Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Quiet Life
Busy busy busy that is what life has been. We made a quick decision to move about a month ago and life has been packing...baby...work...baby...moving...baby...work...baby
The truck came and moved us on the 7th and since then we have barely been home between work, weddings and trying to finish packing up and moving the last bits of stuff.
So how did this all happen? Our landlord had mentioned months ago that he wanted to sell our apartment and at the beginning of February said he wanted us to move out by the end of the month so he can show it and sell it. We weren't going to but decided it is better to move on our terms and not his and not have people tracing through the house to look at it. I have been wanting to feel settled for a while and well now we have the chance to feel more settled and try to truly become part of a community and find "home".
We knew that when we moved out of Nachlaot we would be moving out of Jerusalem, the move just happened sooner than we thought it would. We started to think of communities that we like and wanted to look at and well we kept coming back to the idea of Bat Ayin a small hilltop village in Gush Etzion, outside of Jerusalem. There are only about 150 families here and there is not always open housing, so we figured we would look and see if anything was available. We found two open places and one of them we loved and was brand new, so we decided to take it.
So here we are living in Bat Ayin with an amazing view and living the quiet life. Well or at least what seems to be the quiet life. In the past few days there have been several attacks here in Israel. I have very mixed emotions about everything going on.
This great article, Dear Palestinian Civilians, that says how I think many of us feel.
We pray that everyone here will be safe and that the land will be safe for all of us and our children.
The truck came and moved us on the 7th and since then we have barely been home between work, weddings and trying to finish packing up and moving the last bits of stuff.
So how did this all happen? Our landlord had mentioned months ago that he wanted to sell our apartment and at the beginning of February said he wanted us to move out by the end of the month so he can show it and sell it. We weren't going to but decided it is better to move on our terms and not his and not have people tracing through the house to look at it. I have been wanting to feel settled for a while and well now we have the chance to feel more settled and try to truly become part of a community and find "home".
We knew that when we moved out of Nachlaot we would be moving out of Jerusalem, the move just happened sooner than we thought it would. We started to think of communities that we like and wanted to look at and well we kept coming back to the idea of Bat Ayin a small hilltop village in Gush Etzion, outside of Jerusalem. There are only about 150 families here and there is not always open housing, so we figured we would look and see if anything was available. We found two open places and one of them we loved and was brand new, so we decided to take it.
So here we are living in Bat Ayin with an amazing view and living the quiet life. Well or at least what seems to be the quiet life. In the past few days there have been several attacks here in Israel. I have very mixed emotions about everything going on.
This great article, Dear Palestinian Civilians, that says how I think many of us feel.
We pray that everyone here will be safe and that the land will be safe for all of us and our children.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
stir crazy
I don't know what it is, maybe its the cold weather and staying in doors or maybe its the fact that I feel very overwhelmed with all of the things I need to do and the lack of time I have to do them. Maybe it is just my feeling of needing to get out of the city. What ever it is I have this overwhelming feeling that I just need to GET OUT!! What do I need to get out of though?
Y and I have been discussing moving, I want to feel more settled have something that feels more permanent and more like "ours". Buying isn't really an option right now, but at least we want to try and find a place we like, a place to settle.
Part of all of this could be that our landlord has told us that he wants to sell, and so I now know there is an expiration on our apartment. I really love this apartment, but there are many things I don't like about it and now that I know we will need to move at some point they are all intensified.
Also probably the fact that I still don't feel like I accomplish anything. I know that isn't true, but I just wish I could accomplish more than I do each day. But well this is being a mother I guess, and well I guess I just still need to work on figuring out a routine. If only CNY would stick with a routine HA! Last night he went to bed a little later than usual but then woke up at 6:40am wanting to play, so as Dr. Sears says just roll over and play dead and he will eventually get bored and go back to sleep and well it so far has worked the few times we have tried that. But then after being up for a while and going back to sleep he slept until 11:30am! You would think that this would be amazing, but well then I never know when he is going to wake up and when he will want to nap and when he will actually go to sleep at night. hump... the unpredictability of babies! I love this little boy, sure keeps me on my toes.
SO back to how this all started, I have all of these projects I want to work on and I don't seem to ever complete them or even start them or I start and they just don't seem to be coming out the way I want them to. Maybe one day I will be a "SUPER MOM" like the ones you see on TV or in the movies that always have cute clean put together outfits with their hair done all up and their inchipped nail polish, and perfectly cleaned houses with everything in its spot and the kids always seems happy and content! Is this unrealistic portrayal of mothers whats getting me down and feeling like I am in a rut, is is the lack of permanence, is it the feeling that I just don't want to be an adult, am I an adult!!!??? What?!?!?! When did that happen?!?!
