Amazing Imaginations and much more

Wow. I have been meaning to post for a long time. No, seriously. I've had some of the these ideas rolling around in my head for weeks. Unfortunately time, the need for sleep, and the need to care for my family got in the way. Lets see how much I can coherently write this time...

A few weeks ago... On Shabbat we all walked to the Pinat Chai (mini zoo) in Katzrin as usual. We did the usual round, including seeing the new baby goats. They'er very cute and can squeeze out of their pen and run around.

On the way back to the door there is a pen that has been vacant since we moved in. Odeliya climbed in and, playing along, I asked her if she was an animal. She said yes. But since she was so cute and seemingly housebroken we brought her home anyway.

On Monday I took the kids to the Pinat Chai again. Odeliya climbed in again and again we decided to adopt this baby animal. She insisted on crawling to the playground. Netanel jumped right into the game and started taking care of our new pet. Yitzchak also got involved. He made it clear that he wanted out of the stroller. Then he crawled along behind Odelia. Since then, Baby Animal has been added to their repertoire of games.

Along the same line of imagination, Ayelet told Netanel how she used to make swords out of cardboard. So I cut 2 swords out of an old box and wrapped them with duct tape. Immediately, at Odelia's suggestion, she became Capt. Hook and Tani became Peter Pan. Their fun lasted until they "accidentally" woke up Ayelet from a much needed nap.

The nap was the beginning of a 2-3 week run of sickness in the house. A nasty virus went around Qazrin. It has flu-like symptoms, but affects different people differently. Some people, mostly kids, were home on and off for weeks, i.e. you feel better for a few days and then get hit again. Ayelet was in bed for 2 weeks with fever (although she may have had something else). Meanwhile all the kids had a bought with the virus. For Yitzchak it was diarrhea. For Odelia it was vomiting. Netanel was mostly spared, but he also spent a few days home from gan.

The first day of this was compounded in complexity by my swapping shifts at work. The winery hosted its bi-annual Vintage Festival (said with an Israel emphasis on the end of the word). In exchange for more time home during the day I worked two overnight shifts (7pm to 7 am) watching over the festival workers to make sure the winery and its property were not damaged. The first night's guard duty was boring. However, we did see a fox coming to pick at scraps of leftover meat left out for cats. It looked much healthier than the foxes in the Pinat Chai. My attempts to get close enough to take a picture with my phone were unsuccessful. The second night was the end of the festival. I watched the event crew work all night packing up the myriad items they had brought: tables, chairs, plants, etc. While they slaved, me and some other employees salvaged items that were slated for disposal. This includes a while bunch of good wood, tablecloths, light fixtures, and other wonderful finds.

In the meantime Ayelet was sick on and off (mostly on) for 2 weeks. I ended up coming in late and taking a lot of time off from work to care for her and the kids. Baruch Hashem we live in an awesome community. Over the course of the 2 weeks people brought over food and helped watch the kids and clean the house. Several people brought over soup without even calling first to ask if we needed anything. This kind of support is truly a blessing.

Fortunately we are now back to full health. I was getting worried. For a while now I have been saying how luck y we are that most of our nisyonot are financial, but that we are happy and healthy. Our bought of sickness had me thinking. But now that we are healthy again we can resume our usual searching for answers on that front. I have begun a new round of soul searching, looking not just to find my purpose, but also to improve my basic deeds and behavior. This includes praying better and spending better time with Ayelet and the kids. Hopefully this will bring us to a more stable position.

To add to the insanity of our ill health, the afternoon that Ayelet was in bed and I was preparing to work the first overnight shift we made some new friends. I was hanging up the diapers to dry (we use cloth) and hopeing to get an hour of sleep when a car pulled up outside. In the car was Meir, the realtor who found us our current house. He was with a family of new olim from the U.S. They had that shell-shocked look on their faces that we had last year. It was interesting to see how the paretns and children were acting. The parents were exhausted and stressed about finding a place to live. The kids were shy and clingy. It's something I remember well. We advised that that it would pass.



Over the course of the 2 months since then the family has moved to Katzrin and we have become very close. Everyone is back to their usual calm pleasantness. Aliya really is stressful. It was interesting to see. I suppose we'll see it more as we continue to help olim. We are on the Nefesh B'Nefesh contact list for olim to the Golan. We are happy to help.

Now that we have a car I have realized something that the pop-sociologist in me finds fascinating. Israelis can't park. Maybe it's intentional that they park over the line, taking up two spots. But on a Friday when everyone is buying last minute things for Shabbat, it's important to take those extra few seconds to park responsibly. It frustrates me every time.

Ok, I started this post a few weeks ago. I will finish now. I have a few more things brewing, but those will come out over the next few weeks. Until next time enjoy the update and Shabbat Shalom.