. In the meantime I've found some good pastimes, including swimming. The Kibbutz has a nice pool, and I've been practicing my swimming. I'm feeling more confidant in water, and at last have figured out how to take a breath without getting water in my mouth...a bit late perhaps, but better to learn at 21 than not to learn at all! We also went to the pool at Timrat, the town just East of the Tel, because we were invited by one of the people who lives there , and who is very involved in the survey and excavation at Shimron. He's the one who has put together the education days, and has done much more for publicity and supporting the work to make Tel Shimron into a nice national park. Anyways, we are going back Tomorrow afternoon again to either swim, or just talk with some people from the community. My professor, who is directing the excavation, is coming up from Ashkelon for it, along with Mario, the co-director. They are going to serve refreshments, and have the community of Timrat attend. I think our work at Shimron is quite the buzz in the area, even the guy at our pool knew about what we were up to, and was asking us more. In fact, there is so much interest, that we are doing a 3rd education day, but for adults and families, not just kids. I am glad that the people around here are excited for our work, and supportive of developing the park. I am excited to think what it will be like in several years!
We have finished all our GPR work, and tomorrow we will finish what grids need to be done with the magnetometer. Friday we have Education/Community Day, and Sat. and Sunday we have off. Monday we will be doing other work, like photographing grids, and documenting where we can see walls on the surface. Tuesday we will organize the compound and do an inventory of all that gets packed away...and then we are done and have a few days to pack and relax before flying home! I hope to take that time to review my notes from JUC, and review the places we visited, and their significance in the Bible and world of Archaeology.
It can be hard for me to keep my spirits up, especially because it feels like I have to star school pretty soon after I get home, and it is my senior year, which can be a bit scary. But I am trying to remember to trust God and not fear or dread the future. My life has been fantastic so far, and even some of the hard times have always turned out to be so helpful and developmental in the long run...I should trust the same will prove true of this time. It helps to be able to talk with family. I am so glad next semester I will be home for family events like Thanksgiving, and home for Fall break, and maybe even home on weekends. When I remember that, it makes me realize that there are good times ahead...plenty of them!