Ok back to the little many scooting around on the unswept and unwashed floor pulling everything off the coffee table!
Y and I have been discussing moving, I want to feel more settled have something that feels more permanent and more like "ours". Buying isn't really an option right now, but at least we want to try and find a place we like, a place to settle.
Part of all of this could be that our landlord has told us that he wants to sell, and so I now know there is an expiration on our apartment. I really love this apartment, but there are many things I don't like about it and now that I know we will need to move at some point they are all intensified.
Also probably the fact that I still don't feel like I accomplish anything. I know that isn't true, but I just wish I could accomplish more than I do each day. But well this is being a mother I guess, and well I guess I just still need to work on figuring out a routine. If only CNY would stick with a routine HA! Last night he went to bed a little later than usual but then woke up at 6:40am wanting to play, so as Dr. Sears says just roll over and play dead and he will eventually get bored and go back to sleep and well it so far has worked the few times we have tried that. But then after being up for a while and going back to sleep he slept until 11:30am! You would think that this would be amazing, but well then I never know when he is going to wake up and when he will want to nap and when he will actually go to sleep at night. hump... the unpredictability of babies! I love this little boy, sure keeps me on my toes.
SO back to how this all started, I have all of these projects I want to work on and I don't seem to ever complete them or even start them or I start and they just don't seem to be coming out the way I want them to. Maybe one day I will be a "SUPER MOM" like the ones you see on TV or in the movies that always have cute clean put together outfits with their hair done all up and their inchipped nail polish, and perfectly cleaned houses with everything in its spot and the kids always seems happy and content! Is this unrealistic portrayal of mothers whats getting me down and feeling like I am in a rut, is is the lack of permanence, is it the feeling that I just don't want to be an adult, am I an adult!!!??? What?!?!?! When did that happen?!?!
Ok back to the little many scooting around on the unswept and unwashed floor pulling everything off the coffee table!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Son Of A...
...Rabbi
That's right, this is what a son of a Rabbi looks like!
Already learning, such a Talmid Chacham, wise student!
I am so proud of Y! He has been working very very hard over the past year towards this. He studied really hard and completed a 12 hour exam and now...Y is a Rabbi!!
Y I ♥ you and am so proud of you!
Already learning, such a Talmid Chacham, wise student!
I am so proud of Y! He has been working very very hard over the past year towards this. He studied really hard and completed a 12 hour exam and now...Y is a Rabbi!!
Y I ♥ you and am so proud of you!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Welcome To The Tribe
Introducing......Chayim Natan Yisrael
A BIG name for a little man. The Bris was a very emotional day for me, we initiated our baby boy into the tribe and gave him his name. While I was pregnant my maternal grandfather passed away and we had discussed that if the baby was a boy then we would most likely name him after my grandfather, Chayim Yisrael. After the baby was born we knew this would be his name. There is an idea that parents get ruach hakodesh (divine inspiration) in deciding the name of their child, we really saw this because the day before the bris both Y and I had the idea separately to also give our son one of Y's paternal grandfather's names, he was Natan Alter, so we chose the Natan. And there we have it, Chayim Natan Yisrael, Israel gives life or we give life to Israel!!!
Mazal Tov!
Monday, February 8, 2010
1 year
1 year ago, depending on how you count either a week ago on Tu B'Shvat or today Y and I were married. So much has hanged for both of us over this year and we have both grown so much, well one of us more than the other. As my belly is growing, Y's seems to be getting smaller and smaller. Some people think I don't feed him, but really it is just that I am feeding him, yay for healthy food and mom's who teach me the importance of whole foods! Thank you mom!Y I love you more with each day!
One thing that my grandmother told me, was that you have to love the person you marry. She would say to me about my grandfather z"l, "I love him so much, but sometimes he just drives me crazy." Thank you grandma, I quoted you on that this morning!
Too many many more happy years of growth together!
Monday, November 9, 2009
ch-ch-ch-changes
My life is in a process of change. It's pretty hard to believe. Despite that my belly is getting bigger I think I am still in a bit of denial. Even after seeing our baby move I feel like I still don't believe it. Below are the pictures we got of our beautiful baby from 13 weeks 6 days. The first pick is the normal US picture of the peanut looking thing, that is our baby.
