Another Sammyism

At last night's Chanukah party, Sammy came over to me and said:

Sammy: "Can I have some babysauce?"

Me: "What's babysauce"?

Sammy: "You know....babysauce"

Me: "Do you mean applesauce?"

Sammy: "Yah. Applesauce is babysauce...."

:)

Jumbled Thoughts and Mad Love for Israel

It's been awhile since I've posted so I'll just try to write something that will be impossible to put into words but is something I wish I could make everyone understand.

Where to start?

Well, for one - one of my closest friends had a baby a week ago. And she is in Detroit. And I am here. And it's awful. I HATE being so far away. I hate not being there to take her to the doctor when she went into labor (like I did with her first child). And I hate not being there to visit her as soon as she even thinks about having visitors in the hospital. And I hate not being there to buy this and that for when she gets home from the hospital. I was really bummed the day after she had the baby because I really felt a million miles away. And I was reminded how this is the part of Aliyah that sux. There is no way around it. And I have no clue if it gets any better but if getting better means drifting apart from my friend, I don't want any part of it. And I was thinking of how it must have been hard for my close friends (and family) in the States when I had Kayla and how they were the ones who felt far away. And I wondered for a split second - is it worth it? Am I happy with my choice?

Despite all that sadness of being so far away, I am so confident and sure in my decision, and I am 100% positive I did the right thing. I love living here so much, it's almost unbelievable. I wake up every morning and I usually take my boys to Gan and daycare. And every single day, on my walk home, I look around and I think wow - I LOVE this country. I am happy simply walking through the streets. It just makes me happy to be alive. I am so proud to live in this country. I am so comfortable living in MY country. A Jewish homeland. No other place in the world is like Israel. No other place in the world accepts me and opens its arms to me the way Israel does.

I played basketball tonight and the man in charge of the gym was sitting in his office, playing over and over and over a song called Im Eshkachech by Yaakov Shwekey. Take a minute and look it up on YouTube or something. The chorus has this amazing haunting melody that just wraps it's arms around me. I had heard the man (his name is Gavi) listening to this song a few weeks ago and today I went in and I said, I HAVE to know what this song is! Can you play it for me?

He said that he listens to this song over and over again. He said his son went to the States a few months ago and all he wanted for his son was to find a match. He is 27 years old and he just wanted his son to be happily married. Someone randomly sent him this song and he started listening to it and thinking of the meaning. Israelis are lucky like that, they can understand ALL the words without even trying! He must have found some connection to this song, because he said he would listen and listen and listen to this and 2 days later, he found out his son was engaged. And now he has even more of a connection to the song. As he listened to it, I saw tears come to his eyes. It's neat to see someone have that connection to a song. A connection that I feel.

When we first started playing at the gym, I didn't know Gavi from anyone. And I certainly didn't have anything in common with him. He's an older guy, didn't "appear" to be religious, and was just the guy in charge of the gym. But over the past few months, I've gotten to know him a little better. A bit about his family, about his travels to the States, and now his love for Yaakov Shwekey's music and how it hits him "right here". He doesn't wear a kippah, but he is most certainly a religious man. And I love that about this country too.

We're all connected....we're all Jews....and this is our country. We "get it". A country we have fought for, died for, and will continue to do so until Moshiach is here. I am proud to be Israeli and I am proud to call this country my home.

I don't think this post came even close to conveying what I am trying to say or how I feel but maybe, just maybe, I was able to explain to all of your who don't understand (and to some who do), why we picked up and moved halfway across the world to start a new life. Miles and miles away to all those we held dear to us.

It is SO right here. It's so awesome here. This is the place where I belong, the place where my family belongs, and the place I can't wait to watch my children grow up in.

Now if only you guys would come here and make it complete!!

A Toddler's Prayers

Sammy (while sitting on his little car): I'm going to Yerushalayim!!!

Mommy (that's me): What will you do there?

Sammy: I'm going to the kotel!

Mommy: What will you do at the Kotel?

Sammy: I'm going to daven to Hashem.

Mommy: What will you ask Hashem for? What will you daven for?

Sammy: Ice cream!

That's my boy.........

