Journey to Bethlehem

The pictures of this event are terrible due to a combination of me not being able to figure out the flash on the camera and Dan not capturing the background.  I wanted to blog about it anyways because it was a GREAT experience.  A local church did something called Journey to Bethlehem.  If we had known how long it would actually take (we were there for 4 hours) we probably would have missed out but our kids actually did fantastic.  Anyways, you basically began your journey in the basement with a Jewish family, it was set up like their home.  The Roman soldiers burst in and demanded they take their family to Bethlehem for the census and to pay taxes.  We wandered through the hilly woods and met people along the way.  There were shepherds huddled around a bonfire with real sheep and goats.  We stopped in Nazereth where they had set up booths selling bread, cheese, etc..  We stopped to see the wise men who were traveling with gifts for Jesus (and a real camel which Noah adored).  We got to see the angels proclaim the Messiah's birth.  We met up with thieves in the woods, Roman Soldiers who yelled at us, and finally made it to Bethlehem where they had set up a whole town.  It had a blacksmith, several shops, places to buy food/drink, bonfires, more live animals.  Finally we tried to get a room at the inn and were told to try the stable where we got to see Jesus!  We were in a group of about 25 people and when we got to the stable Noah pushed through the entire group and yelled, "Mommy I see Jesus.  There is Jesus mommy, I need to bring him a present!"  It was SO sweet!   Anyways, I felt like everything was so authentic (well as much as it can be in mid Missouri) and the people really stayed in character the whole time.  It was a really great experience and I am so glad we got to go!

Noah at the blacksmith

 Luke and I buying cider from a shop in Bethlehem

 Noah's favorite part was the camels

 Apparently the guy we asked to take a picture of us couldn't figure out the flash either because this could have been such a cute picture!