8 hours and Counting...

The backpacks are packed and lined up neatly by the door. The floor is washed. For the most part, lunches are made. Kids and TPH are snoring softly, and I am the only one still wide awake with real "day before school starts" jitters.


Everything that you have heard from me until now is all for this moment. We are embarking now on the rest of our lives as true Israelis, enrolling our kids in schools of our choosing, schools that will help us mold and shape them into the Bat Yisrael and Bnei Yisrael that we have envisioned each of them to be from the moment we were entrusted with them. Tomorrow we begin to truly give them Torat Eretz Yisrael. 


This week has been absolutely crazy. There is no other way to describe it. We have schlepped from meeting to meeting, from school to school, from classroom to classroom, and met teacher after teacher. We have spoken with principals, guidance counselors, and countless other parents who range from completely clueless to totally helpful in every way. We have met kids that have been through the system, and kids that are starting fresh like our own. Our kids have bounced around with us from place to place, watching, waiting, absorbing. 

Surprisingly, they seem OK. It seems like the excitement, the potential of what is out there is balancing out the jitters and nerves. Yes, they are terrified of all of the basics (think MATH, SCIENCE, etc) in Hebrew. But after all of these meetings, they (the big ones) are finally starting to understand why we have uprooted them from the comfort of their home, from their family and friends to come here.

Everything here is real. I don't know how better to explain it. When the principal of the boys' school stands up and talks for 1/2 hour about love for each and every person, and each and every Jew, and each and every Rabbi that teaches Torah, the whole move has been worth it. When I see the "old" girls welcoming the new girls with huge smiles and outstretched arms, the whole move has been worth it. When I pack my daughter's bag with Mishnayos, the whole move has been worth it.

Don't get me wrong, and don't think that I still have my "aliyah glasses" on. I left those waaaay back in 2002. :) I know that tomorrow will also be the beginning of some very hard times ahead of us. Homework, friends, language, the challenges are in front of us, and cannot be ignored. But when I step inside those buildings tomorrow and officially send my children off with a heart full of prayer I'll know and will not doubt that this whole move has been worth it.

Day Before School Jitters

I don't know who is more nervous about the kids starting school tomorrow: me or them.


Here is a snippet of conversation from this morning that says it all.


Me: "What's Aruchat Eser?"
Them: "Breakfast!"
Me: "What's Sherutim?"
Them: "Bathroom!"
Me: "Good! What's Please? Thank you?"
Them: "B'vakasha! Toda!"
Me: "What's Aruchat Tzahariyim?"
Them: "BASEBALL!""


Um, we're almost ready... :/

Quick update

I've been trying to find a few minutes somewhere to blog, and it just has not been happening for me lately!! I am hoping with the start of school I might have some of my life back, but am not betting on it, since the holidays are so early this year...


We've been busy!! J finished her 3 week stint of camp, and I just don't have enough good things to say! BH it was a good choice; we had a hard time deciding between camp and ulpan initially, but went with camp so she'd meet friends. Thank G-d, she met some amazing girls, and has a real handle on who's who in the neighborhood...I know, I know, she's a girl...


I went to her end of camp "Concert" where they had 125 girls in a combination of dance, drama and choir. J is in drama; no surprise here. :) She played a girl with a stutter, and was phenomenal! But I did promise her no more blogging about her. Sorry J! I'm allowed to be proud of you just a little!! 


It was such a totally amazing feeling going into an auditorium filled with excited girls, and their mothers, aunts, grandmothers, etc. As they got on stage and started to sing, I got such a good feeling that J is going to be just fine here. Each girl was more gorgeous than the next, beautifully complimenting each other's talents and strengths. The woman in charge of camp "Captain A", they call her promotes good middos and chessed all throughout camp. Their trips were fun, but also included things like packing food for the needy at Yad Eliezer in Jerusalem. 


All around it was a great experience, and she came away with some real friends, BH!!


Boys finished 2 week summer ulpan, and I don't know how this is possible, but S is speaking hebrew! Bigger boys were a bit reluctant about the whole thing, but hopefully they picked something up that will help them. At least they also met other new kids, and will have some familiar faces in class on the first day.