While we were getting our ultra sound done they asked if we would do it again in the next room. They had a new machine and needed to test it out on women at various stages of pregnancy. So lucky us we got super clear and more detailed pictures, including a 3Dish picture of the babies face.
Top frontal view, that looks more like a baby bear than a person, if you ask me.
This one is a side view of the face, you can see the nose and lips to the bottom left.
That's a good looking spine!
Look at that face, we think s/he has my nose already!
While we were getting our ultra sound done they asked if we would do it again in the next room. They had a new machine and needed to test it out on women at various stages of pregnancy. So lucky us we got super clear and more detailed pictures, including a 3Dish picture of the babies face.
Top frontal view, that looks more like a baby bear than a person, if you ask me.
This one is a side view of the face, you can see the nose and lips to the bottom left.
That's a good looking spine!
Look at that face, we think s/he has my nose already!It was incredible seeing thiese live pictures and seeing the baby move. I think I am starting to feel the baby moving, but I'm really not sure. I guess I'll know in a few weeks for sure. What an experience. It is so weird watching my body change, I look in the mirror and don't even recognize myself these days. There was a while where I was every morning waking up and saying that I think my tummy is bigger. And no joke, I was totally serious!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
sooo tired and so many months
A lot of time has passed, 3+ months since I have been posting. Time is flying by and I am just exhausted these days. Back in July was the 1 year anniversary of my first date with Y and this past Saturday was the 1 year anniversary of when we got engaged, this means that I have been married for almost a year. This year is just passing so fast. It feels as if we have been married forever (in a good way of course) but it is also so hard to believe that it could also be that we have been married for 9 months!
Life is basically the same, just trying to be a good wife, whatever that means. And not be too tired, I am exhausted these days. Life goes on...
Life is basically the same, just trying to be a good wife, whatever that means. And not be too tired, I am exhausted these days. Life goes on...
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
a far way to have come in a year
Yesterday was the 1 year anniversary of my first date with my amazing husband! Wow!
It is hard to believe that it has only been a year since I made aliyah and met my husband.
Just 5 days after arrived and officially became an Israeli I went on my first date with my husband.
To celebrate last night I made yummy black bean burgers and then we went out for ice cream. After enjoying my cone of Ferrero Rocher and Mint Chip we walked past Cafe Hillel, the site of our first date. My husband thought I was cheesy, but I don't care I thought it was cute, and was delighted that he even remembered exactly where we sat.
A year can be filled with so many surprises!
It is hard to believe that it has only been a year since I made aliyah and met my husband.
Just 5 days after arrived and officially became an Israeli I went on my first date with my husband.
To celebrate last night I made yummy black bean burgers and then we went out for ice cream. After enjoying my cone of Ferrero Rocher and Mint Chip we walked past Cafe Hillel, the site of our first date. My husband thought I was cheesy, but I don't care I thought it was cute, and was delighted that he even remembered exactly where we sat.
A year can be filled with so many surprises!
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
aliyaversary #1
One year ago today I made Aliyah and officially became an Israeli Citizen.
It is hard to believe that a year has passed already since I landed in Israel and received my Teudat Zehut (Israeli ID card) and Teudat Oleh (Immigrant ID Card). This year has been full of so many new and exciting things, of course the biggest, my marriage to my husband!
I love living in Israel, although I am far from my family I know that this is the place to live. Here I can live a true Jewish life in the Holy Land, the land that God gave to us! Israel is full of its ups and downs but I wouldn't give it up for anything. Ridiculous things are always happening, juts the other day someone from the Electric Company came to turn our electricity off because we had a bill from last year that we didn't pay. We had never heard abut this until then and when inquiring why we had never heard about this bill and why our new bill was exorbitantly high, we were told that there was a strike and so no one received their bills and no one was checking the meters. So instead of sending us a bill for what we owed they send someone out to collect the money or turn the electricity off, Thank God we were home. And apparently our new bill was SO high because in their estimation they said we used 3000 kilowatts when apparently we used only 300. We only learned all of this after a lot of question asking. RIDICULOUS! But still I love this small little turmoil filled country that is ours!
B'Shanah Ha'Ba'ah B'Yirushalayim!
Monday, March 2, 2009
3 weeks
Its hard to believe I have been married now for 3 weeks! Me a wife, a married lady! It is still a bit surreal. I am definitely enjoying it and it and I keep finding myself saying that it just feels so normal.
