I never imagined we’d have the opportunity to walk where Jesus walked, with my children at our side.

Each of us anxiously waited for March 20th, the day we would all arrive in Israel with Phil and Bryson flying from Africa and landing in Israel in the early morning, McKenna flying from Atlanta and arriving in the afternoon, and the rest of us flew from Thailand and arrived in the late evening. What we didn’t expect, or know about until we arrived, is that Yemen would fire mistles directed towards the Tel Aviv airport, that same morning, around the time Phil and Bryson arrived. Upon arrival, they were escorted to a stairwell to wait it out. Story here.

It’s a miracle they didn’t shut down the airport and the rest of us were able to fly in. As McKenna would’ve been stuck in Frankfurt at her layover and the kids and I in Delhi. Our reunion wasn’t the typical missionary “welcome home” of greeting our missionary off the plane, but it was still the best feeling in the world! Bryson and McKenna greeted us at our apartment due to lack of space for everyone (and our luggage) in the rental car. We barely made it into the doorway with our long-awaited hugs. While the girls have certainly grown taller, Bryson says Gavin has changed the most to him, in looks and in height.

Here’s a few pictures from before Bryson left:

And welcoming him back home.

Once we all gathered, we talked with the kids about a possible change of plans due to the attacks taking place and decided we would discuss things further with our tour guide the next day.

It was late evening, after we had gone to bed, that another siren went off and woke us. I remember sitting up and confirming with Phil that this was the ‘seek shelter’ siren, and he said it was. I didn’t move but listened and prayed to know if I needed to take action. I felt at peace and knew we would be ok, so I laid back down and went to sleep. It’s a different kind of experience to be aware that there’s attacks going on and sirens blaring but to feel a great sense of peace and calm enough to go back to sleep.

While we felt and were safe, I know that there were many others were experiencing something different. There were lives that had been turned upside down because of the attacks going back and forth between the two countries. And pictures were posted everywhere with the words, “Bring Them Home NOW”, of hostages being held in Gaza. It’s heart wrenching and very humbling to recognize many families were separating due to war while mine had just been reunited after two years, for a very different reason.