The Negev

This is a site of excavations at Beer Sheba, where Abraham spent a lot of his days. The drive here gave me an appreciation for the distance Abraham traveled to Mt. Moriah with Isaac. It's a good 50 miles through the hot desert. They made us wear hard hats because we went underground to look at their water system. Cool, huh?

Alright, not the best picture, but this one is for Shelane. Look who is sitting behind me! Tyler! He told me fun stories about freshman year on our bus ride to the Negev Desert.

First stop of the day: the BEDOUIN weaving project! Bedouin- as in the desert dwelling tribal people in the Negev. It is a non-profit organization where they teach women skills that will provide them with opportunities. One of those skills is weaving! The process of making a rug is so intricate. They start with sheering the sheep/goats and from there they make the yarn, dye it, and then weave it. Altogether one rug takes about 6 weeks to make. What patience! 

Lizzy and I with a bunch of woven rugs behind us. We should have held one up- they are quite the pieces of art.

This is at Tel Arad where some remains of old Israelite temples have been found. You can't see it, but we are standing in front of an altar. Hezekiah shut temples like these down because they started to adopt pagan practices and ideas. Makes me grateful for all the beautiful and sacred temples we have today!