I'm grateful for: RS missing the earlier flight, no, really; all my lovely earrings; and hats. And rain. And jade. And, well, just about everything, I guess, except for guilt and crappy weather, and I can be grateful for those things too, theoretically, at a distance as it were. Help! I'm typing and I can't shut up!

As of RS's 3:00am phone call she was well on her way to catching her plane. This would be the plane that she had gotten placed on after she missed her scheduled flight. In fact, she was still in her hotel room in Westborough when she was supposed to be catching her flight.

I try to not be judgmental about it. And I know everything works out. One big plus to this is that she won't be arriving on the NBN flight, so we don't have to get up at 3:30am (not quite an hour ago, so I guess it's moot) to be at a stupid ceremony we are happy enough to miss. Still... It is RS all over, to the life. It is her life, so I really try to not get all 'moral high-ground' about it. I don't know why Hashem has things work the way the do for her. I do see her resistance to Hashem's will in so many things, but then many, many other people also resist Hashem's will, and they don't end up like she has. So...

I am afraid I was terribly selfish on the phone with MMF earlier tonight, and I feel really bad about it. We had to get off the phone quickly, so no time to even apologize properly. I'm trying not to stew about it. I was kind of freaking out earlier about being a 'bad person,' and this certainly feeds into that. I don't believe I harmed MMF, honestly, but I acted without any regard for her feelings or the effects of my words on her - except insofar as I believe it may benefit her in the long run. But - that is none of my business.

I'm having a terrible time typing here, and I may have to give up. Hands and arms really hurt and don't want to cooperate at all.

TH got the washer and dryer moved out on the mirpesset(deck) and working today, just in time for a rather massive downpour. It's/they are under a good tarp, which is all we can do right now. The result of this, besides making doing laundry a bit of a challenge, is that we now have a shower stall. That was where someone previously had put the laundry hook-ups. It's not fully functional, but it has hot and cold water, and the water drains. It needs a proper shower head at least, and we have a shower curtain but no bar to hang it from. The bathroom looks more roomy and comfortable, though. Not something I ordinarily look for in a bathroom, really, but it's a nice thing to have in our rather small and very cramped living situation.

I don't know if I wrote that RS's room is really pretty much done. I haven't made it out there yet. Instead I went into Netivot today with TH and D3 and met with the Hebrew teacher. We thing she'll be coming out on Mondays for three or four hours to work with all of us on Hebrew, and with D3 on her bagrut.

Bagrut is a sort of achievement test that everyone in Israel is supposed to take, most take it towards the end of high school. People in the U.S. don't generally take this sort of test, unless they go for a GED. I understand that in England there are similar tests. I am clueless myself, just glad that my high school diploma is safely 30 years in the past.

RS is going to take over teaching math in our household. Not that S1 needs it. D3 needs to improve her math before the bagrut - she's good enough at math, just never really works at it, and I can't explain it well enough to do her any good.

S3 doesn't need help in doing maths, he just can use some guidance - he was doing algebra when he was eight, and I haven't kept up with him, so he's largely stagnated, not moving forward as much because I haven't worked on getting him workbooks and materials as for any other reason. He's ten, I'm not worried as he has plenty of time to 'catch up.' As if he were behind.

Each of my kids has their own strengths, as is true of everyone, I know, but because they are my kids I am way more aware of the difference between S3's true gift for math and my other kids merely being more than ordinarily competent. Like D2 with physics, and S2 with engineering/building things. I don't really know how to label S2's gifts, he was building small robots when he was seven or eight, but he's really more interested in building BIG things, or conversely, blowing them up. He may end up in demolitions, or he may end up designing bridges or skyscrapers.

There is so MUCH going on, it's just hard to even begin to try and keep up. TH has been requested to be in the office at his workplace every day, or as close to every day as possible, for the next month or so at least. I have no idea how this will play out, but it will probably be difficult for us to say the least. I remain disabled, and we remain a one car family, living in an isolated agricultural community with no local store or bus service.

I've got to stop. It's almost 5am, and while I did get some sleep, I could certainly use some more. At this point TH and I are planning on driving up north to the airport for about 5pm, hoping that RS will actually be on the currently scheduled flight, and that she won't spend as much as five hours doing her olim processing. *sigh* Hashem willing. Thursday is her 50th birthday, and I still haven't got a present for her. I'm open to suggestions, let me just say.

Okay, that's about it for now. Will write more someday, assuming I survive the next 24 hours. Be well, all, and Gd bless

I'm listening to voices in my head, and otherwise silence. I love the country.

:: Yesterdays : Tomorrows ::

~~~Last Five Entries~~~
Hi and goodbye - 2010-10-15
I'll be moving on - 2010-10-10
Gold membership and stuff - 2010-10-10
Decisions, decisions - 2010-10-07
Days to go - 2010-10-06