Censorship AKA Magazine Pics Part 2

I originally wrote this Note as a Comment on my Facebook Note titled Magazine Pics (see previous Blog). But it got really long so I am writing it as a new separate note.
I still haven't turned the magazines in yet so let me know if you think they need more censorship. I don't want to be known as the crazy American Mom who brought in all the magazines with inappropriate pics!

I have some Parenting, American Baby, Bon Appetite, and a Living and Loving magazine. Totally did not think they would have inappropriate pictures. But then I went through and ended up with a whole pile of pictures/pages I tore out.

Then I second guessed myself and wondered if I was being too extreme (I felt like someone in Iran censoring reading material!! Ok, I am exaggerating a bit....)
Here was my criteria - tell me what you think......
Took out all ladies in sleeveless or very very low cut tops. Left in ladies in short sleeve shirts and regular necklines and pants.
Took out all breastfeeding women because they generally were not very covered. I KNOW it's a totally natural thing, yada yada, but they were not feeding in the most tzanua way...
Took out all women's bare bellies. But left in the men in swimming trunks.
Unsure where they stood on naked babies (no frontal nudity just cute little tushies) so I think most I left in.....but I can just imagine a bunch of 4+5 year olds screaming TUSHIES!!!
Hmm.....what else? Left in young girls in swimming suits but took out ladies in swim suits.

Mainly, I thought of the more religious parents in the Gan and how would they feel if the pics came home to them on a poster or something....would it make them feel uncomfortable or would it be ok?

The strangest censorship I did was one of those Mirena birth control devices. I didn't think the Rabbi would appreciate it plastered on his kid's project because it was a "funny shape".
:)

So? What do you think?

Magazine Pics

There was a sign outside Jonah's Gan today that requested parents to bring in magazines or newspapers for the kids to use to cut up for projects. In parenthesis it said, Of course, all magazines should be appropriate for a religious Gan.

Now, what does that mean to you? Where do you draw the line? What pictures are considered okay and what pictures are not okay?

Please share your thoughts on this one........

ISO: A Good Night's Sleep

I have been totally exhausted every night this week. I don't know if it was because of the 8 hour work days I put in at the beginning or the couple days at home with Kayla trying to accomplish way more than is humanly possible or both of those in combination with fighting some kind of stomach virus. Or if it's just a general combination of trying to work as many hours as I possibly can and take care of a house and family. Either way, I collapsed every night at around 8 or so. Sadly, I didn't get to sleep the nice 12 hours straight I probably needed.
Let's take last night for example.......

It was 7:30 and the boys were doing their usual complaining about going to bed. Kayla had fallen asleep so I lay down with her in my bed waiting for my "turn" to sing to the boys and put Kayla in her crib when they finally decided to be quiet. I sang to them and lay back down with Kayla. I was trying to decide should I get up and work or should I go to sleep. I was so tired after a long day and in the midst of my debating, I fell asleep. At 8pm!!!! Of course Kayla woke up shortly after that but luckily Shauli (my knight in shining armor) stayed up with her. It was, after all about 9pm.....Well, I am glad I got in some good sleep then because the rest of the night was a disaster.

1am - Jonah woke up howling in pain that his ear hurt. We gave him some Tylenol but then there wasn't much else to do. I read him a few books to keep his mind off it and gave him an ice pack. It was so hard watching him in that much pain. He kept begging me to make it end. And there was nothing I could do for him except hope that the medicine kicked in. Eventually he went to sleep so I went back to sleep.

3am - Sammy wakes up and tries to sneak into our bed (his new trick). I think we would have let it go except he started kicking me in the head. So Shauli takes him back to bed where he starts crying and wakes up Kayla. Then Kayla is WIDE awake and no matter what I do (nurse her, bottle feed, lay down with her) she is ready and raring to go. That lasted until sometime after 4am. Ok - back to sleep.....

4:30am - And Jonah is up once again howling in pain. Sadly it hadn't been quite long enough to give him another dose of Tylenol but I stayed with him for a little bit and gave him another ice pack and eventually he fell back asleep.

6am - And Kayla is up once again so I feed her. She falls back asleep and I snooze a bit until Jonah climbs into my bed.

And that pretty much ended my night's sleep.

Is a Good Night's Sleep really too much to ask for?

Percentiles

A funny story to share with you....

