Shabbat Shalom again!

Taking a break from baking challah with Noa while Kevin is playing cars with Ezra and Shiri is making her own challah. Or, at least, making her own mess from the dough. :)

This whole thing with Jewish living is going easier than I expected. Actually, it went easier with P than I expected. Noa asks a lot about what we do, and where Jesus comes into the picture, and at first she seemed a little baffled at the idea that we don't believe Jesus was the son of G-d. He is pretty much at the point in her life when she has some ideas for herself, but she also takes guidance from authority figures easily. Not that she brought deep religious convictions from her previous family. It will make for some interesting conversations though. 

We are actually on our second batch of challah now. The first batch I am sure we can reuse at our next BBQ... as charcoal. After all those years I had spent in the States, I could still not make a proper conversion from Fahrenheit to Celsius in my head... So yes, there was great smoke and a smoke detector going off, much to the delight of Ezra. The US should really switch to metric. Imperial measurements are so out of date - besides, with Independence, shouldn't they have adopted SI? The only TWO other countries, who haven't adopted the SI measurements are Myanmar and Liberia... What does that tell you? That said, once I heard an (of course) American preacher say that the metric system was the mark of the beast. Oh well.

Ezra can be quite a handful. With orphanage living, one would think, comes routine. It seems, however, that Ezra  has never experienced the concept of having routine. We are working hard on establishing a routine that is very much like the routine we have at home. Ezra will have none of it. Bedtime is usually a 30-minute screaming fest, and any activity involving slowing down for more than 2 minutes results in a melt down. Or rather... resulted. In the past 3 weeks we figured out that he reacts really well to soothing and happy sounds: certain songs, sounds of nature, etc. I have a nearly 20-year-old CD titled Guitar By The Sea. Ezra loves it! Depending on the tune he knows it's time for sleep, time for a nap, quiet time, story time etc. So bedtime is less of a struggle now. Unless, of course, it means being separated from his beloved TV. 

Oh the TV! The twins love the TV! It's kind of odd for us, as we didn't watch TV at all till Justin and Matthew fell in love with books, and they still rarely watch anything on TV. Ezra and Shiri, on the other hand, just love watching... comercials. And Teleshop. 

Hopefully it will be getting better when we finally get home.

Shabbat shalom, everyone!

The happenings in our household

First of all, with two Shabbats behind us, the kids are doing wonderfully at shul. Noa does bring up things reflecting her Armenian Christian background, but apparently her foster family didn't emphasise Christianity too much. Which is making things a little easier for us. :) 

She quite enjoys doing Jewish things that are familiar to her. We bought her a Noah's Ark toy, and we have Torah stories, coloring books and stickers she can play with. She is soaking up English, and at this point I'm super happy that she reads and writes Armenian, because she has her own little dictionary: picture, Armenian, English and Hebrew. She is super smart, and that was recognized very early, hence her placement with a foster family. I do hope for Noa's sake that they continue to keep in touch and bless her life. I still cannot find the proper words to express how very grateful I am for them. 

The twins are also doing great. They love to torment each other, but also are inseparable. The two weeks I have been with them they really have started to blossom. I know attachment takes a long time - bonding from my side also does - but I see the beginnings. Based on our experiences with P, things are going better than we expected. 

I am not too fond of the synagogue we are going to while here. There are a bunch of awesome places in the southern part of the county, but apparently this region has less of a Jewish life. I do contemplate driving down to Santa Ana, though - once I get in the car on the Shabbat it doesn't matter how far I drive, I figure. I know that the congregation there is a lot more open than here. Plus Janice's family go there as well, so we wouldn't be totally unknown.

Shiri and Ezra are doing great feeding themselves, and our great eaters. So is Noa. She is willing to try just about anything and makes up her mind only after getting through at least half of the meal. She is not too fond of pizza, American Mac and Cheese, broccolis and zuccini. Other veggies are great for her. Shiri takes care of Noa's broccolis, though. :)

The boys have left for "serious camp", which means they are not on Skype. When I put Noa to bed tonight she remarked, "I miss talking to my brothers."

Shabbat Shalom!

What am I listening to today? On repeat? Since 9 a.m.? Constantly?





Soon the Shabbat comes in. It will by first Shabbat with Noa, Ezra and Shiri. And... most likely it will be their first Shabbat.

Lecha Dodi is the song we welcome Shabbat the Queen with. This version is by the acapella group Six13. 

Shabbat shalom!

There is something magical in the women's mitzvah to light the Shabbat candle. Something that is deeper and more meaningful than many of the men's mitzvot, at least in my eyes. And it isn't the man's envy, who wants more mitzvot, as from time to time this responsibility falls on me with no female family members around.

This happened tonight as well. I love doing this mitzvah. I generally just love the eve of Shabbat!

5770 so far

The year 5770 has been really nice so far.

My sister-in-law Maya and I teamed up with my step-mom Miryam in making honey glazed chickens with pomegranate sauce for dinner. It meant between 4-6 chickens for each of us. We used small, "grill" chickens and we had 30ish people to feed last night! We quartered the chickens and prepared the sauce and baked them and made mashed potatoes and rice and veggies. My kids helped bake challah and honey cookies.

We gathered at my dad's house and as the women of the family lit the Shabbat candles - that this time didn't only usher the shabbat in, but marked the beginning of 5770 as well - we set out to go to the synagogue and afterwards we devoured the chickens! When everyone was ready to burst, we walked home, put the kids to bed and watched some more Bones, while I was also checking on Michal's Tefillin. I was suprised to see over 100 hits and 300 page views in the first 24 hours, with several browsers being excluded from the stats.

Today was slow and lovely as well. Heading over to my brother's house for shabbat lunch. It wasn't cholent, no. But I found out that my brother already got Aharon Razel and Yerachmiel Ziegler's new album Secret of Shabbos. He lent it to me, even if he is not too crazy about my use of electricity on Shabbat and holy days (and especially when the two are on the same day, like today!), so I listened to it a couple of times and I love it! If you click the link, you can listen to samples. Justin already knows most of the words to the CD, and Matthew is humming along as it is played for the 4th time. I need to give it back to my brother when I see him tomorrow, but I know I'm gonna buy it! I am an Aharon fanboy, but I'm becoming a Yerachmiel fanboy, too! i love his cute American accent! I might not speak Hebrew, but I do hear the accents. The little video on the top of the sidebar is the first music video from their album. Generally I find the album to reflect the joy of Shabbat: the joy that HaShem intended for us on the Shabbat when He commanded us to sanctify and enjoy it.

I hope everyone is having a marvelous new year!

The last Shabbat without the boys

This is my sons' last Shabbat in America. During their time there they have had a chance to visit many places in California (yes, Disneyland included), Lake Tahoe and Carson City, Nevada. In addition to visiting their mom's family, they spent time with Craig's aunt, uncle and cousins as well as my sister and her family. They experienced a Jewish day school, went to 4 different synagoges, including a Chabad Lubavitch one and celebrated Independence Day and observed Tisha B'Av there.

They are leaving California tomorrow afternoon and will arrive home on Monday, just in time for 12 days of cousin camp. But now, once again, they are celebrating the Shabbat with their family there. They bond with them over the flickering flames of the Shabbat candle, the challah and kiddush cup. And when the memories of the Disney rides will fade, they will remember their times around the Shabbat table with Grampa.

Shabbat Shalom, boys!

Shabbat Shalom

This is one of the favourite songs around my house, my kids sing it with us every Friday shortly before the Shabbat comes in, reminding them how much we love the Shabbat.