8:21AM
The day started off seemingly normal, beside living in Israel who is under attack from Hamas terrorists (you know, normal stuff).
I left my little apartment and trekked up the hill to the house where I work and the family lives. They have an espresso maker, so it's only a logical choice for a Washingtonian....it IS the "liquid of my people", you know. I made myself a latte (with perfectly frothed foam, I might add. Washingtonians, you can relate) and began the walk back down the hill to finish getting ready to begin school. The glorious foam was just at the lip of the mug, so I had to be extra-careful not to 1) loose any "liquid of my people" and 2) not have any foam breech the lip of the mug. So, as you can imagine, this was quite a task with so much preciousness in one mug. I successfully made it to the bottom of the hill without any loss. Just as I was rounding the corner, the air siren went off, warning of a potential rocket hitting near our area. At that moment, all the amount of glorious foam and espresso didn't matter. With mug in hand, I hastily made it to the bomb shelter. Because the siren signals something greater than just a loud noise crying through the atmosphere, my adrenaline kick in. I spilled my latte and couldn't remember which way I had to pull the handle to open the shelter. After what seemed like 45 seconds of wrenching on the handle (probably only about 6 seconds in real life), I got it open and turned on the light. I waited for the family. I waited. No one was coming. Most of the time, I can hear them running. They have guests this week and music was playing this morning, I wondered if they heard it...
At that moment, I had a decision to make. I could stay in the shelter OR run and get them. In those moments, one has to quickly and instinctively weigh the options. I ran. With attempted cheetah speed, I ran up the hill and threw open the door. I could see some of them sitting at the kitchen table. I calmly yelled, "there's a siren!". In almost the same moment, someone in the house heard it and called out the same thing. As I ran back down, again with attempted (but calm) cheetah speed, a rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome. One explosion. Two explosions. I entered the shelter and the family and guests followed (warning them to not slip on the latte that I spilled). Three explosions, and the door of the shelter is still open. Finally, the door is closed and the fourth and final explosion has happened. Then we wait. We wait for ten minutes. That's what we're supposed to do, wait.
The Iron Dome intercepted every rocket.
Because laughter always helps in the bomb shelter.
9:01AM
School Begins
In the room where we do schooling, the children decide to go swimming later in lieu of our morning PE walk. I'm sure we all burn about one million calories when we hear the siren, anyway. Our first topic of discussion is about the cease fire that will be happening from 10:00-15:00. The UN requested a humanitarian window for civilians to resupply needed goods in Gaza. Israel agrees to this. They agree to hold their fire as long as Hamas will not attack. They agree because they do not want to hurt civilians. They want to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure used by Hamas to attack Israeli citizens. Israel is defending itself. Israel is protecting its people. As stated in the last post, this is not one army versus another army. This is a terrorist attack. Hamas openly admits to sending their civilians into the line of fire:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=UUawNWlihdgaycQpO3zi-jYg&v=uzFgIhFKII8
(P.S. During the time of the humanitarian window Hamas fired mortars at Israel, tried to infiltrate Israel through a tunnel and attack civilians, and wounded a soldier in an explosion)
This is a hard topic to discuss....why would a country want to help another country that is attacking them? Sometimes, when there are no logical ways to describe an undeserving act, the best thing to do is pray. These are the actual words from the prayers of the children that morning:
I pray that everyone will be healed.
God, you know our beginning and our ending,
help us to not be afraid of the missiles and Hamas.
Thank you for our bomb shelter.
You are our bomb shelter.
I pray that Hamas will surrender their rocket-making machine.
I pray that their rockets would be destroyed in the air and not hit the ground.
God, I pray that Hamas will know that Your hand is over Israel,
that Your eyes are watching them,
and that they'll know that every word they say and all they do is seen by You.
I pray they would be scared of You, God, that they would fear You.
I have been thoroughly enwrapped in a book called Parallel Journeys. It is the true account of a German boy who was in Hitler's youth army and a young Jewish woman who lived and survived a Nazi concentration camp. It tells about their respective journey during the exact same time period, between 1939-1945. While I was thoroughly engrossed in the book, I may or may not have dozed off....But, whether I was or wasn't dozing (read: was), it didn't last long. I was awakened by the shrill call of the siren. This siren was much louder than the one in the morning. Although, this time I wasn't outside to hear it. I was in my apartment, reading (dozing). In 1.5 seconds, I was fully awake, on my feet and already heading toward the shelter. This siren was louder because there was greater potential for it to hit my town. Each town has its own siren. When it's the one in town that goes off, it cannot be avoided or missed.I pray that Hamas will surrender their rocket-making machine.
I pray that their rockets would be destroyed in the air and not hit the ground.
God, I pray that Hamas will know that Your hand is over Israel,
that Your eyes are watching them,
and that they'll know that every word they say and all they do is seen by You.
I pray they would be scared of You, God, that they would fear You.
The prayer of a righteous person (or child) has great power as it is working.
James 5:16b
10:07AM
Despite being surrounded by attack, life and schooling must go on. We covered all the planned topics. It was our lab day in Science, which is "mostly" always fun. When I say mostly, it's because the lab part is fun for the children. Logging their lab activity in their lab book isn't always as fun, i.e. writing...