We all know Kayla is petite, right? That fact has been established. She was born smaller than my boys (but they were both a week overdue and she was at least a week underdue).
So she was born small (6 lbs) and stayed small. I think in the beginning she was in the 15th percentile for weight. At about 4 months she was in the 10th percentile. At 6 months, she was beneath the percentiles, and shortly after (when I started supplementing with formula) she climbed back up into the 3rd percentile. It certainly has saved me on buying new clothes!! She has been in the same clothes for much of her life. I guess by the time the cold weather rolls around, it will be time to graduate to a new size.

Well, we went to her most recent Tipat Chalav visit and she fell off the charts again. Oops. Luckily, we have a fantastic nurse and she doesn't yell or scold or anything. She just gives some suggestions and told me to come back in a month to weigh her again.

When we went home, I told Shauli about her weight and said how she used to be in the 3rd percentile and that even though she did gain weight now she is beneath the percentiles. He said, "So before, she was in the 3rd percentile. 3 percent of all babies were smaller than her and 97% were bigger than her. And now she is under the percentiles so 100% of all babies are bigger than her??" And I said, "I guess so...except for all the other babies that are also not on the chart". And he said "So she is a percentile. She is whatever percent bigger than those other babies."

Good point. I know my baby is not the smallest baby ever in the world! So there are babies that are smaller than her. So the percentages don't make sense. Right? Or are we missing something here....

Expect the Worst and You Might Be Pleasantly Surprised

I made the dreaded trek out to the Tel Aviv US Embassy today with Shauli, Jonah, and Kayla.
We needed to take care of a couple things. Report of Birth Abroad for Kayla, passport for Kayla, and passport renewal for Jonah.
We had already tried this once at the Jerusalem Embassy but arrived late for our appointment and were told to leave because we were too late. And we had rented a car and made a special trip out to Jerusalem! Talk about frustrating!!!
After that bad experience, we decided to try out the Tel Aviv Embassy and finally got around to making an appointment.
We took the new bus direct to the train in Rosh HaAyin and then the train to Tel Aviv. Yes, I know we could have taken a bus straight to Tel Aviv but you never know if you will get stuck in traffic (most likely you will) and I know for the kids, it's way more exciting to take the train. And for me, it's way more comfortable to take the train!
From the train in Tel Aviv we took a cab to the Embassy and arrived about 15 minutes before our scheduled appointment. Shauli took our backpack and phones to go check them at a nearby storage facility (for 10 NIS). In the meantime, the guard checked that I had an appointment and pointed me towards the door for people with strollers. I was allowed to take in our stroller plus my diaper bag/purse. Truth is, I think I could have gotten away with a much bigger bag (a real diaper bag or something close) and put in food, drinks, pretty much whatever - as long as it wasn't electronic. As I was going through security a lady said to me, "Oh, I think you are coming to see me." And I answered, "Um....I don't know?" And she said, "US Citizen services?" And I said "Yes, passports and for my baby." And she said "Yep, you go right ahead and I will be there in a few minutes." I told her I was looking forward to it because she already seems so nice!!!
As I was trying to open the door, another person came along and offered to help me. And then a nice man saw that I looked lost and pointed me in the right direction for US Citizen Services. Woohoo! Off to a good start. Everyone so friendly and English being spoken everywhere!!!
We got to the room and it was empty...... I looked around and was like ok... am I in the right place? The place where I expected to wait hours.....there must be a trick. I brought Jonah over to the toys (they have toys, a TV, kids books, and magazines!) and looked at the 4 windows which were all empty. Then a man on the other side noticed I was looking a little confused and came over to his window where he apologized profusely because he didn't notice I was waiting. Can you imagine?? He apologized to me!!!!
Shauli arrived and we told the man (who actually was Australian and a new worker there) what we were there for. We went through all the papers I had brought and I was actually prepared and gave him the forms, originals of all documents, plus photo copies! Except I had brought a regular size envelope instead of a large one, luckily they have extras on hand there and too much postage (I brought enough for 2 envelopes but he said they would put them all in one when they send them back).
My fear was the passport photos..... I had them taken for the kids at 2 separate places and they ended up being 2 different sizes (neither of which were 2x2). Apparently telling the Israelis taking the passport pictures that you need American passport photos, doesn't cut it. They have no clue what that means (at least the ones in Ariel). I knew Jonah's were way too small but I was hoping Kayla's would make the cut... They didn't. Lucky for us there was another woman there who overheard and told us that the same place where they check bags also do passport photos (I bet they get a TON of business). So Shu took both kids there to get new photos done and I finished with the paperwork. Everything went smoothly, the man was so helpful and pleasant.
Shu returned and we paid (ugh) with our American credit card. Then we took a seat and waited. Not too bad though - 15-20 minutes? As soon as we discovered the books/magazines we got called to the next window. That's where my "friend" from earlier was sitting. She checked our receipts and had us sign a few things (even let Jonah sign his own passport paper). Made some cute faces at Kayla and chatted Jonah up. And then sent us on our way!!!!!!

