Wadi Date Day!

We have some amazing friends here visiting us and they offered to keep our kiddos and let us go on a date day. A WHOLE day! So, we loaded up and went to a wadi! (It's not possible to go to some of these wadis with kiddos...you'll see why in a minute) This is one of the most famous wadis in our country. Brad went back in 2008 when he came on a short term trip, but I've never been. Today was the day!

 There's been some rain in the last week, so the water level was UP! YAY!!!

We had to take a boat across this small lagoon to the start of the hike.

 It was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!! (Can I get enough !!! in there?) 

 We hiked about an hour. It was a moderate hike. It would be an extreme hike in hotter weather. I'm not sure it would be possible in the summer.

 But DANG! Look at the water!

 Seriously. It's like God is showing off! It was so incredibly beautiful! 

 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.

Romans 1:20

 The heavens declare the glory of God,

    and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Psalm 19:1

 There were some tricky parts...

 And just when we were getting pretty warm...we reached the water!

 Right after the above shot, it got over our heads and we had to swim.

  I LOVE IT! I'm made for this!

So, you hike for about 45 minutes, then you reach the water and you have to swim - sometimes wade - through to the end of the wadi where there's this cave. 

So, we're swimming... 

 Then we reached the cave.

This is the entrance. You can't really tell, but it's about 6 inches wide and about a foot tall above the water. 

But under the water....It's wide!

Brad went first. He's the experienced one, after all. I started that way, then had to stop and put on my goggles and swim the rest of it. It's about 6-10 feet that you need to swim underwater to reach 

THIS...

And a waterfall!

 That Brad had to climb.

 And then jump off of.

 And I floated...

 And took pictures. 

And enjoyed this beautiful piece of God's craftsmanship that not many folks in the world will ever see. What a gift.

 And here's Brad headed back out.

 He kept his head above water this time going out. 

 And we swam some more before going back to this:

 A beautiful dragonfly. Red wings. We saw some with purple wings, too.

 Come on, ya'll. Wow.

(Are you looking at ticket prices yet?)

 In our country, which is a desert country, for many many years, they've used this system to transport water from up in the mountains down to their farms. It's called a Felj. They are similar to an aqueduct system and very efficient. We got to walk on some today.

 On our hike down, we got a bit chilly. I mean, it is only in the low 80s here...and we are used to much, much hotter than that, so we were quite cool. 

 As you nearing the exit/entrance of the wadi, you come to this super deep pool that's surrounded by high cliffs on both sides. 

 Here's Brad at the top looking off. It's probably a 30 foot drop to the water and we were told the water's about 20-30 feet deep.

Brad decided to jump. Of course.

So then. It was my turn.

And then it was 20-30 minutes later and it was still my turn. I still hadn't jumped. 

Brad ended up doing it again. 

Then these 4 shababs (young guys) came up and wanted to jump, too. 2 of them did, no problem. 

Meanwhile, I'm still standing up there, not jumping. (It's high!)

Then this 3rd guy, we'll call him Buddy, said he would go. Brad and the first 2 Arabs were in the pool below and I was standing up on cliff with Buddy. He jumps in. He freaks out. He can’t Swim!!! His 2 friends in the water aren’t doing him any good. 

Brad’s yelling for me to jump in and save him. That was the push I needed. So. I jumped in and SAVED HIM!!!! 

I had to turn him around in the water to facing away from me so that he wouldn't drown me, then grab him under the arm and shoulder and swim him to the shallow water. It was CRAZY!!!! 

He was very grateful, naturally. And goodness, I’ve never been THAT close to an Arab man! But I guess saving his life makes it ok :) 

I went up and jumped one more time. First time wasn’t for fun…but the second time - FUN! 

 It was a rush! Both the jumps and the rescue! 

Overall, it was a perfect day! Topped off with quite the adrenaline rush! And - bonus - Brad got Buddy's phone number, so hopefully, we'll be able to see him again and maybe he'll get saved for eternity this time!