I saw the sweetest scene this morning. I was on my way to Curves, and was grumbling to myself because I was behind schedule and was going to get to work late. And I was plotting how I could get the kids to move faster in the morning and how I was going to get… Read More The Perfect Reminder
I can’t speak for all schools in Israel, but in our area there is a large Shorashim (family tree) project that the kids complete at the time of their bar or bat mitzvah. Matan has been in the middle of this project now for about four months, and the culminating party will be next Monday.… Read More Shorashim: The Roots to Matan’s Future
I’ve written a few times about how social media helped in our Aliyah process with Nefesh B’Nefesh. I was nervous and stewing over a number of issues, and I sent an email to a contact in Israel to pour out my heart. She, in turn, forwarded the email to a number of email groups in… Read More One Mom’s Plea: We All Matter, A Lot
January 20th is always a hard day for me. 26 years ago, on this day, I was sitting in a podiatrist’s office getting a cast off, when he asked if we’d heard the news. No, we hadn’t. That morning, while crossing the street in front of their school bus, a group of children had been… Read More Enjoying the Llama Named Shampoo
I am sitting in one of the boats at Disneyland, going through the “It’s a Small World” ride. And it’s not the enjoyable experience that it was when I was a kid. Let me explain. I grew up right near Disneyland and I used to love going there. My favorite ride was “It’s a Small… Read More Birthdays, Bombs & Bikes
Last night there was a shiur (a lesson about the Torah) given at a friend’s house. I wanted to go to it, but I got caught up in work and couldn’t get away. I understood, afterwards, that the basic message of the lecture was about enjoying daily life, learning to appreciate the little things in… Read More Losing One of Our Own
While lounging on a bean bag on Friday, I was trying to ignore the voice in my head that said to clean! cook! do laundry! get things done! rather than reading, as I was. And then I heard, “Can I cuddle wiff you mommy?” And it was chicken-pox boy, Zeli, looking for something to do.… Read More Creating the Space for Beauty
So, I haven’t written anything in quite awhile. I guess that means that sometimes life can just be…well…life. And when you’re dealing with six growing children, jobs, a friend going through chemo and getting ready for Pesach, it’s usually a good sign when life is just life. With that said, here’s a quick cute story… Read More Half a Cup Is Enough for Some
My baby, Yakir, is a crazy man. Truly. And I say that with the experience of raising six boys and of dealing with lots of craziness. But this kid? Well, he seems to take the cake, and then stand on top of it, dancing. As I often say, Hashem either has quite a sense of… Read More Yesterday and Tomorrow
Last night we went to the Bat Mitzvahs for Shoshana and Adina Ron. And it was a particularly meaningful occasion for both Josh and me. Let me take you back seven and a half years. Matan, aged four, had arrived in Israel without knowing a soul and without a word of Hebrew. In this picture,… Read More Just Two Little Friends in the Beginning