We had such an amazing and beautiful wedding. People are still telling us how it was one of the best weddings they went to and how special and spiritual it was. We broadcast the chuppa live on the internet so our friends and family abroad could watch it. We got married in Jerusalem and one friend who couldn't make it actually watched it online. The chuppa ended up being and hour and a half, we couldn't believe it was that long but it was so beautiful no one really noticed.
Here you can see the hair vine I made and my bouquet I ended up getting. The woman who did my hair couldn't believe I made the hairpiece myself, and she wants me to sell them, she said she has a lot of brides who would be interested in a hairpiece like what I made. So I guess I have a new little side business. That's what life in Israel is all about, piecing together jobs to make up one.There ended up being possibly 400 people at the wedding, 300 intended guests and 100 more that came to celebrate with us. We couldn't believe how many poeple were able to come it was truly amazing! There were a lot people we missed but will BE"H be seeing soon in April when we go to North America. This will be my first trip to Toronto and meeting alot of my husbands family and friends who were not able to make it to Israel for the wedding. Husband, hee hee, I still have to get used to that part. More adventures to come...
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
unintended hiatus
Wow so I didn't mean for such a hiatus to happen but well I got engaged exactly a month ago now. It is so exciting, but it is a bit time consuming! People are right when they say planning a wedding is a full time job. All I do all day long is fill out forms, run errands, and make phone calls that have to do with the wedding. It is fun and we are enjoying the process with all its ups and downs.
Ian is adorable and I am soo happy! I knew he was going to propose when he did but I was trying to act like I didn't know. I was so anxious and nervous and I couldn't really eat when we went out to dinner. Ian seemed fine and calm. After having dinner we walked to the Old City and he took me to his favorite spot, this old ampitheatre and that was when he asked me if I would marry him and I ofcourse said "YES!"
It is truly amazing, he gave me a beautiful ring that I love so much that was his Great Aunt's and it fts me perfectly and is so much ;like the style of rings that I like, it's not yelow gold and not white gold but a more rose gold and it is old and has an antique style and is unique, and even better it has a story because it belonged to someone whom he loved. And I feel so honored to have this ring now and to be marrying Ian.
After leaving the Old City Ian said that his Rabbi wanted us to go over to his house which was fine with me because I am very very close with this family, because oif this family is how we met! But little did I know Ian had planned a surprise L'Chayim there with my close friends and his close friends and the Rabbi's family and Ian's family, his parents and sister were visiting for a family wedding. I was soo surprised I couldn't believe it. It was really amazing.
Now ever since we got engaged we have been planning our wedding. We are so excited that we are God willing getting married on Tu B'Shvat, the birthday of the trees! This is just such a great day for us and we are so excited that it is all working out. Mazal Tov!
Check out my Picasa Web Album if you want to see more pictures from our engagement!
Ian is adorable and I am soo happy! I knew he was going to propose when he did but I was trying to act like I didn't know. I was so anxious and nervous and I couldn't really eat when we went out to dinner. Ian seemed fine and calm. After having dinner we walked to the Old City and he took me to his favorite spot, this old ampitheatre and that was when he asked me if I would marry him and I ofcourse said "YES!"
It is truly amazing, he gave me a beautiful ring that I love so much that was his Great Aunt's and it fts me perfectly and is so much ;like the style of rings that I like, it's not yelow gold and not white gold but a more rose gold and it is old and has an antique style and is unique, and even better it has a story because it belonged to someone whom he loved. And I feel so honored to have this ring now and to be marrying Ian.
After leaving the Old City Ian said that his Rabbi wanted us to go over to his house which was fine with me because I am very very close with this family, because oif this family is how we met! But little did I know Ian had planned a surprise L'Chayim there with my close friends and his close friends and the Rabbi's family and Ian's family, his parents and sister were visiting for a family wedding. I was soo surprised I couldn't believe it. It was really amazing.
Now ever since we got engaged we have been planning our wedding. We are so excited that we are God willing getting married on Tu B'Shvat, the birthday of the trees! This is just such a great day for us and we are so excited that it is all working out. Mazal Tov!