We were in and out the door in less than an hour!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dare I say, it was almost an enjoyable experience.... Here I was expecting a total nightmare based on various stories I have heard and it turns out (in my experience) the people were so nice and helpful, there were no insane wait times, and the whole thing was generally a very easy process.

Since we had all that extra time, we actually went to the beach afterwards (right behind the embassy) and then headed over to Azrieli mall where we met my friend, Laurie, (who I know from Ben Gurion Uni) for lunch. Mmmmmm....Chinese food.....

We also happened to get roped into a new phone plan with Cellcom (many many more minutes for less money and fancy new phones!) And the crazy part is - I spent about 2 hours or more dealing with Cellcom!!!! More than double what I spent at the Embassy. Who knew?

So....moral of the story. If you expect the absolute worst, you can only be pleasantly surprised.

Dirty Shoes

This article totally freaks me out. Because my baby daughter Kayla seems to be drawn towards shoes. No matter how many toys or other things are in the room, she will find the pairs of shoes, go get them, and proceed (as many babies do) to put them in her mouth....

Ew gross!!

And after this article, I am slighty freaked out.
Can your flip-flops kill you?

Thanks to Concerned JewGirl for the link.

Scissors

Last year, at the end of the school year, Jonah's teacher mentioned to me that he has trouble cutting properly. So over the summer we worked a little bit with Jonah on cutting, letting him cut, and even buying him special Lefty scissors. At this point, we still aren't sure if he is a lefty or a righty because he uses different hands for different things. Even when he is writing, sometimes he uses his left hand for English writing and his right hand for Hebrew writing.

Cutting is a skill we take for granted but it is also a skill that we learned when we were young. Jonah is now learning that skill but as the one trying to teach him, it's not so easy. I show him how to hold the scissors but he says it hurts his hand. Instead of his thumb being on top, he likes his thumb on the bottom, with fingers on top. Well, that is about the extent of my occupational therapy skills. What else am I supposed to tell him or show him to get him to hold the scissors correctly?

Have you faced this issue or one similar with your children? What did you do? I did mention it to his new teacher this year and she said she had already noticed and would keep a further eye on it and try to work with him. She told me to work with him at home but I told her, I try to show him how to hold the scissors correctly and he just says it hurts and he doesn't want to. Not quite sure what else to do beyond that. She told me to let him practice cutting. But does it matter if he is cutting "incorrectly"?

Shauli thinks this whole thing is craziness. Let the kid cut, the way he wants to. What does it matter? Why is everyone making such a big deal about how he holds the scissors? I don't really know the answer but I'm guessing it has to do with other fine motor skills. If he can't hold scissors correctly and it hurts him, maybe it will affect other fine motor skills in the future. Or maybe it's just an issue with cutting and I should let him cut the way that is most comfortable for him.

Need some opinions on this one ...............

Letter to Our Aliyah Shalicha :)

Dear Shira,

Hi there. I just wanted to drop a quick line to you and let you know how we are doing, a year after we made Aliyah.

We moved to Israel last September and moved straight to Ariel. We could not have made a better decision or found a more fitting city. It is beautiful, the community is so warm and welcoming, and it is situated in central Israel and therefore close to everything. The Anglo community has really grown in the past year and we have found both new Israeli and Anglo friends. In fact, we just hosted a Kiddush on Shabbat to celebrate the birth of our daughter and to celebrate the completion of our first year. One of the hardest things about making Aliyah was leaving our friends and some family behind and I was filled with such warmth and happiness looking around and being surrounded by so many new friends.

