Jouney to Bethlehem

My mom called a couple of weeks ago wanting to take Brooke and Kate to this Journey to Bethlehem hosted by a local church. Sounded like a good idea to me. It ended up that Jay was working late so I got to go too! Glad I did.
It took much longer than we expected. I thought maye an hour and a half but it ended up taking over 3 hours! It is a long way from OKC to Bethlehem.
They had such a system down - very impressive. While you waited to start your journey on the "iron camel" we were seated in the sanctuary where we were entertained and sang Christmas songs. We all loved it. Draven an Brooke did SO good! I wouldn't have been that patient. Kate did really well too. It wasn't until the 2 hour waiting mark that she got a little tired. Of course it was WAY past her bedtime. She kept herself happy by walking up and down the aisles singing - even charging the stage a couple of times. That kept me entertained.
Once we got called to the Iron Camel, we were told we were now all family. The family of Joel. We learned how to greet people with the proper "Shalom." We met many families and their animals along the way. We were "harrassed" by some Roman Solider but luckily had all our paperwork in order. Nanna lost her paperwork and was passing off a Wal-Mart receipt but luckily it worked. Silly Romans. We were going to Bethlehem for the Census and were hoping to catch our friends Mary and Joseph Mary was great with Child. Along the way, we saw angels and Magi who told us our Savior was to be born. It was awe-inspiring. These people were incredible and never ever broke character. We continued along our journey which took us trough the marketplace in Bethlehem - we were told not to spend any money although the merchant workers tried really hard to sell us things. We needed the money for the census. Draven found some gold coins on the floor and tried to convince Nanna to let him spend them. He didn't. Brooke and Draven joined the locals for a song and dance "Hava Nagila."

We all had a really great time so, "thanks nanna!" Brooke loed it so much she was still talking about it the next morning and told her daddy every detail on the way to school.