Check out my Picasa Web Album if you want to see more pictures from our engagement!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
fragile
last friday morning my mom had her second surgery to remove a brain tumor. the first one was 10 years ago, and well since that surgery the bit of tumor that was left has slowly slowly been growing and grew back to the size it was before, maybe about the size of a fist. it's hard to be away from my mommy but i know that she will be ok and heal BE"H, she is so strong.
after the surgery she was having some speech problems but i just got a message from her and it was so nice to hear her voice and it sounds like she is doing better B"H!!!
i feel so blessed to have such amazing people around me that have been so supportive. among new things going on in my life there is a boy, who is very supportive and caring and sweet. Thank God for people like him in the world! other news is a will be starting anew job very soon working for a center for at-risk teens. i will be teaching an art class and will be doing an art project on teh streets witha social worker one night a week. this is going to be very challenging and hard work but i know it will be so rewarding. i start in a few weeks and i am sure it will give me what to write about and share.
send blessings and positive energy in the direction of my mom Masa Sima bat Hudel!
after the surgery she was having some speech problems but i just got a message from her and it was so nice to hear her voice and it sounds like she is doing better B"H!!!
i feel so blessed to have such amazing people around me that have been so supportive. among new things going on in my life there is a boy, who is very supportive and caring and sweet. Thank God for people like him in the world! other news is a will be starting anew job very soon working for a center for at-risk teens. i will be teaching an art class and will be doing an art project on teh streets witha social worker one night a week. this is going to be very challenging and hard work but i know it will be so rewarding. i start in a few weeks and i am sure it will give me what to write about and share.
send blessings and positive energy in the direction of my mom Masa Sima bat Hudel!
Sunday, July 20, 2008
2 Days Left
I can't believe only two days left before Aliyah! That is just crazy. I am going to really miss everyone here but I am very excited to begin my life in Israel. Also I am very excited to be done packing. Packing to move to another country is really just insane; fitting your whole life into 3 suitcases and a carry-on! Good luck to anyone who ever has is doing or will have to do this. I know it is all worth it. I am going home!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Jewish History
I went to visit with my grandmother yesterday to spend some time with her before I leave. Little did I know I would be leaving with some history. My Grandpa Joe z"l passed away about 3 years ago and my grandmother, now 88 is getting ready to move to a retirement community. She gave me an old throw pillow that is used to love that they got in Thailand ages ago. It is Thai silk and is yellow with brown fishies on it.
She also gave me small hexagons that she crocheted from scraps of yarn. It is a work in progress and she just adds more as she makes them. I am really exited because because I was looking for a pattern for an afghan made out of yarn scraps and this is perfect and I am so excited to incorporate my grandma's pieces into my own afghan.
My grandmother also gave me these amazing old Jewish books. The small brown one was an army issued Bible for Jews that was my grandpa's when he was in the army.The blue and red is a Rosh Hashanah Machzor that was my grandma's mother's. It was printed in Vilna and all of the commentary and extras are Yiddish.
The Beautiful white one is a Siddur from Budapest and is over 100 years old. It has amazing metal detail on the cover and...
...0n the inside my great grandfather signed it and wrote a note when he gave it to my grandpa in 1981. This siddur is absolutely beautiful and delicate. It is in Hebrew and Hungarian, something that I have never seen before but I will treasure this and the other books my grandma gave me. I hope to even use them on very very special occasions.
Iam so blessed to have all 3 of these books that each have so much history. May the merit of my ancestors help me to be the best that I can be!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
swap meet sunday
On Sunday me, my mom and Marty woke up at 5:45 am and took almost everything I own to the OCC Swap Meet. It was such a strange feeling selling things, some that I have had since I was in 5th grade and others only a few years old that are more new, for $1.
We sold a lot but still ended up taking so much to Goodwill. This whole process of getting rid of all my stuff has been cleansing and sad and frustrating all at the same time.
There is less than a week now till my Aliyah and I have done so much yet still feel like I have so much to do. I know it will all get done, I just hope it gets done sooner than later.
the bicycle vs. the train track
The second night in Oakland Mark and I decided to go to see a movie at the Parkway Speakeasy. We decided to see You Don't Mess With The Zohan, it was a ridiculous movie but it was funny. I am sure the beer we had at the Parkway helped.I borrowed a bike from one of Mark's roommates and we set out to ride to the Parkway. Maybe about 2 minutes after we set out I fell. There are tons of train tracks around LoBot and in case you have never had to ride across rail road tracks, well, it isn't the easiest thing to do and well that round the train tracks won. My tire got caught in the tracks and I fell over and got a little banged up. The cool night air on the rest of the bike ride made up for the bumps and bruises. These pictures don't do justice to what these boob boos looked like when they were new, but they really just look worse than they are.
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