I want to thank you so much for your assistance in helping us with this huge step in our lives. I'd also like to make a personal request. When you speak to people considering Aliyah and talk with them about communities, please keep Ariel on file in your mind. :) It is really is a fantastic community - a real city with a small town feel to it, a growing Anglo community but plenty of immersion with Israelis. Affordable housing, and not too far from Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. I would be happy to be in touch with anyone considering making Aliyah and/or moving to Ariel and tell them about my experiences here. Ariel may not be the city for everyone but I know there are many many people that would be and are happy here. I appreciate you spreading the word to those it may be right for.

By the way, are you the Shaliach for St. Louis too? And if so, has my grandmother, Margo Grossmann been in touch with you? I know she is considering Aliyah (which would make us SOOOO happy) so I thought I would let you know she is my dear Grandma. :)

Thanks again,
Natalie Zacks

PS- I am attaching a family picture taken a few months ago at my nephew's bar-mitzvah.

Shauli's Speech at the Kiddush

Shabbat Shalom,
We decided to give this Kiddush to give thanks to Hashem for the birth of our daughter, Kayla Rivkah, and to celebrate completing our first year living in Israel.
We named our daughter, who was born in January, Kayla Rivkah. She is named after my grandmother, Rivkah. She was a great בעלת חסד, her house was always open to guests, and our hope is that little Kayla can emulate her מדות . As we were looking for names, we came across the name Kayla, which we really liked. We discovered that the name Kayla has Hebrew origins meaning crowns. Or so we thought.

After I named her in shul, Rav Avner came over and asked me what Kayla is. Shai Urim was there and he answered it’s a very nice American name. So go figure, we have our first child born in Israel and we give her an American name!

However, since then we’ve heard some nice possible meanings for Kayla, such as derived from the name Michaela, which means "who is like G-d", or that it is connected to to the Hebrew word קהילה ,community.

Which brings me to the second reason for this Kiddush. We celebrated our first complete year in Israel this past week,and it has been quite the experince, ברוך השם We, as well as our kids, have adjusted to life here, found friends, and can't imagine living elsewhere. We are filled with gratitude to Hashem and to the Ariel community, who have made us feel at right home.

Thank you very much!

Kiddush

Well, the Kiddush on Shabbat was a smashing success!!!!

We decided to finally have Kayla's Kiddush (to celebrate and thank G-d for her birth) and also have the Kiddush to celebrate our 1 year "Aliyahversary".

Did a big shopping trip on Wednesday (thanks to Rechelle for the ride and to Joanna for calming me down and helping me choose pretty tablecloths, napkins, etc.)

Thursday we had a family BBQ for those who wouldn't be able to come to the Kiddush. But only Sarra, Shlomo, Sruli, and Shev showed up - plus our friend Shlomi. Must have been something about "S" names. Although that doesn't excuse Sim, Shany, Shilo, and Shoham. :)

Friday, Shu and I cooked for Shabbat dinner in the morning and then I started getting nervous about the cake platters I bought. They were WAY too small! So Jonah, Sammy, and I went to the mercaz and raided the 5 NIS store. It's supposedly the $1 store but that would mean 3.77 NIS so that's not quite the case. Jonah and Sammy each got a toy for coming along and behaving so nicely, and I didn't find any platters but just bought big rectangle aluminum pans to put the pretty pink napkins inside. The boys also each got a "Barad" (icee) before we left too.

As we got off the bus near our house they saw Dotan (of the barbershop Otan and Dotan) sitting outside his shop. They are huge fans of Otan and Dotan and often call out their window "Otaaaaaan! Dotaaaaaan!" as they are supposed to be sleeping because they can see the shop from their window. We passed him and Jonah said I want to get my haircut. Sammy agreed. I was surprised but that was fine. I had planned to take them next week but with Sammy's long days at daycare, getting a haircut today and next door would be preferable.

