Gratitude Jounal: revisited

Got some interesting spam comments on a post from about a year ago.
Realized that I haven't looked back in awhile and looked at that post again.
Upon re-reading, it was, as usual, something positive that Eran had done to keep things in perspective for me. That is especially important at this juncture since he is so testy about certain things right now (our health, family, money) and how we are strapped financially to meet our regualr obligations in a timely manner.
At least he is not sullen about them as he has been in the past. This time to his credit he is not mulling over things silently in a funk, but rather discussing them daily with me in rather heated discussions that get everything out in the open and vented. And it is not even really arguing because we are in agreement on most of the things but just annoyed that things are out of our control for the most part and we just have to get over it and get on with our lives.

In any case, to keep things positive I want to show gratitude for 5 things for the next few days if I can manage it so here is installment #1:
1. We are both gainfully employed if not doing our dream job, but at least something that will provide for our families
2. Our family is growing by people and friends - both our immediate family and those we have become close to recently
3. I am grateful for the chaos that IS managing the lives of our children including playdates, teacher conferences and holiday programs that they work hard to produce for us
4. My job has allowed me to learn a new skill in coding invoices which is not necessarily transferrable in this state, but that it something else that I now know how to do in any situation once I learn the codes...Maybe I'll take a night job in medical billing for some extra cash - I used to do freelance copy editing and I miss that extra $$$ for what is essentially an easy task for me
***PHONE CALL***
5. Having an extended family that is willing to help run car-pool and basically raise my children so that I can continue to work a full -time job in order to provide a roof over their heads.

***Now I'm not as happy as I should have been. In the middle of witing this post, I was grilled about our financial status by my better half. Would that I could give him a better report so that he could come back down off the ledge...

more strange coincidences

I am already well aware that my first-born Jonathan is a special gift and a special child.
He was diagnosed with a condition (CMV) in-vitro, that was confirmed via amnioscentises, that could have had potentially dangerous life-altering outcomes including severe birth defects or learning disorders or deafness onset in childhood. In my deepest depths I knew that everything would be ok, but the doctor appointments where they explained all the possibilities really gave my husband pause and he went out into the world scared. He then somehow found himself working for extra money at the time at a swimming pool in an ultra-orthodox neighborhood where the hours for swimming were separate. He met the esteemed Rabbi Pesach F there who performed our wedding (who when I went to kallah classes in Har Nof she pulled one of his books off her bookshelf) And at the time I was pregnant with J he asked for blessings and prayers from all the Rabbbis and other religious people he saw there, feeling that their extra blessings would make things turn out ok.
Still struggling with the idea that we were blessed to raise a set of twin boys as well as Jonathan, my first born boy and my special princess Yael (who's name is a perfect fit for her), I was fiddling with Jewish birthdate calculator online.
In addition to beating the odds that he would suffer from one or all of the terrible things the doctors were predicting since he was confirmed to carry this virus, the same doctors who suggested that I consider terminating the pregnancy (Are you kidding me? This was my first pregnancy, thery were being overly cautious, and I KNEW all would turn out ok), Jonathan was born in the holy city of Jerusalem, on a Saturday (being born on Shabbat has some special significance I have been told), on the day BEFORE a leap year (could you imagine denying a kid a birthday except once every 4 years?), and he was born umla'ah (with a partial brit) which is also a special significance (so I am told) Being that he was a first born boy and my first pregnacy, he would have had a pidyon ben celebration after a month, but since my father is a Levi, meaning that his family served the cohenim and therefore my son was not to be bought back - he is the grandson of a Levi after all...
As if this was not enough special-ness for one child. February is a busy month for us celebration-wise since my husband was born on the 15th, Americans celebrate valentine's day on the 14th, and Jonathan was born on the 28th. I was fiddling around with the Hebrew birthday calendar. And it turns out that Jonathan and Eran share the same parshat ha shavua - Terumah, the first week of Adar. These are the kind of signs from above that some people don't take the time to notice. I notice, but I just don't get the full significance of these celstial "coincidences" because I feel inferior learning-wise since I don't devote my entire life to it. When I am in my family mode, it is all I think about, My work and family pieces of my life can not and do not overlap. Once I arrive at the office I am who I am (albeit a hard worker and a little outta place as the only Jew in the company) Once I leave the premesis, I become super mama bear and hope that I will get back to the other side of town to get the babies and not disappoint them. At this stage, I am more about hoping I get there on time so that the day care lady can go home to her family. Then I go get the "big kids" and am assaulted at the door with hugs and kisses (the best end to the day) and then its home again and off to bed!

4

Sunday was Yaeli's 4th birthday and the twins are both 4 months old.
The theme of 4 comes in 3s and 7 are the days of the week
(shabbat is the 7th day of creation)
Deep Thoughts before my usually rushed Tuesday morning staff meeting.
That is alll.

anthem

So my oldest son is OBSESSED with sports. I don't know how this phenomenon came about but I will admit that I might have sparked an interest when I received comp tickets to a few baseball games and slyly convinced my dad that he should take the kids. Of course I had no idea that it would blossom into such an addiction. He will avidly watch and be totally consumed by baseball, football, soccer, basktball, car racing, bull riding and just about anything that has a color announcer giving commentary.

One of my favorite memories is when he had a play date at our house with the Rabbi's son who when I spoke to his mother I convinced her to let him come over to watch the SuperBowl since I had ordered a party package from Bnei Akiva and that there would be no issue of not having kosher enough food for him to eat.

Recently we were watching one of the games of the World Series. But let me back-track by explaining that over the summer he went to see another Astros game with his day camp where he received a paper schedule of the season's games. That ragged piece of paper was like his bible. And he got upset when it got torn on the seams from overuse (I dilligently taped it back together for him like a good mama). He checked it daily, numerous times a day to see when his beloved Astros were playing and where. And our lives were scheduled around when he could be home to see the opening pitch (even though he was aware that there are at least 9 innings to watch) And one day I made the mistake (maybe?) of showing him how to access the Astros website on the computer from a search engine (I can explain it as a learning experinece since he had to know how to spell and to type the letters) so that occasionally he would want to use the computer to see the previous game's score or the see when they were scheduled if the paper scehdule had gotten misplaced.

So back to the original story at hand...
We were at home one evening recently and about to watch one of the final games of the World Series. Well we were absently (so I thought) watching the pre-game activities around dinner time and somehow at the appropriate appointed time the national anthem came on. I have to say that it was a priceless moment to watch my son stand solemnly at attention at his little table in front of the TV and sing HaTikva with all his heart while the Star Spangled Banner was emitting from the television. Eran and I exchanged glances and tried to conceal our kvelling and our mirth and merriment. Jonathan was the recipient of some extra hugs and hair ruffling that day :)

Thank you for your attention. Now you may return to your regularly scheduled activities.