Shabbos here was beautiful, again. I LOVE our new shul, and with the arrival of the new Rabbi, TPH is feeling very good about it, too. He came home lively, and excited and had lots to share with me about the shiur. I also stayed for the women's shiur which is a good hour of intense study on the parsha. It's so good to have a local shiur that is challenging and fascinating!!! BH!!


We are doing good...CANNOT wait for the arrival of Sister D this week!!!! :)


Alls good!!!!

Patient Update

Just as we started settling in, and used to the not so humdrum lifestyle of a Ramat Beit Shemean, things took an extra crazy turn this week. For those of you on FB, you've seen it already: 


J broke a crown off her front tooth, rendering her the best pirate look alike we've got, according to her brothers.  She took it in stride, but like most things here, we don't really have a dentist (well, now we do!) and were clueless about dental insurance. BH, it's not even 24 hours after "the event" and she is newly crowned, and smiling again. 


A broke his arm. Plain old broken. A soccer injury that resulted in a fracture above the wrist that will take 3-4 weeks to heal. He is finally ( FOUR DAYS LATER!) in a cast and on the mend.


No, I do not beat my children, although sometimes I most definitely think about it.


B Thank G-d is holding steady, although he did get a suspiciously "serious" stomach ache when he found out that A would not be going to Ulpan today. It was the typical crying and writhing on the floor, until I finally let him stay home, and very miraculously (thanks be G-d ;) he was cured as soon as the other kids walked out the door.


S is fine now, but check out my FB for some seriously scary pics! For a family with 2 dogs, a ferret, and a guinea pig, who would've guessed that we have an animal allergy? But this is the second time it happened, and both times it was at the petting zoo at Kibbutz Tzora. BH, the woman standing next to me when he broke out just happened to have Benadryl in her purse. Amazing. 


and R, my main man, finally has an inhaler. His asthma is bad this week, with his summer cold, and our doctor here told us enough with trying the liquid albuterol, time for the real thing. Seems to help, so that's fine with me. Since he's been sick though, he's been in my bed every night. BIG secret: I LOVE IT. He is not of the snorers, the teeth gnashers, or the sleep talkers. He is the only one who is ever allowed to spend the whole night ;)


N has the cold of a lifetime, with a really yucky looking sty in the eye (that's NOT amore). He's still on anti-biotics from his staph infection, and I think we just have to wait the cold out. Best is when he tries to say "Ernie" with a stuffed nose. 


TPH has spent the day ferrying kids from Ulpan to Doctor to Ulpan to Dentist to Camp to Cast. He is not feeling so hot either, and he had a fever over shabbos.


Big Mama K is doing surprisingly well, BH...isn't it always that way? Lots of grocery shopping today, online and in store :) Enjoying my new oven and trying to get settled...it's slow going, but at least it's going!! Can't wait to see 2 siblings sooooon!!! :)

25 Things You May or May Not Know About Me

Wow. I was looking back at this forward that went around FB over a year and a half ago. But I figured it was worth "reprinting".

Pay special attention to #6. It's a really, really good feeling when you accomplish something that was originally on your list of dreams.

Also, #4 is sadly no longer pertinent, on every single level :(

And I guess #19 should be changed to "Teacher strike days", although those just don't have the same cozy, stuck in the house feeling...

Oh, and #21: I am getting there.

25 Things You May or May Not Know About Me

1. I am the oldest of 10. It was wild growing up, its crazy wild now, and my guess is that it will only get wilder…still, one of the best things that ever happened to me.

2. I am SUPER competitive. I must be best at everything, or it’s not worth doing at all.

3. I signed on to become part of Am Yisrael when I was 7. Good choice.

4. I have two dogs, a ferret, a guinea pig, and a fish. No one cleans up after them except me. Since I am pregnant, Eli is currently on ferret duty.

5. I love chocolate milk. No, I am obsessed with chocolate milk. The more chocolate the better.

6. I made Aliyah, then Yeridah, and hope to one day make Aliyah again, for the final time.

7. I love Hashem, but sometimes have a hard time understanding what he wants from me.

8. I cried when Sruli told me that he wants to marry me, because he never wants to leave me.

9. I have painted most of the rooms in my house at least once, all by myself.

10. I don’t gain weight during pregnancy; only right before and right after.

11. I like watching one trashy TV show a week. It relaxes me, and makes me feel a lot better about myself as a person.

12. I am most fulfilled when standing at the front of a classroom. 

13. I love the smell of the first day of school. New supplies, new paper, etc. It makes me giddy!

14. My kids all need braces, and I feel guilty, because it runs from my side of the family.

15. In the middle of my first date with my husband, I realized that I wanted to marry him.

16. One of my best friends is my mother.

17. I have two mothers-in-law. 

18. I have been camping over a dozen times and can still pitch a tent, light afire and fish better than most people I know.

