walters family blog

Well, its just Walters' family stuff. That's about it, for that's its sole purpose.

Name:
Location: Bellville, Texas, United States

Husband, dad, grandfather, brother, entrepreneur, artist, writer, publisher, ad guy, teacher, musician, and dreaming of being a farmer.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Oberammergau, Germany

After we left Tel Aviv on Friday, we landed in Frankfurt and drove to Oberamigau, Germany in the Southern Tyrolian region of the country. How beautiful it is here. It is about 40 degrees in the day and below freezing here at night. Very cold but beautiful. Our first day here we awoke to snow. I think it was 80 degrees in Houston:-) 

Here are a few photos from this area...


The cathedral at Etal... Or, the domes of the cathedral. Quite the baroque edifice. 


Mikki in Etal... It was miserably cold in the cathedral. It would be a very short church service:-)


The church tower next door to our hotel here in Oberamigau. The bells ring starting at 6:00 a.m. On Saturday morning, the bells rang 80 times straight at 7:00 a.m. I enquired and found out that there was a funeral that day for an elderly man. Such a neat tribute. 


I love the lace curtains in Germany and Switzerland. 


Mikki looking at a store window yesterday.


Unless you were here to witness the painting on the stores and hotels, you just can't believe them. Here are a couple. 


This is a hotel where we had dinner a couple nights. 


Check out the scene on the side of this hotel.


Nice doorway.


A little village halfway between Linderhof, King Ludwig's hunting lodge and Oberamigau. Quite beautiful. 


In the forest at Linderhof.


A tree with a moss covered limb at Linderhof.



Linderhof's front facade.


King Ludwig's small church next to Linderhof.



Mikki in Tinney, a local's restaurant. We had Schweinbrauten, a potato dumpling and purple cabbage.. wow! 


A local enjoying his Sunday morning. 


King Ludwig's church on the grounds of Linderhof. 














Thursday, March 17, 2011

The 2011 Holy Land Trip

Mikki and I were blessed to be invited by Truth Tabernacle in Lake Charles, Louisiana and Pastor Rick Treece on a pilgramage to The Holy Land. It's a trip Mik and I have dreamed of and actually planned a couple times, but due to the tension here at the time, we cancelled both. This time, we made our minds up and did what we had to do to make it happen. And am I forever glad we did. I've never been so touched and changed in my life by a single eperience. Of course, we've run ourselves ragged for the past 7 days from early morning until almost dark every day, and a couple days into the night. But, it has been worth every minute of lost sleep, if we lost any. I have taken over 1,800 photos so far. Here are just a few. I'll try to post more once I'm back in the States and the rates for Internet aren't like this here in Israel. 


Tour boat on The Sea of Galilee. We stayed in Tiberias and toured on Galilee, visited Caperium, Mout of Beatitudes, Cana and the surrounding area the first day. We had a very touching service on the boat out in the Sea of Galilee. 


The Roman ruins at Jarash Jordan are absolutely amazing. They say that they're in better condition than in the Rome ruins. It was really breath taking. 


Jarash Temple columns stand.... 80% of the city is still not excavated... lying there covered in sand and silt. 


Mt. Nebo in Jordan where Moses stood looking over into the Promised Land. The green area in the center of the photo is the River Jordan.


Petra Jordan will leave you speechless.


The first thing you come to at the end of the canyon of Petra is the Treasury building carved into solid sand stone. I'm not sure I have words to express the stunning beauty.


God had fun when he created this animal. What an unusual architecture and engineering feat. It must have been either late in the day or very very early in the morning when God said, "Oops, I forgot to make the Bedouin something to ride on in the dessert. 


Here we are... me in the saddle all wrong. You, to look cool, have to hook one leg over the horn and lock your feet. Russell can give you some pointers. I, on the other hand, wanted to ride off into the sunset (actually at this point, just back to the bus). 


The very Dead Sea. 600 ft below sea level and so salty you can't sink. 


The old city of Jerusalem... we rolled up on this in the bus coming back from Jordan late in the evening, and it was stunning! 


The Eastern Gate. 


The Western Wall of the old Temple. The white stuff you see between the stones isn't mortar. It's little note prayers that people stick in between the stones so they're prayers will be sent to God. Thousands and thousands of them.


Scarves in the Market of the old city of Jerusalem.


Bakery items on an open cart in the marketplace. Mikki took this photo and he told her to go away. No Photos. This is for him. 


The new Minora for the 3rd Temple that is coming at some point here in the future. This is an amazing piece. We got the chance to go to the Temple Institute and take the tour and have them tell us about where they're at in the process of preparation. 


The Rabbinacal Tunnel dig below the old city along the Western Wall of the Temple mount. We got as close as you can get to the Holies of Holies... It is a special operation they are doing here. 


There are thousands of Almond trees blooming throughout Jordan and Israel now. They have a beautiful bloom.


This bedouin girl, probably 11 or so, has learned the system... I shot her photo and she said, "one dollar"... so I paid up and Russell shot a photo, and she said, "one dollar"... he paid up. Then she said, "two dollars". We left. 




This guy was happy to see us. 


2,000 + year old olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemanie (sp)


Arab men setting around in the middle of the day reading their religious writings... 



The dome on the rock under an entry arch. 


Prayers packed in a crack in the Western Wall.


Mik and me at the Garden Tomb of Jesus (or, the tomb thought to be his tomb)


A Jewish man's shadow. 


Saturday, March 05, 2011

Jack Reegan Ensey's 4th Birthday!

Jack turns 4 on March 7th... It seems like yesterday when he was born. Well, almost. Maybe it was the other two I'm thinking about. We had his party today at 7 Acre Farm in Conroe. We had a little cold snap last night and it made the day very chilly, but nice in the sun. Everyone had a great time except Angry Bird, which got eaten. Oh, he was the cake. 




Jack is 4 Monday! 


Jack and Molly with Angry Bird


Nicholas & Alexander, the cousins


Jonathan & Molly, the parents


Brody & Andrew, the trouble


Jack and Friends


Riley, Caroline & Brody, the golfers


Riley rides off into the sunset. Well, really it was around in a circle, but it never hurts to dream. 


Brody, ready to whack that thing about a mile


Andrew... Right before the chicken won.