A Day Away From the War

Today was a marvelous Israeli style Fall day. No rain. Lovely temperatures. A day begging to be enjoyed. And with all the tension surrounding our lives because of the shelling, we needed a bit of R&R. So, we decided it was time to take some grandchildren to the zoo. Jerusalem has a great zoo. The problem for us is that it is usually toooooo hot for us to really enjoy it. So a day like today was going to be quite a gift. That added to the fact that it was a school day, it should be pretty empty.

Wrong. As we pulled into the over-flowing parking lot, we were flabbergasted at how busy the zoo was. We had another Israel-reality-check. The South is being bombarded  with rockets. No school there. Too much trauma going on. It looked like the whole of the South came to the zoo for the day~

Later we read in The Yeshiva World News:

What’s wrong with this picture? It looks like a beautiful day at the zoo! The problem is that it’s early December and these children should be in school. They would be if their schools had not been closed due to the barrage of rockets that has bathed southern Israel over the last week. ... estimates are that there were seven to ten thousand visitors in the zoo today, most of them from southern Israel. “This is what the zoo looks like during summer vacation or Chol Hamoed. We never see these numbers this time of year.”

The 2 Spies can personally attest to the fact that there were 7 -10,000 people at the zoo. The amazing thing was, it was so calm and peaceful and quiet. Every place we went it didn't seem to be so crowded. We figured it was because the people weren't there only to see the animals~ which would bring a LOT more activity going from exhibit to exhibit with lines and even pushing. The people were there for a lovely QUIET day out. Lots of strolling and picnicking going on. 

The down-side is that Jerusalem had another siren go off. What does it look like in a place like the zoo~ with lots of open areas~ when a siren goes off? Like this

The 2 Spies happened to be in one of the animal houses and didn't even hear the siren. We didn't even know there had been one until one of our family members called to make certain that we were alright. We so appreciate that our little ones did not have to have their day marred with the fear that follows the blast.
 We are thanking God that we can see in big ways and small that He is watching over us.