19. I love snow days and my heart still beats in anticipation every time we might get one.

20. I am super OCD about organizing and cleaning, and it’s really, really hard to realize that I can’t be on top of those things as much now because of my big (KA”H) family. 

21. My biggest fear in the world is that my sons will have to serve in the Israeli army. I am not one of these brave, amazing mothers that I wish I could be.

22. Before I met Eli, I never moved once in my whole life. Now, I have moved 8 times in the past 10 years. (Editor's Note: make that 9)

23. I don’t like my Hebrew name, and wish SO much that I had chosen one that I like and could actually use!!

24. There is nothing in my life as wonderful, amazing or inspiring as my kids.

25. I still think everyday about how lucky I am to have met such a wonderful, amazing, kind, caring person…and he married ME! Every. Single. Day.

We can see school in the distance...

Wow. It's unbelievable, but lots of the boys around town are starting school tomorrow and Wednesday already!

We, on the other hand are still relishing the last couple of weeks of freedom.

Boys are going great in Ulpan, despite the fact that the teachers speak only a smidgen of English. I have to say that I was disappointed at first, but it doesn't seem to be bothering any of the kids! S was hard to leave off the first day, he was clingy and a little weepy, but no downright crying. It's Day 2 of ulpan and today he answered the teacher IN HEBREW. Kids are amazing.

J had a fantastic trip to Jerusalem today with her camp as they started the day packing food for the needy at Yad Eliezer. J and 40 other girls from her camp spent a couple of hours there just packing and loading food. So impressive here that Chessed is a large part of every school or camp experience. It's amazing, BH!

After that they took the camp on a hike in Midbar Yehuda to hike in some sand dunes that miraculously had a stream flowing through them. She came back wet, tired and so, SO happy!!

I am having a good day as my stove arrived today as well as my washing machine. Dryer, not yet. The washing machine will be installed and working by tomorrow, but the stove has another week until the guys can come. It's really not such a big deal; we've been doing fine on our burners.

That's about it. Not much else to report on the home front. We keep wanting to go to the beach, but the weather is too hot. I know, sounds weird, but there is actually weather that people can't even go to the beach in! Hopefully before school starts. Tomorrow, me and and the SIL go school shopping....hmm...THAT should be fun...Here you have to not only buy supplies but books as well.

Wish me luck!

Coming up...Summer Ulpan

So glad that I am past that really yucky day on Friday. We really had a beautiful shabbos this week, despite the still high temperatures.


It was my first week making both meals at home, and hosting guests to boot! Like CSR said, having guests is the best, because it means that a sense of normalcy is returning. Don't get me wrong, only about half of our stuff is unpacked. ie: 40 boxes of sefarim neatly lined up against the wall where the book shelves are going. Once they are bought. And assembled. Or the fact that when I DO finally get to my in-laws to throw in a load, I fold the clothes and put them away...in their rightful boxes. But slowly, slowly. We'll get there.


Tomorrow is a big day for A, B and S, who are all starting their first day of 2 weeks of summer ulpan. It's a program geared for new olim and we thought that the boys all really needed a jump start on their Hebrew. They are nervous, and rightfully so. I have heard every complaint tonight from, "My head hurts." "I feel sick." "I lost my  glasses." to "I stubbed my toe."


When none of those worked, it got a little more desperate: "I am not going!" "You can't force me!" "It's Stupid!"


It's only from 8:30am to 12:30am everyday, so I think they'll manage. All the kids going are in the same boat, none of them speak Hebrew, and all of them are new to the area.


One of the hardest parts of being a mother that I am just discovering lately is being brave (or faking it) when you really don't feel that way at all. When you want to cry and yell and stomp your foot with the best of them, but can't. When you have to smile (tersely, never but never fake) and say, "I know how hard this is on you. You are really brave. You'll do great." and gently push them out the door. It's not easy. 


I'm just hoping and praying everyday that one day they'll thank me.