Physics: the transfer of energy
2:13PM
B and I are the only ones still in our schoolroom. She is working on her Hebrew lessons. She is getting quite good. Since I only know about seventeen words in Hebrew, she has now completely surpassed my knowledge of the language and sounds perfectly Israeli. When she is practicing on me, I usually have to ask her what I'm supposed to answer. The children have a Hebrew teacher that comes in two times a week.
I began a painting project I has a vision about a few days prior. In my mind it looks like a perfect Claude Monet. It always seems to end up more Pablo Picasso on paper.
5:39PM
My apartment is the closest to the shelter so I usually arrive first if I'm there. Unlike this morning, this time I could hear the slapping of feet on the stones in the back yard. The family and their guests, nine in total, came running in (one came from the house). They were soaking wet. They had been swimming in the pool. All were accounted for and door was shut. The explosions began to happen. Slowly, small little lakes began to form around where each dripping wet person was standing or sitting. This brought some humor into the bomb shelter as we felt the shaking from the Iron Dome intercepting the rockets. Nothing about running from rockets is humorous, but taking a opportunity to lighten the moment with observation can relieve a face from concern. We waited ten minutes.
The Iron Dome intercepted every rocket.
Even though we don't want to hear a siren. Nor are we waiting for one, we are always on alert for its sound. It's not like hearing the sound of the Ice Cream Truck, which only conjures happy thoughts and memories. Its cry screams of the potential. That potential is nothing like ice cream.
8:22PM
Girls Dinner Out
Why not go out, right? 'Cause a girl's gotta eat and I'm just gonna keep on living life. Israeli's typically eat late, so by the time we arrived to the café, it was filling up quickly. There were five of us girls, who all were at various stages of hunger. We decided to sit outside and we're happy that they had menus in English. It's always a bonus to know what you're ordering. I ordered Sachlab or Sachlav. It is always found on the drink menu, but has the consistency of gummy pudding. I'm almost positive that no one can actually drink it. It's made with flower water so each bite is like eating gummy candy, combined with jello-ish pudding, all while tasting of roses. What saves this strange item from being completely too peculiar to eat is its toppings. On top, it has coconut shavings (which we all know makes the world a harmonious place), some type of ground nut like pistachios or almonds, and cinnamon.
All went as planned and everyone was satiated. We asked for our bill and chatted. The place was really busy now and patrons were waiting on the sidewalk for a table. Every table was filled. This café is close to a major, important center in Israel. There is always a lot of activity and noise surrounding it.
When in doubt, always go cheesy.
We were waiting for the server to return for payment when a siren began. We were right near the siren tower and it was a truly jarring moment. But like a swift dance, the entire restaurant rose from where they were and began to move. Children were picked up by their parents and friends and strangers seemed to all become family as we looked for direction from the servers at the restaurant. There were various sounds of panic and conversation happening all at once (all in Hebrew, of course), but everyone knew to move calmly and with order. All the patrons went around the building where the café was and entered into a stairway that doubled as a bomb shelter. Filing up the stairs and toward the back, everyone moved with fluidity. I was closer to the back, so I couldn't really see what was happening, but the door to the shelter was never shut. People were in the small lobby outside the entrance to the stairway/shelter. I'm assuming there were too many people to fit.
Immediately, people were on their phones and texting. I'm not sure what, but I can imagine it was to communicate of their whereabouts and what was happening. I don't remember how many explosions there were, but they were loud and shook the windows of the small lobby outside the shelter. The ground vibrated under my feet. The interceptions of the rockets were close.
As I have typically seen with most of the Israeli culture, they're not going to wait. Right after the ringing stopped, the windows ceased from rattling, and the ground seems solid, they began to exit the shelter. I was in the back, so I couldn't have moved it I wanted but I thought the notion of leaving after 58 seconds was foolish. No sooner did I think that, then another explosion happened....the majority of people began to file out, except for a few who remained. We waited to exit and were some of the last to leave.
As we walked back around the corner, all activity resumed as if nothing has happened. People were sitting and eating their dinner again and the servers were flitting around checking on their tables. It looked just as it had before the siren. Time doesn't stop. Life just keeps going.
The Iron Dome intercepted every rocket.
10:39PM
Upon arriving back to my apartment, I am utterly disheartened to learn that the Israel Defense Forces are going to enter Gaza. A large IDF force had just launched a ground operation in the Gaza Strip. Thus beginning a new phase of Operation Protective Edge. The new phase followed 10 days of Hamas attacks on Israel by land, air and sea - and repeated rejections of offers to deescalate the situation. While the whole nation (and I pray, world) is standing behind Israel, I know that it will change the face of this battle. Their mission is clear: 1) to defend the State of Israel and to ensure its freedom to exist and 2) to target Hamas’ tunnels that cross under the Israel-Gaza border that enable terrorists to infiltrate Israel and carry out attacks. This is not just a slogan, it is the truth. Israel wants to restore peace, they will not allow terror to prevail.
Hamas terrorist has sent over 1,500 rockets into Israel. If the Iron Dome didn't exist, hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians would be dead right now.
Maybe even me.
This is truth.
This is truth.
You tell me, what other country warns the civilians in terrorist land where AND when they are going to bomb? Israel has done this to save the innocent civilians that live among terrorists.
They do this while still being attacked:
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IDF soldiers preparing for ground operation
*Photos: IDF
*Photos: IDF
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