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 It has been about nine years since I wrote my memoir.  Now, I have been spending the last year editing and adding to it. by attending the Loft's One-Year Creative Non-Fiction Writing project.  I am presently submitting my memoir to agents.  

I have also had other changes in my life.  I worked as an adult English Language Learner Instructor for the last six years.  I just lost my job last summer due to down sizing.  I also have been volunteering at animal shelters, at a nursing home, and at my church.  I am now only volunteering at one shelter and church due to needing to substitute teach.  

I have also been on many trips. I visited the Christmas markets in Prague, Germany, Vienna, and Budapest on a river cruise.  I also went to Japan.  I loved both trips, and had so much fun and met such great people!

The greatest effect on my life was my dad's death in 2022.  He died of dementia.  I miss him so much, and dream about him a lot.  I wish he were still here, before he developed his disease.  

I finally moved to a much better apartment complex, for adults 55 and over.  I love it here!  

Finally, I painted a beautiful picture for my mom.  

 

Amy's Update

This is my latest art project.  I finished it about a month ago.  Starting next week, I am going to work 3 instead of 2 nights a week.  It may go back down to 2 nights a week in the fall.  Finally, I am getting acupuncture for the pain in my wrist.  I don't know if it is helping yet.  It's only been 2 weeks.  

I would like to remember Memorial Day and all our veterans, past and present. I would also like to remember their families.  They have all made the greatest sacrifice, and I thank God that I live in a country where we have freedoms and rights, so fought for by our veterans.  God bless the troops, and God bless America!

Final Israel

Acre-crusader city

Acre-courtyard

These are the last days of my journey throughout Israel.  It was an eventful trip.  Now as I read the Bible, I can remember the places I've been and envision the sites as they were during Biblical times.

Not only was I transformed in  

Acre-hall

Haifa-Bahai Shrine

 this way, I also was transformed relationally.  There were some great people on the tour.  Everyone was so nice and friendly, and so welcoming to me a person travelling alone.   A man even was so nice and friendly to me.  He paid me a lot of attention, spent time with me, 

Caesarea amphitheater

Caesarea

and we talked about many things.  It was nice, and it awakened that feeling that had died in me for so long. I had realized that I was so angry with men, and that I had a negative attitude towards them.  I came to realize that there were some  

Tel Aviv

Rabin Square

good men out there, and that they have feelings too.  It may seem simple and obvious, but it had not been for a long time for me.  So I am joining singles groups again, and on an online dating site, with better results this time.  I don't know what may happen in that respect, but I do know that this trip transformed me in more ways than one, and I am so thankful I got to go.  

Capernaum and Sea of Galilee

Peter's house

synagogues

 These 5 pictures are from Capernaum, an archaeological site. There is a modern church built over where was found Peter's home.  Jesus did much of his ministry in this area, including the Sea of Galilee, of which are the top 3 pictures. 

synagogue

Peter

We went in a reproduction fishing and boat and were welcomed with a fishing demonstration of Biblical times.  We also learned a couple of Jewish dances and sang some Christian songs.  That was the most memorable to me, to know I was on the same lake 

as Jesus. It even brought tears to my eyes, and made me fall in love with Jesus again..  

Nazareth and Galilee

 In these first 4 photos is the Basilica of the Annunciation.  Here is where Mary is told by the angel Gabriel that she is going to give birth to the Son of God. On the right is the Grotto where it happened.

In the next four photos is the place where Joseph's workshop is.  The statue is of Joseph.  

 This is the Church of the Beatitudes, from the Sermon on the Mount.  

It was in Galilee that I started to notice all the stray cats in Israel.  Everywhere I went there was a cat.  And like a magnet I was drawn to them.  I had to pet them.  Most wanted my attention, even one jumped on my lap and rubbed his face on my face, even though I was just squatting.  They called me the cat whisperer.  I don't know why there are so many cats. I was told the people don't mind it, they keep control of the rodent population.  But dogs are regulated, they have to be leashed.  I didn't see too many dogs, just a lot of cats.  

New Jerusalem

On the top left is the memorial garden for those Gentiles who helped the Jews during WWII.  On the top right is the Dead Sea scrolls museum.  The scrolls are under this structure, which is supposed to look like the end of a scroll.  The rest of the pictures are a large-scale model of Jerusalem before it was destroyed by the Romans.  I also went to the Holocaust museum there but pictures were not allowed.  It is a solemn, quiet place, full of pictures and objects about the horrors that the Jew suffered during WWII.  I never cease to learn something new of the terrors that happened then.  It never seems to end.  I don't get the whole anti-Semite thinking.  Even now, they continue to be targeted, like that synagogue shooting last week in CA.  It's like there are people that think the Jews have no right to live.  That is crazy thinking.

I took lots of pictures of the model, even though I didn't know what I was looking at, except for the last one, that is a picture of the Temple.  Now only the Western wall remains.  Again, it is anti-Semite thinking, it seems, to cause the Romans to destroy this town.  When will it ever end for them?  

Bethlehem

The top pictures are of the Shepherd's Fields and the church that was built there.  Again, I don't know if these are the actual fields that the shepherds heard the angels proclaim the birth of Jesus.  The church had wonderful acoustics as we sang a song, I think Amazing Grace.  

This church in Bethlehem is the supposed spot of Jesus' birth.  You can touch the stone upon which he laid, which is surrounded by a star, as in the picture on the top left.  Constantine's mother, Helena, found this spot, along with the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.  I was reminded of this when I watched last week's episode of Destination Unknown, on the Travel Channel.  I was also reminded that Bethlehem is in the West Bank, which is Palestinian territory, so we had to go through a check point.  It was unremarkable, we just cruised on through.  There are so many young Jewish soldiers carrying big guns in Israel that you get used to it.  All Jews have to join the military for a few years, except the extreme orthodox ones, they have an exemption.  

A friend told me that all people who visit Israel are blessed there.  I did feel blessed there.  I was happy all the time.  Granted, I was worried throughout the trip as well about various things, but I survived them all and felt a part of something bigger, as I was on a tour.  But I was also among the many who visited Israel.  I have yet to meet anyone who hated their trip there.  And I have met people who hated their trips to various places.  So many Israel is a blessed place.