who are we?

You may have already heard this but if you haven't... I'M GOING TO ISRAEL. The adventure continues in just a few short days. Honestly holding the excitement back has been quite a struggle. I already feel myself desiring to say "shalom!" to everyone. What a complex thing. One day there is war, one day peace, one day chemical warfare, and the next absolutely nothing.

To say I haven't been nervous at all would be a lie. But one thing that has comforted me is the fact the my relative in Israel keep persuading us saying that everything is completely normal over there. What wasn't a common thread in my family, watching the news, has suddenly become an hourly pursuit. Grandma heard this. Look to what CNN says about this. Did you hear what Fox said? Some common sentences heard throughout the day in my household. Mom calls it spiritual warfare. Dad says we just won't know till the day before. Grandma Starr says something different everyday. And I, well I don't really know what I think yet. I've heard it said that if you wait for the Middle East to calm down for your adventure to it, you will never make it. I bet it's true. My grandmother is from Morocco. During the 2nd World War she moved to the U.S. with her sister while the rest of her family (10 other children) moved to Israel. And due to many factors (the delayed invention of facebook), contact was lost.

Fast forward 59 years and you find Holly in Israel. Well actually if we go only to 57 years you find Camille in France, meeting a professor who would eventually help her contact our family using as little as a last name and a few phone numbered received from various sources. But it wasn't until Holly went that the first face-to-face happened. And now, 60 years after my grandma stopped speaking French and Arabic. 60 years after being scared out of her country because she is Jewish. 60 years later her lost siblings are still alive.

 And we are going to meet them.

 On Christmas Day, while you are all unwrapping your presents, I will be on the airplane with...

1) Holly Grigg (sister)
2) Clark Grigg (brother)
3) Gail Grigg (mother)
4) Lorin Grigg (Dad)
5) Starr/Etoile Bitterman (Grandmother)

 It will be an unexplainable 3 weeks I will never forget. Even thinking about it is memorable. Knowing that I have cousins MY AGE who I have never met! Knowing there are people who have heard about me the same as I have heard about them my entire life. It is too unreal. Yet it is happening. I would pray for safe travels. My Grandma is deathly afraid of airplanes so even a flight without turbulence would be a welcomed miracle.

As of now the plan is for my family to stay for 2 1/2 weeks as I (and hopefully my Grandma) will stay for 3-6 months. I hope to continue learning the Hebrew language and further my knowledge of the Jewish culture. God is doing crazy things. I think I am going to document it all with a camera to make a video for you all.

Have a blessed Christmas.

Blessings,

Lucas