We went home, got some money, and returned. Little did we know - there was a LOOONG wait. Jonah was fine. Sammy began to freak out before we even got through the door. He was clinging to me, crying, and begging to go home. But after the 20+ minutes we ended up waiting (and the stickers Dotan gave them) he calmed down enough and was ready for a haircut. Jonah went first and did an excellent job. He's a pro already and has never really been scared of haircuts. Although at some point he got hair in his mouth so he tried to wipe it off with the "cape" that he was wearing and proceeded to get hair all in his mouth and all over his face. It was pretty gross - poor kid.
Sammy's turn! He asked to sit on my lap but Dotan convinced him it was more comfortable to sit on the big pillow instead. He looked so small sitting in that big chair with the haircut cape on him. Just his tiny head and tiny feet sticking out. I wished I had my camera. And he had such a brave look on his face!!! Well, we got through the haircut and he did surprisingly well. I think even Dotan was shocked. Kol HaKavod Sammy!!

Back to Kiddush preperations....got home and started getting nervous. There was still so much prep and then we had to get the things to shul. AH! How was it all going to get done?? Lucky for me, my friend Yael called and offered to come over with a friend and help me out. They had both worked at Chabad on Campus and were used to preparing meals for lots and lots of people. They came over and I showed them the pans, baked goods, and veggies (needed to be sliced and plated). If life were a cartoon, there would be a whirlwind of activity, hands moving, peels flying, and in a minute, the dust would settle and there would be 5 platters of baked good and 4 platters of veggies all perfectly prepared. Wow!

Then our friend Josh came by and picked up the sodas, boxes of food and paper goods, and the baked goods and veggies and we dropped them off at the shul. That was that.

Had a very nice Shabbat dinner along with our friend Shaya who spent Shabbat with us. Then we had a scary experience with Shauli breaking out all over his body in hives!! That was not fun. But he survived, thank G-d. We think it may have been an allergic reaction to the new detergent I used. Who knew Shu was so sensitive?! :)

Shabbat morning arrived and the guys headed for shul. I made it there by about 10:00 and fluttered around nervously until kiddush time. Then so many people offered to help I didn't even know what to do with everyone! Luckily, Idit and Joanna and Yael and a few others really took care of things. The tables got set, the food went out, and it was time. Rav Avner made kiddush and once again, in cartoon world there was a whirlwind. Plates flying, crumbs all over, and when the dust settled, the food was all gone.......
:)
A regular kiddush at our shul consists of Bamba, pretzals, chips, crackers, store bought brick cake and soda. A fancy kiddush consists of those items plus cholent and kugels. We made it in between and served: Bamba, pretzals, crackers, pink and white marshmallows, carrots and cukes, chummous and matbucha, and home made cakes, cookies, and brownies. Not to mention instead of just plain white tableclothes and napkins, we spruced it up a bit with bright pink tablecloths and cute pink napkins with baby girl shoes on them.

Avi introduced us and I think he said some nice things about us, however it was all in Hebrew so I didn't quite catch it all. Then Shauli made a nice speech both in English and Hebrew (I will post in my next blog) and then we cleaned up and that was that. I met a bunch of new people who asked about Kayla and about us in general and we got lots of compliments on the Kiddush. So Hooray! It was a success!!
Thanks everyone for all your help and for those who couldn't make it, you were missed.....

I will attach a pic of the cute napkins and maybe one of the tables (although that was Friday afternoon so it's missing quite a bit of the food).

School - Then and Now

As we approached the beginning of the school year, there was a feeling of excitement in the air. For about a week prior to school starting, whenever you met another parent, the conversation always started with - it's almost time for school to start. Hooray!!!!
Gan started on September 1st, Jonah's 5th birthday. So it was a good day in general! He is in Gan Chova this year which is the equivalent of Kindergarten. He also switched from the 3+4 year old gan to the 4+5 year old Gan.


The Big Day

Jonah was mostly looking forward to his new Gan and we had gone to an Orientation the week before. We met the teachers and saw the Gan and the yard (complete with basketball net).
Although as we got closer, he was a bit more hesitant and as we passed his old Gan he said, I don't think I want to go to Gan. But he put on a brave front and we arrived at the Gan. The teachers greeted him warmly and he sat down at a table to play with the other kids. I stuck around for a few minutes, taking pictures, and chatting with him and some of the other parents. Every once in awhile he would glance at me and give me a shy smile. He was fine with me leaving.....I was the one who was having a harder time. Well, Sammy (my 2 year old) was really excited to go to Ma'on (daycare) and kept pulling on me, "Let's goooo". I waved goodbye to Jonah and off we went.



