FRANK has gone through a lot of preparation this year to get ready for our big family adventure, and his first semester has gone very well. He teaches Old Testament and New Testament and leads field trips every week. Frank misses watching Cougar and Tar Heel sports, but the toughest part has been the field trips to Egypt and Jordan with their exhausting heat, smoky accommodations, and physically demanding schedule. The best thing has been getting to know students on a personal basis and helping the Bible come to life for them.
JILL has learned how to drive to the money changer’s, the pita “factory,” both kinds of grocery stores (Palestinian and Kosher), and even drove from the Dead Sea to the Sea of Galilee and back. She helped BYU students paint a mural on the playground wall and taught an international group of first graders about Thanksgiving. (One of Amanda’s classmates wanted to dress like an Indian, bringing a sari and pack of bindi forehead stickers.) The highlight of Jill’s holiday was hosting both grandparents for Christmas and enjoying the hospitality of the Bethlehem branch members on Christmas Eve.
MEGAN (15) has risen to the challenge of a new school with a lot of determination. She choreographed a salsa dance, wrote a short story, researched genetic engineering and Israel’s water system, and is currently working on a 3D animation. In her free time, she studies seminary, practices the piano, viola, and French. Megan rode up Mount Sinai on a camel!
CARRIE (13) joined the school soccer team and knows the Hebrew alphabet in print and cursive. Carrie hiked up Mount Sinai in September. Her favorite place in Jerusalem is the Garden Tomb. Her favorite place to shop is Ali Baba’s (a.k.a. Shebans’).
LISA’S (9) newest email buddies speak Serbian, Hebrew, and Spanish. She loves singing, playing the piano, and math. She sang a solo in front of all the BYU students at a shepherd’s field overlooking Bethlehem. Lisa thinks the best thing about being in Jerusalem is understanding the Savior’s life more by being in some of the same places He experienced. She was interviewed by a Fox News t.v. reporter in Bethlehem on Christmas Eve and ended up on international television.
AMANDA (6) loves first grade, known as Primary 1 or P1. So you could say Amanda goes to Primary every day except Sunday (because church is on Saturday). She learned about a lot of international holidays this winter. Amanda was especially heartbroken when the students left. She had ranked them in order of her favorites, and when one student was teasing another, she said, “That wasn’t nice. Now you are number one thousand.”
EMILY (3) is just as independent as ever. She holds the record for family funnies this year, but don’t laugh in front of her, or you’ll see her award winning grumpy look. She started the year with quips like “You’re a banana fudge buckets,” and “I got to get the coffins out of my mouth.” Now she says, “Did you know Tang starts with bang?” Recently she wanted Mommy to give her some “real” homework. Emily likes to clean toilets, play at the playground, brush people’s hair, and snuggle with Pinky-Winky and Fuzzy Wuzzy.
2010 JUDD FAMILY FUNNIES
Amanda was listening to Michael Buble song, “I Just Haven’t Met You Yet.” She said dreamily, “That sounds like Landon [Cook] when he grows up.”
During a guessing game, Amanda said, “I’m thankful for something that starts with ‘g’ and two people are wearing them.” Lisa said: “Girdle?” (Actual answer was glasses.)
Jill: “Very observant.” Amanda: “I’m not your servant!”
Emily: “Can I say the prayer?” Jill: “This is Grandma’s house, so she gets to decide who says it.” Grandma: “Emily, would you say the prayer?” Emily: “NO!”
Frank told the girls that in Jerusalem we would go to a zoo that has all the animals from the Bible. Amanda asked, “Even the stinky ones?”
E: I have a hotdog in my hair! (Actually it was a bun.)
Emily: “I need a spoon.” Jill: “Okay, what size or color?” Emily: “Color.”
Jill asked, “How would you feel if you got to touch Jesus’ hands and feet?” Emily said, “Hungry.”
Emily said she was thinking of an animal that we saw at the zoo that begins with the sound “d”. We couldn’t guess it so she told us that it was “draffe”.
Emily, “Amanda, you stuck my tongue at me!”
Amanda loves eating in the Oasis cafeteria in the Jerusalem Center, and once she said, “I wish we could LIVE here!”
During musical chairs in primary, a boy pulled her chair from underneath Lisa. She wasn’t hurt, but she said indignantly, “Never trust a man!”