I cannot begin to compare the difference between leaving him last year and leaving him this year. And I am NOT envious at all of the new Olim going through this with their own kids. I remember the tears, the emotion, the heartbreak. In fact, one day I too left in tears. I kept wondering, what did I do to my kid??? How could I take him away from a Gan he loved going to every day and put him somewhere that he doesn't know the kids, doesn't speak the language, and is in tears as I leave.

Those were a rough couple of weeks in the beginning. But now I look at him and listen to him talk about Gan and I want to burst with pride. Because not only does he enjoy going (and his teachers seem to love him) but he is helping out the 2 other Olim boys that are in his Gan. Whether it's translating between them and the teacher or showing them different toys, or playing with them in the yard, he is helping them fit in and feel comfortable. And next year, those boys can help the next batch of Olim. It's a good cycle we have going here. And a fantastic community.

Baruch Hashem, Baruch Hashem, Thank G-d!!! Life is good. :)

To Serve or Not To Serve

I was so proud of myself for getting a jump on my Shabbat cooking last night. I made 2 challahs and a Rice/Noodle dish. And then I was really tired so I went to bed.

Sadly, the little elves who were supposed to put away my food left the rice and noodles out of the fridge.

So, here is the question. It came out of the oven about 10:30pm and went into the fridge (when Kayla woke me up) at about 5:30am. It was no longer hot.

Before I throw it out, I figured I would check with my loyal readers (and those who know more about Food Safety than I) and see what you think. Is there any salvaging this dish?

The ingredients are rice,noodles, chicken soup mix, onion soup mix, margarine, and boiling water.

Let me know what you think - and I prefer to err on the safe side!

Speaking of Sauce.....

Me to Kayla: Kayla, are you hungry? What should I feed you?

Jonah: Mommy, feed her some Potato Sauce.

Me: What's potato sauce?

Jonah: It's like apple sauce. But made from potatoes.

Me: Oh yes, of course....

Language Barrier

I was looking for some applesauce today and stopped at the dry goods store in the Merkaz of Ariel. They sell a lot of random things in addition to the spices, beans, rice, nuts, etc. so I figured I would take a chance.

I asked the man if they sell "Apple sauce" but I said it in English because neither me or Jonah knew how to ask for it. He didn't seem to understand although repeated the word "sauce". I said in Hebrew, "you take apples" and made the motion of like grinding them up. He looked like he might know what I was talking about and walked over to a table. From there, he took something and asked if that was what I was looking for. It was some kind of spread and he asked me, "to put on sandwiches?" I said no, to eat and made the motion of eating something with a spoon. I said for kids, or babies, or anyone really...

Then he said, "Ohh.....we call that Gerber".

:)

Petition

Please sign this petition to Ron Nachmun, Mayor of Ariel, and the Name Change Committee.
Mayor Ron Nachmun wants to change the meaning behind the name of Ariel to honor Ariel Sharon.
You can see an article about it here: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132385

Ariel Sharon was behind the Disengagement of Gaza 4 years ago. Some of the community of Netzarim now lives in Ariel and it would be a slap in the face to them if the city decided to honor the very same person who threw them out of their homes. And for what?

For peace? Or for the Arabs to destroy that part of the land......

Here is a link to the petition:

http://www.atzuma.co.il/petition/arielcity/1

Thank you!

If I forget thee, O Jerusalem

Psalm 137 contains the phrase "אם אשכחך ירושלים תשכח ימיני - If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget".

Jonah and I were discussing why today, the 9th of Av, is such a sad day. I asked him why it is a sad day and he told me because the" בית המקדש נרשף, the Holy Temple burnt."
I asked if he knew the song "אם אשכחך" and if he knew what it meant (see translation above).

He told me, "Well, Mommy, I'll always remember Yerushalyim, but sometimes I forget which is my right hand."

May everyone have an easy and meaningful fast and may this day next year be one of celebration at our Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

Poll

Question:

For those of you who have made Aliyah or are making Aliyah - where did you choose to move, why, and how did you find out about it?

Thanks!